sparrows

Hey all! Thanks for all the info. We've decided to take the softly softly approach. That is, to finish her course of antibiotics, and see how it goes. The bump has gone down a bit, but is still there. It's hard to tell, because the vet shaved the area a bit to do the aspiration, so it looks a bit smaller, without all the hair there. We had thought about asking for them to drain it and see if it heals itself. I appreciate all your feedback. It was important to see if there was another side to this. I was not warned of any possible complications, besides the fact that the local vet wouldn't do it as it's a difficult area. I didn't want her to have an operation if it wasn't truly necessary and also as it is quite expensive. Of course, if she really really needs it, we will pay IYKWIM. The recommended specialist is Richard Eaton-Wells, at Stafford Heights (Pet ER) who is apparently very good. I had checked out the UQ Vet hospital also, but their rates were about the same. Thanks for the diet info too. Both our girls (have a Sheltie as well) are on a BARF diet.....albeit supplemented by dry food (Nature's Balance from Priceless Pets), when I haven't been to the butchers and their meats are getting low... like the other week (before this lump came up), so perhaps that may have contributed to it. They've been munching on chicken frames and wings this morning. I'll have to pull my finger out and make sure I get to the butcher's more often. Shantiah, if you happen to find your natural alternatives notes, it would be great if you could post them (or a link). Benny, I don't think I'll be trying the tongue depresser method, eep! And Jules, I think it'll be tricky to get her to chew gum If I can figure out how to post pics, and I get my camera back today, then I will upload a photo of her to show her lump this afternoon.

I've just been informed by the vet (not our regular one - she is away) that our German Shepherd has a salivary cyst (sialocele). She has a big watery feeling lump under her jaw, on her left side. It is not painful, nor does it seem to be impacting her saliva production (no dry mouth, no problems eating or swallowing etc). Just looks funny and not right. We're unsure as to what has caused it - he said it could be a grass seed that has obstructed it, or it could be trauma to the gland/ducts which has caused it to drain into the surrounding tissue. (Both are possible - we have grass seeds in and around our area, and she did push under some of my poor fencing work last week) According to the vet, the treatment for it is to have the saliva gland removed. He wants to refer her to a local veterinary surgery as he not performed this fiddly operation before. Is anyone aware of any alternative treatment for this? From my google searches, I've found that the most common treatment is to have the whole gland on that side removed. Other than that, the only other thing I can find is to have it drained. Doesn't sound like this will fix it though and will probably fill up again. Is it possible that it is something else besides this? If it is a grass seed, will it extract itself? She is currently on antibiotics, which seem to have brought the swelling down a little. I just don't want to have to send her into surgery unnecessarily.

Ta Erny, We are planning to have someone from our dog school come out to have a look at the situation too. Just hoping for any immediate suggestions on what we can do in the interim. I personally don't feel that it is an aggressive thing, more so a jealous/wanting to play type issue. My main concern is her lack of recall when in this heightened state of arousal. How do we 'snap' her back to us as our main focus?

We are having some problems with our recall of our (14 months) German Shepherd, when she is focused intently on something else. Our backyard backs on to a park, which is mostly used as a thoroughfare to get to the main walking track. It is not super busy, but quite a few people and their dogs use it in the mornings and afternoons. There is a six foot + timber slat fence enclosing our backyard. So she can see through the cracks. There are actually two main situations, but both result in the same thing - she will not recall when she is in this state. 1. She will bark at dogs who are being walked past, for the duration of them passing. If they stay in the vicinity - especially if playing ball etc. she will continue to bark and bark. It's not an aggressive bark but more of a jealous one. She won't bark if it's just people - or maybe just a little one. 2. There is a little shih-tzu type dog in the first house on the other side of the block, which also adjoins the park. This dog gets out of its yard...a lot... and the first thing it does is come running to our back fence, barking it's head off. They proceed to run up and down the back fence barking over and over at each other. Often, it is this dog's high pitched barking at other passing dogs that alerts our GSD to them, thus encouraging her to go down and bark too. She doesn't tend to react to other the dogs in the area barking (including a very woofy golden retriever next door) Since we can't control the other dog, nor stop other people and their dogs walking past, how to we encourage our girl that she doesn't need to bark or at least not as long as she does? She was doing ok with her recall, we'd call her upstairs when she was barking at the passers-by and reward her when she came. But with the escapee, she would not respond to anything, she is so focused. She is now extending that to the passers-by. We also have a sheltie who does not participate in these shenanigans (at least whilst we're home). We're only relatively new to the area and DH feels that we are becoming the ferals of the neighbourhood (having moved to a 'nicer' area from our previous 'going downhill fast' suburb) and is very embarrassed that we cannot control our dog. Other than not being able to break her focus at our back fence, she is a very well behaved girl and will follow a lot of commands. I had read the NILIF & TOT threads some time ago, and thought I had been employing those practices, but upon re-reading, I probably haven't really been following those instructions 100%. I would hazard a guess that by following those guidelines strictly, that may assist? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

We have a 3 1/2 year old sheltie and I can't say I've ever noticed her circling when excited. She bounces on the spot and play bows and makes a funny yawning growl/bark (awwrr-yip). However, when she goes out to the toilet she does circle quite a lot before deciding where to go. She also patrols the perimetre. Now that I think of it, it may be in a anti-clockwise direction too. I'll keep my eye on that. Oh and when it's time for walkies she does laps of the house - but not in any particular direction that I've noticed.