jrm88

Thanks for the advice murve and rubystar :) Will definitely try make it more of a game for him. He knows how to do it, just have a hard time convincing him its something fun to do! :)

A consult is included in the c5 vacc charge :)

Hi everyone :) I was after some advice?? I own a 16ish month old std poodle who i am training in obedience (slowly!). He is my first dog so we have made quite a few mistakes! One question I have, is he/we really struggle with heeling. What can I do to help him enjoy heeling more? I usually use a tugtoy for a reward (and occasional food), and have been keeping it really short duration, but he just always seems distracted during heeling? Would love a few ideas if anyone has any! :) Thanks!

No vet would charge a normal consultation at $120! It would either have been: after hrs, a specialised consult, or an extended consult (but still pushing it!) There has probably been some miscommunication about what she has actually paid for, but I have never heard of a vet charging $120 for a normal, 15ish minute consult at a normal (gp) veterinary clinic.

Std poodle!!! My boy would be perfect in your situation! He is a couch potato, great with cats/sml animals, if clipped every 6-8 weeks the grooming isn't too bad :)

Tralee, there is no quarterly heartworm treatment that I'm aware of?? What is its name? Jumabaar I agree.... being on dol can be very hard when you are in the vet profession, because apparently we are stupid, money hungry idiots who don't know how to care for animals properly and we just want to make them sick :rolleyes: (despite vets studying 5+ years, and also many vet nurses having had studied for 2yrs and we have done it due to a love for our pets!)

Haha Leo is generally very good with scared/unsure dogs, he tends to playbow/jump around until they get the idea. Not sure if I could be bothered grooming Leo, will see how I go!

Definitely bring Toby! Leo would love another big poodle to play with! :)

Haha Alkhe your more than welcome to have Leo cuddles :) (if he will oblige... his a typical snobby poodle sometimes!)

Leo and I will be coming along :) List of dogs Snout Girl- Bert, Sally and Bruce (and an OH) Alkhe - Maggie (and probably OH) pip1981- Dakota (and human baby, hehe) Catherine- Sid or Oscar Janina- Kala and Pepper (puppy) Evolving - Echo jrm88 - Leo List of food Snout Girl- Zucchihi fritters, sausages, sauce Alkhe - something sweet, tbc! (open to suggestions also..) pip1981- marinated chicken wings and BBQ necessities Catherine- T.B.A Janina- T.B.A Evolving - Bread and rolls. jrm88- probably some chips or biscuits! (need something easy!)

We use onsior alot and find it very helpful, if they need more pain relief, may be a good idea to add in tramadol as well (talk to your vet about it) Also realise when swapping from one nsaid to another, there needs to be a 5day washout period where they cannot have nsaids. Have heard good things about gabapentin as well.

I would actually argue the other way. So many people DO NOT recognise an anxious/fearful dog. If a dog is anxious/fearful, they are not able to learn properly from a situation. If they had medication on board to reduce anxiety/fear, they would have a much better chance of learning how to act in situations. We will ask people "do you think your dog is anxious??" and they are adament they are not, yet the whole time the dog is pacing, is hypervigilant, licking lips and yawning. Sure, alot of dogs stress in a vet clinic, but usually if they are in the consult room for an hour, with nothing bad happening and lots of treats being offered, most dogs will relax, lay down and accept the situation is pretty good. I think we are treating many more dogs with medication because it is actually being recognised now and more people are willing to treat.

Sorry but that is wrong. There is indeed mental health problems that CANNOT be fixed with training alone. A dog that is so insanely fearful that they completely shutdown in a situation (e.g. when a child is around) cannot be "trained" out of the problem, simply because they have shutdown they are not capable of learning in that situation. Their brain is not functioning correctly, thus medication is needed to allow the brain to work correctly. In that situation, medication is needed to prevent the dog from shutting down in that situation, and to be receptive to training so THEN they can be trained that children are not to be fearful of. I know a dog like this, and it is a LONG road. The owner is dedicated, and he will never be 100% but with medication on board and appropriate behavioral modification, he is definitely improving.

Yep I would pay an extra fee, I know how much effort it takes! :) Out of interest would you expect to pay an additional Grooming fee for this?

Lavendergirl, vets should know the basics, but many don't. Also if your dogs issues are severe, they may need two medications which then becomes much more complicated as you need to know more about how the drugs interact with each other and their effects. There are "GP" vets out there who have a big interest in behavior so really know what they are talking about and charge heaps heaps less than behavioral specialists do :) also remember, 10yrs ago, no one treated these issues with medication, so those vets who have been out a while may not be up with it all.

Of course behavioral modification and training can work in dogs with minor problems, but when you have a dog who hurting themselves and a risk to those around them, medication may be needed. It is the same as treating mental illness in humans in the sense that there is something awry with the chemicals in the brain, and giving medication to someone with schizophrenia is just like giving someone with diabetes the insulin they need to live. Some vets don't know what they are doing and may prescribe the wrong thing for the wrong reason, but there are also great vets/specialists out there who recognize a true behavior problem rather than a problem behavior.

