Erny

Been discussed on DOL. You might find the comments in THIS thread helpful. Anal Glands aren't my area of "expertise", lol, but from things I've read elsewhere, they shouldn't normally be leaking just because the dog is asleep and can be indicative that they are full. Look at your dog's diet - firm poop is normally what will keep anal glands healthy and expressed. Keep an eye out for impaction and infection.

I was very very watchful for signs of infection as, especially in the early days, his ear flap around the wound area was hot and was quite sore. Watch those flies too - I find there is an awful lot of them around where I am at the moment. ETA: Oh, and I used some Baby Oil (being careful to keep it out of the wound) and worked it into the sticky part of the bandage - this helps to remove it without causing pain to your dog.

Had a PM from someone else, so figured I might as well put up the info on "Ear Clear" in case others are also interested. "Ear Clear - Ear solution to rid the ear of wax, yeast infections and ear mites". (Made by Natural Animal Solutions - Australian Made and Owned) Use recommended dosage twice daily for two weeks. Stop treatment for one week. Then resume treatment again for one week. Apply Ear Clear to cotton wool and clean ear wax exiting at the base of the ear daily. Dosage : Cats : 3 drops twice daily Small Dogs : 1/2 a dropper twice daily Medium-Large Dogs : Full dropper twice daily. (I found I went through two or three bottles over the total treatment period, but I was fairly generous with what I used on the cotton wool for the daily cleaning regime.) Ingredients : Aloe, Witch Hazel, Aluminium Acetate 2%.Boric Acid. Lavender Essential Oil. ETA: The Ear Clear has a good shelf life too.

So what was it? Hope she's ok

I have had success with "Ear Clear" - recommended and supplied by my dog's Naturopath. I tended to find that my boy did not have any luck with antibiotic treatment and other drops were too stringent for him, causing him to react to them. If you want to know what's in the "Ear Clear" let me know. I still have a bottle of it. But I found it not only soothing, but effective. ETA: "Ear Clear" treats ear mites as well as yeast infections and fungal infections wax. Edited to cross through "fungal infections". It may well do that as Yeast Infection is fungal, but now I look, the bottle doesn't actually say it, so thought I should relate correctly.

What I'm finding at the moment is that my boy is less likely to eat in the morning than he is later in the day. I can offer him his breakfast and he'll walk away uninterested. I can offer the same meal around lunch time, and he'll be looking forward to it. Similarly for his "Roo Jerky" treats. Won't eat any in the morning but later on will happily accept them. Although I expect there is an explanation for this somewhere, I don't understand it.

I have trouble with that. My boy only needs to flap his head a few times and have his ear hit his collar, and a wound appears. If I'm not careful with it, he'll continue to flap his head and the wound becomes larger. He's done it again more recently and I've worked out a way of taping it so that the air still gets to the wound but the wound is at least partly protected against flapping and hopefully this time it won't take as long to heal as it did the last time. I use Elastoplast Fabric Dressing Strip (6.3cm wide) and cut to size. The dressing strip is the part that 'covers' the wound and the sticky stuff holds to either side. I have been quite surprised how much it will hold and how long it will last there. I'm also quite surprised at the fact that he isn't fussing with it being there. I think he's felt the comfort the protection of the bandage afforded him, as his ear became quite sore. I was concerned at the beginning as the ear was swollen and hot. Initially I applied Betadene a couple of times per day with a small syringe (minus the needle, of course) and allowed this to flush over the wound (warning : hold a towel underneath to catch excess Betadene). The wound is now drying, closing up and looking a bit better and I have cut down the application of Betadine to once every couple of days (unless he's gotten it dirty, in which case I very carefully and gently bath it with some mild salt water, dab dry and re-apply Batadine). I've included some photos here - don't know if they will help as the positioning of your dog's wound may well be different than my boy's, but it might give you an idea. Please note the dark stuff you see on the bandage is Betadene. I change the bandage every two to three days, or sooner if he's gotten it mucky. I've included a picture of the outside of his ear flap - you can see the edges of the bandage which I cut to size and shape (carefully ) . ETA: I used to try ointments such as Paw Paw; Aloe Vera, but found that they 'gummed' the wound up, made it mucky and the wound didn't dry out and scab over as it should have. I prefer something that is likely to dry it out and permit the air to it and in our case am finding that to be a better solution. But more protection would be required if your dog's wound is being plagued by flies.

