Polgara's Shadow

Do you have any Calendula tea? It's pretty mild stuff. You can pick it up from a health food store. Brew it up, let it cool, wipe it or pour it over the itchies. It calmes down my little allergic staffy's skin - it's not instant but definitly helps. It was a god send for us as we worked through what was causing the problem and it's taken us eight months to figure it out - sardines and lamb in his food and couch and kykuyu grass. Never heard of any pooches having an adverse reaction to it but of course your results may vary.

Are they for real??? Too cute!

My SBT pup had no problems with the old metal doggy door...zoom...bash...zoom... But had a few concerns with the upgrade to heavy pvc with magnets. a bit of a session showing him how to use it with treats then leaving him outside till he sorted it out (1/2 hour) and were doggy doorin again. Gotta say.. I heart dog doors!

Does anyone take their dogs sailing with them? We are planning on doing an extended sailing trip (3 months to 1 year) in another year or two's time and will be taking Vulcan (SBT) with us. I've been wondering about all sorts of things such as toileting, excercise, acclimatising him to a heeling sailboat not to mention how to keep him secure in rough weather. I'd love to hear about everyone's experiences!

Squeeee! All your suggestions have made me excited! Nearly as excited as if I were on the hunt for my own...well it will be a part of the extended family after all Thanks so much for helping me gather info for mum. I'll debrief her when we catch up for dinner next then show her all the breeds youve recommended and see what takes her fancy. If she's super keen on a pre-loved pooch I'll pop over to the rescue thread to get some more info about the process and how to go about finding a great match.

Hi Kat, , sounds like my pup. I have an 8month old Stafford with suspected allergies. Hes been itchy since we got him and progressivly got worse over time. I've tried everything suggested: raw food diet, adding omega oils, apple cider vinegar, weeding the garden yada yada yada.... nothing seemed to be overly helpful. I suggest you take him to your vet and have a chat to them about it. We got our vet to have a thorough look at our pup when we took him in for desexing at 6 months. Our Vet suspected atopic allergies. I am 99% sure he has an allergy to kykuyu and couch grass, although grass it definitly not the only cause as the itching decreases significnatly but sure isn't 'fixed' when weve kept him off grass. The next steps for us have been to put him on a prescription (available from the Vet only) 'allergen free' diet and if that doesn't 'fix' him we'll be getting skin tests done. Our pup has now been on the prescription diet for four out of the six weeks he needs to be on it. You'll need a referral from your vet to get the skin test done at a dermatologist. Callendula tea wipe downs have been a blessing for us in the meantime. Staffy's Amstaffs & SBT's) are notorious for allergies and itchy skin BTW. there are many DOLers on here with allergic pooches who have been managing allergies for much longer than me who I'm sure can give you more advice. Good luck!

IMO don't get a harness (sorry to contradict you corvus). They make pulling comfortable and even more fun - not good! My friend I mentioned before tried a harness because she didn't like to think she was choking her staffy (and they do pull till they start choking and coughing ) but it didn't do anything to teach her how not to pull - it just lessened the guilts. If you like the look of staffy harnesses, wait till you got the pulling under control. By the way you must post us a pic!

