Willem

it is not necessarily a food allergy - in the quote the OP mentions the chronical yeast ear infection, very likely that the itchy paws (and other body parts) are also infected (coat is dull and flakey...)...that all points to a severe yeast infection which can be caused by an unbalanced immun system, but it is not necessarily a food allergy. However, the first 'line of defense' wrt yeast infection is to stop feeding anything that would feed the yeast, hence no carbs & sugar. All the better (normal) kibble has some form of fruit or potatoes, rice etc., so it it's also not suitable. I saw some 'medical' dry food, but it is pretty expensive and still needs to be checked for carbs and sugar (fruits). Raw diet is an option (and I assume much cheaper than all this special medical dry foods), all this yeast starvation diets are somehow raw diets. ETA http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2011/05/03/eating-these-foods-can-make-your-dog-itch-like-crazy.aspx...link lists also ways to disinfect the yeasty areas...

that seems to be a yeasty dog - I would avoid all carbs and sugar (including potatoes) that would feed the yeast. ETA:...google 'Yeast Starvation Food Recipes for dogs', your friend might have to rely on homemade food, at least till the dog is symptoms free.

have a look on Gum Tree - people sometimes sell their used doors with dog flaps and it is easier to negotiate (not likely to find used ones on Ebay anyway). I put our dog flap in a few days after we got her - was approx. AU$ 60 (middle size, with double flap - and double bang :) ...no fly screen door at the laundry)...she used it straight away and it is so much more convenient for her and for us. Security wise: a smaller person might be able to climb through it - but I guess it is easier to kick the door in. However, she is actually a pretty good guard dog, so I'm not worried.

...some light reading: http://www.vet.cornell.edu/labs/simpson/docs/NeigerSimpson.pdf from the linked study: H.Pylori is normally not prevalent in dogs, while other Helicobacter species are prevalent in over 70% of the dogs (without causing health issues); the conclusion, that the H.spp causes the health issues is very difficult to verify - other causes seem to be more likely; it is very difficult to eradicate, and if, reinfection is highly likely; treating for H.Pylori might do more damage than good....

Thanks Willem. I am going to let them work it out. The mother has been told that hypo allergenic dogs are what she should be looking for by the family Dr. Although I could point her in the right direction regarding dogs and allergies, I am just happy that they are willing to buy a rescue rather than a dog from a pet shop. I am just wanting to point her to any reputable rescue in Melb that may have dogs that she will love. . there are also studies confirming that growing up with pets actually helps in regards to allergies - there is also a psychological component that triggers allergy attacks and there is enough evidence that having a dog as a companion can have actually a huge positive impact. All the best with the future companion - the pounds are full of beautiful dogs waiting for a good home!

despite the risk of getting told off again like in so many other threads, here my opposing thoughts (I will leave it with this one post, promised :) ): ...was the ball plus the other dog a real danger?...like an approaching car?...or a running chain saw?...the ball and the dog might have well triggered a reaction in your dog - but could it be also a problem how you respond to such situations?...while the ball and the other dog triggered this unwanted 'state of mind' in your dog, by your response (becoming very upset about this other lady, frustrated and fearful) in a way you are reinforcing your dog's behaviour: seeing you changing your mood as a response to this other dog respectively ball - that's similar to telling your dog oh yes, this is not a good situation, that's dangerous...better to worry... You said 'Once the lady moved off, Thistle was able to calm down pretty quickly...' ...maybe your dog calmed down quickly because she saw you suddenly relaxing?...which told her the danger is gone for now? You have a very strong bond to your dog - if Thistle senses that your mood changes from balanced to worried what do you think it triggers in your dog?

it seems to be a myth that so called hypo allergenic dogs (dogs with no or little shedding) won't trigger allergic reactions as the allergens are the proteins in saliva and dander and spread by any breed...some internet search will show enough reading about this myth. Therefore to minimize the risk of allergic reactions a comprehensive maintenance regime (house cleaning, bathing the dog...) and the size of the dog it much more important. the good: ...more options for your friend as she/he is not limited to so called hypo allergenic breeds;

...the reason for a hypo allergenic dog is less maintenance or health reasons?...if it is the latter, your friend might do more reading as there seems to be enough scientific evidence that a hypo allergenic dog won't cause less allergic reactions.

