Rascalmyshadow

I wouldn't trust a vets advice on adopting a dog, most of them haven't a clue about behaviour, handling or the needs of different breeds, would be better off speaking to a behaviourist.

Silvers clear earlier than blues, he's not as light as that boy but blues do come in different shades, in the third pic you can see where he is still more black and where he has changed. His tail is the colour of the boy in your pic which is the colour I assume he will eventually be.

I know he's not silver I've had silvers before and he's too dark to be grey. Ive done as much research as I can on blues and it's apparently quite normal for them to clear around three and can still lighten even after that. I'm trying to get hold of his breeder to ask their opinion, I know he only has red and black in his lines.

We purchased Hugo as a puppy and on his pedigree it says he's a black, as a puppy I was a little suspicious that this was not the case. His puppy coat had a brown tinge and in photo's his face and eyes were quite easy to see, unlike the black mini and standard we had. I posted on here in the poodle thread quite some time ago and someone (sorry cant remember who it was) suggested he could be a blue. We've had quite a few poodles owned and fostered as well as my grooming dogs and only one was a blue and he wasn't a very good example so I haven't had much to do with this colour. Hugo is nearly three and his colour is slowly clearing, he looks to me like a blue, don't think he's a bad black as his coat is not ticked with white hairs. What does others think especially those with lots of poodle knowledge.

Hi I hope you don't mind me coming into this thread and giving a couple of suggestions, with toileting what worked for us with our tiny chihuahua was puting down a piece of fake grass with a pee pad underneath, I gradually moved it outside, it took about 6 months but she's now perfect will even scratch to tell us she wants out. Also with feeding such a tiny dog I would suggest giving three meals a day until she reaches around the 2.5kg mark, if by any chance she doesn't get to that then keep her on two meals plus a treat in the middle, with such small dogs if there is too much time between meals they can have a sudden sugar drop which can cause seizures.

Hi welcome to the forum. My suggestion (if you have definitely decided on getting a dog) is look into cavaliers, bichons and griffons, they all a bit different and need different amounts of grooming however they all tend to have nice soft temperaments and are easily trained, a mini poodle is another possibility but they are a little less tolerant and need a bit more exercise and mental stimulation.

I think it is very wrong this child's name has been publicly released but carrying around weapons is a clear indicator that their intentions weren't good and they were old enough to know right from wrong. If they were trespassing in a secure yard then they should be punished and the owner should not have been found liable no matter what the dog did, completely different if the dog was out in a public place. I grew up with two GSD's they were wonderful well trained dogs, however the female would have done the same thing if someone broke into her property or threatened her people but I guess back then people/kids were taught to be responsible for their actions. If it were one of my kids they would be punished severely and made to face the dogs owner.

They may have possibly hit a nerve, I have had this happen to myself (not my dogs) it is extremely painful and time frame for healing can vary. i would definitely go back to your usual vet and have him assessed definitely doesn't sound right.

Poor Astro has been back at the vets again, he now has ulceration around the anal mucus membranes, its presenting exactly the same as his eyes, he's also drinking more than usual something we've noticed over the last 12 months and he started to limp on a front leg a few days ago, that has now settled with a few days of Metacam. Due to all of the above the vet is suspecting he may have lupus, we have started him on a course of antibiotics and cortisone hopefully that will get it under control, he'll probably end up staying on cortisone for the rest of his life. If it doesn't work we are looking at blood tests and biopsies. Does anyone have any experience with lupus, any information would be a huge help it's something I have never dealt with.

While I've never owned the breed, over the years of grooming the ones I have dealt with have had terrible temperaments (much like the lagotto) including two that were owned by separate friends. They are one of the few breeds I would watch very closely and not let my guard down while grooming, I found them to be snappy, timid and very quick to react badly to anything that was unfamiliar or they didn't like.

While I agree this dog could be a liability being seriously dog aggressive doesn't mean it wasn't safe with her kids. Our old standard poodle girl was dangerous with strangers, would go other dogs outside of her pack and would chase/kill small animals (the reason we ended up having her PTS) however she was bombproof with my kids.

This is one of the things that upsets and angers me about rescue, some animals should not be rehomed and this sounds like one of them, there are so many needing homes why do people waste money and resources on those that clearly are potentially dangerous or have such severe issues. Anyone that thinks every animal should be saved should not be in rescue.

I didn't realise the other eye was so bad, the skin isn't ulcerated but top and bottom lids are very inflamed underneath, even after using his eye drops three times a day for two weeks, and neither eye has even a spot or mark where the tear ducts should be. Had to order in the ointment will pick it up this arvo, already his eyes are looking worse and that's only 24 hours without drops. Just can't get my head around how he managed to have no runny eyes or problems for the first few years of his life with such a condition.

The specialist told me if he had top ones he could have surgery to create bottom ones but he said in the 30+ years he's been an eye specialist he's not seen a dog like Astro and he wouldn't even attempt surgery.

