Zombie Bait

Thanks guys. No rash yet, so I think they should be right. They arent scratching or licking themselves so I dont think they are itchy. Bloody dogs, they have 4 outdoor beds between 2 of them yet a bag of insulation bats just seems so much more comfy...grrrr The bath sounds like a good idea, just have to do it and get them dry before the next storm hits brisbane!

Just got home to find my 2 dogs happily lying on insulation bats that got delivered this morning. :D I told my OH that they should be stored in the shed as Sierra will rip apart anything but he wouldnt listen. I have just gotten home to find that Sierra has ripped open 2 bags of the insulation bats and both the dogs happily lying on them. I rung my vet who said I should watch out for a rash. Is there anything else I should watch out for?? I have wiped both of them down with a damp face cloth to try and remove any particles but I dont know what else to do and the vet seemed a bit stumped. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Im so mad right now at OH. If he had of just listened to me we wouldnt have this issue.

Erny, our 2 are also tissue fiends. As soon as you put one down they take off with it!!! Thank god they havent figured out that the toilet roll is basically the same stuff otherise I'd be in trouble!!

Sorry OT, but my friend owns a male desexed sibe. He is epileptic, worse in the heat. He has just been put on a higher dose of his meds ( I think phenobarbitone) and he has developed a massive increase in appetitite and possible pica. He has just had surgery due to ingesting a sock (it got stuck in his stomach). They have found that he picks up everything and tries to eat it. Could this be because of his meds? He is 5 and has never done this before.

Thankyou everyone for your replys, it means so much. She was such a dear old girl and will be missed, but it helps to think she had 12 good years. Thanks again.

Today we sent Cindy to the rainbow bridge. Poor girl was 12 yo, ACD. She had developed a tumour in her stomach that grew quite rapidly (in the past 2 weeks). Cindy was my MIL's dog, but we went as a family to give her her wings. She was such a lady right until the end. So gentle and forgiving. The vet was not so impressed by us giving her a chocolate bar 5 minutes before he PTS but as we said "what does it matter now, it made her happy" The old girl was the peacekeeper of all our dogs, the one to let Brembo know that Sierra was ok and just a pup and that she was to be excepted into the family. Run free old girl, I'll always remember your cheeky licks and your calm demeanour. You will be missed.

We have taken both our dogs to the same puppy preschool. Its a 4 week course run on Sundays mornings outdoors. We chose to go to this particular PPS as nobody would take Brembo on as their courses didnt start for a couple of weeks and they felt he would be too big. The one we eventually went to ran courses all the time so we they took him straight away. The good things: *we learnt sit, stay, drop, loose lead walking, recall. *how to desensitise a dog to vet examinations the bad things: *play time ended up being a free for all - brembo consistently got "mauled" by a mini(?) staffy pup and when he finally arked up about it HE got labeled as the aggresive dog *it was quite often cold and the grass was covered in dew, not an issue for Brembo but Sierra hates the cold and hates getting wet. On her first week at PPS it was blowing a gale and about 8 degrees. I was frozen and I had 2 coats on. Sierra was a shivering wreck and they told me she was obviously very scared and nervous. Uh, no, she's just freezing her thinly coated little butt off. She then point blank refused to sit or drop on the wet grass. Again I dont blame her. *they really pushed purely positive training, no chokers, nothing negative etc. I really think in hindsight Sierra would of benifitted from a choke chain or martingale but they really disapproved of both. Only flat collars, head collars or harnesses were allowed in class. Brembo graduated and is such an easily trainable dog hence why we took Sierra to the same one. But she is a completely different dog, very high energy and stubborn and not so easy to train. As a result we were made to feel like "bad owners" because she didnt respond very well to their style of training. We completed the course with Brembo but didnt attend week 4 of Sierra's course as we felt that Sierra and us werent getting much out of it. Desexing, worming, flea treatments etc was only lightly touched on.

Anne, I'm so sorry that Sophie's time had to come to an end... Ive been avoiding this thread hoping she still had a little time left. My thoughts and prayers are with you at this difficult and sad time. Farewell Sophie, may you run free at the bridge

Would also recommend Logan Village Vets. David and Nigel are fantastic, nothing is ever too much of a bother with them. The vet nurses there are great too.

Cavnrott, im so sorry to hear that the cancer has spread. I just want to echo everone elses sentiments and a hug to both you and Sophie....

Erny, our RR has ear issues too. Our vet also thought mites but couldnt see anything so decided it was a yeast infection. Initially we had an ointment we had to put in her ears but then our new vet did a maleseb wash whilst she was under GA for desxing and they have been great for the last 8 weeks. Have just found in the last couple of days that she is scratching and headshaking again, so had a look and sure enough dirty ears. So we are going to do a maleseb wash again to see if it helps. Hope your boy is good, he is a stunner!

Thank you so much Harminee... I love it so much, its perfect, now everyone will know which dog I'm referring to when I post! Thanks again, you have a gift

Both of my dogs have been outside whilst we are at work from 8 weeks old. It kinda helped that both of them were bought in the warmer months so it wasnt cold outside and they had adequte shelter, water etc. We just made sure the backyard was escape proof and no nasties were out there for eating etc. As long as you have a sheltered area with somewhere for him to sleep, get out of the sun/rain etc, water and the fences are good I dont see a problem with it. JMHO!

