Poor Keller

It's finally "warm" here. Its warm enough that I'm not looking at airline tickets anymore! Anyway, with the warm weather comes the annual haircut for Keller, my mini Aussie. Last year was quite the event so this year we were a little more prepared. Being married to a veterinarian, he had the wise idea to sedate the wild and hyper dog first. Last year it took two of us - one to hold and one to shave all the while hoping the kiddo would stay napping in his bedroom. This year was significantly better. Here's how my Sunday afternoon entertainment played out:

The doc sedated him and initially he ran around like wild - the opposite affect! Within minutes, Keller went to lay down near the edge of the porch after chasing a cat and fell right off the porch. It was a sad sight but definitely funny too. I was afraid he was going to start a seizure (my kiddo isn't the only one I've seen have a seizure, the dog did it when we first got him and he fell off the couch). Anyway, I picked up the seemingly drunk dog and carried him onto the lawn where he fell asleep. Okay, let me just say that Australian shepherds have LOTS of THICK hair. Getting started was no easy task. [Imagine this extremely pale person begging for a tan wearing shorts and a sports bra with a massive belly protruding out trying to shave a dog.] So, I got things started and was moving along slowly at first when I found a tick. And then another one. So, I ran into the house and interrupted the vet watching his Cardinals baseball game to have him get me some rubbing alcohol in a cup and tweezers. As I continued shaving, I made it a point to let the clippers cool every little bit while I picked off a few ticks. And then I got to his back hip and found a grouping of ticks. As if that's not nasty enough, it looked like there was something else on him - maybe a pussy substance but it actually looked like a piece of plastic and was the size of my pinkie fingernail (think 0.5 by 0.25 inches). I took a closer look to realize it was a FAT tick and I had nicked him with the clippers. Of course, I had to run in the house and get Ryan to come look at my huge find. It was so big I couldn't use the tweezers to pull it off and wasn't about to touch it. By now, it had lost some size in the blood that dripped out. I managed to get the tick off with a few sticks and into the alcohol.

For the next hour or so, I would shave a little and pick off a few ticks. [Yes, I'm married to a vet but don't manage to care enough about my outside dog to keep up with his flea/tick preventative stuff]. I had just flipped the dog to his other side when he seemed to start waking up. So for the next little bit, I hurried with the clippers, threw ticks in alcohol, lots my tweezers a few times in the grass, cut out the cockleburs that were matted in near his ears, wiped the slobber away and continued shaving. By time I was clipping up near his head, he was awake but still in the very groggy and seemingly drunk stage. When finished, Keller was nodding his head around trying to wake up. He looked like a whole new dog. No more ticks, no cockleburs matted in and his hind end was shaven clean with no matted yucky/stinky stuff. I picked Keller up and took him to his kennel where he woke up the rest of the way and proceeded to bark for the next half hour.

Of course, as soon as I was done, I headed in the house to take a shower stopping only briefly to check the score of the baseball game. Of course, just then I saw a tick crawling on my arm. I HATE TICKS and can't stand to see them near me let alone on me. I destroyed the tick and went straight to the shower. The job was done. And now, I will make sure that Ryan will be bringing home his flea/tick preventative medicine. Ryan kept my tick collection to use as a visual when he asks people if they're using the flea/tick stuff. He counted them up... 60 ticks!!! Poor neglected dog. By the way, he was so easy to clip while sedated that I think I'll do it once more this summer :)