OSoSwift

Just googled Albany's weather forecast for this weekend...........doesn't the weather organiser up there know Whippets don't do drizzle???

Dont you hate that Ptolomy!!! I have just googled Alban'y forcasted weather for this weekend..........and I shouldn't have!!!! WHere's that bottle of rescue remedy - I think I need a flagon of it!

Good news is if it is his thyroid causing his issues then giving him thyroid replacement tablets should fix it up

Does sound rather like wobblers Kirty. Hope it isn't but with steroids they can get about okay and comfortably for some time. Dobes potentially can have a myriad of diseases which is why it is so very important to get one from breeders who test. I know what it is like to live with one that comes from someone who didn't Fingers crossed for your big guy. Have you had his neck xrayed??? My young Dobe had spondylosis of her spine which caused her to have wobblers like symptoms. She had a course of steriods, had a lifestyle change and was going well until she died of Dilated Cardio myopathy.

Oh I will have to rush out and get one too....now that I "know" a famous dog in there

Dobes can suffer from Thyroid issues and some of the symptoms are balding especially on the ears, but a thin coat in general and also flakey skin and a dry coat. I would get his thyroid tested.

Anne while it may be extremely distasteful to you vets do have to cover their costs and pay staff. I know how much Antivenom costs as it was my job to input all of the information for recieved drug orders. On the very rare occassion out of date antivenom became available - twice in my memory- it was offered to a client on the understanding it was out of date and may not work. They were not charged for it. Blame those who rip the vets off and don't pay their bills. There is only so much debt a business can carry. We did use debt collectors but you cannot get what just isn't there. Our vet hospital wasn't as large as some city hospitals but I remember being staggered by the amount of outstanding money sometimes when it came to send out the accounts. I do feel for people who have moved or cannot find a vet who will allow them to pay accounts off. It would be very hard. I guess the only way to try and over come that is to have some saved up, but that is not always possible either.

It does make it hard and when you are in such a stressful situation you are generally not thinking very clearly either. Would it be possible for your friend to pay a little extra to the vet so have an account in credit incase of emergencies?? I have seen some people on here that do this with their vet. I am sorry she lost her dog, very sad all round.

The size of the dogs makes not differenve to the amount of antivenin given. The amount of venom circulating in the blood stream indicates how much is required. I have worked for many years in the veterinary industry and in that time part of my responsibilty was acounts and chasing up bad debtors. Some people will say and do anything to get out of paying and many people say yep do it, when in reality they have no hope of being able to pay it back. Having said that there were customers who would get sent an acoount or be allowed to pay it off but they had a solid track record of always paying their accounts being regular customers and if for any reason there was a problem they called and got it sorted. I luckily can have an account with my vet but I have a good long history with them and have always paid my bills which over the last few years have been quite high. I can understand that people getting upset but in reality would you happily give someone a thousand dollars or so just because they said they would and could pay, but you don't know them from a bar of soap??? I wouldn't, I am not trusting of people in general. As a general rule our vet carries combined brown/tiger as we get both snakes (and others) and quite often people do not know exactly what type of snake has bitten their animal. It is more expensive than the straight tiger or brown but to have all available and potentially going out of date is not feasible for many vet hospitals. It is sad but I would have a credit card available or a card to an account so that if it happens you can walk in pay the deposit and get the animal worked on. Also luckily for me if I say it is an emergecny then my vets know it is and will do what it takes to get my dogs (and all the other animals) straight in and treated.

I got Lewis at almost 8 months. He had one issue that we have worked on and overcome, but apart from that was a complete joy. We had him on a long lead for the first day then after that he was treated the same as Rommi. He hung around never wanted to go away at all, was easy to have inside, toilet trained, lead trained etc. We just had to work on him being next to, but in a seperate yard from Rommi so when she was in season he would happily seperate. It took a little while but he is now great. He is easier to obedience train that Rommi, recalled beautifully had great house manners and was no problems around the cats. I would get an adult again quite happily from someone I trusted. He and I are extremely close and I was suprised at how close we have become especially considering I got him a little older. I am very glad we got him and feel privlidged that he now lives with me

The one I am going to this weekend is $15 per class. Thankfully my dogs haven't been officially measured as yet or it would be $90 for obedience, agility and jumpers, then another $60 for the two shows as well! The almost $100 before the cost of fuel etc was enough of a heart attack for me after my first time back in over 6 years Next one will be rather more expensive though!

