nessa704

Thanks for all your suggestions! Looks like I'm going to be investing in some Aussie Dog products. Also, does anyone know where you can pick up old tyres on the cheap? At a mechanics? Tip?

It appears my 7 month old Staffy's jaw strength has just come in! Chew toys that she's had practically her whole life are goners and any new ones we buy literally last a matter of minutes HELP! Does anyone have any recommendations on chew toys that can out survive as Staffy's chewing interest?? (We do have a black kong which is great but once the food is gone, she loses interest)

Yeah that looks VERY similar to what my girl came up with the other night. We've pinned it down to Wandering Jew. The vet has given us some antihistamines to help with the itch and inflammation but we'll have to get rid of the plant completely if we want it to clear up permanently. Just spent the morning with round up in the yard.

My staffy does this too...not so bad during the week when I have to get up anyway but I feel your pain when it comes to the weekends! I usually have a frozen kong or frozen meaty bone ready to give to her which usually will buy me another hour or so. Still means getting up to the barking though

Yes! That's the plant at our relative's house that she thought would be great fun to have a lie down in last night. But after researching it, I've discovered that we have creeper variety with the little blue flowers in our yard. She'd been itchy before (nothing like this though!) and we'd always put it down to grass allergens. Now we know better! Thanks! Was just going to ask how to use it too...I've just bought some tea leaves and was a at a bit of a loss as to what to do next. I'm assuming you wash it on cold?

Hi all Overnight my poor little puppy has come up in a terrible rash. The poor thing woke us up at about midnight with her scratching. Her belly, groin and arm (leg?) pits are very red and has big, raised welts on her. We gave her a quick cold wash to help soothe her and put some Aloveeen on which seemed to help some. After some research this morning, we've pinned it down to Wandering Jew that we have in our yard and another plant of the same family at a relatives house (where we were at last night and she was laying in the plant for about half an hour!). We had no idea these plants were dangerous to dogs! We've got a vet's appointment booked in for tomorrow and will of course be doing all we can to get rid of the devil plants but just wondering if anyone had any suggestions on how to help her in the meantime? Aloveen does seem to help the itching but the welts and redness is still there? I've seen a bit on here about Calendula Tea....would that help in this case? ETA - I've been recommended Benadene - is this something you can only get at the vets? Or do pet stores stock it too?

Thanks everyone for all your advice. I think I will do a bit more general obedience with her (a trip to the dog park really brings home how much work her recall needs!!!) and then look into starting agility. I've seen some agility clubs around here that do beginners/underage classes so her age shouldn't be a problem Thanks again for all your help!

Sorry if this seems like a very basic question but I'm new to the whole dog training/dog sports scene and was just after some advice. I have a 6 month old staffy who I am thinking about eventually getting into agility but I'm not too sure how the whole thing works. She has done some basic obedience/puppy pre school and can sit, drop and stay fairly reliably (recall however is pretty much non-existent with distractions!!). My question is should I be taking her to more obedience classes for a while and work on recall etc a bit more or would it be ok to start up agility lessons now? I know a few places do beginners lessons until the dogs are old enough to properly participate. Thanks in advance!

Thanks guys, will look into Anvet.

Hi All Just wondering if anyone here has been to the Central New Farm Vet Clinic and how they found them? I am looking for a new vet for my 6 month old staffy, not really comfortable with her current one which we used for her vaccinations. I felt he was quite rough with her when checking her over, just yanked her mouth open to check her teeth and blamed us for bad training when she tried to get away. I'm able to open her mouth just fine when I'm gentle with her. Also, was very quick to prescribe antibiotics when she had some skin allergies (she ended up with a secondary skin infection) rather than helping us treat the problem. Any way, this Clinic was recommended to us and just wanted to see if anyone here could recommend them as well? They haven't really been mentioned in any previous threads. Do you know their stance on a raw diet (current vet was quick to poo poo it!)? Thanks all! Vanessa