If it was just one eye I would look into it but both eyes are bad it's just the worst one has more ulcerated skin, we would therefore have to remove both eyes. Having had two poodles with PRA and an old cat that lost most of his eyesight I know how much quality of life they lose and also how much work they become. I couldn't do it just to prolong his life, especially with now living where we are there are so many places he could get stuck or hurt himself. I also watched my old girl go from being easy going to very snappy when she lost her eyesight, not something I can risk with a toddler in the house. Hopefully we find medication that works.

So I took Astro to see the eye specialist today, I am hopeful we can get him comfortable however there is a possibility that we won't be able to. He has no tear ducts at all top or bottom, because of that corrective surgery is not an option, he has a lot of inflammation under both top and bottom eye lids something the drops we are using is not controlling. We start on Amacin eye ointment tomorrow and see how we go, last time we used it, it didn't work, if that doesn't help we keep trying other drugs until we exhaust all options.

We would have seen a specialist earlier but the drops were controlling it, it's only recently they've stopped working. He is booked in for a dental next Fri just incase their is an abscess or something else going on, he has had a couple of dentals in the past.

We were told to give it a fortnight with the drops then look at seeing the specialist, Andrew Turner is the person we will be seeing but not at Mt Waverley, he also does visits in other clinics.

I can't give advice on who would be best to do the surgery but personally I wouldn't leave it, I have seen way too many dogs suffering with dental issues, it is painful I don't care if a vet says otherwise, a lot of them don't see the little changes that indicate pain, just because a dog is still eating doesn't mean it's not sore or uncomfortable. i have also seen some nasty outcomes of owners refusing dentals, holes in faces, green spongy teeth and meningitis to name a few.

Sorry some how I missed this, we've gone soft and let them sleep on our bed during the night but if they cant be supervised (if were out or busy in the yard, the carpeted rooms are closed off. So far so good. I've also put Hugo on Royal Canin sensitivity canned with his Canidae dry and so far no vomiting. Hopefully they all continue to behave themselves or I will have to be tough and go back to crates.

Astro has been having problems with one eye for quite some time, we've seen multiple vets and they've all put it down to allergies until now. He was initially put on an ointment which did nothing, same as antihistamines, he was changed over to Maxidex drops and they seemed to be working until recently. His tear ducts are completely blocked, they weren't when he was younger, they have found nothing wrong with the eye itself but the skin around the rim of the eye has lost pigment, it gets red raw and ends up bleeding, it also gets a sticky layer like an infection is beginning. A new vet we've now seen has suggested trialling intense treatment with his drops, three times daily for two weeks, twice daily for two weeks then once daily for as long as needed to rule out allergy, however she was quite concerned if the pigment isn't starting to go back to normal after a fortnight and the sore isn't a lot better we could be dealing with something much more serious, we will then be off to the eye specialist. Has anyone experienced or seen anything like this, I am quite worried because it is only one eye and he didn't used to get typical runny eyes like a lot of little dogs seem to have. I've tried my best to get decent pics but its not that easy hopefully these give some idea what I'm on about, this is after one week, pigment hasn't improved yet.

My old mini poodle girl had the exact symptoms, vets were quite sure she had a partial rupture and wanted me to try anti inflamms and rest, went on and off for about 5 months, finally I had enough and told them to do surgery. Turned out the rupture was worse than they thought. She also went on to do the other cruciate a couple of years later. Hooe you get an answer soon and hopefully without surgery.

Yes poor Hugo is an anxious little man who likes to be by my side all the time, he's ok if we go out but hates being separated if we're home. I had to put them all out when the curtains were being put up, they had the back room and yard with comfy beds, and could see me through the sliding door, even then he cried, scratched, panted, licked the glass and spent almost the entire time squashed up against the door. With the stormy weather we let them all sleep in our bed last night incase anyone freaked out, tonight I will put Hugo's crate next to my bed and hopefully that will work.

Thank you for asking how everything is going. My husband used to have very little tolerance but over the years he's come to understand how much they mean to me and is quite good about it. So far Claudia and Astro have been very good, go straight into their crates and sleep however Hugo (typical poodle) has kept me awake for hours scratching on the laundry door, then when my husband lets them out in the morning he whines at my bedroom door until I get up, I was so exhausted yesterday arvo I fell asleep and didn't wake until my husband got home at 5:30. Trying to stick it out hopefully Hugo settles down soon, I can't go on too long with so little sleep.

The two were doing it before we moved, the stress of being so competitive and at similar ranks in the pack I believe is the cause, also having a new baby/now toddler in the house hasn't helped. I have spent the evening rearranging animals, crates, rooms etc. so now the laundry has been set up as a doggie bedroom (luckily we don't have our washing machine in there) as of tonight we are going to start locking Astro, Hugo and Claudia in there during the night, each has a comfy open crate. They also have a mat (not carpet), a snooza off ground bed, water bowl and pee pads on the floor. Rascal will be sleeping in our bed still and will be the only one allowed in the bedroom at all. If we go out the loungeroom will be closed off, they will have access to their bedroom, kitchen and backroom (also has dog beds) as well as the backyard. Hopefully this will work and will minimise the chance of peeing or vomiting on the carpets, furniture etc.