dog geek

In point of fact: here are my two Afghan hounds being intorduced to the new bunny - the old one made a break for freedom while I was out two weeks ago; I came home to some ecstatic hounds and sad, limp corpse. Here, Miffy has been in with the new bunny (which has been in the outside hutch for a week, the object of total fascination and some pointed ... explanations... of my desire re their behaviour with the new bunnies) for five minutes. She *wants* to have bunny for a squeaky toy; but she is choosing to please me and forego the pleasure. She is annoyed at me for doing this; you can tell she understands completely that the consequences for choosing to 'go' for the bunny will not be to her liking. To me, this is a smart dog. She has had a week of being called off the rabbits outside in their hutch; I supervised their first interactions, the dogs were pouncing at the cage, I was reprimanding them, and they had to come inside. Gradually, over a couple of days, I was able to to get them to refrain to charging full bore at the hutch when they went outside; now they do run to the hutch (they can't resist at least sying 'Boo!') but they mind their manners. Miffy sits and watches the 'live show' from a distance now; and I can leave the dogs outside without worrying about the dogs pestering the bunnies. So now the venue for the up close and personal interaction is inside, which has strict rules in place about behaviours. And as you can see - she is *choosing* not to react to grab the bunny. She is a wild little girl; I assume this the 'primitive' trait. But she is a smart little girl who, while she flatly refuses to 'do sit' or any other boring stuff like drop or shake, has picked up other commands/request: she knows 'inside' and 'go to bed'; when we walk she knows 'gee-up' and 'stop'. And she knows 'leave it' - she has to wait for permission to eat her own food, and is not allowed to sample the cats' food. All these requests are only obeyed when I am there in person; she cleans up after the cats with a wary eye out for me, and then magically is the other side of the kitchen when I 'spring' her - although she looks sooooooo guilty! I am going to have another session with her and the bunny today, it will be a cautiously supervised one and I will not just assume that we all friends now. And who knows if I will ever have a girlie who could have a bunny hopping around the backyard without fear of termination - but testing the waters is truly interesting! Bluey on the other hand just went " crazy animal hoarder lady has another flarffy running around - wait! Is that food on the bench???"

Afghan Hounds aren't stupid... they just don't fit into the very narrow parameters of an obedience test conducted in the early seventies by an academic. I have some thoughts on how the misconception arose, and from my reading on the history of the Afghan Hound, and an eye-witness report of its current situation in Afghanistan, have deduced the following: The above-mentioned academic was researching canine intelligence and had a choice of four different tests. Each was designed to assess a different type of intelligence; due to time constraints he had to choose one, and so he chose the one that assessed the time it took the subject dog to reproduce the command, and the level of adherence to the trainer's wishes. This essentially - and the article I read stressed that the researcher himself included this caveat in his conclusion - measured willingness in the subject; and was if anything an indicator of a dog's focus on the human. Afghan Hounds developed in a manner similar to Flock Guardian breeds. They guarded human settlements, taking it upon themselves to patrol boundaries. They hunted for their humans, being trained to leave the hunter, track down and kill the prey, then wait with it until the hunter joined them. They also herded the flocks down from the mountain pastures to the summer grazing, with minimal instruction from the shepherd. They also lived in close proximity to their humans, sharing living quarters and receiving minimal portions of food. This developed a canine which was an independant thinker, bonded with humans but not compulsively focused on human needs and instructions. To illustrate the point of intelligence - my own male Afghan Hound came to me from a stable, well socialised environment where he was raised with the prospect of a show home or a pet home in mind. He was not rigorously trained, just how to walk on the lead and how to stand for examination; and he naturally learned manners from the other dogs and his humans. When he came to me, he was motivated by food to learn sit, stay, drop, stand-up, and speak. Each and very command took (and I am a very inexperienced dog owner) a maximum of TEN minutes to learn. Stay is his least successful achievement - he is programmed to monitor the safety of his territory, and will decide to leave the stay position, cheerfully give me a quick smooch, and resume his post at the gate watching the road. To me, this is not a stupid dog. This is a dog that is smart as a human is smart, able to make choices about his own actions. He does prefer to be in my good books, and so learned very quickly the behaviours appropriate to living inside the house with two little boys, a couple of cats, and a chook and bunny outside. Sorry about the rant, I do get on my high horse bout this! This picture of Miffy and Rowley was taken just a day or two after she came to live with us...

Ohhhh, yeah. I got a cat does that - I can't work out if she is jealous of the attention the dogs get, or maybe she is just demonstrating how superior she is because I don't do that to her.. But she also turns up in other places...

