Ptolomy

You should see a difference pretty quickly if they are going to work! and there is no drousiness whatsoever!!!!

I use Zyrtec as a antihistamine - but Zyrtec did nothing for my dogs brother so he is on Polaramine. You may need to try a couple of antihistamines to find the one that works best Good luck

Not sure how much the vet explained the elimination diet to you. The dog needs to be put on two foods it has never had before, if the problem is a food allergy - then the itching will stop. Then you can add a new food every ten days - if the dog starts itching then it is allergic to that food, if it doesn't itch then you can give the food a big tick. We are under the dermatology clinic at Murdoch and were given the choice of 5 meats, emu, camel, horse, goat and kangaroo. I chose goat and I chose sweet potato as her vege. We were on this diet for 3 months before I found another food she could eat. No the dog can't stay on just goat and sweet potato long term but it was the only way we could find out what she could and couldn't eat. Not sure where you live, but the South Street Pet Supplies (on South St between Stock and Carrington Streets) stocks a great range of raw meats including goat, horse, camel and roo and has all of these in a dried form as well. They also stock bones in these meats as well, so yes you can still give your dog raw meaty bones. I was given a list of other shops that stock the different meats but can't put my finger on it at the moment.

Can I ask when was your dog last vaccinated

My dogs allergies were diagnosed at 6 months of age but I could go back to ten weeks of age and yep started with scratching and also chronic ear infections. To cut a long story short - food allergies were the cause. After a food trial we found she was allergic to beef, lamb, milk, corn, and wheat - so feeding her anything with these ingredience cause her to scratch bigtime. Atopy is usually diagnosed after 12 months of age - so I would be looking at food to begin with. Just for the record - for a food trial you need to put the dog on two foods that it has never had before - we used goat and sweet potato - and then once the scratching had subsided (after a couple of days) we could begin adding a new food every ten days. If the ear infections or scratching started up again - we knew the dog was allergic to this food - if after 10 days there was no sign of any problems we knew the dog was OK with this food. So we went through things like beef, lamb, pork, chicken, corn, pasta, potatos, eggs, yoghurt, vegetables and I now have a list of things she can and can't eat. Good luck

My dog has been away with the fairies - she has been in season and since coming out of season I would be trialling with her, do a right about turn and she would just keep going and then stand there looking at the trees or the birds or the fairies (LOL) ARGH. Well Saturday's novice trial was the first time in a few weeks that I haven't been heeling and said to her Earth to Beans..... she actually put in probably an 85% effort - which was about an 80% improvement on the last few weeks. Then on Sunday she blew me away - worked magnificently - missed one position in heeling - and lost only 5 in total for her ring work. and then guess what - she dropped during the sit stays ARGH Back to the drawing board.......

Griff - just because you are taking the fish oil doesn't mean that it doesn't have nasties in it. The ones I was giving to my dog you buy from a pharmacy and are for humans too. I also found out that when I emailed the companies and asked if they tested for mercury or arsenic some said yes but wouldn't supply any data and others just ignored my email. Good luck!

I think I have tried most things....... I find that when giving the dogs something for their joints that they get to a point where they don't appear to benefit from the product any more. I certainly found this from Sacha's Blend - so i went to Joint Guard. I am now using Flexcose which you get from the US - but you will find that most of the products have the same sort of things in them. You dog may also benefit from Cartrophen - but you will need to speak to your vet about this one. Will tell you to check your fish oil tablets that the company tests for mercury and arsenic.

Last year I had a friend take my duck dog into open in obedience and I was standing outside the ring watching. The dog was working beautifully - didn't lose a point in heeling or SFE - did a lovely DOR and then it came to the dumbbell on the flat. Zoe threw the dumbbell and sent Blaize to get it. The dog raced out picked the dumbbell up came racing back ran straight past Zoe and presented the dumbbell beautifully to me outside the ring. We laughed out loud and said this is the new open exercise called strategic pairs.

Hey Arya BIG congratulations - it wasn't that long ago I read an email saying it just wasn't happening in the ring. Big pats on the back for turning things around. Now onto pass 2 and 3....... Cheers

I just sprinkle it on their evening meal and I find that the bowls are always licked clean

My dog has severe allergies and sweet potato was one of only 2 foods that she could eat for months. Even now it is part of her base diet and I use it for training treats. I used to partially cook it in the microwave, but now feed it raw. I also feed pumpkin raw and as training treats

Good luck Helen. My 2 year old duck dog had personal space issues whenever any body walked up to her - including me, she would back away. Its been a lot of hard work - with me standing her and walking up to her and clicking and treating without even laying a hand on her - then I would have other people doing it and I would click and treat. Then we standing the one pat and walk away and C/T. The big break through came when somebody patted her and while they were patting her I said Jackpot and rewarded her bigtime - now when we do a SFE she stands there looking at me waiting for the "Jackpot". Sometimes it comes while the person it patting her - other times its when they have finished and other times when I return to her. I have got her in the show ring as I thought this would help - but most show judges are impatient and insist on picking up their feet and moving their legs which is no help to a dog like this at all.

Hey fell upon this thread and found that you had some success this weekend. Well done!!!! Glad to hear that some of the ideas have helped and that the start post has gone from being somewhere scary to a fun place to be. Just make sure you don't fall back into bad habits. Take care and thanks for the pats on the back

Have fun tonight Stacey - I will be dropping my baby toller down for training as I am lucky that somebody else is training her for me. I think Rockingham train midweek from memory - obedience training is Sunday morning.

