Pop ice and wool rats all day long...

Today the weather is really hot after a few days with slightly lower temperature. I am starting to understand how you avoid being outdoors during daytime if you don't have to, or if you don't have an ocean close by to cool off in. The showers are taken cold and you are continuously cooling off with cool drinks and pop ice and more. In the afternoon I took Goshen for a stroll down the valley below but we both felt that the short tour was enough at that hour. Back at the house I filled a shopping bag of Shepherd winter fur, which right now is the never-ending story. She is loosing it and even when she just have been brushed we hunt Shepherd wool rats on the floor all the time, or Yoram to be more precise. I realise that going over the floor once a day has to be enough if not to become crazy. During the winter Yoram have had a very nice black and white rug on the floor, which of course is magnetic to Shepherd wool. Today the brilliant idea popped up that the rug is pretty unnecessary during the summer season, so it will be rolled up somewhere.

Goshen gets skin problems during the summer season, and no wonder, being bred for Northern European climate! She is already itching and I have to figure something out, because it is killing me to watch her. They have previously taken her to a vet and he has given her some treatment, which I assume has been very subjective and focused on the symptoms instead of finding a more holistic approach. Not all Shepherds have these problems just because they live in this kind of climate, so there is also some other reason. Skin disorders are in my experience caused by something off-setting the balance of the immune system, either of psychosomatic origin, or in connection to the diet, and they are not any different on animals than humans. Vets are also not different from human MDs and they often keep a very conventional attitude, where cortisone and antibiotics solve just about everything. We will start by taking her to the sea one day for a swim since the salty water is healing for the skin. Next step will be to look over her diet. It might be that the vet has already eliminated allergy as a cause, but nevertheless there are numerous cases where a change in diet has solved this kind of problem. She might need some allergy resistant human grade dog food, and we can also give here sour milk which refreshes the blood. To soothe the skin there are some options. We can try applying some Aloe vera or giving and oatmeal bath, although taking a Shepherd through an oatmeal bath is quite a project. But what will you not do for your beloved friend? Then of course I am hoping that she will be happier here with us where she will get more activation... A happy dog is a healthy dog!