Staranais

Hi guys Can someone please point me towards who is breeding the best (most driven) working cockers in Australasia? Looking potentially for a SAR dog prospect, but am totally unfamiliar with who is who in the gundog world Thanks

But in this case, cheaper is definitely what I am after.

Thanks guys. Yes, I've been getting quotes from 2500 - 2900 aud for Brissie to Wellington. Even if I do all the legwork myself (not use a transport company), I can't get it under 2000 aud yet. I'll try Moorehome and Bay City, thanks.

Hi guys, I'm after information about transporting dogs from Brisbane to NZ. It's all a bit up in the air right now, but my malinois might need medical treatment involving us taking a trip to Aussie at some point this year. I've sorted out the cheapest deal from NZ to Brissie I think (1.3k NZ not including vet checks or crate hire). But the Brissie to NZ leg seems to be stupidly expensive, and it's hard to find information about exactly what is required. I'm emailing lots of Aussie Pet Transport companies too, of course, but hopefully someone here will have some good info about how much it cost them to transport dogs on a similar route. Obviously I'm after the very cheapest deal possible, since the radiotherapy alone is scarily expensive. Thanks. PS - thanks for allowing this question in the Breeder's Forum, Troy!

Deafness + loss of balance is a recognised complication in a small % of dogs given ear meds containing gentamycin. Can happen even with intact ear drums, so vets have no way to predict which dogs will be affected this way. Its not just gentamycin either, several other antifungal + antibiotic drugs we use in the ear can sometimes be ototoxic. Deafness can of course also be caused by progression of an ear infection that is not successfully treated, so it's not always the fault of the meds when this happens.

Fluoxetine decreases the reuptake of serotonin, prolonging its activity in the brain. Tryptophan is a precursor of serotonin. Serotonin syndrome can be seen with fluox overdoses in dogs, as well as from gross overdose of serotonin precursors. I would imagine that giving both substances together could potentiate the action of fluoxetine, and thereby increase the risk of serotonin syndrome. But I have no evidence that is actually the case, and have certainly not heard that giving both together is absolutely contraindicated. If you were my client, I would advise you to be very cautious with your dosing when adding tryptophan to fluoxetine, but ultimately, observing your own animal would guide our treatment decisions. . Also please remember to discuss any issues or suggestions raised on DOL with your vet, before changing up your dog's treatment regime. :)

That's pretty relevant to one scenario, I was considering, Simply Grand - I'm a vet, and one recent case in particular sticks in my mind. Last month we had a fearful and aggressive, extremely ill, chihuahua whom we had in the hospital for several weeks. She screamed and fought and bit with any handling or restraint, no matter how gentle the restraint was, no matter if it was her owner or staff that were restraining her. It wasn't her illness - the owner said she had never been able to restrain the dog for anything the dog disliked. This dog was too ill for food to be a reinforcer. Too upset with us for petting or social contact to be a reinforcer. Too ill for us to dare to chuck sedatives or anxiolytics at her to facilitate handling. She was dangerous to staff and to herself - and unfortunately she was ill enough that we did need to get blood work done, imaging done, and an IV line in immediately. During her time in hospital the nurses would restrain her - as gently as possible! - for just as long as necessary to do whatever we needed to do, then release her. They'd try to make friends in between times - going up to her and talking nicely, not putting any pressure on her, just trying to get her used to being approached by staff. However by the end of her stay, she was still at least as terrified and aggressive as when she first came in. In retrospect, perhaps every time she was pinned down, if they waited until she was CALM until they released her, her stay would ultimately have been less terrifying for her? Idle thoughts. :p

Little Gifts, most authorities now suggest that the core vaccines (parvo, distemper, hepatitis) should be given as a complete puppy course (with the last vaccine given after 12 or 16 weeks old) followed by a one year booster - after that, one year vaccines are generally neither beneficial nor necessary. I do my girl every 3 years now that she is an adult. We see parvo all the time at work - we have seen 2 cases of parvo in the last month, including a whole litter of babies that were put down as they were on death's door and the owners couldn't afford any type of intensive care - and I am so sick of that disease. IMO our focus needs to be on getting every single damn dog owner in Australasia to get the puppy series and one year booster. Those are the really important ones.

Dermotic is a good product for yeast infections, and tends to clear them up nicely, so long as there's nothing else going on down there. It will take a while to work, and the ears will be moist until you stop using it. However if the infections persist or keep reoccuring, it's worthwhile doing a bit of investigating as to why this is happening. Dogs naturally have a certain amount of yeast growing in their skin and on their ears - it only grows out of control and causes problems if there is something harming the dog's natural skin defenses. Things that can predispose dogs to reoccuring ear infections include skin allergies, foreign bodies down the ear (some dogs need sedation to look right down to the canal and rule this out), getting water in the ears from frequent bathing or swimming or messy drinking, ear mites, or just having really dirty ears and needing the wax cleaned out (again, sometimes this needs to be done thoroughly under sedation), and having a middle ear infection (topical drugs like Dermotic can't reach the middle ear). As for plucking, I've seen plucking help with some dog ears, and make others worse. It really seems to depend on the dog. As a general rule I tell people, if your dog doesn't have ear problems, then keep doing what you are doing! If the dog gets re-occuring ear infections and has a lot of hair in his canals, then giving plucking a go is worthwhile (monitor the results, and stop doing it if it's not helping). If you are plucking and he is getting re-occuring ear infections - try stopping the plucking and monitor results, in case you're making matters worse by irritating the canal.

