Rorschach

Yes, yes! Thank you for all the great advice on what to do next :) On any previous evidence of splitting her tail no, the previous owners never told us of any.

Thanks for the hair roller tip guys, will put it on her asap. Hopefully her tail will heal!

Recently adopted a four year old boxer, and she keeps wagging her tail with such... vigor...she keeps hitting it against things much to hard, bursting it open and happily wagging blood all over the house. I'm not sure what to do :/ If the vet stitches her up again shes just gonna burst her wounds open again and the cycle continues >_< If I continue to wash her tail with salt water it should stave off any infection, right? Any other tips appreciated!

I feel a little sorry for those of you owned by GSDs. As I was a kid I was attacked by a GSD and chased by another. I have always been wary of them although I wouldn't cross the street just to avoid someone walking one. I guess I just read the rot in the newspaper and thought back to my own experiences. It wasn't until recently I decided that being apprehensive around them was just stupid because nothing bad had happened to me since. It's funny too because I was also chased into a creek by two Great Danes and I was petrified then but never felt apprehensive around great danes at any point after that happened. I think next time I see a GSD out walking their owner I might stop and ask if I can have a pat =)

Okay I'll go look it up, danke.

We do occasionally give her raw beef/cow bones (I think beef? they look large. Maybe its lamb?) Just not every day/week and thats why I didn't originally mention it. Is there a guide to how many bones she should be getting? Edit: bones

She is fed a mixter of meats that we get discounted from the deli at our supermarket, cooked and mixed in with vegetables. Will try this and try a comb instead of a brush too. Will most certainly take her in if it could be of concern. Hope not though =/ Will certainly take everyones advise, and thank-you for taking time to help

She is desexed and even though she doesn't get clipped often she has been before. Is the wooliness a permanent change? Thanks for replying so quickly.

I mentioned her coat in the intro forum and I've taken better pictures to reflect her coat because those posted weren't taken in natural light and image shack destroyed the quality somewhat. Her chest: I know she's a little over weight and I'm trying to convince mum to change her diet but she's stubborn. Took me two years to get her to realise pet rats don't attract wild ones Getting her to change a dogs diet that she feed her old dogs is going to be harder. Those white hairs are rooted in, poor girl =P She has a 'ruff' on her neck/chest where her fur is thicker - here it is after this morning's brush. Straight down her back: After she's been walking about for three minutes it won't look like it's been brushed at all, her hair will be sticking out in all weird directions and I feel like I could be brushing her all day with no results. It dawned on me that you guys would be perfect to help me work out if it's just because that's the way she is or I'm not doing something correctly to her fur type. I use a slicker brush on her once every week and a half and use a wire pin brush with balls on it every day to every two days. Her hair is really thick even if it isn't all that long. I've suspected that she was part lab for ages because she's huge compared to finer looking kelpies (she dwarfed the kelpie puppy in school) and think that might be the reason she sheds so much. I also read on here that clipping lab fur is bad, because it grows back looking badly? Would that affect hair like my dogs hair looks crazy? No matter what I do I can't seem to get her looking presentable. She's been taken to groomers before and the end result was always that she looked just like she would have if I had of done it myself. Is it possible for dogs to have genetically unruly hair like it can be genetic for people to have frizz though their hair? Seems completely unfair because I have friends with collies that never seem to groom their dog at all but always have such silky fur. Any groom tips are welcome, and so are possible xbreed suggestions =D Oh and so are tips to handle stubborn mothers who assure me they know more about dogs than I do, because she's had them longer than me.