Caring for your Pit Bull

Deer Ticks, Wood Ticks, Any Tick

I recently moved from the Kingston area to the Hamilton area - but way out into the country.  If you're not from around this area then you won't really understand the nuisance created by these little creatures.  They start out very small and within a 24 hour period they double their size.  Where I'm from we just call them wood ticks and unfortunately, like mosquitoes, wood ticks can carry lyme disease.  I will go into this in more detail in a later post but for now I just want to say...spending the $85 for Advantick was well worth the money.  Spend the money, save your friend. It doesn't have to be that product but remember the alternative.







Should you allow your dog to lick his wounds?

As a child, it was commonplace for family and neighbors to have a dog outside with a dog house. Most dogs where I grew up were what was considered “mutts” so everyone had one.  Our dog looked a great deal like a border collie, with his long black hair and white markings around his neck and on his face.  His name was Kinch.  He was named after a likable character from a popular TV show, Hogan’s Heroes. The Kinch character was a not-too-bright Sergeant in a German P.O.W. camp during WW2 who was always being outsmarted by a savvy American Colonel Hogan and fellow prisoners.  Our dog Kinch was quite intelligent and very likable.   

Kinch was out frolicking in a corn field when a big ass plow came along and inadvertently sliced the young pup’s paw.  He was about a year old, at the time, and we can really only guess what happened.  It was an inference made by the kind of cut he had, it was a perfect slice that was clear to the bone. Now back in those days the only people who went to the vet were wealthy people with purebreds, certainly not-by-choice single uneducated mothers with four mouths to feed.  

My mom who in my lifetime always seemed to just know things said to leave him alone, he’ll keep it clean.  She said his spit has something in it that will help the healing process.  I always thought a dog’s mouth was dirty because I saw him more than once under the outhouse.  But who was I to disbelieve my mother.  Back in those days thinking you were smarter than your mother was the quickest way to a sore butt. 

Early on, I would say the first week, Kinch just sat there feeling sorry for himself.  He didn’t eat much he just licked and licked.  He wasn’t even sneaking under the outhouse.  Eventually after a couple weeks he was up and around but the cut was still slightly open. He still limped and we would say, “Aaaah poor puppy”.  We really babied him during that time, and he milked it for all its worth.  It didn’t bleed nor did it get infected.  

Finally, it closed up completely, you couldn’t even tell there was no visible scar at around four weeks. He still favoured his paw a bit but within the next few weeks he was running around.  He was back to being happy-go-lucky Kinch.  Until of course he got into trouble then it was the darndest thing, his paw would hurt so much he needed to limp.  He’d put his head own and limp, pathetically, towards us. It was pitiful.    

Now that I am a grown up with dogs of my own it’s a different mentality.  When I took them to the vet to be fixed they were very specific about not allowing them to lick their wounds.  I thought it was because of the stitches, and it made sense.  But when I read the material it said that it was an old wives’ tale that dogs healed their own wounds and they could actually make it worse.  Now why would it say that?  I’m not an expert, my mother isn’t an expert (but don’t tell her I said that) but, I know what I experienced. Kinch knew instinctively how to make himself better without any interference from us.