Hi All Took Bluey to a different vet yesterday - after thorough examination the vet said he has an enlarged prostate; and after discussion I am going to try flushing the sheath out daily (three flushes with anti-bac wash, then syringe in more and hold it in for three or four minutes, then allow to drain) for about ten days; if the pus builds up again immediately then it is back in to the vets, where they will sedate him to ultrasound him while they take a urine sample directly through the wall of the abdomen from the bladder. This procedure would cost in the region of $100- $150. That sample, should it show clear, would indicate that the prepuce/sheath needs looking at - so anaesthetic and complete...can't remember the phrase, but getting the whole length of his manbits out and checking for foreign bodies or growths etc. This Procedure was not given a price, as we need to take step 1 and 2 before then; but I don't think it will be thousands The basic gist of it all, is to clear up this dishcarge and work out what is going on, get his urogenital tract health sorted, then collection to secure his bloodlines would seem to be a wise move. That way, either temp or permanent sterilisation is available as an option, should his problem prove to be a repeated problem for him. Cheers, dears!

Yeah, I pretty much read Bluey's expression the same way... lucky he loves me lots! So, to let those know who kindly offered advice, I will take him to visit a new vet who was recommended to me - we are booked in for tomorrow afternoon. I am hoping to have his liver function checked (so... I assume I will be collecting urine for that?) and have a blood panel done to check his status re infections. Erny, I don't actually do that every day... I did it once, left it in for three days, then took it out because it was felting up. I just couldn't be bothered, to be honest . So he gets a bath every nine days, and I keep the hair on his belly short. I don't show him, but do LOOOOVE how beautiful he is when in full coat. I will gladly keep this thread updated if anyone thinks it worthwhile... Thanks again!

This is what I was doing for him - mainly he is sloppy and pees with a distinct lack of aiming; and then steps forward before he finishes so gets it all over his hairy feet. His belly hair is long enough to get most of the mess... honestly, you would think there was a conspiracy, what with him and then my two kids (Y-Chromosone people) apparently feeling unfulfilled, artistically speaking, unless they have coated the walls of the toilet with a fine spray of piddle...

Maybe you should Gladwrap his back legs. LOL @ the look on his face if I did!! i have tried doing the wrap thing before, but he gets pretty felted within a couple of days - causing me to rapidly lose interest in daily combing out and 'cornrowing'.

Eeeeeeuuuuuwwww - PF, that is so gross... but descriptive. It is normally snot-green. And his coat gets dark yellow, sticky pee on it. My digital camera card is refusing to download onto my computer, so no pix from me of an indelicate nature, I am afraid

Hmmm... So: Try an anti-bacterial flushing once a day (boiling syringe after each use); and maybe some redcurrant and ascorbic acid? Or should I find a vet who doesn't charge the earth, and have his kidney function done? BTW - thankyou, all, for your help, it helps with my indecision

I don't know anything about "bitter drops" nor about whatever it is that could be causing this to be a continued problem for you, but my boy had excessive discharge (don't think it was puss but holistic practitioner did think he was licking too much causing an irritation ... kind of like a catch 22 situation) and I was advised (by the holistic practitioner) to use some colloidal silver on a tissue - squeeze the sheath to open it and wipe just inside and around the outer area of it. Don't know if "bitter drops" would be the better, or colloidal silver, but the latter helped us. I acknowledge that my boy's issue sounds considerably more mild than what your boy is going through though. Bitter drops are the disgustingly bitter formula used to discourage pets/children from licking or chewing stitches/fingernails.

Hiya Nattynatnat what do you do with the Sodium/Ascorbic? Do you drop tablets of it down their throat? Or is it a food additive?

Thankyou, all, for the advice! Food for thought - guess I am reluctant to go to another vet because I have been going to this one for twenty years, and so he is well used to my little quirks and crankinesses!

Interesting... but I don't think the opening is too small, certainly I keep the hair trimmed (but not shaved, I think it started from a previous vet shaving his sheath to collect a urine sample) on the sheath and I have trimmed his belly hair as much as I can get away with. I don't want to trim too much, I plan to show him (when the weather gets warmer - call me a fair weather dog devotee). I have been putting bitter drops around the part of the sheath that is a couple of centimetres back from the opening...

No, he has never been used at stud, but his bloodlines are important enough for the breeders to want him kept entire. Blanditis, huh - so would mind giving me an idea of what this is? Is it a low grade infection type of thing? And I guess I feel that it may be the sort of thing that keeps him feeling a bit 'fluey' - tired, and a bit lethargic. Or that could just be his nature... hard to tell, he is only ever 'hyper' down at the local shopping centre, where he acts as though the Latte Crowd eat dogs for brunch... the rest of the time he is a gentle, placid boy.

My five year old Afghan Hound has had pus at the opening of his sheath for almost a year now. Also, his urine is very thick and makes a smelly, sticky mess of his underfurnishings. At first the vet wrote it off as just a guy thing. After a couple of months I asked for a more active pursuit of this problem - which is when the vet first said desexing was the only option, it must be a prostrate problem. I informed the vet that since this dog had bloodlines too valuable to lose casually, I would prefer to explore other options. So he prescribed the usual antibiotics. This seemed to help - but not really; and because I other stuff happening with my life, I decided that although I didn't really like the asessment of it being a 'boy problem' and nothing to worry about, I would wait and see. Couple of months ago, I took him back and explained that he still has the pussy sheath opening, the thick urine, the more than usual licking at the area. Again, the vet insisted that desexing was the solution - I repeated that I couldn't do that, so the vet did a prostrate examination which came up as the dog having a very slightly enlarged prostrate. I then requested a swab be taken - which the vet did; the panel came back as resistant to the two common antibiotics but sensitive to three others. So the dog went on t-80 for two courses; still not cleared up so now he has had three weeks of doxcycline... and still no real result, other than the dog seems a bit livelier. Any advice? (Other than desexing; that seems to me to be unrelated to his problem and I just would like to clear up the pus and the smelly urine.)

I have only been to the one out at Hume - and they do have shampoos and conditioners you can buy there, or you can use your own... But then I thought about the hygiene aspect and got a bit worried about the transmission of nasties from one dog to the next... ...but I decided in the end that it was HEAPS easier (and cheaper) to just buy a 5L container of their shampoo to use at home. I just pop my dogs in the bath (Afghans and a Whippet) and use a cheapo hose attachment on the bath faucet. I do all sorts of convoluted things to make sure I use as little water as possible (including popping my dogs into my sons' bath water after the skin kids are out!). And I towel dry my dogs, then they are parked in front of the heater while I comb them out (Afghans in full coat). I don't blow dry unless we are going to a show.

Count me out!! No, I do not think that I want to have ear cropping even mentioned, let alone sanctioned.

Yes - i can! But I will have to hunt it down later, I have to go and do the 'school run' now.

