OSoSwift

I am using a piece of conveyer belt rubber the same size, but flat on the ground. When it comes time to actually using the box I plan to put my piece of rubber matting part way up the box, then extend it further etc etc. I am teaching her to turn the way I would like on the rubber matting, and she will go and pick up a stationary ball from the matting as well.

1. What is my relationship with the breed? (ie breeder, first time owner etc) First time Whippet owner 2. Where and why was the breed first developed? In the North of England for rabbit hunting and "rag" races. They were the poor mans Greyhound 3. How common is it in Australia? Quite common, quite a number of registered ethical breeders. 4. What is the average lifespan? around 12 to 14 years, with some living to be older 5. What is the general temperament/personality? Very people orientated, eager to please. Biddable and quite good to train. 6. How much daily exercise is needed for the average adult? 20 minutes free running and they spend the rest of the day sleeping, but will quite happily do more. 7. Is it a breed that a first time dog owner could easily cope with? Yes, but need to make sure to train a good recall from early on. 9. How much grooming is required? Very little 10. Is it too boisterous for very small children or for infirm people (unless the dog is well trained)? In my experience they are very good around children and are not pushy heavy dogs so would be good with infirm people as well I believe

Sounds like you had fun! and he had some achievment which is also great. sorry OT but, ADAC and ADAA trials I have seen these mentioned a few times before on here but have no idea what they are. I have only ever been to ANKC trials? What is the difference?

Yep Poodle fan I agree. When I was training my Dobe I did use poles on the ground to help her see the distances easily and give her a more solid object to focus on. I kept thinking, no reins, no legs, how can I get her to do what I want from a distance without touching her at all - quite an interesting situtaion for someone used to sitting on a horse! I used grids where the jumps were varying heights and I changed them often! Makes want to go and train now!

Very interesting topic! I haven't trialled in agility for quite a few years now, Novice handler and novice dog. I ran My Dobe. I was told by someone else trialling a Dobe that Dobes jump flat naturally and you want them too as they get around faster. My thoughts were if you teach them to jump correctly, they will naturally flatten a little when going faster, but will still have the scope to round up and not knock bars. I have only ever trained horses prior to the Dobe so apllied my theories learned from that to my dog. Lots of grids, differing heights and distances. Bounces between jumps, working on her looking for her own strides and getting her to shorten and lengthen as required. Most of the times we had a problem it was mine, she was much better at it than me. She never hit a bar in any of her trials, stuffed up various other things though. It is good to read that maybe I was closer to the mark than I thought! My Whippet also naturally jumps fairly flat and fast, so I am in the process of doing the same grids and jumping exercises with her, early days yet. I will probably never get to trial her as distance and time is a problem, but I always try to train as though I am. OUr local dog club runs so mock trials so that will have to do! I will read this topic with interest.

I have a Stafford and a Whippet. The Stafford as a puppy slept inside at night and was out in an area of the yard he could excavate and not cause any problems. As he grew older he prefers to be out side. He also sleeps outside - although arrangements have recently changed a little as he has spinal problems. His outside is a dog run with a brick house bit, crate inside it with a cover, a matress, polar fleece blankets and when it was very cold a double polar fleece coat and a waterproofed lined coat. He now sleeps in the passage with access to outside on a heated dog bed with his coats on. Do I have the only Stafford that prefers to be outside? Having said that we spend lots of time outside - I don't work and the kids are out rain hail or shine, and I also live on acerage so plenty of exercise. The Whippet spends lots of her time inside and is basically with us. I found her to be one of the quietest easiest to get along with puppies i have ever had (My other two dogs were Dobes, they can be a bit full on) She has been taught froma young age to lay in her bed, only gets on the lounge when invited and does not run around the house. Zoomies are for outside. She also goes into a dog run at times, usually when I am out, and also to eat her bones as it is the only place she can relax enough to do so. She sleeps in a crate at night outside the bedroom door. I have found Whippets shed very little and if she is throwing a little coat I attack her with a Zoom Groom and that takes care of most of it. I never notice her hair on the tiles. She waits on the mat infront of the door and has her paws wiped before trotting to her bed. My OH was brought up that dogs do not come inside at all, I wasn't. Even he is happy having the Whippet inside as she is so quiet that I sometimes forget she is there. The Stafford now also has an inside bed and comes inside especially if it is cold, he is more content now than he was when younger, half an hour was his max before becoming annoying. He also stays on his bed and doesn't hhon around the house. - now just to train the kids not to do zoomies flat out around the kitchen table! Any dog or breed of Dog needs quality time spent with them. Some people have a dog in the back yard spend maybe an hour with it at most and wonder why it is miserable. Some dogs can be "inside" but segregated to one area that the family are not in often and that isn't quality time either. Good one you for researching. I have my dogs inside with me and love it. There are strict rules of what is and is not allowed, and we are all happy working within those. Nothing better than sitiing on the lounge with a cuppa and a Whippet on a cold day. I also have an almost 2 and almost 4 year old, we got the Whippet puppy when the youngest was 5 months. She has been inside since day dot, I had a puppy pen set up so she could go in that when I couldn't watch her. She is fantastic with everyone and is great with the kids. When it is hot all doggies and people are under the aircon as it is just too hot outside.

