dancinbcs

I once successfully used granulated garlic that they sell for horses, to treat a 17kg Border Collie that developed a chronic yeast infection in her feet. She kept licking her feet until the hair all turned deep pink on all four feet. She got one level teaspoon of garlic granules a day and the problem disappeared over a few months and never came back. I was then able to take her off the garlic. I would be very careful with the dose for a tiny dog though.

Calamine lotion is fine to try if you want to give it a go. I would also look at the thread on here about the lip fold problem being related to diet and try Traditional Chinese Medicine to sort her out.

Poor little baby. Young puppies do break legs fairly easily and heal well but growth plates can be tricky. I too am a bit confused why a you would be walking a puppy that age for any longer than it takes to lead train. Does the dog walker carry insurance to cover your vet bills?

Sorry but your vet is absolutely wrong. Gaiting a dog alongside a bike is the worse thing you can do at this age. The contstant steady pace for that long is what wears joints out. 5 minutes is fine, an hour isn't, even 30 minutes isn't. Far better to have a stop and start walk with time to sniff and vary the pace and direction. It is less stressful on growing joints. Also let the puppy rest when he wants to. Borders tend to have two speeds, flat out and asleep. Self exercise is running around the 2 acres, with you wandering about and doing short training or play sessions between just letting him run. As for dogs being softer these days, the survival of the fittest used to( and sometimes still does) apply to farm dogs so any dog that was badly injured was shot not fixed and the farmer wasn't bothered if the dog became arthritic in it's old age either as he would have had years of work out of the dog first. Working farm dogs have a pretty harsh life and their well being is often not a top priority because they are easily replaced in many cases without sentimental attachment. Not all farmers are like that but many are. Vets know how to do lots of things we don't but they get no specific training in puppy development and training. My vets breed Border Collies so know the breed well. Does your vet? You would also be astounded at how many vets know so little about so many things relating to dogs beyond giving vaccinations and desexing them. I have seen some unbelievably bad advice given and mis diagnosis made. There are some wonderful vets that have done further studies into dog development but this is not something done by the average vet. I have 29 years experience in the breed with 25+ years on the health/hereditary diseases sub-committee of the BC Club of NSW so know far more about the health and development of the breed specifially than most vets. I have seen puppies crippled by excessive exercise by owners that didn't want to listen to advice. Also take note of DeltaCharlie's post. Their dogs are as active and high drive as you will ever find in the breed but are also well trained and conditioned to be top winning agility dogs. It is wise to look at how others succesfully raise their dogs of the same breed rather than listen to a vet who has probably never lived with one.

Sorry but your vet is absolutely wrong. Gaiting a dog alongside a bike is the worse thing you can do at this age. The contstant steady pace for that long is what wears joints out. 5 minutes is fine, an hour isn't, even 30 minutes isn't. Far better to have a stop and start walk with time to sniff and vary the pace and direction. It is less stressful on growing joints. Also let the puppy rest when he wants to. Borders tend to have two speeds, flat out and asleep. Self exercise is running around the 2 acres, with you wandering about and doing short training or play sessions between just letting him run. As for dogs being softer these days, the survival of the fittest used to( and sometimes still does) apply to farm dogs so any dog that was badly injured was shot not fixed and the farmer wasn't bothered if the dog became arthritic in it's old age either as he would have had years of work out of the dog first. Working farm dogs have a pretty harsh life and their well being is often not a top priority because they are easily replaced in many cases without sentimental attachment. Not all farmers are like that but many are.

Puppies under 18 months should never, ever be run next to a jogger or a bike for more than about 5 minutes. If you have a 2 acre yard that is plenty of space for a puppy to self exercise. Walks should only be short, 30 min max at a steady walk, and for training. Throwing a ball along the ground is ok but not a frisby or anything else that requires the dog to jump. Young Borders do tend to jump a lot and it needs to be be discouraged as much as possible. They are one of the most injury prone breeds of dog because they don't know when to stop and the chiropracters do a roaring trade with them. A few things to remember about Border Collies. They are capable of running more than 40kms a day as adults so you are never going to be able to exercise them enough to tire them out. As others have said, the more you exercise them the more exercise they need, so you should be encouraging the dog to chill out when you want it to by confining it inside or in a crate overnight until it learns to relax. Praise the dog for being calm. Lots of short training sessions are much better than one long one a day but no amount of training will stop a destructive dog from destroying stuff. Provide lots of stuff the dog can destroy and teach it to know the difference. I use a toy basket and anything in there is for them. Anything else is not. If you don't want something destroyed keep the dog away from it when you cannot directly supervise and correct any interest in the wrong things. Most dogs become less destructive with age but not all. Some destroy their bedding every night for years. BTW, not all Borders are destructive. I have had two super destructive ones, one that never touched a thing and several that just chewed up the odd thing they weren't supposed to. All related but different natures.

