Alyosha

Certainly did. She was excellent. Thanks to everyone who recommended her.

Well off we went today. She had some issues with her neck, shoulders and particularly her pelvis. Her sacrum was apparently tilted downwards and sideways, causing restricted movement in her rear legs. As the major misalignments are so close to the tail base it seems highly likely that some of her tail carriage issues are due to them. How many remains to be seem as her pelvis settles back into alignment. We have another visit in a fortnight. A really interesting thing though. The vet told me that such a pelvic misalignment often leads to anal glands problems - lo and behold, impacted and infected - ewwwww She hasn't shown any discomfort though that I've seen, at which the vet was very surprised as they were pretty nasty. So a course of antibiotics and extra bones and fibre until next visit and hopefully they'll be better. The vet seemed to think the gland issue link comes from the major tendons through the pelvis being off kilter, and not placing correct internal pressure on the glands - so diet apparently won't improve it until the pelvic issue is fixed. Sonya was a very good girl - although very worried about the smell! The vet was lovely with her so I'm pretty sure she'll be happy to go back.

We're off to a Vet Chiro on the weekend, which seems the best of both worlds. I hear you about teething, but she's just turned one... If I feel along her spine down her croup there seems something slightly out of line/raised a little bit. I don't know if I'm imagining it, but if I feel the same area on my older dog I can't feel it - his seems even. So it will be interesting. I would love for her tail to come down and straighten. She is such a lovely looking girl, and it is the only thing you notice about her at he moment. I would hate to confine her and have her go stir crazy but am really worried that she'll hurt herself doing zoomies around the yard. She's also only 7 points from her title and I'm not really wanting her back in the ring until it's looking better.

Ooh, second recommendation for Sandra... Thankyou. But tail going upwards?? Maybe it could cause some tightening and pull it up?? Maybe I'm clutching at straws and my gorgeous girl has a dud tail...

We're thinking alike!

I think if it is her back it is right down behind her hips, in the croup area. Will let you uys know teh result of the Chiro, and not decided on the vet yet, I might have a chat to mine tomorrow and see what he thinks. Thanks for all your time and input.

Mmmm. So am I Puggy wuggy. I feel bad that I didn't put the two together earlier :rolleyes: . I think a vet visit prior to Chiro might be best. On the movement front, she is super laid back and hard to motivate, so it was easy to think of it as maybe just part of her personality. It seems to be something that has crept up too, and not come on suddenly. Poor girl. She doesn't seem in outright pain, she was galloping this afternoon, and I notice that as she relaxes into running her tail seems to straighten again... As she moves back into shorter strides it starts to curl up. Very odd. I just tried the other tests on her Longdogs - thanks for that. Her tummy doesn't seem too tight, maybe a little - hard to tell as I can feel her tighten it as I touch it. Rear toes under she corrects immediately, no delay - she won't put weight on them curled under. Following food - she follows with her head without flinching, side to side and down her front legs. Also up over her back she tilts her head back to almost 90 degrees. Any ideas? I had heard that their tail is often carried lower when the back is out, but I didn't think of it being higher... And Rebanne, I'll certainly let you know how we get on and if we find anything. I hope Miller is doing better.

Well done for putting so much time and effort for the Dachies! Hopefully it will become as normal as hip scoring in the future.

Just wondering if anyone has come across something like this before. My young Borzoi girl has had increasingly weird tail carriage over the last few months, with it coming up higher than it should and curling into a ring (like an afghan ). We (and her breeders) thought maybe it was a growth stage and it may or may not get better. But we have noticed lately that she is increasingly not moving her best, not reaching or driving like she used to, especially in the rear. So we're going to get her to a Chiropractor as maybe there's something not quite right with her lower back. We've got to wait for our appointment now, but I'm very curious as to whether the two issues could be linked. Has anyone seen anything similar? I can imagine back issues casuing a lack of tail carriage, but could they cause an increase in carriage? The place where it is curling up is well down the tail, past halfway... Edit - atrocious spelling - sorry!

Do you think this is the same thing untreated? This is from the Blacktown Pound thread in rescue: Or is this something completely different? I'm presuming this little fellow is still mobile...

