Mas1981

I agree with not over bathing her especially in Malaseb it is quite harsh - my dog had dandruff from allergies and we dont use Malaseb on him, we used to though until we found out it is very drying on the coat. I would go with the extra sardines or fish oil.

Pm Rach and she will know more, I think its at Murdoch uni as the students look after the dogs I think. PS i am also a teapot in winter

I am freezing here in Ellenbrook and the wind has really picked up too and the wind is icy..... much colder here during the day today than it has been, been under the heater practically the whole day, dont think its even reached 10 degrees here today. Weather site says its now 16 degrees here but i highly doubt that....

I know someone who uses the daycare at Murdoch and they were pretty happy I think

My lab has quite a thick coat, I asked the vet if he thinks allergic dogs get colder and he says its just because its been unusually cold here in WA this last week or so.

I would run those two seperately. That's just irresponsible allowing them to run togethor when you know there is the possibility they will fight like that and have a history of it DOnt know if this poster had the same thing with their dogs but mine would cry and wine to be together and not move from either side of the fence when they were seperated, they would also not fight for years at a time, I for one did not keep mine seperate after the fight except for when the one was recovering, at 11 5 years on they have not had another fight.

Yes i find Mason drinks more after a dried roo tail too

I buy my dog the dried roo tails now and then, I get the really huge ones so that he cant really eat that much of the dried bone as its too thick he mainly just eats the meat off unless I get him a smaller one. I have not had a problem with them, when he was younger he battled with raw bones but now as an adult he has no issues, I fed the dried roo when he couldnt stomach the raw bone and he never vomited once.

Mine loves hos Turbo Rush tug toy from Paytons Toybox, wont really tug anything else!!

An antihistamine that is non-drowsy is Zyrtec.

I would not keep 2 bitches together again, mine used to be best friends for months and then try and kill one another. The last fight they had the one nicked the others jugular vein, here is a pic of her 2days later with her stitches. This was 5 years ago, after this I had their canines filed down so that I did not have to re-home either one, at age 11 they dont really argue anymore.

When my dog is depressed he has no energy and sleeps 22hrs of the day.. nothing makes him excited besides food when he is like that.

Yeah I would love to have someone to train with but I stay too far from most people.

Yeah I taught him some new stuff last week, his stays are really starting to tick me off though, I did not do stays with him for about 4 days b4 class as he was doing them well and i did not want to bore him by repeating them etc, then in class on sunday he lay down in the sit stay again, plus he zoomed onlead for most of the class, he was like a kid on sweets! We are going to start agility next week and I am sure he is going to enjoy that as its all new stuff for him.

I spend about 1,5 hrs a day training and walking my lab and I still think that its not enough,ask them if they will commit to this amount of time per day, if not, the dog will give them a rough time. Also labs need to be inside dogs they hate being away from their families. If it were me I would just spell it out bluntly to them, they are not dog people and should not have a dog.

Was just wondering if any of you take a break in training your dogs? I am finding that we have hit a spot where we are both frustrating one another and I was thinking of maybe taking a week or so's break from training and then getting back into it?

So how much to you give? Did the Derm. give you your dose? I read it is 1000mg of fish oil per 10kg of dog weight. What about the EPO? Same dosage? I'm going to ask the derm. about them when we get in, but just as usual I can't help but to do my own research before hand. Not sure on the dosage rate of either, my boy only weighs 34Kg and he gets 5 of each per day, I could be wrong but I think the dosage for the EPO may be at a higher rate ie more capsules per body weight but 5 per day is what we are on at the moment.

I use fish oil capsules and evening primrose capsules, I use the human versions, I buy from woolies they are often on special.

My one ridgeback used to get lumps and a swollen neck from injections, went away after a few days, because she is prone to it i get the vet to jab her in the behind now.

No worries, he seemed pretty good regarding me wanting to see the derm. I'm definitely going to get the referral tomorrow though, no matter what. But I think I will wait until a few days of finishing the Prednil until I make our first visit, as he did mention that it will stay in his system for a little while. So hopefully it gives him relief for now, and enough until the derm can assess things further. Thanks again everyone for your help. I would consider doing allergy tests that way you know for sure what he is allergic to, you will have to wait for the cortisone to be out of his system though. My boy gets incontinent and very very depressed on 5mg and he is almost 34Kg which is a very very low dose for such a big dog yet he gets the side effects strongly on this little amount. I am not sure why he is feeling the cold so much, labs are known to love the cold, maybe he is just an exception to the rule...

I have a lab and they are not supposed to really feel the cold, my boy is really really restless on cold nights even though he is inside, we bought him a nice coat yesterday and he slept very well last night, is it possible that he feels the cold more because of his compromised skin barrier? Do other labs feel the cold at all?

No worries, he seemed pretty good regarding me wanting to see the derm. I'm definitely going to get the referral tomorrow though, no matter what. But I think I will wait until a few days of finishing the Prednil until I make our first visit, as he did mention that it will stay in his system for a little while. So hopefully it gives him relief for now, and enough until the derm can assess things further. Thanks again everyone for your help. I would consider doing allergy tests that way you know for sure what he is allergic to, you will have to wait for the cortisone to be out of his system though. My boy gets incontinent and very very depressed on 5mg and he is almost 34Kg which is a very very low dose for such a big dog yet he gets the side effects strongly on this little amount.

Good luck, the cortisone did nothing for my dog and he has a bad reaction to it. Can you see any fleas on your dog? My first vet was very unkeen to write a referral for a dermatologist, took me changing vets to get the referral, the derm here in WA will see you without a referral but I have insurance and so I needed the referral.

Best of luck, I also wanted to cry watching my dog scratch his little heart out, post back later and let us know what happens

Oh no, you were really looking forward to going too!