Odin-Genie

Thanks LucyCharzie. Most of the goldies I have met are at the dog park who are clipped regularly. Their coats look heavier, but coarser as well. I like my goldie's soft coat. I took her clam shell out recently and filled it with water. She was sooo excited. She would step into it, do a few zoomies, step in again, repeat My elky who hates water looked at her as if she's crazy!!!

Genie at 20 weeks: Genie now:

Odin at eight weeks: Odin now:

I agree with corvus, though my experience is only with my own dogs. My elkhound has this excited, high pitched play bark. But otherwise he doesn't bark unless there is something to bark at. My goldie on the other hand never barks in excitement. She palys silently. But she is the one I had a barking issue with sometime back.

I'd like some information on this as well. Would grass seeds be a problem at ovals or dog parks where the grass is constantly mowed?

As the tumor is resting on the pituitary gland I would assume that the dog has developed Cushing's disease - lots of water drinking, ravenous appetite, lots of peeing (sometimes in the house). This condition is usually treated with Trilostane or Lysodren. DeiselWeasel has recently had her dog treated with radiation in QLD. I don't think that the new cancer crug they are talking about would work on a Pit tumor. He hasn't shown any of these symptoms yet. However, he is coming to live with me for a few months (along with my sister and her family since they are selling their house and building a new one), so I was wondering what I should do to make him comfortable. I already have two young dogs so I'm planning to keep him separate, but that would mean he won't have access to the backyard for about 8 hours. Are there any doggy toilets I can put inside? Do they work?

Personally I'd give radiation and natural a try... my girl also has a tumour ON her pituitary gland - however seems it's not big enough to be causing any problems so it hasn't been treated (only the symptoms that it is causing ie Cushings disease). Is the tumour hindering the dog? If not, I probably wouldn't do anything other than natural (again this is personally) - as these kind of tumours are slow growing etc (again your vet is your best bet for advice there). If it is impacting on the dog though, I'd probably go with radiation. I believe the cancer treatment mentioned is only for lumps etc that can be reached via needle etc - not sure if it would be suitable for non cancerous brain tumours - but you never know so is something to also consider. Poor bugger, what a trooper he is :rolleyes: Hoping he gets well soon. Thanks Kelly_Louise. He had a seizure last week which is when my sister rushed him to the vet. He hasn't shown symptoms of Cushings disease yet. But all these surgeries have had their toll on him. What are the side effects of radiation on dogs?

Thanks. I'll try to google it. Do you remember if it worked on non-cancerous tumours as well?

How do the dogs manage the bones? Do you take the bones out? I give tinned sardines to my dogs but haven't tried fresh fish.

Hi, My sister's dog has been diagnosed with brain tumour. It is not malignant. However, since it is right next to the pituitary gland, and he is a 10 year old lab who has been through 3 back leg surgeries recently, taking the tumour out is not an option. So far, the suggestions have been radiation therapy and other natural therapies. Do any of you have any experience with such cases? What do you recommend?

She looks very dignified

My 20 month old goldie has a very thin coat compared to other goldies I see. She has never been clipped. Could her thin coat be caused by her staying indoors most of the time? This is her photo just after a bath: Her coat doesn't look much different to my boy's I had another goldie who was quite dark in colour, I swear he didn't have an undercoat at all! Hever never shed hair and you hardly ever got anything off him when brushed. I'm looking for another goldie just like him Thanks Goldielover and ArtyFarty. I don't think my dog would swap being inside for a better coat I was worried since a few people have asked me if she is a labrador x goldie. She is a purebred goldie and her mum has won a few shows. But her mum has a thicker coat.

My 20 month old goldie has a very thin coat compared to other goldies I see. She has never been clipped. Could her thin coat be caused by her staying indoors most of the time? This is her photo just after a bath:

I look for firm poos, good coat, good energy levels and how the diet affects the dog's weight. Right now my dogs are on Artemis Maximal (no grain food) and raw lamb bones (they don't do well on beef or pork).

That's a great tip fainty_girl. I have recall issues with Odin (elkhound) when he is in a highly excited mode. Food treats don't work. I could stand with a piece of fresh roasted chicken and he would ignore me. But recently I have started playing with him when he comes to me and that seems to work well. I'll try the tug-of-war trick. I'm 100% sure it'll work since he loves tug-of-war.

Really? I don't know that it is all that serious though. I mean, I'm all for trying to fix the problem, which is why I'm on here searching for advice. But I think there are people on DOL with the expertise to give me some tips to try before I go down that route... Thank you for your opinion though I'm not a trainer. But if any of my dogs snapped at me, I would consider it very serious and see a behaviourist. You don't want a dog to think even for a second that it is ok to snap. My dogs get on the bed and get out of the room when asked to, though sometimes they do get cheeky so I physically lift them off and close the door. But I am 100% sure that they would never ever snap.

I don't understand the logic behind this. Surely even the owners of a dangerous dog deserve the right to receive their dog's body.

