Staranais

My family & friends have learned long ago that the dog comes as part of the package. I have a very few old, dear friends that aren't dog people so I sometimes leave the dog at home when I visit them, but I wouldn't pick new friends & I don't think I could have an OH that didn't like dogs. And I can't imagine your dog is nearly as much trouble as mine is - she's highly trained but also big, energetic, & noisy.

I don't know him, and you can't judge from a website, but I'm intrigued that he says he's studied shamanism and used it as one of the foundations for his training system? But to be fair, I guess all you can do is go have a chat to the guy, ask to meet some dogs that he has trained, and see if you like what you see.

I've seen it before, & have seen it improve after a heat cycle as the vulva will swell & permanently changes conformation slightly. Allowing one heat cycle does increase the risk of mammary cancers, but also decreases the risk of spay incontinence - discussing desexing of dogs is like swings & roundabouts, there are benefits either way even for a dog without an inverted vulva. None of us have seen your dog so can't really give informed advice, but from what you've said, if your dog were mine I'd let her have one heat cycle before desexing & then contemplate surgery if she still has a conformation issue.

I'm waiting for Erny to arrive and recommend her patented herbal mixture (just joking, Erny!) It's also important to make sure the dog is regularly treated for fleas, not only treated when you notice fleas on her, and that you treat the house & bedding as well to get the environmental flea burden as low as you can - if a dog has developed a flea allergy then they can react nastily to just one flea bite.

I picked my current dog since I wanted something medium sized, short coated, with a huge working drive and the ability to participate in schutzhund if we didn't make the cut for SAR. I also didn't really care if the dog was a PITA when we weren't working. Hence, a WL mally. I still have a huge soft spot for the bully breeds though, and if I ever want a pet again, or something to dabble in dogsports with, I'll probably be getting a SBT or Amstaff type dog.

Can you call the vet & ask exactly what the condition is called? That might help you research it.

Sounds like she's living through her dogs. Doesn't sound like 'the best life possible' for a dog to me but more like some little girls fantasy. Exactly. I can't believe that a dog values this type of thing in any way whatsoever. So far as I can see a "good life" for a dog is made up of more basic things like exercise, good food, appropriate medical care, companionship, leadership, & mental stimulation. I understand people spend money on all sorts of strange things and I'm sure she's not the strangest out there, but if she really is a dog lover, there are plenty of ways to spend the money that her dog (or other dogs) would actually sincerely appreciate.

I imagine it will cost less as it becomes more popular, and more veterinarians & more laboratories start to offer it. I can't imagine it would ever cost less than a vaccination, though. It's more work for the vet and for the laboratory to take blood & submit it & titre test it, compared to just injecting a vaccination.

A vaccine may not "wear off" (of course, a term which has no real medical meaning) but I personally think it's quite reasonable to use the term "wear off" in regards the duration of the protective effect of a vaccination. ETA, however, I really don't have the inclination or the time to argue about semantics or what you really meant when you originally used the term. I merely posted originally to point out that there are many, many infectious diseases that do not confer complete life-long immunity, after natural or artificial exposure. Luckily for our dogs, the core C3 diseases do appear to fall in the group of diseases where vaccination does confer a very long, possibly life long, duration of immunity.

I said "generally speaking" so quoting what was actually said would've been nice :p You also said that vaccines "don't wear off" as they work by stimulating the immune system as if it had encountered the actual disease. But I'm sorry if I misunderstood you and you meant that many vaccines don't wear off, but some do, just like when the body encounters the original disease.

It's not just you - IMO anyone who claims to have all the answers is lying, no matter how qualified they are. The immune system is a complicated thing, and we just don't have all the answers yet. As for the poster who said that once you get a disease you're immune for life, I can name several diseases off the top of my head where that's definitely not true. Duration of immunity from an infection or a vaccination isn't automatically life long, which is why they study these things. However, any vet that denies that vaccination can have negative effects is also living with their head in the sand, IMO. ETA, I think you're right about accepting a titre test as lasting (at least) 3 years, not requiring an annual one, if you're willing to accept a 3 yearly C3 vaccination.

Will he do other hind end awareness things? Can he target his hind feet to a step or perch, for example? He may merely be a bit confused about where his hind feet are & what he can do with them. I'd be inclined to try option 3, if it were my dog.

What type of elbow dysplasia is it, and what's the surgery you're being recommended? In general I'd recommend taking the advice of the specialist - they're generally pretty good at what they do, that's why they can charge you so much! But I understand it's a hard decision to make, and disappointing that you need to make it.

It is worryingly vague. Are they talking about making desexing more affordable for low income families, e.g. the SPCA giving vouchers for free or cheap desexing to low income owners? That's a good idea. Or are they more talking about the SPCA somehow making people spay their dogs? I don't like that at all. And I don't think the SPCA should have any more power than they already do.