Oops double post

Hiya Purple Diamond, I'm no expert but I can tell you what we did with my SBT, now 8 months and still a work in progress We were going really well when he was very young, then we went to puppy school . Being on lead and straining to get to all the other puppies taught him that pulling was the done thing. After puppy school he would literally throw himself to the end of a lead to get towards what he wanted, usually other dogs. I'm sure we could have done something different at the time, but we didn't realise that a problem was developing. Anyhoo after puppy school and we had a great little steam train on our hands I had to re-think what we were doing. I tried a few things, but two techniques have worked wonders for us... Technique 1 - Long lead - I bought a re-tractable lead, the longest i could find (a really long lenth of rope would work too), found a very quiet bit of road to walk up and back where we were unlikely to be disturbed, and filled my pockets with treats. When I had him on the long lead I found that he didn't actually want to go very far, just that little bit further than he could with the other short lead. This meant we weren't fighting all the time as he had plenty of space to check out before he felt the need to get just that bit further. When he did reach the end and start pulling I'd stop walking and call him back to me, then treat him and praise him when he came to me. At the start he didn't want to come to me (he wanted that thing over there damn it) so I refused to move forward again until he did. Over time he realisedvhow to train me to move forward and that he could get a treat by coming to me when called . When he got good on the really long lead, I started adding distractions (I went to place with people and dogs) and started shortening the lead length (I've now got sereral leads of varying length). After five days of the above technique he was about 50% better. Technique 2 - Short lead - Similar to technique one but much slower and more frustrating. it hasn't always been practical to have him on the long lead, so when I have had to have him on a shorter lead I'd refuse to move when he pulled until he came back to me. Again whenever a distraction came along (especially dogs and kids) I stopped, called him to me praised him for coming and treated. Once I found the ultimate treat we had rapid progress with shorter leads. Using shorter leads is very frustrating because there is more fighting and less opportunity for your dog to have a 'win' and thus learn what 'winning' is like and that it's much better than pulling. Plus you feel like an idiot walking down the street at snails pace with your dog pinging off the end of the lead whenever you take a step. It's taken consistency and practice over three or four months now. Currently he walks very nicely on a two metre long lead without treating when there are a low level of distractions. He's made usch progress that I was happy to give my re-tractable lead away to a friend with a 9mo SBT who pulls. However when there are irresistable distractions, usually kids or other dogs, he still wants to lunge towards them but with calling him back and treating him we continue to make progress. I hope you find what works for the teo of you, theyre such strong little buggers - walking a pulling staffy is no fun at all . Consistency and practice. Good luck!

Hi Ams & persephone, thanks for reminding me that there really are some lovely secondhand pets out there. Mum will move into her new place in another months time, so still a little while away from being ready to provide her new companion with a home. Do you think that Mum would encounter any problems adopting from a shelter or rescue given her being 60, single, with a small yard and working two days a week? I want to make this process as fun and easy for her as possible so want to scope as much out for her as I can - she's got enough stress in her life with everything else going on right now. Where would be the best place to get help in finding mum her perfect match? Mum will be living in Mornington, Vic FYI. CBL & Daisy, thanks for the extra info on the sight hound breeds. Mum really enjoys watching her big guy run around off lead and I reckon she would want to do the same with her new companion. I think she'd find it frustraing not being able to let her darling off to run around. Maybe these breeds aren't the right ones for her. Oakway, onsntillnflash & mita, Cavalier and Tibetan Spaniels could work. Not sure if she'd be keen on the hair factor, but will put them on the list for her to consider too

Thanks Mother Moocher, yeah I think she's clock anyone who said she was too old too . Are dog breeders and rescue shelters age-ist? Not something I have to deal with but would like Mum to be prepared if she is likely to encounter this. A rescue pooch is definitly on the cards, she's not super-keen to deal with puppyhood again but hasn't decided one way or the other. Hiya Caesars mum, thanks for your ideas - hadn't thought of a dachshund and a pug would be on the list for sure. Good one

Hiya DOLers, I'm after your dog breed ideas for my Mum . A bit of info ... Mum has just gone through a separation and the pooch they had has gone to live with the ex. She loves the pooch to bits but he's a high energy, very big boofa (x-breed) and the ex's circumstances mean he's better able to give the big guy what he needs, so she has reluctantly agreed to hand him over though it's causing her much heartache . Mum is downsizing to a unit, which has a yard, and is still wanting a doggy companion. Although the yard will be small Mum walks every day, there is a park at the end of her street (all of 100 metres away) and she only works two days a week. She's also close to dog beaches, many other parks, and us with our 8 month old SBT. Some considerations are the small yard and being very close to neighbours - I'm thinking this means steering away from high energy and vocal breeds. Also Mum's 60 and doesn't have the strengh she used to for handling big dogs but she is very fit and active. Short hair has been her only stipulation. She has always loved our SBT's, and their personality suits her well, but I think they would be too strong for her. I've been steering her towards a french bulldog - but probably because I think theyre great and I want one . And I've been wondering if a Whippet or Italian Greyhound might fit the bill. I'd love to hear all your ideas so I can give her some more options than this ! Also I've been wondering how happy breeders, or rescues, would be giving Mum a pup given her circumstances (small yard, single older lady), your thoughts on this would also be welcome. Thanks in advance!

