Bubbly

Mason can come home today! The Murdoch vets say he's much much better and has been eating and drinking without vomiting or bloody diarrhea. They'll wean him off the IV fluids and he'll be coming home late morning or early afternoon. We're so freaking relieved. Thank you to everyone for waiting with me and the encouragement. I was really going nuts yesterday when things didn't look so great and you all helped more than I can say.

Mason had some dexamethasone on Saturday for a vaccine reaction - we'll be very very cautious after this episode about any and all medications he's given. Thanks for sharing your pups reactions!

They think Mason can come home tomorrow! as long as he keeps on doing well we can bring him home in the morning. We sure miss the little man

Ultrasound showed no reason for surgery. There's no gas in the SI and, and only a little in the colon which is normal. No obstructive patterns etc. So he's been diagnosed with hemorrhagic gastroenteritis (HGE) - he's started passing copious amounts of bloody diarrhea this morning. There's a small chance the dex he got for the vaccine reaction on Sat, so that would need surgery but the surgeon doubts it. Mason is headed off to ICU for IV fluids and meds - they expect him to get worse before he gets better but they hope he'll be right in 24-48 hours. I'm gonna take a nap, I'm wrecked.

I really can't deal with all of this! I just can't deal with it.... The surgeon just called. He reports that Mason is bright, alert and sweet (was giving him kisses while he was on the phone with me). Based on the xrays he has, the history, and his exam of Mason he's not confident surgery is the best option. He thinks there is a reasonable chance this is all just really bad gastro. So, he'd like to do an ultrasound with the ultrastonographer (specialist at reading ultrasounds) before making a decision. We said fine! just please give us some answers. He wants us to make the best informed decision possible, possibly save us a lot of money, and as a surgeon says that waiting for the u/s will not make a difference in how bad his intestines might be when they go in. He says waiting 24 hours would make a difference - but the 1-2 to get the u/s won't. He'll be there all day and has nothing scheduled so he can go in at any time should Mason's case warrant it. He was much more upbeat - without making it sound like Mason was out of the woods. This back and forth is killing me....

Thank you thank you everyone I hate waiting. CDM - was Buli really sick before the surgery?

My 12 week old puppy Mason is about to go into surgery for an intestinal obstruction. Please send positive vibes - we really need them. The vets now think the retching on Saturday we thought (and our regular puppy vet thought) was due to a vaccine reaction was actually due to a migrating obstruction... So please keep our baby in your thoughts

I'm so sorry Nekhbet that your beautiful pup was stricken with parvo! Unfortunately, vaccines are never 100% not matter how much or how little you give them. In your case it was probably his breed that was the problem - not your vaccine schedule. Unfortunately, some pups are what are called "non responders" and that means that a vaccine won't ever seroconvert them. Black and tans like Dobes and Rotties are notorious for this! and it's why many vets will do a single parvo only at 18 or 20 weeks. To try and make sure they've given the pups as much chance as possible to seroconvert. If I ever have a black and tan pup know I"ll be titer testing to have the most knowledge about my pup possible. So, a disclaimer should really be put on this thread that if you have a black and tan there are other things to consider - like titering after every vaccine.

That all makes perfect sense, it's like us getting shots as kids and once you have the antibodies that's it for life, so... why have the medical professional vets been recommending annual vaccinations then? Same reason drug companies are now recommend adults who've had chicken pox get the vaccine in middle age.... MONEY And Cavandra is right (I seem to agree with her a lot ) Vets are following protocol. The immunology courses taught at vet schools vary a lot - because of who teaches the classes. So if someone researching new vaccines is the professor you get one kind of class and if someone researching immunological memory is the professor you get an entirely different outlook! For example the head immunologist at University of Wisconsin in the states (Dr. Ron Schultz) has been pushing to end yearly vaccinations for over a decade (maybe over two decades) because his research is in immunological memory - not in vaccine development. Vets and MDs often rely on drug company reps to educate them for lot of reasons so if a vet hasn't spent the time on his/her own educating themselves they are leaning on what the drug companies say. There are ways to change that, but thats a whole nother topic!