Thanks Aidan. I wish Lindsay had gone into more depth - it seems like such a brief, throwaway paragraph to assert such a controversial statement in. Even just given us the % of dogs that he has worked with where he's had success with pure D&CC vs needing to resort to enforcing contact and then waiting the dog out would have been interesting.

Dental is a good idea - it's very very hard to see the dog's molars, or the inside of any of the hind teeth, without anaesthetising the dog - so there could be nasty things going on back there.

0.5 - 1 mg per kilogram is generally accepted as a low dose (so called "anti-inflammatory dose") of prednisone for a dog. So for a 19kg dog, 10 - 20 mg would be the correct anti-inflammatory starting dose. Pred is sometimes used at a much higher dose rate to achieve an immunosuppressive or anti-cancer effects, but at higher doses side effects are more common and often more severe when they do occur. Pred is usually tapered rather than stopped suddenly, especially if it is being given for a long time or at a high dose. The reason for that is when you give prednisone, this suppresses the body's natural ability to make endogenous steroids - so if you suddenly stop giving steroid medication the body can become too low in steroid. The worst case scenario is that this can cause an Addisonian crisis, which can be very dangerous.

Hmmm, found it. :) He's talking specifically about dogs with fears associated with painful or uncomfortable handling procedures (grooming, nail clipping, veterinary procedures, etc). To quote the entire paragraph: “Some dogs appear to be more sensitive to touch and prone to develop persistent fears associated with discomfort and painful handling. The usual procedures used for resolving such problems employ some combination of graded interactive exposure with RP-CC. Although conscientious efforts should be made to counter-condition a fearful dog with treats and relaxing massage while it undergoes progressive exposure to the feared activity, it is imperative that avoidance and escape be blocked. Very often in such cases counterconditioning efforts will achieve only a small portion of the desired effect. Response prevention using physical restraint followed by massage as the animal begins to relax can be very useful. It is important for the dog to become relaxed before it is released from restraint. In the case of dogs that become highly reactive, they should be held in restraint (with massage) for an additional 3 minutes after the last strong effort to break free.” No references given. Page 158 in my hardcover edition of vol 3.

To be perfectly honest, if you can't work out WHAT he's allergic to and avoid it, he will probably be on steroids and/or antihistimines on and off for his whole life. Your best bet is to systematically rule factors out, one at a time, until you work out what's causing him to flare up. The culprit has got to be either something he's exposed to in the environment, something he's eating, or an allergy to his natural skin flora (rarer, but I've seen it). First rule out anything in the environment - wandering dew is top of the list of suspects, although they can also be allergic to most other types of grasses and plants. They can be allergic to any chemicals or cleaning products you use inside the house, and to dust mites in the carpet. Changing to a novel protein diet can help, if he's allergic to a particular type of animal protein. Changing to a raw diet from kibble can help if your dog is allergic to grain or storage mites. With any diet change, you need to stick with the new diet exclusively for at least 6 weeks before you can be sure (even better - if you see a remission in the signs, add the suspect ingredient back in, and you'll see a skin flareup if you're right). I don't personally put a lot of stock in allergy blood tests - I haven't had much success with them - although the intradermal allergy testing can be helpful in determining exactly what's going on.

Double post :)

Yes, in some ways it sounded like a similar concept to what I have read about BAT/CAT (teaching the dog that appropriate behavior removes pressure, whereas aggression does not). He did not go into the specifics or mechanics, so I'm unsure if he worried about the dog going over threshold while being restrained (compared to both BAT/CAT, where you're supposed to try to stay under threshold if you can). Also please note that he was specifically discussing dogs that react aggressively to being handled or restrained, hence the reason for enforced restraint until the dog realizes that being restrained is "safe" - I may not have explained that sufficiently well in my last post. I was particularly interested in that he seemed to present the pressure on/off technique as not only an alternative to D&C, but ultimately a more successful method. The man generally seems to be both educated and to have his head screwed on pretty well, so I'd be unwilling to dismiss what he says without further investigation, however it's not something I've heard much about before. :)

That's the strategy you would employ. Thankfully it's not common, more often the reactive behaviour just escalates until the owner or trainer give up on flooding. It's pretty hard to watch. I had a client who had another trainer come and do this with their dog. The trainer was resolute, but he got bitten and had to stop to deal with the injury. So the dog learned to bite, and after that bit everyone in the house. Aidan - on similar but different tack I'd love to get your take on something. I was rereading part of the 3rd Steven Lindsay book yesterday (Procedures & Protocols), and was dumbfounded to find a snippet where he talked about dogs with handling aversion/aggression. He says that in many cases, desensitization and counterconditioning are insufficient to change the dog's attitude towards handling, and negative reinforcement strategies are ultimately needed (basically, to restrain the dog until it "gives up" and experiences relief and relaxation). I don't have the exact quote with me since I'm at work right now and the book it at home, but I can certainly dig it up if you don't know the paragraph I mean (and also to check that I'm not remembering incorrectly - I may be, but I think I have the gist correct). I was dumbfounded since my education has always been that D&C are the go with most aggression issues, and what Lindsay was advocating does sound awfully like flooding? Given your experience, would you agree with Steven Lindsay?

