stormie

I would start some sort of traveling training. Put her in the car for a couple of minutes without actually going anywhere, then let her out. Play with her while she's in the car and feed her some treats if you can. When she seems comfortable just hanging out in there, turn the engine on and do the same process. Once she's settled with the engine, drive in and out of your driveway with her. Gradually extend the journeys increasing the distance a little more each time. I would do a session every day and not progress onto the next level until she is completely comfortable.

Pfft you can't perve on him in a book

Well, in my opinion, it's probably you that are the problem anyway, with your stupid giant dogs slobbering all over the place making them have to do more work to clean up after you.

I really like Cesar Milan and agree with pretty much everything he says. I think it's a good idea for any new puppy owner to watch, just to understand the whole pack leader thing and to try and learn an appropriate attitude to have with your dog. I don't think everyone should go around 'rolling' their dogs, but I think if more people took on his methods of rules, boundaries, limitations as more walking exercise instead of free play at dog parks, there'd be a lot more well behaved dogs out there!

FD26 - maybe people are only telling you the horror stories, because that's all they have experienced? It's a bit rude to have a go at people for not telling you the success stories, if in fact there just hasn't been anyone who's experienced one.

Just for the record, at a recent talk put on by Specialists regarding arthritis in dogs, it was mentioned that there was in fact NO scientific evidence to suggest the above technique had any benefit whatsoever. I've heard there have been some owners who claim success, but just thought I'd mention that anyway... I would probably ask for a referral to a specialist if you are able to go down this path.

Would drive me mental having a resident cat to clean up after all the time! Waiting rooms get enough hair as it is just from patients, let alone from a cat walking around. I don't think it's the greatest idea for the cat or the patients either - owners would be coming in with their sick cats, patting the resident cat etc. Nope, no resident cat for us!

Sorry to hear about your boy's HD. I recently bought a new bed for Orbit online, for a really good price. I bought it cause it uses memory foam which I really like. His other bed is a mattress that I bought from Clark Rubber with a cover on it that I made. This new one that I bought him is firmer than the other one - I can lay on it and can't feel the floor underneath where as I can with his mattress one. Only the top layer is memory foam, but its still so comfortable!! LINKY - this is the same one as I bought, but I managed to score a 100x70cm one. Not a bad price either!! eta: I know of people who can't stand the D1000 and say they are really noisey?

Orbit's not toooooo bad, but if I'm going on a run for me, I leave him at home because I get sick of the need to stop for wees etc. When I take him for his walk I do a bit of jogging here and there and sometimes some sprints, but usually that just ends up in him getting way too excited and wanting to play smack down.

I feed Orbit a raw diet (allergies - can only eat certain meats) which sees him eating about 1-1.5kg per day. As for exercise, I'm probably the complete opposite of Danois. I am a believer that walking is really important for a dog's mental health as well as physical - Cesar Milan style As a baby puppy it was mostly free exercise, but combined with a little walk down the street and back. By about 12 months I think we were doing longer walks and by 18months I was walking him like a normal dog. Our walks average from 3 - 6km. I try to walk him every day, even if it's just a quick trip around the block to let him get out and have a sniff. I rarely take him to the dog park just as a means for exercise, but if I'm heading up to look at the surf or storms, I'll take him with me, and sometimes we'll stop on the way home from a walk. There's no way I could leave him for more than one day without a walk - he'd go nuts and drive me insane with his frustration.

I think most of the negative comments about the new grads was more to do with the attitudes. Those who have posted here clearly have the right attitude and are keen to learn - the fact you're members of DOL says that anyway. BUT, unfortunately, not all are as keen. I'm not stereotyping and saying that are all like this, but just that there are many who come out believing they now know more than those who have been practicing for 20+ years. Many have the attitude that seeing they've just come fresh from uni, that they are more up to date and should be the ones teaching the 'oldies'. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure you are learning more recent ways of doing things, pain relief etc and our first new grad was great in sharing her latest info and encouraging the older vets to get in some harder pain relief. The rest, didn't want help, advice or anything which was a shame because they ended up almost killing a few things.

ok, well, if we're gonna get to nitty gritty, I just had a disagreement with OH as to whether this could/would actually happen. He said there's no way but I figured if he really kept going, it's more than likely he'd ejaculate. Am I right ? Eeeeeewwwwwwwww. Yep - it sure does! Orbit used to ejaculate pretty often, just randomly after getting an erection. One time we put some on a slide and looked at it under the microscope, just cause we were bored at work. I saw Orbit babies

This is a great idea And oh so true - we've been so busy lately, I have only had a proper lunch about 3 or 4 times since before Christmas - the rest of the time I've just been eating the Wholesaler lollies and chocolates to keep me going. I think a simple card thanking them, to acknowledge what they have done for you, would be really appreciated. We love getting thank you cards from clients, even if its just for something really small - to have what you have done recognised makes you feel great about what you do and makes you want to keep doing it where you can.