For a great overview of canine (and feline) immunity please go through the presentation here: http://www.newvaccinationprotocols.com/ Here are some things to consider in your situation. Once a puppy has seroconverted they have been vaccinated. Once vaccinated they cannot be vaccinated anymore. In other words once the immune system has "learned about" the disease through one modified live vaccine, you cannot boost immunity. So if you really wanted to know if your pup seroconverted you could titer him now (look around for decent prices). That would tell you if either of his previous vaccines worked. Then you could wait a year before deciding how you want to approach adult vaccinations. 79% of puppies seroconvert if vaccinated at 9 weeks 95% of puppies seroconvert if vaccinated at 12 weeks and reportedly 99% of puppies seroconvert if vaccinated at 16 weeks (this study was performed on Rottys, who seem to be harder to vaccinate, and these studies were done with older vaccines so the newer higher titer ones probably would seroconvert more puppies at younger ages.) The newer Neopar vaccines are labeled for an early finish, as young as 10 weeks. Ask you vet what brand they use. C4 vaccinates for the parainfluenza component of canine cough. There is controversy if the strains in the vaccine are actually the strains that are out in the population. Parainfluenza results in a 9 day self limiting cough - that rarely has complications. C5 vaccines have parainfluenza and the bordatella component of canine cough. The injectable boratella vaccine does not give good mucousal immunity - which is what a puppy needs to avoid a boradtella infection. AND it only lasts for about 6 months for the average dog. Think about that long and hard, it DOES NOT give the immunity your pup needs to avoid the disease and it only lasts 6 months - not the year before they say you should get another. Bordatella can be harder to treat than parainfluenza - but the injectable vaccine basically does not protect your pup. If you really want to protect him from boratella the intranasal is a better option for mucousal immunity. My pup got a C4 at 8 weeks and is getting a C3 today at just under 12 weeks. The vet uses neopar vaccines. He won't be getting anything else until maybe 1 yr when I haven't decided if I'll give one more C3. The only reason I'm contemplating it is that the canine immune system matures at about 6 months and I'm debating making sure he's got one C3 after that. If anything I want to do requires "proof" I'll get a titer done. If they won't accept that then I'll find something else to do Good luck! there's a lot of info out there and I can be very overwhelming. That link I posted is a really really good presentation. Please go through it if you still feel confused. It even has references you could bring to your vet if wanted.

As long as no one is eating the dog poo does it really matter that there is salmonella in it all poo is full of bacteria anyhow. In all seriousness though, there is bacteria everywhere, including all over kibble. Cavandra is right, there have been multiple food poisoning outbreaks that can be traced back to commercial food. If you practice safe meat handling skills you will be just fine

Thanks for posting these Bully. Those are some great articles!

Oh I didn't think you meant to exclude them! I just wanted to make sure Stormie took a look :rolleyes: If and when you get the time it's a really interesting read. The article is a review, but the references are awesome.

I know you we're directing any further questions at me :rolleyes: but there ARE peer reviewed articles linking desexing and osteosarcoma, one of the leading cancers in Danes - and at least one article liking desxeing before 12 months with oesteosarc. I think thats solid enough to wait until maturity.

This one is a review article but you can look up the journal articles it sites, it talks about increased risk for osteosarc in large breeds. http://www2.dcn.org/orgs/ddtc/sfiles/LongT...euterInDogs.pdf

Oh My goodness!!! Thank you, Thank you!!! It's just beautiful Just one question. How can I upload this into my photobucket account so that if your account changes I can keep the signature? Sorry... I just don't know anything about online pictures ...

You must be so tired and frustrated. I do not have personal experience in this situation but I've always been told that if in your situation you should take away all of the bedding in the crate. A good friend rescued an older puppy that had been bred at a mill and needed to do this. If I recall correctly it took about 2 weeks after removing ALL of the bedding to get her to finally sleep through the night. She then gradually added bedding, starting with newspaper. What you have on your hands is a pup that has learned to ignore the instinct to keep his den clean so you have to make weeing in his crate as unpleasant as possible as well as get up every 2 hours during the night. Good luck.

Would someone make me one of those fantastic signatures? Please??? Mason is my brand new puppy I just love him to bits. Here are some of my favorite pictures - no need to use them all I just wanted to give options. Thank you!!!

