luvsdogs

As far as I know (and from my own observations) the staining is fungal. I have two parti greyhounds- one has really heavy staining around his mouth (he looks like a filthy child at times) and the other has absolutely no staining. Both are fed the same diet, both live indoors (at least 23 hours a day) and they are of a similar age. The difference, so far as I can tell, is that the male has a wet mouth and the female doesn't. He has been on antibiotics (of differing types) for a few different things but those antibiotics had absolutely no effect on his staining. Interestingly, his teeth/gums are far better than hers, ruling out it being related to dental health but also suggesting that the amount of saliva seems to play a part- when he does the crazy shake, saliva goes everywhere, when she shakes, nothing. I've had a smell of the skin around his mouth (as well as his breath) and while the breath is fine, the staining does have an odour. I've never done anything about his staining because it doesn't bother him and he's otherwise healthy for a elderly dog but in the interests of science, I might pick up some natural yoghurt for him and see if that makes any difference :D Assuming it is fungal, i'd guess the causes would be similar to cause of overgrowth in humans- a warm, wet area to start with and then something happening to trigger the overgrowth: stress, antibiotics, compromised immune system, etc. Panda does have peculiar odour about him that appears to be coming from his eyes when they are tearing.

When he was desexed the vet also flushed his tear ducts. She said that he had very narrow tear ducts & the only thing to do was wipe his eyes with a damp cotton ball twice a day, something which I'm very lax at doing, especially while being treated for cancer. He also had a tooth removed to make a space for his canine to fit. His adult teeth came in with an under-bite. In his 2 years he's only showed cleaner eyes twice, once at around 5 months - see sig pic & again a few months ago. Both times only lasted about 2-3 weeks when the tearing became worse again. The vet said the tears come through clear, it's when the air gets to them & oxidises that it discolours.

Be careful of crawl, jumping, begging & weaving especially for a large breed puppy. You don't want to damage those growing bones & joints. Not something you want to do until she's at least 18 months old. As above with paws. You could also teach play bow, marching where she lifts her front paws in time with you doing the same. Rear end awareness where she puts her front &/or rear paws on a low, steady box/phone book. If you have a long ladder you can teach her to walk along the rungs. Also teaches rear end awareness. You know she's got it when you no longer hear the feet hitting the rungs. Pushing on a child's spinning top with either paws or nose. Nose touches to your hand or a target stick or object. Can lead to her closing doors.

Such a worry. I hope you find her soon.

What are your thoughts on this situation? Had a relative visit from interstate with his 2 1/2 year old son. He also has a nearly 6 year old daughter. This relative grew up with dogs until he left home as a young adult. Saw him about 3 years ago when he had his daughter with him to visit his sick mother. At that time he said his daughter was scared of dogs because she had been attacked 2 or 3 times by different dogs while out walking with him. Each time he either kicked or if an owner present told them to take control of their dog. I don't think she was injured physically each time because it wasn't mentioned. While we were at the hospital coffee shop he said look at this. "Daughter there's a dog." Daughter jumps in terror to look at said dog. He only did it to prove his point. This time he says she's been attacked another 2 or 3 times, one being a Lab that rushed up to her, knocking her over & then licking her face. Father has either did or warned an owner if one is present I'll kill your dog if it hurts my daughter & you don't get it away. He also told us that he's taught her to be afraid of dogs so she won't go near dogs, I don't think she would as he's put the fear of God into her. Each of these incidents he's said she was doing nothing or even been aware of the dogs until they attacked her for no reason. It worried me the first time I heard of this that a boy that had grown up with dogs had such animosity towards dogs. This time I said that the dogs could sense the fear on her. He says, no, they've proved that dogs can't sense a human's fear. I don't believe this. Thoughts??? I said children should be taught to respect dogs & not to fear them. He says no, if they fear dogs they'll stay away as he wants to protect his children from dogs. I've reared 3 sons & only had the youngest one bitten by dogs that we knew & both times it would have been his &/or my fault but that's another story. Those of you with young children or those with friends with young children that maybe don't have dogs, are they being attacked by dogs for no apparent reason? I was bitten in the ear by a friend of a friend's dog when I was about 7 or 8, it didn't make me afraid of dogs. Don't remember much about it now.

