Monah

We ended up with our dog on nothing but rice and roo meat, then just meat. Went through no dry, no chicken, no beef, no EVERYTHING, which is why is took so long. Id' never do it that way again. It was expensive and painful for the dog. our scratch tests cost about $400 and showed immediately what the allergies were!! The vaccs cost $700 for the starter 'pack' that lasted several months, then the next lot was $400 but this will last around a year or so. she may not even need anything after this at all and she is fantastic in health etc. and can eat anything as it was nothing to do with food at all. Her skin and coat are wonderful and the EARS have been perfect. It was well and truly worth the cost, and I had to travel 4 hours every time to Brisbane for visits. Best thing I ever did!!

Malaseb is fine, but unfortunately if there is an underlying allergy, it will have no effect at all and niether will any other topical medication.. A specialist may be expensive to start with, but will save many dollars in the long run, we have had no EAR or ALLERGY visits to a vet for over a year. Before that, I was back and forwards all the time Good luckxxxx

DEFINATELY go to a dermatologist. You will not regret it. I spent thousands on trying to fix one of my dog's ears. THOUSANDS. over a 8 month period. She has massive canals so would go through bottles and bottles of $45 medication every week, plus earflushes, meds, visits etc. pathology. Then there was the endless elimination diets NOTHING got rid of the problem. Went to a derm. had a skin test etc. showed she was allergic to NO foods at all, but almost ALL grasses and trees inc. eucalypts (how the hell do you avoid these??) So, she is on vaccinations for a couple of years. To build up an immunity to her allergies. Firstly she was on twice a week injections of mild stuff building up to once every 3 weeks of a stronger vacc. I do it myself and keep a record. She has not had ANY issues, skin, ears, anything at all, since starting this. I was told by the specialist that a few dogs may be hit and miss, but for us it has been fantastic. We have been on the program for over a year now, and have not looked back at all. I'm thrilled to bits. :D

You can PM me for a behavourist in your area if you like she's excellent and works with K9force. I have to agree with PF. I have a dog who is reactive to certain things, pups, over friendly dogs in her face. We just don't get in those situations and have also trained her to focus on me at all times. It is very unfortunate that some people insist on their dog being 'friends' with mine so I stop that immediately. My dog has never been the 'aggressor', more the 'try and get out of other dogs way'. She can be great friends with most dogs, but I never take this for granted. You really do need to get on top of this now, or there will be 12 or more years of escalation and learned behaviours from you lovely dog. Best wishesxx

Me too! You need to feed them there ATM with all that heat Poor things. We have a 'clan' of around 15 possums here, some with babies, males and females. They all get on OK as they have been born and bred in the garden. The only time the dogs take any notice is when I feed the possums, they wait for food to drop ;) ;) Possums are only a 'dog' problem at nights, can you keep the dogs in?xx

Lovely shots!! Of course, they are wonderful subject matter :D

She knows what she wants does Pele :D One of our Bull Terrier Club members has a Bloodhound named Rodney. It really suits him ;) My OH is Rodney (he's nowhere near as cute as the puppy!!) I'm trying to think of all the names from Petticoat Junction and Greenacres, braindead!! Elwood is cute Anyone remember names from Deliverance?

Oh you lucky lucky lucky thing!!! Now I MUST move back to Adelaide! One of my very favourite breeds, wonderful.

Thanks Ripley! I will begin my RAW education. The camera DID come with a disk :D that I um.... havent looked at xxx

Ripley???? that's a different language. So, do you buy photo editing software? Is that what RAW is? What sort is worth getting??

Ash, I found your 'story' really wonderful! so interesting, what a terrific grounding you've had. You must have a natural 'eye' because your photos are really wonderful. Lenses! I used to have many for my SLR, but with my digital slr I only have one, a canon ultrasonic image stabilizer 17-85mm (if that makes sense) Now many of you have the same, I have NO excuses ;) I have absolutely no idea re editing etc. as my computer skills are pretty pathetic. This is about the most recent one I've taken, so I guess you can see where I'm starting from

I LOVE this. Wonderful shot. I'm inspired to get back to photography now!!! I used to do it (weddings etc) in the early 80's with a minolta and let it all go when I had kids etc., life just went by. Now I am trying to relearn with digital and very unsuccessful. RElly need to get back to understanding and remembering what I am doing So this is an incredibly helpful thread and I will 'start' next month (finish uni etc by then) I have a camera that I have not even looked at the manual for, or used much at all :p It is a canon 40D. Any help much appreciated. I've only ever used it on auto, and if I get a good shot, it's rare! I have a LOT to catch up with. Ash, can I ask if you did photography at uni? or where you learnt? You photos are truly amazing and inspirational.

