Inka3095

Hi everyone I've done a search on this forum, and have been doing a lot of reading, but I need your advice anyway. My mum owns two kelpie x GSD girls aged 6. They're about 35kg each and are walked together by my sister or myself. We have always walked them using the Halti head collar as we were recommended that product when they were pups. However, they've always been very pully dogs and get a little out of control if they see something fun to chase, like a rabbit. One pulls A LOT but the other is reasonably ok, the lead is always taut, but she's not as bad as Inka. The haltis have been close to useless for years, they've just become used to them and they don't stop the pulling AT ALL. They've also developed very strong neck muscles to counteract OUR pulling. Recently I've noticed the bridge of Inka's nose (where the Halti strap sits) is growing a painful ridge, and the hair is being rubbed off slowly but surely. There's got to be a better method. I think the Gentle Leader is too similar and the strap looks like it sits in the same spot. The Infin8 Black Dog head collar looks OK, but do you guys recommend any other methods of walking for annoying dogs.?? They're heavy and very very strong, so we've avoided the harnesses, as they definately have the power to pull us off our feet if they wish. I know they could do with more training, but we've had countless 'come-to-your-house' trainers (no good, they got too miserable doing the methods we were told to do), and we can't take them to classes because they're extremely dog aggressive. Basically, I just want a better method of walking them. At the moment, walking is a trial and it shouldn't be. I live out of home, and my little girl Kenya (avatar) is a pleasure to walk, and she's on a harness. Any ideas? Thanks heaps for your help

Hahaha you poor thing Falgall. It's like those poor mothers whos kids have bumped their heads and have bruises. They can't go anywhere without dirty looks and suspicion of child abuse. She looks a bit funny because I think the vet shaved a little bit around where she was losing the fur... It's like she has one BIG eyebrow from a distance. Where do you buy those shampoos? Vets or (good) petshops? Yeah, the vet said Betadine was good for fungal infections, of which cradle cap is meant to be one, but I'm not really up on my knowledge of canine fungus atm. I should do a google search! I'll see if the betadine works, but I'm going to stick with some of the other suggestions on this thread if that doesn't clear it up. Her fungus stands NO CHANCE!!!

Giving an update... Went to the vet today and he did a skin scraping. Apparently she has Cradle Cap??? Is that something human babies get? The vet nurse tried to say it was like, dandruff but not... hehe.. Just told me to put betadine on the sore spots and it should go away by iteself. Weird..... back to normal diet for her though!

Thanks very much! I'm going to try the zinc tablets and Sugar's spray until Friday when I see the vet. I'll let you know what he says. *hugs* thanks everyone.

Thanks for the replies everyone. A food allergy! I do feed her Eukanuba dry food and occiasionally Royal Canin, so I may have to have a look at this BARF that everyone is talking about. Off to reseach!

Last one It's hard to get a good photo of her furless patch above her eyebrow, but this is the best I could take.

Here's the worst spot on her paw. It doesn't hurt her to touch it, and it's not a 'wound' it's just red. She's chewing on her feet and tail a bit too. I'm lost

Hi I need advice on my 9mnth old girl Kenya. I have recently noticed she has been losing a bit of hair around her mouth and just thought she'd rubbed her face along the ground, or got a big vigorous about chewing her bones. However, she's also losing patches of hair above her eyebrows and she has red, raw looking patches of skin with no hair along her front legs. I have looked through this forum and google and maybe she has demodectic mange?? I thought only POUND dogs got mange It looks like she's neglected and uncared for!! I'm taking her to the Vet on Friday (first appt) but would like some advice before I go. A friend had a look and said it might be fleas? But I can't see any and I de-flea her religiously once a month. I rang my friend who's studying Vet and she said that maybe Kenya's stressing about something and this has lowered her immune system so the mange mite can go nuts. Now I'm totally worried because I don't want a stressy puppy.. poor thing :D What do dogs stress about? She's alone for about 7 hours a day becasue my bf and I work, but I leave her with toys and Kongs while we're out. She's walked every day and at least once a week is taken out for the day to play with a friend's dog. Do you think she's lonely? Bored? I don't know what else I can do. I'm feeling sooo guilty because she might be miserable and I can't ask her what's wrong :p Anyone talk Dog? Sorry about all the questions in one post. I'm going to attach a few photos to show you her skin in case anyone can identify the problem. Thanks so much for your help.

*sobbing* You poor darling. I know she had the best years of her life with you and thanks you soooooo much for your kindness and company over the last two years. I can't usually read this forum because I can't stop crying for hours but I've followed Brodie's story over the last week or so and I'm so sorry it ended here. Recover well Crysti-Lei and I know you'll never forget your big beautiful girl. RIP Brodie