LizT

Are any of these brands Australian Made?

I agree, I use a thick cloth Martingale lead for my Cavs when out and about and a fine showlead at shows. They wear NO COLLAR at other times. There coats are not long around the neck but are fine and silky so I'm sure it would leave a mark if they had a collar on. When I did obedience with my Schipperke she wore a fine check chain during training and usually no collar at home whilst indoors, but since it was pre-microchipping days (1980's) she had a rolled leather collar with I.D. tag on when out in the yard whilst I was at work.

I haven't had any experience with Tramal with dogs but was given it for myself to take after having had an ultrasound guided cortisone injection directly into a bursae in my shoulder to treat Bursitis. It was lucky I took it before I was going to have a sleep as I felt very "fuzzy", confused and was flying high on it until I zonked out. I did read up on the drug afterwards and found it on some veterinary sites too. Your poor dog must have had some kind of sezure on it. Lucky you weren't bitten. And through no fault of his own.

Sorry, a bit of an 'unsavory' topic but....just wondering what is normal for a dog? I know that a horses goes every two hours at least (I've counted up to 18 a day when paddock cleaning! ) You see the dogs are fed in the evening and usually, but not always a poos follows soon after, or later on in the evening when let out before bed. Then there is another first thing in the morning on going out.....and another later on during the morning. Then another in the afternoon. I work night shift so when I get up at 1.00 am they ask to go out and wees and poo at that time too! So that's four or five that we know of..."that we know of" you say...yes I have found evidence that they go sometime between me leaving for work and my husband taking them out at 6.00 am. They have been partaking in the dreaded crime of....POO EATING!!!! Little poo smudged on the polished boards but no poos. I know there will be questions about what they get to eat. Diced beef (pet quality) and Advance dry. Once a day at around 4.30 pm. Should I change the time of day I feed them?? Not sure if it'd make a difference as they seem to poo around the clock! These little monkeys are Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and my German Shepherd who lives outdoors seems to only go a couple of times a day (I've never spotted him poo eating??) at least that is what appears to be the case as I don't clean up outdoors every day.

I'm finding this "Adult diet" talk quite interesting as the dog mentioned above was eating the same as our adult dogs by about seven months and his limping did stop shortly after that? All your descriptions really makes me suspect it was Panno. Certainly something to think about. Also Coupedash was he large as a baby puppy? If he was then his current sizing should be okay for who he is if he's not overweight, which it seems he is not. BTW don't be too harsh on Coupedash, she is like a new mum with a baby who is reluctant to stray from the advice given by those she holds in authority (Doctors nurses, health centres) Totally understandable and natural. She is entitled to glean what she will from the advice given. It is a forum not a pay by the hour consultation.

Gosh, I wouldn't compare bananas to White bread. Bananas are rich in a great number of Vitamins, minerals and enzymes and are known as the happy food and actually help fight depression. White bread is just overrefined sugar and overrefined flour with preservativesin it....just rubbish. I don't think there is anything in it to hurt dogs but have never fed it, as well, they are a different species to us and it's amazing what some animals can't tolerate that we love. Only recently read in a Veterinary journal that Garlic is bad for them and has a sedative effect on dogs. Yet is has been given a a vermifuge (worm and parasite deterent) for centuries. That said my yougest Cavalier shows great interest in the smell of a banana and banana peel when we eat them???

Sounds like a plan. I have Cavaliers and they are notorious for tearing in general due to tiny ducts and shape of eyes but we also have their eyes checked annually by an opthamologist, as has been mentioned...don't mess with eyes. Keep a check on them by experts. Sounds like your Vet is up with everything which is good as has been mentioned, alot aren't. One of my girls has had "exactly the same sceario" as your Cocker, she's always teared and even had the ducts flushed as a 6 months old but it didn't last and I use a Saline solution (for cleaning contact lenses) for daily cleaning and maintenance which helps reduce the staining as she is a Blenheim and the staining shows on the white if it isn't maintained and the skin can go "mushy" so it's just a part of her daily care. Recently one eye began to tear more than usual and she had her eye checked by my Vet for all sorts of possibilities such as follicular irritation, she had a mild conjunctivitis and first course of treatment is some Cortisone eye drops. He sad it may be a life long on going thing for her. While there was no evidence of follicular irritation he said it's something that needs to be checked for regularly, if it does occur they have to be "put under" for the follicle to be scraped. If it does come to that I'll arrange for a teeth clean as well, being a small dog that will probably also need doing when she's older (she's 21 months now).

I have a horse that had a lump appear on his nose suddenly, after checking him over the vet wanted to do a biopsy and/X-ray and gave him some anti-inflammatories and said to wait a few days. On closer inspection it was found that he'd lost a shoe hooning in the paddock, the shoe had struck him in the face, broke a tooth off and that's why he had a lump. It took quite a while to disappear altogether but did go away completely within two months. Since you fellow did run into the wall, (sounds like a haemetoma) I don't think it's likely to be anything sinister that would need cutting out but it's good your vet can have a closer look at it. Sure it'll be fine.