it seems you use the words pretty loosely ...you asked for advice: accusing someone of 'belting his dog badly' just based on assumptions is a pretty hefty accusation and I (that's me) would be a little bit more careful regards choosing my words before making those kind of statements in the public! ...and if you don't like my advice: just put me on the ignore list :) ! But it's not advice is it Willem. You have a pattern, you repeatedly take the opposing argument rather than allow someone to express an opinion. Maybe you're right, that doesn't mean continue with undermining and badgering someone into submission then telling them to ignore you is in any way a contribution to discussion. When you finally get reported enough the moderators will step in and I for one won't miss your goading of members who innocently post - or might actually know a bit more than you do. well, I can live with this ...than it just might not be the right forum for me, however I would have problems to look into the mirror if I would only issue what others like to hear or read...so I will waiting patiently till I get banned.

...I'm not 'turning this thread into an argument' ...I'm just raising my concerns over comments about a 'perfect dog' and a 'shitty dog owner'...such a combination hardly goes together.... and I agree, everyone is entitled to raise (and should raise) concerns about potential animal cruelty, but calling someone 'human' trash' and accusing him of animal cruelty without evidence seems to be at least unfair. And no, while I might not be a perfect dog lover, I didn't stuffed up our recall; our dog has a nearly perfect recall and comes happily with the tail wagging as she knows there is always a treat (no ice-cream so) for her. However, during the obedience and agility training sessions I can recognize from the behaviour of a few other dogs that there might be some 'behaviour issues' that could be possibly linked to 'inappropriate' trainings measures employed when not on the trainings ground...but some are also rescue dogs or rehomed dogs and the real cause for their behaviour might not be the fault of the current owner. Nevertheless, in most cases where a dog is treated badly there are signs in the dog's behaviour that don't just disappear when the owner is not around.

And you know that this dog was raised by that owner, right? From puppy, it had no other home prior. And that owner only stuffed up the recall, you know that too.... Its not a problem to you that the guys say - he is trouble, when the dog did nothing wrong. That passive aggressive tone of voice towards me when he said "its my dog and he is in trouble"... that is not an issue for some people.. And the fact that the dog didn't want to get out of the car at the smell of the owner near by, nor at the sight, nor at the recall is perfectly fine with you. I guess this is why so many abuse cases go unnoticed in the society. Would you react the same way if I was talking about a 2-3 year old child and, lets say, a father? ...you editing too fast.... ...wrt the highlighted text: yes, it is his dog, and because he told you that his dog 'is in trouble' is clear evidence for you that he drives home and bashes the dog?...and you advice me on the other hand not to pick on every expression????? ...could it be that the way you asked him about the bad recall behaviour provoked his comment?

...if you don't like my comments...put me on the ignore list :D ! BTW: ....calling someone 'human trash' and accusing someone of 'severe animal cruelty' without evidence seems to be ok for you?...just little things?...oh well,....

And you know that this dog was raised by that owner, right? From puppy, it had no other home prior. And that owner only stuffed up the recall, you know that too.... And the fact that the dog didn't want to get out of the car at the smell of the owner near by, nor at the sight, nor at the recall is perfectly fine with you. I guess this is why so many abuse cases go unnoticed in the society. Would you react the same way if I was talking about a 2-3 year old child and, lets say, a father? No, I don't know. What I know is that abused and tortured dogs behave distressed, shy and / or aggressive...it is unlikely that an older dog that was badly treated during his life wouldn't show any signs of those behaviour problems, very unlikely that he would approach a stranger 'asking' for playtime and showing perfect manners. The dog you describe seems to be very familiar with the beach, the environment and people and other dogs walking there without showing any signs of problematic behaviour - it seems he 'escaped' quite often (maybe he was also walked there by the family) and went through this 'unpleasant' pickup scenario, however, he enjoyed life at the beach without any signs of stress. Your description also indicates that he lived for a longer time with his owner (more than one escape...), hence for me it is hard to believe that there are no signs of behaviour issues if he really would have been treated badly in the past. ...seriously, I wish every roaming dog would behave like this dog. ...but yes, I don't know, however you also don't know, nevertheless you think it is ok to call him names in public and accuse him of severe animal cruelty.

according to you description the dog seems to be fine, I can't see any behaviour problem except that the owner stuffed up the recall...you self called the dog a perfect dog: ...so very sorry lovely dog, ...., you were just perfect...did it ever occur to you to give the owner, which you call...'and your human is a type of a person that I call human trash and doesn't deserve anything as beautiful as your soul'...some credit for raising such a fine dog?...he might not be perfect (who is), but IMO he deserves a little bit of credit for this 'non-problem' dog instead of calling him names on a public forum.

