TangerineDream

I've never reformatted a card and haven't had any problems.....have run a good few thousand images across them all.

No bones at all - too much fat....I scaled Cadence's teeth with a human dentist scaler (picture upside down GSP snoring) or used the greyhound 2 x 4 biscuits...occasionally gave him vegies but not often.....no red ever meat at all and he was as healthy as, so chicken for the rest of their lives is fin - you do need to boil it to get the fat out unless you feed straight fillets (I wasn't rich enough!)! The result after the stress of the vets visit sounds like colitis thrown in for good measure, not unusual.......forgotten what is good for that - there's a natural additive I read somewhere.... I used to give Cadence an Evening Primrose Capsule also at night. Once I had stabilised his system I discovered that I could feed Cadence some VIP roll, weetbix, water & a teaspoon of milk for colour in the morning...be careful with even a tiny amount of milk though until you know what your dog can take or not.

I always cooked Cadence's food if I could and the following gave me good control of his condition and he didn't have an attack for 9 years - I learnt to recognise the signs of an impending attack - ie: poos would get runny and then start to be jelly like and I'd instantly change his diet.. normally.... chicken mince boiled (1kg in water in microwave for 12 minutes) cooled and into the fridge till the fat congealed on the top - scrape all fat off and throw out) used to add white long grain rice and small amount of oatmeal cooked together. With him I used Supercoat because he could deal with the fat content (8%), but another might suit your dog better - just be mindful of the fat content being the baddy. If he showed signs of an impending attack he went straight onto boiled chicken fillets (human quality from Coles) and boiled rice with no oatmeal for 4 days with a tablespoon of Greek yoghurt mixed in. Nothing else at all till his system settled down.... Rule was that no-one but me ever gave him food without asking, and I had to approve it....... he never ever had any of these since the first attack... no fresh bones (marrow not good for them either) no bacon no chicken skin no ham no treats other than Bonio biscuits (all of the other treats including dried liver) had too high a fat content no rawhide chews, pigs noses etc no gravy no cooked meat of any kind- the fat content of all of them was just too high. He could eat the little Pal pouches of food when travelling but only for 2 days out of 10 - after that the level in his system would mean that he had to go back to his normal diet - that 1 extra day could have tipped him over the edge....... interestingly (the vet was surprised) - he could eat cheese with no ill effects It's really a case of getting know what your dog can and can't deal with - go onto boiled chicken breasts and rice till the poos have been stable for about 4 days, then start introducing 1 change every 10 days till you have his diet to what you want...any sign of a problem, back onto chicken fillets, rice and yogurt...then try a different change.. hope this helps you guys a bit, worked for us, but did take a while to work it out.

Sounds like chronic pancreatitis - around the time it started did he have anything that was very fatty like a bone or bacon? What do you feed him? Cadence (previous GSP) was like that if I didn't watch the amount of fat in his diet like a hawk.....I used to get poos like that when he had been having a diet with too much fat for the previous few days and it got to a level that his pancreas couldn't process...and off the cycle would go again.......learnt what I could feed him regularly, what I could feed him for no more than 2 days etc..the magic number with tinned food was 7% fat and with dry food 8% fat - any more and about 5 days down the track that's exactly what we'd have...back onto bland chicken and rice and yoghurt for 4 days then slowly back to normal diet.....

I've found that with my GSP's, rhaving their run on roadbase or B grade crushed rock makes their pads rougher. I have also found that when they aren't well, their pads are smoother...just my obs... have also heard that some drugs will make a dogs pads smoother....

Time to start a new weather pics thread now I've had some weather to take photos of..... this afternoon, from the northwest of Melbourne looking southwest (click pic for full size)

My heart goes out to Mal & Faye.....I have no words to express how deeply I feel for them.

This is the most amazing piece of training I think that I have seen!! http://bluecroft.wordpress.com/dressage-dog/ apologies if it's already been posted, but it is truly wonderful!

Phisohex is the acne wash for teenagers that you get from the chemist. Good luck sorting this out..

Tango occasionally gets itchy feet from allergies and I've found that washing his feet and between his toes especially in Phisohex worked.

I use 'gentle' for taking food, 'off' meaning 'stop bouncing on people' or 'get off the couch' or 'take your feet of the kitchen bench', 'out' for 'get out of the pantry' or 'get out of the car', 'down' for drop from a sit, 'ok' for 'go silly and do whatever your want' I used to use a high pitched squeak 'owww' when Tango was mouthing as a youngster - that stopped that pretty quickly. Lots of luck - getting your commands set is the hardest thing........