If her coat is getting longer and woolier as she gets older it can be related to Cushings Disease - have a look online, and if you're concerned about it ask your vet to test her. Cushings can also lead to weight gain... I think stripping sounds like the go though - look up a tool called the Furminator online and see if you think something like that could help.

Is floating different to undecsended? I haven't heard of it before?? Or is floating when it's down but isn't connected?

In working saukis it is often sought after from what I have read (regarding modern workers) as it is often an indicator of greater turning ability at speed and less injury to the pastern. It's interesting that I seem to remember reading in the provisional standard under consideration by the FCI for the Khalag Tazi (similar anscestry to salukis and afghans) calls for slightly divergent forefeet. Here is a breed that is ancient, yet has been kept alive in modern times as mostly a working hound.

Indoors yes, as it wouldn't be able to regulate its body temp and would be prone to heat or cold. Will need to be watched closely for getting chilled. It can be fed a quality brand of puppy dry food. If the dry food is soaked for a couple of hours in puppy milk such as you would get from a supermarket it is much easier for tiny pups to eat as it will turn to mush. Raw mince as well if it can take it. I have hand raised pups from a few weeks old and had them do quite well from such an age on this sort of thing. If the vet thinks it's any younger then a milk replacer like Divetelact (or there's one with a blue label you can get from a vet's that's even better - product name is escaping me... ) would be in order. Good luck.

I like this mental image - riders all decked out in their best gear, with the "What, we have to jump?!" faces on... ;) I'm thinking that, as borzoi used to hunt wolves with their handlers on horses - they would've been wild wolves and gone over longer distance so no, lines wouldn't have been used. Very unsporting and pointless indeed. It's sad to think that people are willing to participate in this sort of thing and claim they are using the dogs for their original functions. Performance testing in horses isn't always historically accurate, but can indeed give a better indicator of form + function than conformation judging alone. But then, horses don't really have many historical uses (apart from mounted bullfighting perhaps!) that could leave them open to abuse by people with their own agenda for cruelty or some other nasty sort of human trait... .

Hunting isn't necessarily illegal here in Australia. Foxes, rabbits, hares, pigs and goats (also horses) that I'm aware of - are all hunted on private land legally. All that is needed is a landholder's permission to go in with firearms, bow and arrows, ferrets or dogs etc. Feral deer in my local area are hunted - farmers sell the hunting rights for feral animals to keen individuals... Not something I necessarily do or don't think is a good thing, there are arguments for and against. I worry about pig hunting from a welfare point of view. But genuine pig hunters place a high monetary and emotional value on their dogs and go all out to minimise injury and ensure a fast kill. Coursing is a very different thing, and is illegal. If you look up lure coursing with borzoi on Youtube you'll see links to real wolf coursing still being performed in Russia. It's not pretty. The wolves are captive, released on an open plain with little head start, and are still on a long line so no matter what they do they'll never escape. This is vastly different to hunting, and I think we'd all agree that this is not a good indicator of a dog's performance. I don't know if we'd ever find a true performance measurement system that everyone would agree upon, especially when some of out breeds (such as fighting breeds) come from origins that are not necessarily legally or morally accepted anymore.

A genuine question... Why are these puppies going in circles? Is that part of something else? It seems a behaviour that I would discourage... Could it lead to spinning when excited? I would think that at 7 weeks old, a puppy's natural instinct when food is above it's head is to jump up for it. After all, they should be with their mum, and they would be jumping up to her mouth to lick for her to regurgitate food for them. Don't expect much from little babies - people need to do a human comparison sometime - how much would you expect from a two year old child? There's your 7 week old pup...

Second this! Maf101 - make sure you get pet grade chicken mince - the stuff from Lenards is probably minced breast meat without the ground bones which will give them the calcium/phosphorus/magnesium that they will sorely need. Check with you local pet supplies or rural/produce store. So am I!! I have been caring for some 7 week old rescued working bred kelpies which weigh in at just under 4kgs each!! I can't even imagine a GSD being so little!! I'm really glad you're going all out too look after these little guys Maf101 - and are trying to give them the start that their breeder should have given them. .

