Staff'n'Toller

So cute, love her bouncy drops!

Cindy's heeling is usually pretty spot on, Sue could even blame it on me as I was working on her auto sits yesterday and did an NRM which she is not used to - oops! :D Btw did she get all the auto sits Sue? Sue has done really awesomely to get Cindy ready, considering Cindy was trained in a traditional style school previously. Can't wait to come video the next trial!

Love my ice tempered Roselines. I use Shear Magic at work and they are good too. Still rate the Roselines as #1 though.

You should be fine if you keep him on the comfortis for another 2-3 months. If it's not a brand new house you're moving into I would bomb that once before you move in.

I may be wrong but I think it's a Vet only product- no prescription fee though you can buy it over the counter.

The GRCV is pretty big, I'd be surprised if they weren't interested in looking at the dog.

Unfortunately a decent percentage of the population do shop around. Many treat the Vet like their bulk bill doctor and price and least distance from home plays a large part in their decision making. Lots of people don't think the same way you do & don't feel that they need to advise that they have no money to pay the bill. You only need to do a thread search here to see how many people think that Vet Clinics are a total rip. It comes down to the relationship people have with their dogs, whether the dog even comes inside the house at all and how much they paid for the dog in the first place. I.e. we have lots of trouble getting a consult fee out of someone with a sick rabbit that cost a fifth of the price to buy. They just don't see the point. You have to remember too, that for some generations here (in Oz I mean) their animals were desexed on the needle (no gas anaesthetic) no pain relief and were for the most part, fine afterwards. Not trying to be totally negative, many retired people have their pets as child substitutes and would spend any amount on them which is lovely. Just trying to put across another POV.

Have you tried getting to the end of the checkout process? There might be a tick box there. Otherwise just email them your order ask them to invoice you.

No I think it's done a lot more these days, I'm not sure what the cut-off age is but I had bloods done for day surgery 2 years ago. Recently I had some vague virus symptoms and the doc ordered full bloods plus a few other things. I agree you find some curlys once in a while with pre-an testing, mostly liver shunts and it's nice to know about it before you knock the dog out. We don't anaesthetise any dog over 8 years without a full blod profile as a rule. If I could only do one I would probably choose fluids, but if I'm paying for setup the dog may as well stay on maintenance fluids until I pick it up. If you think gown/cap/gloves are a live or die necessity then don't click on the amrric link in my sig and see what I'll be doing for the next 2 weeks. You'll have nightmares of the red dirt, work outdoors, flies, ticks, dirt, scabies and flea kind!! :p Btw we do wear gloves, mostly to protect ourselves against contact with TVTs.

No doubt you've seen it but I've seen video of a dog cued to go to his bed (rather than rush to the door barking) when the doorbell was used. Reliability occured VERY quickly. Used sensibly, it's very potent. I think there is an article on clickertraining.com that shows how this is trained. My favourite technique with door-bell barkers is to teach them to bark briefly instead of continuously. All you do is click then toss a treat when they have barked for 1 second (or whatever you want, so long as you are consistent). Then click while they are eating, then toss another treat. Knock on the door again to repeat. Next time click for the same amount of barking, but click again for slightly more silence. Simple, effective, works from day one. I've used that slightly differently for my young dog, bark twice out in the yard then come inside. I must say I haven't reinforced it in quite a while but it's still quite reliable. Not long ago he was barking down at the gate and didn't come in, I went out the back to investigate and someone was nicking stuff from my car in the driveway!!

No doubt you've seen it but I've seen video of a dog cued to go to his bed (rather than rush to the door barking) when the doorbell was used. Reliability occured VERY quickly. now that would be terrific for most dog owners to know how to do, me included Actually the manners minder food dispenser was developed mostly for this and it's remarkable how quickly it works.

Delta teach the theory of ALL four quadrants of operant conditioning, otherwise I wouldn't have 2 compulsory texts sitting on my bookshelf. They don't give practical demonstrations of R- or P+ and they advise that if you are not comfortable or experienced and a dog definitely needs aversives in some capacity that you refer to someone who is. Can that be IT on the subject?!!!! (I don't hold out much hope unfortunately.)

