Erny

Ten puppies in a class is ok. In fact, I tend to find it gives a really good range so that you can pair them up well. For example a gentle but confident pup with a shy pup. Or size to size pup. And so on. Also, with an extra instructor to help individually, it's an advantage. Some of my classes are quieter than others (ie lower in numbers). It tends to be a bit 'seasonal'. In the pup's very first class, I don't have the pups intermingling anyway. I tend to do that (in a controlled fashion) a bit further in to their block sessions. I like the pups to learn that just seeing other pups/dogs doesn't mean a guaranteed play-for-all lesson. In this way, the pups get to work/play with their owners in the direct proximity of other pups and are learning that being in their presence is nothing to worry about. This is especially great for shy/nervous pups and just generally, where the first day at puppy school can be a bit overwhelming in itself. The other added advantage is that it gives the owners time to learn and practice what they've learnt in their handling skills, so that when they do permit their pup to pair up with another, they have an idea about how to control and manage behaviours such as over excitement/over the top.

You're the only one who can judge whether it needs Veterinary attention and I guess with his age I'd be inclined to want to make sure. However, if it doesn't appear to be anything sinister, you could try wiping the sheath and just inside the sheath gently with a tissue wetted with Colloidal Silver. If what you consider is excessive licking continues after you've applied this for a couple of days or if symptoms worsen, then I'd be taking the trip to the Vet to make sure it is not a UTI.

OT : No need for you to apologise Jeff, but thank you :p. It is bad enough their name is so close to mine. But I like it even less if they aren't providing good service.

Daccydog ..... are you in Victoria? I'd recommend you go to see Dr. Bruce Syme in Castlemaine. He is a Vet, but he has an "avoid drugs and chemicals if possible" attitude. He is the founder of "Vets All Natural" and understands the internal workings of a dog extremely well. It is a two hour drive for me to get to him, but IMO on each of the occasions I have needed to (for two different dogs) it has been very well worth it. He will most likely recommend you to the VAN product "Allerblend" which is a mixture of 100% preservative free Roo mince and a small proportion of the VAN complete mix, together with other things. HOWEVER, I have known him to not suggest that diet when it wasn't what the dog needed, so he's not a "one size fits all" person either.

What did you do to "crate train" your pup?

My dog's had colitis. I tend to find that some Vet's reference to it is as though it is a diagnosis of the problem. In my humble opinion (I'm not a Vet) I think it is merely the name for the evidence of something having caused an irritation to the bowel. It is the "something" that is the more important to know, than the colitis itself, if that makes sense. Consequently I think that one person's remedy is not necessarily going to remedy or even be good for your dog and therefore a "comparison of notes" I don't think will help much. Pardon me to all the good Vets, but it seems to me that a common response to colitis is the administration of anti-biotics. Perhaps in more than some cases that is what is required, but in the absence of taking fecal samples to determine the necessity of it, IMO it isn't a good way to go. In fact, I can't see why or how the anti-biotics themselves might not irritate the stomach/bowel even more than it already is. I'm happy to stand corrected if I have the wrong end of the stick in that respect. But that aside, if the anti-biotics are not necessary then all we are doing is supporting a resistence to the drugs so that they aren't going to be as effective when we most need them. In my boy's case we still don't know the cause of all his upsets at this stage (the first sign of it all being the colitis - all blood tests, which were numerous - have proven clear) but we are on a food diet program designed to detox his body to see if that will rectify things. He doesn't have colitis so much in the more recent times, but his stools are intermittently runny (albeit that the ones in between are much better and they are 'good' more frequently than otherwise). However, all his treatment (prescribed by a Vet) is designed to remain drug and chemical free.

Report this to your Vet. If it were me, I'd discontinue with its use immediately, but I'd definitely look to my Vet for a suitable but more soothing alternative.

Which, may I clarify, has nothing to do with me (Pro-K9) and is a completely separate entity bearing no relationship whatsoever. I too have heard of people having difficulties in receiving their gear from there. Don't know if that was an administrational glitch or not, nor whether the service has been rectified. Dogquip is good and has supplied me with some good gear in the past. Speaking with Kurt, he seems to know what he's about and understands his products.