Southern River do agility training at K9 on a Thursday evening - I think beginners start about 5.30ish. There is also a club at Northern Suburbs. Best best is to ring the K9 office and get the info and contact numbers from them

I also forgot to mention that we are going back again in January to have repeat allergy testing done again - so it will be interesting to see how this lot of testing compares with the last lot.

Not sure if your dermatologist told you but the dogs bedding should be washed regularly in hot water and Eucalyptus Oil which kills dust mites. You can also get something from the supermarket in the detergent section that kills dust mites - but it is more expensive and the Eucalyptus Oil works just as well and smells Ok. Also did they discuss regular bathing for the dog as this has also helped my girl. I am using Malseb on her feet and Pyoderm S on the rest of her.

I am not sure which state you are in (I am in WA and we are being treated by the Dermatology clinic at Murdoch Hospital) - I am now 10 months into the desensitization program. My dog initially had food allergies and then at 12 months of age (almost to the day) started chewing her feet and scratching madly. To cut a long sotry short she went through the same allergy testing as your dog had by the sounds of it - where they rate each thing they are tested for on a scale of 1-4. She lit up like a Xmas tree and registered 4 for a truck load of things including grasses, pollens, black ants, cockroaches, dust mites, fleas....... The plan is to start on low strength immunotherapy - injecting the dog with what they are allergic to often and gradually increase the strength and dose of the injection and increase the time span between injections. Unfortunately my dog never does anything by the book and by the time we hit vial three of the immunotherpy mixture and started trying to increase the dose she was having severe reactions to each injection - so we have now settled on a 0.1ml injection every 3rd day and this is working well. I have just ordered my third lot of vaccine and each time it costs me $250. The dogs do get used to you injecting them and my little girl lines up when she sees me getting eveything ready waiting for her injection and then the treat that follows. The $6 000 000 question is "is it working"?......well I also went and saw a homeopath who gave me some drops and I think this has helped her get back on track but I can't tell you would the immunotherapy have worked as well without the homeopath intervention. I think not. My dogs coat is magnificent - her red eyes have gone. She still chews her feet, but all the sores between her pads have gone, she hasn't had an ear infection for months, her bottom is no longer red raw and she is doing really well. I must also say that she is on anti-histamine every day, gets bathed supposedly twice a week - but this is now out to probably once a fortnight and she is on 3000mg of fish oil. Here I also have to warn you - since my girl only weighs 14kg and was taking this amount of over the counter fish oil that you buy from a chemist and I did a hair analysis on her which showed the highest levels of mercury they have ever seen in a dog. She also has arsenic in her system as well. As a result Murdoch is now changing their protocol and will specify which brand of fish oil you need to buy as not all are tested for mercury and arsenic. As a result of the hair analysis she is also on a truck load of natural therapy in an attempt to rid her system of boron, copper, aluminium, mercury and arsenic which all showed up. Good luck.

Gees Ness these aren't mindless brags - these are huge. Well done - its weekends like this you just want to bottle, but please return my strategic pairs partner. My stand in partner isn't nearly as good or understanding (LOL). A little brag for us - today we had a double games trial. Beans came away with a 2nd in novice gamblers, a 2nd in novice snooker and a 6th in novice gamblers. Scoota got a 4th in Masters Strategic pairs with his stand in partner -who decided to change the course but forgot to tell us , a 4th in excellent snooker and a 2nd in excellent gamblers.

This is actually a great thread since it makes you appreciate the little successes you have with your kids. ;) I know ness has a brag from agility today - come on Ness fess up My kids well we have gone from rooster to feather duster in a week. Today I did a zillion rounds in obedience but didn't pass anything - however - One of my kids who has been having great problems with seekback and scent - actually put in a supper effort in 32 degree heat and in the first 3 UD exercises hadn't lost a point - unfortunately there was a big hole waiting for us just around the corner - :p But at the end of the day I still got to take the best kids home!!!!!

It depends - can you list what she DOES like - rather than wonder about what she doesn't???? Also how you deliver the rewards/toys/food has a lot to do with the dogs reaction too. I can say "good girl" to one of my kids and she just looks at me and say yeah so what. But if I say "WOW GOOD GIRL YEE HAR" this certainly pushes all her buttons. The same goes for toys - some dogs you can wave a toy in their face and they just look at you as if to say whats your problem, its your job to find their "on" button. I actually think most dogs have them - some are just a little harder to find. And yep give me a high drive dog anyday - although they do come with there own set of issues - usually involving over enthusiasm

Yee Har Its a great feeling.

As you know Ness, Beans was on a fairly high dose of fish oil 3000mg for a 14kg dog. Most people are only giving their dogs 1 tablet per day, she was getting 3 tablets. Also most people wouldn't be doing a hair analysis on their dogs either - so perhaps would be surprised to find what is actually in their dogs system if they did. Beans also has aluminium, Boron, Copper, arsenic and as I said the highest mercury levels they have ever seen in a dog. I was always under the impression that fish oil was harmless and I now know that not all fish oil is harmless.

Unfortunately you don't know looking at the bottle and even searching on the net when companies claim to test - it becomes very suspicious when you ask for details and they don't/wont provide them. I am now paying $35 for a 375ml bottle of liquid fish oil which is much dearer than the tablets I was getting wholesale - but the liquid is guaranteed mercury and arsenic free. I know the supplies of the vet fish oil are low at the moment.