westiemum

OK Here's what the vet suggested I did when I first got my mature westie girl who was very very carsick when I first got her... couldn't go near the car without being violently ill. The aim of these steps is for her to associate the car with good things and reduce anxiety... repeat each step until its obvious the dog is OK and less anxious and obviously not vomitting. 1. Open a car door and sit in the car - call and give treat when she approaches. If she won't approach, walk towards the car from a distance and give treats until you get there. 2. When she's doing step one consistently, you get in the car, pick her up when she approaches, put her on your lap (or on the seat next to you if she's too big) and give her a treat and a cuddle. 3. Same again but with door closed. Treat. 4. Same again with harness or whatever on - car still not on or moving at this point. Treat. 5. When dog can sit in car without being sick or anxious, start the car and idle in the drive. Treat. 6. When she can sit in the idling car OK, back up the drive - no further. Treat. Back down the drive. Treat. 7. Drive up and down the drive a number of times. Treat. 8. Drive up the street and back. Treat 9. Drive around the block. Treat. 10.Drive to park. Treat immediately you get there and again when you get home. 11.Drive to vet (not for appointment), take her in and say hello. Treat. Drive home. Treat. 12.Drive to somewhere else pleasurable eg a friends house who you have cued up beforehand. Treat. Drive home. Treat. 13. Gradually increase the distance. Treat. 14. Repeat steps 10 - 14 reducing treats until you don't need to use them any more. (This will happen very quickly by this stage). 15. Reinforce frequently by taking her on as many pleasurable trips as possible. I know this looks laborious but I promise this works and its a darn sight better than a sick dog everytime you want to go somewhere... so worth the effort IMO. Sarah now runs to the car when its obvious we are going out, tolerates the car well and she can now go on long car trips without being sick. And she hasn't needed treats for years. The trick is to take really small baby steps to build confidence and associate the car with pleasure (treat and destination). Hope this helps. Good luck and will be very interested in how you get on. :)

Whoops. Double Post.

Yep I've had a set for years and they work well - can't remember where I got them - they're plastic and covered with a fake sheepskin type cover - my old girl uses them to get on the bed but still jumps down (rolly eyes here) - as I've never been able to teach her to go both ways.

After removing the solids, mix up a paste of Drive or Biozet washing powder and rub in - but beware it may take the color out so you might want to patch test first. I find it works every time and it's a relatively cheap and easily available solution. :)

Megan how do you tell? Cos I was wondering about that too. :)

Hi all, time for another quick update. Mac is doing really really well. Over the last couple of weeks he seems brighter and more 'with it'. He still on his b/d, Viviitonin, Herb Robert and raw diet routine. His food is very moist and he seems really well hydrated. Interestingly, I was on the herb cottage website the other day and Herb Robert is their top seller at the moment. Is anyone else on DOL using it? Just curious... :)

It could be that she was not allowed to ask these sorts of questions under her ethics approval conditions. -- A couple of things I think it would be helpful to remember: - We don't know if this survey is the extent or even the main part of her study. It could be just an extra part of her work and her core conclusions are coming from elsewhere. - an Honours year is very much a TRAINING position. The students are generally 21 year-olds with NO research experience. The primary objective is to provide these students with experience in designing and running a small project, and if the results turn out to be something that is publishable that is just a bonus. If the research turn out to be flawed or inadequate, it won't make it out into the peer-reviewed literature anyway. - From what I've seen, many uni's are making students do more and more peripheral work in addition to their thesis (other essays, group projects etc.). It's a tough year. Suggesting helpful advice and constructive criticism is fair and hopefully will be received in the spirit it's intended, but let's cut the kid a break, huh? Thank you Weasels, so well said :) I've bolded it in the hope more people will read it and calm down. She may have problems with validity of data due to the way some of the questions were asked, but she can discuss that in the discussion/limitation sections in her thesis. Yep or with her supervisor. :)

It could be that she was not allowed to ask these sorts of questions under her ethics approval conditions. -- A couple of things I think it would be helpful to remember: - We don't know if this survey is the extent or even the main part of her study. It could be just an extra part of her work and her core conclusions are coming from elsewhere. - an Honours year is very much a TRAINING position. The students are generally 21 year-olds with NO research experience. The primary objective is to provide these students with experience in designing and running a small project, and if the results turn out to be something that is publishable that is just a bonus. If the research turn out to be flawed or inadequate, it won't make it out into the peer-reviewed literature anyway. - From what I've seen, many uni's are making students do more and more peripheral work in addition to their thesis (other essays, group projects etc.). It's a tough year. Suggesting helpful advice and constructive criticism is fair and hopefully will be received in the spirit it's intended, but let's cut the kid a break, huh? Thanks weasel - good summary and you've saved me the trouble... Honors students rarely produce publishable work -I work in a University - and this simple survey is probably a first attempt by this student...and to cap it off as someone said DOL is probably an odd demographic - far better informed than your average Joe. So a little understanding here is the way to go IMO - and lets encourage a student who is obviously interested in doing dog research. :)

I agree and my head says that a reputable rescue group who can help her match a dog to her circumstances is the way to go. Having said that I feel sorry for th pound dog. I have a young westie who was frightened of his own shadow when I got him from that infamous puppy farm - didn't know his name, behaved like a deafy, tail always down, terrified of visitors, men in particular, hated grass under his paws, no idea how to eat from a bowl never walked on a lead... You get the picture. Two years down the track, he's the family alert barker, his tails up he still learns very quickly from the older westies, is bright and everyone wants him.now! (roll eyes!). He's still wary of strangers and dark haired men in particular but he's come such a long way - was offered money for him a few weeks back. He's completely unrecognisable as the terribly afraid little boy of two years ago - in some ways it's sad this pound dog can't at least be given a trial with experienced dog people. But before anyone jumps down my throat yes I reccognise an elderly owner would probably not be wise. :)

Oops double post after crash...

Well done OP. That looks like a really good mix to me and very similar to the one I use - when I have time. :) My dogs are on a raw diet and do brilliantly - haven't been to the vet for anything but check ups in the last 18 months and they are 12, 10 (going on 13 and 11) and around 6ish. So I think thats good going. And I put it down partly to the care I take with their diet. :)

I've just caught up with this thread - well done everyone - wonderful result. Kirty this was a really helpful reminder - thank you. Julie I'm in Adelaide and if you ever have any need to foster pussy cats in this area I'm happy for them to take up residence in my spare room. I've had cats all my life - my latest gorgeous boy went to live with my Mum about six months ago (she's always adored him and finally wangled it!) so there's room at the inn and I think I even have a spare litter tray. Happy to have emergency doggy fosters as well - as long as they can put up with three westies. Hope that helps. :)

I've also heard the tea tree gully boarding kennels and chattery has changed hands and been improved. Might be worth checking out their website too :)

Did you work out what was causing the allergy first though? My vet said cortisone is only a bandaid and isnt actually getting down to what is the problem and didnt recommend due to the side effects. Yep, we've done (and continue to do) food elimination trials and have also done two lots of blood tests (which determine the allergens) and a course of desensitising injections. The success rate of desensitising injections isn't really all that high, so the chances of working out the allergy and avoiding it is pretty low. There's no avoiding allergens either - even if you rip up every plant, tree, weed etc in your grass, the pollens from next down, down the road and even km's away are still blowing around and will affect them. Cortisone isn't really just a bandaid. When the dogs encounter the allergen and their bodies release histamine, the effect on the skin is an inflammatory one. Cortisone is an anti inflammatory (and also an immune suppressant at higher doses) so takes away that inflammation which keeps the skin happy and reduces the chances of secondary skin infections. The reason Cortisone and Cyclosporin are used so frequently really is because they're the only things that work. Like I said, unless you keep your dog in a bubble, you cannot keep it away from many of the allergens that are the problem. They're literally everywhere. If you want more answers and to find our the definite cause of the dogs scratching, then you should do to a dermatologist. There's no 'test' for Atopy and the only way to properly diagnose it is by eliminating every other possibility (fleas, scabies, bacterial or fungal infections, food allergies etc), which in itself is time consuming and very expensive. Great post Stormie. I tried so many things to try and help my westie girl - but none of them actually really helped. And she became more and more miserable as time went on. So in the end under dermatologist supervision I bit the bullet as I explained in my previous post - and the difference it's made to her is remarkable. So in my experience the cyclosporin was the only thing that worked for her too. Can't believe how much better her skin is!

Sorry for the long post - but this might help. Yep can vouch for this. Atopica has done wonders for my westie girl and my sleep! ( She doesn't wake me up a couple of times a night with her scratching and her skin quality has improved tremendously - and she is so much happier). Yes it's costly - but the reason is there is no synthetic equivalent to get the the cost down as there is with most other drugs - no-one has ever been able to make it using synthetic chemicals mixed together (excuse my basic explanation) - so what you are paying for is the real McCoy which is very expensive to produce. That said I got my dog on the current Pfizer drug trial for dogs with severe itchies (atopic dermatitis) - she's now finished and I'm thrilled with the results. And lucky for me she was allocated the control drug , Atopica, so I was given three months supply of the drug ( daily dose) for free as part of the trial. So it would be well worth your while enquiring to see if your dog is eligible - I believe the trial is still going on nationally. I think most vets know about it. After the end of the trial, I discussed how to manage her from here on in, in an affordable way without undoing all the good work with the supervising vet (specialist dermatologist). We cut her back to every second day so instead of 152/month it became 76/month which I could manage. And interestingly, she's inadvertently (because of her ridiculously busy mother) missed a couple of doses and it's made no difference to her scratching/itching behavior so it seems she doesn't need three doses a week or she's one of the rare lucky dogs who has gone into remission. So I'm going to discuss this the vet next week and see what he suggests - for example back to two or even one dose a week. I know your dog is bigger and more expensive to treat - but I hope I've given you some options which might make the whole thing more effective and affordable. Good luck - will be very interested to hear how you get on. :)

Great thread! I'm a dumpy middle aged grumpy HR Manager who doesn't take cr*p from anyone! German Shepherd perhaps? And I suppose the three westies I own who are independent types with attitude are a good match too!

Isn't it funny! We all seem to be under the illusion we are 'big dog' people or 'small dog' people ! Begiinning to think its all a myth and we're all just dog people! I feel in love with a big boofa of an Airedale a couple of weeks ago! Made my westies look like toy breeds! But gee he was gorgeous!

My youngest westie who I think is about 6 occasionally wees inside when its been raining, is cold outside and the grass is wet - poor boy doesn't like to get his feet wet! (He grew up on concrete in a puppy farm so I'm not too cross with him). Could it be something like that?

Book Depository for me. Just recently I've got stuff out of the US and the UK faster than OzPost from Brisbane... Oz post really need to lift their game and drop their prices!

Yes you can :laugh: :D And I rest my case! What a superb looking Rotti with the best smile!! :love:

Really interesting thread - but I don't think I can name favourite or least favourite breeds - just dogs which I liked which happen to be a... (fill in the gap). As I get older I seem to find it more and more difficult to find individual dogs I dislike - and I can't think of one I wouldn't foster if I could. I've always thought of myself as small dog person - and then last weekend I spent time with a beautiful 11 year old big boofa of an Airedale Terrier... and fell in love! And he was huge!! And just recently I've started imagining having a purebreed other than a westie... So for me its about individual dogs and not breeds - as others have said I don't prefer or not prefer breeds... I can fall in love with any individual dog. Thanks for the topic - really interesting and has really made me think (no wise cracks thanks!) :)

Mybilly Mac will be 13 in August and he was diagnosed with mild canine dementia in early 2011 - he was 11. I must say your description is highly suspicious. Its the aimlessness and vagueness of Macs behaviour which distinguishes his dementia from other things like pain behaviour. My recommendation is to find a vet who is good with this stuff and be guided by them. Also read this thread from the beginning - there's a lot of good discussion in it particularly in the first couple of pages. For what its worth, unfortunately there is very little to help these dogs - a couple of drugs and some antioxidant dry food - so its a bit of trial and error to find what helps your particular dog. For Mac, its a combination of a raw diet, plenty of mental stimulation (I'm convinced this is really really important), the drug Vivitonin, the dried Herb Robert and the Hills B/D as a supplementary dry food. Mac has also developed very mild occasional dribbling incontinence which is really easy to manage. So he's still a very happy boy with good quality of life. And I'm hopeful it will stay that way for some years. Hope that helps and good luck with Jess. :) Will be interested to hear how you get on. :)

We had two Scottie's when I was a very small child in Adelaide growing up in the Adelaide foothills. Fabulous dogs - but they are terriers and can be quite stubborn. Mind you do can the westies! Great video Sheridan

Whoops! Double post.

General update: no further weeing on the bed or the lounge since I stopped using the Napisan and use a vinegar rinse regularly. Yay!! :) So fingers and paws crossed that the problem is solved - Sheridan thanks tons - you're a life saver! Mac is doing well but I think I'm noticing a little deterioration in his dementia. He seems to be stopping and staring into mid air a bit more often, appears to be having problems with 'making decisions' such as putting his paws up to be lifted onto my bed and has done the 3 am wanders/perimeter patrols around the house twice this week. The moment I interrupt him and put him back in his snooze (bed) he goes back to sleep for the rest of the night - but I sure could do with not having my sleep interrupted. But he's still a very happy boy with good quality of life so we plough on. We were at the vets a week or so ago to check his dribbling incontinence - and interestingly after a course of ABs he's not dribbling - so my assumption that it was part of his dementia was clearly wrong - so a lesson learnt here. :)