Tassie

Hey Frizbee ... I see you are in NT. On the FB Canine Cruciate Recovery group there is a girl in Darwin who has had good success with TTO (twice) on one of her big Pitbulls ... gorgeous dogs. She did struggle with persuading him that he needed not to be getting out of his x pen .. but she got it sorted, and he did really well. If you decided to join that group, and can't track her down, flick me a PM and I can point you in the right direction. When I was having discussions with my vet about possible surgery, with the plan of getting my 8 year old BC back into agility, TTO was his strong recommendation.. There are recommendations for post op rehab on that group in the files, and you may be able to organise some online help .. one of the DOLers is a canine rehab vet. (GOtta love the internet!) So very pleased to see you are feeling a bit more like you have realistic options available to get your boy back on his feet. Onwards and upwards now..

Sorry about the injury. Maybe it would help if you listed and considered the alternatives. From what I've heard and read, Conservative Management (no surgery) requires even longer strict confinement and restrictions than are required after surgery, and particularly for a large active dog, may not be effective even after all that time, so surgery is required anyway. Extracapsular repair is cheaper in the short term, but probably not a really good option for a younger larger more active dog. Again if that fails, TPLO, TTA or TTO may be required anyway. And I guess at the back of your mind is the other alternative .. PTS. There is a really great FB group which has a heap of information and discussion, and is hugely supportive. Canine Cruciate Recovery group. It would be good to have a good discussion with a vet, either specialist ortho, or general vet who has a particular interest and plenty of experience in performing different surgeries, to discuss options, costs, recovery time and so on. A procedure which is not widely mentioned in the US based FB group, is TTO .. developed in Australia by a NZ surgeon. My own vet likes it as the time to weight bearing is shorter, recovery time easier (though it still depends on bone healing, and prevention of infection), and in his opinion outcomes are better. As Panto has said, while confinement, and prevention of slipping, is important, crates are sometimes not necessary .l.. and not even doable for a large dog with a cone of shame. Is there any chance you could get someone to call in to check him once a day maybe? Feel bad for you, with hard choices ... wish you luck.

True .. although it can be a bit hard to find vets that use the Nobivac one shot ..depends on the clinics. We've been told that there is a minimum purchase order for the vets, and they won't buy the particular vaccine if they can't be sure of using it all in the time frame ... don't know if that's right - that's just what our club was told when we were asking about it (in terms of when we accept pups in for training.) To the OP .. a good breeder will have this information for you, and the pup's vaccination and worming paperwork.

Ah OK .. that makes sense (can you tell I've never had a smaller breed ) .. so that would tie in with them not usually letting the pups go till 10 weeks or so.

Find out by trial and error what she finds valuable in the way of reinforcers .. food, probably, but within that .. what kind of food treats does she seem most interested in, Then reward her for anything she does that you like, whether you've asked for it or not at first, and particularly for anything which shows increasing bravery. And find out by trial and error what she finds worrying, and increase distance from those things at first, and then gradually reduce the distance as she gets less worried .. again rewarding heavily for ability to do simple behaviours in the sight or sound of those things. Little steps .

What TSD said! And I'd add, which you're probably doing anyway .. feed him his meals in his crate - preferably when it's in the family room. For other times when he needs to be in the other room, I'd give him something extra special to chew on .. frozen chicken wing or something that he only gets when he's in that situation. it's all about adding value for being settled in his crate.. Can you leave the door open between the two rooms for a while until he gets used to the whole new situation? ETA covering the crate, at least on three sides, is usually beneficial .. I'm assuming it's a wire crate.

Yes!

Amber Griffin, that's pretty exciting. For me, the most important thing about a vet is that they're good at their job, good with the dogs, and treat me as an intelligent person. For that, I'm prepared to pay a bit more than the cheapest price going. (Although I certainly don't want to be gouged .) Which vacc your pup will need and when will depend on what the breeder's vet has given. Most breeders I've dealt with give a C3 at about 6 weeks, which gives the pups some protection when they go to their new homes from 8 weeks, but to get full coverage, they would normally get a C5 at 12 weeks. (It used to be that there would be a third at 16 weeks or so, but I think that would now b done only in a very high risk parvo area.) If your family vet is the one you'll be using, you can certainly ring and ask what their normal schedule is, and it should be quite OK to ask the breeder what his/her normal puppy vacc is. And you could ask about worming schedule too.

I think I must have my lovely vet well trained - never had them attempt to upsell. Though I've heard it can happen, and in vet clinic puppy preschools - the not so good ones. I'm so lucky in that at both the vets I go to .. the regular local one, and the holistic one I go to for hydrotherapy and complementary treatments like acupuncture, laser etc. when needed, the dogs and cat are treated as part of the family, and get spoilt rotten. My thinking is that by making it a fun place to go, I make life so much easier for dogs, staff and me if they have to be hospitalised. I see what juice is saying, and in fact it's usually a few days after getting the pup .. maybe a week, before they go for their well puppy check.

