WoofnHoof

Thank you @animallover99

Thank you @animallover99. I took her to get hamburgers and chicken nuggets today before the vet. She was very drowsy and went to sleep peacefully. It was so very hard to say goodbye.  

Thanks @Dame Danny's Darling and @mackiemad it’s good to share with people who understand.

Thank you Pers, I think she was ready to go but it was so hard to say goodbye  

I don’t usually do these but Lulu was originally a DOL dog she came from the rescue pages here. 

I didn’t know much about Swedish vallhunds but soon learned with Lulu! Never ending energy and drive, such a fun loving, always happy and hardy little dog, she will be very sadly missed  

Run free beautiful girl <3  

I’ve booked it at the vets tomorrow and now I’m freaking out  

I made the decision yesterday when I realised that I couldn’t remember how long it had been since she had wagged her little bobtail  I remember the last time she seemed excited about dinner and that was months ago. I always tell people that when you start thinking about it that’s when it’s your brain preparing you so you already know it’s time on some level and so I still feel it’s right but it also feels wrong

Thanks she is a beautiful girl

this is her in happier/healthier days

Thanks guys I’ll see if there is one here but I think the decision has pretty much been made, at this point it just feels like rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic

She has been circling and getting stuck in corners and getting lost for a while now because of the dementia. She only started the falling and the lopsidedness since the teeth were done. I was looking at her last night and I think that a stroke is more likely as her left eye is a bit droopy as well. 

Thanks everyone. She is eating well enough at the moment but I don’t think she is going to be back to her old self unfortunately  

Hi everyone,

Just wondering if anyone has had a dog suffer from a stroke before. My little old girl Lulu had some teeth extracted a few weeks ago and she hasn't been right ever since. She has kidney issues, heart murmur and dementia so she isn't doing great and this question is largely academic since I know she doesn't have long  Anyway despite her issues the vet was confident and happy to do her teeth with extra fluids etc to support her system. Buts after the teeth were done and she came out of the anaesthetic she seemed really out of it for about a week, not really eating properly, falling over a lot etc. I took her back to the vet and she prescribed some steriods to help pick her up a bit and stimulate her appetite. It has helped somewhat as now she is eating well but she seems to really struggle with chewing and keeping the food in her mouth. She is very wobbly and while she circles a lot with the dementia she also seems much less stable and falls over especially on the left side.  This makes me wonder whether she had a stroke while she was under the anaesthetic. I've never seen a dog that has had a stroke before so not really sure what it would look like so thought I would ask here so thanks in advance   

I'm going through this with Lulu, it seems like you have these tough little dogs that never need the vet and then all of a sudden you turn around and they are old and in decline  

So sorry for your losses  those little tackers do leave the biggest holes  

My experience with cattle dogs is that they can be anxious, but I feel a lot of that is likely to be the result of understimulation. They are a true working dog, if you don’t give them a job they will find one. The ones I have known can chase horses and nip them, hence why they are called “heelers”, so the dog will need to be trained and also the fence will need to be secure, you don’t need angry horse owners at your back fence. 

Other than that yes your situaion sounds fine for the breed, the main thing is that you are aware of their needs and are willing and able to meet them  a good breeder will help you and make sure you get the right dog. 

My husky is well known for pinching stuff, don’t want it chewed or stolen don’t leave it anywhere he can get it. It’s funny to watch him if he doesn’t know you’re watching, he just very gently grabs the very edge of it and pulls it to the edge then lets it fall to the floor so he can investigate it properly! Then if he decides it’s good he will take it back to his “spot” where he stashes his things. 

He he took my wallet once, he was about 4 years old at the time (never grew out of pinching stuff), to this day I have no idea where he put it I searched all through the house and yard never found it. I knew he had it because I found some coins and chewed cards in the yard. Had to replace license, Medicare card the lot. 

Then about 6 months later I went into hospital when I broke my back, was gone for about a week and had friends looking after him. When I got home I found my long lost wallet in the centre of my bed! It was dirty and chewed but still had money in it and everything. No idea what he was thinking or what made him give it back but it was so funny and sweet that he decided to give it back to me.  

9 hours ago, PossumCorner said:

That's a common long-term experience - I know a few chook owners who have given up keeping them, just totally disheartened after so much effort to fox-proof and still losing a pen-full overnight.  Foxes have caused havoc even in commercial poultry hatcheries where every resource of money and paid staff has had a fail moment with a tennis-ball sized gap between steel framework.  For myself, I have very conservatively lost $1500 worth of chickens, ducks and/or geese over six years.  And constantly poured more planning, time and effort (not to mention money) into keeping poultry in a humane way with enough room to move not in "approved" legal minimum free range prisons.  Bought alpacas for guardian work, strategically designed alpaca fencing to surround the Fort Knox poultry pens, geese for daylight warning.  All that.  And still have fox problems.  Don't know anyone who keeps poultry in fox-rich country who does not.  (Alpacas are brilliant but not fail-safe).

 

Edit to add: I still can't cope with people who rant on about how much they hate foxes.  How stupid.  We set sheep and poultry up for failure, foxes only do what foxes do.  Just wonder sometimes how these fox haters would cope if they had to contend with leopards taking their pet dogs, or had other large predators to worry about.  Indians don't bat on about "I hate leopards" or the Polish "I hate bears" or lynxes or whatever.  

 

   

When I was in Qld I lived up the road from a free range egg farm, they had a couple of mareemas looking after the chooks, seemed to work well. They sold up a few years later but I don't think that had anything to do with predators just property prices in the area going up. 

