Erny

No help from me, I'm afraid . But to you KL - you're a trouper with all that you have done and are doing for Chloe.

My apologies for the OT : M&MRC .... is your boy a Lagotto? I have a client on my books with a dog who looks almost exactly as yours does and he is a Lagotto. Nice dogs, although they have an aloof tendancy - don't get to see many of them around. But the one I work with is a great little guy who mainly needed/needs to be understood. Also to M&MRC : I agree with Cosmolo to a big extent. The handling component needs to start at home. Without knowing what your prior trainers/behaviourists have informed/advised you it is impossible to know if it is a case of your confidence not being able to be increased. But perhaps a separate thread would be better in the event you plan to answer this, so as to not railroad the OP's thread.

OT : Can't we? Didn't know that. Is that both from within and from without Australia?

Perhaps a skin condition is causing the odour? One place to start is to look at what you're feeding.

You could also subtly find the brand name of the device (seeing it is on a fence I am presuming you can see it) and call the manufacturers to find out more about it. Asking questions like whether the device is known to upset other animals in the proximity etc. You never know ...... perhaps the manufacturer will advise the device is being operated incorrectly. You would then be able to explain to your neighbour the adjustments to the running of the device that are necessary and maybe this will help to resolve the problem for everyone concerned.

I believe all these contribute to Tucky's lack of toy drive. He's so nervy when we get the toys out, even for 10 seconds at a time. There's numerous things you could do to begin with. The first aim is to teach Tucky there's nothing to be nervy about in relation to the toys. The second step is to encourage and create his interest in them. You could try just getting the toys out and not doing anything with them. Just leave them laying around. Train him using food, with the toys just laying around. Ignore the toys. Focus on Tucky and your training regime. Repeat these sessions (I'd leave the toys where they are) and allow Tucky time to become used to them. When he's used to them and no longer appearing nervy of them, you could try playing with the toys by yourself and/or with another friend. Ignore Tucky whilst you're doing this. It can also be helpful if you know of someone's else's friendly dog who is ok to visit and let that dog play with you and the toys. And just let Tucky observe. ETA: I am presuming that by "nervy" you mean afraid/uncertain.

There was an alert on the late night news tonight as well, which is good. Very quick mention, but at least something. Didn't catch the earlier news.

Believe me, I'm very much like yourself when it comes to administration of drugs, including the antibiotics. But they are necessary sometimes - only yourself can be certain as you're the one seeing the wound. I'd probably be a bit more comfortable with a disinfectant wash that was a bit more stringent than Colloidal Silver or Saline for a deep puncture wound though, at least until I could see it was beginning to heal cleanly. That's just me though - I'm not a Vet. ETA: No offence intended, but your avatar creeps me out a bit.

My boy copped a puncture wound from another dog when he was younger. The Vet knew of his health issues and agreed at the time that antibiotics might not be the best for his system. The puncture wound was deep but he carefully flushed it out, using a pink disinfectant that looked not unlike F10 wash. He sent me home with some of that for me to continue to use to keep the wound clean and soft. I kept a close eye on the wound, checking that it was healing from the inside out and was able to avoid the use of the antibiotics. I think a Vet check for deep puncture wounds is something worthwhile particularly if you're unsure, but I don't think antibiotics are necessary in every situation if the wound is looking clean and healing well.

To you or to your dog?

I probably would have thought the same as yourself if it wasn't for the fact that I've worked for busy kennels and therefore understand their point of view. If the kennels were open for inspection at any time anyone felt like coming in, it would be awkward for them to get all their work done. Dogs out for run/play time. Preparation of meals time. Medication time (for those who are on meds). All of these things require staff attention. They're unable to have someone spare at anytime just to take someone through for a tour/look. When they nominate certain hours it is usually in between their major cleaning and feeding times. I can't help you with NSW kennel recommendations as I'm in Victoria and am unfamiliar with those in NSW. But I thought you might like to understand that suggesting a time frame for inspections is likely to be so that staff aren't pulled away from the animals their owners (including yourself) would want them to be ensuring are fully and properly cared for. Just one person here and there wouldn't make a huge difference for the most part (save for major cleaning times when all the hoses; pressure cleaners etc are on the go), but imagine everyone thinking as you do and how much of a constant interruption that would be to the kennels.