Urinalysis, Culture and Sensitivity and Sediment Exam can all be separate requests when you send urine off for testing.

We had a couple of older dogs that turned out to have a few stones. Seems strange in her case given her age but you can always ask for an ultrasound just to be sure. :D Since she had already been on AB's perhaps request another culture and sensitivity on a new sample and get the lab to spin it down and examine the sediment. What's her diet?

Yeah we do see a big difference in rehab post surgery with Physio and either controlled warm water swimming or underwater treadmill. Things like gentle muscle stretching, passive range of motion, hot/cold packs. Kimjm would be the person to PM about appropriate practices for shoulder surgery as some techniques work better than others. I'm not sure about Physio instead of surgery as I'm not up with the latest news - need to send at least one of my Vets to the next seminar!! Most of the specialist surgeons here (well the bigger centres anyway) have a Physio and underwater treadmill attached to their centres in Vic.

Ah ok, I knew (?she) had changed location but couldn't remember ever reading about the UK or US or Europe so wasn't sure. Do they have Physio connected with the Vet School?

Which State are you in?

The chicken & duck still had chicken fat used as a preservative (this was before the package changeover) whereas the Anchovy is the only one preserved with shrimp oil or something to that effect.

Maybe not entirely we generally hear of it every 1-2 years and this usually originates from the western suburbs.....perhaps it is the Disease Watchdog or perhaps it is a slow news week. I was under the impression the Disease Watchdog had something to do with border protection stats as well, but I will go to work and read the info thoroughly.

I have a 12.5 yr. old mini schnauzer and also a 2.5 yr. old. My older boy hasn't been vaccinate for several years, because he had bad reactions to them as a young dog, and at one point we almost lost him. Mt younger boy had all his puppy shots and was due for his annual last February. I enquired with my usual vet who hadn't heard of titres. I also take my older boy to a homeopathetic vet. My usual vet got a price and it came to $250 plus consultation. The homeo vet said the only test we need here in Australia is the parvo, and not to bother with the hepatitus. This came to $90 plus consultation. He still had immunity so no vaccination this year. Distemper still shows up around the traps, usually about once a year.

Huh?? What rock are they hiding under? I think perhaps it's more like 'I don't want to have to deal with your weird question' kind of response.

because this relates to me rather than dog, but I too have had a fair amount of chiropractic assistance over the years. The very first time I went to a chiro for neck issues. He 'cracked' my neck when I didn't expect it and whilst I was 'cold' and tense. It brought tears to my eyes, but I was scoffed at for my response. For a period of at least a week, whenever I held my head/neck in a certain position (upright, as you would when driving), I lost control of it and my head/neck would flop to one side. It was pretty scary (especially for driving control). I didn't go near chiropractors for years afterwards but was then persuaded to see the guy that I now go to and he has helped me a lot. I won't go to anyone else other than him. I agree Erny that would be very scary! Sounds dangerous too. Unfortunately there are unethical Chiros out there...not good. I had the manual neck adjustment for about 10 years and that never happened, although I don't like the feel of it and my Chiro now uses the 'activator' on my neck as she feels it's a lot more gentle, just as effective and is concerned about manual adjustments for me since I have migraines.

I heard this today on the radio but neither of our inner suburbs practices have had any positive cases. I have one here I don't Vacc so I think I will be titre testing her first.

Wow, sounds like an interesting story behind that comment! Errr not a huge amount really, I just saw a dog very recently that had been manipulated in acute pain and the owner was beside herself. I've never had that experience with any of mine even if they've had a few sore spots, the discomfort is momentary and then they move very easily and seem very relaxed. I've had Chiropractic since I was a 12 y.o. and it should never be painful, if it is painful afterwards then it should be corrected by the practitioner asap.

Thanks my sister found that one and it's on the shortlist. We'd love it if we could find one very close to beach so little Gypsy can enjoy it without putting too much strain on the elbows.