Fyscha

Thanks for the advice. Might try and get some pricing for fencing material for them. I don't know about an e-collar, with the training involved, that might be the downfall, I would be willing to help, but don't think I would have the available tme to do it properly. That and the lack of a physical barrier might make it hard. Thanks for the advice on mesh, I'll look into it. Good point about keeping others out, that hadn't occured to me. Just for the record, I am aware of a dog owners responsibilities and the many valid reasons why dogs should stay in their yard unless accompanied by their owner. But he's not my dog, and I would never drag my soapbox next door to tell them about their responsibilities. Me enjoying seeing George every now and then is not the same as me agreeing with how he is kept. When I said personally I don't have a problem with it, I meant I don't have a problem with the occasional crap on my lawn. As for as their responsibilities as a dog owner go, it's not my place to worry about it. He's a happy well fed dog, he's not abused, so I live and let live. Personally I wish my neighbours grown children would step up to the plate on this one, but it doesn't seem to be happening. I like George, I like my neighbours, so I'm willing to try to help. That's all. Thanks again for the advice, it's much appreciated. Cheers, Jodie

Hi All, I'm after some advice on dog containment systems. I have an elderly neighbour whose dog, George, until recently had the run off the neighbourhood. Right or wrong, even though he lives in town he has never had to worry about fences. As far as I was concerned personally, he never caused any trouble, apart from the occasional poo on my front lawn I was always happy to see George pop round to say hello and so was our staffy. Anyway, understandably ( I suppose ) someone else in the street has complained and now George is tied up pretty much permanently. I only found this out yesterday when I popped round to ask why we hadn't seen him for so long. So his owner is pretty old, too old to walk him, I've volunteered to walk him when we walk our dog, but apart from that he is tied up because their fence is pretty much non existent in fairly sizeable chunks. So I'm hoping for suggestions. I know Mac (my neighbour) doesn't want his dog tied up permanently, but I'm not sure how much he can afford to spend on fencing. It's heart breaking to know George is stuck on the chain so much. He is only a young dog, maybe 3 or so, so he's got a quite few years in him yet. He's a very smart dog, kelpie/blue heeler. But I'm guessing he's had limited formal training, just basic obedience. I was thinking about a hidden fence, but am not sure about the legalities, I read in another thread that they can only be used in conjunction with a "real fence" in NSW. Plus would also wonder about the amount of training needed to implement it. Any advice will be gratefully accepted. Cheers, Jodie

We had problems with our staffy for quite a while and the clincher that seemed to solve the problem was when we finally caught her in the act. Well, my partner did, which was probably good because he roared at her and she didn't know where to hide. It was all over in a matter of seconds and she was outside sulking. I was a bit shocked at his reaction and said at the time that I thought he over reacted, he didn't hit her or anything but he left no doubt with her that she was out of line. But after what had been a long road, she was 6 months old by then, we haven't had another episode. Moral of the story, we really had to step up our vigilance inside and outside. Standing in the rain for AGES waiting or her to go.... carrying on like a pork chop when she did - treats and cuddles etc. If we left her outside by herself I'd search for ages until I found something that looked fresh. Also not letting her out of our sight inside. We did get to a stage where we thought she was there and got a bit slack and realised too late that we'd jumped the gun and she still wasn't trained. So even when you do finally think you are there, I'd keep up the regime for at least another month or two. Good luck, you will get there.

is it expensive feeding your dogs BARF?? I've been thinking about it but think I will have a hard time convincing hubby about it, esp if it costs more.

haha boys that wont get male dogs desexed really make me laugh. Not commenting on your man Peibe, my husband is the same. Which is why we got a female, as it was "OK" to desex her and I refused to have an undesexed animal in the house. I've seen it time and time again... But really... for some men you would think t was them going under the knife, not the dog.

On the topic of neighbours- we arent super friendly with ours either, but we did chat and say hi, but had to go away recently and needed plants watered. After much discussion we ended up asking them and they were happy to do it. Like I said to hubby, there is only one place to start and why not let us start it. We made it clear that we will be more than happy to repay the favour any time. We gave them a bottle of wine for their effort. I think it was a positive step in neighbourly relations!

