~Anne~

I think the popularity of breeds come and go though and always will. What is more telling, and is incredibly sad, is that the overall figures for purebred dogs is in a dramatic freefall.

This has actually been one of the most civilised threads I have read here on tail docking. Until now... Seriously. :D

We don't have that issue with Aussies, they wiggle their whole butts and in some cases the whole body in several different directions at once. No doubt when a NBT/docked Aussie is happy! :D Haha, that is so true! Especially Holly! She has a massive wiggle. :p Damn, more disrespectul people. tsk tsk.

Hate it with a passion Didn't breed just exhibited and will never own a traditionally docked breed that is not docked Can't stand the tails, so much so see above. I ask those who think it's cruel have they ever seen it done by someone who knows what they are doing (breeder). OMG, more on page 2. :D

I have a Frenchie (naturally no tail) and have also been called cruel etc. People are stupid :p On the first page there are two posts made by people who do not own breeds that are docked (and that is just the first page). I guess they too have no respect or perhaps it was because they didn't say anything against docking that they weren't attacked? :D (actually neither did I.... however...)

Any thread about docking will end in a debate and or argument. Just because you personally dont want others to join in, doesn't mean it will happen.' It is a public forum.

Do you own a docked breed Anne??? What has owning a docked breed got to do with my thoughts on docking? I don't know Anne ask the OP she was the one that requested only breeders or owners. Is that the only argument you come up with. Seriously?

Do you own a docked breed Anne??? What has owning a docked breed got to do with my thoughts on docking?

Sorry, I forgot I needed to sometimes make my sentences more exact and precise so that the intention can't be twisted or misrepresented in some smarmy way. Just for you Sheridan; Nothing pleases me as much as seeing a dog of a breed that had previously been docked, with a natural long and undocked tail wagging its tail just the way nature intended.

Nothing pleases me as much as seeing a dog of a breed that had previously been docked wagging its tail.

Hmm, now there's a thought! We have an issue with moisture at the moment so maybe it is an allergy? Did your dog show obvious signs though of a skin problem? Every dog I have had experienced allergy issues with has had obvious visual signs of a reaction apart form scratching.

Is it possible that she started itching at the time you had your home treated? Or was she itching before that? She was itching before. We've been in the new place for around 5 weeks now and the pest control wa sonly done last week. I spoke too soon as well as she started going crazy again last night. I have no idea what her issue is to be honest. She has always been an 'itchy' dog without cause, but not like she is now. Now she is actually looking a little distressed with it but there is no redness or anything on her. It seems to be her back mainly that is itching her so I gave her (and the others) another Capstar last night. I checked her, and the others, all over again and I can not find any evidence of fleas at all though. I am stumped. There is a 'hedge' style bush that is planted in the yard that my husband trimmed back the other week. It has white flowers on it and it has a very, very heavy scent and attracts bees. I have no idea of its name, but perhaps it is related to this???

We use vaseline and or paw paw ointment on the Pugs.

Thanks Staranis. My gut feel is fleas but I haven't spied any at this point in time. I haven't felt any, seen any and the other dogs aren't scratching. The dogs are all on Sentinel. The previous owners did have a dog in the past, but it seems it was a few years ago. There is very little carpet or areas that fleas could be hibernating as well. She seems to have calmed down again the in the last few days. As they are not used to having fleas, I had considered there may be one or two around, and her reaction is just typical of the dizzy blond she is. The Sentinel, as you know won't kill the fleas so maybe she has had one or two on her biting her and she is carrying on like a pork chop and over reacting. If she was allergic, she would have irritation somewhere and there is no redness or change in her skin anywhere at all. I might see how she goes and then decide about bombing. We have just had the place pest controlled, not specifically for fleas, but maybe this is why she is settling down too??? Maybe it is a fela or two and the pest control has got them?

I recently moved into a new house. One of my dogs, who has always been an itchy kind of dog, is now going crazy with the itchies. I am a little confused though as there is no redness or spots, I can't detect any fleas, and there is no hair loss. Her diet is the same, we have no plants that I can determine are causes for allergies and there is no grass in the back yard so it can't be a different grass type causing it. She ha sonly been btahed once in the last 4 weeks and I normally bath them more often. This time, she was done by a mobile goomer so I am not sure what she used, but the itchiness isn't really coincinding with her bath last week anyway as it was there before and after the bath. It has worsened in the last few days in particular it seems. I rang my old Vets and they advised giving her a 4mg Periactin tablet twice a day. I have done this since Tuesday night and although this was only a few days ago it should have an instant effect anyway, and apart from being a tad quieter, she is still itchy. She has always been one of those dogs that when you pat them on the back she squirmed in pleasure as if you were scratching her back. Does anyone have any clues?

