dancinbcs

I've had a few old dogs treated for haemotomas by having an incision done in the ear (about 1cm) using just a local anaesthetic, then the ear has been taped around the roll from the centre of a bandage. This helps to keep pressure on the ear so it keeps draining from the incision for several days and then it heals from the inside out. Much cheaper and easier on the dog than needing to give them a general.

It is always better for a dog to travel in a crate if you can fit one in. Much more comfortable for the dog to be able to lie down in any position and move around rather than being strapped in. The only puppy I have ever sold that got badly carsick was one that was put straight into a harness. They got rid of the harness for a few months and she got over being carsick. With puppies a crate protects the car from sick, poo, wee and from being chewed.

How big is the dog? Can you take a soft crate and crate him instead of tying him up so he feels secure. Lots of dogs become fearful or aggressive if tied up becaue they know they are not safe. The other possibility is that he is just bored being tied up and barks at the children to get noticed. Without seeing the body language and hearing the bark, I don't know, but it is another possibility. Either way it is not safe to leave a dog tied up in any public place unless you are with the dog. If a child does run at the dog and gets bitten it would be disasterous. Please don't put your dog at risk like that. If you have to go somewhere that the dog can't come, leave him at home or if there is a safe place to crate him, take a crate.

I have often heard people refer to the colour of a brown dogs nose as being 'liver'. Yep, read my earlier post. Liver is just another name for brown in dogs. It doesn't matter if your breed standard calls it liver, chocolate or red, nor does it matter if it is dark, light or somewhere in between, it is still brown.

I would suggest you try a different dog next time from different lines. Then if she has a normal litter use your own dog the next year. Some matings just don't click and double up on fatal genes that make the puppies not viable. One of my stud dogs sired a singleton that survived and the following season the same mating produced a litter of 6. With the first one the bitch had an erratic and short season and was only able to be mated for a couple of hours before going out. The next season was normal and produced a normal litter. If the singleton had been born dead though I probably would have sent them to another stud dog to try the next time.

I've had two little terrier crossbreds, at different times, walk through the bars on our gates and come in the back door while my dogs were asleep inside. They were very easy to catch. The neighbour's little crossbred from 4 doors up and a Basenji from round the next street, have both just come to me when I called them as they ran past my yard. I also caught an OES that was hanging around the shops where I used to work, with food and another crossbred that actually decided to come into a shop where I worked. Most dogs I see out and about seem to know where they are going but the obviously lost ones are usually not too hard to catch.

The colour descriptions in standards were written before the genetics of the colours were understood, hence the utter confusion. Depending on the breeds concerned the colours are: Pigment colours - Nose, eye rims, pads and coat. The eye colour varies with the pigment colour but does not match it. Black - that can come in shades from true black to almost mahogany. In some breeds the mahogany is refered to as seal but no one has worked out the genetics of why a black has a tint yet. Grey - is a dilution of black but is often refered to as blue. Ranges from pale silver to very dark grey/blue. Brown - as a mutation of black is described as brown, chocolate, liver, tan or red. All shades from pale brown to dark choc are the same colour and there is no visible yellow pigment or dilution in a brown. Silver - the dilution of brown is the colour of a Weimaraner but it can be called grey, lilac or fawn in some breeds. Coat colour only: Yellow can also be called gold, cream, tan, fawn, red or wheaten and ranges from pale cream to deepest chesnut. There is no brown pigment in a yellow coat. It is the ee extension gene that prevents the hair from being black. The coat colour is yellow but it doesn't affect the skin pigment so the nose and eye rims will be one of the four colours above. All other colours are patterns made from combinations of the above colours with various pattern genes. The tan markings on a black and tan are the yellow gene. A sable is a combination of yellow with one of the pigement colours on each hair. A sable with very little black in the coat can appear the same as a yellow. Merles have patches of dilution on a base pigment colour. Is everyone now totally confused.

A lot depends on the breed as well. Kelpies and Border Collies are bred to be be biddable and work together. Sheep dogs that fight are of no use to anyone so in these breeds and several others that are bred to work in packs, running several bitches together is quite normal. You still get the occasional ones that clash and when that happens one needs to be rehomed because they never get over it. With may breeds though running bitches together is just not going to work.

