lucylotto

Hi DukeDixie,our little chi had idiopathicpolyradiculoneuritis this time last year. we live in the ilawarra region NSW. He was also paralysed to the neck but didn't effect his breathing. Was 2 weeks in specialist hospital and then we nursed him at home back to a full recovery over 3-4 months. We had some calls about him as there was a 'spate' of this in the illawarra last year and 'they' were trying to figure out a pattern. didn't know what the 'trigger' was. Now this year after advantix, interceptor and vaccination he has developed it again but in a much milder form with only the back legs. He lost his apetite and strength in his back legs 3 weeks ago but is now eating and walking but slowly and carefully - if he goes too fast on slippery surfaces hehis back legs splay and he can't get himself up. last year we fed him a special high protein food by hand, turned him regularly and manually gently exercised his legs. We would take him outside and hold him up on the grass and he would wee. he pooed every 2nd or 3rd day but occasionally he went too long and the vet had to help clean out his bowel. I found that if we held him up right on the grass and let him take his weight gradually he built muscle tone as he gradually regained movement. first in back legs, then in front legs. He started walking short distances, 1metre, 5 metres, 20 m, 50, 100 200 etc and we waked him regularly to build him up. This happened in Sept and he was fully recovered by january. We are hoping tha it will only take a few weeks this time. The vet and us have decided that this little doggie gets no heartworm, vaccinations, any chemical that is absorbed from now on as we don't know what it is but something is triggering this immune type response. Good luck with your little one.

Thank you Tracie. I find it hard to understand why so many dog owners are paying out on people who attempted to NOT break the law. They saw a sign saying 'No dogs on the Beach"...obviously designed to stop dogs pooping and peeing on the beach and keep them away from kids, swimmers, picnickers etc. which is fair enough...so they carried their dog across the beach (for less than a minute probably) to an area of common land (being the foreshore) where presumably dogs are allowed, because there were no signs saying....'No dogs on the rocks or the foreshore'. A dog is ON the beach when it's paws are touching the sand. It can't be ON a beach if it is carried, it can't poop or pee or annoy people on the beach...which is what the 'law' is trying to prevent. Just how anal are we as a society going to get? I wish Council Rangers were as quick to fine every perfectly healthy bastard that parks in Disabled Parking. Our local shopping centre has very limited disabled spaces, and I think people would be surprised at just how often people park in these spots, without a legitimate Disabled Parking Permit. I actually rang the Centre Office to complain about how often I see it happen (and how often I end up parking at the far end of the car park and then have to push a wheelchair with my 60kg mum on board much further than I should). The shopping centre have said it happens often.......but only Council Rangers can fine them...yet they rarely ever bother to visit the car park. Why....???? They are probably too busy fining people who have carried a tiny dog across a beach. Incredibly anal. No one allowed to make a judgement call or use their own brains anymore. Not just in a case like this but in every single walk and act of life these days so it seems. It drives me ....173657826 nuts! Its all to do with the dumb asses out there who have only half a brain and do the wrong thing time and again (they are raised poorly and unable to make good judgement calls as they have never been raised to consider anybody but themselves first) so we then have the people with more than half a brain hellbent (who lobbying anything excites them) on trying to purify and sanitise our entire society so they can peacefully live within the order and structure they so crave. Time to go bush I think. Sorry..... rant over. I would have paid up and shut up cos its all too tiring. I have taken cityrail to court over my son not having his train pass on him (in yr 8 and typical disorganised young immature (which you are allowed to be when you are only 13, boy on occasions) so was a minor in complete college uniform. He didn't have the $ to pay a fine but when I tried to intervene was told they would only deal with him directly. Similar context - situation is obvious (young boy, going to school, in uniform) but official not allowed, capable or willing to use the brain to evaluate. The judge thought it ridiculous (and the train official a power hungry dhead), we won.

I have had only but good dealings with Heathcote vet also and have always heard positive recomendations for them. My more local vet is OK for most routine stuff but Heathcote is the one I prefer. Not too far from the nat park turn off either.

I am so sorry waffle. I had a similar experience and was lucky enough to be able to take a month off work to spend with mine. We went to the beach and lots small walks and hugs and bones and just being together was wonderful. Enjoy this time and do all his favourite things whilst he still can. xx

And what if they want a lab temperament and not the lab coat so get a labradoodle but they get the poodle temperament and the lab coat? Just a thought ... Surely, though, the purpose of attempting to legitimise an Australian Labradoodle breed is to eventually prevent this pot luck nature of buying a puppy by developing a dog that breeds true to the desired temperament and coat type? However, I think that even if people did manage to refine the breed so that it was breeding true and was accepted by the ANKC, the average pet puppy buyer interested in labradoodles wouldn't understand or be interested in researching the difference between a 'purebred Australian Labradoodle' and a Poodle x Labrador when the latter is so readily available. I don't agree, I think the eventual established labradoodle breed if consistent to form would be much more appealing than a first gen poodle/lab cross. For me it was a toss up between what I was told 9th gen labradoodle and lagotto and poodle. I went with the lagotto and poodle due to the inconistencies in the labradoodle breed. This was prior to my education via DOL, BTW.

Thats makes sense to me, the name change. get rid of the 'oodle' syllables as there are soo many poodle DD crosses.

Hi, how exciting! I live inStanwell park and took mine to hanrob. I found the class a bit too big for us at the time so only went a couple of times. I did notice that Heathcote vet have classes.

Hi everyone, I haven't been on for few days and would like to thank you all for your advice! I will pass it on to this couple and I know they will heed your advice.

