The Rudy has The Fleas

Oh. My. Goodness.

I'm feeling totally guilty and negligent about our little puppy this week because the poor guy has fleas.  This is a tragedy and also sending me into panic mode... I all but bug-bombed our home last night.

It started as a typical Wednesday night.  BF and I finished eating dinner and sat down on the couch to watch some tv with Rudy before heading to the gym.  The dog had been acting super jumpy and aggitated but we couldn't figure out what was going on.  Rudy had climbed in between BF and I on the couch and rolled over to have his "tummy rubs" that he loves so much.  As we were petting his stomach I noticed a single black dot that started to move.  I tried to pinch it out of Rudy's fur, but it was too quick.  I quickly jumped up and grabbed a flea comb from Rudy's box of stuff (more on that later) and ran back to comb through his fur.  Sure enough I found 3 live fleas!  BF told me that Rudy had been scratching his hind-end a lot earlier that morning but he didn't think much of it since we bathe him pretty regularly and give him monthly Frontline treatments from the vet.

We figured that Rudy must have got it from playing in fields of tall grass that we walk through on our evening walks with him.  Like I said, he's bathed regularly and given monthly flea treatments. None of the other dogs he plays with have them either, but I still cannot help but feel responsible.  He's itchy and uncomfortable and I just feel bad for him.

I immediately ran to the store and bought flea wash and spray for Rudy and carpet and upholstry spray for the house- who KNEW what had been infected.   And who knew that flea shampoo, spray and carpet spray would set me back about $40!  But I figure it was necessary.  We promptly threw Rudy into the tub and soaped him up generously.  As he was drying I took the carpet/upholstry flea spray and sprayed Rudy's bed, the couch, all of the areas Rudy like to hang out in and then under our bed because Rudy frequently crawls under there to sleep when he's tired of his own bed. 

Rudy getting a bath.  This wasn't from last night, but the only pathetic bath picture of him we have during a weekly bathing session.

It became a cleaning frenzy and I stripped our bed and washed all of our sheets, blankets, pillows and comforter with HOT water and a little bleach just in case any had found their way to our bed (even though Rudy is not allowed on the bed you never know... plus, like I said he's frequently under it).  Then I started pulling stuff out of corners in our room and dusting/vacuuming EVERTHING.  Once I was done with the bedroom and main living areas I took some bug spray and sprayed the perimeter of our place, our porch and around all of our windows (outside, of course). 

BF continued on to the gym, but I stayed behind and cleaned... once I get going on a project it's hard for me to break away until I finish!  I then moved on to the extra bedroom and started packing up items that BF and I are going to store (seasonal things that are taking up space but that we want to keep for holidays and for winter/cold months). 

By the time BF got home I felt much better about our situation.  Rudy was still a little itchy but I think all of the fleas are gone or on their death bed.

Meet Rudy

This is our adorable new puppy, Rudy, who has completely stolen my heart and now I know why people have bratty children... because I'm pretty much willing to give that dog anything.  But I won't, mostly.

BF found Rudy online from a nice family down in Southern Oregon.  They had posted an add with the newspaper to find homes for their litter of  Mini American Eskimo/ Yorkshire Terrier/ Maltese mix.  As soon as he saw pictures, BF called me while I was out running errands to tell me about this cute pup. We called the family and they agreed to bring him up to us while they were on their way to deliver one of his siblings to another family.  

We spent our whole weekend trying to keep it a secret from our families and gathering all of the necessary puppy supplies.  Man, having a pet is expensive, but totally worth it.  

Yesterday I got to pick Rudy up and I took him to work so I could grab my laptop and work from home the rest of the day.   Before taking him home I stopped by BF's school so he could see him first.  The class went wild so we had the kids wash their hands and then take turns petting Rudy.  I took him home and he explored the house for a couple hours and then we took a nap on the couch together. 

Last night went pretty smoothly.  I expected that he would be up most of the night since we are crate- training him and he is not used to sleeping alone in a crate, but he calmed down after a few minutes and only woke us up around 2am to be let out to go potty.  He slept until 6 this morning so we got a mostly uninterupted night's sleep. 

You may be wondering why we named him Rudy.  His original name is Sparky, which suited him fine, but BF and I decided a while back that if we got a pet we would name him Rudy and when BF saw his picture he knew that this was our Rudy.  Why Rudy?  Mostly it came from a joke.  BF and I were discussing movies one day and he was trying to think of  the actor that played Samwise Gamgee in Lord of the Rings, who also happened to star in the move "Rudy".  While wracking his brain for the actor's name (Sean Astin) he blurted out, "Rudy!  You know, Rudy... Sean... Ganjes...?"  I laughed so hard at this and teased him about it for a while. 

He's doing pretty good with housetraining (even though it's only been a day) and he already tries to warn us when he needs to go outside by whining and trying to get our attention but not wanting to play.  It tooks us a minute last night to realize that he didn't want to play but that he was trying to get our attention for some reason... and then we figured out why!  So now we know what to look for.

Rudy is a very intelligent little dog and we've already noticed some of his funny traits.  He knows who plays what role in the house and will run behind my legs when we meet new people.  He doesn't like linoleum floors and will avoid the kitchen as much as possible which I think is because it's a little slippery for him. 

We are so excited to have him!