wyvernblade

Thankyou so much everyone, I'm am still in shock over the whole thing and very emotional at the moment, but your words have been very comforting. Much appreciated

Thanks guys, I'm still in shock

Scope, if you ARE still around and reading, then please letme say that even though I don't know you, I got the impression when I met you at K9's Melbourne Seminar, that you love your dogs and are doing all the right things by them. DON'T give up! They are worth it, and altho I don't have any constructive advice, keep trying, things will work out for the best I'll have to come and meet your guys one day (If that's ok!)

We've made the decision to have our gorgeous boy PTS. The vets says there is only a very small chance that there will be something that can help him, and he's in huge amounts of pain. I can't beleive this has happened and so quickly! I had him with me at K9 Force's Melbourne Workshop and I learnt so much and was sooo looking forward to putting everything I'd learnt into action with him, and hopefully competing with him one day. He'd come along in leaps and bounds with his agression problems thanks to that training and Erny's help and advice, and has so much potential Goodbye friend, I wish that we had had more time together and even though your life was too short, I hope that you enjoyed it with me. Walks won't be the same without you now.

Well sadly, things have not been working out for the best. He had surgery today and when they opened him up discovered that his liver is 4 times the normal size. It's so big, it's starting to split across the surface....................The lump they saw in the x-rays was actually his spleen being pushed out of the way as his liver is pushing on everything inside there. The vet has told me she doesn't expect him to survive the surgery as it may have been the thing that will topple the liver over the edge. She has never seen anything like it and has told us the prognosis is not good. I haven't told my husband yet as I can't bear it, he loves that dog We will have our fingers crossed that the results of the biopsy come back asap and there MAY be some treatment we can put him on, but the vet has told us not to get our hopes up. She said it could be a shunt not working properly, as his gall bladder is very distended as well, could be a genetic disease that he was born with and has taken this long to catch up with him. Anyway I'm bawling my eyes out now, and just wanted to say thankyou to everyone who gave me support through this and I still have my fingers crossed that he can come out the other side ok. The vet said she can't beleive that the only symptoms he was showing was slight pain and lethargy! *sigh*

I'm only talking from personal experience and there are probably some fantastic puppy classes run *somewhere* But with all the dogs I've had and trained and done the 'right' thing by and taken to puppy classes etc etc, they have all turned out dog aggressive! The problem is that there can be such an age difference between the puppies attending and it depends on how they run their play' and socilisation bits. And I mean when you really think about it, is it natural for a dog to be best friends with every other dog they meet?! In the wild if they met another dog it would be a fight for survival/space/territory/food, whatever. So with my new pup I have decided to go a bit off base and bond him to me first and foremost, and get him to view dogs as a non entity, i.e they are not play toys, they are not enemies, they are not potential best friends, they are just another 'thing' in the dogs life. And you know what? It's worked! I took him to a club for the first time last Sunday where there were half a dozen big dogs around being trained, and he couldn't care less. Didn't look at them for longer than half a second, wasn't worried by them and was quite happy doing all his training right next to them, without trying to say hello. I'd had him 4 weeks before I took him to 'see' other dogs and I will not be socilaising him any more than that. But then I want to do competition obedience with him and don't want him breaking concentration because he wanst to play with the dog next door! If you WANT to be going to off lead parks and having your dog play while you chat etc, then by all means find a good puppy class, but make sure it's a 'good' one! Or you'll end up with a dog that tries to attack everything in sight! :D Again, personal experience but this has happened with at least 4 of my dogs.....................

Got the blood results back today. High white cell count, high kidney and liver enzymes, pre-renal symptoms and dehydration (because he's not eating or drinking much) so he's booked in for surgery first thing tomorrow morning They are going to try and locate the tumour and remove, or if it can't be removed, take a biopsy and then hopefully find a medication that will get rid of it. But I have fingers crossed that they can just get the little blighter and we'll get our old dog back!Please cross your fingers for the boy and I'll update tomorrow after his surgery, and thanks again for your support everyone :D

Can you find somewhere else to live?! :p Just kidding but if you want to get a dog to suit YOUR lifestyle and needs, you can't just organise that around someone else, especially when that dog is going to be part of your life for the next 10-15 years! It's not fair to the dog, or YOU!!! If this particular house is your only option and you are not allowed dogs inside then I would be considering adopting an older dog and the GSD x you looked at sounds nice! Dogs don't HAVE to live together to be happy! In fact they are better off if they DON'T run toghether as they bond better with their human family and less risk of injury etc. So maybe plan your yard so you can split it in two and have two different runs and kennels and then it doesn't matter what the JRT thinks (And I have Yorkshire Terrier who thinks that he is the boss of our German Shepherd and Dobermann so they have NO idea what thier size is!!)