Done.

Hi there, no I will not breed my girl. As I said, I adore her, she has achieved almost everything I have asked of her so far, and she is highly successful at her job (certified wilderness SAR dog - with many call outs under her belt including one life likely saved). And to the casual observer, she looks like the perfect working dog. However she is not the perfect package, and I don't believe in breeding dogs in the hope that the progeny will be better than the parents. I don't think her breeder necessarily did anything wrong - like I said, Mother Nature sometimes throws a curve ball. But I wouldn't breed her, either. :)

I've got one of those. A wonderful working dog, heaps of drive, smart as a whip, and I adore her - but she is sharp sharp sharp. I have to constantly actively manage her whenever she is around members of the public, and would never trust her unsupervised with strangers or any children. In short she is WONDERFUL, but she is not a pet. I will likely get another malli when I retire this girl from active work, but will be so very careful where he or she comes from. They're all a little crazy, but some lines are definitely easier to live with than others - breeders (and owners) aren't always honest with you or with themselves - and even if you do your homework Mother Nature can still throw you a curve ball!

A thread like this comes up every couple of years, with people complaining that they're being ripped off by their vet. Probably it's true in some cases - in most cases, it's not. It's just a case of people not understanding how much medicine really costs, and possibly a case of the vet not doing a good job at communicating why some things cost what they do. I'm a vet, and talking about money with clients is a huge part of my job - and honestly it's probably my least favourite part. It's such an emotional subject for so many people, and talking about it can be like waking a tightrope. Many people have little money, or just other priorities for their money, & my place isn't to judge anyone, but to try to provide the most accurate diagnosis and best care we can possibly achieve for their animal within their budget. That doesn't mean that the more expensive diagnostic or treatment options I offer clients are me trying to rip them off. I hate the thought that owners may feel I'm trying to pad the bill by offering expensive options when cheap ones would have "worked OK". But if I neglect to offer advanced imaging/additional blood testing/referral cruciate surgery/a more expensive drug when I feel it is the BEST option for the dog, I'm doing the owners a disservice by assuming they care about their dog less than I care about mine. As for drugs, it's true that vet drugs traditionally have a high mark up. However it's also true that veterinary surgery and per minute consult time tends to be far, far cheaper than the human equivalent. So a practice that sold drugs with little mark up would need to raise surgery and consult costs to compensate for the lost income there (they couldn't just swallow the loss - most practices aren't huge money spinners for their owners to start with, and they have to make money somewhere).

I don't know if anyone has given you the link to K9Pro's facebook page, as they've just done a blog update on raw food which would probably be very relevant for you: http://blog.k9pro.com.au/raw-diet-in-steves-house/ Not sure if you can get K9natural where you are, but they do frozen and dehydrated food that makes great training treats: http://www.k9natural.com/ I've toured several abattoirs and I'd especially never use "pet grade" meat uncooked or unfrozen. I've seen where it comes from and it's not nice - hygiene standards for "pet quality" meat are far lower than standards for carcass parts that are destined for the human food chain. :p

You can have a air scent or a tracking SAR dog (and some very clever teams do both - not us, for those that don't know me, we are a single purpose air scent SAR team). Tracking is no use for disaster/USAR, but can be really useful in wilderness/lost person SAR. As you can imagine, if you find a fresh track then a tracking dog will (hopefully) lead you right to the subject very quickly and efficiently, whereas an air scenting dog may need to search many ha of ground in all directions before they stumble across the right area. I was interested to see the track & search trials started up in Aussie - they look really fun, although I think they missed the mark a bit if they were trying to make it similar to SAR, as the tests don't particularly resemble any SAR tracking work I've ever seen.

The BVA canine eye scheme (presumably what previous posters mean by an "eye certificate") does NOT assess lid issues when deciding when to issue an eye cert. If a dog has entropion or ectropion, this may be noted on the certificate, but the dog can still get an eye cert. It is therefore perfectly possible for these dogs to have an eye cert, but still have ectropion. http://www.bva.co.uk/canine_health_schemes/eye_scheme.aspx

Yes, there's really no way a vet can tell that your dog isn't a pitbull cross just by looking at the dog, any more than anyone else can. Chances are the vast majority of vets won't be prepared to write a declaration declaring that a dog is not a pitbull, when they have no idea whether it is or isn't. Is a ridiculous, and very sad, decision by the council.