Sardog

I too have read this thread. Yes everyone is entitled to their opinion. NONE of you know the circumstances surrounding this whelping dilemma and IKNOW that all the decisions made were in accordance with: 1) Bitch welfare 2) puppy welfare 3) Owner welfare 4) Breeder welfare 5) Vet advice I am surprised that the Owner has not given you all an update on how the bitch is faring, my belief is that she is doing really well. Did she tell you the reaction of the bitch toward the puppy? NO. There is not enough information given on this thread about the breeder and the vet involved. All you can do is 'bag' both of them. They ARE both very experienced and all has turned out really well. You haven't heard that the excellent result of this episode. BTW I am not the breeder of this litter, just a breeder who has been privey to ALL the facts of this and before giving advice on these forums ALL the facts should be printed so you can then forward your opinions.

OMG, I'm hearing you loud and clear, this is the exact replica of our boy - same age etc. I have put the pineapple juice in the other dog's dinners (much to one's disgust) but I will see how it goes.

Thanks everyone, I appreciate your advice and will try everything you have suggested to see if this habit subsides and eventually disappears. Eeewwww it's a shocker

Thanks for your very sympathetic advice. This is a problem I have NEVER been faced with before and I am on this forum as a matter of desperation. One answer "pick it up" I felt insulting to this forum and me. However encouraging posts like yours and the others are really what this forum is about and I will persist with the pineapple (he liked the chilli flakes - yuk-advised by my vet actually). I am hoping like hell that he grows out of it (he's 6mo) and cannot understand where this has come from as we got him from a reputable breeder. Boredom ...hmm have read this may be the centre but he's exercised twice a day, lives on 2 acre property...but I do see him "licking his chops" when others are toileting - it's disgusting.

Picking up during the day is out of the question (working). Tried sprinkling chilli flakes (hot) on the stools but that was no good - still ate it all. Have now tried pineapple in his dinner so we'll see what happens.

Hello, I know that this has probably been done to death here but can you please refresh me on how to stop a dog eating dog poo (not his own) kennel mates. All running free together. Thanks in advance

Thank you to both posters above, I really appreciate your assistance. I will forward the recommendations on. Cheers, Julie

Hi, SOS to Brisbane posters.... I have a SARDA Qld member who has a 5mo Labrador prospective Usar dog and requires an obedience club in the Oxley area of Brisbane. He needs a club who promotes positive reinforcement and promotes the use of a flat collar. Thanks in advance, Julie

Because it was such STUPID regulation the newspapers copped onto it with all the opinions of dog owners, especially those with very small dogs. The Shire indicated that the law had been misinterpreted as they were referring to extendable leads etc, go figure

All Breeds Boarding kennels have some nice leather leads that are about 1 metre in length (I could check for you). I don't use them for general obedience training, as I like more room/length to work with. The price on theirs is $26.00 I think. I could check that for you as well, if you are interested. Brown leather. Brass snaphook. Stitched, if I remember rightly. I see you are within the Shire of Mornington. Have you been informed that you must have a 1 metre lead for trialling, or have you been informed that the Mornington Shire Council have brought in a law where there is a maximum lead length (regardless of what you are doing) of 1 metre. Silly law, IMO, made up to try to regulate stupidity. I have a very nice, soft, black one left from my leather stock as well. It is a bit shorter than I usually have, not sure if it is not a bit more than 1 metre though - I'd need to go re-check. Feel free to contact me if you'd like info on either. The Mornington Peninsula has revised the metre length lead regulation.

I just came across this thread about Barry Haywood. I would recommend Barry Haywood to all and sundry, I have been going to Barry since 1988. I take all my working dogs to Barry for manipulation twice a year, and inbetween if they have any problems. I have TOTAL confidence in Barry and all my colleagues who all train WORKING dogs all swear by him and would not take their dogs to anyone else. He has diagnosed and repaired problems many times with a mis-diagnosis by other Vets. As my Mother used to say to me as a youngster "if you don't have anything nice to say about someone, don't say anything"

Thanks Judi, I really appreciate your thoughts and I will also cross "everything" as well. Julie

Hi Julie, My boy recently had some appear (although I'm a little iffy on the conclusion of the tests) in his hock. The vets initially assumed it was a crutiate tear, but then claimed there was some fluid around the hock which I didn't see before or after. Was completely lame on it for a week. With some body work and doses of colloidal silver he has come good and only slight soreness with long period of heavy exercise - less and less each time though. Tim Hi Tim, Gee, the first sight of River was horrendous, it just happened overnight. Went to bed on 4 legs and greeted me on three, the elbow joint VERy swollen and he was in awful pain. I got him to the vet first thing and they x-rayed but could not diagnose anything obvious. I was given pain killers for him and sent home. He had a very stressful night, even with the pain killers and on my call to the vet first thing the next morning was requested to bring him straight in. Another vet at the practice viewed his x-rays and recalled having seen the exact symptoms in a Referral Practice in London (he's from the UK) and they decided to do a needle biopsy followed by a needle flush. He was on instravenous medication and in hospital for 2 days. The biopsy showed a bacterial infection but until we knew what it was, they put him on 2 types of broadspectrum antibiotic, anti inflammatory tablets and pain killers. Luckily when the culture test came back one of the antibiotics we were giving him was the correct one. He could not put any weight on the leg at all for 5 days but now he is putting weight on it at a walk but still carries it at a faster speed. He is really well in himself (finally) - "you know how driven he is" and to see him like this is so stressful and have to consider his future as a sar dog. The prognosis I have been given is not that good and I was wondering if there were any other dog owners out there who have had complete success with this condition. Apparently it keeps coming back if it is not cleared up in the first stages. I think maybe another biopsy and joint flush may be on the cards if he doesn't improve in the next few days. That's the story thus far. Cheers and thanks for your input, we learn something new every day We will have to catch up with you soon too. Julie

