Poor Bailey.
Norwegian Elkhounds are prone to "skin tags" and sebaceous cysts, and he gets them everywhere. Not all of them become bothersome, but many of them do. The cycle usually goes something like this: New cyst forms. The "tag" begins to itch or irritate Bailey. He licks and/or scratches it until it begins to bleed. One of every three of those becomes infected or just plain messy.
After one particularly messy and horrible infection (which involved a late night trip to the emergency vet), I was given an e-collar to keep Bailey from licking the wound. He absolutely hates that thing, and makes every effort to ram it into everything he can - the wall, furniture, me, the ground, etc.
So after my brother used the "
ProCollar" on
Casey, I decided that purchasing one for Bailey would be a wise investment (although these things are overpriced, and I had to get the largest size. Bailey is certainly not an "extra-large" dog, as he is only about 45 pounds).
The collar is a little large, but the way it attaches makes it almost impossible for him to get it off anyway. I by no means imagine he is enjoying wearing it, but he most certainly hates it far less than the standard plastic e-collar.
Because of the price (I paid $36.99 + tax), I would not recommend this to any pet owner who does not have a pet that frequently needs to be kept from licking/scratching. However, I do recommend this product to pet owners like myself, who have pets with chronic skin conditions, and or anyone who's pet would be required to wear an e-collar for longer than 6 weeks.
The ProCollar is available at Petco (although not my local Petco), PetSmart (where I bought mine), Drs. Foster and Smith and Amazon.
In an effort to have a little fun, Kathy suggested we have a white elephant gift exchange during our annual Thanksgiving luncheon. This took place yesterday. The usual potluck luncheon was Randy's Pizza, and the white elephant gift exchange had special rules. You were to bring the most bizarre thing unearthed from your office, and it had to be wrapped with materials from your office, too. My lovely gift is pictured right. I kept calling it a terradactyl, but Matt corrected me. "It's a dragon Tracey!"
I was so delighted to find that Max accompanied Jim to work yesterday. I've only seen him once or twice since he was a puppy, and he's such a charming dog. Jim says he's part Border Collie and maybe part Pointer. I think he looks a little like the dog in "Mad Max 2 The Road Warrior," which is said to be a Blue Heeler (or Australian Cattle Dog). He didn't come from a breeder, so I suppose he could be a Border Collie/Pointer/Blue Heeler mix, right? You be the judge. Photos of Max today (right), puppy Max (1st pic below), a Blue Heeler and an English Pointer (2nd photo below) are posted here.
Jen and I drug ourselves out of bed very early (for us) on Saturday to participate in the Eve Carson Memorial 5K for Education. When we first arrived at Polk Place, the atmosphere was rather subdued, perhaps in part because of the early hour. I had expected there to be a gazillion people there, and there was, in due time.