KMart sell one that looks remarkably similar (or was it Target??)

It sounds peculiar. A grass seed could be an option.

Well said.

I recommend you both read this thread: http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=205156 There are several things that people do to stop it. In my view, nothing really is effective, and as it isn;t dangerous I don;t worry too much about it. Having Pugs, we hear it all the time, although the Pugs with bracchy syndrome are more prone to experiencing it. I will often offer a small drink of something if it continues to envcourage them to swallow which has two effects - it makes the palate sit back down again and it washes away any irritants.

It sounds like she was reverse sneezing perhaps. Here is a couple of videos that shows a dog reverse sneezing. If this is what she is doing, it is harmless in 99.9% of cases and you are possibly wasting money at the Vet.

Great to hear your dog is ok now. Just a question - why didn't you google for a Vet's details instead of posting here?

I'm confused as to what purpose the card has with regard to identifying the owner. The microchip holds the owners detaisl, the Vet only needs to scan the dog to see if the person presenting themselves as the owner is the same as the owner recorded on the computer.Another query. What happens when the Vet scans the dog and the details do not match? I like the idea of a card that holds medical records for the dog though, but not on the grounds of identifying ownership. With the way we are so mobile these days, having your dog's medical records in format like this would be brilliant. Hello, As far as I know when a dog gets scanned only the Microchip number appears and it's only if the vet looks up that number on a register of some kind (may be time consuming) will they see the owners details like address and name,phone numbers. I think a card may be a faster and an extra assurance that dog and owner match. There isn't yet any requirement for them to scan, but many do anyway. When they do scan the screen shows the owner's details to my knowledge (in NSW at any rate). Previously, vets could not access the database in such a way, but they can now. Therfore, wouldn't it be that the simplest thing (at least for NSW) is to have Vet scan a dog when it comes in which deletes the need for an additional card? Microchipping should be the same in all states.

I'm confused as to what purpose the card has with regard to identifying the owner. The microchip holds the owners detaisl, the Vet only needs to scan the dog to see if the person presenting themselves as the owner is the same as the owner recorded on the computer. Another query. What happens when the Vet scans the dog and the details do not match? I like the idea of a card that holds medical records for the dog though, but not on the grounds of identifying ownership. With the way we are so mobile these days, having your dog's medical records in format like this would be brilliant.

I firmly believe we are barking up the wrong tree and applying massive resources of time and energy on battling pet shops. Not only do pet shops and registered breeders sell the lowest number sof dogs, both groups have been, in NSW at any rate, microchipping dogs by law for in excess of 10 years. A quick view of the dogs listed on the Renbury site as of this morning reveal; 62 dogs. Of those 62 dogs, only 21 are microchipped. This isn't a once off, but an every day occurrence where the number of microchipped dogs is a only around 1/3 of the dogs impounded. You could loosely conclude that less than 1/3 od the dogs impounded come from pet shops or registered breeders. Why do we waste time pursuing petshops? The biggest issue is the sourcing of the dogs in pet shops. If common sense prevailed, then registered breeders, rescuers and the public would work with pet shops to ensure that puppy farms are not used as a source of puppies.

I guess it's in their best interest to paint themselves as being a lesser contributor while putting all other sources into one group (despite the huge difference between a puppy farm and a breeder) and saying, "There you go, it's their fault, not ours." Edited to add.. What should be included (but never will be) is that virtually all of their dogs come from puppy farms or BYBs and so if a group is going to be lumped with another, it should be them with their suppliers. So.. Puppies bred/sold through registered breeders.. 66,000 (according to Austerra) Puppies bred/sold in puppy farms and BYBs (through pet shops and private sale) .. 384,000 Their number looks considerably less innocuous now. The fact of it is though, regardless of what we think of them, is that they are selling limited numbers and that the greater majority of dogs are not being sold by them (and as we know, not by registered breeders either) and yet the focus and money is spent on battling pet shops. Wouldn't it be more logical to focus on where the damage is being done? Pet shops have sold animals for as long as I can remember and we haven't always had the issues we have now. We have unwanted dogs in the numbers we have because of society attitudes and because of unlimited and unrestricted breeding of dogs.