Erny

OT - Best4Koda : Is that Koda in your avatar? She has a beautiful face.

I know that coat thinning/loss tends to be quite symmetrical . Whether this, for your dog, could be the only pointer to thyroid is another thing. I'm not a Vet, so I don't want to profess to be the expert here, and I don't know nor have seen your dog. But coat dullness/faded colour can be another sign. Feeling the cold can be another. Also, in the early onset of thryoiditis, it can represent in symptoms that mirror hyperthyroid issues. The "energy" level might be more akin to inability to settle; tending towards being pacey and restless, edgy. I can't answer your question directly or definitively, so if you're unsure, email Dr Jean Dodds at Hemopet. She is a wonderful lady - quick in responses and always happy to give her time to help us out with our concerns about our dogs. If you did choose to run tests and go through Dr Jean Dodds in the USA (this is where I have my boy's tests run), feel free to contact me and I'll happily help you out with how it works and what you need to do. Running the tests via USA is not as daunting as you might at first think, nor as expensive as you might think.

Typical symptoms of thyroid issue generally don't become evident until 70% of the thyroid tissue is destroyed - without looking it up I would hazard a guess that this would be on average when dogs reach about 5-7 years old. Our testing here in Australia is designed such that it detects thyroid around that level. Testing in the USA is more sensitive and thorough and can pick it up a lot earlier. Because the thyroid is responsible for the good function of just about every organ in the body, I'd rather a dysfunctional thyroid be detected and assisted as soon as it was known. But that's just me and my thoughts :).

:laugh: This is my method too. Hehehee .... mine too. Putting the jacket on my boy made me feel less mean, but he 'gets it' and even though doesn't like it, will go outside in the rain if he really needs to 'go'.

My boy is 71cm as well. I just bought him a 70cm Weatherbeta coat (via horseland). Fits him really well with a bit of room to spare.

Lol - my boy loves a lark out in the rain and through puddles down at the park too. Has an absolute ball. But pop outside for a toilet stop after being in the warmth? Mmmmmnup. Although he will do it if pushed (i.e. he won't toilet inside) he'll hold on if he is allowed the opportunity ..... until he just can't hold on anymore.

Yes you're right - measure from the base of the neck to the base of the tail. Some coat sizing request that you measure chest width/depth as well, but I notice in more current times that they don't so much now - not that I've seen anyway. What is Tess's length, MadWoofter?

Same :). If the weather is extra-ordinarily foul and the rain is more than just ordinarily heavy, I put my boy's coat on. He still tip-toe hops over the wet lawn (to the straw garden mulch where it is drier on his feet :rolleyes: but this makes the world of difference for those really bad bad weather times. I'm glad I don't have to go to the loo in the saturating and freezing rain. There is an upside to being human, lol.

I would have him on a lead, stretch your arms out - fingers splayed (in the fashion he's not keen on) and give him a yummy treat. Naturally, tone things down a little so that his emotion doesn't escalate to excessive stress or panic. As he becomes more comfortable with the toned down body postures from you, begin to increase the body postures, one baby step at a time. Each time, giving him a treat and as you progress, encouraging him to come in closer to you to receive the treat until he's comfortable no matter what body postures you are exhibiting. ETA: No coochy-cooing to him - just treat it all as a bit of fun and that he's being a silly dumby at wanting to slink off.

Bath him in Calendula Tea - kinder on the skin than shampoos, and good at soothing, healing and helping to avoid secondary skin infections. This won't fix the problem - if the cause remains the problem will continue. But the Calendula can at least go towards offering your dog some degree of relief.

Great news all round. Congratulations to your dog - he was trying very hard to tell something and now that he's been heard, your Dad has received the medical attention he needs. Fantastic :D. I hope you can work out what is causing your dog the allergies he has. Calendula Tea can help a lot in soothing and healing the skin whilst you're trying to find the cause. But if the cause remains, the allergies would continue. Good luck with that. :)

Same here, so I feel your pain. Regards the Slippery Elm - I use this as well and yes, from what I have read, it can and does affect absorption of medication, but I expect that's what you've already found out via Robert McDowell's site. I should've looked there myself too - think I'll pay a visit to see what additional interesting snippets I can find. I am not making a recommendation here and the results of what I found may purely be anecdotal, but I found that when I introduced Coconut Oil to Mandela's diet, his eating regime and results improved. Not fully to any "total success" level, but improved - as though it made his stomach more comfortable. I now give him the Slippery Elm and that may be assisting (hard to tell) but I stopped the Coconut Oil - things aren't too bad, but are going off the boil a bit, so I'm going to re-introduce the Coconut Oil to him and see what happens.' This is not to tell you of "Mandela's story" nor to hi-jack your thread, but to give you an account of what I do and have experienced in case there is something you might find of use for your dog.

Sorry - post maybe in bad taste. The term "sticky outy bottom" just got to me, is all. Don't mind me.

You mean she steps on your feet at the end of a recall??? I would not do anything that could be considered unpleasant, a punishment, an aversive, when it is attached to a command compliance. Or perhaps I have misunderstood someone?

Lol - advertise it too loudly and widely and you might find everyone catches onto this idea ..... and before you know it you could find yourself in a park on rainy days with a bunch of reactive dogs.

Not necessarily the case. Depends on the dog and other things. To know a story, you need to read more than one paragraph. Same with dogs - you need to read things in context with other things to determine what the dog's 'story' is. Hope that makes sense. The strategy I give works in most cases - much depends on the delivery of the strategy and the consistency of its delivery. And the delivery style depends on the dog. Be careful the dog is not perceiving any form of reinforcement that you might be inadvertently giving.

IMO "luring" is an excellent technique. It is how it is applied, when it is used and for how long, that stuffs things up. But that is a handler error, not method error. So in my books, it isn't "cheating". If it helps with assisting a dog to understand what we are trying to teach, I don't think that's cheating or anything bad.

That's interesting, MRB ..... . Why do you think luring method of teaching is "cheating" ?

If you are working through the proteins to find out what suits her and what doesn't, it would be best if you didn't feed so many different protein sources all at the one time. Work out what you want to feed her and space it over a period of a couple of weeks or four. Steady as she goes. My dog promptly threw up a pigs trotter after he'd spent some joyful time chewing it up and swallowing it. I think it was too rich for him and/or a protein that his body rejected. I'm about to send off another saliva sample to be analysed under the Dr Jean Dodds/Hemopet/Nutriscan "Food Introlerance Test" they have available. I did the first one they had, but it has since been expanded to include quite a few more protein sources.

Move into her space - purposefully and firmly, but not harshly or aggressively. Avoid and withhold the giving of any attention (including eye contact) in the process. Give her nice attention when she is standing next to you but with some respect for your body and space.

I agree, Melz. And although I haven't got stats to back it up, it strikes me that there are only certain groups/people who make 'one-directional' blanket statements as though fact. I find that very infrequently from those who can see the good AND not so good in ALL quadrants of training. Just my opinion.

As a blanket statement, I don't agree. IMO, it would depend on the situation, event, the dog and what you're trying to achieve. Generally speaking though, an appropriate mix of aversives and rewards can work even better than either of these things individually. But again - no blanket statement being made by me .... it depends on the situation, event, the dog and what I'm trying to achieve.

Oops, sorry - was thinking of Garfield . A fair way to Gisbourne at this hour of the night and with this foul weather. But all the same, if there's anything I can do to help, let me know.

Bite Me - do you need help searching? I'm not exactly next door, but not the end of the earth away either.

I know! I know!, SirWJ. I'm still getting over it!!! :laugh: