Staff'n'Toller

If it continues it would be worth getting her checked out by the Vet for urinary tract infection. Probably just because she is settling in with you, Staffords can be a bit sensitive about things. Mel.

Don't quote me on this, but my sources tell me Hills District Training and Kennel Club have trialing classes. Cheers, Mel.

I don't use much free shaping, I will tend to lure first if I can, for the dogs benefit. The fallout can be that the dog shuts down when they get frustrated. From watching a Veteran Sea-World trainer work with dogs I have learnt that the threshold for each dog is different. Some dogs can work for quite a while with shaping/luring and others can only last about 30 seconds. OR that they start to throw any old behaviour/s at you 24/7 hoping to get clicks. Be sure if you want to work on it heavily your dog knows clearly the difference between 'work' time and 'chill out' time, that is the most important thing that they can relax. Free shaping can be hard work on a dog - not saying that is a bad thing - just that you need to acknowledge it and keep it in mind. Mel. Edited for Grammar.

You may not get adequate pain relief for a nail bed. A quick IV anaesthetic is the easiest and safest way to do it. It is the most humane for the dog as well. Local anaesthetic is painful in itself, and you can't ask the dog how numb the area is.

I'm not sure that TOT and NILIF will do much at all for an unresponsive dog, the pacing and neurotic 'catching' behaviours (whilst I know can show in alot of Borders) would be the worry, it would be worth having a Vet Behaviourist take a look at him. It's always good to have a fresh set of eyes look at the situation. Mel.

Obedience training! You need to tire out his mind as well as his body. Are you stuffing his kongs each day or do they just kind of lay around? Empty kongs are pretty boring to an intelligent animal. You might also like to google for information about settling dogs, puppy zen/massage, calming dogs down etc. Sounds as though he needs to have more routines, playtime, training time, exercise time, settle time. Mel.

You should not be restricting your pups water. What you are doing has nothing to do with toilet training at all and you may well find that your pup will have health problems because of it. Puppies dehydrate very quickly and should have water freely available at all times. I hope you have plenty of $$$ to spend at the vets when your pup develops kidney problems, the poor little thing. Toilet training is teaching the dog where to toilet, not restricting water so it doesn't toilet at all. You may think it's a good 'trick' but your puppy will pay the price. Instead of trying to take the easy way out,house train your puppy properly and let it drink as much as it wants. It's also illegal, and classed as cruelty to animals, you need to provide free access to drinking water AT ALL TIMES.

Alpha Dog Training will take you as well. Mel.

Why do you bother even bother asking questions then?

Didn't you just bring her home yesterday? Gee wizz give her a week or so to settle in - a lot of pups don't eat for the first few days particularly when they have flown from another State. Stressed puppy can very quickly = sick puppy. Mel.

You may find it difficult to find one that runs *over* Christmas. I run them all year and have just started a course that will finish in the third week of December. It's quite difficult to get people to commit any closer to Christmas than that...I wouldn't be surprised if I had a few no shows in the next few weeks- people just get busy. I won't run another unless I know that everyone will show up for every class over Christmas and New Years, and like most other Dog Trainers - I like to have a quick break whilst the clinic is also quiet! You are probably better off setting up play dates and more so with mature dogs than pups. Calm, well mannered dogs teach good manners! Mel.

please dont say SB it scared me im an SB Ohhh sorry dude! I'll write OP next time eh?

So SB, before you get kicked for trolling, enlighten us folk. WHAT EXACTLY ARE your training qualifications? Other than training your 2 Schnauzers?? Mel.

Snobbybobby you really are making positive trainers look bad. I wish you'd do us all a favour.

I don't know a huge amount about the condition either, but the dogs I have seen are managed well on cortisone... This Vet is supposed to be really good, I haven't had cause to need to call her yet but if I do then I wouldn't hesitate. Dr Margaret O'Riordan Tel 03 9480 1823 - if this number is wrong PM me and I will try to locate her for you, I'm in Melbourne. I got her number from here I searched the whole dog journal under the keyword lupus and it came up with many articles although none that I can see that are specifically about Lupus. It would be worth emailing the editor to see if they have done one. Definitely the Vaccine related ones are worth buying: Hot shots, Shots fired and Are Spot on Flea Killers Safe? Good luck with your research, Mel.

