Staranais

Brilliant thanks. Think we only have underwater treadmill in Auckland, so a little far for us to commute, but will PM Kimjm about physio. Thanks for the lead!

But what happens then to the (perhaps rare) dog that can't be helped, or can't be helped in a timely fashion, using positive only training? An ignorant positive trainer will have no idea about other methodologies to try, not know when other tools could be helpful, and may refuse to refer the dog to a trainer that uses other methodologies since in their ignorance most have bought the line that using punishment is abuse. I have a lot of admiration for trainers who are competent at using all four quadrants and at using all sorts of tools, and then choose to improve their skills at using reward only training so they can use this most or all of the time. To me, that's different to a trainer who is so closed minded that they deliberately keep themselves ignorant and don't research other methods or tools.

You can have a full panel done here, you just have to request it... Can you really? We can't in NZ (I think it's the free T4 we can't do, possibly also the autoantibody titres).

Ah ok, I knew (?she) had changed location but couldn't remember ever reading about the UK or US or Europe so wasn't sure. Do they have Physio connected with the Vet School? Not sure - can find out though, or find a physio elsewhere. Have you guys had success using some type of physio before/after/instead of surgery? ETA, and yes, I'm a girl!

I know someone I highly respect has done. The dog was large, powerful and HA. Not suitable for rehoming (obviously) or for behaviour modification living with with its current family. Trainer said he'd never seen a dog like it. Absolutely hard wired for aggresion he said. It was the combination of dog/family that prompted his recommendation. With another family, it might have been different. Oh yes, I have heard of incidents like that too, but I wasn't really meaning good trainers that make a reasonable call to PTS dogs that have genuine issues and that are a liability to the family they are living with. I was more meaning that I suspect there are crappy balanced trainers out there that make unreasonable calls to PTS dogs that are fixable but they just can't deal with themselves, like the positive-only trainer discussed in this thread that thought the 11 week old puppy should be PTS for aggression since she didn't know how to fix it. Or perhaps I'm wrong - perhaps crappy balanced trainers less likely to make an unreasonable call to PTS than crappy positive trainers are?

To be fair, I would imagine there may also be some balanced or traditional trainers who advise PTS when they can't fix the issue themselves? I haven't heard of it happening, but I've met some fairly crappy and unskilled traditional trainers in my life too, so I can imagine it must sometimes occur.

Especially if the owner is more than a little pudgy themselves. The good vets I've seen practice with have pulled it off well, but believe me, it can get kind of awkward sometimes!

I don't think you can definitively diagnose the presence/absence of hip dysplasia with no x-rays. You can make the call that the dog isn't showing clinical signs (or isn't showing clinical signs yet) by just observation and palpation, but you can't make the call that there is or isn't HD. And I would personally be wary of any vet that claimed that they could. I would definitely x-ray, if only to have a "baseline" to compare his hips to later. Getting the radiographs doesn't mean you need to do the surgery, it's just more information for you to base your decision off. The more well informed you are, the better, IMO.

If you can't feel his ribs at all, then yes, too fat!

Does she have a command for quiet, so you can ask for it when you want it? I think my girl would have driven me crazy long since if I couldn't ask her to stop barking! Easy to teach - teach bark first (just capture it), then teach quiet as a contrast.

Don't be concerned, chances are you'll be with a very capable trainer and you'll learn heaps. There may be a couple of not so good ones out there, but there are also many wonderful Delta trainers, and at the end of the day, you're not going to "ruin" your dog by using their methods, even if you do find yourself with a not so good trainer. Their methods are kind and gentle and will help build a better relationship with your dog I'd rather take my pup to a Delta puppy preschool than some place where the instructor wanted me to alpha roll it for any "dominance" displayed. Just don't panic if your pup barks madly in excitement, jumps all over the other pups and squashes them. It may not necessarily be "aggressive". And indicative that the 12 week old puppy needed to be PTS as one "qualified" trainer told a puppy owner of mine. (Delta aligned) Oh dear.

Hmmm you do ask good questions Erny! Perhaps the insides and outside grow at the same rate?

Giardia sheds intermittently so you won't always catch it by taking one stool sample - you often need several to get a diagnosis (or rule it out). Hope you find out what it is.

I'm sorry I hope the results of the biopsy are good, but it must be very hard to wait to hear about them.

My girl only gets access to her drive toys at training time. But she has plenty of other toys & things to occupy herself with in the yard when I'm not there. If I didn't give her those, she'd make her own (my washing line, dismantling the firewood pile, digging holes, etc)! Unless I crated her I guess, but then I'd be worried she'd bark all day or do something nasty like self mutilate. Anyway, if a dog is a good working dog, then IMO I personally feel you don't need to deprive them of toys at all times - that seems like a gimmick to me to build drive in a borderline too low drive working dog. For a high drive dog, I'd worry that locking them up with no toys would do them more harm than good, psychologically. As for human attention, she gets lots of access to lots of people for petting and cuddles, but they don't play with her, and few are permitted to feed her. She doesn't get free play time with other dogs all that often, and when she does, they're always reasonably boring dogs. I don't deprive her of food before training, but I do feed her a smaller meal for breakfast & a bigger one at night, so she's hopefully a little hungry when I go to train her in the afternoon.

