Shinon

No... I didn't like that vet very much actually, she was very... Smiley. She just said everything with a biiiiig grin. Your dog has another loose tooth... *grin* Your dog has a heart murmur... *grin* She's fine apart from that, aren't you girl? *grin* Yeeeees I bet you're much happier now than at those old owners place... *grin* And she just said she had a heart murmur, it isn't fatal yet (??) and if she seems down chuck her a call and bring her in. Then she shoved us out of the office cheerfully and said "Bye dears, see you next time, and have fun!" *grin* She has another checkup in August, I'm going to go to a different vet this time, and see if she/he brings it up as needing attention. Her first two vets didn't even tell me she had a heart murmur. She's not all that old yet, though not really a young dog bouncing around wanting it's ball thrown either... She's middle aged.

I'm pretty confused about the whole thing too... The vet wasn't being very clear but from what I can make out from what she said it was the heart valves causing the whooshing sound instead of boomp boomp sound when her heart beats causing the coughing. Which is pretty different from what I could find online... I'm worrying because I just don't really know what it is. The vet said that she had a heart murmur, which meant the heart valves aren't closing properly, which meant some blood flowed backwards with each pump, which meant her heart could give her trouble, which meant that was why she makes those HHHHH, HHHHHHH, coughing sounds, and there's nothing I can do about it as it isn't fatal yet. But that doesn't really correspond with what I found online... The vet made it sound like it builds up and goes BAM like a heart attack. That's the part I'm worried about.

I am not sure what she doesn't understand, the hand signals or the words or the whole concepy in general See, the only command she seems to remember is the one I last did with her. I taught her sit, and she sat. We worked on that for a week and she would sit on a bomb if I asked her to so I started on lie down, she picked up on those so quickly I think she must have been taught them before. However when she learnt lie down, she would no longer sit and lie down when told to sit. And vice versa.

Hm... The way you say it is so much different from what the vet told me, she made it sound pret-ty scary, she said something along the lines of this (not exact wording of course) "Well a heart murmur is basically when a dog's two heart valves are not closing together properly, it happens a lot to dogs in their senior years. Because the two halves don't close properly, some of the blood flows backwards which sometimes causes coughing, like a hhhhh! hhhhhh! sound. Does your dog ever do that sometimes?" So I told her she does sometimes start making huffing sounds. Then she told me "This could mean her heart isn't as up to the job anymore, and usually when you listen to it through a stethescope it should make a boom, boom, boom sound but hers is making a sort of whoosh, whoosh, whoosh sound as it beats. It's not serious or fatal yet, but you might want to pay attention to it and bring her back if there are any difficulties in.... her daily routine" Then she pretty much shooed us out before I could say a word. And on the way home I was holy panicking. 'Any difficulties in her daily routine'? 'isn't as up to the job anymore'? 'not fatal YET'?? None of the vets who were taking care of her for her dental surgery said anything about heart problems, but they were concentrating on her teeth, so.....

Can anyone help?

I adopted a dog last year in February, and on taking her to the vet for her yearly examination this year the vet found she had developed a slight heart murmur. Her first vet guesstimated her to be some age between 6 and 9 last year, which would make her between 7 and 10 this year. They registered her as born in 2003 anyway. The vet said the heart murmur wasn't anything to worry about as it isn't fatal. But I recall two years ago I'd met someone whose horse had supposedly died of a heart murmur a the age of 20 something. So when I asked the vet, she just said don't worry, she's safe for now. Problem: I'm worried. I'm VERY worried. I'm extremely worried. From my digging around for information, I hadn't been able to get a firm word as to a heart murmur's fatality. And I was wondering if there's anything I need to do specially for a dog with heart murmur?

Haha, she'd like that. To have more food, the main objective of her life apart from 24/7 out in the park claiming more territory. OK, I will, thanks!

I've bought her Nature's Gift before, she looooved it. What about My Dog? She seems to love My Dog Beef and veggie especially... Also, she has a heart murmur. The vet says nothing to worry about for now, but, um, well, I'm very worried. I knew someone who's horse had a heart murmur and supposedly died of it at the age of 20 something, we never kept up regular correspondence. But from the digging I did, I never did actually get a firm word on it's fatality. So... Would anyone know?

The vet gave a guesstimate of 7 last year, which would be 8 now. Though he said he thought she can actually be any age between 7 and 10. Raw beef mince? I remember seeing those in the supermarket, specially for dogs. Does it have to be that type or can it be the stuff I usually make burgers with? Without any herbs or anything, just plain mince? She enjoys everything except salad greens and dog biscuits. We've sometimes sprinkle the bikkies with chicken stock or the soup/water we get from boiling the chicken, she eats the top that's been soaked, then leaves the bottom.

She usually has rice and chicken stock/boiled chicken for dinner, and normal kibble for breakky. She just had dental surgery half a month ago, and according to the vet, she's due to stop having chicken and rice in another two weeks or so. Hm... About the sloppy, good point. My mum is so obsessed with hygiene and her remaining teeth after she mixes the stuff, and reheats it in the microwave until it looks like a smoothie. Though we add kibble to that as well. Maybe I should start fixing her food... Also, she seems to have developed an adversity to dog biscuits. She eats them, but only when she's very hungry. My friend said sometimes when dogs got older they like more smelly stuff, and said I could try putting a bit of onion powder in her biscuits and heat it a bit to make it stinky, but that doesn't sound right... I'd always thought dogs couldn't eat onion, powder and all. So... Is there another way which preferably does not involve onions to make kibble more appetising? She just sniffs it, eats one or two (and those biscuits are about the size of half one of my nails) and leaves it until she's hungry. I've tried taking it away until her next meal but she just doesn't eat it anymore.

