Staranais

She will almost certainly be completely fine. I have read case reports of dogs being poisoned by grape products (causes acute kidney failure), but in all cases it has been the dog eating a reasonably large quantity of concentrated grape product like raisins and grape must that caused the issue - not a single grape.

I've had some window grills custom made for my station wagon windows so that they can all be left 2/3 unwound. I also have a crate in the back so that on really hot days, I can pop the back up & leave it open and the dog is contained in the crate. With a silver sun reflector on the windscreen, it stays pretty cool in there (I know because I've tried it out myself). Not sure if it would be cool enough for Aussie temperatures, though. I still wouldn't leave her in there for long periods on a hot day if I couldn't supervise her regularly. We can't take dogs into Bunnings here, I wish we could!

I've trialled obedience a few times at a couple of different clubs & helped out at two clubs on trial days (making/selling canteen food, setting up jumps, laying tracks, etc). The time I helped out at my home club, the people I worked with were all welcoming & inclusive, & there was a friendly atmosphere - I will definitely help out again if I start trialling again. When I helped out the other other local club that I was considering joining, the people at the club weren't overly welcoming - they were very cliquey and no one introduced themselves or seemed interested in conversation with a newbie when I talked to them - so I won't be helping them out again anytime soon. Call me selfish, but I'm not about to give up my day to help a club when I have a miserable time doing so. I'll still trial at their club, though. Perhaps when I get to know them better they'll be friendlier, and then I might volunteer to help again. The contrast between the two clubs was pretty remarkable. I think most newbies would be willing to help out at shows if they're clearly told that they're needed and appreciated, and if the existing club members try to make them feel like one of the team, explain what's going on, & include them in conversations. It might seem trivial or petty, but if newbies are left alone standing around feeling confused and left out when they volunteer - why would they want to help again? Perhaps clubs that are having a volunteer problem could even do something like assign a specific seasoned club member to take each newbie under their wing on their first day volunteering, with the purpose of explaining to them what's to be done, what's going on, and who everyone is, so they're never left feeling confused or left out.

Good on you The Ark for doing your best to educate them politely. I think many newbies are put off by the idea of a "show breeder" if they only want a pet - they think (reasonably enough) why would I go to a breeder of show dogs if I don't want a show dog? And to be frank, when ANKC breeders are allowed to sell puppies through petstores, it sends confusing messages to newbies - why does one ANKC breeder sell puppies through petstores, and the next ANKC breeder tell you off for buying them? I can understand why newbies are confused.

No, absolutely no compulsory. Most dogs goes without desexing but it is not uncommon either. Usually reasons for desexing is more behavioural (male dogs excessive sexual behaviour etc.) than 'just incase'. My flatmate is from Sweden - she says it is similar there, that desexing of dogs is far less common than it is here.

Sounds like they looked in his ears while he was knocked out for the xrays, so they should have gotten a pretty thorough look down his ear canal. Was it inflammed down there at all? Did they flush his ears while he was under sedation? & did they check for ear mites and bacteria/inflammatory cells by taking a sample & looking at it with a microscope? If they've done all those things with no results, perhaps they will consider doing some imaging of the middle/inner ear. Does he have any other signs of skin disease? Ear shaking can sometimes be a symptom of an underlying allergy of some sort.

In their defence, they probably thought they'd done the right thing as regards their last pup, by buying an ANKC registered pup, even if it was from a petstore. Many people think that if a breeder is ANKC registered, they must be ethical and reputable. These people are in need of a little education, but I'm personally much more disturbed at the DogsNSW breeder who sold their pups via a petstore - if they're a registered breeder, surely they should know better.

Very good advice, IMO. You need to find out for sure whether this is your dog - and if not, which dog is it? I doubt your neighbours are making it up just to annoy you, if they wanted to do that, they would have straight gone to the council without doing you the favour of contacting you first.

Yes, yes. A well meaning person that has never owned a LGD before, has no livestock for the dog to guard daily, and has never met one of these dogs in the flesh is sure to be an ideal owner for a CO. Not. Like Raz and Monah, I hope you are not serious. I think Africa has made a very smart decision to look at other breeds, considering their experience & resources. And that's not intended to insult Africa, either - almost all people I know (including myself) couldn't offer these dogs what they need to keep them fulfilled and safe.

They look pretty good to me, but it's impossible to tell BCS accurately from a photo. I like to be able to see the last few ribs, and be able to feel the others easily. Vets that work in the city or in suburbia can be pretty average judges of BCS sometimes - they get so used to seeing fat & obese dogs that an animal that is merely lean looks skeletal to them!

I know nothing about it either, have never heard about it, but am really very interested in hearing more about it. Who organises it - do you work with one of the emergency services? Is it a common thing in Aussie? And what kind of standard must the dogs & handlers reach before they are allowed to be deployed - who sets the standards?

my vet said it will take a few more scrapings does this sound right??? can i buy anyfing over the counter for this? not to happy Scrapings are used to diagnose demodex. If he needs to do more scrapings, that sounds like he hasn't actually diagnosed demodex? And if not, then you shouldn't really be treating for it. What advice did the vet give you about treatment?

Yup, a 10kg dog needs 60mg of selamectin, if the conc of revolution is 120 mg/ml, this is 0.5mL.

But, perhaps changing rules that people find irritating or obstructive would encourge more people into the sport?

https://www.revolution4dogs.com/PAHimages/c..._compliance.pdf 6mg/ml, apparently. ETA, please note that's in mg/ml - you'll have to change it into ml/kg by finding out the concentration of the product in mg/ml. I know that selamectin (revolution) has a wider margin of safety for MDR1 dogs than many other avermectins do, I don't know if it's totally safe or not, but presumably your specialist would know what he's talking about (you'd hope!)