Lovely shots. Where were the ones taken of the rocks? My in-laws moved there around 1977/8 from NZ & B-I-L said it was God's country. Over the years I used to ask him if it was still God's country & he always said yes, up until a few years ago. :) Myself, I prefer the South Coast, I guess because I spent the first 11.5 years of my life there for holidays.

Just googled Liverpool to Kurrajong Heights & it's about 61 km & estimated to take 1 - 1.25 hours travelling time. Not far in the scheme of things.

I couldn't agree more BC Crazy. :D

April was my heart dog. I guess I can say that because she was truly only my dog. She followed me everywhere. She always made a fuss of me when I came home & I let her. I have & do love all the dogs I've had/have but they seemed to be family dogs, where April preferred to be mine. I miss her dearly & for a long time I used to get a glimpse of her whenever Tilba walked by out the corner of my eye.

That's good to hear Erny. Can I ask what diet he's on?

I'm no expert either & this is my personal opinion why they are bred the way they are today. Not that I'd seen many be shown in the past but when they were stacked their legs were pulled out behind them & that is how they look today even without being stacked in that way. And it's just got worse. Back in 1993 when we were looking for a new puppy my son wanted a GSD so we went to a few of breeders to see if they had any puppies available. The last one we saw had a pup that was blind in one eye & she was willing to give it away to a good home, this after telling us that her vet had said it would probably go blind in the other eye. No thank you very much. She did us a huge favour because that night visiting a friend who said her brother had a litter of BCs. So glad we went that way. Even after joining my obedience club later that year I don't remember any GSD having sloping backs, that came much later. I'm an old fan of Rin Tin Tin. Was one of my favourite TV shows when I was a kid & he definitely didn't have the roached back. gsf your dog is lovely & how I remember them to be. I used to go on an OS forum that had a GSD breeder there who sadly passed away. She was always stating that her dogs were of the old German lines & to me even hers didn't have that straight a back.

Vet Dr Ian Billinghurst of Barf fame says in his 1st book Give Your Dog a Bone that the only exercise a puppy needs is play in the backyard & chewing & tearing at raw meaty bones. It's a long time since I read anything on this, but it used to be said that a puppy should only have 5 mins of walking per month of age or 5 mins the 1st 3 months & then 5 mins per month of age. Can't remember which way it was.

Me too, gave me a giggle. Tonka. I have a real soft spot for Papillons.

My little JS has this problem all the time. I've heard that bleach/peroxide makes it worse. If it's a one off problem I'd just leave it, after a moult the staining will be gone. I've yet to find a product to remove it as to me the hair gets dyed by the staining.

Puppies don't need mince, it is like eating stodge for them to just suck it up. They are better off with large chunks of meat. You will have a big dog so better off with raw chicken quarters to start going on to 1/2s as he grows. They don't need vegetable matter or milk after weaning. I feed my dogs chicken legs, lamb flaps & remove excess fat, turkey wings & legs if they are small ones, beef roast chunks - bigger than their head so they can chew & tear at the meat. Good for keeping teeth clean. The occasional raw egg & chicken hearts & feet, chicken liver & lamb kidney. The raw food forum says 80% raw meat, 10% bones & 10% offal of which 5% is liver. I feed more bone than this though to keep the motions firm. No weight bearing bones like beef leg bones in fact it's not recommended to feed any beef bones as they are too dense & can chip or break teeth. I read on a raw food forum that with puppies you don't need to transition slowly as you do when changing kibble & also if you feed lots of meat types there is less likelihood of having allergy. http://www.rawmeatybones.com/ eta: link for feeding dogs/puppies http://www.rawmeatybones.com/diet/exp-diet-guide.pdf

My son's cross breed dog used to have anal gland infections. The first time she was put on ab's & was told to add phylum to her food. It cleared up but she had another 3 episodes & many expressions we where advised to have the anal gland removed that was causing the problem. He told us of the risks but said if the other one was left she shouldn't have a problem. Which she didn't. I didn't know about the chiro manipulation as she had trouble with her hips later in life but no more anal gland trouble. Although as to free running, she got plenty of that as she was a real ball freak & would retrieve it till the cows came home.