Unless it's a soft serve from Maccas - then its 100% OK. ha, ha ...good one :D ...no, our dog gets only dog food and appropriate treats, anyone offering her something else gets shot!...you are warned :D

it seems you use the words pretty loosely ...you asked for advice: accusing someone of 'belting his dog badly' just based on assumptions is a pretty hefty accusation and I (that's me) would be a little bit more careful regards choosing my words before making those kind of statements in the public! ...and if you don't like my advice: just put me on the ignore list :) !

I'm wondering what is your issue with what I have done, seems like you think Ive done something wrong!! I probably have done way more then most people would have in that situation, in fact the beach practically only has dog walkers on it and noone bothered to look at the tag and ring the owner. Dog came to me soaking wet, covered in sand and thirsty (I gave him my water). When I rang the owner he wasn't even surprised that the dog is out, he was trying to postpone the time of pick up, and I told him I'm leaving and need to go and to come straight away. It was Sunday and during school holidays and he was busy "in town" I didn't TAKE a dog for a walk, he followed me. I was there on holidays, I had no leash and I was there with other people. And I didn't spend the whole day there it might have been an hour to hour and a half max (see how you also assumed stuff?) Plus I feel like I have done the right thing, I rang the owners, drove a filthy sand and salt water covered dog to give him back. I now wish I have found a pound and dropped him off there, at least the owner would have had to pay a penalty to get him back!! I have since googled the ph number, found out a bit about the owner (google is my friend) and the dog is very local to where I was, hence he was so familiar with the beach. And clearly not in a hurry to be going back home. As the owner said - he got out AGAIN. he told me that the dog is locked up in a pen and gets out, and that the kids must have left the front door open again. That to me looks like a poor management and should be improved. I came here to ask for advice what to do not for a lecture from someone that thinks I've done wrong. If you have no answer nor advice to my original question I kindly ask you to leave the thread. I don't assume ...your words: 'We had a great day.' ...now it's 1 or maybe 1.5 hours ...that's not what I call 'a day'.

<br/><br/> <img src='http://www.dolforums.com.au/public/style_emoticons/default/kissbetter.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> <img src='http://www.dolforums.com.au/public/style_emoticons/default/kissbetter.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> Read it again and you will see that I gave it to her as a treat and because of her dental.<br/><br/>sorry, but ice-cream is not an appropriate treat for a dog!<br/><br/><br/><br/>For elderly dogs it is wonderful! ...sure, they also will appreciate diabetes etc.... Refer to my previous post regarding your sense of humour. I am pretty sure a bit of ice cream occasionally is not going to be the death of anybody. don't be so sure ...if the ice-cream has sweetener / Xylitol (because you think it is more healthier than sugar....) just 1 gr can kill a 5 kg dog!

<br/><br/> <img src='http://www.dolforums.com.au/public/style_emoticons/default/kissbetter.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> <img src='http://www.dolforums.com.au/public/style_emoticons/default/kissbetter.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> Read it again and you will see that I gave it to her as a treat and because of her dental.<br/><br/>sorry, but ice-cream is not an appropriate treat for a dog!<br/><br/><br/><br/>For elderly dogs it is wonderful! ...sure, they also will appreciate diabetes etc....

:kissbetter: Read it again and you will see that I gave it to her as a treat and because of her dental. sorry, but ice-cream is not an appropriate treat for a dog!

