Erny

If it is not random, then bet your bottom dollar that everything that is banned would be banned in every State, and not the other way around ..... if a certain someone has his way. IOW, one stupid decision in one State would flow through to all other States. That ain't a great idea either, so I'm not complaining about the randomisation aspect.

Work his obedience and use the "swim" as a reward for command compliance. Also use the "swim" as a reward for NOT squeeling. If your dog likes to chase balls/tug, then you might be able to use this as her reward for coming out of the water. Be careful about not using it as another bribe though as bribes have a habit of losing their appeal and you only end up going back to begging your dog to listen to you. When she complies and comes out of the water, reward her by releasing her to go back in, if this is suitable.

You could also have her observe you whilst you get up and touch the fans. Don't make a fuss/drama out of it. Even normal things such as though you were dusting them off with a cloth and completely ignoring her. You could toss down a treat or two if she's behaving normally/confident. Just do it randomly - main thing is to not make a big deal out of it. Pretend she's not around. My boy hated the sound of me pulling the cords to make the wooden slat blinds open/close. He used to scoot right out of the room. I just completely ignored him. He doesn't care so much about it now. Same deal with the vacuum cleaner. I ignored him. Now he's a pest because he tends to stay in the way, so little does he care about it . But one of the points with these things is that he sees me handling these objects and sees me not giving a hoot about it.

Wow! Surely Cavalier wouldn't be doing that! What Vet Clinic are you with, Cavalier? ETA: Who is/was KYLA ??

I love those photos, Kirislin. I agree that dogs predominantly eat meat but that some form of vegetation completes their diet. I think it is selfish to consider having an animal with the purposeful intent on changing what it would otherwise do best on. I do know of people who do feed vegen diets to their dogs and I have read that dogs can do ok on them, but they have to be very dedicated towards meal preparation and adding in all the required supplements to make up for dietary losses that would occur in the absence of meat. But IMO nothing beats nature and to keep as close to nature as is absolutely possible is the best thing. IMO this person is being selfish.

FranCO .... do you need to get it back on him in a hurry? Generally I find that weight loss after a trauma such as your boy has experienced will gradually return of its own accord and I would think that it is probably best to not overload his system with food for this sake. Rather, just concentrate on his other physical health and ensure that he's not losing weight. Gradual, I would think, would be the best thing to focus on as far as weight gain/return is concerned. Great to hear that he's making his way back to good health .

Wow, K-i. You are certainly doing everything I think anyone could think to suggest to help Bud and make him as comfortable as possible so that his quality of life endures ;). In the past I have been a bit of a sceptic when it comes to the benefits of acupuncture, but I have seen for myself through the 2 sessions my boy has had, the improvement that can result. Love the image of Bud relaxing so much from it. Must have been a great feeling for him . Good luck with all that you are doing - I am absolutely certain Bud will appreciate it all. Bet he will be secretly be going "nah nah nahnanah" at your other dogs, for the special attention and TLC that he's getting. That in itself will probably having him feel great and he'll be able to snub his nose at the fact that the others can zoom around that bit faster than he. Thanks for the update.

I know that CCCQ don't permit the use of e-collars either. Although they accept payment and advertise electronic containment systems in their monthly mag. Go figure.

It's certainly not cheap, K-i, that I know. I think my Health Store sells it for a few dollars cheaper - or perhaps prices have gone up since I last purchased. But honestly, I love the fact I can just keep it in the pantry; it doesn't go off; and it is right there for me to give (or for that matter, to take) if I even remotely suspect that something's not quite right. I've even given it to my boy if I've found out afterwards that he's been around an area or a dog/s that's come down with Canine Cough. Merely as an immune booster. Perhaps not necessary - maybe he wouldn't have succumbed to the cough anyway - I guess there's no way of telling. I have it sometimes if my stomach does't feel great, or if I have a bit of a sore throat, or otherwise think I might be coming down with something. Thinking about Bud ..... if you haven't already, can you give an update in your thread, or email me?

I hear you, Stormie. But I cannot see how anyone could blast the Vet if the Vet has said "The dog has a virus which needs to run its course with a little TLC thrown in to help. Antibiotics will not help at the moment because they do not treat viruses. I can prescribe antibiotics (Erny's note : not that I agree with this) but as you would know, giving antibiotics more than is required can result in them not working as well when the dog might really need them. My recommendation would be that you keep your dog quiet; avoid exercise such as walks and vigourous play for a week after the dog has stopped being symptomatic; but bring the dog back in to see me at anytime if the symptoms worsen." What's wrong with that? And how hard can that be? Gosh - I think it would at least be better (ie second best) if the Vets said this and if they wanted, to still give the antibiotics to the owners and leave it up to the owners IF they want to administer them. As it stands though, people are so guided by what the Vet says and if that is "your dog needs antibiotics" then why would ..... or SHOULD people even think to ask questions? Personally, I think that Vets need to smarten up their act a little in things such as this. .... yep, it's good for wounds too . I love AMH. For me. For the dog.