I can go into anaphylaxis and the thing that I do (have never had to resort to using the adrenaline that I carry) is to pop a Polaramine tablet - that stops the rpocess alsmost instantly. Works for Tango too - he's incredibly allergic to Euro wasps and will react just to touching one...Polaramine tablet works very quickly - I don't gop anywhere without them for either of us and it's kept both of us out of trouble so far....

Could be an allergy - Tango gets it in between his front toes occasionally - I wash the reddened area with Phisohex and it seems to help.....not unusual when grasses are seeding according to my vet.

Low thryoid can cause continuous skin problems and also a significant drop in the effectiveness of the immune system. A dog who doesn't produce enough thyroxine won't be as healthy as a dog who is having the thyroxine levels boosted to within normal range. I had a Dobe with a thyroid that stopped functioning effectively when she was 12 months old due to damage when she had a brush with parvo at 7 weeks old. Put here on thyroxine daily and everything improved!! Just cost a bit because she was on a very high maintenance dose.

Yep, I'll add my (historical) vote for West Queanbeyan too - haven't been there for about 14 years but they were absolutely brilliant when I lived in Queanbeayn (84 - 90) - used to take my Dobes back up to see them even when I lived in Melbourne and they obviously still are great....... Great diagnosticians too!!

Pop a Polaramine or other antihistamine down throat while you work it out - might not fix the problem, but won't hurt and you might hit the jackpot. I had Tango swell up with a large lump on one side when the molars come through and then the other side when that molar came through so that's a definite possibility _ he was accidentally biting the inside of his cheeks, so check the inside of the mouth for cuts next to teeth...

Morning and night - larger meal at night - I've had a bloating Dobe in the past - makes you wary forever....regardless of breed.

Try Boronia Vet Clinic http://www.boroniavet.com.au/ and ask to see Keith...he helped me with a dog with hypothryoidism years ago - was absolutely fabulous, did a huge amount of research and didn't stop till he had throughly researched her and her history...and got it all spot on.

I've found that wndering in and out of the room without paying any attention to them can work well - in a way it desensitises them to you leaving when you do it over a period - I have to do the same thing with Tango and the front door......still working on not having him spin in circles and bark for 5 minutes if I walk out the front door, so I walk towards, then back, then towards (closer) and back, then touch door handle then back, then towards then back, then open door, shut door, do something else, then towards door and back, etc etc ad infinitum, till they lose their 'reaction'. Lots of luck...

I don't ever take my dogs off heartworm...although unlikely - all you need is one rogue mozzie.....I'm not game to miss more than 1 night a week.......

Go to the vets...get it checked out.

Mate and I both have the Canon 400D with the 2 lenses - they take fabulous images, are really easy to use and have extended my photography skills to occasionally make a photo look like a pro (it's the camera, not me!)

Pancreatitis can be controlled but you have to become the 'food police'. My last GSP had a low level pancreatitis and I controlle dit by controlling his diet and learning what he could and couldn't eat. He had his last attack at the age of 18 months and never had another (he died at nearly 11 years old from cancer). I boiled chicken pet mince in water to cover (from a butcher - less fat), put it in a bowl and into the fridge when it cooled down and let the fat congeal and removed all of the fat.....boiled rice and oatmeal and fed that and Supercoat adult (8% fat) with yogurt added. 8% was the magic number for Cadence's system - he could cope with that, but I had to be very careful if travelling as I could only feed him packet / canned food for about 2 days and then I'd start to see signs that his pancreas wasn't coping and it'd be back onto chicken fillets steamed and rice and yoghurt. You need to learn what your dog can and can't cope with. My rule was - no snacks except Bonio biscuits, chicken (no skin) or cheese.....everyone was banned from giving him anything without checking with me first and I drummed it into them by saying "if you feed him anything without asking me first, it may kill him" (that worked a treat and stopped the do-gooders from giving him anything). Bacon rind for him was absolutely lethal (that's what tipped him into it in the first place) and after that bones were out too and I used to descale his teeth myself. Lots of luck - it's not that difficult to work with when you learn your dog's system initmately....and your dog will be fine if you follow the 'rules'.

When I brought Tango back from the Adelaide Hills, I stopped well out of towns and drove down dirt roads a short distance so I was effectively in the middle of nowhere each time...no problems at all.

I started teaching the hand touch by teaching the "curled pointing finger to the nose" touch (every time I walk past him and he was sitting down as I walked past him) and worked to the fist from there...very easy and no confusion with the open handed stay signal.