Fourjays

Hi, can someone refer me to the lady I think it is, who does legal advice for rescue groups? Needs to be someone experienced in dealing with NSW/QLD councils. Preferably someone who does pro bono work, for a genuine rescue group in need at the moment. Reply or email to: [email protected] Don't want anyone's unqualified opinion, need proper, legal advice. Thanks in advance

If under stimulated, then yes, they will bark. Generally speaking, they tend to only alert bark though. Mine bark at people/dogs walking past the front of our house and sometimes at things walking down the lane way next to us. But they are perfectly happy up on the verandah watching people and dogs walk past out the back, and don't bark in that situation. They do make good watch dogs, so will bark at anything unusual. Don't confuse a gundog at work, compared to a gundog at home - they are in different modes and therefore behave differently. Males vs females - personally, I find my males more smoochy than my girls and my males are a bit more territorial also, so more inclined to alert bark. Have found my boys a bit more forward with other dogs also, but that is more a temperament/individual dog trait I expect. A GSP should be "biddable" which means responsive and easily trained. Don't be too concerned about the post above this one, as most of what is written is not correct for this breed. As a working gundog, the dog must be trainable and responsive to the handler - that is a very strong gundog trait - responsiveness to training. If not trained or properly exercised and mentally stimulated - they WILL take their own intitiative and create their own fun however. They are an intelligent breed after all, and need something to do. Obedience training for at least the first 12 months of their life is a MUST. Somewhere to have off lead exercise time is also highly recommended, typically an on lead walk just does not cut it with these guys, they are a high energy breed.

So sorry for your loss. He looked like a real sweetie. RIP little guy

My vet also checked out his lower back and rear legs and they don't seem to be causing him too many problems, although he is obviously less aware of what his back legs are doing at present. Most of the problems I am seeing are stemming from him trying to counter act how he is feeling and thus his stance is quite odd looking and his left side is the most affected as that is the direction of his head tilt. I was worried he was in a bit of pain in the rear due to the way he was standing, but it doesn't seem that way, so that is something good too. He has deficits, which aren't making this any easier for him, but at least they have't gotten worse also.

He basically got worse for the first 3 days. For example, Saturday he had no head tilt present, but was obviously very wobbly, Sunday there was a slight head tilt and eating was very difficult for him and yesterday he had a very pronounced head tilt, was vomiting after eating and his ataxia was much worse too. Today though, he has improved quite a bit and I am feeling a lot happier - yesteday I was quite worried due to the fact he seemed to be getting worse. I know it seems weird the progression of it. Been back to our wonderful vet today so he now has anti-nausea meds, she took one look at him and said yep, it's vestibular alright (she hadn't seen him yet). He does seem generally happier today as well, so a few good signs today.

Thankyou for all of that :) Tip 2 is good also, I have been putting his food bowl up on a stool as he was falling over if he put his head down. Also am using a non slip mat underneath him when he eats, and I stand and steady him also - this seems to be working well. He seems quite nauseous at times too. Have had to start leaving him downstairs though He doesn't even want to tackle the stairs now. Was able to leave him in a nice sunny room today though, whilst I was at work. He does seem to be getting worse with each day Back to the vet tomorrow to see if we can't do something about his back end to make him a bit more comfortable. He is very sad looking today too So hard seeing him like this I think it was the IVS that stopped him wanting to walk so far. He was always a little more unsteady on his feet after it and seemed to tire more easily. The IVS episode stopped me taking him for regular walks, and we never really picked it up again. He seemed to satisfy his exercise needs just going out as far as the lawn to toilet. The eyesight problem you mention may just be confusion. Also, bear in mind, if he has IVS, his world will be spinning, like being drunk. Hard for a dog to figure that out. Hope he recovers well.

Hi hortfurball and thankyou for all of that. My old boy is worse today and now does have a head tilt, which wasn't present yesterday. So yep, pretty much convinced it is vestibular syndrome. He is now also having trouble eating and is much wobblier today too, am also wondering if he is having some eye sight problems too. Thankfully he is happy to be helped out and seems quite thankful for the help to stand up properly and help with eating too :) We will just take each day at a time and hopefully he will be a lot better soon. Did you find that leaving a light on for your boy at night, helped him? Oh yes, he did have his ears checked, as ear infection was first thing that came to mind with the loss of balance. But all was okay there. So here is hoping he makes some improvements soon

That is odd with the tick although we do get them up here through summer time and it's not been unknown for them to travel back from the coast in people's camping gear etc and dogs to then be affected by them. One good thing about the cold weather up here - no ticks and the slithery things go away too :) Just going to keep the old boy quiet for a few days. He does have a sore back and problems with his back legs, but this was something very new and very sudden onset. Every time he shakes his head at the moment, he falls over (and is then most unhappy about that, poor boy)