Clomicalm doesnt make dogs more aggressive, there is a group of behavioral medications that shouldnt be used with fear aggressive dogs. Some benzodiazepines (include diazepam, alprazolam and clonazepam)can cause fear aggressive dogs to lose fear agression inhibition and can be more likely to show aggression. I also believe clomicalm shouldnt be used to reduce aggression anyway, it is used mainly for seperation anxiety and other anxiety based behaviors. There are certain other drugs of choice to be used for aggressive dogs :) ETA: Behavourists are needed, there are many dogs with hardwiring issues that cannot be "fixed" or managed with behavioral modification alone.

Also really important to me is the boarding kennel are able to brush my dog every day/2nd day (STD poodle) and do a PROPER job :) I'd be livid if I came back and he was knotty/matted as I brush him alot to avoid that :)

I said it was possible there is resistance, but I can tell you most problems are owner compliance :) As inevitablue said, maybe some populations have developed resistance while others haven't. Working in the vet industry, it is amazing how the general public cannot follow simple treatment instructions. I had someone swear up and down frontline didn't work... Asked a few questions, turned out everytime before they applied frontline, they had given the dog a bath!!! Of course the product will not work if the dog is wet. One month later, owner hasn't seen any fleas. As I said a few times, I'm not saying there isn't problems, but a few questions should be asked first to make sure the owner is doing everything and considering everything.

Is this being held at the berwick show? (have to pay entry fee??), might go for a look if it is! :)

Here are a few things to think about.. 1. Are you treating every pet in the house? (dog, cat, rabbit, rat, mice) 2. Do you get feral cats/possums in your backyard??? 3. Are you consistantly applying frontline every month? (not letting it go 5-6 weeks) 4. Does your dog swim/get bathed often? 5. Do you visit any places with your dog where he may pick up fleas (thus your seeing live fleas before they die) 6. Do you get any visiting animals (friends dogs/cats/whatever) to your house/yard who could also be bringing fleas over!) So! Reason being, alot of people feel some brands are ineffective, and while it may be possible, the more likely scenario is owner compliance. 1. Every animal must be treated otherwise the fleas will continue to reproduce and drop flea eggs throughout the house. 2. Roughly 90-95% of feral cats have a flea burden, this means, if a cat walks through your backyard, they are dropping fleas into your yard! Dog walks over area, adult flea will jump on dog! 3. Fleas love shadey, humid, protected areas. Block off these areas if possible. 4. If you let it lapse, it will stop killing the fleas. 5. Even though the topicals say they are waterfast, they are not 100% waterproof. If your dog swims alot or is bathed alot, there is no guarantee that it breakdown the active ingredient quicker than it should. Its basically impossible to do studies on how waterfast these topicals are, as no study can replicate every situation an owner may be in. 6.If you dog goes out of the house, they can pick up a flea. You may see this flea/fleas on your dog and think you have a flea problem, when in fact, all that has happened has your dog has picked up a flea. If the frontline has been applied, it will kill the flea within 24hrs and will not allow it to reproduce due to containing an insect growth regulator. Alot of flea problems are owner expectations, if you are taking your dog to any area where they regularly pick up fleas (e.g. feral cats/possums/rabbits frequent the area, they can pick up emerging fleas), it may not be realistic to have your dog completely flea free 100% of the time. The important thing is to keep your dog on prevention to prevent a flea infestation from occuring. Flea lifecycle also takes 1-2 months to be completely broken due to the biomass within the environment. NOTHING kills flea pupae, so you basically have to wait it out until they hatch out into emerging fleas, which will then be killed when they jump on the dog. Other things to think about... Where does your dog spend the majority of their time? a fav bed? fav area? flea infestations are usually localised, would be a great idea to use a directed flea pump product to spray the area (even floorboards can harbor flea larvae/eggs/pupae!) I'm really sorry to have gone on about this so much, I went to a flea seminar yesterday that was FASCINATING and made me think about so many things I had never thought about before. If you have any questions, feel free to pm me! :) p.s - not saying that there isnt the possibility of the product being ineffective, but I think we need to look at everything about the owner/dog situation first before writing off the product.

Chris Preston is a fantastic surgeon and his clinic is first class, she would be in very good hands :)

I'd recommend either Vic uni or box hill tafe :)

What breed have you got?? That will make a huge difference as depending on the coat type will depend on how best to groom the dog :)

We routinely use onsior over rimadyl/metacam/etc, have found it works well and is safer. You do need a 5 day washout period though when swapping from one to the other :) We do not like troxocil, what if you need to give contraindicated drugs during the month period? You can't take it back out if adverse reaction, can't use any other NSAIDs, did have one person try it and they felt it wasn't as effective as the rimadyl they had been on.