...the dog showed an extreme submissive behaviour regards the owner picking him up - that only tells you that the owner handled recalls in such situation badly...but to jump to the conclusion that the dog gets beaten and tortured is also extreme as the dog's overall behaviour indicated that he is a fine dog. As pointed out also by others, dogs can also show this submissive behaviour without getting bashed or belted or what's so ever if those situations are handled badly by the owners. The OP spent the whole day with the dog and 'witnessed' that there was nothing wrong with this dog, so why jumping to the conclusion that the owner tortures the dog?...the guy might have been pissed off (now I'm starting to speculate) because he was looking for the dog the whole day after telling the kids 100 times to make sure that the doors / gates are locked (yes Daddy...), and then gets told he should 'manage' it better from someone who took his dog on a day walk without calling him immediately ...yes, he called the dog with a friendly voice (according to the OP) but dogs are pretty good in recognizing when someone is upset or not, and the dog's reinforced behaviour might be just 'ducking for cover' if he senses that the owner is upset...that's not nice, but considering the overall behaviour of the dog the statement 'and its very clear that he gets belted badly' is a pretty hefty accusation.

...just in case you didn't know:....there might be very well a correlation between feeding ice-cream and the like and the dreadful teeth condition....

Just to clarify... I didn't have a phone on me at the beach hence I didn't make a call straight away. Dog didn't behave like he was lost, he behaved as if he knew the area very well, hence the assumption that the owner was near by or he lived near by. There were people at the beach, with dogs and the beach is very long, many dogs get away from the owners for quite big distances. I wasn't going to just leave the dog there, if he didn't have a name tag I'd take him to the nearest vet to get scanned for a chip. The dogs behaviour has changed drastically at the sight of the owner! DRASTICALLY!! The dog wouldn't get out of the car when the owner was calling him! And he was using a pleasant voice to call him! The dog wouldn't move towards the owner, the dog dropped to the ground scared and didn't move the moment the owner took ONE STEP towards him. The dog was closing the eyes and moving the head away when the owner moved to pick him up. It was not a happy submissive behaviour, it was scared shittless behaviour. There was not a slightest tail wag at any stage, the tail dissapeared, the body changed, the look in his eyes changed. As I said before - I have never seen a dog behave that way at the sight of the owner! A dig at me or my dogs as to how they wouldn't or wouldn't behave when lost was unnecessary, but since it was brought up I can guarantee you that my dogs would happy rush towards me when I called them! And they wouldn't be plastering themselves to the ground paralysed unable to move, turning heads away when I approach them!! ...sure, and you would be also very happy if the finder would take your dog for a day walk instead of letting you know immediately where your dog is... If she didn't have a phone with her on the beach, how is she supposed to call the owner straight away? ...before I would take a strange dog with me on a day walk I would go back to my car (if I would have left my phone there - which I never do) or would have asked someone else on the beach to make this call...but that's just me....

Just to clarify... I didn't have a phone on me at the beach hence I didn't make a call straight away. Dog didn't behave like he was lost, he behaved as if he knew the area very well, hence the assumption that the owner was near by or he lived near by. There were people at the beach, with dogs and the beach is very long, many dogs get away from the owners for quite big distances. I wasn't going to just leave the dog there, if he didn't have a name tag I'd take him to the nearest vet to get scanned for a chip. The dogs behaviour has changed drastically at the sight of the owner! DRASTICALLY!! The dog wouldn't get out of the car when the owner was calling him! And he was using a pleasant voice to call him! The dog wouldn't move towards the owner, the dog dropped to the ground scared and didn't move the moment the owner took ONE STEP towards him. The dog was closing the eyes and moving the head away when the owner moved to pick him up. It was not a happy submissive behaviour, it was scared shittless behaviour. There was not a slightest tail wag at any stage, the tail dissapeared, the body changed, the look in his eyes changed. As I said before - I have never seen a dog behave that way at the sight of the owner! A dig at me or my dogs as to how they wouldn't or wouldn't behave when lost was unnecessary, but since it was brought up I can guarantee you that my dogs would happy rush towards me when I called them! And they wouldn't be plastering themselves to the ground paralysed unable to move, turning heads away when I approach them!! ...sure, and you would be also very happy if the finder would take your dog for a day walk instead of letting you know immediately where your dog is...

...nah, didn't refer to your post, just a general comment wondering why a lot of people are speculating that the dog gets beaten and why they are ignoring the fact that the dog is obviously a very balanced, lovely and healthy dog (at least that's how the OP describes him)...it is not likely that the dog would be like this if he would be treated badly.