Heidi Improved Today

The day started the normal pace of slow but by the end of the day a lot was done. There was a wide range of activity, except housework :) There is always tomorrow for that. :) :) Tonight is movie night and the feature is The Revenant. I was really surprised it was not sold out since it was released only yesterday. Usually movies that popular are sold out by the time the DVD is on the shelf.

The hounds napped, ate lunch. I did a little more reading about dog yeast infections that Heidi was diagnosed in December 2014. As you remember last Friday we changed her food to Grain Free Earthborn Great Plains Feast ... and the important change was NO POTATOES, sweet or white, then of course no grains. As far as shampoos go, it was suggested none of the oatmeal shampoos ... of course I missed that some way when I read the article in December 2014.

Sadie and Stella are being taught NOT to go down the driveway. In this case I am going to the mailbox by the highway. They are never allowed in the front yard just because of the highway. They are getting better and will stop when I yell "no". If thy get 1/4 of the way down, I go back up immediately and take them inside.

I looked on Chewy and Amazon at different dog shampoo, plus customer reviews. Something called Burt's Bees struck me as something to try. One blend even had green tea but that was for calming. I was wanting something to relieve the itching, plus good for her skin. I came up with this. I was about to place an order on Amazon but just in the nick of time I held off ... because I was heading to "WallyWorld" to pick up that movie for tonight, some groceries and some other house stuff.

I never look at dog stuff at WallyWorld ... but there it was. Almost $3 cheaper than Chewy and Amazon, plus 3 different kinds of Burt's Bee Shampoo to choose from. Needless to say, my shopping trip was a success.

By the time I arrived home, I blocked the bloodhounds from jumping in the back of my FJ on top of my groceries ... I decided to give Heidi a bath. She needed it. I had put on some Aloe Vera gel on those hot spots this morning. She had a lot of skin residue from her scratching ... she needed to be shampooed, not just soaked in Epsom Salts and rinsed.

For readers that started reading the blog in the past six months, this skin issue is nothing new. When I bought her from GABR in June 2012, she had minor skin issues but that just went crazy in September 2014. You can click different labels on the right lower sidebar to read about all the issues and treatment.

This is nothing new. Basically everything has been tried from 4 different vets, dog food, shampoo, etc ... it's all there on the side bar to read.

This photo was taken within 30 minutes after her bath, so the skin still shows some redness, possibly from the shampoo and warm water but it looked much better soon after we started the walk.

The shampoo worked really well. Her skin really clean up well and those ugly looking rear hocks were soft and clean. After getting her almost dry I figured she could dry off faster with a little exercise so we were out the door for the late afternoon walk. After the walk, she traded itching nonstop for sleeping ... so she must feel a lot better after her bath.

She took off  on the walk right from the start, had a big lead, tail wagging ... that shampoo must have helped with feeling clean again. During this walk she trotted and ran more than any other time since she started to join us again. I will also have a clean skin surface when I try the Wounded Warrior Ointment when it arrives in the mail either tomorrow or Thursday.

I noticed on the walk that her legs, stomach and tops of her paws were a natural tan color. Her rear stomach was all clean and nothing irritated, it was almost a pale tan just as it should be. The only marks on her stomach were on the sides where she had scratched herself raw. Her armpits looked great as well as under her neck. There was no redness or allergy type irritation.

So with normal color skin, more energy and a lot more active around the house ... 3 days since we started making her go into the field to walk, she has shown more improvement than I can remember.

Of coarse Stella lagged behind a couple of times to get her running in. I'm sure she does that just so she can run ... she loves it.

Some more good news. I was gone for almost 3 hours and Stella must have slept the whole time I was gone because there was ZERO damage when I got back. She has been on a good streak but those trips were 45 minutes to an hour and a half, nothing this long. So slowly but surely her separation anxiety is getting better.

While Heidi trotted home, Sadie even got into the running act and did a little herself toward the end of the walk. I can tell she is losing weight this month. That's good for her and her hips as she ages.

I had my oil changed in the Toyota FJ while I shopped ... I was asked if I wanted to sell it when I went to the counter to pay and get my keys. Surprising they would ask that, since there are dirt footprints from the hounds, a lot of dog hair and a lot of bloodhound drool on the dash. I have another car for carrying passengers, the few I have ...  the very few in fact ... so the FJ can get "lived in" all it wants. I told him it was a great vehicle and no desire to sell it.

It's a beautiful early evening here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.