Henrietta

I was talking to the Judge I was stewarding with, she thought it was funny and they would have to make him special jumps if he gets into open in the future ;)

:rolleyes: I must admit, the smallest dog I saw at this trial was a Shetland Sheepdog - but it certainly wasn't a big trial, just a small regional one.

It was in the Novice, so I didn't get to see the size of the jumps lol.

I just noticed that all the chihuahua people dived in! ;)

I actually went and watched my first ever obedience trial on Saturday. I enjoyed it and was very much in awe of all the dogs, from CCD to Open! Absolutely amazing!

I didn't even know what was involved in the different levels, but now I have more of an idea.

Woohoo Varicool! Go Harley!!! ;)

I have never trialled before, maybe I will one day, but I bet you guys will have heaps of fun! We will need updates of course. :rolleyes:

Hi everyone.

How do you figure out the cause of excessive barking whilst you are away?

Here's the scenario. Haven't had a great deal of trouble, until yesterday I was walking home from work for lunch. I heard Abby barking. As far as I can tell she wasn't barking at anything.

It had me a bit worried so I asked the neighbours. Apparently she had barked for two hours!! :rolleyes: They were wonderful about it, they don't mind apparently but it's not fair on others that my dog barks and I was completely mortified.

Have never had barking issues before so this is new to me.

The only other times she barks is when I am training my other dog out the back or if she is 'greeting' the neighbours. I am still working on this by making her recall at random times and rewarding her so she will come to me even excited. But is that helping the barking? Oh, it's a bit hard to do this when I am training/playing with my other dog.

This is where I think the problem stems from. Due to the nature of my mum and dad's and my work schedule it is rather rare that my dog is home alone completely and for a long time. Away from me - yes, but normally someone else is home. Unless we are all working, we might all leave the house, but we aren't usually more than half an hour.

But having said that, I would be hestitant in saying it's separation anxiety though, because she isn't a clingy dog - quite the opposite, she seems to me to be rather independent in nature. I mean she enjoys my company, but doesn't need to be with me 24/7.

I'm so confused, but I do want to help her with this problem, for her sake, the neighbours and my sake too. Any ideas?

Edited to make sense.

I wasn't here when Zac went to the Rainbow Bridge, but I am thinking of you today Ish, a year on.

What a beautiful boy he is!

So sorry Hesapandabear

RIP little Cara

I'm so sorry Kristie, please do not blame yourself.

RIP Barker

Yummo I love honey. Never given it to the dogs, but I've just never thought to, must give it a try.

I will confess something though, on the very rare ocassion that we get pizza (like every 4-5 months) we let our dogs eat some of the crusts!

Not much mind you, just a little bit for a treat. They love it and they can smell it coming. But I wouldn't give them actually pizza or anything with onion on it.

But I can't be that bad, I believe that is the only thing that we give them as a naughty treat!

Once every 3mths for intestinal worms

Once a month for heartworm

I do the same

LOL ditto. Interesting article Shmoo.

So sorry Tilly.

RIP Handsome Boy.

So sad.

RIP Harley.

So sorry Cass.

RIP Jesse. What a beautiful boy!

He will always be in your heart and he had a wonderful life with you.

Guys, I just forgot there is a search function, can you believe it.

Seems to be heaps on barking, I will have a squiz, but if I have any further questions relating to my situations, I'll ask. Silly Em.

Hi all,

I have recently started doing some more training with my staffy, it's great because she loves it and we get to have some 'us' time away from my pup. I used to just have big games in the backyard or walk with Gracie (staffy) for some 'us' time, but she really enjoys the obedience too, so I have taken to training her everyday and having a big game afterwards.

As you probably know, I am training Abby also, she is coming along well and is enjoying herself too. I usually train her first, about 5 minutes worth and have a big game (I also do some mini training sessions in my room or anywhere I can during the day). But for this 'big' training session I train her first, then Gracie. When I put Abby upstairs, she barks and won't stop.

Now, she isn't normally a huge barker, although there is another time when she will bark without fail and that is when she greets the neighbours. She has known them since she was very young and gets pats off them too, but she always wants to bark, and she will keep going if I don't stop her. I have watched from the window too, and when this happens she barks at the neighbours and then turns around to see if I am coming.

I am hoping to minimise unecessary barking, because before you know it I may have a big barking problem. I usually say 'that'll do' or 'quiet', but lately that doesn't cut it. Today I couldn't make her stop whilst I was training Gracie. I had to put her in my little brothers' room at the other end of the house. (He was in the room, so she was quite content and didn't bark). She comes when she is called a lot better nowdays, so I can usually call her when she is barking at the neighbours.

