SkySoaringMagpie

Yes exactly. Unfortunately sometimes the handler hasn't worked out that what they think the dog should find rewarding or punishing actually isn't but unless they're in my class, I keep my mouth shut. And there is a difference between "all dogs should tug as a reward" and "I think your dog may be finding over the top praise and enthusiastic thumps on the head aversive" I don't mind unsolicited training advice if it is "mind if I make an observation?", wait for me to say "yes" and then provide advice or feedback. And if it's well timed and constructive. Advice like that is great, even if you disagree you stopped and thought about it again which is valuable. People who try and talk at you as you're going in the ring or clearly busy with something drive me batshit. And lecturers and pontificators - gawd. Say it once and move on! And people who say "you need to show the dog who is boss" without giving concrete examples are not being helpful, they are just putting the person down. If the person knew how to be a good leader they'd already be doing it.

I think the kind of information in your two cents is exactly the kind of information that should be presented to law makers.

Steady on. Who has ever said that dogs that don't fit PP are bad dogs? Can you quote me a PP trainer who has said that there are bad dogs? Better, can you quote enough leaders in the field for it to be representative of PP trainers? My bet is you'll find a lot of people saying there are people with poor training skills not doing it well. I admit I also did a double take when I saw doggie dancing had made it into ANKC recognition but the long established lure coursing events in QLD are still not ANKC recognised. I intend to ask some ANKC people what the story is, but I suspect it's less to do with conspiracy theories and more to do with the capacity and willingness of people to do some bureaucratic knife fighting for their sport. This forum particularly has a very poor attitude to positive training. It is not positive training that is at fault here, it is a society that is overly litigious and lacking in any real sense of personal responsibility. It's "thereoughtabealaw" people and the lazy policy makers and politicians who listen to them. And let's be honest, few people have not engaged in that kind of thinking at some point or another. I mean, I'd like to DNA test dog shit and force people who don't pick up to clean shelter kennels so there's a little dog nazi in most of us. The key is keeping it under control and showing other people alternatives to slapping yet another law on the books. Poodlefan is right, dog people have to keep their eyes on the daily lists of their state parliament and local councils and make productive representations. If the law has been passed, it's smart if people cop to having broken a law, while being careful to impress the beak with their mature demeanor and good sense so that the beak goes lightly on them and if you're lucky, sticks it to the lawmakers for wasting the courts time with it. We are engaged in a PR war here, and don't have the luxury of being crazy dog people, nor do we have the luxury of publicly bitching at other people engaged in pure breed dog sport. Perhaps one thing that could be done is for some generous legislation lawyer or public servant to compile an ongoing list of matters before Parliaments and Councils, and Inquiries together with information on who to write to to express an opinion.

When you say "discipline" and "train" what are you doing aside from removing bed and couch privileges? What behaviours is she demonstrating apart from the grooming that make you think she's trying to be dominant? Vets are usually not dog trainers. Getting a dog to submit politely to grooming has bugger all to do with where it sits and sleeps. Being a difficult groom is also usually not about dominance. There are some tricks and training methods that people in the grooming forum can help you with, I would try posting your question there.

We use Best Friends in MacGregor for kennels. I don't know if they do injections but they've been helpful with our guys. If you can't find a kennel that can do the injections, an option is to ask somewhere like CVH about veterinary boarding. We boarded our cat there recently when all our cat sitters fell through. The cat was too sick to be in an ordinary cattery, and on about 4 different kinds of meds. It wasn't outrageously expensive but may be more so for a dog.

Link is now available after their site was overloaded on the day it was released. I think it's a good article, particularly the mythbusting bits about wolf packs at the end. http://www.avsabonline.org/avsabonline/ima...20statement.pdf

Get the tests done, it is better by far to know what you are dealing with. Just make sure that you double check the test results with whatever Beagle health surveys there are out there.

