A place to discuss natural treatment of parasites

Beekissed

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How did you not wring that idiots neck? What a mess that puppy was in. He sure looks different now, a living testament to your good care.

Bay, I was truly so angry I couldn't speak...there was another pup with this one, smaller and so weak she couldn't stand or hold up her head. After I left I kept wishing I had taken her, if only to put her out of her misery...she didn't look like she would even survive the trip home. This pup slept the entire 3 hour trip, he was that lethargic.

The more quiet I was, the more that guy talked...guess it made him nervous~from what he let slip, I'm guessing these two were part of an oops litter in a puppy mill situation(we met at a McDonalds, though he lived nearby). The puppy was free, so I wasn't contributing to all of that mess by giving the man any profit.

I was just standing there biting the inside of my cheek, praying for calm and the ability to not say what I wanted to say. My heart was just breaking for them both and I'm not a sappy animal hugger type, but anyone would have felt sorry for these pups. My first instinct was to leave without a single word to this man. God helped me hold my tongue and my anger in check and I prayed for the man on the way home. That's all the good I could do in that situation.

I knew nothing about sarcoptic mange but God guided me through it all and has brought this pup out on the other end, happy and healthy. He's a smart little dog, has responded well to correction....got his first lesson on chickens the second day he was here.
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In that first week he learned so much and responded so well to training that I was amazed. He's a very calm pup and eager to please.

This past weekend he really got to spend some time with the grandgirls and the rest of the family...I was impressed with his demeanor and how calmly he took it all, how well he minded and learned with all those distractions and extra people around.
 
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Beekissed

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Update on that pup....he's now with Ben full time in the invisible fencing, no signs of sarcoptic mange at all. He's shiny and getting a thick, full coat of hair and is still learning the ropes. He likes to pounce at the sheep, but Shine puts him in his place right away....Rose will stand and let him lick her butt when she's in heat. :rolleyes: He doesn't chase the chickens or ducks and he obeys most commands, though he's slow on coming when called at times...does it when he wants to, basically.

He's learning that dogs that don't come immediately do not get treats but the dog that does gets them all. We'll see if he can connect the dots over time. The other day he didn't come when I called him to breakfast....so it got put back in the dogfood tote and he went without.

The next day he was Johnny on the spot at breakfast time. ;)

He learned his electric boundary in one day...about 20 min. total. That boundary hurts! o_O

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In the pic below, the guys were up on the hill sighting in guns, so we brought Jeep down to the apple butter site and Mom fed him bits of weenie every time a shot was fired. He was calm throughout and doesn't seem to react at all to guns or loud noises, but he may start to pick up on Ben's anxiety about them over time.
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Beekissed

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He may be a runt and a skinny little dog for awhile...when they've been starved when little, it often takes a while to get meat on their ribs. Jake was like that, coming from a huge litter where the mother couldn't produce enough milk for them all...took me a few years to get his ribs from showing, no matter how good he ate. The vet said not to worry, some dogs are like that...he was right and Jake soon filled out and then I had to worry about him getting TOO fat.

Been watching Mr. Greg Judy's vids quite a bit on YT, learning about how he never deworms his sheep or cattle. Moving them to fresh graze and resting the grazed areas 45-60 days before putting them back in there and only letting them graze the top 1/3 of the plants. I'd like to follow that model when I get some good grass growing and figure out how to work my paddocks to be able to not overgraze but still be able to rest each section for the prescribed period of time. Might be possible with the space I have and then again, it may not, but it will be better than just open grazing, by far.

I think natural management is always like that, with multiple ways to decrease parasite loads and all working together towards a successful outcome. Breeding for parasite resistance or tolerance, culling those that don't stay in good condition when the others manage to do so, rotating and developing graze for optimal nutrition and providing healthy, clean soils on which to live.

I think natural management gets a bad rap when folks just give an herbal dewormer and expect that will take care of everything...I've seen vids like that on YT, where they just do that and nothing else, then proclaim that one cannot go without chemical dewormers in the end. The biggest mistake is thinking there is one cure all answer to illness and parasites in livestock~be it DE, herbal concoctions, garlic, ACV, Basic H, etc.

It takes work and planning to have a naturally healthy flock or herd and there's no easy fix or go around for that.
 

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