I haven't heard that before. Are you certain this is correct?

Thank you for the explanation. It makes sense.

I don't quite understand that. Sure, I can understand there may be more chance of a 'miss' on a longer/heavier coated dog by comparison to a short haired dog, but I wouldn't think a snake "needs" an unfluffy area on the dog to envenomate. Mind you - I'm no expert and I'm not asserting anything here as I truly do not know, but it is something that I'm inclined to query. I've heard this before and as it did then (but I didn't take the time to ask) it again raises a query in my mind, that being : Does a snake really think to itself "hey, I won't deliver venom on this one" ??? I mean, why wouldn't it? What has it got to lose? Why not play on the safe side (from the snake's point of view)? What is it that would make the snake NOT deliver venom? Not aiming this question at you OSS (although if you are a snake expert, then yes I am ) but I would like an answer to satisfy my curiosity.

Chicken or the egg, you mean? I'm guessing that stress on an animal's system can cause the body's functional organs to dysfunction. But I'm not a Vet so I don't know precisely how it all works.

Speaking of the "Silver Lab" .... I tend to agree. In fact, there's been more than one or two dogs throughout this thread where I've ummmed about the dog actually carrying the appearance of a cross.

I think I might try to stop squeeling like a girl when I get a pass. ;) Nooooo, don't stop. I'm sure Uta Bindles will be impressed ;). But that aside, Barkly will love it, lol. Go get'm and good luck in achieving the pass. I'm sure it will not be far away for you .

Lol ... and yet we can do the same and with tears streaming from our eyes and words cussing from our lips, and nobody cares. I'm sure your dog is ok but I agree - it can be worrisome and none of us are ever comfortable about our dogs yelping.

Nah - I would never think that and I thought you were suggesting the rest of us didn't want to help people at all, lol. Apologies, was only talking in respects of myself and my original post. Excuse me while I dig myself into a deeper hole. :D Hope I haven't caused offense to anyone here - seriously. ;) ;) I really should ban myself from posting when I've had a bout of insomnia the previous night! No no !!! Please ..... I think it is me and I should have just assumed you meant nothing by it. :D

Nah - I would never think that and I thought you were suggesting the rest of us didn't want to help people at all, lol.

I think it is pretty evident that the most of us are not mean at all :D lol. And for me it goes without saying that family can have free advice and assistance if they would like or need it. That's always been the case with me, in whatever way I can provide it and whether it relates to dogs or not. I'm not taking your post too much seriously SnT, but I'm not sure if you are just making an off the cuff comment or whether you are making a pointed statement for some reason or other. Probably the former :D.

I'm not altogether keen on the "kept inside" option. I guess we place different liklihoods for our causes to worry, but my greater concern would be a fire and no way of my dog escaping the home. So I'd prefer my dog outside or to have free access to outside. It is all about choices, though. If inside is what you want (which renders the problematic 8cm gap under gate irrelevant) then you need to teach her to toilet on something specific in a specific room. I would have done this from day dot if you'd know back then what you wanted, but that's not to say it can't be taught now. The only difference is that you take your pup to this new spot, as though you were teaching toileting from scratch. There are toilet pads that I understand have pheramones impregnated and which encourage the dog to toilet on it. There are also special faux grass doggy toilets, if you want to use something like that. Some teach their dogs to use a kitty litter tray. Some teach their dogs to use the toilet itself, although I'd be a bit concerned that smaller dogs would fall in and not be able to get out - besides which, this alternative simply is not my cup of tea, so to speak. If you change your mind and decide outside is ultimately what you'd like but for the time being the backyard doesn't feel safe due to your pup's size, then you could barrier up the gap underneath the gate and perhaps also use something like a puppy pen, fashioned and secured so as to provide a 'mini backyard' so to speak. I did similar for my boy (who was so thin that he could slide through the steel picket bars of my fencing - I threaded shade cloth through it but did not trust that alone for times when I would be absent) by using an oversized crate to which I attached his play pen to create a 'yard' to the crate. The most important thing was making sure the play pen was completely secure so that it could not be knocked over. I also would recommend that free access to inside/outside not be granted without supervision until such time as your pup's toilet training is 100% completed and reliable.