Ah no worries. I wouldn't feed any wheat products, and if they are getting dry they mostly likely won't be needing the oats of rice either.

Whipit's house is still standing, amazingly though, pergola, garden shed and pool all burnt. The pictures are scarey. It was that close it is unbelievable. The neighbours were not so lucky

No you cannot trial a bitch in season. However in many of the rings they are doing scent work and scent discrimination work, so slightly different to the show ring. Also while a bitch in season cannot trial, at times - like the show/trial I am going to this weekend, the trial is on at the same time as the show and yes the rings are a short distance away but the dogs will still be easily able to smell the bitches. They are still trained and expected to work at a high level. Another point, many of the obedience dogs are worked off lead. That has the potential for more of an issue than a show dog on lead and (hopefully) under effective control. I hav also seen in the past the obedience rings set up with signs asking for people to keep out. Seems some people exiting the rings couldn't read and yes there were bitches in season. Many dogs still worked extremely well.

Agreed, I find that extremely poor manners and if your dog does it to mine and I see it, I will have words! I do remember a dog cocking his leg on his owner, she was livid. She swung around and asked igf any of our bitches were in season we replied no. My friened offered the information that her bitch had been in 4 weeks before. The owner of the dog then went one to blame my friend and her dog for her dog cocking his leg on her even though the bitch had been out fo season for weeks - yep sure, umm maybe training might help oh and being attentive to what your dog is doing!

My dog can tell at least 6 weeks before my bitch comes in. He has been showing signs of being more attentive already and she is not due in until the middle of March. Should I leave her at home because of the potential issues with other peoples dogs??? My male is trained to listen and work at what ever I am asking of him when my bitch is in season. He still continues to train and compete as per normal in obedience when she is in season and I expect him to behave at shows regardless of bitches being in season. I personally have found it perks the males up and makes them more showy when there are bitches around that are in season. I have owned more mares than geldings. They have been shown regardless of being in season and were not as a general rule temperemental. There are a lot of mare shown regularly. I do not know of anyone who will not show their mare purely because she is in season. It happens that often when they are cycling you would never get to a show if you didn't take them out in season.

I learnt a long time ago to keep under the radar, espeically of certain nasty people in the breed I was in. Seems it worked after my bitch got third in her class at a specialty beating a bitch of this person and they stormed around demanding to know who the bitch was and where it came from. While I didn't show often I had been at quite a few shows with this person but not in the same class. I laughed and said she is mine why's that? If looks could have killed. Anyway I ignore the nasties, try to have a good day out and am happy as long as I have worked well and the dog has tried. Anything more than that is a lovely bonus. I have met some wonderful people along the way. I will and have stood up for myself but find it a lot less energy sapping and annoying to just cruise along and let the nasties rot in their own pit of nastiness!

Yep, the Kelmscott Rolystone on is still not under control and the ares is still shut down.

In the first post you said you were feeding once a day??? was that just that particular part of the diet or are they getting one meal a day?? Agree with everyone else no weetbix ( a pet hate of mine) dry dog food not soaked and raw bones. At 6 weeks they have very sharp little teeth and they are perfect for shredding stuff.

Hope it all stays away from you RnR. How scarey. Fire frightens me quite a lot. I am crossing everything we wake up to some good news in relation to the fires tomorrow

I have known of a few dogs that have had to have toes removed and all have handled it well and had no further issues. I guess you need to weight up how well the dog is going and wether or not you believe the tumour will cause problems quickly or not. My old dog has many health issues which are all controlled but means a GA is out of the question, so for me the choice would be leave it until it causes a problem with pain etc then euth. If the dog is other wise quite healthy then the surgery may mean more years. If you got a biopsy and it came back as benign would you leave it??? if you would then I would biopsy first. If you would remove it due to it causing a mechanical issue with walking etc then just go straight to the toe amputation.

Congratulations, he is looking superb.

Just checked the Fesa website, they say 35 homes lost in the Kelmscott, Rolystone fires............Whipit can't get in to check her place as yet roads are still closed. Brookton Hwy bridge has collapsed apparently

Lots of congratulations all round. Well done to a great start to the year Oh and our SFE's have come back, lets hope we keep them until next week

Oh Bugger, hope their property is okay and they get everyone out safely Boxagirl.