Sounds like she has you and your friends trained very well.

What Nekhbet said. And the corrections can be purposeful or accidental.

What JulesP suggests ..... retrieving 'named' toys from a pile of them. And even hiding them and getting your dog to find them (by name, on command). That's what I do. Started doing that in one room only and made it really easy (only a couple of toys and in easy to see places). Now I hide them in more difficult spots. He's finding that a bit easy too, and soon I'll need to begin expanding search areas to include other rooms. My boy finds this game extremely satisfying 'mental stimulation wise'. Slippery floors and dogs don't mix IMO. I have polished floor boards. I bought a whole lot of rubber backed carpet when I got my boy as a pup. I thought back then it would only be until he matured and stopped acting out like the loony pup that he was. He's 2.5yo now. I'm still waiting . (Note : I actually like having the rubber backed carpet there. It doesn't look as swish as my floor boards do, but it is great that I can muck around play/training with my boy inside when it is more convenient for me to do so.

I don't know. What is she doing when she comes to you without being called? Is she being confident or is she being sooky? Under what circumstances? Looking at her (ie eye contact) IS giving her attention. That's longer than I'd suggest is necessary. I just suggest to wait until she has stopped vying for your attention and then count 60 seconds. Then call her over to you and you're free to interact. IMO it's never too late to train a dog and that includes improving on undesirable behaviour. Don't worrying about blaming yourself or anyone for how she is now, but better to do what you're doing and wanting to seek to help her be happier .

I tend to separate these sorts of behaviours into two terms. Separation Anxiety and Separation Related Behaviour. Separation Anxiety is over diagnosed, IMO. Probably because of its label, people think that any stress by their dogs when they leave is separation anxiety. But it's not necessarily. Separation Anxiety is a very complex neurological disorder where the dog believes that without that particular person (or dog or whichever other animal .... but usually it is 'person') being present it is not capable of functioning. Then there are other behaviours that are related to being separated. I refer to these as "Separation Related Behaviours". These can be behaviours that are learnt and along the way become ingrained. Cause and effect, if you will. And often it is inadvertent reinforcement by owners, perhaps coupled with not teaching their dog about denied access or that being alone is ok. But with these behaviours they are less likely to be about a particular person. With many dogs it is about being alone and provided the dog is with someone it knows (or even just someone, for some dogs) then it's ok or not so bad. (Note that it is not always the owner at fault - some dogs are predisposed to being anxious/nervy in general and this can often become worse when they are alone. In those cases it is a matter of working so the dog can be the best it can be.) The way we address Separation Related Behaviours is often the same or similar to how we might approach Separation Anxiety but the latter is generally more difficult to overcome. One of the first things you can do that even though I've not met your dog should cause no harm, is to randomise what you do. Shelley is responding to what she has learnt are pre-cursors to you leaving. Many and most dogs do this, but some do it to extreme and it is with these we want to make it more difficult for them to recognise it as a stress trigger. Also, making it so that she can occupy her mind against her fears of being alone can assist. A bone before you leave. Treasure hunt to keep her busy after you've gone and so forth. Finding something/somewhere where she feels as comfortable and as safe as possible to rest is also always a bonus (eg. a crate covered by a blanket). Leaving the TV or radio on can help some dogs as well. But don't only turn the radio on when you are leaving. Have it on sometimes when you are home as well. More than this and you may be better off to consult with a professional about it - this person would be able to meet you and your dog and assess the relationship and situation. "Plenty of Attention" might actually be feeding her separation related behaviours. Many people mix that around and believe it helps the dog. You need to know when to give attention, when not to and when it is too much and/or badly timed. ETA: I now see there is a second dog in the household and yes .... this does make leaving bones/food around problematic. I've had some people separate the two dogs (can see each other) but whether that's the thing for yours or not depends on the layout of your home/land and also the relationship between the two dogs.

