Salukifan

She sounds senile. I have Ted here who is headed down that path also. What does your vet say? I have heard about medication that can assist but don't know much about it. This is never easy. Not sure what is worse, having their minds give out before their bodies do, or the reverse

Yes I think they do. I think it's probably a combination of recognising dogs like their mothers and also dogs whose body language is just like theirs.

It's handy to have Polaramine at home for insect bites. Given straight away, it can stop most of the swelling. The only people who can tell you if insect bites are covered under your policy are your insurers. Give them a call.

Lily the Toy Poodle is like a braille dog - covered in lumps. All checked, all no issue. Herbie's has literally come up overnight. I'm thinking abcess or haematoma but at the start of a long public holiday period, I'm not taking chances.

I see nothing in how this dog's rehoming is being handled to suggest that it isn't being done without care,knowledge and careful thought about its breed, history and requirements. I'd have thought that was something to commend. One size fits all rescue processes will be appropriate when dogs are a one size fits all proposition IMO. The fact that it is a rare breed with particular requirements IS relevant to its future.

Must be the season for it. Herbie the Whippet is off to the vet this afternoon. He's had a lump come up on his head overnight.

With all due respect, the fact that you've had an animal in your care for 15 years without killing it doesn't make automatically you a great dog owner. Someone I know has parents who have a 12 year old Hungarian Vizsla. The dog is confined to the yard and is never walked by its owners. I'm confident no HV breeder I know would be happy to sell a pup into that home.

Taking aside the dog-inexperience: what's wrong with taking a mature dog home from the pound?! Your comment about bringing home potential 'problems/illnesses' makes it sound like you should avoid pounds all together! Plenty of amazing, wonderful (and healthy!) mature dogs that need homes in pounds, so with advice and a steep learning curve there's nothing wrong with it! I think the answer to that is that a novice dog owner may not have the knowledge to choose wisely. I'd always recommend such owners go to a reputable rescue to find the right dog. They get the benefit of someone who's in a position to far more about the dogs than a pound ever could.

The key word Steve, is "research". Internet forums tend to be a bit thin on that for some natural therapies recommended. You tend to get "my friend used it on Fido and it worked a treat". For example, I'd want to know about the impact of any natural oil if ingested (because you're going to be spaying it on dogs on a very long term basis) and on pregnant bitches. A cursory internet search says RG oil is best avoided during pregnancy because it can have a hormonal effect. I'd want to know that before using it on any breeding bitch, wouldn't you? The greatest evil of all from where I sit on the use of any chemical preparation (commercial or otherwise) on a dog is ignorance.

I like to think this forum is about people being allowed to express concern about tje sharing of ideas that float around the internet but that have no proven history for working here, not elsewhere. Had you not decided to treat my concern with a somewhat patronising *sigh*, I'd not have responded further. If someone is deciding whether or not to use RG oil in one drop on a dog's collar because its way cheaper than Advantix, has "no adverse side effects" and is "natural", I think it only fair that they be given a word of caution about its lack of proven track record, don't you? That caution seems to be distiling into "caution, may not work". I'd say people should know that. They should also know that the impact of using RG oil in combination with other tick preventatives seems to be an unknown. I think that's important. But that's it from me. Far be it for me to rain on the parade of anyone advocating an idea for fear that dogs might suffer as result. My bad. I personally hate the idea of dousing your dogs in insecticide to keep them safe but you have to weight up the consequences of NOT doing it before you stop.

I consider tick paralysis to be a pretty adverse side effect if it doesn't work. How would a drop of oil on a dog's collar deter ticks when most ticks are found attached forward of the dog's shoulders?? sigh... Sigh all you like. When you can produce some evidence that rose geranium oil provides an effective deterrent to paralysis ticks, you'll have my complete and undivided attention. People in the USA don't have their dogs' death as a side effect of using this oil as a tick preventative. The fact that something Is "natural" is no guarantee of safety or efficacy for veterinary use. Many naturally occuring substances are highly toxic and what is safe for human use is not necessarily safe for dogs. I'd not more trust RG oil for tick prevention that I'd trust garlic for hydatit tapeworm prevention, or nosodes for parvo prevention no matter how often someone suggests it on an internet forum. If