From one of my favorites - "The Levels" Sue Ailsby DOWN The dog must Down from a Sit or Stand with no more than two cues - hand and voice, voice and body language, two voice cues, etc. It is not necessary for the dog to stay in the Down position, simply to lie down. DISCUSSION: Not quite as handy a cue perhaps as Sit, but close to it, and the beginning of putting the dog over on her side for grooming and nail cutting. Not to mention that it's a major part of Go To Mat, a behaviour which would probably keep half the year's total of dogs out of the Humane Society! Down is the easiest position cue for dogs to understand, so the easiest one to ask a puppy for when you just need her off your head and shoulders for a moment. EASY BEGINNINGS: This is an ideal behaviour to capture. Even the most active dog lies down a billion times a day. If you're desperate to have the dog lie down (please, God, just let the kerflushinner puppy lie down for ONE MINUTE!), click when she does and toss a treat between her paws so she can eat it without having to get up. Continue to click and toss every few seconds while she's still lying down. If you're more interested in teaching the dog to lie down on cue (the two aren't mutually exclusive, you can start with one and switch to the other later on), click when she lies down and toss the treat slightly off to one side so she has to get up to get it. This puts her in a perfect position to offer you another down to get another treat. You can also lure a Down, but that's easier to do when she already knows how to Sit. From a Sit, hold a treat in your hand, put it right up to her nose so she can nibble it a bit, then very slowly move it down and then forward. If she rises out of the Sit, you moved your treat too far forward and not enough down. You're aiming for a spot on the floor slightly in front of her front paws. For more information on how-to lure, see the Level One Sit. PROBLEM SOLVING: WHEN I CLICK, SHE GETS UP AND COMES OVER TO SEE IF SHE CAN GET ANOTHER TREAT: Sure, that's reasonable. Just ignore her. If you're having trouble ignoring her, train Zen for a couple of days before you go back to Down. Pretty soon she'll get bored with hanging around waiting for you to drop a treat. She'll wander off, and sooner or later she'll lie down again. Click and toss another treat. I WANT A FOLD-BACK DOWN AND SHE'S JUST FLOPPING DOWN: If she's a puppy, relax and click what she's offering you. Put a cue on the flop down such as Park It. When she's got some control of her legs, you can teach her the fold-back Down by luring her nose back between her front legs toward her back feet, then put your Down cue on that behaviour. Or you might find that the down she offers you is the one you wanted all along. ADDING A CUE: When the dog is offering you the down that you want, clearly knowing that the offering will result in a click, you can begin to tell her the name of the behaviour. Give your cue while she's giving you the behaviour. When you've paired the behaviour and the word a hundred times, try asking her for the behaviour when she's not thinking of it. If you get it, click and treat. If you don't, that's OK, pair it another hundred times and try again. CONTINUING EDUCATION: Play with the behaviour. Teach it from the beginning in different rooms, indoors and outdoors. Teach it in your car, on carpet and hard floors. Teach it with you standing, sitting, and lying down.

For bite inhibition you can do a couple of things. Yelp like a puppy and act all hurt. Usually this stops a pup - they don't WANT to hurt you, they only want to play. Soon she'll down the intensity of her chomping down - then raise your criteria by yelping and acting hurt for lower and lower intensity bites until she "gums you to death." At this point you can stop letting her gnaw on you at all - only let her gnaw on HER toys while playing - not on you. If yelping and acting shocked and hurt doesn't work just remove yourself or remove her - all fun and play stops when she bites to hard. Start over in about 1 min at this age, any longer and she won't associate her biting with you leaving. Then follow the same sequence as above - get her to the point of gumming you before totally disallowing mouth play. This gives you a better chance that if she is ever pushed to bite (and every dog can be pushed into biting) that she won't bite down hard - she'll have the muscle memory of never biting down hard on human skin. But how can I gauge when playing becomes OVERplaying? That's what I'm struggling with. And how can I gauge when exercising becomes over-exercising? At the moment, I just let her set the time limits. The only help I can give here is if she starts acting tired - more whiny, bitey, cranky (like a little kid really) or you know she's tired because she usually passes out before this enforce a nap time/ play break. Sounds like you're doing great - she must be so much fun!

You're not thick! there's an awful lot of information out there for new puppy owners. I've been waiting for my coming pup for so long I've read > re-read, and confused myself so many times! lol. In general, the term correction means a punishment. By the description of what you want out of your pup I'd really recommend you read at least the intro to The Levels on the link I posted - Sounds like something that might be right up your alley. :p have fun with your puppy! and the new freedom the 12 week jabs give the two of you!!! eta: forgot a word :D

I understand that there are different methods of dog training and that people do use corrections and end up with the responses they want. I, personally, do not believe that corrections are a necessary part of training. Indeed, I think they can be extremely detrimental. I'm not trying to start anything up here; I was just putting my 2 cent in and giving the OP a link to a training plan that outlines how not to use corrections AND proof a recall; since she was unsure as to how to get the puppies excellent at home skills to translate into park skills.

I had a lot of the same questions :D my breeder was a big help in telling me how old her pups need to be before walks really start, but I'm getting a great dane - so I'm sure the reccomendations would be entirly different. Maybe ask your breeder what her dogs do best with? As to recall, I have to disagree with Lord Midol. I'd never correct for ignoring me. If the dog is ignoring you it is because you haven't proofed the recall in that type of environment. I'm planning on following "The Levels" http://www.dragonflyllama.com/%20DOGS/%20Dog1/levels.html as a basic training strategy with my pup. It gives specific instruction on how to start recall work all the way to a formal obediance with drop recall and everything in between, without using corrections. IMO the danger with corrections is that dogs are pretty smart and if they associate practicing recalls with corrections then they are even less inclined to listen to you. Personally, I think it's a dangerous method - after all you really need the dog to listen in the emergency situation when you have no ability to correct (dog got out and is running after a bunny toward the road) and they know it.

I can't seem to find an exact address for Southdale, do you have one? Just trying to figure out what is closer to home. I tried South St Pet Supplies today and the prices were pretty good, but they don't do bulk orders and I was hoping for a larger supply of chunky meaty pieces. So, we want to try Southdales and A&D. Thanks so much!

She doesn't happen to be coming to Perth too??? I love that book and would love to attend her seminar.