ann21

Great to hear from both perspectives. Thanks dee led and everyone who posted! :)

She is probably thinking she is doing the right thing by her dog. The fact that she eventually approached Ann21 shows that. If you get the chance, Ann21, can you suggest that she doesn't scruff her dog. The dog is already fearful and doesn't need rough correction. There are lots of good books, but nothing beats hands on from and experienced and caring professional who looks at the dog to see what the dog needs and doesn't follow a one-size-fits-all approach. If I see her again I'll try. I will also check out the people a previous poster recommended to see if there are any behaviourists here. It's difficult here because CM is very popular and I am in no way experienced enough to recommend an alternative for their dog.

He is an 11 month old crossbreed. He's very friendly and submissive to other dogs. I've taken great pains to try and make sure he hasn't had any bad encounters with other dogs. So while I doubt he would retaliate I think if it got nasty it definitely would have affected him. The dog also barked at me when I looked at it and that made me more apprehensive. I just felt like abit of a jerk for rejecting I suppose.

You expressed exactly what I was feeling. I wish I could have someone to recommend here but I don't know of any good behaviourists here in Singapore.

Mine is on a half kibble half raw diet. Still considering whether or not to go full raw or to "hedge my bets" (as a previous poster said) and continue with half kibble. He's doing great on this diet, farts are much reduced (thank goodness!), good coat and smaller poos :) Edit to add the kibble is Acana Lamb and Apple. I like to feed a non-chicken source for kibble as raw chicken is the main component of his raw diet. Plus lamb is crazy expensive here!

This morning while bringing my dog out for his potty break I spotted a lady with a shihtzu coming towards our direction. I have seen them before and the last time the dog kept barking at mine and lunging at it so I wasn't comfortable doing a meet and greet PLUS the dog started barking at us once he spotted us this time round. was right outside my apartment so I headed back in and waited for them to pass. The lady lingered outside my apartment and finally came up to me to ask if I wouldn't mind if they said hi each other. I probably could have been more polite but essentially I said I did mind and rejected her. She explained that her dog was adopted and friendly (also he was toothless so couldn't do much physical harm) so my question is, do you let your dogs do a meet and greet or socialize with fearful/aggressive dogs? Any exceptions made for an adopted dog? I can emphasize with her that she wants to help her dog but at the same time I wasnt comfortable with the situation. She was also doing the Caesar Milan "grab the dog by the neck" every time it barked at mine.

Timely discussion for me ask am reevaluating whether I should continue bringing my dog to the local dog run. I watch my dog carefully and take note of other dogs to see whether how they interact with my dog. If I don't like what I see I slap on the leash and take him for a walk around the non off leash part of the park. I would like my dog to be able to run off lead (and here local enclosed dog runs are nearly the only way you can do that), but there are a lot of unsocialised dogs that people bring into the runs. It's not an ideal situation I know.

Heh okay I stand corrected! :)

I may be wrong, but I think just about any breed needs at least a daily walk. If not for exercise then for mental stimulation. The dogs don't have the Internet or tv like we do, so imagine being indoors for more than 24 hrs. I think I would go abit loopy if it were me ;).

I am using epiotic for his ear cleaner and the vet prescribed mometemax as ear medication. Anyone used these before? Thanks for your reply I am going to go back to the cotton balls. Yes I have used it and found it too harsh for my dog's ears - his ears were more irritated after cleaning than before cleaning and he was very unhappy about it because I think it was stinging his ears. I switched to 'Blue Ear Power' cleaner (there are recipes online for htis) and found it much better, and it cleared my poodle's ears up really quickly. It seems to be quite soothing, and is both effective and quite gentle. An alternative may be to dilute your epiotic so it's not as strong. I have also had knowledgeable people recommend a 50/50 mix of white vinegar and water as a gentle solution to use for routine ear cleaning. I have heard several people say their dogs have found epiotic too strong. I think it's just that infected ears are so tender, you really need to be careful. And every dog is different I suppose. Thanks that was really helpful as I was looking into natural remedies. My dog has floppy ears so I need to be quite vigilant with the cleaning.

Thanks that was very helpful. I just went back to the puppy listing for the breed I was interested in just to oogle at puppy pics (I do this almost daily!) I don't think the breed I want is very very popular (havanese). So I might try contacting some! I just have to be more careful and mention things like I am happy for the breeder to desex before sending puppy over, more than happy to Skype and show my face, where I live and my current dog, am able to provide details of vet in Melbourne who desexed my current dog, etc. Basically do what I can to assure them I am not an overseas scammer trying to breed puppies.