That is an extraordinary interesting observation and concept, NW (). My boy has had an issue with a trigger point or two towards his rear end along his back line. This has improved dramatically with his two sessions of acupuncture and I believe one of the two chinese herbal medicines prescribed to him would also be helping with this. Our last visit back at the Vet's a couple of days ago proved none of the sensitivity that was apparent previously. I will keep this in mind though and make a mental note of it and will report to you anything that I notice that might remotely be connected. There could occur a natural and unintended desensitisation to the noise though, so combine that with the fact that I have been treating his physical 'trigger' points and it could prove to 'grey' the area somewhat. Hope what I am saying makes sense.

I'd follow Staranais' suggestion. Although with one change. I would "good" for each sniff (regardless of whether the box held the scent or not). After all, we want her to learn that she does need to investigate EACH box by sniffing, not just the target box. Encourage her on to the next box (which contains the scent) and encourage her to sniff. Then tell her "sit" (assuming that's the indicator you are using). As soon as she's sat, release and BIG reward (whatever rocks her boat). Perhaps you need to change the scent, to begin with? Is there a reason you've gone for the scent that you have? Perhaps she finds it just a bit too attractive? Can you try something a little less appealing, perhaps? I started my avatar girl off with a cut lemon. Are you running her through on lead, until she begins to get the hang of it? Or do you feel you've progressed through that stage already? Is the container holding the scent sealed? I started my girl on a second scent which was gunpowder. I put it in a small tupperware container with a screw-on lid. I'd already drilled several very small holes in the lid to make it easier to scent. If it helps you to know, WildatHeart, my girl (now bless her cotton socks) was the worst possible candidate for a scent dog. She was 10 or 11 years old when I began the scent training; had far too much obedience training in her and consequently was always looking for direction; was a 'nervous nelly' which made it incredibly difficult to demonstrate her scent training for the assessment; and had an unexpected and serious bouts of ill-health occur in between her training, which meant we were often taking 3 steps forward and 2 steps back. Bless her - she got me through the assessment for a pass. I figure if she could do it, then any dog could do it and I'm sure you'll work your way through this with patience and determination.

I think it would be easy enough to explain to people so they know what to look for and what to potentially expect. And I don't think covering their butts is a good enough reason to be administering antibiotics when the dog doesn't need them. Only serves to build resistant strains of bacteria and when the dog really needs antibiotics ....... :D . I think it is the Vet's job to tell it like it is, not to assume we all might be morons and therefore medicate our dogs unnecessarily. Yes they do and I believe with reasonably good enough results as far as 'easing' things is concerned. But why even go there when something as natural as Active Manuka Honey will have all the benefits - and you don't even really have to worry about working out appropriate dosages with the AMH. Nothing wrong with 'natural' when 'natural' works . In fact, everything right :D.

He's afraid of the noise of the clicker and I have reasons for not wanting to desensitise at this stage. But thanks for the suggestion. I'll work on the back-end exercises using bar work, I think, at this stage. Will consider the other option such as swimming etc. later, if he needs additional help with it. I'm familiar with the Devon Meadows pool and to my knowledge they are still operating :D. Swimming would help build up the back-end and I'll do that if I need to, although I think waste height wading/walking would be better for that if I can arrange it. I'm not sure that swimming is necessarily going to give me the rear-end awareness that I'm looking for at the moment, but I will keep it all in mind . Thanks everyone, for your helpful suggestions :D .

Sorry - but laughed at the "mother of all" comment above. Bad luck with your experience, PW. Hope all goes well in the healing department from here on end. Boy .... we've come a long way from the literal "bucket on head" days though. :p

My boy was skinny from the outset. I had to be very careful about the amount of food I fed him as he developed carpal laxity syndrome 3 days after I brought him home. So I couldn't just feed him for the sake of putting weight on, as that would increase his growth spurts, which is not what I wanted nor what he needed. Finally, I got his front legs growing out straight and I was able to increase food intake a bit more. He began to put weight on but when he hit the 6 or 7 month mark, he began to lose it again. He too was VERY ribby, so I know what you mean. He's now going on 17 months of age and I think it was around 13 months when he developed at least a little more rib cover. Initially he was on Eagle Pack, which helped a lot with the front leg growth issue. For the last 6 or 7 months he's been on Vets All Natural - I've been using the allerblend due to working through some health/allergy issues. Weight gain has been fairly steady but not fast, which is, I think, best. The weight gain has been more in growth development than cover, but that's coming. I've been feeding him 2000 grams of the Allerblend per day. Puppy recommended ratio is 1600 grams per day. He's just one of those dogs with a fast metabolism and loads of energy (both physical and nervous energy) which burns a fair load of the calories that he consumes. I'm finding now that he's fitting into his body better and I do expect that physical development will continue to occur with him until he's around 2 years old. He used to be a definite "skinny". Now I would describe him as a definite "lean". I'm happy with the latter and I'm in no hurry to fatten him as I think when development slows down, the extra weight will all of a sudden be seen as just that, fat. If you're feeding good food and your dog is happy and energetic with a good coat and bright eyed, I wouldn't be too concerned at this point. Like me, you might be needing to give a bit more of that 'good food' than what someone else's dog might need, at least to maintain weight if not to increase it. But I think all else being well, it's more a developmental period thing. I continue to feed two meals a day. In part because he eats so much that I wouldn't want him to have it all in one sitting. The other reason is to give his body a chance to absorb as much nutrient from each meal as it can, before the digestive system causes it to pass through. Too many fat dogs out there and when compared, it can make lean dogs appear worse and more desperate than what they really are. I'm not suggesting you don't need to keep an eye on things and work towards getting the rib and a bit of hip cover on, but unless weight is being lost I wouldn't be too concerned.

