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Wally has a wag and smile to everyone he sees but every now and then he sticks his nose right up their butts as they're walking past, only to women though. I get so embarrassed and apologise but it cracks me up :laugh:

Made my first lot of chicken jerky yesterday and very pleased with it. Sadly for the dogs, the humans ate most of it :)

Thanks westie :) There's one at Keswick called doghouse (at the top end of Anzac Highway), perhaps that's the one your friend likes, near Ashford I think.

You SA guys, can you name the place you're talking about?

Hi Steve, want to get in touch with you regarding my dog and your recommendations. Couldn't find an email or number on your web site and your in box is full on this forum so can you send me a message with your details please? Thank you :)

Teekay, so sorry to hear what happened to you and your baby.

Hi Powerlegs ( gee, wish mine were)!, yep, Sheridan has not been around much since her beautiful Grumpy went over the bridge. I loved reading about him :) am aware of her site, deals with PLN & PLE as the disease was brought to my attention by our breeder before we got the boys. Its not a common problem in Australia but there have been some cases and very sadly Sheridan had lost a wheaten to this dreadful, fatal disease. She was a wealth of information to many and I hope one day she'll return. This disease was one of the first things we investigated and was a learning curve for our vet who took it upon himself to registered to seek information. Thank you for thinking of that, it is important :) And to all, thanks to your kind thoughts, but ya know, Murphy doesn't see himself as being ill and we don't either now. Although he's nurtured but doesn't look it (due to fluid build up), one arvo we were in Petstore and this lovely woman came over and said "oh, that's a wheaten!! Wow, just don't see many and my friend has a female that he wants to breed from!! Is he pure? Would you be interested in talking to them?". (suggestion declined, even if entire!) Well....you couldn't wipe the smile from my face and Murphy loved the attention. She thought he was so well endowed his bullets couldn't possibly miss!

Big thankyou to Steve, Erny and others. Excellent advice and totally agree. In respect to my dog, he has a very rare defect that cannot be rectified. We searched everywhere for answers, saw many number of specialists, and even consulted a leading vet/ breeder of wheatens in the US. Our breeder, a wonderful guy, was on board with this and wanted me to send him back so his own specialists could see him. We declined the offer because the dog had gone through so many medical treatments of investigations I could see he had reached the end of his endurance, he just wanted to live a normal happy dog life. We were advised that he would die, his benign tumor would turn malignant, the fluid retention would become so big (baloon size) and the best thing we could do for this boy was to have major surgery, turn him into a girl and they would try and plug him up. Hmm....it was all speculation. We chose quality of life for him, full of dog fun and love. And he's still loving it. Ok, he's got a big willy but he's also funny, happy, smart and a trickster. Like many of you, I don't do the continuous vaccination thing and don't flee/worm/tic them as we are relatively safe in Adelaide. They eat human grade meat plus the Artemis kibble. I need to address the shampoo thing though... Erny, I admire your vigilance for your dog's well being. Sharing your experiences and knowledge based information here is something we are all grateful for. And you too Steve :) I am so anal about chemicals in general, I don't use fly spray if they're in the room, keep the ants outside at bay with baby powder and the local rat gets to live a long life cause we won't bait. Thanks everyone.

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What do you do for the fluid retention? The fluid is always there, we don't treat it. It tends to dissipate a little sometimes and blows up at other times although the past few years has stabilized somewhat. We had tried draining it (in the early days) but it always came back within 48 hours. He's a little overweight just now but he does walk 7km most days and this seems to help move things about, he's quite agile. We stopped all treatment 4 years ago and had him nurtured against vet recommendation. If you can suggest something I'm happy to consider it as I do worry the fluid could be building up inside his organs where we cannot see it. And in case you're wondering where it is, it's in his penis region making it look massive and also fills the area where his testicles were, making him look entire. Thanks Steve :)

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Hi piper, I do on occasions give cooked chicken (they get raw chicken necks a couple of times a week) and have tried raw lamb, they like it but the farts are enough to kill us. They only get human grade meat, I guess I should try the turkey and/or kangaroo, will give it a go but they seem to enjoy the beef, either diced chunks or mince, mixed with their kibble. Oh, and they like the little chicken hearts. They don't get leftovers. Although Murphy gets all these hot spots, he's not scratching or chewing. The only thing that causes him grief is his ear. Thanks for your comment on beef, it's got me thinking about trying something else as it may be an allergy after all.

