Tick!

While coaxing Emily for the first part of her walk, H. found something like a tomato seed with a black head and squirmy legs on it, half of which was EMBEDDED in Emily's chest. After panicking and pinching and tearing it up with my fingernails, later with a pair of tweezers, it was half out.

But half of it disappeared under her skin!!!

A frantic call to the vet left me with: let it pus out over the weekend, and pinch it clean on Monday.

In the meantime, H. went and shaved the dog. Close. So she'll be picking up less critters in her fur.

More regard for close-crop/less bug and not cute-fuzzy resulted in a skinny little dog with a big head and big feet.

Pictures later. I think I overdid it on her chest, though. I can see her freckles and spots.