Sorry to hijack the thread..... Just took Sierra to the vet after incontinence issues on Friday evening - was fine rest of weekend. I thought it was spay incontinence (isnt google a wonderful thing?!), vet has decided its nothing to worry about, to keep an eye on her to see if it happens again etc but he feels she was simply exhauseted and has slept right through her need to pee. Sierra was desexed at 5 months as this fitted in with school holidays (MIL is a teacher and could keep an eye on her during recovery), I probably would of liked to leave it later since some of the things I have read in regards to growth, incontinence etc. But she's happy and healthy at the moment so I shouldnt complain too much. We also have a 20 month old male crossbreed rescue Brembo, who we got at 8 weeks old from the RSPCA already desexed. I dont think its done him any harm, my OH jokes that they took his balls too early and he doesnt have enough testosterone cos he's mummies little sooky boy. I fully understand why rescue orgs desex so early and also why some breeders are now doing it and I do agree.

Just posted something very simular (sp?) in general as our 6 1/2 month old RR is displaying signs of spay incontinence. If I had of had all the info before hand I probably would of waited loner to spay her. Hindsight is a wonderful thing

Thank you

Hi guys was wandering if any one could please help me with a signiture? I would really appreciate it if you could Brembo Sierra Brembo and Sierra Thanks heaps in advance!!

Thanks again guys, OH and I have discussed Sierra's chewing of the outdoor setting and have definately put it down to boredom. The cold weather excuse is just that, an excuse, and OH and I need to get off our lazy bums and get Sierra moving! OH took her for a walk/run this arvo, she has been past out on the couch since she has gotton home. So....new regime of walk before and after work will hopefully tire her out somewhat and painting the outdoor setting with something horrible tasting will hopefully deter her from knawing on it again. I just wish she had of chewed on the old plastic outdoor setting instead of the new expensive wooden one.....bloody dogs, no one to blame but ourselves!

We had Sierra desexed 4 weeks ago, she came home groggy, slept until next day and then it was like nothing happened. Tried (and failed) to keep her quiet and somewhat confined but she still ran around like a loon and ended up stretching the internal stitches which resulted in a nice swelling that then stretched the external stitches. The vet was worried she had herniated something but checked her out and it was just swelling. We had to lock her in the laundry whilst we were at work for 3 days then the swelling started to disapate. She is now completely fine (still a loon!) The stitches were taken out after 10 days. My advice would be to confine her from the other dogs so she has to be quiet for at least the first 4-5 days. Good luck

Thanks for that Blue Fox 001. Will have to get some of that stuff and paint it on the table I think. OH has just gotten home and is furious.....he has now taken her for a walk hoping to tire her out so she wont chew...

Hey guys, just got home to find my 6 1/2 month old Rhodesian Ridgeback Sierra had chewed my 1 week old outdoor setting She has chewed on all the arms of the chairs (8 of them in total) and all four corners of the table. The outdoor setting is wooden. She has toys in the backyard, Brembo our older x breed as a compainion, we leave them alone for 6 - 8 hours a day due to work. We havent being walking her much due to cold weather. Could this be the answer (more exercise?) Any suggestions on how to stop her from doing this would be appreciated . Any suggestions on what I could put on the outdoor setting to act as a deterent? Thanks in advance.

Our ridgeback did the same thing until she was about 5 months old. She is now nearly 7 months old and knows where to go to pee! It was a long jouney of myself and OH taking her out to pee and encouraging her onto the grass and using her command (quick, quick). It has finally worked, hooray, now just gotta get her used to wet grass (she hates getting her feet wet). When it rains she still wont poo on the grass, prefers the concrete or pebbles as they are under cover. Cant complain too much though as she is now fully house trained. She is also an indoor/outdoor dog, indoors when we are home and outdoors when we are at work. We also had the problem of our desexed male starting to pee over her pee on the concrete...grrrr. Now all good!

Our boy is supposed to be Mastiff x Rotti. He is now 20 months old and 35kg. We think if he has any mastiff in him its at least 2 generations back. Here he is about 2 months ago We think he could be more staffy x ridgeback, but who knows, we love him anywho!!

Congrats Erny on finally picking a name! Mandela is an awesome name. Our RR girl is Honeycreek Lady Cosworth, call name Sierra after the cars Sierra Cosworth. The breeder asked us what we had in mind and as we are Ford obsessed it was either that or Falcon!! I must admit I do miss the squishy face photos, but at 6 months Sierra has almost grown out of her wrinkles. They do hate the cold dont they! Sierra wont sleep unless she is firmly wrapped in her blanky, she gets quite vocal if she isnt!! Good luck with everything training wise.....RR's are terrors!!

All good, Brembo has been back on adult for last 4 months, is back to being trim and terrific! When Sierra first came to us she was used to eaing from the same bowel as her littermates. Brembo had never been challenged for his food as he was an only dog so was a very slow eater and when Sierra stuck her head in his bowel he would just walk away! well he learnt fairly quickly and now challenges her for her food! They both now start and finish at roughly the same time so not as big of a deal anymore. Thanks again for the advice.