Tilly

I can offer no advise ... I tried to teach our dog to put his toys away ... unfortunately he would put one toy in and then find something else to take out. It got to the stage one toy was going in and 2 or 3 were coming out.

He is getting softer - he would rather snooze and play. Which is fine with us (particularly at home) but he is not taking his training seriously and doing proper hard bites any longer - he will hold for a moment but release too early or not show sufficient agression. The company my brother works for will not pass the dog and allow him to work because they believe he is too soft and friendly. I personally don't trust his off-leash (he is no problem with his handler) because he has a high prey drive which make small running things interesting. Because of his training I just don't trust him 100% - he has broken the rules twice before (rushed out of the garage door when he should have been sitting and waiting) so he will never get another chance. Again he is not problem with his normal handler - but I am not his handler. I suppose you could think of him as two different dogs - a work dog and a home dog ... work dog follows the commands without fail (with handler) but home dog is more relaxed, tends to push the boundaries a little more and just wants to play - he acts like a 2 year old ... and I look after the home dog. Re my fitness - I had injured my ankle in April 2008 (took them 5 months to find a fracture) and had ongoing pain which means walking any distance was extremely painful. After some recent treatment I am back to walking more but my fitness levels are not good. Even on a bad day I am still walking more then 12,000+ steps - so it is not really bad - I guess I am just not used to walking long distance etc at the moment but we are working on that now that I am getting around better but it will take some time. Definately don't fit into the "fit" category.

Our 6 year old GSD has been working in security but is now looking at being retired. He was desexed in November 2008 due to illness and is loosing some of his agression ... he is becoming too soft to do the work (he still works fine with me but not with my brother - maybe he figures he is big enough and ugly enough to protect himself). We are looking at getting another security dog but I really need something to do with our existing boy. We did a little bit of tracking a couple of years ago and he did well with some of the practices I did (locating "lost" friends and children) - but didn't seem interesting in the "classes" we attended. I have always been interested in Search and Rescue but there doesn't seem to be any organisations within reasonable distance ... and is he too old to start. I was thinking about agility but I couldn't trust him off-leash at the moment ... I would need to work on obedience to me more. What are some things we should look at doing? I am not particularly fit at the moment as I have been out of action for almost 12 months with an ankle injury ... which is finally starting to improve (it is about 80% at the moment and getting better all the time).

Modify your listing to add something like "seller reserves the right to withdraw this item from sale as it is listed in other locations" or something similar to that. I have seen other items with similar messages and even had items withdrawn because they have sold through other means.

Hope she gets better quickly. Regarding the vet ... try taking her for social visits so she associates the vet with treats and fun - make it positive. Give her a chance to get used the the environment without the stress. Build up to taking her into the consult room - in and out again ... without anything happening. Also gives her a chance to get to know the staff and learn the place isn't so scary after all. My vet was great when we got our GSD as a pup - the staff made such a fuss of him that he just loves going to the vet - I was taking him once a week just to visit and to weight him. I wanted him used to the place and not associate it with just needles and being poked and prodded. He usually only go once a year with him now but he still gets excited when he is told he is going to visit the vet.

My boy occassionally doesn't comply to his commands immediately (particularly if there is alot going on around him) ... and he gets a very firm "now". I never give him the command a second time but the "now" seems to remind him that I am still waiting - and my body language also changes to a more serious stance. He knows I mean business ...

When my boy is walking normally he is expected to be to my immediate left - basically touching my side. When he is "released" for a casual stroll and to sniff, toilet etc - he is allowed to the end of the leash but definately no pulling.

I used to just change direction - so if he is pulling in one direction then I move off in the opposite direction. We used this mainly to take his attention off what ever he was focusing on (wanting to sniff etc) and basically forced him to pay attention to us - we also gave him a word. Now when he starts to pull we just say the word and he refocuses. We also made a point of giving him a release word that allowed him to take the time to sniff around (when we are out walking). So with one word he will walk properly on lead (for exercise etc) until we get to an area where we give him another word to allow him to go to the full length of the lead and take his time to explore, sniff, pee, toilet etc.

We tried BARF but unfortunately it was costing us far too much to keep weight on the dogs (we had a rottie and GSD at the time). They were just not doing really well on it. We went back to feeding 3 to 4 cups of premium dry food and about a kg of meat/chicken etc. Our GSD still gets a barf type mix which is portioned up and frozen and then feed as required (basically 12kg of lean beef mince, 6kg minced chicken frames (some of the fattier skin is added during the winter only), 3 tins of mackeral & veges ... and some extras) but it isn't his whole diet.

When I took my GSD to his first obedience club he was just under 5 months of age. They expected him to walk around and around in a circle healing, sitting, drop etc. After about 1/2 hour he was getting tired and just wanted to sit or lay down. I moved off to the side as it was obvious he was tired ... and the instructor got up me for allowing him to sit or lay down. I was then told just to walk on and drag him if need be ... Needless to say I gave the guy a mouthful and just picked up my baby and took him home never to come back again.

If he is on the lead at the park - does he walk on the lead ok? Is it possible to walk home from the park rather then walk from home to the park (maybe have someone else bring the car home for you).

