gavrhodes

operation went well, no lasting damage internally thankfully and the doc was very happy. her hand is out of action till mid next week when they take off the cast that is holding it all still while it drains out. spent a couple of hours with her and her dogs today and the dogs were loving any attention they got and she was just frustrated at having one hand to deal with two sons under 3. for the other dogs, nobody has seen them so far, but there is more than a few people on the look out for them. hopefully someone will find them and some action can be taken

hi all for the dogs, they are fine. they went straight to the vet and they have given the all clear. they are nice rotund little things and i think it helped in this situation as the dogs couldnt really get their mouth around anything. plus they grew up with my mums GSPs so have spent their life play fighting with dogs much larger. i think all of these things helped. the vet contacted the ranger for hurstville council right away last night, and they were so concerned they contacted the local paper which then contacted my mum about the attack, so they will likely be running a story on it to warn others. the good thing is the right people are outraged and looking for these dogs. i agree 100% with dogmad. i can just imagine if i was there with my two little iggies. they would have stood no chance. dogs with that level of aggression must be dealt with appropriately my sister is ok. out of sugery and will speak to the doctor tomorrow. assuming all is ok cos he didnt rush to tell her anything tonight. she is traumatised yes, cos she loves dogs and hates that she had to attempt to hurt one to save her own. her dogs seem ok emotionally. they spent all day at my mums with her 3 GSPs and are back to normal. most likely its my sister that will be nervous for a long time around other dogs. it took a while for her to get help, as at first people just stood around. but once they realised the severity of the situation they all stepped in. it is indeed fantastic that people made that sort of effort, and risked personal injury. will post tomorrow on the results of the operation but she is at least in good spirits, just tired and whacked out from the anaesthetic

well it was an interesting night last night. got a frantic call from my sister minutes after her and her dogs were attacked while she was jogging. i post this merely as a warning to other dog owners that may be around peakhurst south in sydney. basically she was out with her two min schnauzers on a jog last night. she saw two dogs running down the other side of the road (pindari road) out the front of peakhurst south school. her dogs barked at the dogs running (as dogs do) and these two dogs saw her and her girls and ran across in front of two cars. my sister stopped in fright cos she thought they would be hit, but both cars just missed them. both dogs were without collars, and obviously without an owner around, and without any sort of greeting ran up to her dogs and started attacking. both the aggressor dogs were boxers (one white, one dark brown/black) and essentially just ripped in. both the minis were wearing harnesses which bore the brunt of the attacks. this attack went for around 5 minutes. my sister was trying to alternately pick up her dogs to save them, as she could not carry both. as soon as she would pick one up, the aggressor dogs would attack the one in her arms, ripping at legs etc to try and get at them. she was screaming for help and ended up with 3 or 4 people assisting her, beating the attacking dogs with sticks, umbrellas, kicks and fists to try and get them off to little avail. in the end the attack only ended when they managed to get my sister in the car with her dogs, but even that was an event as once one dog was in, the aggressors turned on the one remaining to really give it a go. they eventually got that one in the car as well. this left the two dogs outside still trying to attack through the windows of the car, staying a few minutes before taking off. so the outcome? thankfully her dogs needed a hair cut and the tough schanuzer coat and skin meant they didnt even need a stitch. so i have to say i am more than a little proud of their efforts. for my sister, she is in surgery today to repair a tendon and clear out the general area of the tendon in her hand due to puncture damage. as for the two dogs that attacked, no idea where they went after they headed towards gannons park (local park) but any in or near peakhurst should be on the lookout for these two dogs, as other breeds may not fare as well against such an attack. to repeat, it was two dogs with the appearance of boxers, unsure if pure or mixed. one is white, the other is dark brown/black the local rangers know of this and a police report will be filed due to my sister needing surgery, i just felt it would be worthwhile posting this on here as someone may either know the dogs (and help us act) or may see them and be prepared for what may occur. cheers Gav

i have been a little slack on this, but a month on and the pup is doing well. i think a combination of luck, good advice and lots of love got him through

well it was an intersting day to say the least. couldnt manage to get any care outside of ourselves for him after running around a bit. we managed at least to get a syringe (minus the needle) to feed him some water by force at first but later on he was quite eager to lick it himself. once he realised that we werent trying to hurt him it was much easier. i think most of the pain he is getting is just from the wound, which may not be as bad as first suspected, but it is simply impossible to guage what he is done. time will tell i guess in the amazing way of dogs, he is now trotting around the house following my brother in law (his owner). he still occasionally moves too fast and sends himself into a fit of yelping due to pain, but he does seem better than this morning. we leave early tomorrow, so basically will do our best to set things up as best we can. this is their first ever dog, and to a degree i think it was inspired by the many times they have spoken on web cam with us using skype and seeing our iggies on our laps, desktop or generally as close to us as they can be. hopefully this will not end up being too nasty and their joy of dog ownership will continue. wont be online till my return to aus after tomorrow, so will give updates then. many thanks for the assistance, as there is nothing as freaky as the idea of a sick animal without a vet. its not until you dont have access to them that you truly appreciate how lucky we are to have such quality vets at hand in australia. here is a pic of newton as well as the skewr in question. the amount of blood on the skewer was about all we had to go by as to how far it went in. we are hoping that much of the blood was smear as opposed to how far in it was.

while there are vets in other provinces, there are none down here. in terms of human medical aid there isnt really enough to go around here for the humans, so dogs are low on their priority list in a province that was 90% underwater 3 weeks ago from that massive tyhpoon that flooded vietnam and laos. i can however get access to drugs without a problem, as there is nothing prescription here, you can buy over the counter for anything they can get their hands on. can possibly get hold of a drip and someone with training as a nurse to put it in, but will have to see how i go though. for the skewer, it was actually a clean one rather than a used one. no bits broken off either, it all came out whole. what it looks like is its gone through the muscles at the back of the neck. he wont open hs mouth and screams if u try to make him swallow. trying where possible to get water in to him. really do appreciate the help though. will update as i can

i did send a message, i am sure he will respond when they get a chance. internet access here is dodgy at best, so will try and check as much as i can on here over the next few hours.

the last thing i would do is wait on DOL if i can get a vet. i asked because there is simply *no* access to a vet. i am fortunate enough to at least have internet access here, and DOL was the first place that i thought of.

hi all, have been lurking around here for quite a while now, just never really gotten around to making posts. main reason that got me started is i am currently overseas is Laos visiting my wifes family. they have a 4-5 month old puppy which is well and truly a mix of breeds, as purebreds are almost never found here. anyway, to match the lack of purebreds there is also a lack of vets. that is, i would struggle to find one anywhere. thus my quandry as per the title, just woke up to puppy screams of death and we found our little friend with a bamboo skewer pointer end down his throat. dunno how he found it or got it there but it was stuck well and truly. this is a puppy that currently would be the size of a pomeranian or like dog. he is about 4kg or so. it was removed and about 5 inches was covered in blood. so far no symptoms of damaged lungs, damaed stomach or the like. i suspect it went straght through the throat in to the muscles at the back of the neck. there is no blood coming from the mouth, and i really dont want to distress him too much further by trying to look down his throat. so i guess i am wondering if anyone can suggest what i can do to try and help him out? at present he is curled up in dark corner feeling very sorry for himself, and screams every time he moves his neck. given that any sort of packaged pet related item is certainly not obtainable, home remedies are the go here. just want to give them as much help as i can, and i figured where better to ask than here. cheers and thanks in advance Gav