Happy Camper, I am an infrequent and at times unwelcome poster in this forum but I have some advice for you. You got yourself in a lot of trouble last time, championing the cause of particular rescues, putting the boot into others, refusing to listen to what people were trying to tell you and expressing a whole lot of opinions based on what was seemingly minimal knowledge or experience. You decided to initiate an active social media campaign against this forum and for that alone, you need to be digesting humble pie for a very very long time. It was immature, malicious and frankly quite unbalanced. I visited that FB page (as I'm sure many others did) and it was gobsmackingly nasty. You may now have changed the detail of your opinion and the direction of your targetting and booting and the substance of your views about what others should be doing but your method of approach to this forum appears to be the same. May I politely suggest that you ask for more knowledge, opine less telling others how things should be done and put the boot into no one here or elsewhere in social media. That is a sound long term strategy for getting on with people here and one I am personally striving to follow. "Sorry" wont' cut it. Live the change you want people to believe you have undergone.

I consider tick paralysis to be a pretty adverse side effect if it doesn't work. How would a drop of oil on a dog's collar deter ticks when most ticks are found attached forward of the dog's shoulders??

Personally I think they deserve to be rehomed to a situation better than the one they come out of. At least racing greys have regular free running exercise and constant company. This is not a breed suited to everyone in any home and I wish people would stop suggesting that it is.

I think Greyhounds get recommended because there are a lot of them looking for homes. I do wonder how well many of those keen to see a Greyhound rehomed understand the breed or its needs. And I also wonder why less than ideal situations for most dogs are considered OK for Greyhounds.

Does the dog have access to any backyard other than the deck? Will it have access inside. Do you own this house or rent it?

George is a rescue/foster? Okay, why is your dog paying a price for his behaviour? She's being segregated due to no fault of her own? My advice stands but get George into a crate and let your dog live her normal life. Sorry, but I don't think its fair that the resident dog pays the price for a new dog's uncertain behaviour. If you don't have a crate, then its high time you got one. You can switch dogs around a bit to ensure George gets time with people too. But I know where my priority would be. Now you definitely have to get a knowledgeable and experienced view of this dog. Resource guarding can be a very dangerous behaviour and you're going to have to think good and hard about how or when you rehome him. He's already had one reinforcement that it works in your home. You probably already know this but smooth coated sighthounds are very vulnerable to bites - no body fat or hair to protect them. I'd be very unhappy with what you've seen.

Yep, get a decent behavioural trainer to visit and advise. The advice you might get here without someone actually seeing the dogs will be worth precisely what you've paid for it. Resource guarding can be quite serious and I'd be wanting to nip in in the bud. You need someone who can assess what's going on before giving advice.

Mars haven't wrecked Royal Canin. I doubt they'll stuff up a good earner in their other acquisitions. Diversification is smart business. Confectionary sales may be waning but pet owners are spending more than ever on their dogs.

I'd be more worried about its diet than its breeding. It looks WAY down in pastern to me.

That didn't factor in the trips to Sydney once every six weeks to have jacket and poms scissored by "God". It really has to be a labour of love. No need to wonder why I now show Whippets. :cool:

Coding issues,

I went through this with one of mine. Lily was completely overwhelmed by group classes and shut down. We took time out and switched to agility training. Progress was slow at first but because Lily go to do things by herself, she improved. We eventually went back to obedience classes and she was much better, eventually gaining her CCD.

I'll give the classic answer... "it depends". If the condition is OCD, I'd want to know more about the trauma but there can be a congenital component also.

The first thing you need to know about showing any poodle is that as adults they must be shown in lion or continental clip (or their variations). This is specified in the breed standard. Puppy clip is OK on the pups (no surprise there) but if he is in a pet clip, you need to start growing coat now. it would be some months before he has enough coat to compete. A conformatiion fault won't stop you showing but it might stop you winning so unless you treat this dog as a "learning dog" (not such a bad idea on a breed that is very challenging to turn out well) then you may end up being pretty disappointed with how he goes, despite all the effort you put into showing him. What the other folk have said is true, he needs to be on Main Register or Neuter Register and you should talk to his breeder. Grooming will be the major challenge unless you can find someone to do it for you and even then you must be able to turn him out on the day. It used to take me about 5 hours over three days (including show day) to get my boy ready for the ring. That's five hours win or lose for EVERY show weekend. Then there's the bathing out after every show, and the wrapping and coat maintenance between shows. Not for the faint hearted.