Hope you are OK Pandagirl xxxx

Happy two weeks birthday for yesterday Jerojath! Lovely pups.xxxx

Sorry Just to add, although he may LOVE running around the paddock, it really would be much better for him if this is regulated, only allow him a very short burst of a few minutes. He would be in agony afterwards and running really aggravates arthritis more than anything else (except jumping). Let him have a LITTLE fun and maybe finish with a nice treat so he forgets that he didn't do much running. only 5 to 10 mins is HEAPS. The only other suggestion I'd have is a sheepskin or 'snuggly' style rug/bed, this worked wonders for our older dogs, even though they were settee dogs, getting up and down on the settee was not comfortable and they all loved their snugglys

I use ester c too. I don't know if that is viable for an old dog with arthritis though, but anything is worth a try. And fish oil, fairly high doses, but check with the vet. An old dog needs therapy and pain relief as he already had bad arthritis. Steroids may temporarily relieve the swelling and help with the pain. Swimming would be great, but make sure he doesn't overdo it with excitment, 10 mins is probably enough as he will be sore otherwise. There are some great books/articles around on Tellington, TTOUCH, that help arthritis via massage of pressure points etc. that you can do yourself daily to help with pain and also improve how the dog feels, lessen any depression due to the pain, feel good stuff Poor old thing My 15 yr old ACD had bad arthritis for the last couple of years of her life, we just did whatever we could to make her comfortable and relieve the pain, that's really all you can do for them at that age, lots of hugs and kisses for your lovely old dog.xxxxxxxxxxxx

Hope it is all OK, I second previcox, it's wonderful.

I wish we were neighbours Monah. Two mad women outside for 30 mins screeching 'weeeeeeee' would be so much less embarassing . Agree very much with training a word to be associated with going to the loo. All mine will go on command now, and it makes things so much easier to be able to tell a pup to wee just before you leave him for a period of time. For this reason i wouldnt use a clicker - I want them to associate wees with the word 'wees', so I use this instead (and then verbally praise and give treats when the deed is done). 'Wees' time at my house is VERY EXCITING apparently. They so loved getting the treats when they were pups that they still all jump up with huge excitement and run outside when I say the word (which i my house is "wizza") :D I agree. I actually had a neighbour ask me years ago (when training my lakelands), which one is Do-wee?? (seriously!!)

We've never had toilet training probs. and have always used the same process as it seems to work (for us) have the pup in the room with you, not roaming the house, a pup will 'look' for somewhere to 'go', so watch and take her out, even if it is a false alarm it doens't matter. We use 'do weeeeeeees' in a squeaky voice until the pup goes, this could take a few minutes or longer, don't give up until they go. Make sure the pup goes, even if you are outside for half an hour screeching like a mad woman, WEEEEESSSS. When the pup goes say YES!!! good girl or whatever you say to her when she goes. Say it every time, even when she just goes outside and does it herself, say weeeees, good girl etc. so she understands. Even now when mine go I say 'good wees', good girl' etc. our dogs have to go on command as I let them go before I go to work and I don't have time to wait, they have to go when I want them to (they stay indoors) and I have to know they've been so I watch, even though they are adults. we also travel a lot, so they need to go when we stop etc. It is really handy having them go on command and worth training for. We spend hours and hours training for other behaviours, but seem to think dogs should know how to toilet etc. This needs teaching too. I love bernese gorgeous!!xxxx

She's great. As another person said, get the urine checked. Could be an infection or stones etc. or hormonal leakage. Good luck xxx

Well done, they'll be fine in the same room, may take a day or two, they'll probably end up sleeping together. Try not to separate them too much, they have to get used to each other. But ,the food will be an issue and can give dogs an upset stomach, so just make sure feeding and toileting are out of pups reach. I would be more relaxed with everything else, but just make sure the pup realises that rough play with the cat is not on. They soon get the hint, as long as there is somewhere for the kitten to get out of the pups way, there's no need for separate rooms etc. That way they can see each other and will end up ignoring each other most of the time My cats dont go outside, but if yours does, I'd be keeping it in for a while because a new pup may cause it to run off and get lost

Take her back. Swabs needed, sent OS if neccessary to the USA. Dog may need an ear clean out, ie. knocked out, ear examination, hair pluck, thorough clean. Ears cannot be properly examined if they are gunky, you can't see properly. one of my dogs had an ongoing infection. Cost me around $2000 over a 6 month period.Also had her on a special diet. Finally had a dermatologist do scratch tests and she was allegergic to many grasses and trees. We did a vacc. program and are now on only 1 vacc per month and she has not looked back :nahnah: Best thing I ever did. Ears are tricky, hope it all works out, but, never give up as it will not improve on it's own. You must get something done about it until it is cured/controlled. Poor doggy xxxxxx

Pup will LOVE the cat food!!!! We have 4 cats, what works for us is that they are fed on the kitchen bench :nahnah: that may not appeal so, another good idea is just anywhere high that you can put the food, or, we have litter trays (read, dogfood trays to the dogs!!!) and they are in the laundry and the door has a hook on the wall and loop on the door, so that means there is only a hand width space to get through and the cats can get in the room, but not the dogs. Cats can also have peace etc. if they want and we could put the food in their really, but don't. Your cat can still have it's 'bed' etc. left where it is. I'd be teaching the cat to eat elsehwere before pup come shome. All our pets share a giant waterbowl in the kitchen. Or, you could leave the cat food out all night for the cat whilst the pup is in 'bed' and let the cat have a supervised snack during the day. Good luck, sounds like a lot of fun!! Give up on the tidy house now

Oh no. Poor mum, how awful. Being a woman is tough!!! Give her an extra special kiss and cuddle from me.xxx

Knew I'd find you in here!! Porky puppies Very cute, not stinky at all (i like puppy stink anyway) Lucky you!