cowanbree

Unfortunately we don’t have specialists here or anywhere even remotely close. I am going back in to see the vet on Thursday and will discuss this with him. Did your girl go constantly? What sort of diet changes as he is so limited already, we strongly suspect he is a celiac.

My sheltie Mac has had major health issues over the years with the most recent being serious skin issues which have resulted in him losing most of his hair and generally being pretty miserable. Turns out most of his issues were Thyroid related and we are working to stabilize that which has seen a great improvement in his health with one exception. He is constantly pooing, they are small yellowy and mucus. It is not liquid, just on the loose side and when I say constantly it almost appears he has lost control of his bowels as he has started to toilet inside, something he has never done. He is probably going about 20plus times a day, just a little bit at a time and is losing a lot of body condition as a result. He is otherwise well and eating well and seems happy enough. He has already been to the vet and we sent away a sample which came back clear so he is on Salazopy pills twice daily which appear to have no effect at all. I have already tried Scourban and Ensol. He also regularly has complete blood panels done and there don’t appear to be any indicators there. Does anyone have any further suggestions? I am not really too sure what else I should even test for, it is not a situation I have ever been in.

Thank you so much, I love it.

I don't have many pictures of Kayla but I do have one of her as a baby (she is the one on the left) and then again at about 10mths and about 7years. Neither are very good quality so may not be useable

I was wondering if you would be able to do me a Portrait of my girl Kayla 23/08/1995-29/10/2008

I can't imagine that a vet would not come out to pts a dog if needed. My last 2 have been callouts and there was never any question they were coming. Having said that if I couldn't get to a vet the only other option is shooting which however unpleasant is quick. I would never try any medication simply because you don't know how the dog will react to it.

I have attended many puppy classes. I used to think it was great socialisation but now realise it is only as good as the instructor and a lot of behavioural issues start at these classes. I hate off lead time because even if the class is sensibly divided into size there are still different personalities within those sizes. The timid puppies are constantly frightened and the bullies allowed to bully all the while the proud owners beaming about how their puppies love to play. I think it would be far more beneficial if class sizes were smaller and all socialisation was on lead and closely supervised so all bullying is stopped the minute it starts. My last experience was going to watch a puppy buyer at her second class. The big breeds were allowed to chase the small breeds all in the guise of they were just playing and being friendly. I was furious that not only did the instructor not intervene but the owners didn't seem to notice that the sheltie was terrified and running for her life

My first sheltie had a heart murmur and lived a completely normal life until about 15 years when he did require some medication which is not uncommon in older dogs. All I can say is there are no guarantees in life regarding health and if the puppy appeared to be a normal outgoing puppy I would seriously consider purchasing it

Thanks everyone, you have given me some ideas to go on with. Chelsea has lived with me all her life, 7mths and her litter brother has been using the dog door for mths so I am finding it a bit frustrating

I have a 7mth old sheltie who I am trying to get to use a dog door with very little success. Being a multi dog household I have trained many dogs to use it but with Chelsea I am a little stumped. If inside and I tell her to go outside she will go out via the dog door but she won’t use it to go outside of her own free will otherwise. She also will under no circumstances come in through it. She stands outside watching her litter brother zoom in and out and seems to have no clue. I don’t believe she is scared of it as she will go out it if I tell her too. I have tried propping it up and she does use it then, also having food on the other side as well as using a thin lead to guide her through but she just doesn’t seem to get it. Training ideas anyone?

While I do agree that puppies should not be fat if you are going to show him this is too lean. There is a vast difference between agility lean, show weight and being over weight. Your breeder will know her breed best. I have an aussie and had a similar problem. She now has her own seperate run and my greatest tip is to fill his kong with part of his food. There are all sorts of things you can stuff it with and it takes hours to get it out which occupies the mind and body. Not something I would do unless seperated from the other dog though.

