trinabean

An update on my original post: Yesterday as I was leaving in the afternoon to do the school run, Bruno was behaving strangely in the lounge room. He wasn't barking or making a huge fuss, but his hackles were up and he was intent on something that was under our big corner sofa. I had a quick look and couldn't see anything (sofa is huge and low-set, too big for me to move though). I assumed he had cornered a mouse or a bug. Something harmless. Anyway, thinking nothing more of it, I locked up and went out for an hour, leaving Bruno inside as it was hot outside. Shortly after we arrived home, a Dugite slithered out and straight past my youngest son. He yelled 'snake!' and I saw it disappear into the laundry. The house is open plan, so there's no door to contain the snake to the laundry. Barefoot and having a bit of a panic, I made a temporary barricade to keep the snake in one area, while telling the kids to grab Bruno and go to the neighbours. It seemed like the longest wait for the snake catcher. Every now and then the snake popped it's head out from under the washing machine, so I stomped my feet in the hope of keeping it cornered under there. I was standing behind my half-arsed barricade and really didn't want the snake to come towards me to check it's options! The snake catcher got me to help move the washing machine while he tried to pin the snake. A hairy moment. At least I had gumboots on by then. Once the snake was caught, bagged and taken away, I needed a stiff drink. Things could have been so much worse. I'm so lucky that Bruno wasn't bitten while we were out. As to how the snake got in, we're pretty sure that it came in via the dog door during the night. I heard the dog door magnetic flap re-seat, and got up to grab a drink the other night, but Bruno was curled up snoring on the couch. He hadn't just gone in/out. Figured it was the wind. The only other way in is via the gap between the glass sliding doors, but we made efforts to block the gaps last time there was a snake here. I'm about ready to move house.

OMG Kirty! Sorry, I have no idea what it is. I'm always intrigued by a photo with an eww warning. That has got to be better out than in!

I'm so sorry for your loss Juice. What a beautiful tribute. Appollo does sound like he was the best dalmation ever. Run free Appollo

That isn't right, your Vet should ask for a re-test. All dogs would react to something. It happened to us and got a re-test. Also, the thing about the blood tests is they're not that accurate, especially the food portion, you'd be better getting intra-dermal done and then you know what you're dealing with. I have to say I was quite disappointed in this thread people suggesting you should use rinses on your dogs rather than going down the diagnostic route at least to begin with. We need to stop touting calendula rinses as a miracle cure and suggest them as supplementary to actual diagnosis. Yes, I agree with this. My dog had allergy-testing done by a dermatologist which involved skin-prick testing for common environmental allergens, plus blood serum testing. The reactions were ranked (0-4, 4 being the strongest reaction) and it gave us the information to work out what to desensitize against. The derm clinic then get a vaccine made up to target the worst allergens. They also helped us work out which foods were problematic by guiding us through elimination diets and food re-challenges. While time-consuming, apparently there is no reliable blood test to work out food allergies in dogs. I also agree the calendula rinses may be a useful complimentary treatment, but are no substitute for diagnosis. It offerered little relief to my highly allergic dog. In fact, if the skin prick test showed that a dog was allergic to daisies, you'd be doing more harm than good with calendula rinses. See if you can get a referral to a dermatologist Redangel. They've helped us far beyond what my regular vet could (and he is good enough to know his limitations, - he suggested the dermatologist to us). :)

Oh poor little Danny, I'm so glad you've found a couple of things that work for him! I'm relieved for you and Danny. It's so heartbreaking when they are fading away and refusing to eat/ vomiting, and nothing seems to work. At one point last year, the vet advised us to put Bruno on a 'hypoallergenic' food. He is currently lean and healthy at 29 kg, a good weight for a male Boxer. But last year he was already skinny at 25kgand dropped down to 22.5 kg, he flatly refused to eat the hypoallergenic food. People say 'a healthy dog won't starve itself' well, a sick one sure can!