I got charged a revisit (been going in alot lately!) then one 0.8ml of Cartophen was $17.30. I then, was going in and getting an injection and bringing it home so I guess would be the same. If I buy a vial it was a round $100 for a 10 ml vial, then probably $10 or so dollars for needles and syringes. If I buy it in bulk, I also don't have to remember to ring up and get it made up, then remember to pick it up before it is required. You usually get charged a dispensing/injection fee each time you get something dispensed or go in for a booster cartrophen, so each month if I was getting it needle by needle. If I buy the vial I get charged one dispensing fee. I think my vet charges around the $10 to $11 mark for a dispensing/injection fee.

I am at the moment dealing with a similar thing with my old Stafford. He has bridging of the verterbrae and narrowing of the spinal cord canal due to arthritic calcifications. My Dobe had Spinal Spondylosis, and her grandmother had cervical instability in her neck, so to me yeh it's common!

My old dog and cat are on it monthly for the rest of their lives. My Vet is happy to label a vial up and dispense it will needles etc. I did work for them up until I had my kids though. I always bring them home and inject them myself anyway. My vet has said it needs to be refridgerated.

Moose is looking great! And even though Lacey still has a large would, it is all looking really healthy as well. Still gigantic though and to think a Hot water bottle is responsible! Never going to have one in my house again!

We are all thinking of you. It never gets any easier, but at least we can peacefully give them their wings so they do not have to suffer. HUgs to all

Hope you are going okay Brigie.

WE are left with little choice re drugs and side effects and if we want him on them. Without them he would have to be out down, he is intoo much agony. We are hoping to get him stabilised on a lower doses with less potential side effects, we will see. We are now definately going for quality not quantity, I just hope the quantity is good as well. Good to see Sam is going so well, our boy is on the high doses of drugs, in two days I start to wean him down!

No his is a bit further down, front legs are pretty good! I do sypathise with your girl, My first female Dobe had wobblers and had problems/pain with all four legs and neck

I see people walking without them as well and it horrifies me! I don't think they were brought out in the beginning, but it was seen there was a need. Before they came out I used to recomment to people that they got an old chain, loop it around the collar and then clip your lead aroud the halti ring and the other ring on the chain. I have heard of a few dogs hit by cars and injured after slipping a halti. They should come with at least a warning or a recommendation.

You need a halti connector so your halti is connected to your collar. Then if they get out of the halti they are not free to run off. A halti should never be used without one. http://www.blackdog.net.au/index.php?page=...rt&Itemid=5

Brigie, no matter what time you chose for your boy you will quite possibly beat your self up for at least a little while with - did I do it too early. Realistically we are talking days/weeks, not months or years. I am sorry but I do not believe that this is a decision your vet can or should make. This decision is very subjective and personal. If he was suffering and you wouldn't put him to sleep, then yes a good vet will strongly suggest to you, that it should be done, but the vet doesn't live your dog and cannot know what he is like compared to normal in his day to day life. I had to have my heart dog put to sleep at 8 and a half due to DCM. She was on 18 tablets a day and not one could be missed. I was 33 weeks pregnant and VERY emotional. Never a good time to have to make a major decision. I chose to let her go when she could still run and play and enjoy life because I knew that every morning I could wake up to a disaster. My vet came to my house to Euthanase her. I said to her that is was so hard to look at my beautiful girl and know that I was the one who had made the decision, and she looked so bloody good that day, she had some energy, played ball, slept lots, but had fun with us all. Her reply was she only looks this good because you have looked after her so well. She would never have got as far as she was if you hadn't. She also said that she hoped when they day came for her with her dog, that she could be as brave as I was and selfless enough to let her go and not hold on just for herself. It meant a lot to me. Basically this is only a decision that you can make. You will feel very sad, guilty and mad. but when that passes you will feel good about the fact you put him before yourself and were the brave one. I feel for you at this time, I know it is and will be difficult for you, nothing will change that, but go with what you know is the best thing for your dog, then your decision will never be wrong, or too early. Hugs to you