I agree. I'm not sure if people that let their dogs stray or don't collect them from shelters could typically be called "responsible owners". Of course, there are sad cases where a responsible owner loses their dog despite taking every precaution and then somehow can't find them at the shelter despite looking diligently, but on the whole, I'd put these people with stray dogs in the "irresponsible" basket.

Yes, I agree. I'm interested in political stories, law stories, science stories etc related to dogs. Not at all interested in graphic violence, even if it is "news".

Is the z/d working for him, then? That's pretty cool if it is. If he wasn't fasted for the blood test where you saw fat, I'd say it was completely normal to see fat in it. If he was fasted for 12 hours & you saw fat in the blood, that would be abnormal. I reckon your vets are far more annoyed at the pet owners that don't really give a toss, than about ones like you.

That's a great idea! If you're willing to spend tens of thousands on importing, I think it would be very smart to invest in an overseas trip to meet these dogs & their breeders in person & be sure they're what you want (and also investigate different lines, different breeders, etc). It's one thing to read about a demanding dog, another to live with one.

Are ANY english language words allowed as cues, or only certain commands? i.e., could I use "strut" or "prance" or "follow" or "banana" for a heel cue, as all are in English? If so, it seems silly to allow all these commands and not "au pied" or "fuss". Anyway, I've voted yes, I think other languages should be allowed, in every dog sport. Making you have to use certain cues is a disadvantage to newbies to the sport (who may have trained their dog partially before learning that there are allowable and non-allowable obedience commands), also makes it much more work for people to crosstrain in other discplines that require other commands (e.g. German). Out of interest, is English the only official language in Aussie? Just asking as in NZ we have 3 official languages (English, Maori, NZ Sign), so here I think they'd have a hard time saying you couldn't use Maori in the ring.

Our Code of Conduct is similar, but slightly different: The bolding is mine. So if we become aware of an animal in an emergency situation suffering unreasonable or unnecessary pain or distress we must take action to ensure that the welfare issue is effectively dealt with, in one way or another. Stabilise the animal, provide pain relief, and let the owner decide how they'd like to procede, at their cost. We're not required to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars of our own money repairing the animal, only required to give first aid & relieve suffering. I'd imagine yours is the same, if you posted the whole of the document - i.e., saying that a vet is obliged to provide pain relief and treat any immediately life threatening conditions when an animal is presented to them, but is not necessarily obliged to fix the animal or provide ongoing care at their own expense. Obviously a vet is not allowed to euthanise a non-suffering animal on the basis of the owner's inability to pay, or return an animal to the owner knowing it will suffer. I should hope that is not accepted practice anywhere.

Yes, vets have an obligation to relieve suffering - however, this includes providing euthanasia if the treatment is too expensive for the owner. So sending a suffering animal away without treating it is an offence. Giving the owner two options (PTS or pay for treatment) is not an offence. In other words, the vet is under an obligation to do something to relieve suffering, but they are not under any obligation to provide the owner's preferred treatment if the owner cannot pay for it.

I've worked in a very low cost clinic in the pacific islands, the way it was low cost was: 1. The only drugs & equipment we had were donated and often expired 2. Minimal equipment (nothing to do blood tests or x-rays with, for example - about the only equipment we had were an anaesthetic machine and a microscope) 3. Volunteer labour (vets & vet students worked there for a working holiday, in exchange for free beachfront accomodation on a beautiful pacific island) We could do some surgeries (albeit not as sterile, and with far less anaesthetic monitoring, than ideal!) and we could diagnose & treat simple medical conditions. Animals we didn't have the drugs or facilities to treat, went untreated (if humane) or were PTS. Not sure how that would work legally in Aussie or N.Z (e.g. the use of expired drugs, the lack of diagnostic equipment), and not sure how many volunteers you'd get either?

This problem will only grow, unfortunately. Veterinary medicine is getting more sophisticated every year - that means more procedures, more tests and more drugs can be offered to clients, and all of those come at a cost that some people will be unable to afford. Off the top of my head, perhaps some options for you to look into could be: 1. A system where people are allowed to deposit money, maybe just a few dollars a week, and then they have that much credit in their account at the vets for future use? 2. Encouraging people to get pet insurance 3. A charity that people can donate to, where people with no income can apply for money from the charity to help cover vet costs (this could take far too long for emergency situations, however). 4. Education for people buying dogs about how much veterinary medicine actually costs. Many people just have no idea how much medicine costs and are shocked when they find out - I've had spay surgeries called "expensive" when they were being offered at cost price and no profit being made by the clinic whatsoever. I'm not sure if it would be sustainable to have a practice where unknown people were automatically extended credit, as sadly, many people just don't pay, leaving the practice hugely out of pocket.

A client not having sufficient money to pay for surgery or medicine that a dog needs is sad position for the client, and for most vets, to be in. But from the other side, vets aren't banks. Extending credit to people is a huge hassel and time waster for vets, and puts them out of pocket if clients don't pay (and many don't). When vets extend credit to people, it invariably costs them money, and then they have to pass the costs onto their other clients. Most vets I know will stabilise an injured dog on credit, but I know few that will do surgery or diagnostic tests or give medicine on credit. The ones that do only do this for established clients, but I don't know any that are happy to do that for brand new clients. It's just too risky. Having said that, I do think the situation Snook describes where the dog died before the client could get the deposit to the vet sounds really bad. I would be unhappy working in a practice where that was the protocol, it does not sound like good practice at all.