Hi, vet asked me the same thing...haven't been near the coast and he hasn't been near anyone who has either. Weather here has been pretty cool for ticks the past few days too but I guess you cant rule anything out as far as ticks go. He has slightly improved now, and been to the vet and thoroughly checked over etc but can't find any cause for his symptoms. No eye movements whatsoever, so vet isn't sure if it is vestibular syndrome. No answers basically, just playing the wait and see game now, the main thing he has is dramatically reduced reflexes in both hind legs, lack of pinch response in his lower back and a pronounced twitch when standing in particular - but that's been present for a while, possibly is more pronounced at present. Neurologically he seems fine. But he just keeps falling over for no reason at all and is very wobbly

Anyone on here got any experience with vestibular syndrome in a geriatric large dog ( 14 1/2)? Waiting to get my old boy to the vets this morning but he got me up at 4.30am as he was crashing into the furniture. Not sure if it is vestibular related or something else, hopefully vet will have some answers. Not handling going up and down our stairs well at all (nearly fell down them in his desperation to get out to the toilet at 4.30), so I am supporting him for this now. He falls over when he changes direction, he falls over when he shakes his head too. Back legs and front legs aren't supporting him very well at all, mostly okay when he walks straight, but anything else and he goes splat There is no eye movements though which makes me think it's not vestibular Not had anything like this in him before and he was fine yesterday, running around paddocks and everything! Worry, worry

Incidentally, involuntary urination like that or even the opposite, can be caused by pelvic pain and discomfort also. I've seen it in a puppy that had severe sciatica which was affecting the nerves in the urinary tract and thus it appeared that the puppy had a constant UTI, when in fact, she was just in a lot of pain as her pelvis was not aligned correctly and the pain from the sciatica and the pelvis was affecting her urinary system. Had her chiro'd and this sorted that problem out. Similarly, I've had another old dog who was having some incontinence issues and he had some sort of lower back and pelvic involvement and a good chiro session has sorted him out for the moment. It can be worth getting all of these things checked out. Unfortunately, it does cost a little bit however, but worth it to make them comfortable and happy again :)

Hi Annabelle, Sorry to say, but she sounds like she is in some sort of pain to me. I very recently had one of mine doing very similar to this and she had a pinched nerve or a disc issue in her neck/shoulder and was extremely uncomfortable - at her worst I thought I was going to have to say goodbye to her as had never seen a dog in that much pain before She would pace, she would lie in the most bizaare places, didn't want to be with us or with the other dogs, was extremely reluctant to eat (and I am sure you know this, but food is very important to a GSP!) and she would whine and cry for no apparent reason - standing or lying, it didn't matter. All sorts of abnormal behaviours! I would recommend a good check over by a good chiro vet or performance dog vet - she may need x-rays even. My girl was treated with a course of steroids, anti-inflams, and valium to calm her down as well as regular chiro's, stretching and very gentle exercise only. She is as good as gold now, although if she is silly she has flair ups (and she is 13) - it also took a good couple of months to get her sorted out. And btw - I think some over zealous pulling on her collar/lead by my husband when out walking one day, is all that it took to trigger the problem my dog had (most likely there was already an undetected problem though). Was there any sort of incident that occurred whilst your parents had her? Is she fully weight bearing on all her legs when standing? My girl started off with only a very slight weight transference off the front leg that was affected, so you have to pay really close attention as they are excellent at masking their pain and discomfort from you.

And people really panic too when they think there is a snake involved. I witnessed a lady this year who in her panic, just about reversed her car into someone elses just because there was a snake nearby (nowhere near her car though!). And then there were the other end of the spectrum - the curious people who threw caution to the wind and wanted to get as close as possible to the snake to see it (4 1/2 foot brown btw).

Just to add - check the size of your dumbell as well. Often if the DB is too large (sticks out too far from sides of mouth), the dog will roll and mouth it. Also with the breaking for the retrieve, don't always let the dog do the retrieve. Labs are pretty keen retrievers naturally, but she needs to learn to listen to your command. Keep her on lead whilst training the steadiness for this and every few throws (randomise this part), you go out and pick up the DB and retrieve it and return to hear and release, but don't give her that DB. Doesn't matter if it is a wait/stay that you leave her on, but give her a command to stay put, whilst you go out and retrieve that DB yourself. The other suggestions for stopping breaking are good ideas too. Sometimes it takes a couple of different ideas and methods to resolve some of these sorts of issues.

Hubby didn't have anything else to add to this thread, he supports the idea that the dogs are scenting/tracking human scent in the areas of the cache, which would be the most consistent thing, except that the age of the scent would be an issue as some caches don't get found for quite a while! Good luck with it!