Hives Are Not Just For Bees

Crazy Daisy was really off the wall during the holiday week-end. Of course she was excited to see Annie and the boys. She loves to chase Skylar and Michael. No, let me re-phrase that - they chase her. But in the middle of all of the fun, Daisy was not so happy.

The yard man mowed the yard Friday evening. At first I was happy and thought so would be Lady and Daisy. Lady was. After all the grass was over my ankles, so just imagine how high it was on her. The weeds which is most of the yard were even higher. Daisy has gotten to the point where she will not even go around the back of the building. Don't laugh, but there have actually been times when I carried her to the edge so she could walk over to the ground at the fire station to do her business. Daisy all but refuses to do her business in the grass anymore. She would rather walk all the way down the neighborhood street and do it there. We have been having some arguments about this because she is easily distracted due to people driving off to work or school buses or even the neighbors outside. Don't even ask how you argue with a dog.

Saturday Daisy started acting funny. She was either bouncing from chair to chair or running up the stairs. At first I didn't give it much thought. Plus she was constantly scratching. Poor baby. She usually scratches a lot in the summer. I frequently have to give her Benadryl so that she can sleep. Suddenly early in the evening, I was horrified to see that she was literally covered with huge bumps almost everywhere. Her back, belly and head were covered. Even her head and face had them. This was the worse case of hives she had ever had. I don't know if it was the grass, creatures in the grass, or all the excitement, but I came within minutes of taking her to the emergency vet. She was miserable. I quickly gave her Benadryl, hoping it would kick in quickly. I grabbed her and ran upstairs to put her in a soothing cool bath which calmed her a lot. She kept looking at me pleading for me to make it stop.

Finally the medicine started to act and she calmed down a little. I continued to watch her hives. Gradually they decreased in size and intensity. It took nearly two days for the hives to completely go away. Now she has recovered and is back to normal. This is Daisy and normal is a relative term. However we are now back to the tug of war. Down the street or near the parking lot, which would you pick? We are again in a battle of wills. I refuse to walk all the way down the street at 10:00 at night and she refuses to squat any where near anything green. At this point I am hoping first, for some rain to wash the grass and weeds and second, for fall so that the growing season will end thus making all the stuff die off. Come on Fall! Only then will we have some peace. Only then will I have the upper hand in convincing her that the ground is safe.