Yes,it would be a great idea and I know many breeders that have done it successfully.

I had a Border Collie with high urea levels once, nothing wrong with her liver, but she had gout in her feet. She lived on fish (not sardines), vegatables and home made dog biscuits for a whole year and recovered, with it never re-occuring. She mostly had canned salmon and tuna and did very well on it. He coat was amazing but I was so sick of the smell of fish by the time we weaned her off it.

With Border Collies I explain they need a certain temperament and the dog needs to be raised with children. Sometimes there will be a several in a litter that suit a home with young kids other times there won't be any. The age of the children matters too. Softer dogs are no good with toddlers but fine with 6 years + depending on the nature of the kids. With toddlers you need a tougher middle of the road dog. This is why I totally disapprove of anyone definitely allocating puppies before at least 6 weeks. They need to be that old to work out the temperaments and personalities because they are all different. I also warn them if they let the dog play excited chasings with the kids, the dog will probably herd them and nip them on the legs. If the kids want to play chasing games the dog needs to be locked up.

The only ones I have ever heard of testing in Aust are a very small handful (maybe 6) of Aust Labradoodle development breeders who were trying to get the breed recognised. They were trying to reduce their high incidence of hip and eye problems. Most however would not be tested and none of the other crosses would be. I think things may be different in the US though where they have all sorts of odd "breed clubs" for crossbreds and multiple registries. The most likely dogs though to have genetic problems are unregistered purebreds and second+ cross DDs where they have crossed back to one of the original breeds. Breeding healthy purebred dogs takes a lot of work and dedication to get it right. The average heinz 57 variety mongrel is probably likely to be pretty healthy genetically due to true hybrid vigour but once you can clearly identify a breed or breeds in it, the testing needs to be done for any of theose breeds.

Sick Border Collie Pup For those that do not check the Puppy Problems thread, this discussion over the last couple of weeks shows why you should never buy a puppy of any breed if the parents have not been screened for all relevant health tests for that breed. It doesn't matter if the puppy comes from a registered breeder, an unregistered breeder, pet shop or shelter/rescue. In the case of shelter/rescue the puppy itself should be tested before it is rehomed. Of course some breeds have no tests but most do have and they are easily found by googling the breed clubs, DNA testing or health/hereditary problems in that breed. There is absolutely no excuse for anyone to breed and sell a puppy that is affected by a fatal or serious health problem that is so easily avoided by doing a simple DNA test.

