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Be on the lookout for ticks

11/9/2015

I’ve been meaning to write a piece about ticks and today I was given the motivation to get on with it, I found a really small one on my foot. I’d been walking a pair of dogs along Robinson Street, East Lindfield. We walk on the side of the street where the bush meets the footpath. Somehow it had found its way inside my sock. It was too small to tell exactly which species it was, but I’m now going to make an effort to check for ticks when I finish my walk. I’ve also asked the owner to make sure the dogs are up-to-date with their tick prevention.

I’ve “borrowed” a picture from The House Call Vet’s website to show you what ticks look like. The paralysis tick is the worst one you can come into contact with.

From here on I’m going to refer you to a few websites with more information so you can do your own research. It’s such a serious issue and I don’t want to give you any wrong information.

For tick information concerning animals

First go to google images and look at the pictures of young and adult paralysis ticks. There are a couple of really good photos that show you what they look like when they’ve attached themselves to an animal.

The next place to go is one of the vet websites.

I found the Greencross Vets Ku-Ring-Gai website quite good. It’s really informative and it explains what happens if you do have to take an animal to the vet. I’ve had a few clients who’ve had to do this after a paralysis tick bite and it’s really expensive and really stressful, so prevention is a must.

http://www.greencrossvet.com.au/Ku-Ring-Gai%20Services/TickParalysis.aspx

For tick information concerning people

Go to the NSW Government Health website

I tried to put a link to the site here, but it didn’t work, so just go to google and type Ticks NSW Health and it should come up at the top of the results page.

The unwanted dog fight

10/9/2015

Today I was out walking two dogs and everything was going pretty well, a lot of sniffing and weeing and happy little faces until we were “attacked” by a small dog the size of a poodle.

As we passed by a house one of the occupants opened the front door and the dog came flying out and started the trouble. Normally I spend most of my walks anticipating trouble and it usually works. If I see something I don’t like I get away from it as quickly as possible before trouble starts, but this time the whole incident was totally unexpected and it happened so quickly that I had very little time to react.

I couldn’t believe that such a tiny dog could be so aggressive. My dogs snapped back, which didn’t surprise me. The other dog didn’t back down and I wasn’t sure if the “disagreement” was going to get worse. I told the person four times to call the dog away and he just stood there. When he did decide to come and take his dog away he did so at such a leisurely pace that if the incident had continued there was the possibility that there might have been injuries. His lack of interest also prolonged the situation. The point is that when you’re asked to call your dog away do so immediately, don’t just stand there! Luckily we were alright, we managed to get away without any damage, but it ruined our happy walk.

I do understand that the dog was either defending its territory or was just a typical noisy small dog with an attitude problem, but that’s no excuse for its behaviour and its owner’s lack of common sense.

I’d like to see what happens when one day that tiny dog annoys another much bigger dog. I don’t want to be around when that one starts. It’s probably going to come out the loser and you can bet that the big dog will get the blame for starting it even though it was just reacting to the aggression of the small dog. What will the small dog’s owner’s response be then? Will they even care?

As a side issue I’d also like to mention that it’s always important to prevent a dog from slipping quickly out the front door because if the property doesn’t have a fence it only takes a few seconds for the dog to run onto the road and get hit by a car. I’ve heard of more than one case where this has happened and I once saw it myself. In that case the owner was lucky enough to get hold of the dog before it got near the road. It was a scary experience and I wouldn’t like to see again.

Be on the lookout for ticks

The unwanted dog fight

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