TO HELP MAKE YOUR LIFE A LITTLE BIT EASIER

I�ve gathered some ideas to help make your life a little bit easier when you�re looking for solutions to some of your pet questions.

Just because summer is now officially over (boo hoo) doesn�t mean that ticks and fleas are still not looking for tasty drops of your or your dogs blood to help sustain them through the cooler months. Nope these tiny, itty bitty �yuckies� are not going away just yet. If you plan on hiking with your dogs, still wear lighter colored clothes to make ticks stand out. Spray your clothes with a product like Repel�s Permanone which has a chemical called permethrin. You can also use a product containing oil of lemon eucalyptus such as Repel Lemon eucalyptus Insect Repellent to use on your skin. I spray my dog�s everyday with a mixture of Lavender Essence and water to help repel these and other �buggy� creatures.

The fleas are still biting so try dabbing a drop or two of lemon essential oil (like lemon balm or lemongrass) on the back of your dogs� neck and on his rump. The citrus oil contains a powerful chemical called linalool that is toxic to fleas but not to dogs. The fleas should move on.

For the persistent little buggers (fleas) that reside in your house, here�s a trick that seems to work. Salt�..it is the perfect de-bugger. Just sprinkle a liberal dusting on rugs and carpets, banish pets from the room for a few hours, and then vacuum thoroughly. Repeat twice a week as needed. Salt dehydrates flea larvae that hatch from eggs deposited deep in carpeting, arresting the insects� life cycle.

Has your dog put his nose where it doesn�t belong and got tangled with a skunk? Here are a couple of remedies to help your dog smell like a rose once again! Rub a can or two worth of beer into his coat, then rinse with water and bathe him with doggy shampoo to remove any beer scent. Beer�s yeast cultures will penetrate the skunk sprays� water resistant oils so the brew�s carbonic acid can dissolve them. Plus, the alcohol will kill odor causing bacteria, resulting in a fresh smelling dog once again. Then you can sit down and enjoy the rest of the �six pack� of beer knowing that all is well with your dog once again.

Another idea for a skunk smelling dog is to mix � cup of baking soda, 1 tsp. of liquid soap and 1 quart of hydrogen peroxide. Work it into the pet�s fur, then rinse. Caution � keep the mixture away from his eyes! Hydrogen peroxide neutralizes the sulfur compounds in a skunk�s spray to render them odorless, while the other ingredients leave fur smelling clean.

Got a dog that hates going for rides in the car because he gets sick all the time? All dogs love cookies, but give him one gingersnap cookie 10 minutes before you leave the house. If the trip will be a longer time, give him another cookie while en route. The ginger in the cookie will stimulate the flow of his digestive enzymes to help settle his stomach, so you both can get to the destination without an incident.

We all know that German Shepherds are notorious for shedding their fur all year long. They leave their calling card where ever they go from room to room. My house dog Amber has little area rugs that I put out for her to lay on. Well she also thinks that that is her invitation to lie on my bath rug as well. I hate that when she does that. The last thing I want to do when I come out of the shower is to step on a hairy bath rug. So I found an excellent and quick way to pick up the loose dog hair lying on my bath rug without using the vacuum cleaner that tries to eat the rug. I use my �squeegee� type �thing a ma gig� that I use to wipe away the excess water on the walls of my shower. I just take it and run it across the rug and like magic it gathers any of the loose hair so I can easily pick it up and throw it in the trash. Simple and it works!

Does your dog need to go on a diet? If cutting back his food consumption is leaving your dog begging for more, there are a couple of things that you can do. Try adding some vegetables like string beans or carrots to his daily meal. This way you won�t be adding very many calories and he�ll feel fuller. Also recommended by a vet, to slim him down while satisfying his appetite, gradually substitute 1/3 of his usual food portion with canned PURE pumpkin. The low-cal addition is high in fiber, which will prevent hunger pangs.

I hope you can use some or all of these tips to make living with your dogs just a little bit easier and without breaking the bank.