pebbles

I was sent that petition by email from a prominent member of the Vic dog scene. From what I had read on DOL I emailed back suggesting the whole thing be read through and thought about and declined to sign. I wonder how many others got the email and because of whom it was from, just blindly signed it?

Years ago I had a 'fight to the death' between two Afghan bitches, both about 3 years old. I had 5 Affies then and they had all lived together for ages, best of friends. Fortunately I was home at the time and was able to break it up then spent the rest of the day at the Vets. From that time I've always had runs/crates etc. for each dog and I've never left two together regardless of sex when I'm not home. Once was enough for me

Thank you, Kraigoaks, I thought it may have been James girl.

Mickey isn't known as 'motor mouth' for nothing :D and he does like his share of my bed, lucky he's small. Abby would be perfect except when she's with her pal Mickey then she has to be in what ever mischief he's into. They really haven't any bad 'habits' but they can find all sorts of mischief to get into.

Does anyone who's Silky got the Junior in Show, please?

I had an young Afghan dog who decided the ring wasn't fun anymore. I would take him to the local shopping centre, sit with him and watch the passing people then just to prove I was crazy I would trot him up and down the street playing with him, talking to him in an excited voice and giving him treats, letting him jump around and be silly. When he was totelly nuts, took a couple of weeks, then I slowly calmed him down again. Didn't show for a few months and his first show back I played with him in the ring (Judge thought I was mad lol). After a few more shows he was going great again. Good luck, nothing worse than a dog not giving his best for you.

I had a Min Pin with this a few years ago. It was only on one side and didn't worry him at all. It would go up and down, somedays hardly noticible, another day, 'specially if a tasty roast was cooking, it would be quite large.

Miniature Pinschers - First thing is the true hackney action in front with the hind end sound. Fronts flap and knit, no true angles in the action, hinds cross and drive lacking. Temperament is a problem - "King of the Toys" a lot look like galley slaves. There is a height standard! To see a good Min Pin showing on a loose lead is a picture.

A neighbours small dog had eaten half a packet of rat sack. Neighbour didn't realise that this would poison the dog, she came in one morning worried that the dog was bleeding from the rear end, the mouth and nose. We took it to the Vet. Vitamin K injection and tablets to continue with. The little fellow was very sick for a while but is now running around his usual self so there is every chance your guys will be ok. Think positive and sending them healing vibes.

conztruct - this girl loved the ring, a real show-off. I was only there to hold the lead, she did the rest herself. When I retired her I still had to take her to shows, put her show lead on and give her a walk around the ring during the lunch break or she would be most upset.

That's a thing I hate seeing people do! Over the years I have seen some breeds badly affected by this - people title one dog then take it out of the ring to then title their second best animal - down goes the quality of the breed. When I was showing my bitch I had a few exhibitors remark when she got her title "you will retire her now so we can win"? My answer - "No, get one to beat her", so most wouldn't enter if I was going. Pebs went on to her Grand title winning 28 BIGs and many other awards. I cringe now when I see the breed in the ring, what happened to the Standard?

I generally just find a loose corner in the bag, push a piece of dry food into it and have a good feel

Thanks Persephone. I looked at the Betadine bottle, use it for a lot of things, but thought I'd ask first. Off to dab!

A couple of days ago I noticed Mick had a small patch on the side of his muzzle which I assumed he had stuck his head in somewhere and taken a bit of hair off. Yesterday this has enlarged/spread along the edge of his lip line and there's a small spot on the other side. It's not worrying him, not sore to touch, quite dry. It may be my imagination but at some angles there seems to be a very slight swelling. Any ideas, please? Only meds he is taking is the finish of the cortisone from his mystery illness. 1/2 tab every second day.

I've used Metacam for Mickey's leg when he shows pain, mainly from running around like an idiot. He would possibly only have 2/3 courses during 12 months, then just for 2/3 days until he stops limping, this has been the oral one. When he got the mystery illness a few weeks back and the first Vet I went to insisted it was arthritis despite my saying it wasn't, she gave him a Metacam injection on the Monday and told me to give him the oral twice daily for 5 days. On the Tuesday afternoon he had two seizures. I stopped the Metacam, phoned the Vet to tell them and they said to keep using it! No way, too many memories of Ben's reaction to Rimadyl! I took Mick to a friend's Vet at Ballarat and Mick is ok now and it wasn't arthritis. Anyway, it's made me very wary of using Metacam again, even the oral.

I lost Ben, Border Terrier, a few years back. He was given Rimadyl for a back problem. Two days later he collapsed. My Vet and I fought for 6 weeks to keep Ben going but had to PTS. Vet. did a lot of research and from then on wouldn't use Rimadyl. I contacted the Company and they practically admitted liability, wanted to do an autopsy but it was too late by that time, Ben was buried. I've posted on here before re the dangers of this drug.

A few incidents I've witnessed over the years - Big Royal Show, well known exhibitor, overseas Judge, placed the dog second in a big class then followed the exhibitor to the edge of ring and said "see me later, I'll tell you the right dye to use'! Years ago the false testes were like hard rubber balls - sitting behind the judging table I heard the Judge tell the exhibitor of a winning dog "You should get rid of the good one there's too much difference"! A certain heavy coated Spitz breed was winning well but some of us had noticed that the exhibitor had the dog fidgeting when the Judges were going over it. Then one day a Judge actually held the dog still and the tail was pinned to it's back. I have photos of a top winning Affie as a baby. Broad white stripe down the chest of a black dog. Strange - photos taken later, stripe had gone! These are incidents from many years ago so it's nothing new

I had a bitch who had a beauty her first season. On advice from an old breeder I would swab her boobs with vinegar every day when she was finishing her season, never had another full falsie although a couple of times the boobs did look very slightly swollen.

Mick is still improving each day but I'm making sure he doesn't overdo it, gets put in his bed for an hour or two twice a day and has a good sleep. Abby is happy to have her 'big brother' around again and keeps giving him kisses.

After reading all about the 'phew' factor when expressing the anal glands I'm glad that I've never had that problem with all the big, small and in between dogs I've had so far

Down at Ballarat on a friend's PC. Took Mick to the Vet here yesterday. He ran the bloods again and they were still perfect as were all other basic tests. Did a thorough physical exam, read all the obs. from the previous Vet and the screed of Mick's daily happenings that I'd kept since he got sick. Vet came up with a couple of possibilities with the most probable being a spinal infection. Decided to try that so Mick was given an injection of cortisone. Vet expected some improvement within 24 hours if this was the cause. This am Mick was chasing friends cats, stopped the violent shivering, had a little play with Abby and was 70% his normal hyper self. He's back in his pen (well, we cant overdo it, can we?). I have to go back to the Vet tomorrow and if he's satisfied with Mick I'm taking home a course of cortisone. I'm just so rapt with the improvement and this Vet's attention to the details that the 4 hour trip was more than worthwhile! for Mick!! Thanks for all the replies and thoughts, much appreciated

Thanks, Dogbesotted, will definitely mention this to the Vet tomorrow.

Way to go Tommy

Mick is still not well. Off to Ballarat tomorrow to try another highly recommended Vet. Nothing seems to add up, appetite is still good, output is normal. Had a couple of frothy throw-ups but very lethargic. So keeping fingers crossed that there'll be some solution tomorrow.

Thanks, Sway you're the best