Staranais

When my animals go under for surgery or even a dental, they all go on IV fluids. For me, there's no question about it. But those prices do seem expensive. I think that it's sometimes hard for vets to win. If they offer things like fluids and pre-anaesthetic blood screening to clients as extras, they're accused of up-selling. But if they include them as standard, they're then going to be charging more than the competition & going to end up losing clients to the cheaper practice down the road.

Hope she's OK. Not much you can do except encourage her to take it easy & not over-exert herself, until your vet finds out what's causing the murmur (as grade just means how loud it is - the grade by itself doesn't tell you much about the underlying pathology).

You may find that after learning how to use a check chain from a teacher, you find some use for the knowledge. It seems to me to be a little premature to decide you'll never use one before attending the course, and after only training two dogs. However, if you really don't want to participate in all the components of the course, I'd say find a different course that caters to your own preferences. I have heard that Delta run a positive only type course?

Well, to be fair, I have met vets that participate in showing before, including one that was a conformation show judge. Although I'm not saying this was the case here.

Maybe she could do obedience instead?

Is that because of her shoulder issues staranais? Yup, sure is. She's jumping 75cm at the moment with no sign of limping. And I want to keep it that way!

I don't know about K9 Command, but agree with the comments to go watch a class before you fork over any money. Make sure you're happy with how the dogs look & the results that are being obtained. Erny from Pro-K9 posts here and works in Melbourne, she'd be another good option to get in touch with. Cosmolo from underdog training is in Melbourne too, probably also some other posters that I've forgotten.

Are you reinforcing calm behaviour inside the house, and punishing the crazy stuff? I keep a jar of dog biscuits beside the computer that I use to reinforce calm behaviour. If she's too crazy while I'm working, out she goes into the yard or the crate. It does work. You can have drive when working or on cue, and calm at home (well, most of the time!) if you reinforce what you want. And exercise the dog sufficiently, but I'm presuming you're already doing that?

I don't bother watching his show. Some dog & handler combinations do benefit from using corrections, some aggressive dogs probably do benefit from being taken over threshold then corrected. But why would I want to watch that? The show would be more interesting & more educational if they showed owners how to deal with simple problems by themselves. Showing people how to get a loose leash walk, how to break down a behaviour & clicker train it, how to socialise a puppy, how to teach/reinforce behaviours like recall or settle down on a bed, how to safely play tug with a dog, how to countercondition a dog to something that worries it, would all be things that people watching could try at home. Guess that's not glamorous enough to make a TV show, though. They want to show the really hard cases & deal with them in a dramatic way. ETA, even people with "red zone" dogs (whatever that term means) often still need to learn basic dog training skills, and I furthermore suspect that many dogs wouldn't become "red zone" cases if their owners had known how to train them from the word go.

There are dog parks, and then there are dog parks. e.g., in my city there is a river side trail 10 km long & is designated "mixed use", so off leash dogs, bikers, walkers & joggers all use it. I have taken my dog to it regularly since she's been an adult. We do come across other off leash dogs there, but since the place is unfenced, and is used by non-doggy exercisers too, the dogs that go there necessarily have to be reasonably well behaved. That's different to going to one of those dog parks which is merely a small fenced area where a high density of unknown dogs are thrown together off leash and expected to play or interact with each other. ETA, I didn't and wouldn't take a little puppy to any dog park, though.

Yes, that's the problem with training with a squeaky toy as a reward, the dog doesn't need to interact with you to make the toy "alive", so why would he give it back to you? If she's more food motivated than toy motivated you could reteach the retrieve using a food reward. Or I guess you could take the squeak out of the toy & train the retrieve, then put the squeaker back in when it's solid & hope the habit holds. I can't think of any other ways to train the behaviour without using corrections. Can I ask, why do you want her to do a formal retrieve with a squeaky toy in the first place?

Are you talking about wanting her to do a formal retrieve or a fun retrieve? In either case, I would teach her that if she brings the reward back as requested then the game with the toy starts/continues, if she plays keep away then the game will end. That's easiest if interacting with you is the reward, as opposed to mere possession of the toy being the reward. If the interaction with you is the reward, the dog gains something by bringing the toy to you. If possession of the toy is the reward, then the dog looses something by bringing you the toy, creating conflict & unwillingness to complete the retrieve.