There is actually a widely accepted theory among anthropologists that humans and dog evolved as a symbiote, more than a hundred thousand years ago. They are thought to have out-competed - as a symbiote - both Neanderthal humans and wolves. I have some articles for you and a couple of links; I will try to put them here, but might have to send them to you by email if I can't do this! Here are two 'articles' that I wrote - excuse the amateurish writing, I was attempting to explain it for the layman: Article one: Although I am not a breeder of dogs – merely a devotee – I am aware that the placement of various colours and patterns on a particular breed of dog's coat is of crucial importance to those who do breed and show our canine companions. I am ( if somewhat vaguely) aware that breeders do endeavour to minimise the unwanted appearance of white markings in their bloodlines, with much agonising over a particular animal which may have multiple desirable characteristics and qualities – but which has white in an unwelcome area on its coat. So it was with interest that I discovered that those domesticated foxes in Russia, whilst being selected for only one important characteristic – that of friendliness – also developed white markings on their coats. After piquing the interest of various scientists, this particular phenonomen was explored on a genetic basis. It has been confirmed that this particular result of domestication is a spontaneous expression of a gene called “Star”. It has also been found in other domesticated species: dogs, cats, pigs, sheep, cattle, horses, mice, rats, guinea pigs... when humans are involved in a species' reproduction, those animals evolve (amongst other physical and behavioural differences from the wild populations) an increasing proportion of individuals with the “Star” gene. I have found various photographs of the Russian Foxes showing the white markings; if an individual has only one copy of “Star” then it displays only minimal white markings on its coat. If, however, it has two copies of the “Star” gene – one from each parent – then it frequently displays a large percentage of coat area as white. I am sure the pattern of these markings is familiar to anyone as being common in any number of domestic animals. Quite what this means is a little complicated for the average non-scientist; but I could guess that it explains why breeders never seem to completely erase outcroppings of white within their bloodlines. So it would seem that whilst the acme of desirability is to completely control the appearance (or non-appearance, as it may be) of white markings on a dog's coat – such control is but an illusion, and white markings will spontaneously appear no matter how rigorous the selection of breeding stock without white markings. Article Two: -1Why do humans associate with dogs? And why do dogs associate with humans? I have been curious enough to trawl through the more easily accessible scientific articles on the Web for an answer to these questions. I was astonished to discover that the scientific world has been pondering these precise questions for decades, and that the consensus in the scientific community is that humans and dogs have been so inter-dependant for so long that they are commonly regarded as being in a classifiable symbiotic relationship. I have read numerous articles, and Dr C. Groves of the ANU was kind enough explain some of the key concepts I had found. I added a number of his articles to my reading list, and investigating further, I found that there are significant numbers of researchers, from a variety of disciplines, investigating pre-historic sites of human habitation dating back 400,000 years and more. There is now a body of evidence, all peer-reviewed and supported empirically, that places dogs in these habitations concurrently with humans. Analysis of this body of evidence, and of earlier fossilised remains of both hominids and canids, supports a conclusion that explains this symbiosis: Most people are aware that Neanderthal Man and Modern Man are separate “breeds” as it were. Attempts to explain the dominance of our own ancestors over the Neanderthal gradually led to the comprehension that the Neanderthal was actually far better suited to survival than previously thought. Both types of hominid had sophisticated social and cultural structures. The Neanderthal had, overall, far more effective senses than contemporary Humans. The Neanderthal was more physically robust, and had a significantly larger brain, than those ancient Humans. The Neanderthal were, in fact, more suited to survival, and researchers were puzzled as to how they failed to evolve in a dominant position. After nearly a decade of various theories being proposed, tested, and then discarded, it became clear that the significant difference between Neanderthals and our ancestors was categorically - the dog. There is more and more evidence supporting the importance of this social interaction; far from being just a cordless vacuum cleaner around human campsites, dogs substituted for key Human senses. Acting as ears and noses, co-operating in assessing the immediate environment for threats and for food sources, dogs enabled Humans to out-perform the stronger, more perceptive Neanderthal. In a similar fashion, humans have given the dog the edge over the wolf. Because it now is accepted that the dog is of far more ancient origin than previously supposed, a similar question regarding the prevalence of the dog over the stronger, more effective wolf arose. Amazingly, the wolf - just like Neanderthal Man - was physically more robust, had a much larger brain, and in addition was socially better organised than the dog. Again, with all other factors accounted for, the significant advantage to the dog is its relationship with Humans. Conclusively, it is the existence of the dog/human interface that secured the survival of both species. In direct competition with the Neanderthal and the wolf, neither of the more vulnerable species should have succeeded. But dogs and humans merged and pooled their capabilities, with both species sacrificing certain aptitudes, but contributing specialties that enhanced their combined chances of survival. In compensation, the new entity evolved and became the dominant life form on the planet. Up until the new millennium, we have completely overlooked the importance of the dog in society. Objectively, the dog is regarded as an artifact, and a possession. Subjectively, the dog fascinates most human cultures. Even if the dog is periodically the focus of intense disapproval and subjected to rigorous control, there is always a countering re-engagement and a return to the norm of dogs being accepted once more as a factor in our society. In demonstrating the existence of the human/dog entity, scientists have now thrown up a new question: have we really outgrown our dependence on the dog? Indeed, now the focus of those busy scientific minds is directed towards facilitating the existence of dogs in modern society. Dr D. Paxton, an Australian academic, concluded in his thesis that there is an urgent need to re-organise urban structure to facilitate dogs living comfortably among us. Unequivocally, his research makes a case that it is ignoring fact to try to control dogs in the urban environment. It is increasingly clear that dogs and their needs should be facilitated in urban planning. To facilitate the human/dog entity is not anthropomorphism. We have run in conjunction with dogs for hundreds of thousands of years; without dogs as part of our society, we are uncomfortably, subconsciously aware that threats lurk; our main defense - the alert senses of the dog - has been disabled. That stress is alleviated only by the inclusion of the dog in our immediate environment. That is the cause of the relaxation that we feel in 'owning' dogs. That is the cause of dogs behaving appropriately only when they are given the role of 'watchdog' rather than 'executive' within the family unit. We need to stop categorizing dogs as 'domestic animals' and assign them enhanced status as more than just equipment - they are in reality part of the entity that is the human race.

Oh, boy - I hope someone comes up with a great idea here, I want to know the same!! Failing that - I buy whole linseed (cheap @ $2 500g) from Coles; with each batch of dog food I make up (a week's worth, with one third going straight into the freezer, to keep it fresh for feeding at the end of the week) I grind a cupful up (I have a slender blender which does a good job, I put the seed into a clean, tall glass jar and process it with a cloth wrapped around the top to stop the seed flying out) and put that into the mix. Linseed IS Flaxseed, although if anyone tells me different I am prepared to accept I may wrong Omega oils... *sigh* in a form that is environmentally friendly - yes please! Other than that, I feed cheap tinned sardines/mackeral or fresh sardines chopped through the mix...

I had just been surfing in my allotted twenty minutes of time (CURSE the school holidays - I have to SHARE the computer) and had seen the Summerwinds site - AND the winner is: Settrlvr!! Sorry guys!! Apart from having a beautiful website (I want at least a couple of their Afghans + at least one Friesian + several of their black smoke Persians = ) the products look pretty well researched. http://www.summerwinds.com/ Should I go order some, do you think??

So sorry to see this, Anita and Bear. Hugs. For all.

Try using Advocate, rather than your usual spot-on treatment. It covers earmites, as well as lots of other parasites. Not able to help on other questions, sorry!

Try using a dust buster or a vacuum cleaner with hose attachment to get the flies?

If you are worried about losing the oils in his coat, you could try increasing the amount of oils in his diet - oiling the dog from the inside type of thing...