Sometimes love hurts. When I was young, the pain associated with love came in adolescent dramas mostly created by massive fluctuations in hormones. These days, it comes with loving a creature who depends on me for protection. When he hurts, I hurt.
This, of course, is my dog, Tisen.
I like to think we provide the perfect home for him. We buy him special food. We feed him more vitamins than we feed ourselves. We walk him at least 2 miles every day. I work from home–he is rarely left home alone more than a few hours a week. We take him to doggie daycare twice a week just so he gets to socialize with other dogs.
We take him to dinner with us when weather and patios permit. We socialize with friends who invite him to come along. We drive him places. Sometimes, we put him in our van and drive about 100 feet away to our favorite breakfast joint and let him hang out in the van while we eat just so he doesn’t feel like he was left behind.
We also provide gentle training and positively reinforce that he is not at the top of the hierarchy in our house. He does not seem confused on this point.
Although, he does still get quite upset when I leave, he’s handling it much better. When we go out without him, we put his portable bed by the door so he has a comfy place to lay and when we come back, he’s still laying there, right next to the door.
We take him hiking and backpacking too, when we go.
I can’t imagine life for a dog gets a whole lot better than life with us. I guess he could long for a fenced yard to run in. But, I recently learned that when I drop him off at doggy daycare so he can run free and play with other dogs, he finds a hiding place where he can curl up and take a nap.
Yet, in spite of all these things, Tisen is chewing on himself. It starts with licking. Then, the hair starts to dissolve. Next, the skin becomes a bright red, raw sore against his white fur. That’s when he starts chewing.
I cannot help but get upset when I see pink irritation in his skin or when he wakes me up scratching in the middle of the night. I don’t know what more to do about his allergies. We’re waiting for his latest test to come back. This one will hopefully tell us what he’s allergic to.
In the meantime, I decide to make a video. Ever since I made the jump to my 5D Mark III, I’ve been spent my time on still images. I literally forget sometimes that it even has the capability to shoot videos. Tisen is perplexed by me constantly pointing the camera at him, but at least it distracts him from the itching for a while.
nomadicmainstream 
Poor Tysen.
One of my dogs sometimes gets hot spots too, so I can understand what you’re going through. I bought a special dog shampoo bar for a local craft fair and it really helped Casper. It was 100% natural Citronella and Tea Tree dog shampoo bar
Thanks! I don’t know which one of us feels worse. Thanks for the tip–will definitely check that out!
I am so sorry Tison is having hot spots. My cat used to chew on himself every autumn until all the hair around his tail was gone. It was pitiful. I hope you find out what is causing it. That was a very sweet video. I enjoyed watching Tison. xx
Aww, poor kitty. It’s tough to deal with–I wish there were an easy answer. I’m trying really hard to keep him off steroids. Glad you enjoyed the video!
the vet told me that it was either his nerves or allergies. They wanted to try him on valium. I refused for obvious reasons. I want Xander to be able to be himself. So I finally agreed on the allergy shot. and it never happened again. Yes, I love looking at Tison. I am still debating on getting Sasha a little sister to play with. Her play frined hasn’t been around for a long time. I don’t know what has happened. But she is bored again. I wish I was as adventurous as you, and could take her neat places lol
He is an entertaining dog. I got him a sweater for the winter. Of course it’s too warm for him now, but wait ’til you see him!
Maybe you can come up with a job for Sasha so she’s not bored. Put a couple of sheep in the yard and see if she likes to herd! 😀 We had a dog that liked to chase remote control cars around the house. But, he was a 225 pound Mastiff, so that didn’t really work out so well for the house or the car. 🙂
lol, I think I might try the remote control car thing! She isn’t interested in stuffed animals. I buy her plenty. But once she smells it all over and rolls it over a few times, she loses interest. She is a really interactive dog. She is happy when she is able to play with other dogs. I have been talking to my son and seriously plannign on getting her a little sister. I have bought Sasha two sweaters. But both didn’t work out. She is just too large for clothes. If I get another smaller dog, then I plan on lots of clothes! Tison has stole my heart with his little personatily. I am sure a lot of it is because of his “parents” 😉
This makes me want to cry to see him like this. He is so special. I hope you can find out more.
Thanks. I wish I could get him to stop licking his sore spots. We’re still waiting on his test results, but trying a new supplement to see if it helps.