Can I just debate/discuss a bit here, please? With the "3yo dog" who'd "only had the initial puppy shots" ..... I presume you would have no way of knowing whether or not he had sufficient antibodies from the sero-conversion (not sure if I'm using the right jargon in the right context - apologies if I'm not) we presume he would have got from the puppy shots? I mean, just because dogs are vaccinated doesn't mean they won't contract parvo. I guess the same goes for those dogs who you might consider to have "not completed" puppy vaccs (eg. 2 x vacc instead of 3 x vacc). Yeah, I guess there would be no way to know whether the dog lost his immunity to parvo over time, or if the vaccine just never worked in the first place. If the owners had titre tested a few weeks or months after the puppy set of vaccines, then we'd know if the vaccine had initially worked. Very interesting anecdote, though, I hope there's more research done about these cases. I guess that's why all reputable vets, even those pushing the most minimalist vaccine protocols, recommend a complete C3 puppy series and then a C3 booster at one year old. Remember too that all research done on duration of immunity has been done with modified live, not killed, vaccine. You can't necessarily extrapolate between the two, since killed vaccine is known to generally produce a poorer, shorter lived immune response in many cases. Who knows which type this dog received?

I believe slab fractures on molars are pretty common in dogs fed large weight bearing bones. No idea if there are any studies on it, I doubt it, like Stitch says there's no money in it (plus it would be a damn boring study to do, I wouldn't volunteer). It would actually be quite easy to get a study done proving benefits of raw bones added to a soft food diet though, if everyone on this site over the years who bemoaned the lack of research on BARF put in $10 or $20 you could probably employ a research student for the summer to compare tartar accumulation on the teeth of cats (cheaper than dogs) who were fed soft food vs soft food with bones vs dental kibble. That's the same test methodology as Hills etc use to prove that their dental kibble is better than regular kibble, so the petfood industry couldn't really argue with it.

My girl is really interested when she hears dogs barking on TV, but couldn't care less if she sees them on there. Interestingly, it's my cat who is fascinated by my dog training DVDs. We were watching a tracking one a few weeks ago, and she couldn't tear her eyes off the screen. I'm sure she knew it wasn't actually a dog (or she'd have been gone from the room), but all the same there was something in the shapes on screen that was weirding her out.

Nice write up!

That's when they put a mark on the animal's fur in a place where it can't see it itself (e.g. forehead), show the animal itself in a mirror, and see if the animal then understands that it has been marked, right? I read a little bit about them doing that with elephants. I don't think my dog understands that it's her in the mirror, but she does understand that it isn't a real dog. It will be interesting to see what you discover.

Toys, praise, games, life rewards (e.g., the door doesn't open until you have downed). But I also don't teach new exercises around distractions such as other dogs. IMO teaching should be done at home (low distraction environment), and only then do you practice around distractions.

Shave and see if there's a scar there? For some reason, I seem to recall that ultrasound isn't all that reliable at determining whether a bitch is desexed? I think you need to do an exploratory laparotomy to be 100% sure? Can't recall why, sorry, so could be dead wrong. I think you can also check the LH level, at any point in the cycle? But not sure if that test is available in Oz, or how good it is.

I guess a little, but is that a bad thing - aren't we all a little selfish in some ways? Every time I buy some little luxury for myself rather than donating the money to charity, I'm technically being selfish. But we can't all be perfect every minute of every day - we'd be pretty insufferable if we were. Everyone spends money on themselves, and if your "little luxury" is buying a purebred dog, well, I don't think that's so bad. Deep philosophical answer, sorry. If you're concerned about the shelter situation, then perhaps get your purebreed and donate some money or time to a rescue. Or perhaps look for a dog of your chosen breed in rescue, and if a suitable one doesn't turn up by the time you're ready to adopt, then get your purebred puppy (in the knowledge you've at least given adoption a bash)? But as long as you're not buying from a petshop, or supporting an unethical breeder, or contributing to the shelter problem yourself, I wouldn't let buying a puppy keep you awake at nights.

I dunno, I can sleep through most things. And 7 days after giving birth, I think anyone would be pretty tired... Also, perhaps the child was in shock so didn't make much noise? I think that can happen.

I did research it seeing as I have a blue brindle with severe allergies. At first I thought it did have to do with the dilution, now I agree with your premise above. There are lots of AmStaffs and SBTs with allergies, regardless of colour, and breeders need to be aware of the genetic heritability that contributes to allergies. The on-breeding of allergic dogs, even mild ones who "only itch a little now and then", contributes more to the allergic population than the colour of the dog. I've also done a lot of searching on Colour Dilute Alopecia, and haven't been able to find any mention of it in AmStaffs. Which doesn't mean that it hasn't happened, but may not be common at all. Not sure about SBTs though, again I didn't come across anything when looking though. Yes, many allergies definitely have a genetic component (in fact, if I recall my notes right, I think atopy has a genetic component by definition? Will need to read my dermatology notes again to see I'm not just making that up.) I suspect you're very right in that irresponsible breeding practices contribute strongly to staffords getting the itchies. But I'd still love to see the study done, to see if the dilution (in and of itself) also contributes to itchies. Perhaps the blue staffies are doubly cursed - often badly bred, and then have a dilute gene on top of that? My inner geneticist wants answers!