We have had about 8 dog attacks over the years and have stopped at least that many that were in full aggressive charging mode with the stockwhip. I can walk round a dog show that has 1000 dogs on the ground with no problems because all the dogs are trained, socialised or under control. We often stop to let dogs greet on lead with no issues. The dogs I see loose in the street or parks are never friendly but territorial and aggresive. I never let unknown loose dogs even approach mine now. The only time I have had a friendly dog really launch itself at my dogs was an exuberant male GSD at a show that literally jumped on top of my two dogs who were lying on the ground on leads next to me, to say hello. No harm done, no reaction from my dogs at all and the owner quickly grabbed his dog and apologised profusely for having the dog on too long a lead and not watching it properly.

I agree, surely the screams of a person and their dog being torn to shreds would be more disruptive than the crack of a stockwhip. yeah but the thread is about how to deter approaching offlead dogs. Most dogs that approach don't attack. If I cracked a whip at every approaching dog on a walk I'd be cracking it a lot! You have to be joking. I have never yet run into a friendly off lead dog that has rushed at mine. Without fail every one has attacked or approached aggressively so now I try to avoid any area that I know has loose dogs and carry the whip to ensure that the odd one we run into never gets close enough to find out what their intentions are. I do not tolerate any dog ever rushing at one of mine. It should not happen because all dogs should be under effective control and that means being able to call them away from any person or dog. Unfortunately the world is full of morons that allow their dogs to roam the streets or take them to a park and let them go when they have no control whatsoever. One of the parks I use now occasionaly has an offlead dog or two but they seem to be well trained and stay with their owners. The one I had trouble with a few weeks ago had been running unseen in the adjoining bush with the idiot owner who came out into the park and the dog ran the full width of the park at me and my dog. It eventually retreated from the whip.

I would say that just carrying it would be disruptive Not to mention my own dogs would run a mile if I even thought about cracking it... Yes, that is definitely a point. I dont use one when I have my dogs with me, you would certainly have to train your dogs with it. Yes, you have to train your own dogs to ignore the whip and you have to know how to crack it safely. It is rarely used but is good to know it is there. On the few occasions I have had to use it I wouldn't care who it disturbed if it prevents my dogs being attacked. I would prefer to carry a gun or a taser but don't think that would be allowed in suburbia. My whip makes less noise than the air rifles (I assume) that are frequently heard round my area near the local park. I think they are trying to get rid of the cockatoo invasion. I mostly drive to large parks that are away from houses to minimise the risk of running into roaming dogs, so using the whip there is not an issue. I have a short whip that just hangs around my neck and would rarely be noticed unless someone walked really close to me.

I find cracking a stock whip gives most enough of a fright that they think better of charging and you can deter them from further away. Most will stop on the first crack and retreat on the second but I did have a White Shepherd charge recently from a couple of hundred metres away across a park and it must have taken 20 whip cracks for it to finally decide to retreat back to the idiot owner. If they get close enough they get hit with the stockwhip across the face. I have my dogs trained to sit close by my side while I crack the whip above their heads. None of them have ever really liked the whip but they tolerate it with careful training. I never walk dogs without carrying a whip any more.

Double post

Does this dog only bark at children passing the house or does he do it if out on a walk? Some dogs are great guard dogs and will bark frantically at anyone passing their house but if taken outside the yard on a lead they are perfectly friendly. My last BC girl who passed away recently would not let anyone near the house unless she knew them well. The neighbours kids cutting through the edge of the front yard would send her into a frenzy at my front door but if I took her outside on a lead she was quite happy to be patted by them. She was also fine with everyone on breed stalls at Royals and pet expos. If this dog is barking at kids it sees on walks then it is a serious matter and you need professional help with him.

I wouldn't go to a vet that offered optional extras beyond extra pain killers. They either need those things or they don't and the vet should be the one to decide, not the owner. My vets are used by a big percentage of the breeders in Sydney and are in an outer suburb, so they have a lot of very regular clients and lower real estate overheads than the vets in the inner city. Their prices are much lower than what you have stated here. My last spey of a mature 19kg bitch was $170 three years ago. They are not the cheapest vets around here but are much cheaper than those that mainly see pets. Look around at the prices charged by the vets that mainly deal with breeders. You will often find they offer great service and much expertise at better prices. Expensive is no guarantee of quality service and some vets are just out to rip owners off because they think expensive must be better. Some expensive vets are good but certainly not all of them.