Very exciting time. The only worry about having your puppy on the ground in your yard would be if you had had a dog with parvo in there. That can stay in the ground for a long time. Your vet will advise about time past vaccination when it is fairly safe to have puppy on the ground outside your house .. normally they would say 2 weeks after second vac at 12 weeks .. but you need to get the puppy out and about long before that so pup can start learning about the world. Check with your vet if there has been any parvo outbreak .in your area .. less likely in winter. You can always carry puppy, and certainly do car journeys. It's also fine to visit friends with vaccinated dogs.

Pup should normally have had first vaccination at 6 weeks, and you should get the paperwork for that when you pick up your puppy.. That paperwork will tell you when the next one is due (depends on the particular vaccine used .. it's usually 12 weeks.). I love to take my puppy in for a well puppy meet and greet check. Just carry the puppy in as he/she won't be fully protected by the first vaccination. It's a great opportunity for the puppy to be cuddled and spoilt with nothing scary happening. Vet will normally check eyes, ears, heart rate, lungs, abdomen and usually scan for the microchip so the number can be confirmed with the paperwork .. that will go on their records. It's a chance for you to start setting up a great relationship with the vet, who will if you're lucky, be looking after your puppy for life. (My lovely vet who did the well puppy check on my agility girl at 8 weeks 15 years ago, was also the one who sent her lovingly on her last journey at 15 and a quarter, and shed tears with me. It's also a chance for you to ask any questions .. for instance, I'd forgotten the worming schedule for pups .. and sometimes things change anyway. BTW, I also take my pup in fairly often when the waiting room is not too busy to pop her on the scales. Of course she always gets cuddles and a treat..

Professional help certainly wouldn't go astray. Most puppies who have had a good experience in their litter and who have been trained by their new owners, will typically have started to give up on biting the humans by about 4 months. Although they may continue a bit of gentle 'retrieve the arm' a bit longer .. but that is a different thing, and is almost a game played by consent. So my go tos .... make sure you always have a replacement chew item - can be piece of cardboard - within a metre or two, so that you can give a verbal interrupt (mine is "I don't think so" (because it's said calmly, not like growling or yelling) and I give the pup the replacement legitimate chew item and tell him quietly what a good decision he's made. The n leave him to it for a while .... try to have some small treats on you or close by wherever you are, so that you're able to reward the pup with a treat for exercising self control and keeping his teeth to himself or his things he can chew. Maybe asking for a sit and rewarding that before trying to touch him. So the principle is .. set the pup up for success, try to work out what the triggers are and change the scenario, interrupt and redirect, and reward always for good decisions. My gung ho 4 month old was quite mouthy - hands and feet and pant legs and shoes, but now she mainly reserves that for playing bitey face with my adult dog, although she occasionally tests to see if the rules have changed ... they haven't .

From the little I know, a Lagotto would not be my first choice for a busy family with young children (although some Lagotto folks might be along to give more information.) It's hard if you're not sure what your son is allergic to ... often it's saliva rather than hair. Surprisingly, perhaps the easiest dogs to deal with in terms of shedding, can be the coated dogs, which while they shed, produce "dust mice" .. tumbleweeds of hair that collect in corners and are relatively easy to clean up, as opposed to the short hairs of dogs like Labradors, that have the ability to stick in anywhere and be almost impossible to remove. In terms of allergic reactions, you might be able to go along to a dog show, have a look at some breeds that appeal, ask about their experience with allergic reactions with the breed, and with the owner's permission, if they're not busy, ask if your son could perhaps touch the dogs (obviously choosing a time when the owners do not seem too stressed or rushed ). Many owners are only too happy to talk about their breed. You need perhaps to consider grooming requirements too ..

Frank is lucky to have supportive work colleagues. As with any form of grief, it's probably best to just go with what he seems to need on any given day. It may help him to share stories of his puppies, ask him how the others are doing .. it sounds like he had more than the one. Sounds like you're already doing the important thing .. recognizing that his grief and distress are real, especially when the death came as a shock. Bless you for caring .. not everyone gets it.

