Erny

I've been googling .... a tonne of info out there :D . Mind you ..... really need to get on with other things. Spending time at the PC .... well, it just flies!!

Can't you get Tumeric powder at the supermarket, in the 'spices' isle? Christina77 - great to hear your dog's losing some weight and that things are improving. Just beware that imported spices at the supermarket are genrally irradiated by customs. Not sure if that would affect efficacy, but a "medical" version for consumption may be a better choice. Thanks Dr Bruce. Was wondering if supermarket quality was possibly affected as I typed the suggestion in my previous post. Doesn't surprise me. Must admit I prefer to obtain most natural herbals via health food stores or if you have it or a reputable site such as that of Steve's. My local health food store is becoming my local supermarket for me. But Steve's right ..... gotta read the labels. To do that, you gotta know what to look for. Thanks for the head's up tip, Steve.

:) ….. don't forget that if the itches persist, it means the cause for the itches persist. The calendula helps immensely in soothing and resolving the resultant skin irritations/outbreaks, but these will keep recurring until you can work out the "why's".

Contact Ross Wilson of Coburg Health & Nutrition. I'm sure he'll be able to assist. This is the person I go to via hair-DNA analysis and herbal supplementation (for me, my Mum and for my dog). 03 9354 8007. Tell him Judi (and her dog "Mandela") sent you. :)

Can't you get Tumeric powder at the supermarket, in the 'spices' isle? Christina77 - great to hear your dog's losing some weight and that things are improving.

Apparently the test they use, ELISA, is more specific and more sensitive that the IFA method hence the different results. I'm glad I sent his sample off, I'm still going to be cautious of where I take him as his immune system has taken a real battering over the past 10 months, but walks around the streets near me should be fine :) Well, that was SO worth the effort and expense. Great news, glad to read it :).

Interesting cavNrott. Which district? And have your friends been anywhere else with their dog beforehand?

Depends on what it's being used for. If for skin ailments that are very uncomfortable for the dog, 3 to 4 times a day. There's no real 'rule', although I'm conscious about having the skin wet too much for too long. But when it is bad, I use it for soothing sake. As the skin irritation abates, reduce the times per day until it appears under control and then back it down to once a day until the skin inflammation has gone and the skin is well into healing mode. That's what I do, anyway. Never came with instruction book for me ….. I just went by 'feel' and intuition. If it's only as a rinse to freshen up ….. I don't wash my dog any more than I have to and that can be once or often at most, twice a year. If he's just a bit on the whiffy side because of wherever he's been and the smell is mainly in his coat, I just use a saturated cloth and give him a rub over with it.

For $500 and the principal of the matter, I would at least be speaking with Consumer Affairs. People self-reinforce, just the same as dogs do, and when it's for bad-behaviour ….. well, it only means they're more likely re-offend on someone else at sometime. For what it's worth, if you have the document back-up to prove debt owing, at least it's a black mark against their name. Even if it's just the formality of it that has them feeling uneasy about that.

Do a double check on fertiliser too. Some fertilisers contain lead. I'd avoid. When turf is laid, sometimes they sprinkle slow release fertiliser before laying turf. As mentioned, double check.

:laugh: Ok so I also had Daisy titre tested as a comparison as she was last vaccinated just before Louis, and she has come back with adequate levels of protection. Louis's serum is on its was to Hemopet, so hopefully I'll get his results from there soon. Interestingly his Hepatitis antibody levels were fine (these get sent overseas so took longer to come back than his other VetPath results). That's great, CC's. I tend to find turn-around time for results via Dr Jean Dodds is 1 week, 2 maximum. This includes the time it takes for the serum to arrive on her doorstep. Variance in time depends on date it was sent (and whether it bumps into a weekend/public holiday) and which international courier is used to transport it (I use Fed-Ex). Good luck and hoping for some good news :) .

I think she's fantastic. So much able to clown around in between obstacles, yet her instructional direction to her dog is clear and in good time. Clever.

Have PM'd you, Airedaler, cavNrott and Fbaudry. For anyone else who are interested (and for all future communications for this), best contact is [email protected] rather than PM :) .

Yep, I think I did put Mandela on them at one point. I think they are great, safe, and effective. Hopefully you can supply to DOL members ? Thanks Dr Bruce. Yes - I can work something. cavNrott and fbaudry - I'll be in touch.

Training …. using and satisfying the dog's "drive".

I would have thought "Small Claims Tribunal" via Consumer Affairs and/or VCAT would be the way to go. But arm yourself with evidence of your efforts to reclaim the money along with evidence of the fact the money is indeed outstanding/owed (i.e. Original Contract).

for The Transfer Factor. I used this with Mandela in the earlier days of his troubles - Dr Bruce ….. I think YOU put me on to them. It did assist. I actually started taking them myself. I've become an agent for them (made it easier for me to get in bulk) and I've also had friends who were unwell, Doctors couldn't pin point (one was diagnosed Chronic Fatigue). I sent them some bottles of The Transfer Factor and it helped them quite a bit too.

Working on exercises to strengthen the core muscle is a preventative measure against injuries. Google "Clean Run" and search for "Egg Ball" or "Peanut Ball" and have a look through the short video footage there. I purchased an Egg Ball recently, along with some educational DVD's and it was mentioned that this style of low/nil impact strengthening exercise is recommended for long backed dogs such as daxxies etc. Not exactly the answer to your question, but more a case of what "to" do rather than only looking for things to avoid.