Answering some of the questions: (From personal experience only. I don't have specialised knowledge of the breed) 1. What is my relationship with the breed? (ie breeder, first time owner etc) Have owned a goldie for 15 months. 5. What is the general temperament/personality? Very friendly. However, goldies are not the independent type and love close contact with their pack (my goldie loves to sleep with her head in my lap). They do tend to bark. 6. How much daily exercise is needed for the average adult? My goldie gets about two hours of exercise everyday (zoomies, ball retrieving at dog park and walks). 7. Is it a breed that a first time dog owner could easily cope with? Yes, if they are willing to train and keep the dog with the family. 9. How much grooming is required? I brush my dogs atleast twice a week. However, once a week should suffice. 10. Is it too boisterous for very small children or for infirm people (unless the dog is well trained)? Yes. Goldies jump and can be highly boisterous when they are young.

Agreed. I'm moving to Europe in a couple of years and I will finally hopefully be able to own my cropped dobe As for the desexing, if you can last until 2 years with an undesexed male dog and managed to cope, I'm not sure that you'd need to worry about it. To be honest with you, I've only ever had female dogs desexed, I've also seen the studies posted and I just don't believe it's necessary or better for the dog health-wise. If you can control your dog and stop him from reproducing, I don't see the need and I prefer my dog to be as nature intended. For anyone who then says, "yeah but you want to crop their ears," that's because dogs originally all had upright ears, we just thought it made them look cute to selectively breed for floppy ears, so I don't see that as the natural state. They do look better with the ear cropped. However, does that have any health benefit? Also, when you say that dogs originally all had upright ears, which breed does that refer to? I believe Shih Tzu, Afghan Hounds, Tibetan Terriers are all ancient breeds that had floppy ears. Well, dogs were derived from wolves. Wolves have upright ears. As for health benefits, like the issue of desexing it depends on the source, but there are certainly documented cases of dogs having to have their ears cropped to treat recurring ear infections, and in my experience at least, the dogs I've owned with floppy ears have required more in the way of ear maintenance. Most people will agree that dogs with floppy ears will need to have them cleaned more often, but I guess they feel cropping the ears causes more inconvenience for the dog than the cleaning etc. Also, dogs with upright ears have more acute hearing, and can pinpoint a sound to a greater degree than those with floppy ears. It's perhaps a subjective issue, but I know that if it was me, I would want upright ears, even if the benefits were minimal. Dogs can only think about one thing at a time, keep them distracted and they don't even notice the process... Dogs may have evolved from wolves, but that was more than 10,000 years ago. I don't think anyone at that time would have selectively bred for floppy ears. Both Nature and National Geographic magazines suggest it was an unanticipated result of the domestication of dogs which was caused by selecting the tamer wolves. So this happened naturally/unintentionally. Also, if cropped ears are not purely cosmetic but have health/cognition benefits, why is it done on few selected breeds? Why don't we crop a Golden Retriever's ears, or an Afghan Hound's? At the moment I don't have an opinion about the morality of cropping. But before I form an opinion, I would like to know why it is done.

The opposite is true for my dogs. Both of mine got desexed at just under six months. My male elkhound is average height and quite muscular. I can't see much difference between him and other entire male elkhounds. My female goldie on the other hand is lean and lanky, much taller than her mum.

Agreed. I'm moving to Europe in a couple of years and I will finally hopefully be able to own my cropped dobe As for the desexing, if you can last until 2 years with an undesexed male dog and managed to cope, I'm not sure that you'd need to worry about it. To be honest with you, I've only ever had female dogs desexed, I've also seen the studies posted and I just don't believe it's necessary or better for the dog health-wise. If you can control your dog and stop him from reproducing, I don't see the need and I prefer my dog to be as nature intended. For anyone who then says, "yeah but you want to crop their ears," that's because dogs originally all had upright ears, we just thought it made them look cute to selectively breed for floppy ears, so I don't see that as the natural state. They do look better with the ear cropped. However, does that have any health benefit? Also, when you say that dogs originally all had upright ears, which breed does that refer to? I believe Shih Tzu, Afghan Hounds, Tibetan Terriers are all ancient breeds that had floppy ears.

All of the above. But what I would love more than anything else are photos and movie clips of the pups when they were younger.

I got Odin at 8 weeks and Genie at 12 weeks. To me it made a lot of difference. I continued to feel that with Genie I missed out on 4 precious puppy weeks. My dogs were desexed at about 6 months and I haven't had any issues.

Hi, I want to start obedience classes with my dogs (20 month old elkhound and 17 month old goldie). Any recommendations in the upper north shore area (Sydney)? Also, is it ok to take both of them to the same class? My OH and I will be handling them so they will be handled separately. Odin, the elkhound, is highly excitable but obeys better. Genie the goldie is less excitable but seems quite stubborn at times.

Once a fortnight since they are inside, sometimes on the bed. But I use organic, chemical free shampoos.