Yes it does. If you amputate, a dog of any age will recover very well and adjust very easily to a life on three legs. A young active dog will use the remaining three limbs to compensate for the missing limb. But the other limbs are then being used incorrectly and they are subject to strain and also to wearing out faster. Even worse if the dog is being jumped or being asked to pull things. By middle age the dog is likely to have problems. I would not be happy to have a 3 legged Border. I don't think I could even do it to a dog of my own if it came to that. It is difficult with a front leg missing but a back one missing will put more strain on the remaining leg in a breed that is prone to ruptured cruciate ligaments and many other leg and back injuries, due to the stress they put on their joints with the high activity levels. With this girl being a foster I would pts.

Dr Anne Neville at East Bentleigh does conventional, holistic and chinese vet medicine and is a big believer in feeding raw. Cannot recommend her highly enough. I have even consulted her from Sydney for successful cancer treatment and several friends have also had success with long distance consults for cancer.

I am amazed at how slow registrations are in other states. In NSW you can pay for express service if you go into the office and have your papers in an hour. If you register them online and pay express, they express post them the next day. I am picking up a new puppy tomorrow who will be 8 weeks old and the breeder is registering them online tonight. They are a small breed so were only microchipped today and she waited for the two show homes to choose show names. We will have our papers next week.

Whether they would cauterise depends how bad the nails are and how much pain they are causing the dog. I had an older girl with very arthritic feet done when she was knocked out for something else. Her feet were a bit touchy for a day or so but no worse than the pain from the nails contacting the ground before they were done. After that she walked much better and was easy to trim nails on again because it wasn't causing the pain it did before with the quicks long. A bit of an extreme measure and I'm glad I have never had to have any other dogs done since but it is an option if all else fails to get the nails back to a managable length.

They are reasonably smart, easy to train and very biddable but are pretty energetic, need a lot of grooming and they are often barkers.

Sorry but I think the reply is too harsh. The general public know what they have been brought up to beleive about dogs and the reality needs to be explained to them in a way that they don't feel that they are being attacked personally. Some very good breeders of many years standing, that I know, started off with the same idea as these buyers. Carefully educated by experienced breeders they managed to buy a good bitch, breed a good litter, get the show bug and go on to become dedicated breeders. Everyone has to start somewhere and most breeders do not start out with the intention of being breeders. Maybe they did just want to have a litter under the mistaken impression that they could get their money back plus more, but you will never know one way or the other now.

Thanks so much. I did not know this. I have been naughty and let her nails get too long, so I will have to slowly work at getting back to a better length. Yes, the quick grows with the nail. To avoid cutting it look at the shape of the end of the nail as you trim each little bit and you will work out when you are getting close to it. If the dog has white nails then you can see the quick but with black nails you need to look at the nail shape right on the tip. Very frequent trimming will eventually get the quick to recede but if the nails are really long and the dog will not tolerate a lot of trimming, the only solution is to put them under a general and have the vet cut and cauterisr the nails. This makes the quick recede a long way and you can start again, keeping them shorter. With the quick so short it is less painful for the dog in future. They would need to be really bad to knock a dog out just for nails but if they need to be out for any other procedure, get the nails done at the same time.

Hi tiff-689, that sounds like a good idea. I currently walk my two with harnesses but the clip is on the back so i think it just makes it more comfortable for them to pull me. To be of any use, the lead must clip on the front. Back clipping harnesses just encourage pulling. Agreed, guaranteed way to train dogs to pull is to put them in a normal harness. Two dogs together in harnesses and all you need is a sled to complete the picture. Training them to walk nicely on a flat or martingale collar is a much better option.

Some good suggestions here. I would try the muzzle first. I have had dogs that simply give in as soon as the muzzle goes on. Try the dog in different positions as well to find out where he is most comfortable. Some stress if you roll them over but will sit or stand up happily, others are impossible unless rolled over on their side or back. I also suggest trying all the different methods. I have never yet had any dog let me do nails with "dog" nail clippers. They all hate them. Depending on the dog I have had more success with human nail clippers, files and a dremel. The human nail clippers are the ones that you turn the top around to get leverage. I clip the tip of the nail then each side until it it short enough, so never actually put any pressure on the centre of the nail.

Luci Ellem's at Camarna is on Thursday nights. Best puppy pre-school in Sydney.