Thanks Dogmad, these are all training methods I have been using so glad to know I'm still on the right track (amazing what changes over the years). Never had any problems "getting the message across" before, that's probably why I'm so frustrated about this now. Although I've never used food as a reward to toileting, just heaps of lavishing praise. Not really big on using food as a training aid. The frequency has now eased up to what would be considered "normal" which is helpful. I've used Vinegar and water on tiles, lino and carpet in the past to remove any odour a dog can smell but am also not so sure about wood as it could be too acidic for the polyurathane varish and make it cloudy??

How very clever of you and your dogs! What type of bell?? How did you teach her? Puts a different light on "going for a tinkle"?

There's a lovely lady in Melbourne called Carol who show Collies who manipulates and has Herbal remedies for dogs. My GSD pup had an intemitten limp between 5 to 8 months with nothing showing up as wrong with him. At almost four years old now and I only ever saw him limp once and that was after catching a ball in the air last year and he landed badly on one back leg and limped for about half an hour after that he was fine and didn't limp again. He was lucky he didn't do any damage as it was a fair bit of weight to land on one leg.

No Erny, she isn't a brat at all. She's a wonderful, affectionate, georgous, adorable little girl dog with a huge capacity to learn. And no she didn't have a urine test, she was given the course of antibiotics as given the frquency she was urinating it was the most likely senario and worth trying first in this case. The frequency of urination is more stable and less often now. It probably took a few more days for the medication to kick in. She had been licking herself at her vulva quite a bit also?? She had been peeing as much as every 20 minutes when I took her to see the Vet. I've never collected urine from a puppy before (only a human baby where you stick on a plastic tubing to collect the urine after they've gone. How on earth do you collect from a "Chew everything and put everything you find in your mouth" type of puppy?? I only used a mild disenfectant and detergent for polished boards to clean up. Thank goodness no carpet in family areas. Any suggestions on that front? Dogmad, I still have a puppy pen set up in the corner of the family room as this is where I put her when she is left alone unattended as she doesn't pee in that but will pee on the floor if I go out shopping or take kids to school etc. and I also don't feel she's old enough to be left to her own curious devices if no-one is in the house. She also has a great capacity for exploring!! Actually today I bought a wire crate as we found out on the weekend that she's a fantastic free jumper and she repeatedly leapt out of the pen on the weekend (while I was making dinner, we were eating, outside feeding horses and so on). So I am back to square one as I mentioned previously in house training her as she will still urinate on the floor if I don't watch her like a hawk. Guess she's just going to take a bit more watching than previous dogs did. Like kids, all different characters learning differently. I hope I'm not giving her mixed messages as I do try to stay consistent with taking her out and praising her when she goes. I also use a trigger word when asking her to urinte.

Yes, I agree we have gone back to basics and are treating her like a "Baby Puppy" again. I only used the Puppy Pads until she was about 16 weeks old and she ONLY ever peed on them and I found them to be really great UNTIL she started shredding them and by this time she appeared to have better bladder control so they were not put in her pen (which isn't very large as I don't use all the panels but really only big enough for a bed and Plastic pee pad holder (now gone). She has never peed in her pen except on the pad when younger. She APPEARED to be house trained from 16 weeks so long as I took her out regulary. No they don't have access to the yard on their own (numerous reasons) but as I am at home during the day (night shift worker) they sleep on the bed with me for a few hours and then are taken out on awakening and at regular intervals. I mostly take the pup out as the older Cav asks to go out and holds on for longer intervals. You said you didn't consider a pup under six months house trained but she is 7 and a half months old now and whilst I didn't feel that she could be trusted completely (at six months) and did take her out more often than the older bitch I thought we were getting there! The reason I wondered about the "coming into season" bit is the Vet did ask me if she had had her first season yet as he said they sometimes urinate frequently leading up to it. AND going over a book about Cavaliers it also mentioned that bitches coming into season tend to urinate more frequently. I've had many dogs over the years (various breeds and cross breeds, both sexes entires and desexed) and never come across this before?? (I'm 48 in human years!) Anyway I'm using the "back to square one principle" taking comfort in knowing that it will be reinforcing lessons that should be familiar rather than starting from scratch. I mean if I can house train a 2 year old dog that never set foot indoors (past pet) without too many dramas and toilet train human babies (not as advanced as dogs mind you! LOL)

Amazing what one can do with word isn't it!

My 7 1/2 months old Cavalier King Charles Puppy is peeing in the house. She seemed to be house trained completely at 16 weeks and prior to that she used those Puppy Pee Pads in her pen. It driving me nuts, I even took her to the vets as I suspected she might have an UTI so she had a course of antibiotics and seemed to improved a bit but still goes where she pleases........brat! We take her outside (as we do with our 22 months old bitch, who pees on command and never in the house) but she doesn't take advantage of the opportunity and we wait...and wait...and wait. So I put her in her pen (which she jumped out of yesterday so have moved nearby armchair so she is foiled now Haha) And then take her outside again...Hurray finally a pee and then 20 minutes later she wees on the floor in the house ARRRGGGHHH!!! :D Is it because she is due to come into season?? Didn't have this problem with older girl?? And why do men always find a pee puddle via their unslippered socked foot??