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I know many of you have a dog or dogs, so hoping you can shed some light as to the reality of having one in the Charleston area (MP specifically) and how you deal with the "critters".
Obviously, SC isn't the only area you have to be careful - we have ticks that carry Lyme disease here, fleas and skunks, racoons, etc.
Not having had a dog since a child, I learned the hard way that we have to be careful when my husband let our dog out off leash (with him tagging along) in our small fenced courtyard here. A skunk was in the courtyard, and our dog attacked it or vice versa and our dog killed the skunk. After a series of rabies shots, it's not an experience we want to repeat.
So, we hope to have a house with a smallish yard which would be grassed and fenced. Experience tells me fences don't keep out the critters. My husband thinks he is going to just "let the dog out" at night to do her business and I tell him I don't think that's wise after what happened to us, and with the added critters down there - copperheads, etc.
So.... how do you all with dogs handle this? How do you protect them?
We've taken to walking to a small "park" near our home for her "business" - day and night, and never let her out in the the backyard anymore other than during the day where the only thing to worry about is the occaisional squirrel.
You're over thinking this. You have a grassy fenced in yard, your dog will be fine.
Agreed, we have gators frequently, so she's on a lead. (no fences) No problem in over a year. It IS irritating when she digs out near the house and then hunkers down in the sand, how can you fix that? (besides eliminate the digger)
Agreed, we have gators frequently, so she's on a lead. (no fences) No problem in over a year. It IS irritating when she digs out near the house and then hunkers down in the sand, how can you fix that? (besides eliminate the digger)
We have a small fenced in yard and have a doggy door. My dog goes in an out all hours of the day and night and we have never had a problem. We did have a big snake by the door once, but it wasn't a venomous one and it slithered away before our dog went out.
Lyme disease shouldn't be too much of a concern here. My dog has lyme disease and my vet said he only sees it in dogs that came here from the north. You probably don't have to worry about skunks either. I'm pretty sure there are skunks here, but I have not seen one. I think I smelled one once (at least I think it was a skunk). My dog was sprayed by one up north when she decided she wanted to play with one.
You're over thinking this. You have a grassy fenced in yard, your dog will be fine.
Yeah, a fenced yard (6 or 7' privacy fencing) is sufficient, in most residential neighborhoods you aren't going to have a lot of animals getting in a 6' fence.
Good grief....you are worrying to much over this. Get over it and move on to something productive to assist in the move. Save the energy you will need it.
No kidding. Worrying over ridiculous stuff. We have a huge yard, it's NOT fenced in, and we just take our 3.8-pound Yorkie out on a leash. We've never had a problem in the 2-1/2 years we've owned her.
You're over thinking this.
Good grief....you are worrying to much over this.
our dogs are on flea and tick stuff, Front Line. I've seen a couple ticks on them, both dead. we live in a rainforest on Hilton head island, so we have woods all around us, we spray the yard once a month with natural stuff that smells great and has citrus and eucalyptus oil in it . Keeps fleas, mosquitoes and ticks down to manageable, and we can be outside at night without being chewed and it harms neither bird nor beast.
I keep 20 mule team borax on hand and twice a month ( night before bath day ), and sprinkle it on my carpets... we have NO flea problem or dog order in the house because of this practice ( the borax dries up any flea eggs that might be around and is a great natural deodorizer).
Last edited by LPnerd; 08-31-2013 at 11:29 AM..
Reason: spelling, as usual
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