I'm glad you found some DDD. :) ActuallyAngela, my dog is still on this food, after years of trying so many things (including raw feeding and home-prepared food with vitamin/ mineral supplements added). It's the only dry food mine has been able to eat without suffering itchy skin and runny poos. This is the first time in his life that he has consistently done solid poos (a big deal when we were used to frequent diarrhoea and bloody colitis). He's looking really good on it, and finally has some cover over his ribcage. I am strict though, the only other food he gets are roo meat/ bones (roo tails for keeping teeth clean) and roo jerky. Under a dermatologist's guidance, Bruno went through elimination diets, and re-challenging with one food at a time. We worked our way through a list of the most common problem foods for allergy dogs. Chicken is top of the list, followed by beef, lamb, dairy, wheat, soy, corn, rice. My dog is intolerant to most of that list, and it can be quite hard to find a food that doesn't contain any of those ingredients. There are 'hypoallergenic' foods on the market, but these were terrible for my dog. His symptoms were worse than ever on one of them, and the other he absolutely refused to eat, and began to starve himself. But they are helpful for many dogs. Just not mine. I haven't found grains outside of wheat, soy and corn to be a problem for my dog, but chicken, beef and lamb are really bad for him. It may be worth your while to track down a sample of the Natural Balance 'Delicate Care skin or stomach' food and give it a try? It's made with Australian duck and roo and doesn't contain some of the most common allergens listed above. Change over gradually if you do, and don't give any other treats, at least intitially until things settle down. And definitely steer clear of treats such as pigs ears, rawhides and anything made in China (jerky etc) they can be full of junk and probably aren't great for a robust dog, let alone a sensitve one. Good luck! :)

Belated happy birthday to Odie. What a gorgeous face, I love the photos Hankodie.

I hope you can find someone to mind Quinn SG, it must be very stressful at the moment. Wishing you all the best with the possible houses tomorrow too. And Jed, I love the bucketful of Boxers. I really need two more.

do lots of label reading etc before placing any mouse/rat poisons around where pets/native raptors/lizards live . Thanks Perse, great info. I will need to be careful with any baiting as apart from my dog, we have a resident stumpy-tailed lizard here too. I'd hate to harm him. Just before we went away on holidays (and Bruno was away too) I nailed Ratsack wax blocks to several trees in our yard that the rats run through each night. There were a few dead rats in our yard when we got home (not nice after a 44 degree day!) and all of the wax blocks were completely gone. It was more effective than all of the traps I have tried so far. The rats just seem too savvy to touch most traps. I will try a lockable bait station. Hopefully they will actually go to it. Clever little buggers.

Thanks Nowstarin, that's better than the traditional baits. :) I'm more concerned about first-hand poisoning (if the rats scatter the bait like last time). But the lockable bait stations might be the solution there.

:laugh: I just love Stan HazyWal. I found Bruno looking intently at something behind the shed the other day. His hackles were up and he was very still, just watching. I called him away as I immediately assumed he might have spotted the big stumpy tailed lizard that sometimes visits our yard. And I didn't want him to hurt it. I put Bruno inside and of course when I looked behind the shed, there was nothing there. Bruno has been behaving oddly, sniffing very intently parts of the yard and shed. I thought he was following rat trails, but it may have been the snake scent? I'll add the mulga to my list of 'never want to meet' snakes RuralPug. Sorry about your cats, it's an awful way to go.

OsoSwift, a 7 foot dugite sounds like the sort of snake you never want to meet again. Ever. Wasn't there a huge one down your way that was photographed gorging itself on a tiger snake? And thanks, I will look into the lockable bait stations. :)

Wow, so glad you spotted it and the snake catcher got it, before any of the dogs got bitten! That's about the same size as this one was. Not knowing much about them, I thought maybe it was a juvenile, but no. Snake catcher quickly clarified that it was an adult, and how venomous they are.

Thanks Iggy mum, but a cat isn't an option here. Bruno is not cat-friendly, and OH and one of my kids are allergic kind of people (asthma, hayfever etc). Plus, I tend to agree with Persephone about the cat being at risk of snakebite. The snakes we have around here are mostly tiger snakes and dugites. Someone i know lost her beautiful Siamese cat to snakebite recently. Yonjuro, your Pop's technique. After seeing how quickly this snake moved, I'm standing well away, donning gumboots to my armpits and calling a snake catcher every time. :laugh: Tdierikx, I've tried chocolate in the traps, without success. I did catch a couple of mice using chocolate and peanut butter, but the rats seem too damn smart! Will try some other types, maybe they don't like dark choc.

