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Beautiful Laila was given her wings yesterday I'm shocked at how quickly it all happened. She was still bright and interested, but her body was losing the battle. I spoke to the vet about stronger pain relief for her but then found another tumor on her spine, as well as skin lumps which seemed to be appearing daily. I took her to the vet to get those checked out but I knew in my heart she wasn't going to come home. My vet said he has never seen a tumor grow so quickly, that it was typical of 6 months growth in his experience, plus the worry of the other issues. With that in mind, there was no other option but to say goodbye

Thank you to those who have replied - I needed a couple of days to get my head around things and its been very handy to have some starting points for further information. I have contacted Robert McDowell and hopefully they will let me know if Laila can have their recommended mixes for Osteosarcoma. I'm glad they helped your Stewie Allerzeit. I will start changing her over to raw immediately too For anyone who stumbles across this thread in a search, the story CavNRott's Sophie is in the Unwell Rotties thread here http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/125668-unwell-rotties/ There is lots of helpful information provided in this thread - thank you Staffyluv for recommending it. From this thread I have the names of pain killers and other meds I will speak to my vet about getting for Laila Laila seems to be ok - she slipped her lead when I took her outside this morning and set off at a 3 legged galloped down the paddocks with no hesitation! Thankfully she stopped to pee and I managed to get the lead back on her - she doesn't have a very good recall! Aside from that, she is happy to potter around but also rests lots. I guess her good back leg gets tired.

My GSD Laila was diagnosed with bone cancer last week. She has just turned 4 I've had a bit of a look though the threads on DOL but I was hoping people with personal experience could advise me what supplements and diet changes they found helpful to their dogs? Has anyone used the 2 products from Robert McDowell recommended for bone cancer? Just seems so surreal that nothing is going to fix her I bred her and sold her as an 8 week old puppy - her owner joined the defense force and she only came home to me in Dec last year I was thinking worse case scenario that she had done her cruciate and was just floored to hear the news upon seeing the xray

Its the emphasis you're placing on the costs that is the problem. Plus or minus the cost of a vaccination etc is a blip on the radar if you're happy with the breeder and future puppy.

This is done more often than you think. I know of many breeders who have left an option open for an undesexed bitch in a Pet home to come back and have a litter if the new owner wishes. Some even show dogs that live full time in family homes, in my opinion there isn't much difference between a well cared for house dog and a Show dog. At least I believe there shouldn't be. :) I am curious as to why a pet owner would agree to keep a dog under these conditions - is it very common? On the surface it would appear that it only benefits the breeder - what benefit to the pet owner. Unless they are getting the dog for free and the breeder is picking up all vet expenses etc its hard to understand why anyone would do it? We had our family dog (Golden Retriever) on breeders terms. At the time, there was a waiting list of years for a puppy through the GR club and it just so happened that we met a breeder who had a 1 year old bitch she was willing to place. Worked out very well for us - we didn't pay anything for her upfront and she went back to have 3 litters with her breeder. The breeder saw her often and showed her occasionally in the beginning too. She advised us on her health and diet to make sure we were doing the right things. It was especially wonderful for me, because I got to tag along at shows and be present when she gave birth - probably my inspiration for becoming a breeder myself. The breeder is still a good friend now, and emails occasionally about our girl's offspring which is lovely (she passed away a couple of years ago, at almost 16 years old)

Bumping this up in case anyone has missed it and is interested in helping out I took 4 of my GSDs last week and, like the others here who've been, found it extremely interesting. My older girl was just as I expected and cruised through the tests - but then surprised me by getting a bit upset when left during the last 10 minutes. My young pup got spooked by the shock tests (ie opening an umbrella) as I thought she would, but her heart rate hardly jumped and she was over it within a few seconds. We have been playing with an umbrella at home since and she's not at all concerned now! Monza, my boy dog thought the sounds in the 2nd part of the test were a lullaby, and was practically comatose snoozing on the floor :laugh: Fascinating to find out just how well you can predict your dogs behaviour Really interesting stuff and helping out someone very dedicated to helping dogs - definitely worth donating a bit of time to

Yes, please explain your theory on entire dogs being less accepting of other dogs

That's the policy of a number of rescue groups and done with the best of intentions. It can't be one rule for one and one for another. Whilst your showdog may be beautifully behaved, any undesexed male/female purebred/crossbred may not welcome a male/female friend and an owner may not be experienced enough to spot signs of problems. Given the choice, I will not rehome to this situation either. What??!!

Nope. Microchips only have the current owners, not who bred them and for working dogs that's important. I agree - I tattoo my pups so they can always be tracked back to me ETA Having a microchip inserted is equally as traumatic (not very!) to having a tattoo done

Most GSD puppies are ear tattooed at 7 weeks of age too - 3 letters and 3 numbers. The letters signify the breeder and the number for which puppy. As a breeder you're required to keep records of tattoos and owner details and the tattoo is also used to identify the dog for xrays and breed survey (though microchipping has recently become acceptable for this). The pups have a little cry when its done, then usually have a sleep and when they wake up its all forgotten :)

They are now all sorted

Overangulation is NOT desirable in the GSD and neither is hocks sitting on the ground when the dog stands. The 3 point stand is the natural stance of the GSD and that is why dogs are stacked like that in the show ring. Here is the dog considered the best in Germany 2 years in a row for comparison and again (younger photo)

We've got a Somerset and love it

Breeding long coat to long coat cannot produce short

Unrestrained though, he will hit the back of the front seats at maximum force which could crush you/your passenger. If he was restrained, he might end up in the same place but hopefully the force would be greatly reduced

There is a good article on the GSDCV website: http://www.gsdcv.org.au/puppies_exercise

These are great http://www.conni.com.au/shop/Conni+Critters+Pet+Pads+-+washable+waterproof+absorbent.html

What about the Julius K9 harness? http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=2992&ParentCat=449

People who work with metal, can weld etc should be able to make them. A shed builder made mine for me. Just be sure to specify exactly what you want because non-dog people don't always understand about unsafe gaps, not having sharp bits etc

I have the lead tied through the Springer's loop so there is no coming undone or quick release

I've never had a dog on the Springer that has sat behind me - if they run level with the Springer they sit at your left leg and most pull into the lead so sit further forward anyway

I struggled to fit mine to my mountain bike initially, it would swivel around when the dog pulled. I ended up putting a bolt through it to permanently secure it to the bike which works perfectly - you just need to remove the clip to take the arm off if you're not taking the dog My springer is very old though, 2nd hand when I got it and I've had it almost 10 years. The new ones might come with better ways of attaching to modern bikes

Springers are fantastic - makes it so easy! I've never come close to being pulled off the bike despite dogs stopping dead, lunging at birds, going the wrong side of poles etc

From memory he was much brighter the next day, and (other than the side effects from the cortisone) he was back to normal by the next week. Obviously with high doses of cortisone comes some not so nice side effects but he eventually got weaned off totally, and now you'd never know he'd been sick. Wishing you the best of luck with your girl

My dog didn't have the test for meningitis (I think it's a spinal tap?) - the vet just took a stab and put him on cortisone to see if it worked. Luckily it did