Scottsmum

Thanks H. Will put that in the memory bank to ask about next time I see the vet. I'm a little concerned about contradictions at the moment - long story - but I'll try the omega-3 and the new meds and ask the vet. Thanks Snook. Us too - we're all getting better sleep even without the new drugs (at the moment) which is the main thing for us humans. So lucky Hub is a morning person and happy to walk him in all conditions- it takes about 4 hours for me to fire up and wake up ... hate mornings :D

Hi, Welcome. You'll quickly learn we love photos here. **cough cough show us ya iggy* No real suggestions from me. Lots of others will have some great suggestions. I was just thinking - You've told us a lot about what you don't want but you haven't said what kinds dogs you really like... Eg - I love weimaraners but I'm not a huge fan of other some of the other gun dog breeds (I don't want to pick on one) but if the world ever went off kilter and I thought I'd own a pointer or gun dog style it'd be a weim. I also love the looks of Dobes and rotties ... and to some extent looks play a huge part. One of our members here from the chch area has a (small) Portuguese Podengo - who I have a bit of a crush on. Not sure if the medium and large versions are available in this part of the world hopefully she'll drop in and comment. Lots of great info here for you to sort though, enjoy the board. Also - where in NZ are you? I recently skipped over the ditch from Oz. Currently preparing for my first Kiwi winter.

I adore him I've gotten so much from him and he's taught me so much. I'm very very lucky to have the stinky little basket case. Which supplements did you use? Also don't think he'd use that kind of bed. He's not real flash at snuggling and burrowing. He missed the class on blankie mechanics. When we first got him / our first winter with him he'd sleep on the bare floor all night shivering for ages because he wouldn't get back into his bed. We've sorted him out now - he understands body heat and some of the properties of blankets but a jacket is the best way to keep him warm. Anyhow... I hope we'll OK - I plan to try him in his jumper again at nights after he's been on the drugs a few weeks / if we think they're working, otherwise he can always get under the doona if he gets really cold. Um re: other stuff. Vet appt was fine. She's a funny one. I usually ask for a certain guy but didnt last week - just assuming it was a routine check in so I booked back in with her for continuity. She was very casual I kind of got the impression she doesnt do dementia / ccd all that often. When I asked about omega 3 / fish oil she shrugged and said "can't hurt - it's supposed to be good for dogs". The student was enthusiastic and knowledgeable (as you'd hope from a final year) Got a script done up - they hit me up $20 for that privilege but ... what can you do? Still saving $100 a quarter even with that built in. The online pharmacy appear to be great too. I noted they're in the same town as me so I asked if I could drop my script into them saving me the time of posting it as they won't process until they have the original. They said no to that - but let me drop it off at the house of one of the staff members - which I thought was nice (I assume they don't want people knowing where they keep their drugs - LOL). The vivitonin should be here (via free courier) tomorrow. So he starts the vivitonin and stays on the ami. I'll grab some omega-3 when I can and ... Scottsdad and I will just have to resign ourselves to eating fish fingers and rice one fornight a month while he's on it (I partly joke :laugh: ) Got a hard copy of the bloods. Not perfect but much much better. ALT is down to the 50s. Two others are a bit off - one slightly low and one slightly high but not any cause for concern. :) Thanks for checking in. Will keep you all posted.

We've had doxies on and off, in my family, my whole life. One of my strongest memories of my grandmother is her 3 nasty, fat doxies. Mum still has one, She's 10 this year and a great little dog - for them / there lifestyle. Mum's Hubby is a farmer and Ruby has almost always "worked" - going out most days with "her dad" - they also have the kind of hobbies and holidays where she can go along most of the time. Although Mum did say she's been opting to stay home and sleep more and more often recently. We also had one as out office dog (belonged to my boss) for a few years. They're not a dog I'd recommend. I find their temperaments too unstable - too prone to being snappy and having separation issues. Typical back issues, I believe eye / sight issues (could be wrong there) and the few I've known well have been incredibly high maintenance. Love frenchies - think they're cute - used to work with a girl who owned two. But would never own one - they're not my type of dog.

