REALOldNick

I give up. There is so much judgment here, Signing off and not coming back. Sorry to those that actually provided useful advice. You can work out who you are.

Stop being so vehement and judgmental. I HAVE medicated him and it has made quite a bit of difference....and no I am not forcing him to drink tots of rum OK? ANd OH I do not believe in god, so that's a waste of time. With replies like yours I will ask the bloody VET.

I have a dog, Bjay or Beej, that we have had for about a year. We rescued him and we were told 4-6 YO. The Vet suggested going to the top and saying 7YO. (But then the older we consider the dog, the more the Vet can guilt us into "old dog" visits.:)) Beautiful guy. Huntaway I think. He is gentle and loving. He is also clever and obedient and picks up on new ideas and commands very easily. A "second try" learner. This includes verbal and gesture suggestions. Huntaways are chosen for this. But he has neurotic issues. He will sit and shiver about the wind in the trees. Thunder is a disaster. His response to some attempts to control him result in non-obedient shivering. He has urinated and defecated rather than obey, but that has seemed to stop. He is getting better at this "civil disobedience". I have had other rescues that had huge behaviour problems and we have sorted it and had wonderful lives together. So, so far the behaviour is not normal but at least I have seen it before. Now to the "buzzing". Dog quivering AFAIK is maybe 4-7/sec. You can see it. You can feel it. I have had all of this from Beej. But this is a deep hum, say 50-100Hz. You can't see it. The only way to hear it is to rest my head on Beej's body and sometimes there it is. It's sort of like the roar of blood in the veins, further from the heart, through a stethoscope, but constant, not pulsed, and not quite. It is louder in the thorax, but still there in the shoulder and upper foreleg. So it's not a musical tone, but a fuzzy buzz Then it will go. Nerves fire quite slowly, like 7FPS. What is this I am hearing? Anybody else? Sorry for the weird question. Thanks

I would like to add that our nervous pal BJay (Beej for short) has HUGE ears. He sits outside and if anything is happening; parrots, crows, other birds even flapping their wings, leaves rustling, his ears are working constantly in a way that our other guys do not (one of them is 14 and losing hearing anyway, but the other one is 8 and hears fine.)

HAH! Alcohol based! That'll work....until next day! :D

Thanks papillonkisses for that incredible input. Being lazy and cheap, I would need to work up to getting training, trying other stuff first. OK. Both as advised and because the whole thing is so uncertain, I think I will talk to my vet. Trouble is, last time the practice suggested a dog behaviourist, who had a _6 week_ lead time and charged $300 for 1/2 hour. That also was the only contact you had with her; the rest was with her agent trainers. I passed on that. She operates in a swish market in the richer suburbs and I suspect has clients happy to cough up.

OK. Thanks for that. It seems I can't get it in Oz, so I will have to check out the from the US.

I have a 5 yo dog, a Huntaway. Beautiful dog, very friendly and loving. Gentle with our other two and us. Loves a cuddle. Barks a bit, but not often. Great in the car. The perfect dog....BUT ....he is scared of sooooo many things. We were warned that he was scared of thunder. However we have found that is scared of rain, wind in the trees, jet airplanes. If I am trying to tell one of the other dogs to do something, when I am not even raising my voice he tries to obey as well, then starts looking all sulky. Most of it I reckon is improving, but Thunder is certainly the worst and does not seem to be abating. But heavy rain and high winds are not too good either. The fear extends to shaking, panting, a bit of salivation. He will not eat if there is thunder and often for some time afterward. Trying food during even the mildest of storms results in rejection. So am wiling to give DAP a go. But I am uncertain, based on supposed reports, but usually with no real scientific tests. I would like to hear of people's experiences. Thanks in advance Nick