I think Prof Mc Greevey is dreaming if he thinks he can work out what makes a dog work because that all comes down to instinct and especially attitude. Health however is a different matter. Working Kelpies actually lose quite a few puppies to Ataxia and Dr Alan Wilton who did the genetic research on Border Collies, was working to find a test for them before his untimely death last year. The research was commisioned by the Working Kelpie Council because losing puppies to a fatal genetic condition costs them a lot of money. I don't know if they have moved that research to Sydney Uni where we had to move our BC research and samples, to or not. It was moved to sydney. A progress paper was given a few months ago. CA is proving a real pain to actually pin down though . I'm glad Sydney were able to take it on as well as all the BC stuff. We had 20 years of samples that we didn't want to lose so are very thankful to Sydney Uni for taking it all on and starting the TNS/CL testing again for us. Alan was also working on CA in Borders which has a later onset than Kelpies but the cases are very rare so we didn't get very far. Sadly I forsee a big increase in cases coming in the not too distant future I think we are lucky that the current Dean of Veterinary Science at USYD is interested in inherited neurological disease!! And was already involved in the CA research. (And has a soft spot for Kelpies as she was involved in the research for Krabbes disease that has resulted in a genetic test). I do think that there are more problems popping up in Kelpies (working and show line). There are dogs in Europe with sever heart disease showing up at 3yrs of age and Epilepsy is also turning up more commonly. The heart disease is scary as vets were not picking up any murmurs and it is only showing up on ultrasound and dogs were still competing in dog sports without any symptoms- so it appears to be very insidious. I love Kelpies but gees I am a little worried. ANYTHING at this point that gets them into the sight of researchers and the general public so we can get funding for our health issues is a positive, regardless of what this behaviour research shows up. Actually if Mcgreevy does find some relationship with working traits then I will be happy as there will be a greater push to keep the breed healthy for further behaviour research. Sheridan plenty of useful research has been done at the University of Sydney, alone and in conjunction with other institutions. The heart problems sound very scary but epilepsy has definitely been in the breed a long time. I knew someone who got out of Kelpies 20 years ago because of it and she had been in the breed a long time. Of course we don't know how it is inherited and it is likely to be polygenetic as it seems to be in Borders, according to the researchers currently studying it in Europe. Funding wise for CA, ask the Dean of Vet Science about grants that may be available. We (the BCC of NSW Hereditary Diseases sub-committee) got a huge one for CL in Borders partly because they are part of the rural economy and partly because the research would also help with research into the condition in humans. It took months and many, many hours of re-writing the submission at meetings that went half the night but got the grant of $93000 over 3 years provided we raised $5000 a year to go with it. That was about 12 years or so ago and we would never have got the test without that money. We are hoping you get your CA test and then ours should be easier to find. There is a better chance with the Klepies because you have more data to study. mjk05, great post too.

I think Prof Mc Greevey is dreaming if he thinks he can work out what makes a dog work because that all comes down to instinct and especially attitude. Health however is a different matter. Working Kelpies actually lose quite a few puppies to Ataxia and Dr Alan Wilton who did the genetic research on Border Collies, was working to find a test for them before his untimely death last year. The research was commisioned by the Working Kelpie Council because losing puppies to a fatal genetic condition costs them a lot of money. I don't know if they have moved that research to Sydney Uni where we had to move our BC research and samples, to or not. It was moved to sydney. A progress paper was given a few months ago. CA is proving a real pain to actually pin down though . I'm glad Sydney were able to take it on as well as all the BC stuff. We had 20 years of samples that we didn't want to lose so are very thankful to Sydney Uni for taking it all on and starting the TNS/CL testing again for us. Alan was also working on CA in Borders which has a later onset than Kelpies but the cases are very rare so we didn't get very far. Sadly I forsee a big increase in cases coming in the not too distant future

I think Prof Mc Greevey is dreaming if he thinks he can work out what makes a dog work because that all comes down to instinct and especially attitude. Health however is a different matter. Working Kelpies actually lose quite a few puppies to Ataxia and Dr Alan Wilton who did the genetic research on Border Collies, was working to find a test for them before his untimely death last year. The research was commisioned by the Working Kelpie Council because losing puppies to a fatal genetic condition costs them a lot of money. I don't know if they have moved that research to Sydney Uni where we had to move our BC research and samples, to or not.

None of mine ever really spent any time in the whelping box until they went into pre labour. I put some sort of old bedding that could be ripped up on their normal bed then put that in the box when they really start to nest and let them rip it too shreds, only taking it out just as they are settled in full labour when it is replaced with paper and drybed. We did have one that had no pre labour and just dropped a puppy on the floor, so we put the puppy and new mum in the box and convinced her it was her baby and she was fine from then. With another I had to sit in the box with her but she was in pain and terrified with a seriously stuck first puppy which took a lot of manipulating to get him out. After that she was happy to stay there to deliver the rest. It is normal for them to dig great dens outside but just keep checking that they haven't dug under a building where you cannot get to them and block it off if they do that. Digging seems to help bring on the labour so I don't discourage it but do watch them carefully.

Can you secure a crate on one of the back bench seats?

Eye problems should always be considered an emergency and the vet should see then the same day. I would not be waiting until Monday. Surely the vets allow time for emergencies among the scheduled appointments.

Yes, TNS has always been very difficult to diagnose clinically and many puppies didn't have such dramatic initial symptoms making it complicated. Owey's original description of the illness, the fact the infection was the incredibly rare neosporosis, which I have only ever heard of in a TNS puppy before, the photos of Bailey and the relapse all made Judy and I as sure as we could be that it was TNS but I didn't want to dampen the little hope that maybe we were wrong. I am so glad that I saw the initial post and with the help of Judy from the BC Club and Sydney Uni we were able to help Owey through this dreadful ordeal, even if we could not save Bailey.

