So... we've been out of the loop for a little bit. For those of you who follow us regularly, you know we have a new addition to our family. She's been taking up quite a bit of our extra time. Meet Lucy.
Lucy is originally a rescue from Georgia. We got her at the Animal Welfare Society in Kennebunk, Maine. Her name was Sugar, but it just didn't feel right. Her eyebrows screamed LUCY to me LOL!
So Lucy it was. We adopted her knowing that she has pretty severe separation anxiety. She was on Prozac and Trazodone when we picked her up. You see, we are Lucy's 4th (and final) home in her short 13 months of life. She's the most gentle, loving and playful pup. We just couldn't understand how anyone could bring her back!
She is rambunctious and curious (we think she is a Boxer, Pit Bull Terrier, and German Shepherd mix), which makes for a tricky introduction into the current backyard eco-system. So, integrating a dog into a life with bees is, well, interesting. At first I insisted that we keep her away from the bees until we knew if she was allergic. Did you know that dogs can have an allergic reaction to bees? They can react just like humans who are severely allergic! And you just don't know until they get stung and have a reaction. Since we didn't know what the proper dosage of epinephrine would be for a 42 pound pup, I thought it might be better to ease into such a discovery. Lucy, however, had other plans.
We had the hives strapped down to ensure that if Lucy got excited, she didn't tip them over (she's a sucker for a squirrel, and they often hang out on the fence just behind the hives). In the "Hive 2 Maintenance.... derailed - 8/27/17" video, you can see Chris explain in what was supposed to be his August 27th hive inspection for the second hive (the nuc hive) that he decided to heed the warning of the bees. He also explains the straps and introduces Lucy to the YouTube masses.
A few days later, as Chris was filming some late day hive activity, I threw the tennis ball a lot closer to the hive he was filming than was wise to do. You can hear about 10 seconds in as Chris realizes that things are going wrong. The video goes back and forth from Lucy. Poor girl got it right above the right eye.
Having learned from her father's previous mistake, we immediately grabbed her and plucked the stinger out of her skin. She was not happy about the experience. She scratched her face at the site of the sting for a few hours.
Here we are days later, and she's getting used to going in the back yard again. She was not having it for a while. She would sit up by the gate entrance and not go anywhere near the hives.
The lesson:
While you don't need to wrap a dog in bubble wrap to get them acquainted with the hives, it doesn't hurt to work a slow introduction, rather than a quick rush up to the hives!
If your dog is stung by a bee, there are home treatments you can do. First, remove the stinger. NO MATTER your dog's allergies, leaving the stinger in will make it worse. Next, if the dog exhibits difficulty breathing or excessive swelling, take them to your vet or animal emergency care IMMEDIATELY! If the symptoms seem manageable, you can put baking soda or apple cider vinegar on the sting site to minimize the itch (this works in humans too!). You can also give your dog Benadryl (not Benadryl Cold and Flu or some other mix, just the antihistamine alone) if the swelling is a little more than your pup can bare, but not life threatening. Click here to determine the dosing for your dog if needed.
All in all, we are so elated to have Lucy here. She gives us so much joy and so much to think about and learn! As any new parents would do, we were very worried about every little thing. But Lucy has brushed off her experience and is back to playing in the back yard.
That's all I have to confess for now!
Thanks for listening to me buzz!
~The Beekeeper's Wife
