Her Majesty Dogmad

How very sad. Sympathies to the family and the dogs who've all lost a loved one.

My friend gave me a great tip to remove the odours of wee on concrete properly - sprinkle bicarb of soda on the weeing area and then pour vinegar over - it fizzes up! Then use a scrubbing brush etc to wash away properly. Part of the issue could be that you aren't removing the scent properly.

I use Proban for flea treatment on one of my dogs here as she has a super sensitive skin that can't tolerate spot ons. I have also used Preventix tick collars without problem. They do smell strong and would be an issue with chewy dogs though. You could try Frontline twice a month, it worked for ticks for me but not fleas as a once a month.

Life is inexplicably cruel sometimes. Thanks for rescuing her and giving her all the love you could, noone would have expected this to happen, re the vet treatment, you just did what was right at the time to give her every chance at a new life. Hugs to you.

Is he desexed? How old is he?

Puppies mouth hands, it's not necessarily aggressive. I've had a more aggressiver mouther and that was dominance but some breeds will grab hands in their mouths and are not hurting you, puppies sometimes need to be trained out of it. I have enclosed my hand around my dog's mouth and he learned not to do that within 2 weeks. I'm not an expert on that and it may be impractical with some sizes of muzzles or breeds. You, your dog and her will all need to go through an adjustment phase - it's at least 2 weeks at first and then I find I see how things will be permanently within 2 months. She has to learn a lot in a new environment so please be patient, take it easy with her, not too many outings or visitors at first. When I'm introducing dogs (I rehome for Doggie Rescue), I'm looking for two dogs to either be good friends right away, or ignore each other. Both those scenarios are good. If there is a lot of aggression at first, sometimes that won't work out. I think here you are looking at an overall adjustment for all, I don't think there's much to worry about.

You poor thing, thoughts are with you. Thank you for giving her the love she deserved, I'm sorry she went away too soon.

Such anxiety needs vet treatment I think or at least some professional treatment. Yes, they can soil the house to get back at you - one of mine does it if I try to come home from work, walk/feed them and then go out. He will lift his leg every time!

Sorry for your loss. Please look at the Beyond Blue website, there should be some help on there for you.

I have had recommendations on Carlingford and Epping vets. Personally, I go to Hornsby. Met someone last week who was very happy with the vet at Winston Hills.

This sounds like a contact allergy and my suspicion is Wandering Jew - growing PROFUSELY in many places right now - in my garden and in neighbour's gardens, right where I walk my dogs so I'm having to walk on the road to be sure to avoid it. Dogs like to lie in it so can get the rash exactly where you are finding it. Most vets have a picture of it, it has shiny green leaves and grows quickly on funny stalks! I had no idea what it was until my dog started getting a rash and the vet showed me.

I guess the only issue would be if you had to put the dogs in kennels, don't know if a titre test would be good enough then?

Most of my dogs have undergone more than one anaesthetic when they've been 11+ and they've all been fine. SOme take a little longer to recover but esp. dental surgery makes them feel a whole lot better usually!

Stroke? Someone was telling me a very similar story last night, it happened to their elderly dog.

I'd recommend getting your dog to the vet ASAP. Sounds like anal glands - they can get infected and turn into an abcess which is extremely painful for the dog and will be time consuming and awkward to deal with. If you leave it a big long - like I did once - when my boy went into vet and they pressed - the foul stuff went up the walls, all over the vet's surgery basically and that was only one side. She was more careful doing the other side but that went everywhere too, including all over her face, arms and coat .... she had to run and change - stinky poo. My boy needs them doing every 6 weeks to 3 months and it's easy to forget .... he doesn't show any symptoms like rubbing his bottom.

After being fed rat poison by by neighbours, my dog spent 2 weeks in a specialist vet centre on a drip. Then he came home and for 2 months, he was on Vit K - had to be given at certain intervals so some of my nicer neighbours had to help me as I work. It was a very tough time.

