Happy at the Dog Park

I love this photo. Mocha’s resting on the grass after a fun day of fetch at the dog park.

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A Doggie Nap with Cabbie

After a day at the dog park, Mocha curled up to take a nap with Cabbie. Awww.

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Doggie Pool at the Dog Park

Bark bark bark! Woof woof woof. Woof woof woof. Woof woof woof. Rowr.

Woof woof woof. Yip! Woof woof woof. Woof woof woof? Woof woof bark.

Woof woof woof bark! Snort. Woof woof woof. Whimper whine whine. Woof woof woof. Woof woof woof. Woof woof woof. Bark bark bark!

Woof woof woof? Snort. Woof woof woof.

Translated from Dog:

Oh boy, what fun! Daddy took me to the dog park today. I made a new friend – a German Shepard puppy. He was such a puff of fur that I wanted to chase and dominate him. heh.

My new friend likes to roll around in the mud as much as I do. Oh boy! It was a hot day and the mud was so cool & refreshing. How could we not resist? Daddy didn’t seem to like that though.

Then my new friend jumped into… the water! Gasp. There was a doggie pool at the dog park. I don’t think I like the water. But this water was different. It wasn’t loud and scary and cold and coming at me really fast. It was cool & refreshing, like the mud. What fun!

I wonder if the water at the dog beach is just as cool & refreshing? Hmmm. Maybe next time I’ll try to play in it too.

P.S. What a bummer, I didn’t get a chance to take any pics of Mocha in the doggie pool. But I got him playing with some other dogs. Check out the goofy face on that brown fellah. hehe.

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How to Remove a Tick From a Dog

After returning from the dog park, we found a tick on Mocha’s head today. He must have picked it up from the grass or something.

As soon as we found it, we looked online for some ways to remove ticks. Here is the method that we followed:

Removing a Tick from a Dog

What you will need

• Tweezers
• Gloves, like latex dish washing gloves
• Antiseptic ointment or solution
• Tissues
• Scotch tape

What to do

1. Get your dog into a comfortable position where he can’t move or jump around too much. We needed two people to do this – one to hold down & distract Mocha, and the other to pull the tick out. Depending on how jumpy your dog is, I’m not sure if one person could do this as easily.
2. Put on the gloves. Ticks can transmit diseases, so it’s best not to catch some kind of weird tick virus. Unless it’s a radioactive tick that can give you super powers or something. That would be cool.
3. Gently grasp the tick with the tweezers. Try to nab it on the head, or as close to your dog’s skin as possible.
4. Pull the tick out slowly. Pull it straight out. Don’t twist or turn, and don’t pull too hard. Those actions can break the body from the head, leaving it lodged in your dog. If you do accidentally break the tick in two, try to remove the head with the tweezers. (Don’t worry if you can’t remove it all; it’s not life threatening. Your dog’s immune system will react naturally, causing a bump that will recede over time. But if you’re really worried, consult your vet just to be safe.)
5. Put the tick into the tape. Fold the tape in half over the tick. It should be stuck in the tape now.
6. Flush the tick down the toilet bowl (assuming you didn’t roll up a huge drain-clogging wad of tape) or smash the tick between two hard objects, like rocks. Smash it good. That sure felt good, didn’t it?
7. Bath the wound with antiseptic and wipe away any blood, if there is any. And you’re all done! Tick removed.
8. Oh, and don’t forget to wash your hands thoroughly. Then clean the tweezers with isopropyl alcohol or hold them over a flame. This will make sure any of those weird tick viruses are dead dead dead.

We were able to remove the tick from Mocha successfully with these steps. I couldn’t tell if I had all of the tick though. The little bastard was so engorged on Mocha’s blood that I accidentally squished it as I pulled it out. It looked like I had its head, though I couldn’t tell for certain.

I also heard that these tips could work too, though I haven’t tried them yet:

• Cover the tick with some kind of oil or Vaseline. This supposedly suffocates the tick and forces it to let go.
• Apply some nail polish remover onto a cotton ball and rub it gently on the tick. This apparently suffocates or freaks it out enough to let go too.
• Apply some WD40 onto a cotton ball and rub that on the tick. I guess this is a variant of the first two alternatives.