They're just adorable. Really really gorgeous. Just stunning.

Thanks Bianca, I think so too. ;)

Well a not all that significant update - Mainly me getting my thoughts together. He has been... so so all week - but he was pretty feral for hubby on sat morning while I worked but overall this week he's been better than not. We're trying to stick to a strict routine of exercise and meals and meds. We've also set (one of) his beds up in our room and he starts the night there with a snugglesafe & some extra blankies, getting in with us when he's cold. He had been refusing to jump in at night. I thought it might be eyesight but I actually think his jumpers/rugs were restricting him - or he felt restricted. I tried a few and I tried nude. Nude seems to be doing the trick - or maybe he's just so cold its not work stuffing around. Both of us humans are getting a better sleep now that we're not rugging him AND I can start my night not curled up like a paperclip. So win win there! God knows what we'll do in Winter when it's proper cold. Also read somewhere to do some intensive training right before bed to tucker him out. Seems to be working ;) Went for our weekly obedience class yesterday - which has morphed into dog walking group. Our beautiful instructor / friend pulled some gadgets out of her Macguyver jacket to see if he could hear them - he pricked his ears at her cheap dazer on the highest setting. So we've loaned that for a few weeks to see if I can train him up and use it to "call" him in at night. I also grabbed one off ebay as it was only $5.50 including post. Have started playing with it - loading it up with treats - kind of clicker training style. So after saying clicker training "wasn't for me" on another thread this week I now have a very chunky dazer instead. :) At least I am only planning to use it on the back step at 3am when he's pottering in the yard & has forgotten he needs to come back in after a wee. The other postitive from class was a mention of a cheap online vet pahramacy which appears to do the more expensive meds (quoted at "about $100 a month) at a much lower price ($60 inc postage) - so I'll add that to the list of things to ask the vet tomorrow. We could swing that - taking $15 a week from the food budget. Consult tomorrow - I kept playing phone tag with the vet and it was giving me the shits. So now I can go armed with my head clear and ask the questions I need to ask. Preference one is to try the vivitonin and hopefully stay on the Amitriptyline. Option two is to stop the Amitriptyline and start the selegiline in a few weeks. Will also ask about supplements like omega 3/fish old etc and Aktivate - which I've found a slightly cheaper suppler of - so hopefully this time tomorrow we'll have a good plan in action.

Steve! LOL. Up there with Scott. it

We also had a some very DA dogs who got ... betterish. I know Justice isn't really either of the two - but I've seen some really cool stuff - even in the first round of classes I did at the facility which shall not be named I was a huge change in one of our class mates. Very different scenario but by the end of it he'd drop and eat a kong while the others did their things. Marion, our "head trainer" often spoke about the dopamine associated with a search and how it becomes so important to the dogs. I really hope it all works out for J.

They're one of the few big dogs I'd have in a heart beat. If we'd owned our own house we'd have taken one home with us the day we busted Scottie out of the pound. "Elvis" was in the shelter for .... months ...after we got Scottie and we seriously talked about going back and getting him a few times. I've loved every second of this thread :D

Didn't see any of these replies - Something funny is up with me I miss a lot of notifications at the moment. But thanks - we think the 'stinky little bandicoot face' is cute too. Yep. I drink a lot of my coffee's on the back step - watching him trot around the yard with a toy. Seems to be a fun version of fetch for him - so long as I'm watching - no fun if you don't have an audience. Yeh - he does, but to be fair, it was also close to "walk O'clock"

Hope that works out for you - the place I was going in Sydney was amazing for that kind of thing. So accommodating in terms of personal space and patience. We had one very nervy dog in one round of classes I did - couldnt even get him into the scout hall for his first lesson - he just improved in leaps and bounds over a 4 week class. I love, love, love Nosework. I miss it so much.