Hi chris&anna, ants are a big problem for us as well! I haven't found a way to keep them out of the kong. The ants even get in when I just stuff the kong with dried liver treats. My pup won't go near it when it's covered in ants. I bought pigs ears for a while and they worked pretty well. The ants would eat at the edge my pup had been chewing at once he'd left them (usually after half the ear), but I could get them off by dropping it onto the ground a few times, then it was good to go again. Ants have never been into the rawhide we've given him, so you could try that. Our pup's not so fond of rawhide though. He's got lots of non-edible toys to play with to keep him occupied during the day. He's six months old now and he hasn't turned into dog destructo...yet. Hopefully someone else will post who has developed tricks for keeping ants out of their dog's chew toys.

Have you tried treating your little guy when restrained? I needed to wipe my little staffy's belly down when he got a rash. This is what I did to get him resting on me calmly. I laid him on my thighs belly up and gave him a small piece of liver treat and told him he was a good boy. I kept feeding him small amounts of liver treats and telling him what a good little guy he was for hanging out belly up so well. When he relaxed a bit and was focused on the treats I wiped his belly over then gave him some more treats talking to him all the while and kept repeating this till I got the job done. It took more treats than wiping the first time around, but now he'll happily lay on me belly up while I inspect or wipe his skin over. I agree with what GoldenGirl85 said getting him used to being touched. But suggest you use treats to get him really comfortable with it. I also take a pocket of treats with me to the vet's.

Soz double post

I've blitzed the whole yard of grass so my fingers are crossed that we have found the culprit . This morning his skin is a much healthier looking pink. He also hasn't itched once all morning, I'm very happy It's very distressing when he's itching and biting at himself so ferociously! I'm so pleased to have found something to ease his symptoms while we work on finding the cause. Thanks again Erny

Oh..so glad I came across this! My boy had a flare up a couple of days ago and has been itching to the point of bleeding again . I've been at my wits end wondering what's causing these itches, he'd improved so much the past six weeks! I'm strongly suspecting it's grass, thankfully we don't have a great deal of grass on our property. I was thinking it may have been food related, but his diet hasn't changed in the past six weeks. I worked from home today so I could weed out (what I think is) the offending grass. I read this thread and picked up some Calendula (sp?) tea from the health food shop this morning. I gave him a good soak in it this afternoon. Thanks Erny It seems to be better tonight, so either the Calendula is helping, or I've gotten rid of the problem (grass).

Hi there, I have an itchy young SBT boy and was hoping for some advice on his diet. He's just over 4 months old. He has general (but frantic) itchies since we got him (8 1/2 weeks). I've been reading a bit about nutrition and allergies and have modified his diet to try and remove a few of the nasties (grains, preservative etc..). But I want to check with you all to make sure he's still getting the right stuff for a growing puppy. So.... currently (as of last two weeks) I've been feeding him Natures Gift puppy (has rice) about 2/3 can/day; Dr Billinghurst BARF patties (rabbbit) 1/day; and every other evening either a can of sardines with cottage cheese or a lamb neck. I've fed him turkey wings and chicken maryland in the past and will do again when they are available. His itchies have reduced a bit in the past couple of weeks - no more weepy sores on his body and the redness on his stomach and under his armpits has gone - however he still has a good chew at his feet and has a few sores on them. My question are... is this going to satisfy his nutritional requirements? I recognize that it could take 4-8 weeks for me to really see if a change in diet has made a difference.