"Prevention" requires you to work out why the infection is occuring in the first place. Have you checked diet to discover as to whether that could be a contributing cause? My boy had ear issues at one stage. The medication from the Vet was too stringent for him and so I used "Ear Clear" which helped a lot. But that treated the symptom, not the cause. I spent a good deal of time and effort on working out the cause. In his instance I've found that he is hypothyroidic and I've noticed that ever since medication his ears have cleared up considerably. It could also be related to diet as I've changed this as well.

Subject to an "ok" by a professional (vet/chiro etc) I think walking in chest height water is one of the best methods to build muscle without pounding the heck out of joints. Problem is that hydro-therapy is very expensive when it is needed regularly and the doggy swimming pools are too deep (I see many dogs barely using their hind legs when in a pool). I took my boy to the beach almost every day for quite a number of weeks when he needed some exercise therapy to build up a weaker hind end. It involved a lot of travel (45mins each way) and therefore a lot of time, and I had to pick and choose my days carefully to avoid all the off-lead not under effective control dogs, but it really did help. It was beneficial for me too as it meant I was doing the same exercise as my dog - you can really feel it working! lol.

Good to hear, Lilli. Did the dog's owners use any of the suggestions from here? It might help to know which ones they used to know which ones worked.

That's what I regrettably thought too, MonElite. And it's awful when you've just spent all that money, put all the hard work in .... yada yada. Here's a picture of a section of my lawn. I've marked the section on the side of the red line where I planted a runner or two of the kikuyu (right side of red line marked with "x"). Compare to the section on the left which is still patchy - I've only just in the past couple of weeks planted extra runners there. The lawn up the top (outside of the photo) is now thickening up like the thick patch in this photo. So don't despair - it can be fixed :D. ETA: I drew the red line incorrectly. You might notice that right where the "x" is drawn, the grass is a different colour. That's a section of my turf that miraculously revived itself. I tend to find it and the kikuyu are now intertwining.

I did the turf thing and then along came my dog and combined with the (then) drought and his urine, pretty much (almost) lost the whole lot. I gave up on the idea of continuing to spend a heap of money on it (I did the top dressing etc etc etc) and whilst the drought period was on I allowed (to a degree) the weeds to hold my soil together (it was otherwise a dust bowl). With the breaking of the drought some of my turf revived but most of it was gone. I picked some Kikuyu runners from the vacant block next door, poked them in the ground and watered them in. The earlier ones I did have now spread out and formed quite a thick patch of lawn. I've since pulled up runners from that patch and am dotting those in, around and amongst some of the bare/needy patches still remaining in my lawn. They are beginning to take off and I have found that topping with a small amount of potting mix around them aids their speedy growth. I am finding this the least costly (ie has cost me almost nothing) and easiest/carefree way of bringing my yard back to a decent looking lawn. I'm also finding that my dog is not burning off the Kikuyu area of grass when he urinates on it yet other areas yellow and burn away very quickly and easily.

It seems that between Kirty's vet and a derm nurse, a nice in house work up has been done, a course of treatment laid out and a plan put in place if things do not improve? Saying that you will test for thyroid dysfunction if the conditions do not respond to treatment is not discounting it as being a possibility. If there are limitations to funds, then conservative treatment of the existing and identifiable problems is a perfectly reasonable thing to do. You're right, Rappie .... and I'm sorry Kirty. The thyroid check (I sent mine OS) cost me approximately $230.00 AUS. This figure includes the international courier fee as well as the local Vet fee for drawing. Just for your info and comparison purposes.

MDBA (Website) Telephone : 02 6927 6707 MDBA Email Contact Address

Elkie1 .... I haven't got a clue about this but my first thought was to contact Julie at MDBA. She knows a lot of stuff about health and testing and even if she hasn't got the full answer for you may be able to set you in the right direction.

Kirty - I'm not arguing so I hope it doesn't sound that way (but I know it will, hence my disclaimer). Thing is there are Vets around who only think *thyroid* when the typical symptoms are showing. My boy is young. He is skinny/lean (lean now, thankfully). Shiney coat (although back in the skin eruption days this could change almost inside 24 hours). High energy. Yet he was proven hypothyroid (against Vet opinion at the time). Your Vet could be right, but I wouldn't be using a symptom such as "no inexplicable weight gain" as reason enough to think it not likely.