JulesP

My guess is , having a diagnosis and deciding on surgery .. Tralee then had to find the $5000 to pay for said surgery . Not a task I envy. just a thought .. perhaps entirely off the scale ..but would amputation be a consideration in a case like this ? I think it is the owner that is trying to find the money. Tralee has said he doesn't own the dog that it is going home after it has healed. The problem was also originally thought to be a break and it is only recently that it has been found to be a dislocation that needs an expensive surgery. This was discovered on the 6th July. Tralee appears to have been investigating options since then and the owner finding money. There was another thread on the subject. So the dog hasn't just been left for 11 weeks with a dangling leg. Should it have had pain killers? Maybe. I don't always give painkillers as I don't want the animal to do more damage to the limb. Tralee I would probably do bloodwork before giving painkillers anyway as some painkillers are not good with certain conditions. ie I have to be careful what I give my dog with a liver shunt and am very restricted with drugs. Hopefully doggie is just sore and missing his mum and nothing else is going on.

So sorry. Sending you strength for Saturday.

Google Maps is saying 36 mins from Lilydale to Doveton. Not sure I believe that though.

The only private instructor that I know of is down Cranbourne way, which is about 40-60 mins from Lilydale. Cosmolo and Ernie would be about the same and Nekhbet is further I think. http://www.awesomepawsgrooming.com/AwesomePaws/Agility.html The private agility clubs all have wait lists I believe and aren't close. The other clubs are Knox and Berwick.

Croydon dog club - http://www.cdodc.com.au/agility/ Very good program with experienced competitive instructors. Only real catch is you need to have a pretty high standard of obedience prior to going into agility.

I don't walk my border collie puppies until they are about 12 months old. They go on lots of outings but they don't go on formal walks. Self exercise means the puppy chooses how much it does. It can stop and rest when it needs to. It isn't being walked along on a lead. I wouldn't be feeding a young pup jointguard or any joint formula. They really shouldn't need it. And I would be letting the puppy rest when it wanted to.

Today's gem is that border collies are not a herding breed and they don't eat meat. Apparently they will spit it out as that is how they have been bred.

If you get him some pain relief can I suggest that you restrict his movement. I like to do this to prevent more damage being done to the injury as dogs will try to work normally with no pain to tell them not to. Could he be missing his old owner too?

Depends on what part of Whittlesea council you live in - given that more than 3 quarters of it is pretty much suburban now, you need to go out past Yan Yean at a minimum pretty much to get decent land. In suburban areas it is still 2 dogs, but you can apply for a permit for extra. In the very outer parts of Whittlesea council, it actually depends how big your land is to what is allowed. We are on 6 acres and had 5 dogs until a little while back, now only have 4 but on 6 acres can have up to 6 without a permit. But that's going to put you a good hour out of the city. That is not what the council website states.

Yarra Ranges were actually really nice to me when I called about getting a third dog with one of the current dogs being ill. They waived the need to get an extra dog permit. The ranger I met was nice too. I think they need to allow extra dogs on rural properties though as I think only allowing 2 dogs on acreage is a bit silly.

Big hugs. It is hard when it isn't obvious. For me in the past if I have had to ask the question then it hasn't quite been the time. Each time I have known 100% when it was time. But then again I think it is better to let them go a bit earlier than too late. Not helpful, hey? Not eating has always been a big factor for me. And not getting out of bed. Your vet may not give you an answer, they don't seem to like to.

You can keep 4 dogs if you have more than half an acre in Whittlesea Shire too.

You can keep 4 dogs in Cardinia Shire (Emerald, Cockatoo) if you have an acre of land.

Bladder problems was one of the things that sent me to the vets with amber were I ended up with a liver shunt diagnosis. Yes lots of dogs with shunts have stone problems. Should the pug have a shunt (hopefully not) the diet will be different from a low purine diet. Amber is on a low purine,vegetarian diet. Liver shunt dogs don't do well on animal proteins. I was advised not to use a home cooked diet with Amber as she was displaying neurological symptoms. She is on Hills L/D and doing well on it. I was advised this by a liver support group btw not just the vets. So you really need to wait for the liver tests before considering diet.

Lovely!!

My fence is just normal farm height Winterpaws. It does keep my dogs in but they aren't jumpers.

One of my border collies snapped her cruciate. The operation to fix it failed. The vet wanted to re-operate but only gave me a 30% chance of the second op working so I declined, mainly because the dog didn't come out of the op as well as I would have liked. She did develop enough scar tissue to hold the joint in place but did have a limp. The other legs all stayed sound and she lived another 12 years like that.

Congrats on the purchase!!! I have chicken wire with a couple of strands of wire and then a pine post on the top. The chicken wire has got a big saggy so not sure if I would use that again. I didn't want dog mesh though as the garden backs on to the pony paddocks.

Has he been tested for Lupus?

How devastating for you Owey and family. RIP little Bailey.

Massive hugs Owey So sorry that something that should be bringing you heaps of joy is turning out like this.

No worries. Btw the mat stuff is tested by your instructor not the assessor :) So even less pressure.

You would ask at the office on a Sunday morning. Not sure how you would go though as they are pretty strict about letting people into classes past Basic. The dog doesn't have to actually greet the other dogs. It just has to not be aggressive. I did all meet and greeting with my dog focused on me. If you have decent focus then weaving is pretty easy. The dogs aren't supposed to be heeling basic 1 either, they are loose lead walking. My puppy class can usually manage some decent weaving.

Just thought I would point out that 'rolling the dog over' is not an exercise. The exercise is to check the belly. It is part of teaching the dog to be comfortable for vet checks. I've never had to roll my dogs, they are already laying on the mat and a bit of a tickle on the belly has them paws up. You also give them a nice relaxation massage first prior to the vet checking. Yes the tests aren't easy and I always hated them. If you have passes in obedience or agility you usually just get to go straight through to the trial class or agility. There is no paddock bashing. Instructors have strict guidelines for how long you can be heeling the dogs for. Plus there is simply no time to be doing heaps of heeling as there is so much other stuff to get through. I have been a member of the club for 20 years btw and an instructor for 5 years.

Croydon fits most of your requirements but it is a very busy club so not sure if it will be too much for her. Dogs aren't allowed offlead unless doing recalls or similar or agility. If a dog doesn't do a recall they are back on lead for 4 weeks. People are told to ask first before saying hello to other dogs, but obviously some ignore this. There is a 'hello' session as part of most lessons. I hope this would be well controlled by the instructors. This is often just the dogs walking randomly around. Tugging would be fine. She would be given a yellow bandana to wear so people would know to give her space. Aim is for positive training. If you can pass the Basic 2 straight away then it would be even better for you as you could go into various advanced classes.