On their own for now......

Welcome again and blessings to you !

Well, Pack Leader is in charge ..... has been since last week ! I'm on a trip to my twin-island Caribbean home-land for a few weeks and trust that all is well back at the homestead. Yeah ... I'm sure all is well, but so sorry Pack Leader couldn't come this time. I miss the five-pack too ..... This trip is going to be filled with family, friends, music, jazz, sun, sea & sand...and a little adventure too!

Ever flew across the Caribbean? It's a long but enjoyable trip, punctuated by pit stops at at least two other islands....and in the warm, hospitable spirit of the Caribbean THEY FEED YOU A MEAL!! The flight was great! It was a beautiful day to fly...blue skies, blue sea below and dotted with mountains and flocks of cloud formations. Seems as though the flocks of "sheep clouds" tend to gather above the island grasses below! I got a few pics to share ...

Thanks for visiting! More next time.....

Oh! the beautiful Poui tree!

“Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky...” - Kahlil Gibran

Our yellow poui tree has given us a real treat this April..........

Shedding her leaves, she burst forth full

with fine, feathery, yellow flowers.
Branches extended to the sky
as if in praise to the one on high.
Are they praising Easter, praising spring,
Praising the sunshine after the rain,
or April showers to come again?

Once a year she flowers,

sometimes not all at once.
Her green turns to yellow,

bringing a smile
to the faces of friends and passers-by
who stop a while to ponder

her glory and her wonder.

Bees, wasps, butterflies,

all are in their glee.
We haven't seen you for a while

Mr. humble bumble bee.
Birds and lizards prancing
glad for her display.

They listen to the buzzing
as they anticipate their prey.

After three days of show,
flowers fall without a sound.
Gentle breezes help to lay

a yellow carpet down.

So pretty in their fallen state,

soon turn to mulchy brown,
then mowed and raked they meet their fate

of nurturing the ground.

And when another year is passed

she puts on new, green growth

to be shed again for yellow

in the cycle of rebirth.

Oh-oh! Rebel's got a boo boo!!! --- (caution, graphic photos included)

Welcome back. May you be blessed toady!

Rebel has been scratching like his father. Over the weekend we discovered a raw patch on his side where he pulled out his shaggy fur and created a sore. ..... and he just recently had a bath!!!

This is a high potential screw worm infection. Glad we caught it early. The sore was cleaned with alcohol (ouch!) and dressed with a little screw worm powder to keep the dreaded flies away. The dressing was not without slight protest (or play?) and the resulting controlling muzzle. But he behaved well enough that I could take a photo. He is now “under observation” on the veranda.

Last time Rebel did this we never saw the cut till it was infected with the screw worms as it was hidden under his armpit. We only saw it one day while he was romping and rolling over. That episode required a visit and boarding for a few days at the vet. In those early days of Rebel's adoption, he was quite wild and unruly and we were unable to calm him down long enough for dressing. So he had to be sedated etc. by the vet. It ended up being quite a costly affair!

Our lesson - prevention is better than cure. Now we have to observe Rebel and Zeeks for excessive scratching, inspect their coats frequently for sores.....and keep the root causes, ticks mostly, at bay as much as possible. The screw worm powder is also a must as wet areas on the skin like that is an ideal surface for the screw worm flies to lay.

Thanks for visiting and hope to see you again!

Bath Time!

Hello again. May you be specially blessed today !

First of all let me thank all those who visited and read my last entry. You have given me inspiration to keep going! Thanks for all the wonderful comments and suggestions.

This week was bath time for 3 members of the pack. Zeeks, Tunda and Queenie. They LOVE the water but Tunda and Jiggy don't like bathing at all. At one shot that means a great deal of exercise for me. Yes....my Five-Pack also keep me fit!!! May even give me a six-pack :).

Bathing for them is not the luxury activity you may think. It is a necessity. As "outside dogs" they are exposed to those annoying pests called parasites.... fleas and ticks! Ugghhh.....

The dogs know who the enemy is. There is another deadly one here called the Screw Worm Fly (I will talk more about that at another time). When the enemy attacks or draws near, the dogs actually see, hear and smell them....

Tunda is the main tick sniffer. He smells them out and tries to bite them and crush them with his paw. I encourage it by softly telling him "watch" and he goes looking for them where they climb up the walls.

Queenie is the groomer. She goes around grooming every one else trying to remove the ticks from their fur. All the dogs snap after the Screw Worm Fly which seems to buzz differently to a regular fly??!!!

Zeeks is allergic to flea and tick bites. He scratches till he makes sores or cuts himself (perfect laying grounds for screw worm flies). He seems to have passed a little of that gene on to Rebel. The others are pretty resilient. So Zeeks must have regular flea and tick baths. It's also tick season and a good time for bathing and spraying the yard to control the parasites.





I used to start the bathing activity with a rinse from the hose. But realising that triggers shaking and got me wet too early, I now start with a bucket of sudsy water and a rag. That way they don't get as excited, particularly Queenie who likes to attack the spray of water from the hose.

With the soaked rag I bath each one and then tie them on a leash to "soak it in". By the time I'm finished with the last one it's rinse time for the first. That's when the hose comes in. For the most part they stay still as I hold the hose and leash in one hand and ruffle the fur with the other.

In this hot climate they seem to like the cooling effect of the running water. The most difficult rinse is the face. To do that part, I distract them by vigorously patting their heads while allowing the water to run over their faces from the back. I'm still amazed that they let me do that.

The third step is the most exciting for them and tiring for me. It is the towelling!! Rebel LOVES drying time and exercises his biting, jumping and tug-of-war skills both with the towel and me! With his thick coat, it takes two towels to get him semi-dry. Zeeks coat is much thinner and he is more gentle with his version of tug-of-war. He likes to play peek-a-boo with the towel on his face. Queenie stays calm and sometimes even rolls over to have her tummy dried. Bath time is bonding time :).

Once we're finished, they're clean enough to get a treat of staying on the veranda (favorite place) and chilling out....tied on leashes to keep Zeeks and Rebel apart. Of course after all that action it means instant sleep for all of them as the cool, tropical, breeze runs through their clean, damp fur. I'm unfortunately not as fortunate.

Well, thanks for visiting. Hope to see you again!

Tips for applying ear drops on a large dog

Good morning and may God bless you richly today!!

The pack is fed and watered and Queenie has had her medications done. Yes, Queenie has an ear infection and the beginnings of a fungal infection on her chin. We noticed her scratching her ears and shaking her head a lot. She also started rubbing her snout and chin in the grass. So we took her in to the vet.

He had to sedate her for examination because our dogs are aggression trained as guards. She was soooo groggy that day!!! Anyway she got a few shots and he recommended ear drops twice daily and iodine for her chin.

Application at home was going to be tricky. Ears are sensitive and ticklish and not easy to handle. I developed a technique with Queenie though and she is taking it very well.

She knows when it's time now, as I call her to come on the Veranda and let me see her ears. She has to smell the bottle of drops first to avoid surprise. Then she sits and lays down in front of me in the down position waiting for the drops.

I hum a tune that sounds like a variation on a scale, and she calms down. Then I hold her collar and pull each ear back one-at-a-time with the same hand. With the other hand I squeeze the drops near the ear opening so it runs down into the ear. To keep her from shaking the drops out of her ears I hold both ears and continue humming and rocking gently for 2 minutes.

Applying the iodine to her chin is easy. She lets me swab it while holding her chin up, all this time looking trustingly into my eyes.Then it's all over. By now she is calm and relaxed and ready to sleep. At the end of it I think she likes the attention and looks forward to the next application.

Thanks for visiting and hope to see you again !!