SpotTheDog

I wish someone would make a video acessible to everyone, showing pitbulls as the fantastic dogs they can be - using a pitbull with uncropped ears, who's a registered therapy dog, for instance, and leaving out the bit where the dog is a trained protection dog as well, so there's no grabbing, shaking, wooling, or biting of anything worse than a tennis ball. And perhaps a soundtrack from Hans Zimmer. Or Chopin. Meh my dog is of dubious heritage and if arbitrary laws are introduced against bull breeds, I could lose him. He is of impeccable character - I've just been feeding the cats and watching him steal catfood and watching my cats eat dropped kibble bits literally alongside him and sometimes out from under his muzzle. He's a sweet natured thing. If someone called to my house to impound my dog because he has pitbull terrier in him, I think I'd die on the spot. /edited to add I actually don't know what my dog has in him. He's a real bitsa.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here, and say that video's bloody terrible. To anyone who knows and loves dogs, that video will give you shivers and you'll be impressed and amazed. To Joe Bloggs Public who don't understand dogs, that's in excess of three minutes of pitbulls grabbing and shaking things savagely, coupled with some pretty astounding jumps that make you think the dog could literally get up and over ANYTHING in order to grab and shake you - and oo, look there, there's the dog grabbing and shaking a bloke who's hitting him with a STICK, and all to the backdrop of a blaring heavy metal tune the main distinguishable lyric of which is 'Don't turn your back on me'. Yeah, um, don't think I'll be sharing that one in my keyboard warrior efforts to calm the hysteria and promote the breed... o_O

The reaction of the ignorant public is really worrying. Pitbulls are banned in Northern Ireland, and the council can come and seize your dog purely based on type - and the establishment of that type is arbitrary in the extreme. A case in point is pitbull mix Bruce, a dog who never did a day's wrong in his life, yet was seized from his family because the measurement of his head placed him in the pitbull category. He was kept in solitary confinement for years while supporters sought to have him freed. A rescue organisation that specialises in bull breeds finally won the day and Bruce was handed over to them. The highly experienced dog handler who runs that rescue assessed Bruce's temperament, and not only was he not a remotely vicious dog, but he showed surprisingly few affects from his years in solitary confinement, where he had been allowed become ill, wounds had been left to become infected and he was generally mistreated. Currently also imprisoned in Belfast is Lennox: http://ctechwebhosting.co.uk/savelennox/wordpress/?p=922 I'm terrified that this country will go in the same direction, and much loved, gentle and well cared for family pets will be seized arbitrarily in a kneejerk response to a tragedy that was apparently very little to do with breed, and everything to do with irresponsible dog ownership.

I had these two heavy-duty 'morningstar' rubber balls for Gus, made by Europet Bernina. They were tennis-ball sized and covered in rubber spikes. They're hollow and have a bell inside. They're my secret weapon for outdoor focus - Gus will do anything for a game of catch with one of these. If anyone has any idea where I can get another, please shout!

Went to get beer and takeaway last night. Got out of the car in the drive through (too blind to read the specials) and realised I was being stared at. Looked down - jacket I walk the dog in was a state - muddy pawprints, muddy cuffs, streaks of mud. Total sight. Apologised to the chortling bottlo staff. (Then decided to change to a different bottlo when they companionably asked me 'What happened to your usual car? We liked that car. What made you change?' - husband had normal car, I was in station wagon second car, with dog guard in back. When bottlo staff know the car, time to move.)

One week on: ROCKSTAR. Paying attention, sit-stay, bit of bouncing but hey that's the dog, jumps, waits, using a long lead, and he did the tunnel!! Repeatedly, and with great gusto near the end!! So pleased. Dog also loved it - at one point in the class he barked at me solidly for five minutes. This is a dog who's barked less than 10 times in total in the year I've owned him. Guess who was excited?