Good tips so far. At 4 months, although pup can go for longer walks, it's not necessary .. you could stick to the recommendations of 5 minutes per month of age. But the most important part of the "going for walks" at the moment, as you've figured, is spending the time teaching the pup how to walk nicely. And in teaching this, the pup will be getting so much mental exercise from the effort of controlling himself, that you'll have a more tired pup than you'd have from the same amount of time spent with him pulling. So plenty of soft small, easy to deliver treats, which you'll be giving every few steps at first. Once the lights go on, you can mark (my marker is "Yes") and treat at the moment the lead is not tight and/or the pup looks at you. Rinse and repeat. Distance covered is not an issue at this stage, nice walking is what you're after, and what you're rewarding. So you'll be looking at how many steps you can take with the dog paying attention to you/and or the lead not tight. It's a game, so it's fine to get excited when the pup manages to control himself. I've just been practising with my 4 month old Border Collie girl, who thinks everything should happen at warp speed, and that every person she sees needs to meet her. I actually forgot her harness this morning, so she was just on her martingale collar, and she was able to do a really good job. I spent much more time going forward than stopping so she could collect herself.

Lots of good advice. Just a small addition ... I use "swap" when pup has something in her mouth that I need to inspect and/or confiscate. I offer a treat, she opens her moth and briefly drops the 'thing', I reward that .. and then either give her permission if it's something OK for her to have, or give another treat or a different 'thing' if I'm removing the original 'thing'. For teaching tug and give in that context, I'll do what TSD says (which won't surprise her). I also use It's Yer Choice.

In a number of US states, there are very active SAR groups which have civilian dog-handler teams trained for a variety of SAR activities. I 'knew' a girl in Texas whose working line BC was trained as a cadaver dog. She was a member of one of the many civilian SAR teams deployed for cadaver searches after Hurricane Katrina. The civilian teams were deployed for just a week, partly because of the psychological stress on dogs and handlers, but also, in that case, for health reasons. Pretty sure there were civilian SAR teams deployed in the Worl Trade Centre towers. Amazing dogs and people.

My understanding is that the medicinal cannabis oil comes from varieties of hemp which have little or no THC (tetrahydracannabinol) which is the main psycho-active chemical sought after in illegal 'pot'. The illegal growers select for high THC, the legal and would be legal hemp growers select for low or THC. We are just now getting round to legalising medicinal cannabis products for humans, although at the moment, in Tasmania at least, they can only be prescribed by specialist neurologists - which is a bit of a problem in a state with waiting lists to see neuro specialists of over 12 months .

From what I read in an orthopaedic group, medicinal cannabis oil (low or negligible THC) is fairly readily available legally for use in dogs in a number of states in the US. People who are using it are finding it useful for pain relief with few complications, and without the same GI negative effects of several of the usual pain relief meds .. particularly beneficial for long term recovery type orthopaedic surgeries.

Here you go, Rebanne. Sick Border Collie pup

Yes, I certainly do remember ... such a sad situation. Will try to track it down.

Thanks for the picture .. she's looking great. And yes .. they are so very quick ..and their first response is to use the mouth.to investigate. I guess all we can do when we are working with stuff we don't want them to have, is to confine them. My new puppy is very quick (BC), but thankfully, she loves her crate, so I have a choice of 2 crates and 2 xpens I can put her in when necessary .. with things like snuffle mat, and Kongs to keep her happy.

So good that you were onto it quickly KobiD. It's not just the fatal consequences you need to consider, but the possible liver damage. Do know what you mean about the eat/try anything though .. but it can be handy.....easy to get those charcoal tablets down.

It's hard when they get older, isn't it. There are some conditioning exercises you can do with little or no equipment that will help build up muscle (by the way, it's worth measuring the circumference of the mid thighs before you start .. to see if there is a difference side to side, and also as a baseline. Start the exercises gradually, and concentrate on good form, rather than doing a lot, too quickly or with poor form. And of course stop if the dog is fatiguing, or painful. These are some of the things I've learnt from online courses, and have found beneficial with my dog, including a 15 year old. So - walking backwards .. using the hind legs, not rabbit hopping back .. starting with just a step or two, and building up. on a level surface first, and then up hill when the dog gets stronger. Standing square with a nice level topline for a short period at first, and on a level surface at first, then on an unstable surface .. like an old chair cushion or air mattress or pillow. Start with say 10 seconds, and see if you can lengthen the time. This will help to strengthen the core muscles rather than specifically the hind legs, but is important. Puppy sit ups .. sit to stand to sit etc. Again, slowly and concentrating on good form. Small number of reps at first. Down to stand to down etc. .. fold back down, and aiming to be able to come up to a stand without changing the position of the feet .. think of a level action. (This is quite a strong exercise, so you might want to wait till you have some muscle strength. Low cavalettis .. stepping over/slow trot through, not jumping. By the way .. well done for the carpet runners.. They make a huge difference in keeping the dogs safe.

And another addition to a helpful YouTube list. I find The Glasgow Dog Trainer very good at explaining and has some great tips, and shows how he gets the owners to go about their training.