Woof! How are all ya doing?  Not sure about where your yard is located, our yard has been sunny and warm.  While that I am happy that the sky is not sad and is bright and cheery, it is getting warm out there.  Ya know, us Lhasa Aspo’s and Shih Tzu’s, we wuv cooler temperature.  Of course there is crazy Mom that is just dancin’ all over the yard because it is warm out.  Go ahead Mom, we will watch ya from the shade of this tree while you do your thing.

 

Furiends, on a serious note, Mom is not the only one that loves warmer temperatures.  Grrr, do I even dare mention these annoying dudes?  Grrr, fleas and ticks; there I barked it out!  Oh, how I dread those bad dudes.  They make us itch, can bring disease and illness into our lives, they are just nasty.  Back off flea bag, my Mom is ready for you and you are not welcomed in our house or yard.  Are your parents ready to send fleas packing?  Are your parents prepared to fight them to the death, keeping you safe?

Remember my sister and BFF, Buffy?  If you read my book (Of course you did, you wanted my paw print made out to you.  What?  You haven’t read it, here you go, I will send you my paw print just for you.), as you know about Buffy; Mom did a lot of research and found out that the stuff you can buy in stores is just bad for us.  Oh sure, fleas and ticks pack their bags and head for the hills; for us dogs, not safe.  Our Mom wasn’t going to put us at harm and found other ways to keep those nasty creepy crawlers off us.

The one thing that Mom does, we aren’t over the top for it, apple cider vinegar (ACV).  May I just say it tastes awful, it is just plain sour.  Yuck!  Well, it turns out, fleas and ticks do not like the taste of ACV either.  Mom gives us a cap full of unfiltered ACV in our food every day, this makes our blood sour.  Let’s keep this straight, our blood tastes sour not us; Mom says that we are made of sugar and a little spice.  BOL Any bark, fleas and ticks do not like sour tasting blood, which means we are not their meal.  Yeah!  Also, she will spray ACV on us before and after our walks.  A few months ago, I pawed up more about ACV for keeping fleas and ticks at bay, check it out.

What I want to share is Mom found other safe and healthy ways to keep fleas away from us.  She says that we smell like an orange or lemon with this method; not sure why she thinks this is so Grr8, we are dogs after all.  Just like ACV, fleas and ticks do not like citrus.  Hmmm, I have to admit, it does smell refreshing.  Now I watched her the other night, here is what she did; she took this round yellow ball, I believe she called it a lemon, and cut it into quarters.  She then made water very hot and bubbling, again another funny name called boiling water; she poured this very hot water over the lemon quarters, told it to stay over night.  Is it me; or, was that crazy to tell water to stay?  Guess what?  When we woke up the next morning, the water with the lemon was there!  Whoa!!!  She sprayed it all over us; tummy, behind our ears, tails, back.  The only place she did not spray it, close to our eyes, she said it would hurt and make us cry.  Thanks Mom, I don’t like my eyes to leak. 

Have you ever heard of Rosemary?  I went out into the yard, howled for her and she didn’t come.  Mom said that rosemary will be helping; not sure how rosemary will help when she doesn’t come when howled for?  Of course, I became weary after hours of howling and went to Mom, letting her know that rosemary wasn’t coming.  She then shared that rosemary was a herb not the name of a furiend.  What the kibble!  Why didn’t she just share that?  (shaking my head and tail in disbelief).  Turns out, rosemary will help keep fleas away. Once again, Mom made the water very hot and anger, she added this herb called rosemary. She added a lot, must have been two cups and it was fresh too, have to admit the house smelled pawonderul.  After what seemed like a very long time, must have been thirty to forty-five paw taps, she removed the pot of the stove.  After it cooled, she removed the rosemary and poured it over us.  Whoa!  No one told me that I was going to get wet in the flea packing exercise.  And, she let the air dry us; no towels, no loud machines, just air.  Mom said we smelled good enough to eat.  Hmm, don’t we always?  

While our Mom is crazy at times, she crazy about keeping fleas and ticks off us and not letting us be their meal.  She is crazy about keeping us healthy and safe.  How about your parents?  Has your parents ever used lemons or oranges for flea control?  What about rosemary water for flea control.  Would wuv to hear how your parents battle these bad, nasty fleas and ticks.

Time to go and get my lemon spritz for the day

 

Mr MaGoo