Just ask your Vet first to check into interactions with fish oil and phenobarb. I know there are problems with giving fish oil and thyroid medications together. Mel.

Many people find Sentinel to be good, but remember that it is only an insect growth regulator, it works by elminating the lifecycle by making fleas infertile, but does not kill adult fleas that come from other dogs or places. It works brillianty for dogs who never leave their property. So dog goes out, gets a flea, flea lays a bazillion eggs in your carpet and vwalla! You have a new lifecycle, new fleas hatch and need to jump on your dog for a feed before they get the medication. The thing about Sentinel is that all the dogs in the home need to be on it, and any/all cats need to be on program injections 6mthly for it to be totally effective. No point paying extra for an IGR if the cats carry around a nice breeding lifecycle on themselves. Also Sentinel is not great for flea allergy dermatitis as all the fleas still need to bite the dog to get the medication, so for dogs sensitive to only a couple of flea bites it's basically useless. Hence why they give out capstar packs for free in the summer and pretend as though they're being generous. Mel.

If she's on regular cortisone she shouldn't be vaccinated anyway as the cortisone renders the vaccine ineffective. If you need or want to, just give the lowest available i.e. C3 instead of C5. But yes, you would want her to be looking very well when you do it. Google ' dog titre testing' this is a blood test that gives a good idea of your dog's levels on antibodies for each disease that we vaccinate against. You may find her immunity quite high so vaccination not needed at that time. One or all of the tests may need to go to the US (I'm not exactly sure as things are changing all the time). If you let us know what State you live in eventually someone will be able to give contacts of holistic vets in your area. Also be very careful about using fleat spot ons as they can affect the immune system too. I have a subscription to the Whole Dog Journal, it is fairly cheap for an e-subscription, and there are alot of articles you can buy for a small amount once you are a member, about vaccinating, immunity, immune system supplements etc. Whole Dog Journal Cheers Mel.

Ewwww way too many colours for a start. There's a new product out called "Act Natural" supposed to be preservative and colour free, with natural ingredients. Haven't tried em on my dogs yet. Mel.

Advocate is the spot on you may be speaking of, does everything bar tapeworm. There are two types, hydatid (eating sheep or cattle carcasses, un-treated meat, sheeps faeces) and flea tapeworm, but if you have no fleas theoretically you have no flea tapeworm. Easy to tapeworm separately with a tablet every 3-6mths depending on where your dog goes..in particular farming areas. Revolution is the similar product, I don't think it does as many worms but I don't have the product info here to list which ones. Revolution takes longer to kill fleas can be up to 36hrs...while advantage/advocate and frontline are faster acting. Advocate also has a waterfast claim but it's not as widely advertised as some of the other products. Mel.

Know what you mean, I priced a pair of thinning shears - $160.00 I nearly fainted in the pet supplies! I'm pretty sure I asked the attendant "were they sure?"

Neutersol has never been used here and isn't being manufactured at the moment. Suprelorin is the chemical castration implant, Tardak is the old style injectable. Suprelorin is relatively new in oz, but in clinical trials seems to show good results as far as sperm function and motility returning to normal. Suprelorin needs to be given every six months, they are currently trying to get a twelve month implant approved. If all that you are concerned about is skin infection, well the skin is healed well in 4-5 days, all dogs are generally given anti-biotic or penicillin injection on the day of surgery, and you can ask for a course of tablets if you wish to take home. As the others have said, I would only consider suprelorin if there was some question about whether you wanted to show the dog. Here in Melbourne it will cost about 160 to surgically desex as a once off cost, or over 200 PER YEAR for the implants. I've been nursing for 5 years and hardly ever see infections with routine desexing. Nothing that a course of anti-biotics and an elizabethan collar wouldn't fix anyway!! For what it's worth I've worked in a remote community desexing dogs that were filthy, and hardly ever have a problem, dogs are very resillient when it comes to infection. Mel.

I have 7.5inch roseline's and they sharpen up very very well. Smaller hands, smaller sized scissors, I learned at my grooming course. Mel.

Most Vets would prefer not to as there is a huge amount of blood flow to the area during a season. There is no point putting the dog under for a risky surgery when Paola sounds quite responsible. Mel.