Yes it's very frustrating when people have prey animals, don't do anything to protect them, then scream blue murder when they get eaten. Lots of sheep farmers around here but trying to talk to them about LGDs is like pulling teeth, they don't want to know they want a magic solution to the predator problem that doesn't cost them any time, money or effort. Alpacas are attractive from an ease of management point of view but they aren't bred for guarding so their effectiveness is very hit and miss. Ditto for donkeys. 

On 01/12/2017 at 6:33 PM, sandgrubber said:

I went through a phase of being fascinated with Belayev's experiments.  The memory and question that lingers relates to degrees of domestication.  As I remember, Belayev started out with levels of domestication: A,B,C...etc. and ended up having to add AA and(?) AAA because his foxes kept getting tamer and tamer.  The question is whether some breeds of dogs are more domesticated than others...due to more intense selection for ability to live in close contact with humans.

It is fascinating stuff for sure. Being a husky owner I've read a few studies and huskies and a few other breeds are considered part of a subgroup known as "primitive breeds", which while genetically I think there is not enough variation to separate them from a behavioural perspective they exhibit behaviours which are thought to most closely resemble those of the ancestral gray wolf. One study in fact linked this with morphological characteristics believed to be associated with neoteny, in which juvenile behaviours are retained in the adult and is thought to be one of the key indicators of domestication. So in short the less the dog looks like a wolf, the less it's behaviour resembles the adult wolf, and this is thought to be indicative of the relative "extent" (for want of a better word) of the domestication process which has occurred. 

On 05/12/2017 at 8:54 PM, tdierikx said:

A really dumb fox would still make the smartest Border Collie look like a dunce... they are super smart... and have memories like elephants to boot!

 

For all the things we don't really like about foxes here in Australia, you still have to admire their adaptability and tenacity to survive and thrive - no matter what we stupid humans do to try to stop them... *grin*

 

Saw my first evidence of fox activity at my work farm in ages yesterday... a bit of bunny fluff scattered near a fence. Good thing too, as the bloody bunnies have been getting so thick on the ground that they have been wandering up to the cattle/goat/sheep feed troughs and feeding happily alongside our animals for weeks now...

 

Even the ravens have been poaching small bunnies at the farm lately... but I wish they'd stop dropping bits of bunny from the sky... I nearly ended up with a bunny leg hat the other day! Seriously, the portion landed less than 6 inches from me! Still hasn't stopped them going into the duck pen and stealing the eggs though...

 

T.

We have heaps of rabbits around this year and I suspect the problem has largely been contributed to by "helpful" neighbours shooting foxes, personally I don't mind foxes they keep the rabbit population under control. Funnily enough the sheep farmers in my area don't agree but IMO they should be using LGDs anyway then we could have more foxes, less rabbits and not lose lambs in the process.

1 hour ago, Rascalmyshadow said:

When she started with the nasal issues initially the vets kept treating it as allergies which is why she got so bad, the drugs kept masking the problem.

 

I honestly don't think it's allergy related (although not impossible)   due to her history, she's also not sneezing, doesn't have itchy skin or runny eyes.

True could be something else, if it’s autoimmune the cortisone should do the trick. How long has she had the nasal issue for? (Edit: never mind I just went back to the op). Could be a deviation or malformation causing things to get blocked and infected. If the antibiotics work and it keeps recurring it might be worth saving for a scan but unless it’s a tumor it won’t necessarily need to be urgently done. 

Fingers crossed that it’s more easily fixed and life can get a little easier for everyone  

Hmm maybe an allergy. If it is cortisone should settle it down but that’s a bit hard core I would have thought the vet would try antihistamines first. 

Yes chis are very funny little dogs, big personalities and their tiny size means they can be intimidated by just about everything. In my experience they also like to be a “one person” dog, they can like or tolerate others but they do tend to form a very strong attachment to “their” person, and will defend you to the death. Toddlers are constantly changing and it could just be too much stres for your little one, if all else fails I would consider rehoming her to a household where she is the only dog and she mainly has one person to herself. 

I would also check hearing, if she has had sinus issues they could be linked to inner ear issues, and a loss of hearing would certainly make an already sensitive dog even more sensitive to sudden movements and actions. 

I would look at medication, sometimes it can be just the thing to give the brain a “break” from the anxiety and allow a new pattern to be put in place by preventing the anxiety escalating. 

Thanks @Powerlegs I'll give it a go. 

So sorry to hear about Ingrid @Gretel it is a bloody hard decision to make sadly  

My Lulu is having kidney troubles as well, she's been on the k/d for about 6 months or so I guess. She can eat other stuff but seems to prefer the k/d the most, other stuff she will go off after a couple days. She's still in good spirits although has lost weight, not skinny but just enough cover. I'm in a facebook group for people with dogs with kidney problems and they recommend giving subcutaneous fluids to keep them hydrated and help the kidneys so I'm going to ask the vet about it next time I take her. 

I got my husky's rear dew claws removed when he got desexed as a youngster. They stuck out at right angles and were very loosely attached, just an accident looking for a place to happen IMO. If they had lain flatter against the leg I wouldn't have worried about it. None of my other dogs had rear dew claws so not sure if they were removed prior to purchasing. I'd assess it on a case by case basis, don't see any point removing them if there isn't a strong likelihood of them being ripped off at some stage. 

On 3/28/2017 at 6:41 PM, Akayla said:

Anyone wanting a Tamaskan, there's a litter planned soon!

Well that sucks I haven't won lotto yet you know! :p 

Hmmm heard something similar before. Rescue saying they "believe" the dogs weren't looked after by their true owner so they are justified in keeping them...