Play in the rain with him (I don't mean when he needs the toilet, but at other times). Make "rain" his friend. He's new in this world and he might not understand what it is, so an exciting play (especially engaging prey drive) can make the difference between a dog simply preferring to be dry and a dog who absolutely hates the wet. This in turn, coupled with all the usual vigilent and consistence toilet training steps that we take, will have your dog feeling a bit less aversive to rain. When my boy was younger and only just at the brink of finally understanding that inside was not the preferred place to toilet, he absolutely balked at going to the toilet outside when it was raining (the drought had only just eased, so he really hadn't seen much in the way of rain before then). At that very moment, I insisted (by standing out and blocking his way in until he 'went') but after that, as a reward, I got his collar and lead and off we went to a local park where he had the absolutely best time running through the huge puddles; chasing the water birds who were also larking in the rain and water; etc. Must admit that I had the best time too as I had the whole park to myself and barely a care in the world. Since then, I won't say that a certain warm and dry dog races outside every time it rains, but he'll go out there if he needs to 'go' and doesn't fuss about/hate it as he did initially. And if you don't think much for getting wet yourself, imagine ..... back home; heater on; change of dry clothes (after towelling puppy off); slippers on; and some hot tomato soup and toast in front of the telly, with a conked out tired pup asleep on his mat at your feet and knowing that your day had been very productive in terms of training . Who could want for more? LOL

I always worked to prevent, as much as I could, my boy from learning and then obsessing the delights of de-stuffing his toys. When the stitching gave, I'd sew it up. He'd still de-stuff if he got the chance, but now that he is 1 year old, he's not quite as obsessed about it (when he gets the chance) as he was when he was younger. My boy has two soft toys - "Flea" and "Shrek" and has had them since his puppy days. They are both going strong. Although Shrek is now armless and legless because Mandela loves to 'pick' at the rope they were made of until it is completely shredded. I think Flea must be special (a hand-me-down from Kal's days - bless her cotton socks - but then, she never really played with toys so Flea was fairly pristine when Mandela came along) as I've not needed to stitch him up to save from de-stuffing. There was only one toy I couldn't stop him from de-stuffing. It was a round ball made of pieces of that stuff that wet-suits are made from, with a rope handle extending from it. The material itself seemed to elicit a 'pick-it-apart' response. I gave up stitching it up, removed all the fluff it was filled with (well, picked it up from the carpet and threw it away ) and left him to it. He now has the rope. And he also has the outside cover. Both are separate pieces and he plays with them, but has ceased his previous intent to completely annihilate them.

Wow! That was a good 'pick-up' WP!! ;) And a good suggestion by AF regarding the pumpkin. Although would I be right to being concerned that too much of it might end up causing probs due to too much fibre? Perhaps a mixture of vegetables (which should only represent a small portion of the total of his meal) might be better? The OP already feeds VAN which does have a proportion of vegies in it already.

I'm not a groomer, so I'm stepping out of my depth and possibly risking butting my nose in where it is not welcome, but if it were me I'd be inclined to clip off those areas where the water matting causes a problem for the dog (unless you can regularly brush it out to stop the matting from developing). I'd leave his coat (I'm taking into account practicality and comfort for the dog here, not so much the owner or aesthetics). Does it really need washing that much? When dried, often the dirt in those type of coats tends to come away naturally. Well, it does for my sister's beardie. I forgot to look where you live. Where I am in Victoria, it has been really cold in the mornings, but fairly mild/warm in the afternoons. So whilst you could coat him (assuming you leave him to go to work in the mornings) he could then become too warm later. Just my 2 bob's worth ;).

If it was just his normal food that he threw up (and not something because it shouldn't have been eaten in the first place), it is actually an 'ok' sign that he wanted to eat it again and I have been told by one of the Vets that I've had cause to visit that it is ok to let them. Was he running around straight after having eaten? That could have done it.

I agree. Milk? Although if that were the case, it shouldn't be there for long. Is it possible that it is thrush? Stabbing in the dark so don't panic about it, as I'm likely to be wrong. ETA: I think you did well to take that photo single-handedly. My memories of my (now 1 yo) boy's puppy teeth are still very vivid and I still carry the scars of puppy teeth marks on my hand LOL!