Yeah I know I need to talk to the breeder, and I intend to. I'm just at a loss as to how to approach her about it . I have discussed the problem with her and she's basically said that there was no problem when she was a pup, but has been helpful with asking other breeders about it. But this last diagnosis, that being that the problem is through her entire body, not just her front feet leads me to believe that the problem was there at a young age and really I'm asking here if joint mobility is something that a breeder would check out or not in a litter of pups she is using as show dogs. The thing is that it was a three hour drive to get the pup when I did and the breeder lives out of town. She said she would meet me in town and I said a number of times that I would rather drive out to her place. She assured me it would be too much further, I might get lost, she was in town anyway, she always took her pups in to town and this was just the way she did it. Basically I didn't go and view her parents or the rest of the litter. At the time it did make me feel uneasy but we had been communicating so much before hand, she had been great with sending through photos and I trusted her so went ahead. I know it was my choice to go through with the purchase, but it's always been in the back of my head. My husband was never happy with how it played out and has always said so. I know it's all speculation, maybe it's all in my head, but I don't know what to say and I don't know what I want to gain. Well I do, if this was deliberate I don't want it to happen again. I believe if we had known about the problem we could have taken measures to prevent the flattening of her front feet. I paid good money for this dog. If the problem eventuated after the purchase then it's my problem, but I've had two animal health professionals tell me that it didn't. It pi**es me off but I don't want to go and talk to the breeder with all guns blazing and not know what I'm talking about. So I'm asking if this is something that a show dog breeder would look at in the litter of pups.

REALLY??? I didn't notice :rolleyes: Sorry, I'm not going to be much help with the majority of your questions. But I will say that I think we worry sometimes more than we need to. Well I know I do anyway. One thing that might help when first getting her home is to ask the breeder to put a piece of rag (or you can give her an old t-shirt) to put with the litter for a few days then she can have the smell of them when she is first separated from her family so it's not quite so stressful for her.

Quick question - If she has friends with dogs that she knows are vaccinated it would be ok for her to socialise the puppy with them wouldnt it?? BTW - she is a beautiful pup.

OK, well for those interested the results are in. From the chiropractor anyway. He checked out her feet as well as all the joints on her other legs as well and basically, she was loose all over and he said all her joints hyper extend to some degree, well not to some degree, thay all hyper extend. He could pull her back legs out until they were straight, which apparently is not meant to happen. They should stop before they straighten right out. He also said is far as her general health goes this shouldn't cause any major problems. I asked about an increased chance of arthritis and he said he didn't think so. At the moment she is on restricted exercise until she stops growing. Walking only. No running, jumping, tug of war, no puppy games. Which we haven't been doing since this started anyway. We just have to allow the cartilage in her joints to develop as best they can while she is young, not put any undue pressure on anything, and basically that is the best thing we can do for her. He said the main thing it would mean is that she doesn't really stand properly & wouldn't be worth worrying about as a show dog. Which we don't do anyway. But that comment leaves me wondering - and I can't help but return to the question of whether of not the breeder could have known about this before hand. What do breeders check when they are deciding what dogs to keep as show dogs?? Do they go through all their legs etc and check movement or is that something that they wait and see?? Her feet werent flat when we first got her, not like they are now but the potential was obviously always there. If the breeder has kept 2 brothers and 1 sister from the litter as show dogs surely she must have checked this stuff out. Maybe I'm clutching at straws here, I really don't know what stuff they look at when deciding what to keep and what to sell.

ha, yeah no worries. there is a fair bit of text to cover now. We are going on a drive to Western Sydney on Monday to see a vet and a chiropractor. Both come highly recommended from DOLers. The vet is also a breeder who has a special interest in developmental problems in puppies. I think we are on the right track now, well I hope so anyway!

oh yeah - haha cheers Danois.

I did contact the breeder, I've mentioned that in this thread about 5 days ago or so... she was the reason I started the puppy on vit c in the first place. I had been thinking of it because other people here had suggested it and that was one of the things that she said to do. The only problem was that she really only said to use good old vit c tablets that you can get from anywhere. At the moment, because of where we are that is all I have access to. Although I will be trying to get some ester c as chocolate has suggested. I have also, as mentioned, made an appointment to get a second opinion. Obviously, when we are told our puppy will have to live with a limp at 6 months old, we are going to see someone else about it. We have an appointment at a vet and a chiropractor next Monday. Cheers for the info on vit c dosages, as my breeder wasn't very specific about that. Really only said give her a tablet a day which is (i think) 500mg, and I did feel that was a bit high for a little puppy.

Yeah, I googled it as well, and read a few other articles, but it doesn't detract from my level of frustration. I am basically trying to take everything on board and make the best decisions I can. Chocolate's article is disturbing, although at the moment I'm going to maintain the increased vit C, at least until I see the vet again. I believe at the moment it will do more good than harm. I do realise that the majority of advice I get here, while welcome and greatly appreciated, can't be taken as gospel as no-one has seen the dog and I don't know anyone's back ground either. I find myself checking back on the thread every day though, because I know that the changes I have made based upon advice received here are all positive ones, like vit c, more throw rugs, a manicure regime to rival my grand mother's. We've increased her bones, she always had them regularly, but now she gets them every day. One thing though.... Can someone please explain why people have suggested switching to an adult dog food?? It's been mentioned a couple of times but I don't think anyone has actually said why.... or was it because there is less protein? It's all swimming around in my head. Information is getting lost, I'm on night shift at the moment, at least that's my excuse... :D

Wow Chocolate, that is a very disturbing article indeed!! Honestly it's amazing what people will justify in the name of money! AARRRGGGHH!!!! :D I think my head is going to explode just trying to work out the best thing to do for our dog!! I dread to think what life will be like whe we fially decide to have children! I really wish I still lived in Melbourne, I had a great holistic vet down there years ago, he was an absolute legend, probably still is. I might give him a call about her diet. Redbullamstaffs - thanks for the vet recommendations, much appreciated.

