Living with a Labrador

Every month I go through a personal struggle related to poisoning my dog. Specifically I’m speaking about flea & tick and heartworm medication. I have Brodie on both medicines, but I hate it. I justify it in my mind always with the following internal dialogue:

Heartworm – as much as he swims and is exposed to open bodies of water he has an increased exposure to mosquitos therefore heart worm. A ‘tax’ (if you will) on his swimming life, he is forced to pay it by consuming one heartworm tablet per month. I know in my mind the risk and reward is balanced. He is exposed and he needs to take the tablets to protect against getting a horrible canine disease.

Canine heartworm

Flea & tick – as active as Brodie’s lifestyle is; running, parks, travel, etc… he is exposed to fleas & ticks everywhere. Earlier in his life before putting him on this regimen, I removed some very large ticks from his belly. So I know, that he is exposed, at perhaps a higher level than most backyard dogs.

Flea

The internal dialogue in my mind justifies giving him these medicines. BUT my heart drops to every time I FORCE myself to dispense him the doses. Its sad, Brodie pouts, he slinks around and rubs his back all over every surface that is his height to try to rub off the liquid poison that I place directly on his skin. When I give him the tablet he looks at me with a soulful set of eyes and forces himself to chew the tablet – knowing that I am standing there waiting for him to consume it. The emotional factor of dispensing and consuming these meds weighs heavily on both of us. I carry my guilt around for a day or two, but then it’s forgotten for another 28 days.

This struggle is monthly and I hate it. Brodie has a wide variety of emotional expressions and I take them too much to heart. I am also aware that he likely is reading and playing off of my emotions and giving me the response I want versus something that is genuine from him. I GET ALL OF THAT – but even in my ‘aware’ state, I still struggle giving him these meds. I ‘feel’ like I am poisoning my dog – that is the core of the issue. Every month I make sure my emotions are overridden by the logical fact that a dog as active as him needs these medicines to sustain his active and healthy lifestyle. In the end, I chose poison and therefore a healthy Labrador.