Not to go off topic but can I ask- do breeders mind if you get in touch with them years ahead? I've been itching to make contact with some but given I won't be wanting a puppy for a few years at least AND I just moved overseas I was afraid they would just tell me to sod off.

Sounds like it was quite a bad infection. Yay that it's finally getting better!!

It's a very uncommon side effect and only normally seen when there is rupture of the tympanic membrane (ear drum). That normally requires a chronic, nasty infection to have been present first, which itself has often already caused hearing loss. If you are concerned about using it, you should go back to the vet to ensure that the infection has actually resolved first. Is your pup only yelping when you touch one ear? If so, it is probably painful. I usually clean ears by using a liquid cleaner, filling the ear canal up, massaging for about 30 seconds then letting the dog shake it's head and finish by wiping the discharge out with cotton ball. Although you can use cotton buds, I generally only advise using them in the folds of the external ear canal - or anywhere that you can still see the end of the cotton bud. If it's both ears that make the pup yelp and only one is affected, then it is probably just a matter of being a pup - in which case, patience and practice playing with ears is going to be of more use :) Hi Rappie. Awesome to get a reply from a vet! Another reason to love dol :). I was worried after I saw a whole thread online about how mometemax causes hearing loss so thanks for clearing that up. The Internet being as it is can be misleading of course! My pup doesnt yelp when I touch his ears, he only did so yesterday when I used a cotton swab and the medication applicator on his left ear. Afterwards he was fine for me to touch and massage his left ear. When it comes to cleaning his ears the usual protest I get is a groan like "hmph not again"

I am using epiotic for his ear cleaner and the vet prescribed mometemax as ear medication. Anyone used these before? Thanks for your reply I am going to go back to the cotton balls. Both my previous and current dog find the usual Veterinary line ear cleaners too stringent. Even an ear antibiotic ointment caused irritation to the skin in my boy's ear. I use "Ear Clear" with success and without the irritation. Thanks Emy. I will check Ear Clear out

Argh, I just googled mometemax and apparently one of the possible side effects is hearing loss! Does anyone know if it's ok to stop applying this? My dogs ear is much better and he's been one it for a week. Vets instructions were for two weeks though.

I am thinking at least three years ahead! Haha. I know I want my next dog to be a havanese. Not sure if it will happen though because I live overseas

I am using epiotic for his ear cleaner and the vet prescribed mometemax as ear medication. Anyone used these before? Thanks for your reply I am going to go back to the cotton balls.

Just had a whiff of both ears and both do not have an odor (only the smell of the ear cleaner). Thanks for your reply I think I will stop with the ear swabs as I am still not comfortable with it. Back to cotton balls for me...

Hi all, I brought my puppy to the vet last week who diagnosed him with a yeast/bacterial ear infection. He advised cleaning his ears with a cotton swab and putting medication in it after. I had some concerns about using a swab versus a cotton ball but the vet advised me to use the former saying I technically couldn't damage his ear with it. I have been cleaning his ears daily and applying medication in it for a week. Today when I was cleaning his left ear he gave a yelp. Same thing happened when I put his medication in the same ear (the bottle has an inch long applicator). Is this something I should be worried about? He seems fine now and his ears are looking much less dirty. He doesn't seem to experience any pain when I massage his ears. Should I be thinking about going back to the vets? Appreciate any advise.

Yay my order finally came in! I got the small and medium isqueak, the tugga wubba and the elephant toy. I am super happy with the quality of all the toys! My puppy went crazy for the I squeaks in particular. I noticed the small squeak was made of harder rubber than the medium but my puppy is not a strong chewer so I don't think it will be a problem in any case. It's too bad they took away free shipping for some of the toys. I was still thinking about getting those crackle balls....

Aw, I'm still waiting on my first order! I purchased the chew guard elephant too so yay that you like it!

Good on you for stepping in :). Please do report it. I'd hate to think what could happen if the dog got loose again.

I currently have Vicks Vapour Rub all over my door frames to stop my pug eating them, seems to be one of the only things he won't eat. You can get bitter sprays but it's a matter of finding what your dog doesn't like (mine loves the taste of the bitter spray!) I second the Vicks vapour rub! When my puppy was teething and chewing things he shouldn't I just slapped abit on whatever he wanted to chew and he would walk away from it. He had plenty of chew toys but chair legs were still appealing to him ;)

Also on crate time, I would say my pup was in his playpen overnight (and by overnight i mean like 10:30pm to 4am) for the first few weeks but he still went to toilet on the newspaper before I brought put him out at 4am (don't miss those mornings!) if I were to crate him I don't think I would have expected him to hold for more than an hour. Edited for spelling.