I can't see your pics I'm afraid.  Perhaps it's just me?

Anyway - looking forward to hearing more about Mason (I think Baby would have been quite a good name).  I take it from 'Babycham' that he is fawn?

Hi SLH

Mason (Baby) is gorgeous! And with a name like that he'll have to give a funny handshake! I'm sure he'll settle down soon and realise which side his bread is buttered on, but you're wise to make sure he doesn't go out unsupervised, just in case he decides to test your fence. Hope everything goes well - let us know how he's getting on.

Lesley - if you have Windows, try saving the pictures to your Desktop and double clicking them from there. You can delete them from there too, by right clicking and pressing 'Delete'.

Christine

Mason now features on the Meet the Dogs page as "Baby"! (no-one tell Dave he's started responding to "Mason").

I think Houdini would be a much more suitable name for him. This morning I took him out for a longish walk, thinking perhaps he was wanting out the garden as he hadn't been on a good walk for awhile. No chance - within an hour of being home he had escaped into the neighbours garden! Luckily we'd been watching his every move and were there to greet him at the gate.

His whimpering started at 6am this morning, which is a great improvement on his previous night. I got up to let him out and he did his token "Oh, O.K you want to watch me take a pee in the garden". I then fell asleep on the sofa and he joined me.

Walkies was fine although later this afternoon we found a tick embedded in his chest. Managed to get it out although it took quite a few attempts - Am I right in thinking you should try turning them anti-clockwise as you pull them? This was one resilient tick!!! He now has a biggish bruise around the area but was VERY brave (and received lots of treats!) I was under the impression they came away fairly easily?

 

 

 

OK, being brought up near the North Yorkshire Moors, I'm a bit of an expert in Tick removal. Worst thing you can do is to just yank them out, as the head breaks off and it leaves a main line in for infection.

The best method is to just smother Vaseline on top of them, when they have their heads buried in their host, they breathe through their skin, cover the little swines in Vaseline and they can't, so they suffocate, and when they do, they let go with their jaws and come off really easily. Takes an hour or two ususally, but it works a treat.

I can vouch for the effectiveness of the tick remover (little green hook) - it is absolutely invaluable.

Having struggled for years to find a fool proof way of removing them from my cats I would never bother trying any other method.  It doesn't matter what size of tick either - it will remove any: from the size of a lentil upwards.  It always removes them intact too - marvellous.  You just slide the slot in the hook under the tick, where it joins the animal, and twizzle it till it comes off.

The danger with ticks - as Christine rightly says - is that they can leave their mouth parts behind if incorrectly removed and that can then become septic.

Everyone should have a tick hook!

(Especially because - they sometimes come inside on your animal but are not yet attached, in which case they may end up on the floor looking for another host.  I have removed one from between my own toes - ick!!!!!) 

Thanks Lesley, Suzanne and Phil - I'll hot foot down to the vet's to get my little green hook for the blighters. AND I'll make sure that I've got plenty of Vaseline in my First Aid box. Great idea, Phil - I didn't know they breathed through their skin. Oh yuck, Lesley! I'll need to check my carpets and floors at the same time as checking Vegas when we come in from his walks.

Christine

I was giving Harry his goodnight cuddle when I noticed a tick on his luggie. I flicked it away and searched for ages on the kitchen floor to see where it landed. Found it eventually...... crawling up my arm.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!

BTW, I think Baby is a lovely name too.

I'm delighted that Mason and Ozzy have started to play together and that he's settling down more at night. It'll be wonderful for you to watch Mason come out his shell and see his personality develop. Ozzy's certainly found a great new pal!

Christine

Just to let you know that Mason has also found his forever home. He was adopted on Saturday. 

What a gorgeous piccie! It never ceases to amaze me how well these puppers can tuck away those long leggies.