Oh, interesting - thank you! I bet you're relieved! Yep, totally relieved. I'm not scared of all snakes, just don't like venomous ones moving in. I really, really wanted a python as a pet when I was a kid.

Oh god! Cheeky buggers! I know! It's made me a bit hesitant to use that stuff again. Very stressful for a couple of weeks, worrying each day that I might have missed a bit.

Huga, it's a Western Australian snake that I hadn't heard of before moving here from Qld, -a dugite. A type of brown snake that is very common here, highly venomous. Since seeing one in our backyard in October, .I've been locking Bruno inside the house when I go out. I'm so relieved that it's gone!

Aliwake, last time a pest control guy baited inside the roof for rats here, he told me that my dog would need to eat about 25 poisoned rats for it to be a problem. The secondary poisoning isn't the main concern, but the rats tendency to move around with the baits is. He told me to do a perimeter check where the gutter overhangs the yard every morning, before letting the dog outside. Three times I found a chunk of bait that the partying rats had dropped off the roof.

Last time I spotted a dugite in my yard it was the first hot day in October. Snake catchers were all flat out, and it took me 2 hours to get one to come here. By then, the snake was long gone/ hiding well. Yesterday this one (same type and size) zipped into the shed and I was able to get a snake catcher here within 30 minutes to remove it. I'm so relieved! I just want to recommend that everyone keeps the phone number of a local snake catcher in their phone (I know it's a different outside of suburbia, - not an option for everyone). Now, does anyone have any great suggestions for how to get rid of the smorgasbord that probably attracted the snake, -rats? We've had little success with traps so far. Ratsack got a few while we were away for a week, but I'm hesitant to use poison now that our dog is home again. Back neighbours have an aviary that seems to attract rats, and next door neighbours have a date palm-ish tree that they party in too.

As for shedding, my Boxer doesn't shed much, and the hairs are very short. But perhaps it varies depending on the dog? Jed would be better at answering this question. :)

Great thread Hazywal. :laugh: Mine doesn't wake me up, but the moment he hears me stirring, I'm greeted by this sight: I have no idea how long he watches me, before the alarm goes off though. O.o

Jed, as usual, your post sums Boxers up beautifully. I totally agree that the dog you meet when you go to someone's house is often not who the dog really is. Mine is excited when friends arrive, but is such an easy to live with dog. Calm and quiet in the house. He will only bark if there is something noteworthy to bark at. He is not fearful of anything (except the bath) and will calmly sit and watch fireworks with me. I know this is possibly a case of good luck though, as i do know of storm-phobic dogs. Korbin, we are in Perth and I find that on those days of extreme heat, Bruno will simply find a cool spot to sleep. When I was researching the breed, I read on many mainly US-based sites that Boxers need a lot of exercise. I've found that mine is happy enough with a relatively short (30mins) daily walk, but he spends a lot of time with me in particular, and my kids and husband when they are home too. He is happiest just following me about, watching me work, and poking his nose into whatever the kids are doing. I'm trying not gush, but I truly love this breed. Ours is a perfect match for our family. Not sure where you are in WA, but PM me if ever you are heading to Perth and want to meet some lovely dogs. Also, if you are on Facebook, a fellow Doler (and Boxer breeder) has started a group called Boxers of Western Australia that you are welcome to join. There are regular meetups organised through the page too.

A belated happy birthday to beautiful Amber! Lovely to see her defying the odds under your care JulesP.

Dee Lee, Bruno is our first Boxer, and I have fallen so in love with the breed that he won't be the last. I'm glad that you have met some good ones to compensate for the bad experiences. :) I'll have to quiz you about Bruno one day- they tick a lot of boxes for me. :) Anytime Dee lee And ViszlaMomma, I'm so sorry for your loss. He sounds like a such a special boy.

Dee Lee, Bruno is our first Boxer, and I have fallen so in love with the breed that he won't be the last. I'm glad that you have met some good ones to compensate for the bad experiences. :)