Those alternatives sound easy enough. I’ll give them a shot the next time we find a tick on Mocha. If you try them out, please let me know if they work or not. Thanks!

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Mocha’s Lesson of the Day: Don’t Agitate Pit Bulls

Today, Mocha learned a valuable lesson. Don’t agitate pit bulls.

At the dog park, Mocha can be a rambunctious fellah. He loves to run around so much that he’ll either chase other dogs, or incite them to chase him. It’s kind of funny to see. He’ll run around or paw at a dog, then leap away and look back to see if the dog is going to chase him. If the other dog doesn’t, he kinda makes a long face, then looks for another dog to incite.

Unfortunately, he hasn’t yet learned which dogs will put up with his crap and which dogs won’t.

We hit the big dog park today, just to mix it up a bit. Mocha can play a little too rough with the small dogs. Since he’s faster than most of them, he often overtakes and tramples them into the dirt. So I thought he needed to meet some big dogs.

The big dogs are usually faster than Mocha. So right away, he learned how the small dogs. How’s that dirt taste? Payback’s a bitch, huh boy?

Most big dogs are generally pretty chill, more so than yappy little dogs. I wonder why that is. The smaller the dog, the more insecure he is. Seems to be a general rule in the dog world.

When Mocha began agitating this large pit bull, the pit bull ignored him. “Go away, little one,” he seemed to say. But Mocha was relentless. He kept pawing and leaping away, pawing and leaping away. He even playfully snapped at the pit bull a few times.

Snapped? Nuh uh. Homey don’t play that.

The pit bull turned to face Mocha. As Mocha leapt away with a goofy grin on his face, the pit bull started after him. Oh boy, a chase! A short-lived one at that. The pit bull quickly caught up with Mocha, cornered him by a fence, and bit him on the neck. Not hard enough to break the skin, just hard enough to take Mocha down and show him who’s boss.

“Told you to stop bothering me,” the pit bull growled. Mocha whimpered as he was dragged into the ground with his tail between his legs.

And that’s what you get when you agitate pit bulls.

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Mocha’s New Girlfriend

Mocha’s got a girlfriend! Mocha’s got a girlfriend!

Over at the dog park today, Mocha couldn’t get enough of this gray female mutt named Princess. They were running all around the park together. Sometimes he’d chase other. Other times, she’d chase him. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera with me, so I have no pics of the bitch.

That’s right, I said bitch. Big whoop, wanna fight about it?

I hope Mocha gets to see his little Princess again someday soon. Those two were too cute. And maybe next time, I’ll have my camera.

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First Visit to the Dog Park

Today was a big day for Mocha. Today was the day we went inside the dog park.

We tried to get into the dog park yesterday too, but Mocha seemed too timid for that social interaction. As we approached the park, he began barking wildly at the other dogs. This incited them to bark back. It was a total bark fest. A bark orgy. Barkstock, sans hippies, and lots of barking.

He seemed so uncontrollable that we ended up walking over to a patch of open grass elsewhere. With the leash still on, we ran him around in circles. The big goofy grin on his face told us that he loved that.

So today, I tried again. This time, I discovered that there are two dog parks – one for big dogs and one for small dogs. Yesterday, we were at the big dog park. The small dog park seemed like a better place to acclimate Mocha. So onward we went.

Mocha’s verdict?

He loved it. Parkstock, sans hippies, and with all the love.

There were just a few small dogs there. One of them loved to run as much as Mocha did. And boy does Mocha love to run.

He was apprehensive at first. His tail was tucked between his legs and he wouldn’t leave my side. There was lots of nervous barking too. But once the atmosphere calmed down, he started to socialize. Then he started to run. And run and run and run. Run Mocha run!

I imagine this is how parents feel when they see their kids at the playground, playing with other kids. A rush of pride swept through my bones. My grin matched Mocha’s. “Damn, I’m a good parent,” I thought to myself humbly.

As soon as we got home, Mocha conked the heck out. Collapsed right on the floor. Too bad I didn’t have my camera at the dog park. At least I got a shot of him sleeping blissfully, with happy dreams of running at the dog park.

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