Papillon Kisses

As you can see by the second link, specialists aren't in competition with the regular vet but work together. My dog has Addison's Disease (opposite of Cushings) and my GP vet initially had trouble confirming the diagnosis as it was presenting very strangely. So they sent my dog's case file to an internal medicine specialist at ARH who had my GP vet run some other tests before it was determined that my dog should come in for a consult. So it might be that ARH (or another specialist hospital) upon seeing your dog's file agrees with the current approach or has some other things for your GP vet to try, without you even needing to come in. Conversely if amputation is required, I think I would have it done in a specialist hospital or with specialist input in consideration of your dog's age and comorbids.

I'm not sure what type of specialist you'd need. I'm assuming orthopedics / orthopedic surgeon, but given the cushings and hemophilia there's an internal medicine component to it too. So ideally a referral clinic where there's different specialities that can talk to one another. In your location I'd be going to the Animal Referral Hospital at Homebush. http://www.arhvets.com/ They have a Baulkham Hills location but I think that might just be an emergency hospital rather than a referral clinic/hospital. There's a referral form on the website that you can get your regular vet to fill out. http://www.arhvets.com/veterinarians

Hi there! Given both the rarity of the problem and your dog's comorbid conditions I would ask for a referral to a specialist veterinary clinic. Where abouts do you live roughly?

I think it's important to note that being outside is not just important from an exercise perspective but also a mental one. So these park visits are going to need to be more frequent than if you had outdoors space of your own. What is the apartment like? Do you have a large balcony for example? A courtyard? You will need to see if you are allowed to have a dog in your apartment and if there is any restrictions on the size of dog allowed. Some may not allow dogs over 10kg for example, and you may need approval from the Owners Corporation / Body Corporate. If you rent the unit, you will also need the landlords' permission. Just some other things to consider.

Look at this: http://www.dvm360.com/sites/default/files/images/pdfs-for-alfresco-articles/Ladder_Aggression_Revised.pdf Myself and others have said it many times before. You need to see a vet behaviourist and a behavioural trainer. This is not a 'negative' response (telling you to seek expert help). On the contrary you and your dog have everything to gain. You even admit above that you have little understanding of behaviour. I do not understand your resistance to getting proper help for your dog.

I have nothing to add re. this behaviour, but you can help slow down your dog's eating by feeding out of slow feeder bowls, kongs, food dispenser toys, etc. It may help him feel a bit better if he's still scoffing an albeit smaller amount of food.

My parents' puppy had to have some sort of pre-flight vet check / certificate thing.

What a gorgeous girl. I'm sure your three little angels would approve.

Actually, you never know... maybe the dog would come back as a "Pap x Westie" in one of those highly accurate *cough* DNA breed tests. :D Signed, Owner of an "ACD x JRT x Bichon". ???? :laugh:

I agree, and definitely no Papillon either. :D

Lots of environmental enrichment activities and interactive toys. This goes for all dogs though. HERE are some suggestions. Dogs are meant to sleep during the day too.

I'm with you Lhok.

In my NSW experience, councils won't give a damn. Cats are royalty in their eyes and can do no wrong. Malcolm was attacked by a cat much larger than he is and council just spewed out the stock-standard "cats are allowed to roam under the NSW Companion Animals Act" spiel. This cat had been stalking him for almost a year and I was always very careful but it sneaked up on both of us one day. Good thing he didn't fight back as I'm sure council would have cared in that instance!! Also thankful that neighbours were around to help. I'm sorry your Grey was so brutally attacked.

The only thing I can honestly think of on account of all the idiots around is a well-run, non free-for-all, puppy preschool or dog training classes. If your pup has finished/aged out of puppy preschool but is too young for regular classes, you may find some around for senior puppies. Do make sure it's positive reinforcement based, but you know all that. :) None of this helps for places that aren't training though does it! I do know good places to avoid seeing off leash dogs but that also generally equates with not seeing ANY dogs.

Sending love.

Had our appointment. We are going to trial Gabapentin. It's mainly used for pain relief so it will be interesting to see if/how Malcolm responds from that perspective too... he keeps hurting his back whe he moves beyond his usual range of motion of being crouched up with anxiety. On the plus side, Malcolm is being moved up to Task 10 of the protocol tomorrow, and is being matched with another local dog to work on dog reactivity. :)

Would you mind giving more information about the content of your presentation? I have video stills containing behaviours such as tongue flicks, whale eyes, stress yawn, pinned ears, cowering/hiding, hyper-vigilance, staring, mouth jammed shut, stress grin, panting, furrowed brow and barking.

I use an enzyme-based spray for urine. On the pack of urine-off it mentions that you need to spray beyond where it's wet as the urine spreads from underneath. This was for carpet but I think the same would occur with some other flooring i.e. Lino. If you don't mind him going indoors and/or think not being able to get outside in time might be an issue, perhaps you could get one of those indoor pet loo things.

No one?

Not necessarily. My dog used to wake up to any little sound and pace at night because he had undiagnosed and untreated Generalised Anxiety Disorder. He was unable to sleep / sleep soundly due to the extent of his anxiety. Now that he is on medication and less anxious he can sleep through, apart from needing a toilet break on the odd occasion. Other dogs can wake up at night and pace and bark due to Canine Cognitive Dysfunction (Dementia). Or they may get up due to an illness increasing their need to pee, perhaps as a result of increasing their water intake. something else increasing how often the dog needs to go out. By all means look at what other things you can do (i.e. do you feed a salty treat before bed that increases water intake then increases need to pee? Does the dog need a quieter place to sleep so as not to be woken as easily?), but a vet check would be wise.

We had Tuffy, a papillon who was named by his breeder. He was the runt of the litter and she thought he wasn't going to make it but he was a tough little man. :) And now we have Malcolm, whose name was chosen by a nurse at the vet that checked him out after he was sprung from the pound. I kept it as I think it's an adorable name that suits him. The original name on his microchip was Killer.

I don't know what it is but some dogs seem to attract humpers. The one I know doesn't have any physical abnormalities, but it's like he emits a 'hump me' radar. Every. single. dog. wants to hump him except Malcolm, he doesn't, but this cavvie is one of his very very few friends. Malcolm hates any dog who doesn't respect his need for space or so much as looks at him 'wrong' / too long. Others he tolerates, but he doesn't usually want anything to do with them, like those kids you sometimes see in playgrounds who are just absorbed in their own thing. However, this dog he adores and they play really well together. I don't know if that helps at all, probably not lol. Maybe the humpees have body language that says "I'm not the slightest bit of a threat" or "you're safe with me" and they're taken advantage of by other dogs? Because Mr Cavvie also does absolutely nothing when humped by other dogs. He just cops it then continues on with whatever he was doing. Anyway I'd be keeping the two dogs separate as being humped with severely laxating patellas has got to be very painful even if poor Sprite isn't reacting to it.

:)

:cheer:

Oh babe - that is def. 100% just you. LOL We feed the fish and ...something.... one ... it fair pongs... We have samples of the lamb flavour. I swear it has a rich chocolatey smell, LOL. :laugh: I hope things there are more moments of lightness for you soon. I love the photo of Scottie in your secret garden. :)