This is now an old post of mine and I never resolved it. We had Rebel euthanased way back. A few days later he also attacked next door's Jack Russell and ripped the skin off the poor little girl's throat. but luckily no more. Nuff sed. Something seemed to have snapped in the big guy. Luckily the neighbours are unbelievably tolerant! We paid the bills and for share of a more secure fence. What triggered this reply is that I was going through my phone's photos and found some of Rebel and Sam and our other dog cuddling on the bed, and one of Sam actually licking Rebel's feet for him! It made me realise how hard it was to believe, and credit what finally happened. Sam BTW has not been exposed much to big dogs since then. But I have to say that when we go out, and there are big dogs, the little bugger shows no reticence about trying to meet and greet! In fact he worries me, as he is too friendly for most city on-the-lead dogs. Even though he is on the lead, the response from at least 50% of them is a growl when he gets within 2 metres, even when after 3-4 of them we quietened him. It seems he has confined his fear to one dog (he never played with Rebel again which was sad). He really is the most harmless and friendly guy and we have had him for 4+ years. He does not seem to be emotionally ruined anyway. Yes. As I said we did the deed. Still sad about it and deeply regret that it was needed. But we eased his pain while he was with us, and gave him the best life we could. I think we _did_ need emotional/moral support, all logic aside. My wife and I faced a terrible, lonely decision. To kill a young, fit, dog is tough and even the Vets felt it. Money back? Yes I seriously feel they took advantage of us. But I am never good at fighting for my rights after stuff like this and I have experienced a few disappointments at the hands of the "bi-pedal charmers". I try to get on with my life peacefully and get my feelings in order. It usually costs me money, but _I_ feel more at ease with it....... Sun Tzu, rivers, and bodies. Without being sinister, I have watched well-deserved career and financial bodies drift past me a few times, without my lifting a finger...HAH! well I have may have lifted a finger a few times, but not in the way of direct action. I thank you for all your inputs. Nick

And Neurontin. The vets around here seem to be selling this like ...well. drugs...or sweeties. I have been in the Vet in the (aptly named) waiting room and seen 3 different people spending $600+ on the same sweeties, with shock. The Vet and the receptionist ignore complaints with a shrug. But the previcox is $3-4 per _tablet_ and it seems as if the Vets are just either handing it on, and/or taking kick-backs, or making pretty nice mark-ups with little veterinary input from them. I use them, because they work on my adopted dog, who is in pain from a combo of arthritis and growths on his ligaments/tendons. I also use Neurontin for the pain...at "only" $1/table, but 2 a day. They do have their limits. He still hobbles a wile after he wakes up. Sadly he is less then 4 YO. If he lives until he is 13YO this will cost me maybe $22000/ annum. I do not care about _his_ cost...love transcends all for a dog. But I resent this pill-popping easy solution by the Vet fraternity and the Pharma. Is there a better way? Sorry, I have tried naturopathic and acupuncture (not always so cheap themselves) and they did not work for me. The above two, angry as they may make me, at least have show sold results. So what else?

Woah!...That was a 50 cent chunk, not 50cm! Sorry bout that

My 30Kg dog (Rebel) has attacked my 18Kg dog (Sam) and badly beaten him up, including taking a large (50cm plus) chunk out of the littler guy's upper shoulder/neck. He also did it a week ago or so, but without the damage. From what I saw, the intent was there, but unskilled in the first attack. I have told the rescue people that I need him removed, fairly quickly. We took on a "staffy cross" ("American" Staffy? cross). He has quite serious joint and tendon trouble and that leaves him in a fair bit of pain. We are treating that with Gabapentin and Previcox. We took him on knowing that it was going to be $$. Nobody else wanted him. He had been fostered for at least 18 months. The woman who was fostering him said that the previous foster home did not want him back He was extremely bark-aggressive towards me and my wife, but we could see a spark in him and never felt endangered by him. One problem. His name is Rebel and his previous owner is in jail....hmmmm. After spending 4.5 hours with him, with the foster owner there but staying back, I got him to let me put a leash on him. After that it was all gravy. He was amazing on lead, with no weight. He did, however , have a halti chest tightener setup, because he is VERY strong. If he took into his head after a cat or whatever, the halti _might_ do the job. He is a _seriously_ beautiful dog once knows you, as we had figured. But he does not play well with delivery drivers or tradies coming onto our place. Some get scared, some ignore him. But he is aggressive with them, as he was with us. Unfortunately our smaller guy makes things worse by attacking Rebel while people are there and of course that winds up Rebel. Unless I have warning there is nothing I can do, because they just run away. My "solution" is to just shut them in when I know somebody is coming onto the block. Not the best, but these people are in a hurry. I can hardly say' sit there for a while I train my dog to ignore you" Anyway. Now to the real problem. Twice now, Rebel has attacked Sam ferociously and sustained, after they have run together and Rebel has "hunted Sam down" at the end of the run. In both cases I could hear the difference in the noises they were making and went as fat as I could to stop it. Shouting did not work: Rebel was into the job and did not listen. First time I smacked (belted) him hard with one of those plastic ball throwers. Second time I belted him with my fist: against all advice, I know, but you try watching your dog being dragged and shaken to apparent death. What do I do? Talk of training just does not work for me. This is so unpredictable and so possibly fatal for my little Sam, whom I had to watch totally helpless and being dragged across the ground and shaken, by his neck, fearful and in pain. Muzzle? All the talk is that a muzzle is not the solution but a safety measure while you train. Do I care? Can you train a dog to not spontaneously tear up another dog? I still love Rebel and do not blame him. But this was awful.

