Erny

Thing, Aussiedogs, it's "things". "Think" is something you do with your brain. But I really didn't post to write just that ...... it's always a worry and I hope your pup will prove to be fine. A couple of months ago my boy (who would have been about 10 mo at the time) showed signs of a sore back leg. Through the afternoon and evening it escalated to him screaming whenever he went to lay on his right side. Laying on his left was a bit better, but I had to help him. He could walk around but you could clearly see his lameness. It was awful as I felt so helpless. It proved to be a bad cramp, from what we could make out. A trip to the specialist and also to the chiro found no other plausible explanation. I was relieved as I was thinking cruciate, HD and so on. Sometimes the worry of not knowing is worse than what it might be. Hang in there until tomorrow. I'm glad he's able to sleep.

I won't be there, but I hope everyone (handlers, dogs and spectators alike) have fun. It is such a great sport and discipline. So sad that it is so misunderstood and held in disdain in some areas . If only people learnt about it more rather than pre-judge. Anyway - enjoy all you lucky people who live up that way .

Thanks WP. I'll be checking back here to read your updates. Hope they report success .

Again - interesting (especially for me in my vocational field). Are you able to name this particular drug? Might prove handy for me (and others) to know. Sorry for the 20 questions .

According to the OP the pup is screaming in pain when picked up. Not suggesting the pup doesn't feel anything in between times, but if it can at least be comfortable enough to sleep then wouldn't it be better to avoid more drugs in the system when we don't even know what the problem is? The pup's already had a dose of cortisone bombard its system. In the absence of Veterinary knowledge that can tell what is actually going on, I don't think the pup should be dosed with more drugs. Not to mention that perhaps there is some damage to ligament or whatever. Stopping the pain might only lead the pup to doing more damage to it by moving around in a way that it shouldn't. Just my 2c. ETA: Wrote this as Rappie was posting.

WP - had you tried her on the Propalin on its own before? Just interested to know how come you went the implant path. ETA: Sorry - just read in another thread where you say Propalin worked initially, but then became ineffective. No need to respond to the above 'cause I answered my question when I read elsewhere.

Missymoo ..... did you try at a Health Food Store? As for your loss of sensation in your finger - sounds like some nerve damage.

Oh - this is very interesting. Sorry WP, I'm of no help to you as until you posted I didn't realise it could be used to help female incontinence (even though it isn't registered for this use as yet) but I'll be very interested to hear back from you as to the results of its effects with your girl. Hope it does help.

You're right. Got myself mixed up. Sorry.

Erny and Cosmolo Is it possible that you guys may be getting a little too touchy on the subject of e-collars, because i'm not anti e-collar, and I never made a comment on use of levels of stim. Not touchy here either, Dogdude. Just responding to your comments/thoughts on the e-collar/drive combo. It does work and it is such an excellent method achieving excellent results (happily). And I've seen even better responses from dogs even though they aren't trialling dogs. So I tend to think that trialling or not is irrelevant. I'm not arguing nor thinking you're against e-collars, I just think (from experience) that your thoughts are incorrect. Thank you . That scenario rings a bell, although it is not uncommon. Have I spoken with her yet? I don't think we've actually met though. That's your opinion and you've expressed it as such, which is fair enough. But I'm curious - why do you think that training for "trialling" should be any different than the heights that people who don't trial still wish to achieve? What I mean by that (and I really am trying to word this so you can hear my neutral tone, not one of any ) is why do you seem to think that training for "trialling" is any more special than training but not for trialling? ETA: I agree that training in drive achieves wonderful responses generally speaking as is the case with my boy.

That's strange. All our local chemists here in SW Sydney seem to have it. Yes - but you're in NSW, not WA.

Rommimum, when I tried to get Manuka Honey I was told you can't get it in WA because of the quarantine:-( So I don't think you'll find it locally. Apart from that, even if you could find it in your supermarkets, I wouldn't bother as most (if not all) of the supermarket supply carries UMF 5+. I wouldn't bother with a UMF less than 20+.

Thoughts of strength to you at this time. What a shock too - you've hardly had time to accept the true diagnosis. By the sounds Benson has had a wonderful life and home with you and now you take the bravest and most selfless step for his sake. He'll know that and he'll not leave you, as he will be forever in your hearts. What you give him now is peace and freedom. That is a great gift.

Thank you, Quickasyoucan. The only thing with the "have to go with what works" comment (other than it might relate to food/diet) above though is that we tend to think something is working because it might initially appear to ease the problem ("might" being the operative word) but doesn't permit the skin and body to right itself, so in the long term, it doesn't necessarily work at all and/or is not really for the best. In my boy's case, in the earlier days (ie approximately 2 - 2.5 months ago) I was a bit beside myself wanting to do something to help my boy through his itchies, and seeing his body ridden with hives so badly that he was more hives than he was flat skin was incredibly difficult to ignore. I think sometimes it is a human idiosyncrasy to US feeling better that we are doing something, rather than it being something that we are doing that actually benefits the dog. Dr. Bruce Syme was the one (whom I'm embarrassed to say I bombarded with emails with every new or worsening symptom) who gave me, shall we say, "courage" to just keep going with doing nothing (other than continuing with the diet I had him on). No baths. Nothing. I think I've said, at least elsewhere on this forum, that I had anti-histamines in the cupboard on "stand-by" should his skin irritate him to the point of him causing self-harm, but it didn't get to that point so the packet I have remains unopened. The only treatment to ease and remedy skin infection is the Calendulum Tea as I've said above. Dr Bruce gave me a write up which confirms the process of skin allergies and to avoid the application of treatments such as baths and creams and such and also explains that we might expect things to become worse before they get better. All of this prepared me to hang in there, as much as I 'felt' for my boy. I'm glad I stuck to the minimalist approach. Nekhbet - if your boy's skin remains irritated and unimproved even though the originating cause of the skin irritation as you know it is removed, then there is IMO likely to be a reason. And for this reason I think it would be wise to consider that such frequent washing might be prolonging the issue.

