Sonny

Hi We live in WA and have received an anonymous complaint in the post box about one of our dogs barking all day. The note was a little threatening referencing “you need to shut your dog up before some else does” but trying to move on from that we spoke to person living at the back of our housewho then told us that our boy does bark at the builders most of the day. The issue here is that there is a house being built next door to us with builders on it all day and our boy is obviously not happy with all the activity so in a small way is he trying to protect his area from what is a lot of activity. Having said this we would like to reduce his barking (obviously like most of these situation he never does it when we are there) so we are considering an anti bark collar, but: Is this excessive as the barking is due to the building and not a normal event (never had an issue before the building started)? He is epileptic so will this be an issue with a static collar? I am considering putting a note above the letter box so if another letter is coming then people know we are trying things and the building is a problem for us atm. We also have a bull terrier that will like to hang off any collar so I think a static collar is probably the only option. We had thought that we could buy it this weekend and trial it over the weekend just to ensure that we can monitor him with it on and hopefully when we leave him on his own on Monday he will at least learnt part of the lesson so it wont be too much of a shock so to speak when he barks at the builders again. Also going to talk to the builders Monday to say we are trailing a collar and ask if they can let us know if it works or reduces the barking. Really not sure what else we can do and it’s a real shame as our boy is very good normally and the building isn’t just an issue for him but also for us. Thanks in advance

Hi Our 7 month old Bull Terrier has come on well and we have over come a lot of our initial problems, however, about a week ago she started to chase and hunt shadows. We have in no way encouraged this but it seems to be getting out of control. She just stares at shadows or places that she has seen shadows before and then jumps at them ie the kitchen cupboards. We didn't experience anything like this with our boy so this has come as a bit of a surprise. It is very hard to break her attention from the shadows so we have started to physically move her otherwise she just continues to sit and stare. Any advice would be great as this is becoming a really concern. Thanks in advance

Hi We are making her sleep on the floor and not on the furniture which helps. However she has started to show aggression towards our little boy in the following situations: 1) When we are giving the treats and she thinks he is getting more or when she thinks he is getting treats and not her. 2) There has been some general aggression which doesn't seem to start from anything. There is a lot of noise during the “fight” however nobody ever gets hurt, but at this stage we have always been there. They do spend time on their own together and this has never been an issue. Our girl is just over 6 months old and has recently been desexed (about 6 days ago). Our boy is very soft so when we are in the room and it happens he looks to us for support. What I figure I should be doing is shutting them both outside when trouble occurs and monitor it so if it gets out of hand I can step in, this will force our boy to help solve the problem. We should only give treats when the dogs are claim and have space to eat without feeling they have to fight for food. The dogs are staying with my better half in Perth at my mums house until we move into our new home and my mum has a dog and I know we are having some problems having a consistent approach to managing the problem. My mum insists on separating our boy from the girl in these situations which I don’t think helps the situation (I’m not in Perth atm so I can’t fix that issue). The dogs are now a very similar size so I assume this is causing her to challenge her position in the pack. Will she settle down once her hormones have settled down from desexing? Unfortunately this is getting to the point at which if this continues or gets worse and the situation is still the same in 2 months we will have to reassess our little girl living with us. We are checking with our vet for advice and she starts puppy training on Sunday so we will also check with the trainer (she would have started earlier except with us moving it has been difficult).

We had the same problem for a while with our boy, in fact I've carried him home on more than one occasion, food and other incentives just didn't work. For about 12 months we drove to the park, played and then drove home. Then all of a sudden he wanted to walk, now he walks to the park and back no problem. Obedience classes are a must, we always fail but apparently I'm rubbish with the lead so I let them down (something to do with coordination) The dogs love it and learn how to start interacting with other dogs. Can be embarrassing and stressful at times but well worth it in the end. I assume he walks with your other dog, do they both stop? Be patient (easy to say) and perceive, being walked by our dogs is one of the highlights of our day.

We are having to wake her because she is either sleeping in the wrong place ie furniture or we have needed to have her go outside to go for a wee before bedtime. I think all of us in the house need to be reminded about who sleeps where and we should also time bedtime wee's a little better. I also forgot that everytime we had to wake our little boy we would sing to him, sounds silly but he loved it. So I think we'll try remembering where the bed is and singing if we have to wake her and see how this goes for a few days. My better half has been trying it all day today and she has had no problems infact she has had a really good day. Thanks for the advice, I'll let you all know how we go.

Hi Our little girl is settling in to our family well. Over the past few days she has started to growl and sound very angry when someone tries to move her when she is tired (either wanting to go to sleep, she is asleep or she has just woken up). We have tried waking her up first and giving her a minute to wake up beofre moving her but she still growls. We have tried NO just as soon as you touch her again she growls. Not wanting to show her that she can be boss I have been assertive with her and moved her (by the scruff of the neck and made her understand she is not the boss, I growl and say NO a lot). Just really wanting to get on top of this problem quickly. She is still teething (5 months old), she is also likes to hump things from time to time so I think her hormones are kicking in. She is also still finding her place in the pack (Me, my partner and our other dog) but I don't want this growling to escalate any further. All advice welcome.