I will refrain myself from commenting on the 'all vets suck' post because I don't want to get banned... Elfin - I blame the universities. The new generation of vets being pumped out are completely different to the old school vets. My boss was the kind of kid who hunted around his garden for lizards and bugs to study and wanted to know everything there was about animals. 'Born' a Vet you could say. He worked his butt off to get the marks he needed to finally get into Vet School. And after 20 years of practicing, still loves it like the day he graduated and just bought a new clinic to run himself and is so thrilled about being 'the local vet'. The new grads we are seeing, have no natural animal handling skills and have very little common sense around animals. I was told by someone who recently graduated, that a high percentage of students simply go to vet school because they got the grades, so it's 'what they do', and not because they have an infinite love for animals. Unfortunately too, because of the lack of handling skills/instincts, examinations weren't done very thoroughly, and rather than trying to make a diagnosis themselves, would have to rely on other means, like sending bloods away, xrays, etc. Unfortunately, as some else said, I think in lots of cases there's also a bit of an atitude problem, too. Many come out of uni thinking they're the bees knees and know it all. Numerous times I've had to tell new grads they're about to give the wrong anaesthetic or too much, or that a heart rate is too slow, only to have them argue back telling me they're the vet, I'm the nurse and don't know what I'm talking about. Thankfully nothing ever died, but one came very close. Obviously this is only from my experience and perhaps all the students and new grads we've had were just the not so good ones, but I've heard similar things from others too. I think it won't be long until a consult with your vet is like a consult with your GP, and if anything else needs to be done other than routine surgeries, you'll be referred to someone else, because the newer vets just won't know how.

Pretty sure your vets regular pathology lab can run a titre.

Are you sure its mites causing the itching and not just that the dog is allergic to the grass? Or fleas? Can't say I've really heard anything about grass mites causing dogs to scratch, but happy for others to educate me!

I can tell you desexing helped us. I've not seen any discharge around the place since having Orbit desexed.

Hey Dyzney, the Polar Pads sound awesome, but just wondering, what's the biggest size? The size 5 was the biggest I could see on Ebay, but this would still be way too small for Orbit... stupid giant dogs.....

Haha thanks, but I can't claim that one - my boss took that pic!

Bit of a scorcher in Sydney today - hanging out for the southerly tomorrow night! Was 37 when I left work at 5pm. Thankfully Porpee's got an extra large clamshell at work we get to both utilise in our lunch break/after work!!

Porp used to get it a bit before he was desexed. Occasionally would ooze out, particularly while he was sleeping. He was a pretty gross entire though and would get random erections and ejaculate from the stupidest things (he LOVED standing in his clam shell pool ) Being big, too, means more of everything. Soooo glad he's desexed now, mind you he still gets a random bulbis here and there.

Orbit needs regular bathing (allergies) - the only medicated shampoo that doesn't make him dry out and itchy is Rufus and Coco's medicated shampoo. As for just general washing, I use a very mild goats milk soap and also occasionally a coal tar shampoo or Palmers Cocoa Butter Shampoo (this one in particular is really lovely on his coat and leaves him smelling like chocolate )

Ok so we're not a full boarding kennel, but we do board small dogs and used to at our previous clinic too. Our policy here is now the same as our previous clinic - to only charge people by the night. Before we took over here, they had the policy where if they dropped off before midday they were charged for the day, and after midday they weren't; same thing for pick-up too. But it just didn't seem right charging someone an extra day who came at say 12:30pm - and where do you the drawer the line? So easier to just explain the overnight fees. As for grooming, all our animals are brushed, deodorised and eyes cleaned prior to going home and those with gunkier eyes are cleaned daily. Anyone who stays 7+ nights is bathed prior to going home and of course anyone that decides to have a poo party in its cage/run is also bathed. The vets wife is our groomer too, so clients are also offered that service during their stay too. As for knowing the animals, I agree with what the others have mostly said in that not everyone gets the same amount of interaction with them. At our last clinic, I looked after the boarders so I knew each one very well and could tell all the owners stories about their animals etc, where as our other nurse rarely had a lot to do with them and often had to ask me. Here, I don't get to have as much to do with them as I'd like, but too involved with surgery and our other nurse/kennel hand does the majority of the boarding care. I try to interact with them as much as possible, but when we're busy, it's almost impossible.

Sorry Kate, I wasn't trying to talk you out of it, just giving you an idea of what my boy is like. I probably gave you the wrong idea - he could spend 12 hours a day sleeping, but was just trying to say that although Dane's are known for being couch potatoes, I still think that given the chance, they have the ability to want to also be active dogs if given the chance. I live with a Border Collie and a young Kelpie who have 90839458930845 times the energy of Orbit, particularly the Kelpie who spends the day destroying anything she can because she doesn't get the exercise needed. Orbit isn't destructive (except with his toys) and is quite happy with the 30-40mins of proper exercise most days. Outside of this time, he's sleeping

My Dane boy is a right pain in the arse if he doesn't get his daily walk!! He'll pace around and stare at me until we go usually (he's trained me so well!!) and it does get very annoying. I take him out for about 30-40mins a day, mostly on lead, and a combination of walking and jogging. Once a week or so I let him go to the off lead park and have some 'free time'. On the hotter days, I take him swimming with me in the pool at work both during my lunch break and in the afternoon. That knackers him out for the whole evening generally!! Definitely more sporty than not!