I, too, have started to use Comfortis. This is the first year that I've been seeing fleas in, like, 10 years! I am a diligent user of Frontline Plus. My vet is really happy with it. I hated to give them a tablet for flea protection but they seem fine and the fleas are gone. My vet recommends alternating flea control to prevent resistance. We may go back to Frontline during the colder months.

I agree. For some reason, I don't mind picking up my dogs' poop or changing my grandkids' diapers. HOWEVER, We went to our cabin after it had been shut up for the winter and there were mouse dropping in the kitchen drawers. I couldn't stop gagging while cleaning that up.

A long haired dalmation for Trudy ( or a dalmation/springer mix) and a coon hound or pitbull mix for Grace - aaarrrgghh!

Just an update.....Grace has tested negative for any tick born diseases. I think her fading face color is just genetic. Daddy must have been a white pointer.

I just bought a bunch o stuff at gundogsupply. They are a good company. I also go to lioncountrysupply ( www. lcsupply.com ). They have some really nice leather collars and leashes and you can have a name plate attached. I usually get slide on name tags from Boomarang Tags because I can take them off of the old collars and put them on new ones.

When Trudy wants to, generally, go out, she looks at me with a smiley face and says "Huff, huff!" If I don't respond right away, she looks at me and tilts her head as if to say "Gee - what don't you understand about "huff huff"?" If she has to poop, she stand in front of me and moans. Grace aroos, does a tap dance and tries to lead me to the door.

Good luck and lots of jingles! I'm heart sick for you. If it's cancer, it may be something not aggressive that they could just remove.

Has any one ever heard of tick born diseases being connected with premature fading of face color? A friend of mine is convinced that early fading of face color can be connected with tick born diseases. My Gracie is 5 and her face is graying. She is a pale lemon color, so I just assumed that it was her genetics that is causing it. She's only 5 and healthy...but...she is a bird dog and goes out in the field with me. At the urging of this person, I had a complete tick panel done on her ($$$ ouch

I guess a complete tick panel is not a bad idea. Especially if you have a dog that is in the field. We will see what we will see. Grace is by no means ill right now. But it will be interesting to see if she has titers.

Wow, that's neat! I live in Three Oaks, MI, and we go to Grand Mere beach in the off -season but during the summer, there is nowhere else on the water. I would travel up to Saugatuck for an afternoon on the beach with the girls. During February we go down to the AL gulf coast and rent a house smack on the beach on Ft. Morgan Penninsula. It's wide open down there and dog friendly in the Winter. The beach goes for miles. I use e-collars and a whistle while on the beach. If they don't hear