The 3 Musketeers - I am very sorry to hear your girl is so sick. It is a hard decision to make as we had to make the same decision a year and a half ago. Personally it was something I had been dreading for some time but for some reason the decision was a little easier then I thought it would be. I had dreaded the thought of having to make the decision but when the time came I just knew it was the right decision and was comfortable with that. My rottie boy had been declining over a period of time and had some bad days. While he was sleeping more and more, he would still wolf down his breakfast. On the Saturday morning he was reluctant to get off his bed even for breakfast ... and then he only ate a little of it. I immediately burst into tears because I knew that wasn't like him at all ... he would eat even if he was half asleep. On the Sunday he showed no interest in his food at all and just slept. I think I must have cryed all day Sunday and Sunday night because of the realisation the time was near. Our GSD realised something was wrong and instead of jumping all over him like normal, he just layed down beside him. It was hard to make the call to the vet to take him in but I knew it wasn't fair to him to allow him to suffer any more. I went and washed my face and spent all morning with just him, telling him how much I loved him and what a great dog he had been and how I will never forget him. I carried him to the car and took him for his final drive. The staff at the vets were wonderful ... but I didn't cry at all. He went to sleep in my arms with me telling him it was going to be ok. I just wanted him to know he was loved and didn't want him to see me crying. I felt I owed him that much. The staff helped me carry him back to the car and I took him home. I was going to put him on his bed so our GSD could come in and spend some time with him ... until the funeral home arrived to collect his body but I couldn't get him out of the car by myself. I ended up leaving him in the back of the car and bringing our GSD out to him. I wanted our GSD to know that he was gone and not just disappeared. Yes ... our GSD missed his best friend. Every morning when he got home from work, he would run around the yard looking for him. He went off his food and lost some weight ... but eventually he picked up and returned to more of his "normal" self ... I think he also matured more and lost some of the puppiness about him. I think for almost 12 months I would come home and go outside still expecting to see him and then realise he was gone ... and sometimes I still expect half expect him to come home.

I was given a sample of the rolls and my boy wouldn't even touch it ... and this is a dog that normally eats anything

If it makes her feel better with something in her mouth ... you could try a toy such as the Kong Wubba (water version). It looks is a a bit like a kong shaped octopus (with only 4 legs ) My boy loves his when he goes to the hydrotherapy pool for some exercise ... after about 20 laps (15 metre pool) this morning he was totally exhausted.

If the vet finds the swelling is caused by inflammation ... try wetting a cloth in Apple Cider Vinager and then wrap this around the swollen area. Apart from making him smell like a salad ... this really does help reduce swelling. It has been working with my ankle.

Maybe if you take her swimming again try using a light weight long lead ... that way if she gets into trouble you can reel her back in. Just until she becomes more confident and you are more confident with her swimming ability. I have to lave a long line on my GSD otherwise he just keeps swimming and swimming.

I seem to have a constant battle to clean my GSD's ears. The brat gets all sooky and makes what should be a simple process, extremely difficult. He hates having his ears cleaned so I might get one partially cleaned before I have to basically sit on him to keep him from either running away or hiding his head I have been using Bayer Ear Cleaner on a cotton pad and wiping the easy accessable areas of his ears. We then squite some of the solution in to his ears, giving it a massage and then allowing him to shake it out. Is there an easier or better way to clean them?

Hope she is feeling better now. It should clear up quickly if it was a relatively minor infection but do keep going with the drops for the prescribed period of time. We usually noticed an improvement in a day or two with our GSD when he gets an ear infection.

Fido's have a Herbal flea rinse ... similar to their Fre-Itch Rinse. Not sure how "natural" it is or how effective ... I use the Fre-Itch and find it great in the hydrobath. We also use the Fre-itch to dunk a small pomxchi that my mother is looking after.

My boy became really sick in November for just over a week .. it ended up costing us just under $4,600!!! The first 4 hours in emergency cost us $800 and they didn't even know what was wrong ... and then 2 days in ICU and then surgery and hospitalisation ... I was the one going to the hospital at all hours of the day and night to do everything for them (he hated all the staff and vets). They were charging $100 per day for him to sit in a big cage ... I was feeding him, walking him, medicating him, changing his pee bags and bedding etc. And then I get a phone call to take him home for the weekend because they couldn't deal with him!!!

Take her to the vet, she has an ear infection. It can be painful for them and the scratching is what has probably caused the sore you can see. The problem is usually deeper in the ear and only drops can help there.

I once had lots of trouble with a dog and spoke to his trainer (a professional who was assisting me with his training) about boarding him for a couple of weeks to allow him to work with him. While he would have been happy to help out with the training he definately didn't recommend boarding him for the training. He basically said 90% of all dog training is teaching the owner to understand their dog ... not teaching the dog how to understand us. Definately work with professionals but the training needs to come from you.

Maybe try mixing in a little mince, egg and/or sardines in with the dry food.

There is also a book put out by Animal Emergency Centre (written by Carole Harvey-Stevenson) called "The Animal Emergency Centre of Brisbane, Guide to First Aid for your Pet". I brought mine from our local vet but I have seen them around ... they are also sold at Vet Products Direct. When we had 2 dogs I brought a copy for each dog and one spare (for home). Using the book I made up a first aid kit for each of the dogs (including a copy of the book) and then made up a larger kit for home (including the spare copy of the book). If I had a dog in the car then I also had his first aid kit ... It was probably a bit overboard but after having our GSD cut an artery in his leg and nearly bleed to dead ... I wanted to make sure there was enough supplies around the place.

Our boy also drinks out of the fish pond. He has buckets of water but still prefers the pond. Just be careful if you treat the pond with anything. We treated the pond for an algae outbreak and had to ensure the pond was fully covered so he couldn't drink the water ... while the chemicals were "fish safe" I didn't want to take the risk.