Ptolomy

One of my furry kids has been seeing an eye specialist due to an ongoing eye ulcer. I was told to use Viscious Tears which you get from a Pharmacy. It worked really well.

hmmm lets see.... My pride and joy would have to be...... Ptolomy Choc Chip UD ADM JDM ADO JDO GD SPDX SD ( not worrying about the multiples of the agility titles as it costs a fortune!) I did have him entered in a retrieving trial last year - but he injured himself - so we never got there.

In 2 weeks time we have the Western Classic invitation obedience event - where you have to submit your highest three scores, they add them together and then they take the top 10 dogs for each class. All five of my kids got an invite, so I will have 1 in CCD, 1 in novice, 2 in open and 2 in UD. So with only 10 dogs in each class I am going to be clashing all over the place. :p We have Eastern States judges judging which makes it an even playing field. The other problem I have is that I didn't know anything with my first dog and as I have added kids I have changed my signals and turns - so I have to make sure I am using the right signal and the right about turn for each dog :D How do I think they will go.......... hmmm it will depend on the night. They are training the house down at the moment, I gave them 6 weeks off over Xmas, New Year and its like I have replaced their batteries - they are all firing on 6 cylinders, but its so easy for something little to go wrong and the standard is top notch so no room for error.

Make them yourself! Go and buy three x 10cm of stretchy material and a lead clip and basically thread the material through the gap at the end of the lead clip and start platting. You can get more technical and stitch by machine the start of the fabric once you thread it through the clip - but it is really really easy. :D Lisa Kaddatz can be contacted on [email protected] Helen in WA also makes them PM me if you want her details.

My dog has to be injected every 3rd day due to allergies and it has been made into such a fun experience for her that when I get the immunotherapy stuff out of the fridge she comes racing into the kitchen and sits by me waiting for me to prepare the needle and inject her - she then gets a neck rub and of course a treat, a couple of hand touches while all the other dogs sit and watch and are envious of her. The first couple of times I had to inject her were awkward and I was all fingers and thumbs and was trying to shove food into her as quick as possible and I had somebody holding her, and this wasn't very successful - but 12 months down the track the anticipation of food is very appealing, I am much better at it and after the first week I gave up on somebody holding her and we were way better off.

Hmm not stopped but gone from UD back to open and now pick and choose my competitions for her. Why.....when she used to come training all the time and compete often - some days she would get out of the car at a trial and the lights would be on and nobody was home, other days she would be switched on and half way through a round look at me and the switch would go off. This dog was three 185+ passes off her OC and has a 199 under her belt. The dog also has aggression issues so I am very picky as to when I bring her out for trials and also who she is next to in stays - if I have concerns I pull her out no matter what score she is sitting on. Thankfully in WA they are now introducing separate stays for dogs not on a pass. Back in open she is happy, not stressed and as I said only comes out for special occasions. Training is less often and when she does come training she gives 110%.

ACWA accepts titre testing so you are safe Amy. And as for kennels - yes we certainly do accept titres and I have just found that the doggie swimming pool also accepts titre tests.

There has not been a case of canine hepatitis in WA - and you are correct you cannot get a single hepatitis vaccination anyway - so even if the hepatitis titre came back low - I wouldn't been doing a C3 if the parvo and distemper titres were high. Amy - I would do a titre at 18 months. I know my breed and I am now up to dog number 5 and they are all following a similar path - but your breed might be different. Depending on the results you might be up for vaccinations on top of the titre but really it is a small price to pay.

Amy Just so you know.....Blaize was last vaccinated with a C3 at 12 months of age - she turned 7 last November and her parvo and distemper titres are still >80. She was vaccinated at 8, 16 weeks and then at 12 months. Beans turned 2 last October - she has only been vaccinated twice with a C3 at 8 and 16 weeks. Her parvo titre was >80 her distemper titre is =5 which is in the revaccinating range. You know Bean's history - so I am not sure she is a good example. However it was suggested that her low distemper titre could possibly be due to the fact that she has not been exposed to distemper and if she was it may in fact be higher. You cannot get a single distemper vaccination. Lexi was vaccinated with a C3 at 8 and 16 weeks and will be titred in May when she turns 2. River was vaccinated at 8 weeks only and will also be titred at 2 - so it will be interesting to compare these sibblings. Just for the record I paid $88 for parvo and distemper titres.

Sue Hogben and Gina O'Keefe both do seminars throughout Oz - however Steve Davies?? lives in NSW and maybe worth contacting.

I am lucky enough to have a guru living virtually in my own back yard - can't beat Sue Hogben - who time and time again has helped me with my kids. She makes everything seem so easy and has a way with getting the best out of each of them. Have to say this is not only in obedience, but retrieving and now agility too.

We see Mandy at Murdoch and we had this big discussion 2 weeks ago about changing antihistamines when my dog had crashed and was in a bad way with her allergies. Went with upping the dose as Mandy was sure Polarmine and the others would cause a drousiness effect and she knew this wouldn't be my first option.

We use Zyrtec - dog weighs 15kg - one tablet every day and two tablets on days she has her immunotherapy. Have to say I did ask the dermatologist last time I saw her if we would be better on another anti-histamine and was told that Zyrtec is a second generation medication and so doesn't cause drowsiness like the first generation ones do eg Polaramine and since I do obedience and agility she didn't consider these being an alternative.

