DeltaCharlie

Haha, I am hardly an expert :) Although I have done a lot of research into possible triggers for seizures given how unpredictable Shock's condition is. Shock has always been fine (to our knowledge) with the scalibor collars, I haven't tried anything else with her since she started having seizures. Stella is pretty well controlled now, isn't she? If it was me, I would put it on her a few weeks before you were planning on leaving in case she does have a reaction to it. Then you can remove it immediately and have her recovered before your holiday. The last thing you want is to have her fitting while on holidays, if you can at all help it :)

It all depends on how long you are coming up for and what product you feel more comfortable with. We use scalibor collars on ours but they need to go on 2 weeks before and last for 3 months. Probably unnecessary in your case unless it is a long visit. Preventic collars start working in 24 hours though and last 8 (?) weeks. When we lived in Canberra we used to just use advantix whenever we travelled to a tick area for agility. It only lasts 2 weeks so useless for us now but was always handy for short trips. Technically it should be put on 2 weeks beforehand though (and then again when you travel as it only lasts 2 weeks...) So you would need 2 doses of it. We only ever put it on 2 days before we left and never had an issue. Or you could use nexgard. It is a chewable and lasts a month. Not sure how quickly it takes effect but pretty quick I think.

Get a pyr shep to walk at the same time. Hype is usually carrying on like a pork chop if people get too close so they don't bother trying to pat the "nice" border collies that don't care for a pat either.

Hey BC, just letting you know that I was in the Rural Traders (was Raymond Terrace but now at Heatherbrae) and they sell their 1kg turmeric for $17. If you buy a few things or they get to know you they are pretty generous with their 10% discounts too.

It's the same stuff, just processed a little coarser. People can use the dog one :) I feel as though it would be an awful amount of work to put it into gel capsules if you didn't like the taste of it.. Most people I know use the powder version? You have to take 5 capsules otherwise. I just disguise it in gravy, sauce etc

It's the same stuff, just processed a little coarser. People can use the dog one :)

Where do you buy your turmeric from? I've been looking into making some GP for ours, particularly the old guys and my girl with seizures. I'm just not sure of the cheapest place to source the turmeric from.

If thats a regular & permanent price..then you are doing well...could you give me the link please. If I could get it that cheap on a regular basis I might start giving it to my old girl again..not that she needs it, just as a preventative (help). I found it good myself...I used to sprinkle the powder on my cereal. :) Stefmar sell it for $69 and I'm sure I've seen it cheaper than that.

I just had a look at it too and it looks like something Shock could eat (provided it doesn't contain rosemary or sage which I would have to confirm with them). I don't mind the others having oats but Shock's seizures reduced once I completely removed grains/gluten, soy and dairy from her diet. Not that she ever had much of those items in her diet, but every little bit counts when they are not 100% healthy, as you would know.

We love the embroidered collars from Hotdog Collars. Our dogs have leather ones for everyday wear and quick dry fabric ones for swimming. That way they always have their name and number on them at all times. They don't just do embroidered collars, they have a whole range of different types and prices are great (and postage to Aus is free over about $20).

That would be why it is advised to titre test them every 3 years to keep an eye on the levels and make sure they don't drop :)

Apparently I can post a link if I have no other text in the box, stupid laptop! PetMed

I was always of this belief and any time anybody asked this was my response. Then our last litter was about 6 weeks old and I decided to sign them up for the 6-week free breeder insurance through petplan (after all, it was free). Something possessed me (no idea what) to continue the insurance for the 2 pups we kept. They have just turned 2 and both are hypothyroid and are on meds and blood testing for life. In addition to that, Shock suffers from really bad seizures and has already cost me about $8k (over a 12month period) and will continue to cost me a similar amount each year for the rest of her life. There is absolutely no way I would ever have been able to save that amount of money before she got sick (about 15months) and I will never be able to put that amount away each year for her. We have since insured a number of our dogs as a precaution. Putting money aside is only good if the dog waits until it is old before it gets sick. Those that get sick in the first few years will cost more than you can put away. Interest rates on savings accounts are pretty low these days too, and hardly pay off I had a pretty rocky start with petplan and was ready to walk away but they have pulled their finger out and are really easy to deal with now. I get my claims paid in full within a week of posting them off and they have paid for everything, no questions asked. I would highly recommend them :) For pets that are older, there is a company that will offer full insurance on them. My laptop is playing up and wont let me post the link, but it is called PetMed. They will cover dogs of any age with no upper limit.