Based on the photo's given (although I'd like to see one or two from the side as well), I'm inclined to agree with PF. This dog doesn't look as though he needs more weight. If he holds that weight on the food ration he's on, then that would be fine. If he begins to drop off you might like to increase his meal a little, but only until the weight is regained. He may even be better with a very slight weight reduction. I can't tell conclusively from those photos. But if you're worried about him being hungry and want to feed him more, perhaps increase his exercise and then you can feed him more to replace the additional calories burnt. ETA: If the choice is between a dog too overweight and a dog a bit lean, I'd err on the side of 'lean'.

His weight doesn't look toooo bad going by the pictures you've shown. Can you take one or two 'side-on' shots as well please?

Hey Munchin .... I have been out all day and came in after dark. After working my dog and then fixing dinner and answering emails, this is the first chance I've had to check in to DOL. I came straight here and am so pleased to hear that the surgery is done and that your boy is fine . I hope you are now kicking back and relaxing as I suggested? With a glass of wine, even, perhaps ;). I bet you are so relieved. Hope he heals well and that he's back to normal in no time at all.

How's his weight look at the moment? Let that be the judge (and jury ). I tend to adjust food quantity based on that and, if the dog's weight is just right, then I adjust according to the amount of exercise received from one day to the next. Got any pictures?

Zak looks like a gorgeous, loyal and happy chappy . Good luck for tomorrow, Zak and hope you recover quickly. Will be looking forward to news by this time tomorrow (or earlier) that all is well, that you are back home and that your owner is kicking back and relaxing having been relieved of her worry .

Without me going back through the posts, I seem to remember that he did similar on another occasion - ie went out but didn't come back in. Do you think there is something in particular about coming back in that bothers him? Have a look at the door and study it from both sides. Is it higher for him when coming from the outside to in? The surface of the ground - is it stable? All those sorts of things. Check also that the door swings as equally smoothly from both ways.

I do believe that sometimes we need to trust the dog. Both Kal and now Mandela have 'shown' me at times when the food they are eating isn't agreeable with their system (for whatever the reason - not necessarily the food itself). You know your dog and you know fussiness is not Daisy's nature, so I'd go with the 'trust your dog' theory and not push it. Maybe try a different roo meat supplier and see if she's ok with that. I know of someone whose dog eats chicken frames readily, but didn't eat the chicken frames from one particular supplier. Sometimes it is a fine line between pandering to fussiness (and thereby reinforcing it) and trusting in your dog's choices. I think it boils down to knowing our dogs well enough and I know in your case that you do. ETA: As per other posters - it can be a 'texture' thing, if she's not used to it. You could try mincing some of the same meat and see how she responds to that.

We understand how you feel, Munchin. No matter what anyone says here, you'll still feel very worried for him. But hopefully the things you hear here will give you a little bit more confidence. We'll be waiting to hear how he gets on and looking forward to news of his recovery .

Mandela's last major bout of hives resulted in them erupting and subsequently scabbing. They were large and weren't receding as I expected they might and as a few of them seemed to be infected, at the advice of Dr. Bruce Syme (Vets All Natural) I "bathed" him with a tea made from marigold flowers (Calendula) which I purchased from the local health food store ($8.00 a packet). I found the treatment not only reduced the scabs in size and cured the infections, but I also noticed that it helped reduce the other hives which had not at that time erupted. The improvement was noticeable inside 24 hours. Don't know if this would help your boy, Nekhbet. By "bathing" I mean, having made up a tea (a couple of teaspoons of it in a stocking, steeped in boiling water for 5-10 minutes or more, then allowed to cool) I put it in a spray bottle, sprayed it on and then rubbed it into his wet coat. When I've only needed to do smaller areas, I've simply wiped the area over with some cotton wool balls that I'd dipped into the tea.

Kelpie-i's 15yo GSD had to recently undergo a surgical procedure for the removal of a tumour (non-cancerous thank goodness) and from what I can gather, he came through it fine. I think Rappie has given some great advice above. Talk it right through with your Vet. Let them know of your concerns. And allow them to explain it to you. Even younger dogs are at risk when under GA. Sure - we try to avoid it whenever we can, but sometimes it is necessary. Good luck. I really hope everything will turn out fine for you and your golden olden .

Was it still 'recognised' by its rightful owner/s? Funny how our dogs manage to 'personalise' their items so we are able to recognise them, even after all that time (and water)