First Dog Blog

Unimaginatively, Rusty Star is the name of my blog because of our two red dogs.

Originally, Vince, our German Shepherd, was our only pet, but we had to put him down in 2006.We all miss him.

Since then, we acquired Rusty, a three-year-old Retriever and Shepherd mix, who received his tag line after a two-hour family naming session.


And Star, a one-year-old Basenji mix, who kept her nomenclature straight from the pound. This picture is of Star at four months.

Both dogs were recently exposed to sarcoptic mange, (a contagious condition where a mite burrows under the dog's skin and causes intense itching and hair loss). The vet diagnosed Star with a yeast infection but still recommended the dip bath treatment for mange as a precaution.

Fortunately, she has been relieved of her terrible itching and is taking her medication as prescribed.

Or so I thought! Yesterday, she ate the first pill with her food--no problem, but there on the floor sat her other pill, slimy and unswallowed. YUCK! Of course, then I had to give her the pill myself.
I held her collar with one hand, opened her mouth with the other and tried to place the pill far back on her tongue, then I tilted her head back and stroked the front of her throat to entice her to swallow. Wahoo! Success on the first try--oh no, she didn't swallow it after all. I hope I don't have to continue this for the next month until all her pills are gone. Kudos to everyone who has to administer medication to someone else each day, human or pet wise.

Pets are delightful. We have dogs because Larry isn't a cat lover, but I had all kinds of pets growing up and I'm glad our kids had that experience as well.