Mas1981

Here are some of Mason - AKA Bubble Boy or Wartman as we like to call him now. meeting him at 7 weeks, I had just picked him... meeting Ruby for the first time, someone from DOL took this, it could have been Rubystar or Ozjen..... cant remember

No way look how tiny he was :D I would still think Ruby was cute if she was fat ;)

That's great to hear it went well CC Dougal offers his non threatening body language anytime if it helps! I would offer Mason's services but he is way too over the top, your dog would hate him lol

I will see how my day goes, I may train/walk Mason in the morning if its not raining at that time though as it always looks like rain at any minute lately!!

If the weather is good we could do something Rubystar, I am busy in the morning but free in the arvo...

I have had only good experiences, I covered my pup at 8 months after he had had blocked tear duct and it cost us a few hundred dollars, since then he has had allergy problems and they have paid for everything, if I did not have the insurance I would be $4000 out of pocket this year so far....

I am the laziest trick teacher, Mason only knows shake paw, spin, and he will lie on his back and show you his tummy, he does know each soft toy by name and will fetch you which one you ask for lol

This thread has gone way off topic now.....

Funny, my DA dog was so much worse if there were men around, it was the weirdest thing, and my friends 2 jack russels ( also females) would fight if male visitors were at her house.

Cool, my friend also has a very friendly female lab, she is very very submissive, she lies on the ground every time a dog sniffs her with paws in the air... Edited to add I am so happy as my Petplan check arrived today, I was not sure if they were going to pay for all of Masons tests as some of them went to the USA but they paid every single cent!!

Sparky Tansy - we must have a drool off competition sometime, Mason also drools HEAPS!!

I would also love to help but Mason would also just want to go and say hello. Having had an aggressive dog I take my hat off to you for trying different things, I gave up with mine as she actually scared me to death half the time, she is better now in her old age though she is now 11.

Well are you going to share your creative ideas with us? :D I have a dog who still thinks sitting is optional on occasion, as long as she doesn't move off the spot I changed my signal and my word and I used a roo bone as a jackpot, he still does lie down now and then but not like he was doing at one stage!

The chat is the best bit about Monday nights and it was great to meet you, your mum and the kids. Maybe we need to stick all the kids names in a hat and that who we take into Rally. That would make life VERY interesting. Nope no drool my clothes - WHEW I like that idea! I think we all wanna pull a red kid's name outta the hat It's good experience handling other people's dogs vCBR, you can put one of my ratbags through rally next week if you want. They won't work as great as the red kids but I would be interested to see if they work for you! They're anybodies if you have treats I would love to see Mason worked by an experienced handler him and I are like the blind leading the blind we both have no clue. I must maybe take a drive to K9 one monday, I need some inspiration

There are 2 reasons I dont feed commercial food : 1: My dog is allergic to a whole bunch of things ( previous 2 dogs ate commercial food which consisted of mainly ostrich). 2: Commercial food does not list all the ingredients on the bag ( this was told to me by my dermatologist) and leads to problems because of reason 1.

I cant see the link??

What is also interesting is that back in south africa my husband and I never suffered hayfever but here in Perth we get it very often - some people have mentioned that the pollen count in Perth is one of the highest in the world.

Huski sorry to hear about your run in with the other dog I have started doing more training with Mason again now that he doesnt have to be at the vet every 5 seconds I have had some success with my sit stays lately, I am starting to think out the box and use some creative ideas

Mas - I believe allergies are relatively common in horses, too. I just don't think we hear about them so much because a) this is a dog forum ;) and b) the ratio of dog owners to horse owners is probably significantly higher. Qld Itch is pretty common, which is an allergy to the midgey bites. But yeah, if you look up horse allergies, you'll see its relatively common and they go through immunotherapy too etc. Also, the breeding that takes place with horses is quite different. Most people that have horses don't breed and I would say that most stud owners would not breed with an allergic horse. No, where I am from allergies in horses is very very uncommon ( actually have not heard of one and I was on a horse forum there and worked in the industry), saying that the dogs there have far far less allergies too although I do know of a few who do have.

I just have to wonder why dogs in particular are so badly affected by allergies, there are so many of them around, yet when I had horses I had never heard of an allergic horse?? My horse lived until 27, never had allergies, was vaccinated ( more so than many horses here in oz as he had to have horse sickness and tetanus vaccines) he ate a 'commercially prepared food" and had hay and grass, was dipped and sprayed for ticks almost daily as bilary is very common in the country I am from and yet he never had a sick day in his life?? So i guess my point is what is it about dogs that makes them so prone to allergies??

I probably wont make it down, forgot I have something on in the evening that I need to cook for so I probably wont have time...

Is that the one with the dude singing?? If it is I also love it. I may come down on saturday but not if its raining as its a loonnngg drive in the rain, if I am there I will video you for sure, I will have Mason with me though but I will bring his crate.

Congrats Bedazzled and Brooklyn

I have seen a difference in my dog now that he is off kibble, he looks much better and he has loads more energy then he did before.

My dog has allergies for sure, he has intradermal tests and HESKA blood tests, came back that he is allergic to loads of pollens, dust mites and storage mites as well as fleas. He is also allergic to chicken and beef. I dont agree with administering the immuno-suppressant drugs, and I myself would not give it to my dog but I guess some people do and I cant fault them if it helps stop their dogs tearing themselves apart. The only drugs my dog gets is his desensitization injections and his heartworm, the other things he gets are fish oils and evening primrose oil. I bet he has toxins in his systems because when he was a pup he had loads of antibiotics due to blocked tear ducts, then again when my previous vet thought he had giardia ( turns out he had eaten a whole bunch of pollen and reacted very badly to it). I would have loved to only treat my dog naturally/homeopathically for his allergies but nothing we tried worked for him, and to be honest I felt so sorry for him as he could not sleep because he was so itchy and his life was a misery.