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I typically only see flea collars on animals in really poor areas. Not entirely sure why. I'm thinking it's probably a combination of cost and lack of knowledge. Granted, that was also back when you couldn't even get topicals without going to a vet.

This ^^^ A true to standard apbt is like the least human aggressive breed ever. 99% of "pitbulls" are simply poorly bred mutts. Now, if you're looking for a dog with the tenacity and strength to take down a wild hog, they're awesome. But humans? Nah. Human aggression was an undesirable trait...

For *me* going med free is cheaper. $40 every 6 months to test. Heartgard for big dogs (remember, my lab is the small dog at 75-80 pounds!) is insanely expensive. For 6 months, I'm looking at $150-200 (depending on where I get it and such). Ouch! But I don't do preventative worming at all...

Also - while NOT advised to risk it, heartworms usually take *years* to kill a dog. Caught early (again, regular testing!) they are much easier and less risky to treat. So when I got Stella, the senior white Shepherd mix girl, another dog came in with her. A bald from fleas cairn terrier. Also...

Here's the thing that a lot of people over look, headgard and similar products don't really prevent heart worm. They prevent the heart worm from maturing into adults. The adults are what's deadly. If you test at appropriate intervals, heartgard can be given if the there are larvae. Killing...

Oh, and spiked collars serve a real purpose, as well as things like prong collars. I think @JanS has used them in the past to protect against wolf attacks. They can also work against coyotes and other dogs if you live in an area with a stray dog problem or just a problem with poorly trained out...

Oh. And back to ticks. My mom let's her hens run the property quite a bit and they're still just awful this year. Unfortunately, they can't be out when the one dog is. She already nabbed one out of the coup! No clue how she did it, but she got the latch open, grabbed one of the chickens and ate...

Opossums do as well. We have a healthy population of them as well. I like opossums though, I know most people don't. @Ddski5 - because of your location, I would stick to heart worm prevention. It's not worth the risk in such a place with so many mosquitoes and such a high amount of heartworm...

Not when it comes to mosquitos. Heart worm is always more prevelant in denser populated areas. The mosquitos have to bite an infected dog and then bite your dog. So a lot of dogs, in close proximity, with a bad mosquito problem is a recipe for heartworm. Especially in poorer cities where many...

I don't intentionally make my dogs look mean, but I don't try to make them overly approachable either. But I grew up with dogs serving a purpose. My mom's first dobermans were protection dogs as she was young, single and lived in Detroit. There's no reason strangers need to pet my dogs. And...

Because I'm way out of the city now, we don't do heart worm meds. I just try to keep the mosquitos from biting them in the first place. If I was still in the city (much higher risk) or the south, I'd likely change my protocol. We test a few times during summer and have never had an issue. And...

I just don't let the dogs up stairs ;) ours are pretty steep, too. Totally normal for the age of house. The only times I take them upstairs is for baths and I make them go in front of me. I have enough issues with setps without a dogs intereference :p

Oh yes, the lovely " omg, wtf was I thinking?!" Stage. Then they do something adorable and you remember why. In all fairness, I still wonder wtf I got myself into my Kaizer. I didn't really expect him to outweigh me. Lmao. Figured he'd be bigger than a pure dobe. But crikey. And he's still not...

As a puppy, this is probably ok. But as an adult, chewing ice has been shown to lead to stress and micro fractures of the teeth. Crazy. I know. But often times ice is harder than bones, especially small bones. Variances are a given, such as how cold the freezer is. Colder freezer = harder ice.

Doberbeastmutts coat is shiny where's it's short but not so shiny where it's longer and more rott-like. But his coat is weird. He has the longer almost wavy coat just down the center of his back. Makes him look wicked when he raises it. Kinda reminds me of a hyena. One day I'll remember to get...

Oh, and watch for signs of dehydration. Keep a close eye on eating and eliminating. As well as energy (I know, hard to gauge with seniors). If you get any incling something's up, I'd go to the vet. But that's just me. I'm paranoid when it comes to infections - mostly because the sooner they...

A lot of people don't. I had to learn it the hard way after I got a nasty burn on my arm and got lectured by my Dr for pouring peroxide on it. Lol. Oh. And Dr. Google says normal temp is 101 to 102.5 but I'm not certain how accurate that is. @Tropicalbri's probably knows.

I don't remember what normal temp is off the top of my head. High or low would be problematic, though. And no more peroxide! It damages healthy tissue. No alcohol either. Clean soapy water is honestly sufficient.

My phone must be flaking because I only see the picture a few comments up with a hand in it ... So ignore me :p I'd still check for a temp though. Just to be safe.

Hmmm. A hole like that makes me think infection. Can you take her temp?