Common Sense Dog Safety ideas from Charlie Stevens

Everyday bits of knowledge that every dog owner has forgotten at least once. 

We all know never to leave our Scotties in a parked car with the windows closed in the summer. Winter can be just as challenging.  If it is15 degrees outside, it won't take long to reach 15 degrees inside a parked car.

Never leave your Scottie out in the sun for long periods of time.  Provide lots of shade for your Scottie, and always provide plenty of cool, clean water to prevent dehydration, inside ad outside in your fenced yard.

Dogs can have severe allergic reactions to insect bites.  If you notice your dog acutely swollen around the muzzle, or developing hives, it is best to get him or her treated by a veterinarian as soon as possible. Inflammatory response can lead to severe illness and respiratory distress.

Read all labels of flea and tick medication carefully. Misuse can lead to toxicity and even death.

Scotties should not ride in truck beds. They can overheat there as well.

Avoid leaving windows and doors open in your house. A determined Scottie can tear through a screen.

Keep your scottie away from mouse, ant, and roach traps or bate. 

Human medications can be lethal to small dogs   Even chocolate can be toxic, even lethal.

Fertilizer, antifreeze and pesticides can be deadly to pets. Store them safely.  Don't allow you pet to walk on a freshly fertilized lawn

Finally if your a gardner, check the toxicity of the plans in your garden: Easter lily, Azalea and amaryllis, also  Lilly-of-the valley. Foxtail (spear grass) can be a health hazard for skin, ears, eyes and nose.  

Excerpts from Scottie Tails #1 2013

IN REMEMBRANCE.

C.S.LEWIS , a novelist, poet, academic, literary critic and lay theologian known for his literary work ,The Chronicles of Narnia, was reportedly asked at one popular lecture: "Will my dog be in heaven?".  He reportedly responded: Would it be heaven without your dog? Getting an answer in the negative, he then said, "well then your dog will be in heaven.  

There is a secular work by an unknown author "Just this side of Heaven is a Place called Rainbow Bridge"  The author imagines all animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor.  He imagines them all running and playing together. He imagines their excitement when you are spotted.: "You have been spotted and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again."  ...Then you cross the Rainbow Bridge together.

Please send a digital picture of your beloved Scottie who we can memorialize in this blog.

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Rescue 2014 by David Caudle

David Caudle with two of his Rescued dogs

My mother Adele is a life-long dog lover whose favorite breed is the Boxer.  Her involvement with the Second Chance Boxer Rescue organization began with  my helping Adele look up a rescue Boxer on the internet. She then got very involved in rescue doing fostering, transporting and other rescue duties for the SCBR over the years.

I had already owned two scotties and a westie.  When they passed on it was only a couple weeks before I decided to get another dog.  My mother's experience with rescue is what made me consider rescue Scotties. I contacted Barbara at the STCNE and rescued Angus and Molly, then Max and finally Robbie.   I joined the STCNE working with rescue

Age has finally caught up with Adele but when her beloved Boxer, Jack, passed away from cancer she agreed to foster a 12 year old Scottie named Morris. He is now 15, deaf and nearly blind and still a "chow hound." Best of all he helps keep my mother's love of dogs alive and makes her feel useful by helping animals.   

This is an excerpt of a longer article published in Scottie Tails, Spring 2014