+1. :D

Glad it was helpful Blink

Found a new blog today & it made me think of you guys (via a new facebook group - Thanks to Papillon Kisses ) I thought this particular post was light, but good. I really enjoyed it. Here's a biggish chunk. Will be going back to read more next time I'm looking for something to read. http://twoblockheads.blogspot.co.nz/2016/05/little-yellow-rowboats.html

Hoping for good news for you both.

I tried. I really did.

I've tried not biting and not responding to this thread - but I can't believe its gone from desexing to "are the pounds too full". Yes! No bloody matter how you slice and dice it they're too full. There is no excuse for the number of animals which end up in our shelters/pounds/foster system. Yeh - in an ideal world just one dog/animal in the pound would be too many - but I'm realistic enough to say that we're not going to get to zero (pets in pounds). I don't know what an acceptable is but I do know that it's currently too high. I took these stats from the Sydney Dogs and Cats Home facebook page: In the last three weeks alone they have: https://www.facebook.com/sdch/ As I said - it should not matter how you look at it - THAT number is too high. THAT IS too many. That is ONE shelter in one city in Australia. That's 7 animals a day! (actually just a smidge more) Shouldn't those stats be enough evidence? If it's not - Multiply the figures. I can think of the cat shelter, another cat rescue, at least one dog rescue local to SDCH and then there's the RSPCA Yagoona facility just 16 km down the highway. I'm not going to argue the merits of desexing - personally I believe if you're not breeding your animal it should be desexed. All animals should be micro-chipped - there should be huge fines for anyone who sells an animal who is not micro-chipped. And Willem - your comments somewhere in this thread talking about desexing and comparing that to cropping tails and ears is close to ridiculous. To compare cosmetic procedures to which impact on the long term health of an animal (regardless of if you do it or not by your own argument) is ... just ridiculous. We - responsible dog/pet/animal owners and all levels of government (particularly state and local) should be working to reduce those numbers. How exactly? I don't know. I do know there isn't one solution but I do think desexing is a good solid base to work from. Scottie was picked up as a stray. No chip. Never claimed. There isn't a week that goes by I don't think about his last owners. He was well trained and had been well cared for. Did they dump him? Did he do a runner? Did he belong to an elderly person who didn't know where to start looking or had passed away and the kids dumped him? Why didn't anyone come and get him? I'll never know. I do know that he's an old dog who didn't get to live out his days with his family and that's (most likely for all involved) sad (Not so much for me - I'm grateful every day I have him). I'm also really glad he did't get to contribute to the over population problem while he was out gallivanting and I'm glad he didn't need to have the chop at 10+ years when the risk of complications being put under a GA is much higher than when they're pups. I hope, beyond hope that none of your pets never finds themselves in a similar situation. Believe what you want to believe. I don't think more or less of people who care for their pets differently to me - unless you know it's really shitty circumstances - but hey - if your dog sleeps in the yard and mine on my bed - so be it. I wouldn't call your choice to keep your pets entire unethical, I don't personally think its entirely responsible but again, to each their own. But please stop the shit stirring over the pound issue. Get out there and do a few volunteer shifts, sponsor a few mange riddled puppies or a litter of kittens. Look at what happened in Wagga, Cowra, read the full lists/ kill lists each week for any pound across NSW then come back and have a mature, balanced and respectful discussion on the pound system.

Oh it's been too long since we've had a Don photo. Thanks Perse :)

Oldish thread Sorry - that sounded rude. Was on my phone. :) Thread is old-ish. He was: 296 in July 2015 260-ish 2 weeks later 125-ish in November 2015(normal but high) 56 May 2016 *have not seen most recent results.

Not entirely sure what the ALT is at the moment. Bloods done monday, they're "normal" but ive not seen them.

*Yes Scottie, it's always time for walks. Little sook was standing on the foot rest, "willing" me to get off the 'puter.

Thanks Snook. It really hit me today. Makes me so sad.

Too cute.