Slightly OT but why wouldn't the breeder sell a puppy with a heart murmur? Certainly it should be with full disclosure but odds are the dogs will live a full and normal life. I also don't think I would be giving the puppy away, I would rather guarantee it

Storm it was a long road to recovery for my girl. It took her 2-3mths to be able to safely walk, eat and drink and even then there were limits. She was never able to walk on lino again, always had a head tilt, hated getting picked up and was never 100% steady on her feet so stairs could be an issue. Having said that she had quality of life after a time, could get round by herself and loved her food. Just give your girl time, as long as there are improvements. I got Kell started eating herself again by mixing cat food to bind her food and putting it in a narrow but deepish container. I still had to hold it in the beginning but once she gained confidence there was no stopping her

I would be willing to bet that you signed a waver for this type of thing before your dog was accepted. Unfortunately unless you can prove the accident happened as a direct result of their negligence I don’t think there is much you can do about it. Certainly speak to them and they may be prepared to pay at least something towards the cost of getting the elbow fixed

It sounds like Pyo and if they can't afford to take her to the vet the humane thing to do would be to pts. Really don't think leaving her is an option, she will be feeling quite unwell

I have had this with my sheltie Kell, she was about 13 and she was very severly affected. The vet said I can give you medication if you wish but the reality is only time will fix it. It took her quite some time to recover, 2-3mths and she always had a head tilt and was a bit unsteady on her feet as a result but she was just fine. She lived another 2yrs and died of something unrelated

You pay full price as the time and operation is the same. I desexd a cat that had already been done and the vet said in reality he should charge more as he has to look for it and it becomes a bigger op

What diet are you feeding him? Often ears can clear up witha change of diet

Fear period often coincides with the first season. I struck it with my aussie, my lovely outgoing puppy who loved everyone changed in to a bitch who was so terrified she wet herself in the ring in the space of a week with nothing of any significance happening. I handled it completely wrong and as a result have never really been able to show her since, what a waste

I was dragged along to a medium evening about 18mths ago. I wasn’t overly keen as while I don’t totally rule it out I am not really a believer. On the way there I said to my friend I felt it was a waste of time as nobody close to me had died, I only had my Brody that I would be interested in seeing again and being a dog, he can’t talk. After ½ time the medium came back and said the freakiest thing has just happened. He had been having a cup of tea and a wee lassie dog was running round making a general pest of himself barking and he believed it was someone in the audiences dog. He asked people to put their hand up if they owned a Lassie. I didn’t cos I owned a Shetland Sheepdog. One by one he eliminated the people who thought it may be their dog and in the end he gave up until towards the end he was walking past me and he said very quietly that was your dog and he is sitting with you. At the time I thought he was having me on but on the way home my friend pointed out that he had described Brody to a tee, coloring and everything, a Shetland Sheepdog is indeed a wee lassie and considering I had not put my hand up how did he know I had owned one.

I have a problem dog, now 9 yrs who I have had some very serious issues with over the last 3-4 years, itchy, hair loss, upset tummy, foul stools, huge sores, the list goes on. At times he has been a very sick dog. I have tried everything, visited specialists and got a dodgy diagnoses of IBS which to my mind is a total cop out. Tried the diet thing right down to a vegetarian diet and nothing worked so I decided to manage his condition with antibiotics and pred. Not ideal but I felt I had no real choice. Then about 8mths ago I changed the dogs diet to Nutro which contains only lamb and rice and slowly Mac improved. He grew a coat and people kept asking what I had done. I figured he was just having a good spell until I changed the diet again and all of a sudden he is a mess again. As far as I can tell the only thing I haven’t tried is gluten free and apparently Nutro is gluten free. I strongly suspect Mac is a celiac but my vet tells me there is no test to prove it. Googling tells me there is a blood test so I was really wanting more information to go back to my vet with. He isn't a great fan of google

As above I was wondering if anyone has a dog that is a celiac? If so how was your dog diagnosed and what symptoms did it have?

Thanks Harminee, just lovely

Hre is the standing one. Just thinking might be better without any writing on it.

Was wondering if someone would be able to do me a new front picture for my website with the following pictures of Sterling. I have tried myself but totally lack the skill. I am open to ideas but was thinking I would like 2 pictures of Sterling in it with Airam Shetland Sheepdogs in writing. I have seen some of the ones where the standing one is central and the head one sort of fades into the background and think they look gorgeous but I am open to something else. Not explaining that well but hopefully you know what I mean. I am a blue person and would like it to fit with this webpage if possible http://www.airamshelties.com/ Many Thanks