Grr, double post,sorry!

Sometimes we boil chicken for her and mixing it with the rice we usually eat, since we usually eat rice. She eats that fine, but sometimes her elimination looks loose, and sometimes it's plain watery. So I'm worried... We're not using any added salt or anything. Mum is paranoid and insists that chickens have parasites. Maybe because she grew up in China and, well, in China you pretty much disinfect everything you eat.

Sometimes we boil chicken for her and mixing it with the rice we usually eat, since we usually eat rice. She eats that fine, but sometimes her elimination looks loose, and sometimes it's plain watery. So I'm worried... We're not using any added salt or anything. Mum is paranoid and insists that chickens have parasites. Maybe because she grew up in China and, well, in China you pretty much disinfect everything you eat.

My dog's vet recommended we give her raw chicken wings, but I'm worried about the parasites, and my dog doesn't have top digestion. She seems to be prone to diarrhea when she has rice soaked in chicken stock (the no added salt type)as her vet also recommended, so we're a but relunctant to let her try raw chicken wings. And also, she only has 4 teeth left, which is why the vet said raw chicken wings in the first place, to help maintain her teeth condition and redue tartare since her teeth don't rub together and self clean like a dog who has all teeth does when he/she eats biscuits. Anyone have an opinion on whether it's safe or not?

Yes, I've been using seperate hand signals. I used right hand up like a signal to stop for sit, and and palm down, hand lying flat for lie down. And I've been the only one to train her, since we adopted her anyway. I've been giving her treats as soon as she does the command, and if she does the wrong one I repeat it and sometimes I need to put a hand under her rib cage or push gently on her shoulders to stop her doing the wrong one, then I give her the treat. I've been reading books, and they did suggest "puppy push ups", bit it's hard since whenever I say sit or lie down she does whichever one she did last. I've kept training sessions short, 10 - 15 minutes ish, and reward her for doing a command right. But she only seems to remember the command she did last, and whatever signal I give her that's the only one she'll do.

Yes, I've been using seperate hand signals. I used right hand up like a signal to stop for sit, and and palm down, hand lying flat for lie down. And I've been the only one to train her, since we adopted her anyway. I've been giving her treats as soon as she does the command, and if she does the wrong one I repeat it and sometimes I need to put a hand under her rib cage or push gently on her shoulders to stop her doing the wrong one, then I give her the treat. I've been reading books, and they did suggest "puppy push ups", bit it's hard since whenever I say sit or lie down she does whichever one she did last. I've kept training sessions short, 10 - 15 minutes ish, and reward her for doing a command right. But she only seems to remember the command she did last, and whatever signal I give her that's the only one she'll do.

Happy birthday!!! Mine just turned 8 as well.

OK, I adopted a 7 year old Maltese cross last year, in February (She just turned 8) and ever since April last year I've been trying to teach her two commands: Sit and Lie down. I had asked the shelter staff if she had any training done before, and they said not as far as they were able to discover, though Maltese generally pick up on basic commands pretty quickly. So I thought, fair enough. So, I took home a 7 year old (estimated, though the vets said she could possibly be even older) dog with dental problems and a grade 1 medical patella. She was a bit shy when we first got home. Actually, scrap that, she was TERRIFIED when we first got home. It took a while to get her to trust us. She settled down nicely once she discovered we meant no harm and her kibble played an important role as well in those first few months. In April, she was almost a completly different dog. So I decided to teach her some basic commands, namely what I had in mind was sit, stay, lie down and heel. She heeled pretty well even without the command, since she's a bit of a scaredy dog and never strays far. She picked up on sit within two days, and we spent the best part of the rest of the month strengthening it until she sat on command in the house, out the house, on leash, off leash, with or without the company of other dogs and humans. I started on lie down next. She also learnt that very quickly. I thought she was an absolute genius. BUT: She seems unable to differenciate between sit and lie down. Once she learnt lie down sit no longer existed in her doggy brain. I would tell her to lie down and she would lie down, but when I tell her sit she also lies down. So when I dropped lie down and retaught her sit, and it only took a day to do that, she forgot all about lie down again and sat on command - never mind which command it was. I had considered taking her to a trainer, but for one, all the training programs around here are for puppies and she is already at least 6 years off that mark. And also, I don't need her to be the next Lassie, I just want her to be able to sit, lie down and stay and heel for the convenience and safety of visitors to our house and others out in the park. Because right now, the only thing she does outdoors is come when called, and never stray far. So does anyone know how to fix this little problem? Am I expecting too much of an old shelter dog who for all I know spent the first 7 years of her life shut in the yard through rain and hail and bread and water once a day? Oh, and by the way, I noticed that she seems to either have been trained to or figured out by herself that humans wear shoes while dogs do not, and from the first day she came to our house she's always greeted us at the door with one of our shoes. At first she would drop it at our feet and scuttle away to hide again, then after a few weeks she waited patiently until we took our shoes off and would give us one of our slippers, and now she dances around us in delight with a shoe whenever we come home. I taught her to drop it on command, and to this day she has never forgotten that one. And she also seems to have memorised who wears what shoe, and she picks out the correct shoe for the correct person nearly every time. So...... Her misguided concept of obedience seems to only stretch as far as manners, so it seems.