I feel that I am not doing something right, maybe I am not stern enough, maybe I need to enforce time out, maybe I sound like I'm barking myself??? Our staffy hardly ever barks, so to be honest I've never had to deal with barking.

Any tips at all would be greatly appreciated.

Oh and I don't think it's a boredom thing, because she does this when I am at home.

Busted doing what I was told not to do! I'm just like a little kid.

So sorry Pappylove. :D

RIP Pierre

Oooh thanks for the link!

It mentions a number of different treatments as well.

Thanks for that Molasseslass.

Seems like I am in for a lot of research. The first step will be to find out what my nan's dog has exactly and then go from there.

But it certainly wouldn't hurt to be prepared and armed ready to ask the vet as well about as many different treatments as possible.

I understand what you are saying about side effects. They do seem rare in your experience, but you don't want to say that it couldn't happen of course. With the Stilboestrol.

I do like the sound of the 28 day treatment at this stage, but nan would have to weigh up the benefits of this, with the price as well, especially if it didn't work. Having said that it seems that it would be worth a try to have a go at stopping the incontinence permenantly.

Actually I should ask, what kind of medication is used to treat incontinence commonly?

What are the side effect if any?

Is the medication itself that horrible that it is unfair to have a dog on them for the rest of her life - I feel that 7 is quite young, she is pretty much in her prime really isn't she?

Is Robert Macdowell's treatment an all natural remedy?

Gremlins

Ok thanks Morgan, I'll keep that name in mind and will do some research once we know the diagnosis.

Thanks Cavnrott.

I have told nan to see a vet, I am more worried about it being a UTI, (although having said that can incontinence be painful? I didn't think so, but I wouldn't want to not take her to the vet even if we already knew it was incontinence just to be safe). I will talk to nan again today, if it were my dog, I would have had her at the vet on first notice of this.

Incontinence isn't painful, the dog is unaware that it's happening. However when they do discover it they're not happy about it. House trained dogs don't like to mess inside. Incontinence can be easily managed with medication, it sure beats the smell of stale urine in the house.

If your Nan is a bit reluctant to take her dog to the vet I think I would be pushing the UTI aspect and emphasising that UTI's are painful. She might be more inclined if she thinks her dog could be in pain.

Well, that is good news all around, knowing that incontinence is easy to treat, I can imagine that dogs wouldn't be at all happy about this. Going where they wouldn't dream of going before and not having the control.

That is a good angle to try and convince nan (maybe I am overreacting and she won't need much convincing). She certainly wouldn't like to think that it is something that is causing her dog pain.

This is going to sound terrible, but I think it is the money aspect which makes her reluctant initially. I am sure we could work something out though in that respect, I am a firm believer that if you can't afford to take your dog to the vets for routine checkups or when there is something wrong, then you shouldn't own an animal. I will tactifully approach this situation despite my views.

Thanks for your advice Cavnrott.

My Rottie girls will mark whilst walking and do the turf scratch as well.

You need to get a sample of urine from the dog and take dog and the sample to the vet. It sounds like incontinence to me but it could be a UTI. If it is a UTI then it's a painful condition and the dog needs to see a vet.

Thanks Cavnrott.

I have told nan to see a vet, I am more worried about it being a UTI, (although having said that can incontinence be painful? I didn't think so, but I wouldn't want to not take her to the vet even if we already knew it was incontinence just to be safe). I will talk to nan again today, if it were my dog, I would have had her at the vet on first notice of this.

ETA - it was first noticed on Wednesday, but when I thought about all the marking on the walk, I was trying to put two and two together.

Hi all,

My nan's GSDxKelpie girl is seven years old and is starting to leak ocassionally in the house. Probably about three times a day.

I have recommend that nan see a vet to diagnose this and treat the problem.

I thought that it could be a UTI. Isn't seven years old a little too young to become incontinent? I know it can happen in younger dogs and some are even born like that (so I have heard), but is this common? Would it more likely be an UTI?

She is quite healthy in every other way, but she is a bit overweight (which I am trying to help nan to rectify at the moment).

Another question is that I have noticed that when I take her for a walk she seems to 'mark' ocassionally. That is squat down and do a tiny pee. Is this actually marking? Or another sign of her incontinence or UTI?

I have always had desex females, but I have never had one 'mark' on a walk, not that that means much, it could be actually the norm for desexed bitches to 'mark'. I just wanted to know your thoughts.

Thanks in advance.

Thanks guys, I think I get it now!