Ah you've gotta love forums. Everyone has a different opinion and everyone thinks they are right. Human nature I guess. It makes it hard for those of us who know we don't know and are looking for information. For now, I think I'll keep her on Vit C and discuss it with the vet in a week. Thanks for the input chocolate, I will look into it further.

From what I can gather the idea behind vit c is that it helps the body absorb all the other vitamins and minerals more effectively. Coming from more sources than just the breeder. From what I've read elsewhere, yes, it seems to be a pretty common recommendation, but also a good one. If there is a reason you think otherwise I'd be glad to hear it, but at the moment I don't think it will hurt anything.

Yeah, I agree totally. I know they are only going off what the original vet has told them, so are basically unable to form their own opinion on the matter. So while I am trying not to get ahead of myself I am more positive on the matter. Next week is a big one, setting up for sister's wedding on Thursday, wedding Friday, clean up Saturday & drive home. 12 hour day at work on Sunday, 3 1/2 hour drive to vet on Monday, start night shift on Tuesday. It will all be worth it though if our puppy can run around a play like she wants to! I've read nothing but good reports on this vet, so am more than happy to drive the extra mile to go to someone who, from what I can gather, knows his stuff!

Yeah, we are booked in to see Gary Barnsley, from what I can gather he is a pretty good choice for our second opinion. I believe he is a chiropractor as well. So will wait and see what he says and recommends. Cheers

Just home from the vet. He has been in contact with a number of his colleagues who are all of the same opinion. That being that there is nothing more that can be done. He believes it is a problem that has been there since birth and if it was picked up on earlier it could possibly have been rectified but as we didn't notice a problem until the limp began it is now too late. He is also supportive of us going to get another opinion if we want, which we do. That said I have an appointment to see Gary Barnsley in about 10 days, so will maintain the restriction on exercise until then, the only change in diet at the moment will be an increase in vit c, and yes, I've begun a nail trimming campaign and will be trimming tidgy bits every few days until they are back to normal. I know I've said it before but thanks to everyone for their input. Fingers crossed Gary will have a better diagnosis than what we have now.

OK, so I've contacted the breeder, and yes, I feel like an idiot for not doing it sooner. She has said that she hasn't come across it before but to increase vit C just as a matter of course. She has requested an email with more detail and said she will ask other staffy breeders that she knows to see if they have any information on the matter. I've pretty much left behind the idea that she knew of this before hand. Originally when I asked the vet if we should contact her it was intended as a courtesy to let her know what had happened and he sort of flipped it a bit and, well.... when something is wrong with someone you love you like to be able to have someone to blame. Anyway, we are off to the vet again now so hopefully he has come up with more information. He was going to make some calls. Someone has also suggested seeing Gary Barnsley, in outer Sydney. I've read nothing but good reports since discovering his name so will discuss it with hubby when he gets home. Thanks everyone for your input, it's good to be able to get some outside opinions and some perspective on things. I don't feel so bleak about it now...

My cousin says she is very good. I will contact her tomorrow. I must admit to feeling more positive about the whole thing after starting this post. The vet basically said it was possible she would just have to live with it and while I am happy with what he has done, I am not happy with the finality of the diagnosis. I realise it's possible that he has done what he considers best, but what may not actually be the best course of action. It is now up to us to pursue other options, just need to work out who and where. We are limited with where we are, but are discussing the possibility of going to Sydney. 3 1/2 hours drive, unless someone can recommend someone in central western NSW Dubbo/Parkes/Orange...

Yeah, from what people have been saying I now know the breeder could have a lot more to offer on this problem. I guess I was worried about how to approach it and have a much better idea on what to say and ask than I did before, which is one of the main reasons I started this post. So I will give them a call in the morning and discuss it with them and see how I go.

THanks guys, my cousin was telling me last night about a bowen therapist not too far away and will give her a call. Will try to get everything else right as far as nails, carpet & diet goes. I really appreciate everyones input!

Yeah, I know, which is why I am hesitant to call them but at the same time I should let them know, shouldn't I? Would this make them rethink which dogs they use in the future? I don't really want to accuse them of poor practice, our vet suggested contacting them.