Speaking 'generally' and not suggesting this is what the OP needs to do to fix her problem, but if your BC's "would have freaked out" (I presume you haven't trained to an e-collar using negative reinforcement + low stim) that would be because the stim is too high. There are considerably few dogs (individuals as opposed to breeds) who would not respond well to this training tool. But it does need instruction if you're not sure how it all works.

Try luring to the "sit" position without using any command. The sit is a know/easy position for him as he already is well used to it by the sounds. Once he gets the hang of the fact that when he follows your hand to that position you'll release the food to him, then it might assist with him understanding about following your hand to the drop. I wouldn't use any command until you get this going (in the lure). Intro the command once he has the idea. If that still isn't getting anywhere, you could try simply teaching him to target onto your hand. And then re-introduce the 'luring' component. That's not to say I disagree with the "Guide, show, place" method either. I like dogs to be able to respond off both methods. But particularly for the "drop" I would not recommend you try working it without supervision if you are not certain, not because you won't be able to do it .... you might. But if you place your hands in the wrong position and use too much pressure with the wrong hand, and/or not have him properly 'set up' to be able to manage the position comfortably, you risk causing him discomfort/hurting him. Which is not going to be good for him and even less so from the training perspective.

you cant take any fruit or plant into WA Oh, Ok - so it sounds as though the restrictions are imposed by State Border control, Aussie made or not. But I've still placed some enquiries on the Aussie made equivalent as well as whether there is an awareness by the manufacturers of it of the WA restrictions and if/when I get a reply I'll post it up here for info sake. Wonder what component of manufactured honey could pose a risk, from WA's pov?

There is an Australian equivalent - I'm checking into details and seeking some more information on it. Will post once I receive some response. But on the WA situation .... is the "quarantine law" relative to the import of the honey from OS, or would it permit the honey to cross its State borders if the honey was produced in Australia?

Dogdude - I don't think I missed your point. I agree that in the OP's case, going to the expense of an e-collar is possibly more than what she needs and yes, training in drive is probably what will 'do it'. I have already posed the question of what is it that she thinks is the reason her dog seems to be anticipating a following command because I do believe (from the description of her dog's behaviour as written) that there is a training fault that needs to be re-addressed. In regards to the e-collar, I was only making a contrary point in response to what you previously wrote - ie that its use in the method I adopt (ie neg ref/low-stim) does not destroy 'drive' and that an e-collar is an option. Apart from that, I don't know the OP's status - ie whether she has an e-collar already; whether she has availability to one for use; etc. etc. consequently, it was an option I listed earlier in the thread in direct response to the "what can I do" type question.

The washing so frequently in itself I can't imagine would assist. Sometimes I think we need to let our dogs have a chance of getting their skin PH levels and oils back on track and I do think, as much as it is tempting because we feel we need to do something and sometimes things get worse before they get better, that we have a tendency to jump to chemical (or soap based) application too quickly and too often. My boy's hives are reducing in severity, numbers and size even though he is still getting new flushes of them. I just use the Calendulum (marigold flower) tea rinse - I dip a flannel into the tea and wipe the areas that have the hives/rash and it tends to take any heat or redness away if there is any or just if he seems to be itching at them. I purposely avoided bathing him since the worst of his hive episodes. I do brush him though (in his case, using a rubber mitt) as this assists with ridding the old skin and also reduces cause for itchiness. Coat and skin have improved considerably.

Australia was producing Active Manuka Honey at least at one stage. Not sure where though, however it shouldn't be affected by quarantine laws.

Dogdude - low stim/neg reinforcement is not "avoidance" training and because the stim is low it does not serve to knock the drive. I use the e-collar in the fashion described above. Not only for and in behavioural issues, but also in refining and improving obedience skill compliance. Disagree with the bolded section here. But I do agree that training in drive is excellent at achieving the results. However, Seita has already expressed that she trains in drive. So using a tool to refine the speed of sit (as well as drive training) is highly likely to attain good results reasonably quickly if she does it right. That's not to say she should. I haven't followed all the posts - maybe she has by now identified why the sits are slow and managed to change something of what she does to improve that.

You need to be careful about using the nasal vaccine. I'm not a fan.

No - I wouldn't. Dog's immune system is going to be busy healing the surgical wound and recovering. I wouldn't want to bombard the immune system further by making it deal simultaneously with combating Canine Cough by production of anti-bodies. Mind you ..... I don't vaccinate for Canine Cough anyway.

Everyone would know how much store I put in the great qualities of Active Manuka Honey (emphasis being on the "Active" component rather than just on the honey itself), but would you really want to put it on a puncture wound? My concerns would be that dirt will stick due to its 'stickiness' and may not be helpful in keeping the wound clean.