Agree with the others. Mix in so much in your training. Obedience commands are important - we want them to be reliable. We NEED them to be reliable. And I think because we tend to see them as so important, we tend to forget they can and should represent "fun" to the dog - so much "fun" in fact, that the dog wants to be reliable, can't help but being reliable. But simultaneously, we shouldn't go too far too fast with our training. We have to stay within the boundaries of the dog's capabilities, nudging the envelope, so to speak, for progress sake, but not venturing into unrealistic expectations. Your pup's "boundaries" at this stage will be his ability to maintain focus and attention. Too far, too fast and later we begin to see the obedience training we've done, to unravel. So, as said - add in tricks and use these as a sorbet between obedience commands. I love using the dog's natural "drive" to advantage learning. I love it, because the dogs tend to love it the most as well. Teach your dog names for its toys. Don't name them all at once and just shape it. IE Say the name of the toy whenever pup picks it up. Congratulate pup for picking up "flea" or "shrek" or "donkey" or whatever. Over time, when the names become familiar (i.e. word association has occurred) you can begin introducing more challenging games, such as asking your pup to go fetch "shrek". You can set this up as easy, and as your dog gets better and better at it and in turn finds this easy, increase the difficulty factor by having one other, two others, three other, etc. toys in the vicinity. Teach your pup to "find" - this is another great activity. There are more to "tricks" than simple passive ones (not to say they aren't good - we need them too in some instances). The only thing that limits what we can teach our dogs is our own imaginations. Have fun with your pup. He'll be an adult dog before you know it. Enjoy the pup-dom :D

Yay!! Good on you Airdaler!! So rapt that you erred towards at least trialling a well-considered but natural treatment basis for your girl. So hoping the treatment can totally resolve :) . In trying this first, you've not only possibly hit on success but the upshot will be that your dog's system will not have to deal with the side-effects of cortisone. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant

What is your training method/s? Do you incorporate or use "training in drive"? In the absence of medical issues, I tend to find that dogs who work from their hind brain and not their front brain is generally because they are under-stimulated (mentally speaking) by the handler and over-stimulated towards other distractions which ultimately provide the satiation the dog needs and searches for. That in itself becomes self-perpetuating and leads to exacerbation, due to the self-reinforcement the satiation of drive and fun the dog receives. I love working with dogs who are hyped. It means the mental energy is already there and all I need to do is channel that towards behaviours that I want and which, as a result of the dog learning that drive satisfaction comes from that training, the dog ends up really enjoying and begging for more. Easier than working with a 'flat' dog and needing first to tease out the "drive energy" I'm looking for to be able to use it to training advantage. Either way, a raw diet is something that I'm inclined to recommend for any dog, behaviour issue or not, so there would be no harm and potentially only good which can come about from trying it. I do confess that I noticed a 'settling' in my own boy, who is rambunctious by nature and not an easy dog to work with in the initial stages, when I switched him to the whole raw balanced diet I now have him on. It is not the be all and end all of course - but if the diet the dog is on is not right it can affect behaviour just as what we know as the "red cordial" diet can affect children. So yes …. I like to bring things down to simple meat and vegetable balance proteins as the bases on which I build a diet on from there. Also, your dog is 3yo. A fairly impressionable age and one where dogs feel they should be flexing their muscles, so to speak. That's fair enough, but coupled with the bad experiences he's had, you might find that the behaviour you're now seeing was imminent and inevitable IF your dog does not understand that deferring to your choices is the way to go. How we teach that to our dogs is based in the dog trusting our ability to manage any and all situations the dog otherwise feels uncomfortable in. And how we teach that trust is by what and how we demonstrate in and around the home in our day to day ordinary interactions. At least, that's where it starts from, and it goes upwards from there. So all or any of these things might be things for you to consider and explore.

I don't like anything that is stringent in ANY form and if I can get away by using something more 'benign' yet effective, I will. Start little, unless the situation is such dire straights that there is a 'life' emergency. Doesn't mean I dilly dally in getting to a remedy that works - just means I don't over do it when over-doing it can be avoided.

Thanks for the clarifications. If it were me, I'd use the Calendula Tea rinse until it clears. If it returns, it means the "cause" for the dry skin still persists and needs to be looked into further. Consider things such as too frequent bathing/washes (with shampoo); too much swimming. Are these things possible?

I'd go a second opinion. I had a dog (my Avatar girl "Kal" bhcs) who suffered a major blockage. Whilst under heavy sedation she was x-rayed. As an aside and coincidence to what the x-rays showed up for the blockage, it was also reported to me that she had a heart so enlarged that they didn't know if she would survive the surgery necessary to clear the blockage. She did (several following, in fact, but that's a whole other story). Scared out of my wits every time she had to undergo these series of surgeries for things that just kept going wrong, I finally got her well enough from that to be able to get her to a heart specialist to investigate heart medication which I had previously been informed she would definitely need. These Vets even backed up their diagnosis after conducting a "necessary" ECG. Heart specialist took one look at the x-rays and said "I want to take more x-rays". Puzzled, but I went along with it. More x-rays revealed perfect heart. It was the manner in which my dog had been laid on the x-ray table and the length of time she'd been left there that gave the impression that her heart was grossly enlarged. Further basic tests confirmed perfect heart, save for a minor murmur which was well known about for years but was so minor not to be alarming. My dog's heart was not the reason and had nothing to do with the reason why I eventually had to give her her wings, some years later. Second opinion.