Lucy's mama

Hi. I plan to use diced up sausage loaf type puppy food for training treats. I want to train a lot, so want his treats to be good for him. What should I look for on the ingredients list? Are there any brands you would reccomend or any you would advise me to stay away from? Anything else I could use for treats that will be nutritionally balanced/good for a growing pup? Thanks

I think ALL dogs should be taught mannerrs. Little dog syndrome is not an acceptable excuse for bad behaviour imo. I know several little dogs who behave very well and don't have mall dog syndrome and they are a pleasure to be around. I also know a couple of small dogs who snap at children (and adults when they feel like it) and seem to go from placid to snarling and snapping without warning , and one particular child is now terrified of small dogs. Not fair that she should now have that intense fear, and not right that nothing is done to change the dogs behaviour. If they were large dogs it would have been seen by a bahaviouralist or destroyed by now. I do understand some dogs are feared due to size and looks, and while I think it's unreasonable to expect more of them than any other dog, the fact is if you own a (for eg.) german shepherd or doberman people are going to read their behaviour more negatively than if you own (for eg) a cocker spaniel. So you need to keep their behaviour close to perfect for their own protection.

Hmmm... I know she could learn to stay in the living areas, but not sure I want to make her. I will give it some thought. It wouldn't bother her or me to ban her from the rest of the house during the day, but she likes to sleep at the foot of my bed or between the kids beds at night and we like having her there. Could we teach 'by invite only' sort of thing? Or on her bed only in our room, and teach pup the same? If I start now she will have it down pat before he arrives. She knows 'GO' means go through whichever door you are pointing at and 'on your bed' Poodlefan - perhaps 'baby barrier' is a better dscription of what we will use. It doesn't swing open or anything. I think you are spot on about the cat. Bonnie P - Thanks! I have read that thread and linked article a few times. I do have some q's I will post in that forum latter. Luvsdogs - I haven't read it yet, butt will shortly. Thanks. Introducing on neutral ground is something I have thought about, but I'm not sure where. I'm worried about the puppy picking up a virus or something. BUT I do plan to take him out a lot before he is fully vacced to keep his time alone to a minimum and socialise him bfore the first 'fear period'. So I am a little confused and conflicted on that atm. His breeder says it only takes 10 days for the vaccine to kick in, soI may speak to her some more on that. If I can get over the fear of him catching something I could dropp my partner and Lucy at a park not far from the airport, pick pup up, then go back and do intro there. Maybe pup on a lead on a big blanket?? Thanks everyone!

Great idea thanks Kiesha.

Both my cats have crates. Wee can do tthe initial introduction that way. I completely agree that it is imperative he never starts chasing in the first place. We can't leave gates up full time as my partner is an amputee and moving around at night trying to hop over baby gates after he has his prosthetic leg off would be annoying, and if he is half sleep, dangerous. I will start on that list and have my partner put his 2 cents in as well. Thanks.

I am getting an Australian Shepherd pup in 5 weeks!! I'm very excited and have been reading lots on puppy training. I thought I would run some plans for managing the pup by you lovely people and see if you can troubleshoot it for me before the trouble actually begins. There are several situations I a planning for. Firstly, as a compromise for my partner, puppy will only have free access to the living areas. He is a one pet only, outside pet only, seen and not heard pet kind of guy, and already I have 2 inside cats, and a dog who has free range of the entire house and a flock of chickens, so I feel this request is more than reasonable from him. So I plan to put a baby gate at the hall way so he will only have access to the living area's, and once he has learnt sit/stay, I will remove the gate for short training sessions a few times a day. I will ask him to sit and stay at the hall entry. Then I will walk down the hall. He will be praised for not following and corrected by 'ah uh' and being put back at the hall entry untill he is reliably staying in living areas only, when I will remove the gate alltogether. Does that sound like the right approach? Sleeping - I will set up a bed for me in the end room, which is as far as possible away from my sleeping partner and children and have puppy in a crate beside me, taking him for toilet breaks throughout the night. How often should the breaks be at 8 weeks, 10 week, 12 weeks and how old till no breaks? As he will be sleeping in an area he is actually not allowed in, I will crate him and carry the whole crate down rather than let him walk down. Intro to cats - Our younger cat is very relaxed, likes strangers and rubs up against our older, very calm dog, so we will start with her. I'm thinking letting him sniff the cats crates/ bedding first would help reduce excitement as less of the incoming stimuli would be brand new? Or would it likely make him more excited because he has found where the smell comes from? For the intro I would put him on lead and have my daughter holding the cat. If he is reasonably calm the cat can go down and let them check each other out. If he gets excited, back into a sit and wait for calm or try again later? I'm really unsure on this one so help and ideas would be appreciated. Intro to chickens - let him in their pen on lead while they are out free ranging. Let him sniff around till he is bored with the smells. Do the actual introduction at dussk when the chickens are already perched for the night, first from outside the pen, then inside on lead when he can remain calm, then when they are free ranging with him on lead till he can remain calm before we risk letting him off while they are out. Intro to existing dog - No ideaa ??? I don't anticipate any problems but maybe both onlead or pup in crate for Lucy to see and sniff before we do on-lead intros? Day to day - I plan to use a crate, puppy pen and long lead attatched to my belt. We will do toilet - play/train, toilet, crate, with some play/training time actually being spent tethered to me while I do daily chores. I can hav him sit or down or stand etc befor ad after I move from one area to the next, so he will get lots of short training sessions while I get my work done. He will be left behind the baby gate If I need to cross that 'no-go' line. He will come on school runs, in a crate in the car till he is reliably toilet trained, but be left outside in a puppy pen with his crate, kong or large bone, and water when I am shopping or banking or where ever I need to go where dogs aren't allowed. He will be free in the yard when I am outside, but will not have free unsupervied access till he is too big to fit through the dog wire. Interaction with the kids will be fully supervised at firstt. I will try to teach my son non-contact or low-contact games to play with him. I don't want rough-housing with humans to be encouraged. Any ideas for this would be appreciated. He will start puppy preschool hopefully about a week after he gets here, depending on what I can find. He will start obedience at 4 months. We will start short (10 -15 min) walks as soon as he is fully vaccinated, and at first just concentrate on getting him to ignore all the dogs barking through their fences. I willl attempt to do this by having a treat by my side that he will get for paying attention to me not them. I will also take him to the laggon behind our house for swims if he will get in. I'm not a very social person, but I will endeavour to have a few BBQ's in the first few weeks and ask guests to bring their vaccinated dogs along for a play. Most of our friends have babies or toddlers, and some have older kids, so it should help get him used to a variety of people sizes and behaviours. PLEASE! Pick my plan to peices, let me know what problems I may be causing, or what I have forgotten to account for, am I expecting too much, not enough etc. I really want him to grow into a fantastic, well behaved, socially acceptable boy who is a pleasure not a pain!