Thanks Steve, I appreciate your comments. You're right about his internal health being out of whack he became quite ill at the age of 1 and it was identified as a bad lymph node that never formed properly. He suffers from fluid retention on a lower limb but has lived with it relatively comfortably for 5 years. Will be in touch :) And Lily, I totally agree and appreciate their comments on this forum. Cheers

Well, they sleep in our bed at times, sit on the lounge sofa, sometimes I use my dinner plates to feed them, eat in the kitchen, have their inside water in 2 giant soup cups, get washed in our shower, use our pillows and cushions at their will, have their own jarmies in the coldest of winter, boss me around, try and get a toungie in when no one expects it coming, love to snuggle, have their own beds in almost every room, take us for a walk, bring me toys if they think I wanna play, go to the "hair dresser", the list is endless :laugh: Until they learn to stack the dishwasher and vacuum THEN I'll call them kids :)

Hi Erny & Steve, just wanted to ask you two advice for my boy please :) He's a 6 year old bossy wheaten and in the last couple of years has had way too many hot spots and hard fatty lumps come and go. The groomer sometimes squeezes them out (not the hot spots obviously) but I've asked her not to anymore. We keep his coat short. He also has an on going ear infection that seems impossible to clear out. When it looks like it's healing the other dog starts licking it and sets off the yeast growth again. I put bitters around the ear to stop the other dog licking but he seems to like the taste now! Swimming at the beach helps clear up the hot spots within a couple of days but more just keep occurring. Their diet is 1 cup of artimis duck (grain free) and beef ( raw) daily, plus chicken necks a couple of times a week. Treats are kangaroo tendons dry, plus, they also get 1 teaspoon of coconut oil and 1 teaspoon of protexin multiple-strain probiotic in their dinner at least 5 times a week. The other wheaten has never had hot spots and he's way more laid back, wonder if that's relevant? They're full brothers. Erny, I've read you mention having your dogs hair analyzed and I'm keen to try this. Can you tell me where to enquire? And Steve, I'll be ordering the calendula from you next week but can you think what else might help Murphy? Thanks :)

Try and get one of these. My dogs are way more happy wearing this than the bucket which is clunky and noisy when they bang into something. When the pup chewed a hole in it (other dog wearing it) I taped it up like a bike puncture. And it's like a pillow when they sleep.

A final rinse in calendula tea would be fine. However, solely using the tea to wash wouldn't give you a deep clean as it would only rinse off any loose dirt. Shampoos contain cleansers that are designed to attach themselves to dirt particles and repel them from the coat. Cleansers have a negative charge to repel the dirt from the coat thereby giving you a deep clean. Thanks :)

I'm very keen to try this tea for my dogs too. As wheatens they have this outrageous beard that they wipe and rub all over the lounge, I'm sure it must get itchy. One of them gets hot spots too and swimming at the beach helps that clear up fast. They can get pretty filthy so each bath I normally soap them up well and rince off diligently so all dirt falls off them. Can I then as a final rince pour the calendula tea over them and towel them off? I'm asking because most of you are using it for baths on it's own and I wonder if this will be enough for getting the dirt out ? Thanks

I visited B & B a number of years ago. Really loved the set up and the woman who ran it was lovely. I have no idea what it's like now or if it's the same owners. Back then they only boarded small dogs. I strongly suggest you personally visit the places and have a good look around (by appointment). There were a few I saw that were vile

Thanks for that :) 2 cups is around 500gms so I'm feeding around the same but my guys are definitely overweight. Think I'll swap the beef mince over to roo meat 3 days a week and see if that makes any difference. Ta. Terri - your pup is gorgeous !

If there is an equivalent for human use maybe speak to you GP for a script? I know my doctor well and he has said some of his regulars come to him for scripts for their pets (ones the vets recommend) and they get it on the PBS if it's available to them. If you don't know your doctor well, could be tricky.

In the beginning I use to flee & worm regularly but I hated putting all those chemicals in their system. Haven't done any of that for years now but I am always checking them as they sleep with us..... if they get flees, so will we! I always have flee & worm meds in the house in case of a break out. I also vaccinate every 3 years now, would prefer titre testing but it's too expensive in my town.