Brutus has one back paw that takes ages, and then it is put back in a gumby can't quite feel where it is way. The 'good' one is delayed, but much better than the first. Trust me I have cried buckets at times. I went to put him to bed one night after reducing his medication and he had started yelping and the odd scream - I crumpled, couldn't go to bed and was very upset. Prior to his episodes, he had been to the vet and started on Rimadyl and cartophen due to being stiff especially in the mornings. Brutus has now had 3 pred tablets and he is like a new dog, I just hope he maintains it on a lowered dose. The little bugger barked at 4am woke me up, then raced out the door and off after a bloody fox! I thought when the thrill of the chase wears off you are going to crash-but he hasn't, he has come on short walks and even managed to steal the ball last night. The rimadyl twice daily wasn't even touching his pain. I am hoping when we reduce/stop Tramal he stays pain free. I hope the time we have left with him be it weeks. months or years are pain free and full of fun for him, that is my heartfelt wish in all of this. Good luck with your boy

A flat nylon or leather collar in the wrong hands can cause pain and discomfort. A check chain would never potentially cause a problem if it never gets tightened or reefed on. I use a martingale for that exact reason Shell, Whippet = head and neck same diameter = potentially collar off and bye bye doggy.

I am also a positive trainer and am not a fan of halti's. I use a Martingale collar and used one on my Dobe also. More to make sure IF something happened they could not get out of their collar. I don't use chains myself, but can see there use if used properly on a dog with an established problem, which is also dependent on the dogs personality. My dogs are trained from babies not to pull and to walk nicely is heavily reinforced. I have never had my dogs 'laugh' at me either. They are usually more than competant, serious workers who love what they do.

You are so right Quoll. Our boy has nerve damage in his left hind leg, and his right is much better, but not 100%. I will not do any surgery on him due to his age and heart, so my option is to give him the best quality of life I can and if the drugs cause a problem with kidney's etc, well we will cross that bridge when we come to it. This evening he actually wanted to play ball and managed to steal it at one stage. He has not done that for weeks and weeks, probably even months. Our boy has never been overweight, but was very active as a young dog and jumped around a lot. The vet believes that his attitude to life in his early years may be being paid for now. He has been good until the last little bit so I guess I can't complain. Go the oldies

His teeth do look quite a bit better so well done on that! As Dogmad has already said, they can have other serious health implications from NOT having there teeth done. If he is otherwise healthy, then he should cope quite well with anasthetic. My Stafford was done at around 10 and was fine. They can sometimes have even only one tooth that is really sore and have that fixed/removed can mean that they are sooo much happier. I have worked in the veterinary industry for quite a while and have seen many old and elderly dogs have high risk GA's and recovered really well. I have never seen major problems and never seen an oldy lost. You will also then have a clean slate to start with. Keep them on the diet they are now on and then you will reduce the likelyhood of problems in the future. Where his teeth like that when he was desexed? I am suprised that the vet didn't recommend them being done while he was knocked out? Goodluck

Dermacleans is brilliant for all sorts of things! I have used it mainly on horses in the past, haven't needed it on dogs thankfully. His wound is looking much nicer now with the scab coming off and looking nice and healthy. Hope he heals up nice and quickly for you now. Greygirl, you girls burn is horrendous, your poor dog! I now have a Whippet and wouldn't have thought about the heat used until reading this. I now know having a thin skinned/coated breed it is even more of a risk. Goodluck to all kids with these awful awful burns.

I am going through, a similar sort of problem at the moment, not with leaking urine etc, but our 12 year old Stafford has a spinal problem. He has arthritic spurs growing between his vertabrae, and allow narrowing of the spinal coloumn. He has had a couple of episodes of extreme pain and screaming just trying to get around. His Xrays showed his hips were actually quite good, but his back was a bit 'scarey', he needed no sedation at all as he is very good to handle and will lay down and stay when asked. We have been trialling various medications and are finally having a turn around. He is on Cartrophen injections and was on Rimadyl, but they did nothing. He was concurrently on Tramal (Tramadol) and that was the only thing keeping his pain down. He has now started on Cortisone and whilst still on the high dose, he is like a new dog this morning. I am hoping it stays like this once we start reducing the dose. We have bought him a heated bed which he absolutely loves, and he gets very disgruntled if you don't turn it on soon enough in the afternoon. I am now hopeful that we have a chance at stabilising him and having some good quality time with him. Last week I was sure I was going to have to let him go. I am also going to try Devils Claw powder and acupuncture once he is stabilised so I can work out what is helping and what isn't. Good luck and I hope it all workes out well for you

Poor Atlas - he does like to get up to mischief doesn't he! Basically lube and try to get it to go back. If he does it again then getting the opening to his sheath enlarged may be the best way to give you peace of mind. It isn't a big operation. Good Luck