I have spoken to several Aussie breeders in the past few months and have been quoted from $600 to $1000. Most were $700 or $800 for a pet.

Thanks Staff'n'Toller. It seems settled this morning, but gosh, she needs a good bath. I will speak with the vet today. It is my understanding the anti-inflam she is on also acts as a blood thinner, plus she had low clotting factor even before she started on the drug. I missed giving it to her last night just in case it was making it worse. Will see what the vet thinks.

Hi. Lucy's nose started bleeding for the first time today at about 12 o'clock. It hasn't stopped. It slows a bit, then she sneezes a big clot and sprays blood then it drips again. I have had to put her in a puppy pen to contain the mess. I don't want her to spend the last of her life contained and lacking the attention and love she normally gets, but everytime I have patted her today she has sprayed me with blood. Once the nose bleeds start, do they only get worse, or iis it a good day/bad day type thing? She is still active and happy, she had a ball at the beach this afternoon, but if she seems droopy or is still bleeding tommorrow I will take her to the vet.

Thank you every one for your kind words and support. I am now going to move forward and concentrate on Lucy having fun, not on Lucy dying. Thank you all again.

She saw the oncologist today. The stats aren't very good. Do nothing and mean survival time is 2 months. Use radiation therapy and mean survival time is 19 months. Use drugs (feldene I think it's called)- not as effective as radiation, just slows the tumor growth. We have opted to use the drug. 19 months is just not long enough to justify radiation therapy. I'm feeling pretty shit about the decision. This morning I was thinking - 'yep, we can treat and beat this!' But hearing it only buys 19 months... ;) she is going to die no matter what we do. So she will have the feldene and a blood test every two months to check her kidney function as the feldene is not good for them. We will continue to give her lots of pats and kisses and walks and visits to the beach and park, and when it becomes too hard for her we will let her go. I am struggling with the decision. I feel so so guilty already. It is so unfair that this happens to such a good and loved and loving dog. There will never be another like her. I was counting on having so much longer with her.

The results are back already. It is cancer :D We see an onclogist on Monday afternoon.

Thanks Lowenheart. Yes, I am north side Brisbane. Sorry to hear about your boy. I have been told an MRI is the next step if the biopsy isn't conclusive. I am hoping the x-rays are correct and her bones are still o.k.

Well the bad news is the x-rays showed 'densities' that shouldn't be there deep in the nose, so it's either cancer or plaques formed from fungal infection. He could not biopsy that part of the nose but has done a scrape and flush for cells though so pathology will hopefully give us an answer Monday. The good news is her bones are all still all intact so it's early stages and hopefully treatable. On a side note, the little beggar has 2 staples in her stomach!! She must have got hungry this morning and hoovered the floor, so now we have to keep an eye on that too.

Sounds like Joboticaba. Lu doesn't have any weird things she eats. Bundy loved red kidney beans. Whenever I needed them for something I would buy the really big can so he could have half.

Well my partner has surprised me. I told him what needs to be done, that it's going o the CC and being paid from tax return, which was money earmarked for a new pup. I explained I wanted a new pup so much while Lu is still with us because I had hoped he would pick up her good habits and she would spark up havig someone to play with, but that her being healthy was the most important and if the new pup has to wait, so be it. He is really surprising me! I rang the vet for clarification on some points. I feel more positive, especially knowing I have partners support.

