Its tough to coordinate these posts with the release of the video and the Facebook and twitter posts. The latest video is us hiking in southern Onondaga county and the State Forest lands there.  We had some fun and got only mildly wet. Its great to hike in temps below 30deg F because the snow doesn’t usually melt on your clothes.  So you stay dry in the event you fall or get snow from trees or from it just snowing and dropping on you.  And as I have said before, I am much more pleased with a cloudy day than a bright sunny day, especially with clean white snow, as it really bothers my eyee and the video quality.  Though some light is essential.  A dark stormy day isn’t very good either. Am I too picky ?!  🙂

Will I be a Better Driver ?

As I write this my mind is wondering because at the same time I am taking an online course for “Defensive Driving”.  It allows you to get a 20% insurance reduction in NY and my Insurance is up for renewal and my previous course certificate has expired. So I must take the course again.  Now the really stupid part about this activity is that I was an instructor for this course for 5 years (2008-2013) and taught the class over 75 times.  So to have to sit through it for 6 hours just seems mind numbingly boring and stupid.  You see each online “slide” of the course has a timer on it that requires you to “study” the slide for between 30 seconds and 2 minutes.  Since I knew the course almost by heart, it takes me 15 seconds to read the slide and I’m ready to go on.  But I must wait for the timer to tick away. Even clicking “next” 1 second early sends you to an error page and then you have to “Go Back” and wait for the timer to click ALL the way down.  So as a result, instead of getting any kind of refresher, I just click through the slides and find something else to do while the timer clicks down. The folks that designed these things have no clue of how people learn !!  So I’m really sorry if this seems very disconnected as a blog post.  On the other hand I highly recommend that if your in one of the states that allows for an insurance reduction by taking this course, take the online course.  And if you have Children under 25, make them take it.  They need it !!

Skin Problems

So, some new stuff in the lives of me and the boys !  Caesar has been scratching and insistent on licking and biting his back side for over a month.  None of my dogs have every had fleas, at least not for more than 1 week.  And they do get Flea and Tick medicine applied regularly  (K9 Advantix) because we do spend so much time in the woods where there are ticks. So when my vet suggested a flea allergy, I was skeptical .  But we reapplied the Flea/Tick stuff and gave him a nice warm Oatmeal bath.  And it calmed down a bit for a week, but came back.  So I took him back a month later for the same complaints, a different vet suggested Allergies and gave me some “Itch Pills”.  Originally I was told they were fairly cheap, but when I got to the front counter, they were $2 a pill.  For a 30 day supply for him that was  $4 x 30 begins to get into a lot of money.  And Allergy is NOT a diagnosis.  So for his comfort I gave him the pills for about a week, and while he scratched a little less, I think it was more again the Oatmeal bath and lotion I was applying than the over priced pills.  So I decided I need to figure this out and I spent a lot of time looking at the area that was itchy and scanning through “Dog Dermatology” journal articles. And finally I think I have figured out the problem.

Into the Shower He Goes !!

Dogs apparently get Impetigo.  A disease common to teenagers who haven’t quite gotten their personal hygiene under control. But Human impetigo and Canine impetigo is different.  Lucky for me, since he sleeps on my bed. (Another reason fleas were a stupid diagnosis).  And I think the reason the vet didn’t diagnose it is because all the text books I read said that it normally occurs on the belly or around the genitals.  An area totally clear of any of the pustules.  Personally I just think that’s the easy place to see them. But he has them on his neck and his rump/Hips. In very thick dense fur.  The real key is that they are raised bumps that are oozing a substance that quickly crusts over.  So at first finding them I thought they might be thorns. Something Caesar gets stuck in his face and shoulders frequently.  But after “Pulling off” the crust, and having it come back 4-5 times, I knew it must be something bacterial oozing from the bump.  The other thing I should have realized is the boys have always had bumpy lips that crust and slough off.  My vet  said that was common.  Not common on any of my prior dogs !  So now I think that might be the impetigo too.  We will see !!

Dog Drugs Rx

So the boys are now both on Cephalexin for a few weeks to see if this all clears up, and they are getting baths and their bedding and crates all cleaned up. I will have to sanitize their toys and training stuff, and may even have to clean the house !!  Damn !!  I just cleaned around Thanksgiving ! Cleaning twice in less than 6 months ?  Who does that ?!  The boys being a bit on the large size, (100lbs) they are taking 1000mg twice a day of Cephalexin.   Dakota doesn’t seem to be bothered, but Caesar has puked it up twice.  So we are now giving it 500mg a few hours apart on an empty stomach hoping it will stay down long enough to absorb.  Ain’t dogs fun  !!  (Love em anyway I guess)

So that is the recap for the first week of January.  Great way to start off the new year !  I’m going to hope its all up from here !!  Hope everyone in my  internet world and my subscribers are all doing Okay.  Leave me comments on any skin issues your dogs might have had, and let me know if you go back to your vet frequently with the same complaints.  I’ll report back on our latest results and none of it will keep us from getting out and having fun !!  So….we will be back in a week !

Thanks for Stopping By !

Rick, Caesar and Dakota !