You should be able to feel her ribs. They should have a bit of rib cover but not a lot. If her ribs aren't visibly and overtly protruding (it's ok to be able to see the last rib or the last two ribs) I wouldn't be too concerned, if all else (eg. energy; general health; etc) is ok. Better to be on the lean side rather than the fat side, at any time, but especially during growth. Also, she is still developing/growing, which means that calories would still be going into growth spurts. If she is still intact there's a chance that her calorie intake is being burnt up due to fast metabolic rate. This should settle down once she is sexually mature and when she stops growing.

Thanks Vickie. I did think about this during the evolution of this thread. Didn't think about using scrunchies. Thanks for the tip - it's too easy to not give it a go, so I'll definitely try it. Again, thanks. I'll try doing a bit of this as well.

TBH, no. We did swimming down at a dog pool when he was younger. He always hated it, although was getting a bit better. Against my better judgement I followed some advice from one of the employees there. I should have stuck to my own instincts. Anyway, it lead to a bad experience for him and he loathed the swimming pool even more. I took him to the beach almost every second day for a month or more after that. This was so I could walk him in chest height water. It was for a different reason back then, but I think the chest height wading was probably even better than just swimming. I got him over his dislike for water there and he has since begun to enjoy romping in waters. I wanted to do some water walking exercise in the hydrotank thingies, but at $55 a pop (whether that be for only 5 minutes) it was a bit too expensive for me to afford. It did cross my mind to return to the swimming pool but he's still young and I feel that returning him now could undo the work I'd been doing and achieved down at the beach. The beach is a 45 minute drive (each way) from me, so it's not easy to get down there, although I do it if it's absolutely what he needs. I did stop going there because of other off-lead dogs with owners who didn't have control that I needed them to have for me to do what I needed with my boy in the name of 'training/behaviour' and also because his health took a bit of a down turn so I needed to concentrate on that for a while. But it's crossed my mind to return there again. My boy would love that. He was on a mission to chase every single seagull off the coast of Australia and with a job left unfinished, I'm sure he'd like to return to it again :p. I'm better off going there in the colder months though as it is a bit quieter then.

Unfortunately, PW, I think that some Vets jump on the "give a pill" button even earlier than that. I have a friend who took her dog to the Vet (not for canine cough) and he suggested antibiotics. She asked "why antibiotics .... there is no infection?" He answered "to make you feel better" .

If I worked 80 hours per week and had 5 dogs of my own, I wouldn't have TIME for DOL !!! (Oooh scarey thought that, huh? ) I used to work those hours, so I know what sort of pressure that represents. And I didn't have 5 dogs at the time!! You don't like to?

Cavalier ..... you said you're in NT, right?

Am familiar with the body wrap. I'll keep it in mind but will try the poles on the ground first. Thanks for the tip about poles being unlevel. That would be better as I expect it would keep the mind active and connected to his back legs more. Those wristband things are supposed to do similar, aren't they? I have a very narrow but very long hallway in my home and I do use that for backing at heel. It doesn't make him 'step' with his back legs any better though. I agree that a channel would help to keep him straighter backing away from me and it probably would help to teach him what I want from him. Back then, I backed him away because he was pushing my buttons and I did it as a "my space" exercise. It sort of developed into a useful exercise for other things since then, so yes, I'll see what I can do to set up a channel for him. I would first like to get him more into stepping back (rather than hopping/leaping back) before I do that though. But thanks for the reminder :happydance:

My !! Are you super woman or something Cav? Vaccinating 200 dogs per week between 2 people (which in itself would be a full time job by "full time" definition anyway, without anything outside of vaccination needles) and working 80 hours per week, I don't know how you would have time for 1 dog let alone a total of 17 (which I presume means multiple dog household). That's a lot of dogs, a lot of pressure on you (as I presume you do surgeries on top of spending a full day vaccinating). Don't know how you cope .

Set her up to win, Flux. Every time. And make it worth her while when she does come back (which will be every time because she has been set up to win). Rewards of treats, game of tug, throw ball, you being excited and obviously very happy with her at being soooooo clever . If you don't set her up to fail then she won't learn to fail.