Ouch! Love and hugs to you both. I haven't had to look after a loved one like this, but I'm sure there'll be lot's of folks on here with excellent advice . I'm glad you had somewhere so good and so close to get such excellent care.

If you have a look online you'll see it is quite common in bitches. It is due to their physical make up and is not in any way yours or your breeder's fault. It may occur more often in certain family lines but is a normal thing for bitches generally due to the following: The second phase of the cycle is called estrus, which is characterized by the change in character of the vaginal discharge from bloody to straw colored. At this time the female begins to allow the male to mount. It is classically the change from proestrus to estrus that ovulation occurs and the female is most fertile. After the mating and the discharge is over, the period of diestrus begins. The female is hormonally pregnant regardless of whether or not she is actually pregnant. During this time progesterone is produced by a structure in the ovary called a corpus luteum. This structure is produced by ovulation when the ova (eggs) are released. If the dog is pregnant, other hormones will eventually take over to maintain the corpus luteum for the entire 63 days of the pregnancy. If she is not pregnant, the corpus luteum must simply wear out before she goes back into the period of hormonal inactivity in which she spends the bulk of her time. The corpus luteum wears out slowly (rather than suddenly as in pregnancy and puppy birth) over 70 days or longer. Remember, during this time her body essentially thinks she is pregnant. All the hormones are present; only the puppies are missing. From: http://www.marvistavet.net/html/body_canin..._pregnancy.html So it is the corpus luteum's fault!! Sneaky bugger that it is - worrying us like that! We had one once too - even with milk and nesting with small furry toys. I was worried she would get depressed without real babies - she put so much effort into nesting etc. But she suddenly snapped out of it one day. Hopefully the drops recommended will make it easier on both of you!

I agree here - chasing and hunting are two very different things... Hunting involves a level of drive, concentration and focus that isn't measured in lure coursing. But don't forget that hunting is different again to coursing, which is lillegal. Hunting isn't, it just skirts around the law. But to formalise it seems impossible to do legally and ethically. Training play a huge part as well - just about any dog needs human guidance to successfully undertake duties assigned to them by humans. Some more than others obviously, but a handlers ability is always going to have a dramatic effect on a dog's demonstrated abilities. Foxhunting does happen in Australia - hounds followed by horses.... as far as I am aware it is real and not done after lures... Can anyone confirm this for me?

Come on - I saw you two at the Royal... I think when a breed, whether dogs, horses etc, is a national or cultural icon then extra attention is paid to preservation. If a breed degenerates in it's native land then the breed in general can lose credibility. Australia exports both arabian horses and arabian dromedary camels back to their countries of origin, where they are used to improve the native breeding stock. This places a certain amount of shadow over the presumed quality of their own stock does it not?

Nice isn't he - you should see his son! He wasn't Australian. He died in a hunting fall at the end of last year.

I think it's easy for breeders of any animal to get swept away in their favourite aspect of that animal. Performance testing can be vital in preserving a breed in it's original state. Surely if we can selectively breed for appearance factors, then we can selectively breed for performance abilities as well? Dividing breeds is dangerous but is more and more common, and is not just in the dog world. To use horses as an example again (which is more neutral here than picking a particular breed of dog!)- the Australian Arabian fraternity sees exactly the same thing, those horses selectively bred for high performance in the endurance arena are not necessarily of a type that is successful in the conformation arena, and vice versa. But beauty and success in the show ring, in accordance with the standard, and performance in their original function (to which endurance is very similar in Arabs) is possible and does exist. Some breeders are very very proud of it, and work hard at maintaining it. On the other side of the coin, no-one wants their favourite and important breeding animals damaged by performance related injury... There has to be a balance somewhere... Here is a picture of a top working Saluki. He certainly displayed breed type and wouldn't have been mistaken for a cross bred or something else. Anyone got thoughts on how he may have fared in the show ring?? Personally I don't think type has to be sacrificed for function. My Borzoi might not hunt wolves, but they do pretty well after rabbits, hares and the occasional fox - as do many other top show winning Borzoi in Australia...