Be a bit careful with what you pick. I had the bright idea of teaching my dog to sniff out & bring my keys on request. However, I've found that doing lots of finding/retrieving with one item can increase the value of that item to the dog - mine now loves the keys , likes to carry them around whenever she can get away with it & occasionally will leave them peculiar places, like out in the garden. Not useful when I need to leave the house in a hurry. Also, nothing that breaks! My dog will bring me my cellphone, but rarely in one piece. :p How about teaching her to find a specific dog toy or tennis ball by scent? That could be a cute trick.

When I was a kid our neighbours used to do this with their dog, they thought it was healthy for her. I have no idea if it had any benefit, but she seemed to be healthy and happy enough.

I've never heard of pheromone tablets! Perhaps your trainer got the name wrong? The closest thing I know of are the D.A.P spray or diffusers, which are a synthetic dog pheromone, but they're not available from the chemist, and IMO unlikely to fix your dog's issue all by themselves anyway.

You can gently open the dog's mouth and pop it in. But I don't believe there is only one right way to teach anything, let alone a retrieve.

I thought it meant they were free range during the day and brought in at dusk to protect them from foxes etc. I'm sure I read that somewhere. Nope, "barn laid" are confined in a large shed at all times. They can walk around & stretch their wings, but it's pretty crowded & they don't get access to grass or sunshine. Free range are allowed access to the outdoors, but may be confined inside at dusk. Battery hens live in tiny cages at all times. If the RSPCA are really mislabelling caged eggs as barn eggs, there would be a big outcry when that is exposed. People pay a premium for barn eggs (although not as much as for free range), & noone likes being duped.

Do you have proof of that? I'm pretty sure that the SPCA barn laid eggs are, in fact, barn laid (i.e., confined with the other hens inside a large shed) not battery (i.e, in individual battery cages). But if they're mislabelling battery eggs as barn eggs, that's would be a big story if a newspaper got hold of it.

So why not ban all cars? Oh that's right, people would object. He never asked for dogs to be banned. He asked for them to be restrained? Seems fair enough. Why not just ask for them to be controlled and penalise those whose dogs attack wildlife. The laws exist to do that now. That's what we do with cars.. speed limits and penalise the irresponsible. Every call for dogs to be kept on lead in all places is another nail in the coffin of responsible dog ownership. Yes. Penalise the irresponsible, not those of us who have spent hundreds of hours ensuring our dogs are safe citizens. My dog frequently comes bush with me, she remains within my line of sight when we're not working, recalls on cue first time when she gets out of my line of sight, and generally wears a muzzle and e-collar in any case when she's not working. When we're working, she is far too focused on her job to hunt wildlife. Poodlefan is right, every call for dogs to be on lead in all places is a nail in the coffin. There are plenty of options between "no dogs" and a complete free for all - how about compulsory muzzling when dogs are off leash in sensitive areas, how about having rangers out there spot-testing recalls and fining people that can't recall their dog first time, or as we do over here how about requiring people to apply for a (free) permit to enter certain conservation areas and revoking it if the dog is found to be uncontrolled. Of course, all of those would require effort on the part of the council concerned. Far easier just to require dogs to be physically tied to their owner at all times, or banned entirely.

From what you describe, I can't see why it would reflect a spinal issue? Perhaps they're getting extremely confused and thinking of dermoid sinus in ridgebacks?

Yes, wild rabbit alone has insufficient fat to sustain a dog or a human as a sole diet. They even have a name for the syndrome, "rabbit starvation". I guess fattened domesticated rabbits may be a different matter, or rabbit mixed with another source of fat or carbohydrate. I've also seen a study where they fed cats rabbit as a sole diet and most of them rapidly developed dilated cardiomyopathy due to lack of taurine - not sure if this is a problem inherent in rabbit meat, or the fact it was ground or frozen before feeding, but either way it wasn't a great diet for those cats. Don't have the link for it anymore, unfortunately. ETA, wait, I do. Here it is: http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=ca...hqA76WMIrcV-vnw

That seems considerably cheaper (assuming that the solution is 1.5mg/ml). Might be hard getting a prescription for it though, as in most circumstances vets are obliged to prescribe an animal drug rather than the human equivalent if there is one available. That can be a pain for clients when there is a human equivalent which is substantially cheaper, but unfortunately it's the law. Some owners also prefer the solution to tablets too, as it can be easier to get it into the animal & also dosing can be more precise.

How about a bulldog? I've never owned one, but the ones I've met seem pretty laid back & don't seem to need much exercise. Not sure about the shedding, though.