Sunburn is a thought but if it isn't that, could she be coming into contact with some sort of chemical or plant? This may or may not be in your environment but perhaps where you walk the dog. I'm thinking of things like Wandering Jew which is everywhere right now - it's in my garden but it's also grownig in people's gardens and I have to ensure my dogs don't come into contact with it, easily missed!

Yes - I've had to squeeze a few ..... latest was on my Westie cross's tum which is fairly bare, found a large whitehead - gross!

No but my old dog had a bright red growth suddenly appear out of her gum - it grew very fast so my vet rushed her into surgery! She was about 14 at the time! Still with me now, 2 years later.

Something similar happened to my old girl earlier this year, my vet tried to operate but it was too bad. You did the right thing but it still hurts like hell, my thoughts are with you.

Just make sure you've moistened the gunk, maybe you are trying to remove it when it's hard? It hurts as it pulls the skin, a build up can often make the skin sore as well. Needs to be done EVERY day!!! I just use a tissue and it's done in seconds - that's my sweet boy a Westie cross. My fostered Westie cross female is a witch, however she will for some reason let me clean this stuff off when she's in the bath! Don't know whether it's because it's softer or what. She is bathed every week though. I can also use tiny nail trimmers to get it off. She had none last week and now there's a bit built up all of a sudden so we'll be trying hard to get it off in the bath this week. You can use a little oil to soften the stuff or saline solution.

It's kidney failure - there used to be a grape biscuit product for dogs from the US, I used to give it to my boy and then they were withdrawn - I was very lucky he didn't have a problem - he's had just about everything else wrong with him and has IBS anyhow!!!

Dear sweet man, you had such sad eyes, you left an imprint on my heart. Rest easy. I hope you meet Gloria, the Wonder dog and little Pippypants up there.

I don't crate train dogs but have housetrained around 50 aged between 1 and 10 years of age with the following method (it takes 2-3 days usually). From the description you've given, he hasn't quite got the idea yet. Harder with puppies. HOUSETRAINING TIPS Ok - first thing to do is decide on the command (I call it “do wees”) you will repeat over and over. You have to really focus on the dog for about 2-3 days to be successful. You have a pocketful of special treats on hand all the time for the first 2-3 days. Walk the dog several times a day and every time the dog wees, you get very excited and keep saying “Good boy/girl, do wees, do wees” – give the dog treats every time. First thing in the morning, last thing at night and every time you see the dog eat or drink (both precursors to weeing) whisk the dog into the garden and repeat the command “do wees”. Get very excited and present treats every time dog goes. The dog’s aim in life is to please you. If the dog should have an accident inside the house – say NOTHING at all. The dog soon gets the idea that when he/she goes outside you are really, really pleased and he/she gets rewarded. NB: Please note that the smell of urine must be properly removed for any housetraining to be successful. There are products on the market such as “Urine Off” but they are very expensive. A mix of white vinegar and water is a much cheaper alternative and should work for tiles and other surfaces although you should always take care with wood etc. For carpet/rugs, I use either a mixture of Napisan/water or bicarb of soda and water. I completely soak the stain using a dab on technique with a cloth. When it is very wet, I use an old towel to soak up the excess moisture. Again, be careful on any expensive carpet/rug, I have never had any problems but I cannot guarantee any method here.

I have a very similar situation with one of my old dogs (I have 2 with dementia but they have quite different symptoms apart from the getting lost easily factor). She barks in the middle of the night, if I pick her up she just goes round and round on the doona and can't settle. Can't lock her in anywhere or she will bark her brains out. She barks frequently on our walks (at nothing) and also while she's eating etc. Luckily I live alone but it is very difficult to cope without enough sleep, she goes through periods where she's worse than others. She's also storm phobic and I have her on a new tablet from the vet when a storm is coming - she is very settled with one of these. Forget their name - they are pnik and are not a tranquiliser but like prozac for dogs.