Darien

I have two dogs and my old girl Kiska, Border Collie is scared of storms, she pants, paces and won't eat when there are storms. My cocker Misty, who is on Prozac for anxiety, is not at all afraid of storms...go figure!

So many telling me to ditch the Supercoat :) I have used it for years and even when I was shoing my BC's, never had a problem. My dogs are only bathed once a month.

Thank you :)

Where do I get Faxseed oil from? I looked today in Coles, but couldn't find it.

My Border Collie is on Supercoat and her coat is lovely as usual :) I do not clip Misty, apart from her head where it gets shaggy and yes I do realise it's to show their head in the ring :) I also think it looks neater. She is brushed regularily, every second day as she has a fine coat and I hate knots. I bought sardines and mackeral today for her. Misty is improving slowly but surely, we rarely have accidents in the house anymore. I did try to take her to obedience training, but I think it was too soon, as while she wasn't too bad while we were there, she was not herself for a few days afterwards on both occassions

Misty, my Cocker Spaniel's coat is very dull at the moment, I'm sure it's due to her stress, although the Prozac is working well. I have added a few eggs a week to her diet to help bring her coat along and I have tried oliveoil, but that doesn't agree with her. I also give her tuna in oil a few times a week as well. She is on Supercoat kibble and I make her meals with beef mince, vegies and pasta. I don't bath her I have a mobile dog wash do that and he uses high grade products and her coat doea look nice staraight after a bath. Is there anything else I can do to bring her coat back on?

I tried the Adaptil collar on my cocker, found it made no difference what so ever

I hope everything went well with Bruno today.

I am very sorry to hear this and apalled that even after the specialist left, no one informed you of the pathology results I hope Bruno will be ok, thoughts for you both are being sent.

Excellent news :)

My Misty scratched her cornea as well, but we were lucky and drops fixed her eye in no time. I hope Joey is well on the mend now :)

I bet they'll have a ball and I for one would love to see some photos of it :)

He's beautiful :) Congratulations on your new baby.

Thank you every one for your advise, there is a lot to take in, but I will look into everything that has been offered. The 5 mgs dosage has been approved by my vet and the bahaviourist, it is a starting dose and we will see how she goes. Misty does seem a little more anxious the last few days, but now I know this can be normal, I will not worry too much. Thank you Corvus :) The only information I received from the breeder was that she had been shown and had one litter and she had a sound temperament, she was very proud of breeding sound temperaments. I did mention to her, via email, that I was having trouble house training and her obsessive atachment to me, she told me to give it time. I have not discussed details with her and will let her know soon what I have had to do.

Misty ison 5mgs daily, as of yet I haven't noticed a difference, but it's way too early as it's only been 6 days. She really doesn't like my OH, she rarely goes near him and growls and barks at him. He gives her treats, which she will take, but run off with them and 'hovers' around him when food is involved. On the odd accassion she will jump up and say hello to him, but the majority of the time she growls and barks We have had her for 2 months now, normally I would have thought that that would have been long enough for settling in. She shows no interest in Kiska what so ever, where as Kiska would love to play....not that she can at the moment anyway It's heart breaking to watch her pace and stress out I didn't consider Misty a rescue dog, but she is and I will never again buy an breeder's dog that has been kenneled I just don't understand it.

I think what you are referring to is essentially breeding for temperament and absolutely nothing to do with the dogs nervous system. There is no correlation between the nervous system (or nerve structure as you put it) and nervousness in dogs. Signs of nervousness all come from the brain and while genetics may take a part in whether a dog has a nervous predisposition the greatest scientists are still trying to work out whether nurture or nature has the strongest impact on the development of our personalities. If they can't figure it out with people I'm not sure they will have gotten anywhere with dogs, who after all can't talk to you about their childhood :p Thank you Leah82, I couldn't have said it better myself :) Perhaps Santo66 you need to find a better word for comaprison because as Leah82 and Corvus have stated, the nervous system is a competely different ball game. By saying a dog/person has 'nerves of steel' it is merely an expression and doesn't actually relate to the nerves at all.

Yes Jed, I bought her direct from the breeder, they decided she was better fitted to a home environment as she loves people. Her temperament is excellent, she is a friendly lovely little girl. It is obvious that she has had little to no socialisation and it's heart breaking to see her pacing and stressed out all the time Cockers are very devoted. Give her time and attention, and hope what the behaviourist suggests will help the sep. anxiety. Some of them do suffer from this. But she is in a new environment. IMHO most cockers have good stable temperaments .MOST. As she feels she has been abandoned, she is now frightened you will abandon her too. I remember Cordelia had an older cocker. She would not go anywhere without her lead, which came with her. It was agreed that I could provide her with the right home .... but alas, she was just too upset and dejected to be rehomed, so give the girl a little time. Many of them have "soft" temperaments, and take things to heart. My girl went totally loopy after the fire ... from being a lovely girl with a great temp. She would not allow strangers near her, particularly men and would bark threateningly at them. She also ran and hid if people came. She is almost back to normal now, so don't despair. Hope you have success I watched you on RSPCA Rescue and thought how far you had come and my heart broke for you all over again (((((Jed))))). I will give Misty all the time in the world and I know she will be eventually fine, it's just hard watching her at the moment. I do wished she would interact with my Kiska, but she won't. Ah well, slow and steady wins the race :)

Misty's temperament is fine in this case and I do know there was a bad time when breeding the goldens, that the cockers temperament was put under strain. Misty's breeder is paticularily proud of her cockers teprament.

LOLOL...I'll keep you in mind

I have only just started it, today will be her third day, so it's a bit eraly as yet.

I finally got it :) Here is my Misty :)

I do use photobucket, it's what I have always used to post photos on here, but it's changed and I can't find the direct link anymore.

Yes Jed, I bought her direct from the breeder, they decided she was better fitted to a home environment as she loves people. Her temperament is excellent, she is a friendly lovely little girl. It is obvious that she has had little to no socialisation and it's heart breaking to see her pacing and stressed out all the time

Sadly I have had to put my new cocker spaniel Misty on Prozac We have slowly conquered the house soiling problems, thanks to dogmad, to only the occassional accident and I have figured out why that is...a scare, change etc. I am in the progress of working with animal bahaviourist Robert Stabler. Her separation anxiety is now affecting her health, she has lost 3 kilos and in a small dog that is alot, with her constant pacing and stressing out. I never thought I would think poorly of registered breeders, being an ex one myself, but truly, some of them have a lot to be answerable to. I thought I was buying an ex showdog from a well known breeder and it never entered my head that there would be a problem, I had less problems with my two rescue Border Collies!!! I now consider Misty to be a rescue Cocker Spaniel in need of my help and love. I can only hope we will be able to make her less stressful and a completely happy little girl, even though there is a chance she may never really settle, I am being positive :) I just wanted to update everyone who offered such great advise, Thank you all Sorry I still can't work out how to post a picture up of her, photbucket has changed and I can't fugure it out

I just heard it on Sunrise...how awful for everyone