Wondering if anyone might be able to offer some advice. My cousin and her husband have recently taken over from aged family, a working sheep farm. Sje has a new border collie kelpie cross. We came across some You tube videos of pups training to herd and in each one there were trainers holding either a rake or rake style tool and using to train dog in some way. We were wondering if anyone on DOL knows what this is used for and how to find out how to train a dog to be a herder. She would really appreciate any advice.

My dogs are 2yrs old and go thru the nite from 9-10pm till 6-8am. When they were pups I had to take them out at 2,4,6,8hrs progressively as they and their bladders became better trained. I used to set the alarm for 3ams etc in case I didn't hear them squirm.

Oh blacklab, you captured it all in a few words so well! Ditto! I had x2 pups a few months apart and boy it was hard work but now.........just love them to pieces. Hang in there new puppy owner, you have a few stages to get thru yet!

I often get strays or runaways wandering into my yard and into the house if our gates are open. If they have a collar on, I get the phone number off the collar if available and ring the owners. I keep the dog with mine until arrangements have been made to collect the dog. My dogs don't seem to mind. If I am worried for my dogs I separate them from the stray. If I saw a loose dog repeatedly, indicating it was lost, I would collect it and take it to vets for scanning. I would do everything I could, door knock etc to find the owners and only take dog to pound once I have exhausted all other avenues.

I repeatedly experience people assuming I have a something oodle because my dogs got a curly coat but doesn't look like a poodle (and he is a purebred lagotto). My buddy has a purebred standard poodle she rescued from pound and she gets asked the same question (prob because she has the shaggy look)...? what kind of oodle is that? There is a choc labradoodle who comes to the same beach that looks like it could be my dogs sibling, they are so close in looks - all due to the clip they are wearing at the time.

Yay Jed! its great to see you on the forum again and sounding like you are mending.

We got a pup at 8 weeks and added a 4 month old that had NO training, when first pup was 6 months. Hard work. I found it challenging to train x2 dogs at once, different personalities from different sources/backgrounds with different issues. I had lots of help and support from my OH. They are close friends now and we are pretty on top of obedience (to the degree that we 'lay' people are happy with). It is hard to train two dogs at once. .....did I say its hard... If I did it again, I'd get one and then wait a 12-14months and then add the second. Good luck.

I have stayed with all mine. Our last beautiful girl was riddled with Ca, had gone blind overnite. I took a month off work to spend with her and then it was time for us to say goodbye. It was so hard for us but I believe much nicer for her -ie. we had the vet come to the house and we were all with her and patting her whilst she lay in her own bed as she went to sleep for the last time. We miss her so much even tho we now have another two rascals to love. She came to us as a puppy and grew up with my 3 boys. I think its important to try and know when enough is enough (not that easy a task). I did hang on too long once to our darling feline waiting for the boys to return from hols with their Dad as they were ringing every day desperate for him to get better. i waited too long and he was eventually in agony in spite of the morphine. I feel sick just remembering it. I will NEVER wait too long again!

Me too, and another My OH got it out for me - Yep, me too, loved it! : :D

Hi all, I'm currently using all the usual methods to try and combat the summer flea problem and found 'shoo tag' whilst searching collars on line. These are little tags that look like mini credit cards and hang from the dog’s collar. They are non-toxic. Apparently they work by using electromagnetic frequencies to create a protective barrier that lasts for about 4 months. I was wondering if anyone has seen these used before and if they are effective?

fantastic spotty chick!!!

at my feet

Thanks spottychick. I have given my friend all responses thus far and when she came home last night (I was dog sitting for her so she could go to a wedding) I saw her dog respond to her return with tail wagging and a was a calmer dog. Dog took herself outside to my yard for a drink and wee. I think this will be a long process and I have suggested she needs some professional advice. Dog needs time to learn and trust and perhaps forget and I feel there are many positives.

And she did. It's temperament testing and dealing with issues that I think is best left to experienced rescuers. There's a step she can take before spending $$$ on a behaviourist. A decent trainer may be able to give her a lot of help with this dog. If you can give her general area, someone may be able to recommend someone good. If you try to pat my poodles on the head they will shy away from it. They haven't been abused - they just don't like it. THanks PF, she lives in between Wollongong and Sutherland Shire so either Wollongong or South Syd would be good, if anyone knows that would be fantastic.

This is all very helpful, thankyou all for you kind responses. I will definitely be telling her to forget the bark collar! Yes, we are assuming she has been physically abused because she cringes and shies away when people go to pat her on head or back . We dont know for real tho. The abuse may be just neglect then combined with a fearful mature as suggested. I will advise her re behaviourist which would be my first line but I am not in her financial shoes. She thought she was doing a good deed by rescuing. I was searching rescue sites for her as well. It is interesting that when I talk to people, my friend included, they do not understand the difference between rescue sites and pounds or what rescue/fosterers do. She wanted a poodle if at all possible (but not She saw her and fell in love and then spent the best part of the week before she was allowed to take her home travelling all the way out to the pound and spending time with her so she would know her by the time she could leave the pound. She has tried tin food, chicken necks, fresh chicken, cooked chicken, beef, bones, pigs ears, kibble of a couple diff varieties are a few of the things she has told me. The dog came home same day as being desexed and friend was told dog was pregnant prior to desexing. She has since been to her own vet and told dog is in good health apart from weight. She has clipped her by hand gradually and bathed her etc. She lets her do all this grooming stuff. Dog today was quite happy for me to clean her eyes for her. When I say she walks well on lead, I do mean she doesn't pull. She just walks beside or behind and is not distracted by things but if another dog comes from behind unexpectedly she gets skittish and tries to flee. Otherwise fine. I will pass all advice on to my friend.

morons, people do thid kinda thing to kids too, morons