I asked the vet the same thing. He said the specialist would do these same tests first before moving on to putting a small camera up her nose (can't remember the name of it) and then an MRI, and probably charge more for the same tests. I am going to get back on the phone to the vet and clarify a few things now I am calmer.

Some may remember Lucy had a runy nose on one side and as snorting in July. We took her in for a dental and x-rays but as it had cleared up they decidd not to do the x-rays. Well, the mucous came back within a fe days and she is progressively snorting even more. The vet doubts it is a foreign atter causing infection as itt didn't clear up on antibiotics. So, probably a fungal infection or cancer. He tells me the prognosis for either case is not good. That fungal infections are often right in where they can't easily get to them and treatment is painfull and expensive, invoolving drilling holes into her sinuses, inserting tubes and flushing plus expensive medication. And that cancer in the nose is almost always aggresive. She is booked in tommorrow for: endoscopy (pharynx/larynx/choanae) x-rays Cryptococcus antigen (blood test) cytlogy (flushing nose, checking the cells) and histopathology (taking a biopsy) If all that finds nothing off to a specialist. In either case xpect well over a thousand dollars in vet expenses, not including the 800 for tommorrows tests. Good bye tax return, hello credit card debt. But I feel like our most likely two options can not be reasonably treated. I'm so upset and don't know what to tell my husband as to why I'm getting all this done and racking up the credit card debt. I can see the fight we will have but I seriously can't NOt give her a chance. she has been the best dog. She loves us, follows me around all day, waits by the gate when I am out, iss under the computer dsk when I'm on the 'puter, at the end of my bed or between the kids beds at night. She has seriously never put a foot seriously wrong. The worst thing she has ever done is dig up a few plants when she first came to us. How to I explain her value to my heartless twit of a partner who thinks of the bank balance first and foremost and is the only earner in our family? I am a SAHM. I just can't stop crying. Myy girl is sick and I will be fighting with my partner and not getting support there. My Nana just died last week too so can't talk to my family. They will think I' a twit for being so upset over a dog when our lovely amazing Nan has just passed. I just ned to concentrate on it being o.k. Someone did pm me saying there are tumors that ar easily treated with drugs, so fingers crossed, but my vet seems to think it's a long shot

So put them in the laundry or bathroom and make sure there is nothing available for them to destroy. Put them in a crate or something in the living room. They can only destroy what they have access to.

I would advise bringing them in before they start scratching. Otherwise they may get into the habit of scratching everytime they want in or out. We try to let our girl in as soon as we see her waiting by the door. If we don't, she ffirst barks then scratches. The scratching is destructive and annoying, and a habit we are trying to break by letting her in before she scratches and ignoring her when she does scratch. A couple of warm blankets in the laundry would probably help, or train them to be in the main part of the house near you, but only on their bed if you don't like them inside.

The breeders I have spoken to about getting one are $850-$1000. Some one on here paid a few thousand though It must be some dog!

I have a question about their excitability. Do they calm down after a bit? Eg, I get home fom work, completely ignore the pup till we are inside, school bags away etc, (don't want him learning to run out and greet, jump expect play before I can even get in the door) THEN go pat/throw ball for 20 min. At the end of that and a bit of a calming pat and cuddle, will they generally be calm enough to sit, stay, walk on lead, get into the car for an outing or concentrate on a training session etc without quivering in excitement? Or is it constant wound up rubber band type thing? I have had a quivering, about to explode with excitement dog before, he would seriously shake and whine with the effort it took for him to sit and stay, and looked like he might hurl himself out of his skin at any minute. Training was possible but exasperating. He would try so hard but couldn't contain himself for any length of time. The vet diagnosed him as having the doggie equivalent of ADHD and recommended he be on low dose sedatives on a permanant basis (I declined) Are GSP THAT excitable, or just very happy, active dogs? I suppose I really need to meet some soon. Any volunteers?

Sorry, I thought it was pointers in general. Thanks.

O.k, I'm planning on getting a GSP July-Sept next year (Depending when the bitch goes into season, but thats the breeds prediction) When you say '30 min free run' is that just letting the dog run around outside, or is that thhrowing a ball to get them running or something? One of the breeders I spoke to suggested an electric fence if the pup grows into an escape artist. Is that too harsh? Would it work? Escaping is the only behaviour problem that would be a huge issue for me. Craters in the yard and wrecked shoes I can deal with. Irate neighbours with dead chooks threatening to kill my dog I can't deal with. Also, how do you explain the colour variations? Some livers look dull brown, while others are a gorgeous dark coppery brown, and the white merled areas - some have a lot of white with small solid brown flecks, some are more evenly merled like a cattle dog iykwim? I suppose it's not that important, but I prefer the coppery ones with more white in the merled area's and patches of solid colour. Does that description have a name? Do all GSp 'talk'? I love the talking!