I have tried a predopamine tablet to try and calm my obedience dog down (yes he is also stressy) and it was like working a dog that couldn't get out of second gear - I hated it - so I took him off it. It might be what you are after though. My specialist vet suggested giving it a try and said if this one didn't work there were others such as dopamine and pregabba that I could also try.

Ayra you should be mighty proud of yourself and your girl as you have done all the hard work and made it fun in the process. You will get the results you are after and your dog will do it with a smile on her face Thanks for sharing the photos and glad I could be of some assistance. Now if we can convince you into entering the Nationals in Vic in August we may get to catch up........

I use California Natural Herring and Sweet Potato - a bag costs $26 for just over 2kg

A yeast infection looks like brown coffee grains and yes dogs can get a yeast infection of the feet - its a bit like a bad case of thrush Washing the feet twice a week in malaseb will help

hehehehe I was very restrained NESS! Gees my lectures to you had more of an impact than I would ever have believed LOL

Think you should go to your Canine website and look up the rules for both exercises - thats probably the best place to start. In WA - 90% of people now do the change of positions because it is a lead in to the UD signals exercise. Pitfalls - there are many! When I train the exercise with a new dog - the 2 things I am after are: the dog dropping on the spot - not taking a step forward or sideways in the sit up the dog must push up with its front legs and not move the bum forwards (this in important in UDX when there are 6 changes of positions and the dog can't move more than a body length forward) Make sure you mix the exercise up and don't keep leaving the dog and doing the drop sit and then the recall - otherwise the dog will anticipate and then you have a whole new problem LOL Good luck and since I no longer do broad jump and think its a stupid exercise I will leave it to somebody else to fill in the pitfalls

She has been on probiotics but isn't at the moment. I guess it could help though. I guess I never thought about it but if we go on antiobiotics then it can cause thrush - the same with dogs. I went out on Friday and brought one of the webster daily pill dispenser packs since i can't keep up with the number of pills she is on each day. We are back to bathing twice a week - have doubled the anti-histamine she is on every 3rd day (the day of her allergy injections), so fingers crossed we will get her back on track again. Poor baby. She was doing so well too........

Thanks Amypie - yep he is a toller. As for the distemper issue - you can't get a single distemper vaccine in Australia although you can in the US - argh. My girl has just had a meltdown as Dermatology Mandy at Murdoch calls it. She came off all her meds prior to steralisation due to possible bleeding issues during surgery and then ate something at an obedience trial on the 14th Dec. The next day she crashed - chewed her foot until she couldn't walk on it - pulled her hair out and was red raw. 2 days later I took her in for her op - unsure if the vet would go ahead. He decided it was OK and put her on antibiotics as a precaution. She was on these for 10 days - which unbeknown to me caused the balance between bacteria and yeast on the skin to get out of alignment and now she has a raging yeast infection (very similar to thrush so is continually itching - so is now on a month of 2 lots of tablets. So in answer to your question regarding the distemper vaccination - she will not be vaccinated again unless her parvo titres fall to unsafe levels. Interesting that the vet who took the titres suggested that her distemper titres could be low because her immune system hasn't be challenged with this virus.

UPdate......... He is on Magnesium suppliments and also large doses of Vit C and B + drops from the homeopath. I stopped the bees pollen only because I couldn't be sure I wasn't going to cause a bigger problem. He is currently on an 8 week break from obedience and agility and up until today I thought he was travelling quite well - but then he hasn't done anything to test the problem. Today I took him swimming in a hydrotherapy pool and this afternoon I noticed that he was very stiff in the back drivers side leg. Not sure if this is related to his original injury or if he used muscles today that haven't been used in a while. I am going to take him swimming twice a week for the next three weeks to see if this helps. Mid February he has 2 appointments to see the vet for needle therapy and stretching........so the saga continues

Just for the record, and no you probably wont ever bother with obedience trialling - but a couple of my dogs have to be fed prior to training or trialling. Otherwise they get so out of control in the hope of getting food that I can't get any sense out of them, and things that they would normally find easy to do - look more like a train wreck. :rolleyes:

You will find that most obedience people will use the dogs meal as training treats. Don't just limit yourself to dried food as treats though - you will find that different treats will get different responses from the dogs too. Mine will work for carrots, fruit and veges - but bring out a cooked sausage or BBQ chicken and they do somersaults. You may find it easiest to put the dogs food rations for a day in a bowl and then use this as the treats throughout the day - just so you aren't over or under feeding. And as time goes on - you will get better at putting different things in your pocket - I often put my hand in my pocket and find raw chicken, polony, steak, chicken chunkers, heart, 4 legs....the list goes on and on. Have to say I was the other person who did refuse to put brains in my pocket :rolleyes:

Perhaps another soloution would be to contact the breeder and see if she can give you phone numbers for some of the other puppy owners and you could invite them over for a puppy play. Ahona - good luck with your pup too - but remember its not just parvo you have to think about, there are other things, although not as deadly as parvo, that I wouldn't want my 10-12 week old puppy coming into contact with that would be dealt with in the preceeding hours at a vet practice.