Thanks Christina, Yes I googled all information and just wanted a "boost" of information from anyone who has actually had a long lasting positive result. The arthritis is in the elbow, an elbow that had arthro surgery at a very young age. I am hoping and praying that all the required medications (as also indicated on web sites) are being administered and I know that the infections take a long time to heal but I was wanting to know of positve outcome. Julie

Hello, I would like to know if anyone has experienced Septic Arthritis in their Labrador or other like breed and what were the outcomes. Thanks in advance, Julie

Hi Mercedes, There is a Retrieving Trial this weekend at Nagambie so I guess the contacts you tried may be heading away competing. Are you a members of Dogs Victoria? There is a full page advertisement in this months magazine with all details and all contacts. Hope this helps, Julie

Kynan, I have read the three volumes of Steve Lindsay's books, I got them through Amazon CA and found them extremely heavy reading and as Erny said, not the type of book you would read before bed The content is excellent and I would love to attend his seminar in Sydney but alas we will have just arrived home from an Urban Search & Rescue National Workshop in New Zealand. I know a Vic Police Dog Handler who is going up, we were discussing his books some time ago and I was disappointed that the dates clashed. Enjoy, it's worth the purchase Cheers, Julie

Sorry for the delayed replies, have just returned to this thread. Oceanaussie, it's the same group you were with in Qld, they don't train in area search. Tilly, have a good day on Sunday. For other Victorian enquiries, refer to our web page for contact details; www.sarda.net.au For contacts in SA, also refer to the above web page contact details and I will give you the information. Stafntoller, our dogs are "air" scent discriminating trained not ground scent as such. Hope this all helps Cheers, Julie

Hi Jo, We do have a members in WA if you want to PM me I can give you details, the Whippies would be very agile at covering the rubble piles. Cheers, Julie (friend of Teresa)

SARDA-Search & Rescue Dogs Australia has a unit in Qld. Have answered Tilly's private email with contacts in Qld. Cheers, Julie

I saw Dr. Bruce Syme at a fundraising day near Ballarat on Sunday. He was one of the guest speakers there.

Well said Tonymc ;)

Sparky, your analysis is spot on. A lot of the rebuttals by posters in this thread are looking at neutralisation in HUMAN terms and not in the dog's mind.

I totally agree with K9 here. Having trained dogs over the past 30 years for disciplines including Obedience, Tracking, HRD and now Search & Rescue, I have found that the last 4 dogs who have been neutralised the same as K9 has demonstrated in his posts, have been 100% better working dogs than the previous dogs that I have owned and trained. Hindsight is such a powerful figure, if I had have neutralised my previous dogs and not socialised them, I often wondered how much better would they have been? I have a 4 and a half month old Golden Retriever puppy who has never had any interaction with any other dogs except the pack he lives with (3 other Labs) and he is extremely focused on what he is being taught within the sar criteria and its elements. I don't want my dogs having any higher value to anything else but "me". He is certainly not missing out on any social skills. Julie

Dogs scent through their mouth and canine incisors as well as their noses. You will often see dogs taking small amounts of grass or vegetation while they are working, sometimes this is cleansing the mouth and nose and other times analysing . It's called the Vomeronasal Organs. They are both found on the right and left side of the nasal cavity on the roof of the mouth. The olfactory receptors are present in the nose but the Vomeronasal Organ has different receptors. The VO recognises different odors that come into the mouth and the brain sort of "scans" the odor sources, for example, when a dog scents & licks the area where another dog has urinated. Quite often you see male dogs scent an area where a female has urinated, licks the area and then salivates. This is the VO doing its job. When a dog eats cheese, the cheese coats the roof of the mouth and teeth and in turn blocks the scenting glands as explained in the case of the VO. If you are constantly training and giving the dog cheese as a reward, the above will occur. If it is an occasional treat, it will take at least two days for the dogs mouth to clear itself of the cheese. Tests have been done on various foods in the UK Military for their detection dogs and cheese was high on their list as very detrimental to their scenting ability. Always be careful of giving spicy treats such as chilli sticks etc as the scenting glands are also affected...for obvious reasons. To further explain how dogs use their mouth as well as their noses for scenting, we were on a search once where the police airwing was hovering above the search area and the victim was on the bank of a river. The rotors of the police helicopter where dispersing the scent from the victims over the water and one of our search dogs dived into the river and was sort of biting the air. He was actually using his mouth as well as his nose to detect the scent from the victims. He came back to the shore and immediately ran along the river bank to the victims. The police airwing thought it was "typical Labrador going for a swim" until we explained what was happening. They could not see the victims from the air because of the umbrella affect of foliage over the victims and hindered our search a little with the rotors of the helicopter dispersing the scent. Hope this helps.