This is agility related, but possibly not the way the rest of this thread is, but I just wanted to say I want to hug the woman who ran today's agility class. She said to me at the end that she knew I was disheartened, and not to worry, I could work with the other trainer and she'd help me with the basics. To clarify, I can get a sit, lie down, sit up again, stay, don't touch the treat until you're told, shake hands, jump for the treat - all solid commands at home, and in my yard, and reasonable when out on walks, but put us around other dogs, and my boy pretends he's never seen me or heard 'sit' in his life. It was excellent, because today was a BAAAAAAAAD day for me and the dog. He was feral for the entire class - jumping at the other dogs, pulling my arms near out of my sockets, refusing point blank to look at me. Gus isn't food driven at all, in any way (which was funny because by the time the fifth class member had approached me with their treats that he'd "definitely go for", he refusal to even consider the food, even when it was literally put in his mouth, was a talking point). Gus is like a football jock - great size and shape for agility, body of muscle, fit, healthy, and - God love him - as thick as two short planks with the attention span of a gnat. (Everyone at class is so sweet, because Gus is sweet natured - they think he's gorgeous, but will openly joke about him being an airhead. Poor big dumb oaf.) I have a lot of work to do (how the fark do you motivate a dog who'll willingly starve himself for a day or two if he's not completely happy with what's going on in his day?), but it's just so reassuring to know that the club is willing to stick with me, and don't want me gone because we're disruptive. Had a bit of a breakthrough today I think - Gus doesn't respond to any food, toys (including squeaky ones), tug o war ropes, balls, or any of the other standard dog motivators. He also doesn't respond much to praise - unless I carry on like a complete squealing nutjob. I tried it today, and it seems to work, but if anyone has any other ideas, they're most welcome.

Puppy play date injury - weights at the time were 20kg Gus and his 25kg boxer girlfriend tearing up my back yard. The bitch had a habit, unbeknownst to me, of racing straight at her owner and dodging out of the way at the last minute. So she comes beeline at me, Gus on her shoulder, I think 'oh noooo' and step out of the way at the last minute - right into her last minute dodge. Both dogs took the feet out from under me and wrenched my right knee sideways. No permanent damage but good GOD that hurt...

Thanks all. Yeah I can see Gus is in his second fear period at the moment - that might explain the bluster and fuss every so often out the front windows, or around the back yard - a bluster and fuss that he can be called out of. I don't mind having a reasonably territorial dog - he's not a resource guarder and is extremely friendly to visitors to the house so a bit of bluster at the fencelines doesn't worry me in the slightest. It's definitely not just me being sick though - and by that, I mean that it's not me feeling poorly and making more out of stock standard behaviour than I normally would. He's most definitely upped the ante this week - the problem is I haven't dealt with it at all well because I've been feeling poorly. A return to basics has helped of course, as it always does - treats for good behaviour, tethered for being a pest (the tether ring is excellent - it means he lies on the floor at the foot of the couch where he would normally lie in the course of an evening, with company and the normal sights and sounds, but it prevents him from taking off up or down the open-plan house when bored and either bailing up, or being bailied up by, one of the cats.) There's a pre-meeting for the local agility classes on Sunday, to be attended sans dog. I've been put off all week by feeling poorly but think I need to drag myself to it. Agility may be an answer for us...

Is there a developmental phase that can happen around the 14 month mark? Because, well... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Having recovered from his bout of gastro last week, Gus has been a complete arse all week this week. He has reverted to behaving towards the cats the way he did when he was about eight months old (bouncing at them). Any command he's given, if he obeys it at all, is held for a lightning flash. (You've never seen a dog's backside skim the floor so fleetingly in response to 'sit'.) Any behaviour I try to distract him from, he won't be distracted by anything, including positive rewards, and persists unless physically removed from the distraction. He's also become more territorial around the house and yard over the last few weeks, but this week in particular he's started barking. (Shock horror, a dog, barking, who knew?) But seriously - Gus has never barked. He discovered his voice last week and is beginning to use it. This evening I'm on the sofa, there are liver treats on the coffee table beside me, and the big boofa is tethered to a tether-ring in the skirting board for the first time in about three months. I've a stinking headcold and have been off work for the last two days. It's like my normally sunny and masterful disposition disappeared in a haze of snot and when my vision cleared, taking advantage of the lapse in leadership, out sprung HELLDOG!!

