Keep Them Safe!

Now that we have a puppy at home again, my daughter and I have run through our puppy check lists together to make sure both of our homes are safe spaces for Zelly.  She lives with my daughter, but she's at my house three days a week, so that means even though I live with two adult dogs who never get into any trouble, Zelly will find a way to get into mischief if I'm not vigilant. What does this mean? It means shutting bathroom doors so she isn't digging through the trash cans.  It means moving the stuffed animals off of my kids' beds and putting them away in a closet until she learns that those stuffed toys aren't the same as the ones she and Henley play with.  This "rule" took Henley quite a while to learn; he loved rooting through my daughter's closet and under her bed for any stray stuffed animals she might have forgotten to put away up high and out of his reach!  My gardens are already dog-safe, so that was easy, but I don't have any control over my neighbors' yards, so I need to watch her when she's sniffing and exploring on walks to make sure she doesn't eat cat poop, chewing gum on the sidewalk, or get into trash put at the curb.  But there are so many other hazards too, it's almost overwhelming!

Right now, California is heading into summer which means hot, dry weather and some windy days thrown into the mix.  This is the perfect storm for wildfires, but it's also the perfect environment for foxtails.  Foxtails are a group of grasses with seed pods that are known for their "fox's tail" appearance. These seed pods are sticky and can get stuck not only in clothing and shoes, but fur and skin. They can very easily find their way into ears, eyes, noses, and under the skin of dogs sniffing and exploring these dried grasses. They aren't easy to remove either, sticking into the fur and poking into the skin.  You have to be careful removing them so that you don't leave part of the sticker in the fur or skin as well. Foxtails can migrate if they become embedded in skin, moving along to vital organs like the heart and lungs, causing secondary infections. Years ago, I saw a dog with a wound on his leg that didn't seem to be healing.  Turned out to be a drainage track, a place where a foxtail had embedded in his skin and then moved on.  His veterinarian eventually found the foxtail in his chest cavity! 

Because of the prevalence of foxtails, there is no way to avoid them completely.  There isn't a park, walking trail, or neighborhood here in the San Francisco Bay Area that doesn't have them.  So what can we do to try to minimize risk, particularly for Zelly who is just a puppy?  First and foremost we've been teaching her "leave it."  We use leave it to keep her away from sniffing and walking through the places the foxtails are abundant. When she's older, we can start putting Mane N' Tail Detangler on her legs and tail, as I do with Ozzie and Henley.  This product seems to deter foxtails from sticking in the first place, and for the few that do blow against their coats, removal is easier.  It won't protect their ears, eyes, or noses, but it does limit those that are caught up on their leg fur, chests and tails. While I'd love to spray it on their feet, it does make the areas sprayed slippery, so that's not an option.  Instead, we've trained the older dogs to wait for a foot check every time they return home from a walk.  Zelly is learning to wait for foot checks now too. I'm also planning to start using Collie Creek Candles Lochwood Essence grooming spray on Zelly's legs.  This is an all natural product that works as a detangler too, but doesn't make the fur slick or slippery, yet it does make removal of those pesky foxtails much easier.

Beyond the foxtails, our walking trails and parks are also the perfect place to find snakes, both the venomous and non-venomous varieties. I've found that most of my clients can't identify safe snakes from the non-safe ones, so avoiding snakes altogether is the best option.  Because so many dogs love ropes and sticks to play with, teaching them to avoid the "nope ropes" they find on trails etc. can be difficult.  I put Desi and Ozzie through rattlesnake avoidance training several years ago and Ozzie is still the best dog I've ever had for locating and avoiding snakes. He can find them even when they aren't on the trail, alerting me to avoid brush, rocks, or even garbage cans where they are lurking.  He is really kind of funny. I've seen him get very disgruntled when trail runners don't recognize him signaling that he's found a snake to avoid.  He'll bark at them to stop!  When I point out the nope rope, they are often mortified that they didn't even think to look for snakes!  Ozzie is very vigilant indeed.  Henley will be completing rattlesnake avoidance training this weekend and we'll take Zelly when she gets older. For now, she'll always hike with either Ozzie or Henley, or both, and they'll know what to look for and avoid.

The final hazard we'll work with Zelly on is water.  Ozzie has always been very good at avoiding water. He's never fallen into my friends' swimming pools (something Desi did more than once!) and he jumps over puddles and creeks, if possible, or wades across very carefully.  At the beach, he avoids the water, sticking to the packed sand for his strolls.  Henley wandered into a friend's pool and promptly demonstrated his ability to swim which was a relief.  I'll make him wear a life vest at the beach, just in case, since he's clearly not afraid of water, but waves can be unpredictable.  Zelly will start wearing her life vest soon and take a first dip in the safety of a friend's swimming pool. We need to see if she'll love it like her Uncle Henley, or hate it like Uncle Ozzie!  Either way, that life vest will keep her safe and sound for trips to the beach, the lake, or the river.

The world is clearly full of hazards, some of which we can avoid or mitigate, while others we must deal with as they come.  All the dogs wear crash-tested car harnesses in the car and are monitored with bones and other potential choking hazards.  We carry a dog first aid kit on hikes, as well as the human one. Ozzie and Henley know and understand leave it, drop it, and stop, and Zelly is learning these things as well. It's about being vigilant and prepared, and I'm encouraging you to do the same.

As always, if you have questions about your pet's behavior, you know where to find me.

This is one of my favorite pictures for Ozzie and Westley, on a springtime hike, when the grasses were still green and the poppies were just, well, popping up.  This was long before Westley's cancer diagnosis. Happier times indeed.