I had my Border Collie April's rear dewclaws removed when she was desexed at 6 months back in 1993. I'm a squeamish person & to me they were worse to look after than the spay incision, didn't look good at all. After things healed though you would never know she had had them done.

My runt JS had one descended testicle when we got him at 8 weeks old. By the time he went in for his 2nd vac with my vet they were both undescended. A few months later they still hadn't descended & the vet said the rings had closed so no chance they would come down & by 8 months they still hadn't. I decided to have him desexed then, instead of the 12 months+ that I had hoped because of conflicting stories of when it should be done. He had started marking in the house & also had a tooth that needed removing so he was spayed at 8 months. He hasn't attempted to mark in the house since & is now 2 years old. I since learned that they can be left until 12 months.

As a summer treat you can freeze yummy things in an ice block using an empty icecream container. Take it out of the container & just give them the ice block, no mess. I usually just throw handfuls of kibble around the yard when I'm going out. Distracts the dogs from watching us leave.

I'm on a couple of raw food Yahoo groups & they say to feed 80% meat, 10% bones & 10% organs of which 5% is liver. They also say that the chewing & tearing of large chuncks of meat (bigger than the dogs head) is what cleans the teeth & not the chewing of bones. I don't stick to this because too much meat without bone gives him soft motions. Freezing meat for longer than 3 days kills any parasites that may be in the meat. I only buy human grade meat so I don't think that would apply. I don't always freeze their meat but when I do I try & remember to take it out of the freezer before lunchtime so it can defrost. I had to put my little Japanese Spitz on a raw meaty bone diet because of his dirty teeth. He mostly has chicken legs, some turkey wings, lamb flaps & beef pieces. I have trouble getting him to eat chicken liver but he doesn't mind chicken hearts which are classed as meat & not organ. One time I had a raw lamb leg oh got from a club raffle, somehow most of the meat was taken off, so I gave it to Panda to have a chew of for about 30mins. He loved it & I had to coax it off him so I could give the rest of it to my Border Collie. Even though his teeth still aren't perfect, the canines are still brown, he loves his raw meaty bone meals & does a happy dance each night at dinner time.

I think there were a couple doing agility at Crufts this year!

You can also download Before You Get Your Puppy which takes you to the 1st weeks at your home. Good Luck with him, he's gorgeous. I believe that boxers never grow up so lots of fun times ahead. :)

Treble is gorgeous Lhok. Seems like a cuddly big bear. Just the perfect birthday present fairystar, is today the day? Need pics.

I've only ever bought lamb flaps that have about 6 ribs as a whole piece & give Tilba about 3 ribs & 2 to Panda. Years ago when Sooty was a baby I gave her a single rib & she swallowed it whole, yelped in pain & that was that. I worried about it at the time but those strong doggy juices must have dissolved it. Never again would I feed them singly. I also take off as much fat as I can. My dogs mostly get chicken legs, turkey wings & chunks of beef & the occasional lamb meal. I've recently bought Earthborn Holistic fish which doesn't have any beet pulp in it, which I've read can affect dogs that have a tearing problem with their eyes which Panda does. Haven't tried it yet, he only gets raw meaty bones because of his teeth, unless oh gives him things he shouldn't have, gggrrrrr. If I don't have enough bones for both dogs I usually give Tilba a kibble meal so Panda can have his raw.

This has been law in NSW for over 13 years along with having to be over 8 weeks old, yet there are still those that sell/giveaway unchipped dogs and under-aged pups. Four different litters on one of our local Facebook sales pages today alone. Including one litter stating they want extra if you want your pup immunised. I had my 1st Border Collie micro-chipped when it first came in although at the time it wasn't compulsory for existing animals. Then in late 2000 my son brought home a 5 week, 5 day old pup from a work colleague. The whole litter was taken to work & given away to whoever wanted one. They weren't micro-chipped. When we took her to the vet for her 1st visit she was micro-chipped. We were asked if we wanted to pay a little extra to have her on an Australia wide registry, which we did. After being on here & with more knowledge I doubt that would have been available???