I am 1000% in favour of adoption of rescue dogs! You are performing a huge service to unwanted pets, of which there are a shocking number. In Australia, with a human population of 25 Mil, there are 250,000 dogs abandoned pets a year! If the poor things are surrendered, or at least left tied up outside a home. In my time I have found 3 dead dogs that were just dumped: one tied to a tree in the bush to die and the other two with broken necks. 200,000 dogs and cats are euthanased every year in Australia! Do not get a dog with the idea of breeding. You create more dogs that will possibly be abandoned after Xmas. So go to your pet shelters, look around. The good ones insist on sterilisation. Don't be too fussy about breed: mixed breed dogs will reward with love as much as, if not more than, a breed dog. All of my dogs over the years have been rescued. They have rewarded me far beyond their cost in every case. But as with every pet purchase make sure you are getting the right dog for your circumstances: kids, older people, room to exercise, or ability to walk/run every day. But that applies to every dog acquisition. It will still cost you several hundred dollars, but they will show any problems and should have been vet-checked. I you MUST buy from a breeder, MAKE SURE of their reputation and qualifications.

Christ! For 99.9% of the time the freedom/ fence thing works! The dogs have freedom. I have freedom. All is good. The dogs have exercise. I spend ebery day with my dogs. I am really concerned about the couriers, but it , yeah it does stress me as well. Frick the internal fences: that is what I am up here for; freedom for me and my guys. I have as was said given up on changing stupid policy and will try to educated our regular delivery guy

OK. I fully believe that the magic benefit of have 2HA is that the guys have freedom. Restrictive fencing is NOT the answer, or if it is, the whole pointof 2 HA is lost. I have fence electric barrier and wit 2 HA the dogs still have a massive room to move. Seriously, if you are that paranoid about people throwing stuff and baiting your dogs, you have a problem. Go and talk to your neighbours and try to make friends with their dogs and do not live in fear. I am talking rescues with severe fear and what? Judgment and lectures?

My dogs run around and bark at strangers, including couriers. The courier companies ask....demand?.... of me to take care of this. Some couriers are very scared of dogs, justifiably or not. I live on 2 Ha with 3 dogs. I have had packages dropped into the bush at the gate and one left on top of the gate-post. I have repeatedly talked to the companies of putting in place a system of giving reasonable warning of the arrival of a package, so I can restrain my dogs. I will do that, for a morning, or a couple of hours, NOT all day and obviously not for a fortnight or whatever. I have had argument, and ignorance from the companies. But only once compliance with my request, as a once-off. How do we wake these people up?! I work on training my dogs, but that is going to take months if not years. They are all rescues with their own brand of breed and of fashion I buy from Amazon and _they_ know if my package has been delivered, So let this driver let me know a date, afternoon, and pref a2-3 span for delivery of O/no Does anyone come up against this, either in OZ or elsewhere? Can we work on the companies to make it a 2-way communication? Interested. Nick

WOW! Well obviously the answer is that the partner goes! You may be able to split from such a new puppy...but...The guy is an irresponsible ***** with very poor values about helpless beings, who thinks that funny means doing things to them, that may harm them, is funny. When does "may harm them" cross over into "will harm them"? But there are problems here. Can you easily separate from your partner? Finances etc. I used to regularly walk the dog at a park by the river. One afternoon a guy and his girlfriend came with their dog. We had not seen them before. In front of over one hundred dog lovers, he picked up their dog and threw her into the water. I rarely pick fights, being a coward :(, but I could not let this go. I really let loose (and that is something to hear). The guy said he was teaching the dog to swim. I told that all he was teaching her was fear....among other things. I heard his partner mutter "he's right". The next time the dog came to the river there was only the young woman.... I wish you serious luck in your choices. Nick