6.30am ish (5.30am Mondays, later weekends!) get out of bed. Put dog out for wees and poos. Bring dog back in. Wake cats up. Clear out cat litters. Make coffee. Take dog outside with coffee and lazily throw things for him as he horses around the garden like a maniac and I sit in a chair and sip my coffee and wake up. If it's raining, I sit in the laundry and throw through the door. When dog has worn self out (often a short, sharp burst of exercise - may be as little as 20 mins if he's particularly energetic) we go back indoors. Then I let the cats out into the yard and they run about. I tidy up my kitchen in the mornings after last night's meal, and dog follows me about and we listen to the radio and I drink more coffee. 8am, I call the cats back in (they come when called) and feed them their breakfast, and dog goes back outside and is fed his breakfast. (He's had enough time to cool down from his runabout.) I hop in the shower and leave for work at about 8.25am. Dog spends his day outside, with access to the garage where he has a trampoline bed with currently no fewer than two folded doonas on it. I go to work. If I have the chance, I may come home at lunchtime for up to an hour (I work 5 mins from home) and dog comes in, cats may go outside for another run, we just have a bit of company time. I get home from work by 5.15pm. If we're going for a walk I literally walk in the door, change out of my work clothes and snap the dog's leash on and out we go again - if I settle down at all I won't go out. Home again by 6.30pm at the absolute latest. Dog has long drink of water and goes outside and pees all over back garden to ensure we all know he's home again. Dog back in, cats out in the yard (never out together - he'd chase). I make my own dinner. Cats get about an hour outside at this point, longer in the summer. I didn't use to feed the dog in the evenings, but reckon once he's cooled down from his afternoon walk, I'll give him a second feed, as per my other thread where he's been sick and skinny. I eat, round all animals up indoors and we spend the evening inside. The dog usually flakes on the living room floor, the cats have a round of zoomies at about 8pm where they ricochet off the walls (literally). Bed time is 10pm - dog goes out for a last wee n poo before bed, while I clear the cat litters, and feed the cats get their supper in their 'room'. They then settle in for the night happily. This bit is very important - dog is outdoors doing his business while cats are getting supper, and when dog comes back in he MUST be allowed a lick of the catfood packet. (Will come in through the laundry and sit on the mat without being asked and watch you expectantly, waiting for his evening lick-of-the-packet treat.) Once cats are in bed, dog closes up the house with me, following while I turn off the lights and check doors n windows and turn down the heating. Then up to the front of the house, he gets a cuddle on his bed in the study and is told he's the best dog in the world, and I go to bed myself. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Okay cool - thanks for all the advice, this has been really helpful! Next food order will be the rc4800 - there's a restock due on petfood in this house soon anyway :-)

I've got him on Royal Canin Maxi Junior, which I started him on at 12 months old and 27kgs. I might go back to raw, two meals a day and feed him indoors so he can't bury it. Tell me this - I have reservations about premium performance foods because while I want Gus to build his weight up, I don't want him to have so much energy he's ricocheting off the walls of the house. The attention and exercise Gus gets at the moment is as much as I can manage in my current situation (we play ball in the yard of my house on 1/3 acre in the mornings for about half an hour to 45 mins while I have my coffee and in the evening we go pound the pavement around the block for about 45 mins to an hour on leash. Weekends and good weather we go up Monument hill and have a swim in the dam in that reserve.) I want to feed him to build his weight up, but I don't want to create a situation where he's on such a high protein food that he's manic, I can't keep up, and I end up with a frustrated, zany dog pestering my cats and destroying my house because he's full of energy and hasn't worked it off and I can't keep up with him. Am I thinking about it the wrong way?

Looks like it was a rousing bout of good old gastro. No more vomits, Gus is still on a bland 'poached chicken n rice' diet. His weight has improved and his spirits are definitely up. His energy is still a little off but every morning or evening you can see a marked improvement over the previous morning or evening. Still keeping an eye to see if vomiting starts over. Next step is gradual introduction of normal food. Speaking of normal food, anyone got any suggestions of how to get weight on and keep it on a skinny dog? Being a bull arab type bitsa, Gus has a front end like a staffy with a long muzzle, and a backend like a greyhound. He's thick around the shoulders and deep in the chest, and comes right back up into his rear legs and whippy tail. I know the convention for good weight on a dog is usually 'feel the ribs but not see them' but Gus's ribs are quite often visible through his skin - he's not that well padded across the ribs or spine. I wonder if the vet's reaction to using an anti-emetic and getting food and fluid into him was a reaction to his overall ribby, hippy, spiny appearance. I've been feeding him Royal Canin as per the instructions on the packet. I used to feed him mostly raw for the first year of his life but he was a slow eater and would prefer to bury and hide much of his dinner, to the detriment of the yard. (Interestingly, it's 10 weeks since moving from mostly raw to mostly kibble - never had a stomach upset on raw and 10 weeks into kibble we have gastro - makes me think about the 'PH and health of the gut' arguments for raw.) He's not emaciated or anything, but my feeling is he's on the skinny side of svelte and I'd love to put a bit more cover on that frame! I thought his age - 14 months or so - could be behind his high metabolism and persisting on the side of skinny. Any suggestions? He's fed once a day - I'd go to twice if anyone thought it'd help.

No x-rays. Gut sounds good. Did thorough abdominal check. Next worry is if vomiting restarts after anti-e wears off. Hopefully not and this is just a dose of enteritis.

Persephone - no idea. Sent me away with lectade after giving anti emetic, also gave vit B shot, orders to do the obs/hydration work myself really. I have a good boss - am home with gus today all day. Tomorrow, if today goes to plan, I'll go to work, but will drop home mid morning, lunchtime and mid arvo to check on him, and leave him in his bed otherwise. He's kept breakfast down so far and had lectade drink with a little chicken stock. Appearance better already - stark ribby look has eased.

No pukes overnight. Is a bit weak and a little trembly this morning, but just had breakfast so we'll see if that stays down. Has gone back to bed. Doubt we're out of the woods, whatever this is - if not for the anti-emetic I'd say the last two meals would be decorating the carpet.

Back from the vet. Gus is home with me to be observed for a couple of days. He was moderately dehydrated by the time we got to the vet, having puked again. The really startling thing however was it was as though his physical condition was deteriorating in front of my eyes. He weighs in normally at 27kgs - on the scale at the vet he was 21.8kgs. We put a lot of things together - I had noticed him down on his pasterns somewhat on Saturday and thought it was curious - he was like that as a pup but was fed well and had come out of it. Very odd for it to appear again. Anyway - no diagnosis. Bloods done, vit B and anti-emetic given, home with lectade and instructions for chicken n rice for three or four days. Bloods spun while we waited - results generally good, some results a bit wacky but could be the vomiting / stress. Still enough that the vet didn't say "The dog's fine, it's just a bug". Gus is on strict obs with hydration and a cup of food at a time over the next 24 hours - if he starts throwing up again, back to the vet. At the vet he alternated between happy MAD happy and then would stand, head down, eyes closed, and sway - at one point I had to catch him, thought he was going over. I think that's the waves of nausea. Anyway, we're home, I owe my mate a slab of beer for doing this for me, chicken 'n' rice poaching on the stove at the moment, and I'm trying to juggle my working day tomorrow around the hound... Thanks all for support!

jm266 - thanks for the offer. More puke. Friend has dropped things to come over and we're going to broadford vet. Wish Gus luck.

Hey Ams - just tried that! If he gets worse in the night I'll get a friend of mine who's local out of bed to drive to the vet with me. I went through his symptoms with the OOH vet in the next town, and they're on call all night. The twitchy fidgety shivering bothers me and I talked it over with them, they have said it can just be a symptom of feeling really rotten. Just texted my friend now to see where she is and what she's up to - if she's home I may see if she'll come up to the vet with me now, but she could be at work. Gus, meanwhile, is keeping the water down and is just resting. /edited to clarify I tried getting the OOH vet to come to me. No joy.

Have problem with late vet - I can't drive at night. I'm likely to kill him and me both - I have keratoconus and I just can't see. Which begs the question of what I'd do in a major night time medical emergency - dunno, taxi? Police?(!) Had booked the vet for tomorrow morning before the episode of vomiting up water. The nearest out of hours vet to me is up to 20 mins away up the highway - on a wet, cloudly night like this with poor visibility I'm as likely to plant the car into a tree as I am to keep it on the road. It's a problem. He's kept down the drink he had just after vomiting.

