Mary's suggestions

From the tradition and from the popular wisdom, thousand suggestions about the dog, our faithful friend. Here is an interesting collection of hints, by our friend Mary:

Against the odors.

The basic, simple heeds are: cleaning the dog and washing periodicaly the cushion or the cover that he uses.

A cup with vinegar near his bed will remove bad smells.

Put 225 g of bicarbonate in his crate to absorb the odors.

If the dog pongs much, go in an airy area and spill tomato juice on him before shampooing. Then rinse him with water and ammonia (2 or 3 spoons of ammonia in 4 liters of water), and then rinse again with water.

If he uses to sleep on the carpet, scatter it with sodium bicarbonate and then pass the vacuum cleaner.

If he pees on the carpet, tent suddenly with a cloth wet in hot water and soap. Rinse with an other cloth wet of water and lemon juice, then with water only and finally with ammonia.

If he dirties, clean with lemon juice and ammonia, then rinse with water and soap to remove any "fragrant trace."

To prevent the parasites.

To keep away the fleas you can put on his coat, periodicaly, a little brewer's yeast and then brush it carefully.

You can improve his diet with garlic and brewer's yeast.

You can wash frequently with salty water the corner of the house where his bed is.

It is sufficient some handfuls of fresh walnut leaves put in his crate. Otherwise, some drops of eucaliptus essence sprayed in his bed, or a little powder of walnut leaves and of wormwood's roots.

Once a week, chafe legs, belly, face, base of the tail with a wad soaked of vanilla essence. Attention to the dogs of white hair, because vanilla leaves sallow streakers.

To fight against the parasites.

Antifleas. You arrange a white wet cloth under the dog and comb his back first in the wrong way, and then in the toward of the hair. If there are fleas, their excrements will fall down on the cloth, leaving a brown reddish spot.

Wash periodicaly the dog with salty water and rinse him well, then put in his bed or under it some needles of fresh pine, or spread the bed fissures with salt.

Otherwise, you can spread the coat of the dog with thymus or essential oil of geranium or with sponges of apple vinegar.

Ideal insecticide is the rosmary water. After bathing and drying him, sponge the dog with a lotion obtained boiling half cup of rosmary in one liter of water.

You can rub his coat with lemon or orange rind.

Also penny royal leaves, under his collar, are useful.

To remove louse's eggs, bathe the dog every two weeks with a solution of water and a 5% of white vinegar: it is an excellent preventive care.

To remove mints, NEVER pull them away. Take a small wad of cotton soaked of ammonia, put it on the parasite and after some seconds pull off very softly, until the mint to detaches, so to avoid that the head remains under the skin. Otherwise, you can spread two drops of lemon, or oi, or alcohol on the parasite. Remember to disinfect the skin of the dog after removing the mint, to avoid the contaminations caused by the legs or the head that often remain fixed in the skin.

Wasp sting.

Put a compress of milled ice in a towel, to apply on the offended part.

General care.

Dry Shampoo: instead of dipping the dog in the water, you can chafe him with sodium bicarbonate, then brush him carefully; this cleanses and deodorizes. Use this method also when the weather is bad.

Rub very well with white flour and you then brush energetically.

If your dog has opaque hair, bathe him using lukewarm water with much coarse salt. Wash him quickly and dry him suddenly with the hairdryer and brush him.

It's better not to bathe too often. To keep him clean, it's enough that you chafe the hair with a white clout, lightly soaked with apple vinegar.

After each bath, the little dog's hair is all ruffled, full of knots. Before brushing the hair, massage him with balsam for hair. If the hair is dry, chafe it with talc; and comb the entangled points.

If he has long hair, before brushing him, smear him with oil and massage like it was a balsam, then brush loosening the knots. Then wash with care. Otherwise, you can rub him with a lotion of three parts of water and one part of olive oil. Shake well to emulsify. Then go on with the usual washing, and then a good balsam.

After washing the dog, to eliminate the residues of soap and the strong smell of the shampoo, add vinegar or lemon juice in the water of the last rinse.

The ears of dogs must not be washed with water and soap. Use a wad of cotton soaked with olive oil, instead.

An old filter for the tea in the waste outlet of the tub will avoid that the hair of the dog blocks it up.

Feeding the dogs.

Never feed hot food. Their food must always be lukewarm or cold. Hot food turn them aggressive.

Excellent reconstituent: the hair will become shinier if you add to his diet 1 egg or 30-45 ml of cod-liver oil, in the period of the moult.Otherwise you can add a carrot (raw or boiled) in pieces or grated, a spoon.

To add apple or pear to his diet, grate a little and mix it to his favorite food.

If at the end of the summer the dog sheds much, for some days add a spoon of olive oil to his favorite food. This will help him to expel the hair ingested when they lick theirselves. Give also a little milk with a little brewer's yeast blended.

Add to his food the water where you cook vegetables or pasta, the first is rich of vitamins and the second of starches.

Preserve the oil of the tuna cans and add it in the food of the dog to make it tasty.

Preserve the tubs of the butcher's shop: they are ideal disposable bowls.

While he eats, the bowl stirs and arouses noise. To keep it steady, apply two or three rods of rubber on the bottom.

Healthy dogs.

Teeth: Bones and hard food help dogs to maintain their teeth healthy. But never feed chicken bones or fish-bones.

Eyes: if they are swollen and reddened, try to put a cotton compress soaked with boric acid.

Diarrhoea: if, after a day of fast and removing milk and derived from his diet, it doesn't recover, mix a spoon of carob flour to his food.

Worms: smash a slice of garlic and boil it, just for one minute, in half liter of milk with just a little sugar. Two or three spoons every day, mixed in his food, will free him from these parasites.

To feed a pill: hide it in a greedy bit of meat. He will swallow it soon.

To protect the furniture.

If he bites the legs of the desks and of the chairs, give him a stick to nibble, and put a little carnation essence on the legs of the furniture. The smell and the bitter taste should take him away.

If he bites carpets and shoes: avoid the damages giving him a plastics bottle to nibble (mineral water ones) washed and empty. He will get used to play with that.

Scatter pepper on couches and easy chairs and then aspirate with vacuum cleaner.

When you go to the mountain with the dog, remember to put a bell in his collar. The jingle will remove reptiles.

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