:cry: It is with a heavy heart and Owey's permission that I advise everyone that Bailey was given his wings today and his test results, done twice by the Uni to be sure, confirmed that he did in fact have TNS. I have never been so sad to have been right about something. Owey and his wife are not up to posting tonight but will try to come back on tomorrow. They have decided to not take the litter brother and have requested a refund of all their costs. Lets hope the "breeder" now does the right thing after putting them through all this heartache. This is a very sad lesson in why DNA testing is so important for any condition it is available for. No puppy buyer should ever have to go through something like this when it is so easily avoidable.

:) I have had mine for over 20 years ..it has survived multiple labradors, and all sorts of dogs . Same here. My original ones are about 20 year old and still going strong in regular use. The ones available today seem a lot flimsier though. I bought one a few years ago with a poo bag dispenser and torch built in but it is useless, locking up all the time. I never use them anywhere near traffic and always drive to quiet fairly deserted parks but it means my two can have a pretty good walk and still remain legally on lead. Walking two dogs at once on long lines is impossible but I can do it easily with the flexi leashes. Mine also have about 60cm of wider lead with a hand hold nearest the dog so if I need to hold them close I can easily grab that bit. It isn't the leash that is the problem it is the way it is used. Same goes for long lines. I knew someone that used to walk a very well trained dog on a long line that had the same thing happen with a car hitting the dog when it wandered across a quiet road but tragically the owner was also then pulled under the car and didn't survive either. This was a very experienced dog person lost to a moments inattention of where his dog was.

I know of lots of normal dogs that have had bad reactions to C5 vaccinations, including one of mine so have only used C3 for about 20 years but adverse reactions to C3 are very unusual in normal puppies.

Quakers Hill only do surgical implants and it is stored at Colyton Vets. Ok, no idea then. Everyone I know has done surgical implants at Bowral or Rocky Ridge. The only people I know that have doen TCI have been at Werribee in Vic. If Colyton are doing storage, can they not suggest anywhere?

You need to ask around a lot of breeders in your breed and see if this has been an issue in related puppies. In Border Collies they used to call this vaccinosis but when it happened in some very closely related litters one breeder had it investigated and diagnosed as Trapped Neutrophil Syndrome or TNS, a hereditary faulty immune system. It took 20 years for us to work out it was actually a breed wide problem and then get a DNA test developed which, when applied to the old blood samples proved that the puppies with the bad reaction to the vaccinations had in fact been TNS puppies. We also discovered about 20% of the breed worldwide carried the gene with pedigree links going back over a century. This type of faulty immune system is very common in many species so similar things must also occur in other dog breeds but you will not find out if breeders do not look for them. TNS was hard to diagnose because the puppies were prone to various infections, all with their own symptoms as well as vaccination reactions. TNS can vary in how much or little immune system a puppy has but it is always fatal eventually. We have heard similar problems in other breeds discussed but no one seems to want to investigate them. There is currently a discussion on the puppy thread here titled "Sick Border Collie Pup Possible Neosporosis" that is about a puppy that is highly likely to be a TNS puppy. He has had a very nasty infection but others have had a lot less severe initial symptoms.

The Chinese Herbs usually take 4-6 weeks to make a real impact so you need to be patient. He may also need to stay on a maintenance dose of some of tem for a long time to get the body right. Also ask about the hair analysis if she hasn't already done it, as this can indicate cancer, but it won't change the treatment. It is hard for us to understand that the actual diagnosis isn't as important in Chinese Medicine. It is the cause of the illness within the body they treat, not the actual condition, so different patients with seemingly the same ailment may be treated differently. Ann has successfully treated quite a few cancer dogs I know of personally and several others for things the normal vets cannot treat. Since my first cancer dog was treated by Ann, one of the former vet nurses at my vets has completed studies to become a doctor of Trad Chinese Medicine and now Lyn Pinosa treats both dogs and humans here in Sydney at her Alternative Therapies practice, next door to Austral Vets.

I heard someone on radio complaining about trying to claim. They only class something as an accident if it is hit by a car or observed to fall from a height or something dramatic like that with witnesses. Any other injuries are classed as illnesses so be very careful about what they cover.