Graphic bodily functions ahoy, so don't read on if squeamish! My 14th mth old bull arab X is off his form. He ate on Sunday morning, and has touched nothing since. We went to bed early last night for our normal early Monday start (5am), but hubby was woken at 3am by the noise of the dog trotting up and down the hallway. We got up to him to find he'd done two sloppy poos in the family bathroom. I put him outside while I cleaned those up. He came back in, peed on the living room rug (he hasn't peed inside the house since toilet training) and then proceeded to throw up right beside it. His vomit was full of grass, which I assumed he'd eaten while outside while I was cleaning up crap, and a lot of bile. I cleaned all that up (and then didn't bother going back to bed). He appeared fine for the rest of the morning until I left the house just after 8am. He was pestering his 'favourite' cat, Cleo, for attention, and generally mooching about as he does in the mornings. I put him outdoors before I left with a full bowl of food, as I do every morning. (He's fed once a day in the mornings.) There have been no recent changes in his food. I came home this evening and he was fairly bright - excited to see me, lots of wiggling etc. However first thing I noticed was his bowl was untouched, he hasn't had even one mouthful of that food. Once the 'you're home!' excitement wore off he became very flat. Usually he shadows me around the house, tonight he's content to lie and watch. He's been twitchy, shivering very gently as he fidgets around his bed as though he's trying to get comfortable. I have offered him food and he's turned his nose up, but he's drinking. His gum colour is good. His belly isn't taut or swollen, and when I was feeling him over there was gurgling depending where I pressed and while he looks a bit unsure there was no yelping. I took his temp and it's normal. So we went out in the yard for a trot about - I wanted to see would he poo or wee. I threw the ball and he went after it, perhaps not with his usual gusto, but happily enough - he's fairly energetic. Back inside, and within two minutes he'd thrown up all the water he'd drunk this evening. Then he went back to the water bowl. He's now lying at my feet on his mat again, flat on his side. He appears a little more comfortable - some of the fidgeting has eased. I've booked a vet appt for 8.45am - I caught them just before they closed this evening but it was literally 10 mins to go, so I figured I'd watch him overnight and go in the morning if he's no better. I am ALWAYS paranoid about Gus and intestinal blockages because he's such a trash can. However he'll also dig up foul old bones from the yard, and eat cat crap if he can find it out there. (Don't you love dogs?) Any thoughts? Anything else I can do for him this evening?

Steve, if you had to compare a maremma with a central asian ovcharka, what would be the main differences? (I ask this question from an awareness that both are flock guardian breeds, and know little or nothing else about them other than absorbing what I'm being told here).

If they have four undesexed cats, could you get the ranger onto them? I'd see if I could get a ranger to call out to the house regarding the cats - give them a heads up that these people are in the market for a puppy too and you think it's a disaster waiting to happen. It might impact them if the ranger appeared and fined them for having the cats unregistered and then brought up the subject of a dog and what a dreadful idea that would be...

These are the first forums where I've seen this issue addressed so openly, and I'm really glad because I didn't bond with my dog at all initially. I adopted him and within five days of bringing him home I was on a flight to the other side of the world for my father's funeral, and left the pup with my husband, who is 'not a dog person'. On my return it took months for me to feel love for him, or a feeling of more than just 'here is a four-legged set of tasks that I have neither the physical or emotional energy for, oh what a chore'. With every one of my cats, I've bonded immediately. Cats are just different to me. I feel like I understand them implicitly. With dogs, the last dog I had I was a child, and I really hadn't realised just how much of a mystery they were to me until I got my own as an adult. Gus, my dog, has just turned a year old. Things are much better. He knows me. I know him. He comes in for snuggles. He still doesn't 'look to me' as much as I'd like for his instructions on what to do next, so I have to change things up to achieve that - but I know it's my responsibility to work on that, not a flaw in him. He's actually one chilled out hound. I went away for a few days over the weekend and left him into kennels for four nights. It's a good local kennel and they were recommended to me. He coped fine in the kennel, but when I came to collect him I got the feeling that his greeting would have been just as exuberent regardless of who had collected him, and it was like he wasn't interacting with 'me' per se. I brought him for a long walk after kennels and before home, and on this walk implemented my new leash walking regime (Gus pulls like a sled dog on a flat collar, and I don't want to go the halti route so I decided to work on 'be a tree'). We made some progress but he was looking at me like 'WTF? First kennels, now this? Are you a total bitch or what?' But then we got home, back to the house. I put him in the yard through the garage, to give me a chance to get his bed out of the car, and so I could manage his reintroduction to the cats indoors after four nights away. When I walked into the house with his bed, I realised he was howling. Gus never makes noise, and he was standing in the yard, head down, howling at being left alone again so soon, even if only for three minutes. I got him to sit and then allowed him in the house, and it's as if everything clicked. He went from being standoffish to being completely delighted. Rolled on his bed. Sniffed the cats. Carried his toys around. Kept bumping past me for rubs. Eventually I sat on the kitchen floor and he came up and shoved his head into my chest, and just stood there, with his head down and pressed into my midriff and his tail swinging like a pendulum. I just massaged his ears and thought "Yep, we'll get there eventually mate." :D