Yes - an increase in weight in spite of loss of appetite. That's in part why I said I wouldn't be thinking "thyroid" merely based on loss of appetite. However, that type of symptom is a typical clinical symptom that is often seen later in the dog's life, when the thyroid condition is more advanced. You can have dogs who are OT and inexplicably anxious/tense/unceasingly vigilant. Some of these dogs might feel this way due to thyroid issue and this of course can lead to loss of appetite and loss of weight. Especially in the very early outset of the condition. But as I mentioned - I did not raise "thyroid" to suggest it was something that was likely. I don't know enough about your dog to be able to even throw a rough opinion out there. I only raised it so you'd understand that the example of my dog is a bit more complicated that yours might be. When I began suggesting "thyroid tests" to my Vet, I got the "rolled eyes" response, because of course he wasn't showing what they were used to seeing as the typical clinical signs. He still doesn't show the typical clinical signs that our Vets out here are generally used to seeing. Oh - and Stitch, dogs don't get "hyperthyroidism". This seems to be reserved for cats (and people, who can get hyper and hypo thyroidism). Dogs, if they have the condition, get "hypothyroidism" which is an UNDER active thyroid but which, in the very early outset in a young dog, can represent with what you might think looks more like a hyper-thyroid.

Totally agree Ernie. Problem may be that if we are brought up with dogs we are also taught how to behave around them. I guess if you are from a non-dg background you have no bloddy clue!!!! Although I see your point, I don't fully agree with it. I was about 8 or 9 years old before our first dog (at least 'first' since my birth) came along. I don't remember being told how to treat a dog, but I guess I was, and had a reasonable foundation of basic knowledge in that to be able to well deal with our new (yellow lab) puppy. But perhaps, when there is a generation of non-doggy people raising another generation, they don't have the ability to pass this information on, so to a certain degree, there is something in it. Although I'm sure that many (mind you, not all :D) people who haven't been brought up with horses tend to know to stay clear of back legs and to not go taunting a horse, especially in that area. I think to forgive for an adult "not knowing that you shouldn't pull a dog's tail" is being a bit of a generous excuse for him/her not having a reasonable dose of common sense.

Yeah - and have you noticed the percentage of those who seem almost disappointed when you can show them how it's done. Like as if their 'sthpethal' dog ain't so sthpethal anymore, lol. ETA: *cough* and it also means the owners no longer have an excuse for not trying, lol.

It's cool to be a dog nerd lol And DOL will do it to ya every time, :D

Yayyyy great answer. Too true. Too often it's just a "Oh this person is Dog Trainer lets see what I can glean for free without actually having to do any work with my dog". I find the longer I have been in this area, the less info I give. If they really wanted to fix their dogs issues, they would make the effort to come to training. I find all of what you've said here to be the truth much of the time as well. I like to see how much commitment the owner will make in wanting and trying to learn, before I throw myself into somersaults, spending my energy and time in dishing out information which is unappreciated just because it does actually mean the owner needs to do some work.

Well done, LukeW. I saw the notation of your success with Barkly in the Agility Yahoo email list. Excellent work . You've come quite a way since we first started seeing you here on DOL . Good for you and of course, good for Barkly :D .

In my childhood days, if your dog had turned around and bitten us, my folks would have simply told me that was my own fault for pulling the dog's tail. These days, you get sued and your dog gets pts. A testament to your socialisation and training and to your dog's general temperament that he didn't react. :D