OK, Can always rely on DOL for a reality check ;) Will let the vet know what we found, but will not get shirty about it

Looking for opinions: A week and a half ago one of our dogs could not bear any weight on one of his front paws. Because we live on a property that is full of evil grass seeds we assumed he had a grass seed and took him into the vet. The vet could not find anything and sent him home with instructions to for us to return if he did not get better. He did slowly get better and by about day 5 could start to bear weight on it again. So we thought nothing of it. Tonight when OH was brushing him, we realised that he's now missing the dew claw on that leg. His breeder does not remove declaws, so we think it's likely that the limp was caused by him ripping the dew claw out. We are feeling somewhat sheepish that we didn't pick that up ourselves, but also irritated that the vet didn't notice when we took him in to be examined. The dewclaws on his other legs are intact. My initial reaction was to phone up tomorrow and ask for the consult fee to be refunded. Is this fair?

I'm very sorry for your loss, Monster had a great smile.

Can you make the treats yourself? Just wondering if like liver, we could dry out slices in an oven? Any homemade dog treat experts reading?

I agree with not pandering too - I won't hand feed a healthy dog for example unless I'm training them and making them work for their food. We definitely don't coax dogs to eat in our house either and I know they won't die if they miss a meal so I don't stress if they won't eat it. However, if a dog continuously refuses something it's worth listening to what they are telling you and investigating further. One other option I forgot to mention, it's possible it's a suspicious behaviour that he has formed by association. For example, maybe he ate a patty the same day as he ate a 10 day old rotting bird carcass or a texta or whatever, felt sick, and has associated feeling sick with the patties not the bird. I would probably try chopping up a beef or lamb patty so it's not recognisable as a patty and see if he eats that.

I would stop feeding them to her and feed her something else. If she is very food motivated, she's telling you something if she refuses to eat something. Anything I haven't made myself from scratch my dogs can refuse, some of the lessons from the food recalls in the USA were heartbreaking (ie, people forcing their dogs to eat food that ended up killing them). While BARF is supposed to be one of the good guys, so were some foods caught up in other recalls. It also may be that the food is making her feel sick or otherwise doesn't suit her system.

Sorry to hear you lost an important family member Daisy.

I'm doing some research at the moment and have been asked what levels of copper appear in grain and meat grown locally and in Australia generally. Anyone know if that information is available or where I could find out that kind of information? Um, it is dog related! Just looking into getting some pre-breeding tests done and have been asked by the US lab.

The difficulty with DCM is that in some breeds it's a swift and brutal killer and in other breeds you have a good shot at at least a few good years, sometimes more. I have a dog with slow progressing DCM and like your dog she has done well on the latest meds and supplementation. I would not hold her up as a ray of hope to a Dobe owner facing a DCM diagnosis tho'. Edited to say: God I can be a grumpy so and so sometimes. Forgot to say that it's great your dog is doing well, and I do actually know someone whose Dobe got 12 months after diagnosis as well.

Thank-you all for your kind words and thoughts, it means a lot to us.

My mum has just adopted a couple of rescue maltese. She is looking for a good groomer reasonably local to her who can do a nice pet clip and also explain to her how to maintain between clips. Anyone got any recommends?

RIP Rhino, at least you had some happy days near the end.

It's been a shocking week, Faxonandbear and I have just come back from spending time with his body and are both gutted. Our poor little man, he fought so hard but in the end it was clear that he had given up the fight.

Buzz didn't make it. Faxonandbear will be posting in Rainbow Bridge.

Haemolytic anaemia? My girl (now deceased, but at a reasonably age and from another condition) recovered really well from this. Yes, ithey think it's haemolytic anaemia. Thank-you for letting me know about your girl. In my wanderings around the internet I have seen people say it's basically a death sentence, so your girl and Harriet give me hope!

Thanks Adrian, Buzz had a bad night and his PCV fell to 9 even after getting a full transfusion. The vets were warning us that there was a good chance he wouldn't make it. However, the good news this morning is that following a stronger steroid treatment overnight, it has picked up to 15. He's a fighter. His brother is currently keeping him company at the vet as a backup donor in case they need to do another transfusion.

They now think it is AHA, and he's dropped to a PCV of 15 so he's getting a transfusion and is off to the Braddon Emergency Centre for the night. I will call PL tonight if I don't get home too late. Thanks for your help, I appreciate it.