Happy birthday little man! Such a tough old bugger :D

Put simply, without a blood test there is no way of knowing exactly when maternal antibodies will leave a puppy's system. It can be as early as 6 weeks or as late as 16 weeks (with further exceptions of course). For most puppies, it seems to happen between 9-11 weeks of age. The idea behind the puppy vaccination protocol is to try and catch the puppy shortly after Mum's immunity has worn off. Any vaccination given before that time is rendered useless by the existing maternal antibodies (they destroy it like they would the actual pathogen), but any given after have left the puppy exposed for however long that gap in time was. The idea is to give them every 4 or so weeks to try and minimise the time the puppy is left unprotected. A 6 week vaccination for most puppies is useless as it is pretty uncommon for maternal antibodies to wear off that young. However, ANKC breeder regs require that vaccinations are given 2 weeks prior to rehoming, which for most puppies is 8 weeks of age. The 9-12 week vaccination is the most likely to be the one that takes effect, as that is the right time frame for most puppies to lose their maternal protection. Some people choose to stop at that one. The 16 week vaccination is designed to catch any puppies that may have had maternal antibodies present until a later age, as they would have rendered the second shot useless too. While not common for them to still have maternal protection at 16 weeks, it is not unheard of and many choose to play it safe and give the additional shot in case. The 12 month shot is not required, however it is adviseable that a titre test is done to confirm immunity. In theory, once a dog has immunity it has it for life so a 12 month shot is rarely needed. Some dogs don't seroconvert effectively though so its best to check (also good, I guess, in case they still had maternal antibodies present at their last puppy shot and it therefore didn't take). There is also a product on the market by Nobivac known as the 10 week finish (not sure of its actual name). Essentially, the idea behind it is that it is strong enough to knock out any maternal antibodies that are still present so that they cannot interfere with the vaccination. There are strong arguments both ways for it, but its not something I am particularly keen on. Anything that is strong enough to knock out the maternal antibodies is going to be pretty potent to put into a small, developing system. The recommendation is to titre 2 weeks after it is given to be certain that it worked. We had a puppy from our last litter given this vaccine, a titre test a few weeks later showed that she had zero immunity and had to be given the normal protech c3 after all. It knocked out the maternal antibodies (if they were still present) but didn't take itself. Without the titre, the owner would never have known and would have taken her out and about assuming she was protected when in fact she had no protection. Puppies that we buy from elsewhere are given their shots at 6 weeks as required. They then get a C5 at about 11 weeks and then a C3 at 16 weeks. Puppies that we breed ourselves do not get their first shot until 9 weeks (C3) and then a C5 at about 13 weeks. They don't get a 3rd shot. They are then titre tested at 12-14 months and every 3 years after that. None of our dogs have ever required a vaccination after their initial puppy rounds. We don't give KC vaccines to any of our older dogs as we don't deem them worth it. Our dogs don't meet and greet with other dogs, never share water bowls and are at a pretty low risk of contracting KC. It only covers a few strands of the virus anyway and we figure our dogs are healthy enough to recover if they happen to get sick. Chances are they would pick up a strain not covered anyway :) The only reason we give a C5 to our puppies is that we figure they are so tiny that it would knock them around a lot more if they happened to get sick. They also tend to meet more strange dogs than the adults do.

There is a chiro at Noah's Ark Vet at Medowie, she also does acupuncture and works closely with a massage therapist. There is also a holistic vet based in Newcastle who does a range of treatments. There is a dog pool at Adamstown that I believe has hydrotherapy programs but I don't know a lot about it sorry.

Only had a quick skim, some of the stations look interesting. Has the honor gone completely?

Have you had her thyroid tested? I'd be starting with a full blood work up and also testing the thyroid. It is responsible for so many functions in the body that it can manifest in a number of ways. We have 3 dogs with thyroid issue, 2 are underactive and 1 overactive. Overactive is pretty rare in dogs, with ours it turned out to be caused by the pet meat he was eating as it was actually beef neck meat and full of thyroid tissue which sent his thyroid through the roof (all the others are on roo meat but he can't stomach that). Of the 2 that are underactive, 1 is pretty typical. Less energetic, bad skin and prone to hot spots, puts on weight easily and she also suffers from seizures. The other underactive dog was so low she hardly registered on the scales. Her symptoms were not at all typical of hypothyroidism but were very similar to what you are describing. Her behaviour was very erratic, she was impossible to get weight on no matter how much we fed her, and she showed signs of aggression towards unknown people and dogs. I prefer to rule out medical first while managing the behaviour. It could well turn out that there is no underlying medical reason for her behaviour, but at least then you know and can use that to guide you in your next move. All the behaviour modification in the world won't help if there is a medical reason causing it, all it will do is offer a bandaid solution.

Anyone doing the Silvia Trkman online foundation class starting in a few weeks? We did it a few years ago with Shock and Fuze and I am about to sign Boost up for the latest one. I find her classes great and her feedback is always really helpful :) I know there were DOLers in the class last time we did it so would be cool if there was again.

This photo was taken a few months ago at a trial in Canberra, I think it was about 3 degrees that day LOL. We double coated them when we lived in Canberra and on the cold nights here for the dogs sleeping outside. We aren't allowed to have them inside but some sleep in the dog trailer or crates in the garage. Those dogs only wear a single coat or the quilted ones. As it warms up they will go back to mesh ones only. When we finally get out of this place they will all be back inside again and will probably just have mesh.

This is Whip modelling what we do with our mesh coats when they go under another coat to hold them both in place better.

Playing keep away...

Hype went to his first surf beach today and had a grand old time running on the sand and stealing the ball from the border collies :laugh:

You could try our logic and have 13 of them- odds are that some will be healthy!!!

We started all ours with mesh and then the girls got a quilted one for this winter. We are not allowed to have the dogs inside where we are currently renting so we wanted something warmer for them at night.