The dog training bubble was burst swiftly last night, and it wasn’t something that Lucy did.

Some of you may remember a tweet I shared last week. A tweet about how I woke up with a baby tick crawling on my back (Lucy woke me up by frantically barking — she might have saved me from Lyme disease) and how I was going to dip my dog, trim her, spray the apartment and bomb it.

Monday morning, Lucy went to the groomer. I received a call from them around 10 saying they didn’t find ANY ticks or fleas on her. And I didn’t bomb the apartment because of this — I just sprayed, figuring the tick I found crawling on me was an isolated incident since she didn’t have any more and since I hadn’t seen anymore crawling around my apartment.

That was probably my first mistake.

I picked Lucy up in the early afternoon. They had clipped her hair back to check for pests. And I did a once-over of her newly trimmed coat. I didn’t feel anything.

We went to the dog park to meet up with a friend and her pup Tuesday morning. That was probably my second mistake.

And we went walking through the neighborhood yesterday morning. That was probably the third mistake.

You can see what’s coming, right? Uh huh?

After I’d gotten home from work last night, Lucy was sitting with me on the couch, and I was petting her back.

Oddly enough, I noticed a little lump near her right shoulder and went to inspect it, hoping it wasn’t what I expected.

Lo and behold, a tiny tick was attached to her skin. And I screamed out of exasperation and anger.

Where the HELL did that little bugger come from? Did they not do a good enough job inspecting my dog at the groomer? Was the dog park not sprayed recently and that’s where all these baby ticks originated? Or did she step in something on our walk and the tick migrate up her body?

I don’t know, and it makes me crazy. Because if I don’t know where the bloodsuckers came from, it makes things a little more challenging as to how I can make them better.

Last week when I frantically called the vet after finding the tick on ME, I was told to bring her into them if I found any more on her. That looks like what we will be doing this morning, so Lucy can feel better if she’s not feeling so hot because of those little creatures that want to make her their home.

I will be calling the apartment complex AGAIN to see if they can send someone out to spray for ticks even though the manager didn’t think it would help out. Ugh. And I will be bombing my apartment eventually if I can find some time where Lucy and I can be out of the apartment together.

… This whole tick thing? A pain in the ass.

Have any of y’all dealt with ticks (or fleas) before? Any advice? Because I’m at a loss right now (other than these ideas.) And while I’ve had a dog my entire life, we luckily never had to deal with something like this. And I don’t get why these baby ticks won’t go away. She takes her flea and tick medicine EVERY month at the same time. I don’t allow her to go tromping around in yards I don’t know for fear of fleas and ticks. And our apartment complex shouldn’t have them lurking in the grass, though maybe they are. Who knows?

Plus, more than anything, I’m tired of freaking myself out that something creepy crawly is making its way up my back or leg EVERY time I sit down.