Can you do heeling backwards, put a cue word on that, then fade the physical cue of being in heel position? Or, stand in front of her & use body pressure to get to do one step backwards, repeat with super rewards until really fluent with no body pressure, then use frustration/extinction burst to wait for a second step, etc? My dog used to have a beautiful backwards walk on cue taught the second way, then I used that to teach her a handstand (walk backwards & kick her hind feet up onto the sofa), now I give my walk backwards cue and she does a flying leap into handstand position on the nearest piece of furniture.

Well done Erny - well deserved.

If you go into the bush for a week and leave all your clocks/watches/cell phones at home, you'll fast lose your sense of time too & you will start eating when you're hungry, sleeping when you're tired, getting up when it's light or when your companions get up, and stopping walking when it's dark. I think my dog just lives like that all the time.

Are they really? That's very interesting. I don't doubt you, but could you post a link to where you got the information from, as I'd be interested in finding out more. I have nothing against people breeding labradoodles in theory, so long as they're doing right by their dogs and their puppy buyers. However, I don't think the labradoodle will ever become an ANKC recognised breed, any more than the American Pitbull Terrier will. The labrador and poodle people would have a fit at the name, for a start!

That's my worry too. Sure, there need to be penalties for an owner that has been warned about their dogs barking for unreasonable periods & who have done nothing about it. But this law seems to go far, far beyond that. From the article it sounds like any of your neighbours can complain to the council & the council will issue a "bark control order" - and if the dog barks again after that, it can get seized from your back yard when you are at work or otherwise "unavailable"! I can't imagine any DOLers would be happy coming home to find their dog simply snatched from the yard with noone even attempting to contact them first.

Yes, I worm monthly for the same reason, and also for sheep measles (another type of tapeworm) as I train my dog on farm land, and the farmers don't want to find cysts in their lambs at slaughter from my dog's poop! I use Drontal (contains Praziquantel). You'll have to compare ingredients between the vet & the online store wormer to see if you're getting the same medication or a different one for the cheaper price.

Acute kidney failure can happen at any age, it's chronic kidney failure that usually occurs in older dogs.

It's a hard one. I never hand my leash over anymore without seeing the person work with other dogs & making sure I like what they do with those dogs. I don't pay anyone anymore unless they make sense when they talk to me, and unless I have seen them get good results with similar dogs to mine. But like TSD says, it also depends on what you want the trainer for.

There are several people on the forum who have had MCT in their dogs, hopefully they will post & share their experiences. Good luck with the surgery and treatment. Do they know what stage the tumour is at?

Uveitis just a term that means the iris, ciliary body or choroid of the eye is inflammed, from any cause. Whereas KCS is an autoimmune condition where the tear glands are destroyed by the dog's own body. Both conditions need a vet diagnosis (uveitis via an ocular exam, KCS via a Schirmer tear test). Luckily there are lots of far more common and far less serious reasons to have gunky eyes.

With acute renal failure, treatment is aimed at removing the source of the injury to the kidneys where possible, & then supporting the kidneys & allowing the cells to repair themselves. So, that means getting fluids into the dog (but avoiding fluid overload), using diuretics to flush out the kidneys, monitoring how much urine the dog is making, correcting any electrolyte imbalances that develop, etc. Also just supporting the dog with nursing care - food, warmth, rest. Your vet is probably already doing all of that for your dog. I am not aware of any alternative therapies, if that's what you're asking about. I hope your girl recovers!

Different species. They look different under the microscope but not sure if you can tell them apart with the naked eye. Dogs can get infestations of cat fleas though, and vice versa, and humans can get bitten by either.

My cat often vomits after eating raw chicken, he's fine with cooked or processed chicken. Dogs & cats can be allergic to or intolerant of chicken, as with any other protein source. Some dogs & cats also just don't seem to cope with the microbial load on chicken (the concentration of especially salmonella & campylobacter on chicken is typically much higher than on most other meats). I'd personally be very wary feeding raw chicken to any animal with gut or immune system compromise for that reason.