Hi My boy has really bad skin with allergies and epilepsy. What we have found since swapping on to EP fish is that his coat and skin has improved significantly. He always felt and smelt unclean but after about four weeks on the new food he started to shine, smell and feel great. He still has to have tablets for his allergies but he is significantly better on this food. It actually got to the point that he didn't like to be touched and now he is all about being rubbed The food also appears help a little with his epilepsy, not a lot but every little bit helps (probably because his overall well being is better is epilepsy eases a little). Just for information we are now down to 1 dizzy spell a month instead of 3 seizers whilst still on the same tablets, combination of food quality, food quantity, food exclusions and exercise. We are very happy with the food and we can see he is as well.

Hi my boy had generalised mange we tried many things but the only thing that worked was Ivermectin, we used it by mouth daily. The only thing I would suggest is if using it by mouth watch to see how much your dog dribbles, you may need to use a little extra Ivermectin to ensure a full dose is delivered (we used 1.5ml). We use advocate on him now monthly to control any risk of it coming back (he is not a health boy so there is some risk, usually not for a health dog). We use advocate on our new puppy to hopefully eliminate any risk of her getting mange. Better to get on top of the problem quick, not only for the dogs well being but also to stop follicular scarring, my boy has a thinner coat now and in some places it can look patchy.

One other picture

Here are some pictures of the two of them.

Hi We have had our boy for nearly two years now and we decided to get him a friend. The new puppy has been with us for a week. She is still learning to play but we are finding that she will not stop biting my boys neck and when playing with toys she forgets to bite the toy and bites him instead. When chasing a ball she runs at the side of him and bites his side instead of getting the ball. My boy is very tolerant and only rarely puts her in her place but she does make him bleed a little, I just don't think he feels it (he's a Bulldog). She is a little better since she first arrived but we are not having much success with NO, clapping, shouting or yelping to help stop her biting him so we resorted to a tap on the bum and a growl which seems to be working a little more. We are just looking for some reassurance that this is normal, I guess our boy was very good when he was little and it's not that she is bad but the biting is a problem at the moment (house training and general training is going well).

Hi Brilliant thread. Our boy had his first full blown seizure this morning @ around 6:30am. What a horrifying experience, I'm so glad I found this thread. Having witnessed the one this morning we have realised that he has had one previously about 4 weeks ago that we only got to see the recovery from and therefore didn't realise what is was. I call my vet a 6:45am and she was wonderful. We have to take him to the vets tomorrow for a blood test and then keep a diary of the events so they can see how to treat him. We are very upset today but he seems his usual happy self. Again, brilliant thread, it has stopped us worrying a lot.

We ended up having to use Advocate every 2 weeks and we were on it for 6months and still it didn't work, very poor product with little effect on generalised mange - use at your own risk!!!!

I've used Advocate for generalised mange and it didn't work at all - very diappointed in this product. His mange was very bad and he lost a significant amount of hair. Ivomec worked brilliantly (we use 1.5ml a day as he dribbles a lot). We started to notice the difference in about 1-2 weeks We have been on Ivomec for 8 weeks, he was then desexed and then we had to use it for another 2 weeks just to make sure the operation didn't make his mange worse again (he only has nine days left). He is looking a lot better now and he is a lot happier. We have found that because the Advocate didn't work properly our boy has some scaring so his hair will not grow back as thick in some areas. I have considered phoning the producers of Advocate to complain but I'm not sure that is going to help. I am hoping that over time his hair will get a little better but I'll have to wait and see. My recommendation is to stay away from Advocate for generalised mange!

Ok The vet said that they prefer to use the oral method because they can control the dose better. They talked about the half life of Ivomec and said I had to ensure I treated him the same time each day (this is very easy for me cos I get up the same time each day). He said a daily dose can be anywhere between 100mg and 1000mg and we are on 400mg. I go back to them on the 12th Oct for a check up. He told me to keep up the Advocate as my boy needs all the help he can get. With washing - his hair has started to grow back and in some areas it is looking really good (I think so and compared to how it used to be, sometime I think I have rose coloured glasses when I look at him). I wash him with Aloveen now and it seems to sooth his skin a lot. The vet said he didn't want to give us a wash as we would have to use it all over him and it may be too much for him. He used to be bald on his head, face, neck, inner front legs, areas on his back legs and around where his tail meets his bum and with some spots on his back (that sounds really bad now I've written it ) He looks a totally different dog to that of before but you can still see little bits on his face and rear legs. In most spots the hair has grown back but it is thinner. He was getting over the problem with the Advocate but it was so slow I think it was only working a little and needs some help, so I hope this will get all the mites now. I'll post something in a week or so to let you know how he is going.