I think the best way to explain what you should do with your pup is FUN!!! Always be the best thing that happens to your pup, protect him, play with him, have fun with him. If you make training fun then it's all just a game to the puppy and they learn very fast. If they don't get something, don't growl, just don't reward and keep trying. I use food to show puppy what I want and then use toy as a reward after that when they do it correctly. Be the best friend and the best thing that has ever happened to your puppy as any growling, especially in that first couple of weeks, is bond breaking. Ignore any bad behaviour and focus on the good stuff. My 11 week old puppy can do a 2 minute sit stay for food, can drop and stay and comes and sits on command. I can also call him away from other dogs, people, cats etc etc and all because I just play with him and make sure he knows I'm the best thing in his life! Puppies are so much fun, and you'll have a ball with yours! Make sure he knows you first before introducing him to anyone else (Family, friends etc etc) and puppy socilisation classes are overated :p

I have heard that a third of a bottle of red is actually good for you.......shame you have to drink the first two thirds to get to that GOOD third :p Yes, he is a 'He' his name is 'Lane'. He's a long coated Shepherd, a very handsome boy and I have posted a pic so you know what he looks like. And now, back to my Pinot......................... and yes I am calm now and waiting.......................

Thanks Bellas Person! He is tucked up in front of the fire, I have had SEVERAL drinks :p and am feeling quite calm thankyou, and just hoping for the best outcome now. Will keep everyone informed and thankyou all again for your best wishes, it has helped alot

Feeling like screaming like a banshee I can tell you!!!!My poor boy is lying panting on the kitchen floor at the moment and they still haven't got blood results back to me, I want to bite them on his account :p He has gone downhill very quickly (last 3 weeks) but STILL!!! Any vet should have been able to pick up that lump! NOT the third one I went too................I wish they could talk, it would be so much better for them :p

Thanks for all your kind thoughts everyone, it helps! I will pass on your well wishes to the boy and hopefully it will help. And yep LL all she did was palpate the abdomen and could feel a lump straight away...................There is another vet practice near us, think I may try them next time

This is not the section I should be putting this in, but as I post here the most and most people would know about me and my dogs by now, I thought I would put this in here. Our beautiful 12 month old German Shepherd (Who has been coming along in leaps and bounds with his 'drive' training) has been off colour for the last several weeks and has been getting worse. He was lethargic, not as motivated as usual and whining alot. So I took him to a vet who told me had he gastro, to put him on a bland diet and he gave him a pain killer. Within a week he had gone downhill and I was NOT happy with first diagnosis, so took him to another vet at the same clinic. Next vet said there's nothing wrong with him, but maybe his back is out so take him to a chiropractor. So yesterday I take him an hour and a half drive away to the closest qualified chiropractor who spends 10 minutes having a look at him and says there is something seriously wrong with him, it is NOT chiropractic and to take him straight back to my vet and get x-rays, bloods and urine sample. She rang my vet and told them to look at him straight away and sent through everything she thought it was. So hour and a half BACK to my vets and they take a urine sample (Very high protein and blood in the urine) and we sedate him and take x-rays and bloods. I'm waiting for the results of bloods today, but from the x-rays we could see that he has a very large tumour on either his spleen or his kidney, it's the size of a tennis ball. He is going to need surgery within the week to hopefully remove it, but the vets said they have never seen a 12 month old with a tumour and it's very unusual. I am SOOOOO mad at my vets right now it's not funny TWO of them in a week that couldn't find anything wrong and I go to a complete stranger who spots it within 10 minutes. I wanted to vent this for two reason. One because I am very worried about him and hope that it's operable and that he makes it ok, and two because sometimes even getting a second opinion isn't good enough. If you know you're dog and you KNOW something isn't right, DON'T take the vets word for it if you're not happy with the diagnosis!

Awww that is so cute!!!!! Is she home with you now Myszka? This is a pic of mine at around the same age, he still hangs on to everything he grabs...............

It makes it hard doesn't it?! I've visited quite a few training clubs trying to find something 'better' than the standard obedience with the million and one dogs that is on offer at the moment. There are two I have found that I like, both a bit different and both have there plus's and minus's, depends on what you want to do with your dog. What area are you in? And what are your end goals? I have a new puppy I am starting and he is an experiment to me at the moment as I have had and trained dogs before (But never to high competition level) they have just been better than 'average' family pets if that makes sense? And I always used the local dog obedience club.........BUT I am going waaaay off track with the new kid and I have not taken him to socilisation classes, and he has met no other dogs. I tested him last night and had our German Shepherd come into the lounge (Who he's never meet before, but we've had the puppy for nearly 3 weeks) I had the shepherd drop in the middle of the lounge and bought the puppy in. He just looked at the dog lying there and then looked at me and I started doing training with him. He happily did all his training, off lead, dropping etc with his back turned to the GSD who was less than 2 meters away. He could not care less about the other dog, was not interested in saying hello, but was also not worried by him at all. I was very pleased! PM me if you want the details of the two clubs I'd recommend.........................

My pup has only had one vaccination and I take him EVERYWHERE with me! I think that the importance of getting them out and about when they are young far outweighs the risk of them catching something. He's not due for his next shot (12 weeks) until next week but he has been all over the place already. That window when they are learning is so important, and as long as you don't take them to where large numbers of dogs gather (off lead parks etc) then you should be pretty right.

All those video's and photo's are great! Keep em coming guys!

It's been very funny reading all this as we have a GSD and a dobe (Mind you the Dobe is only 10 weeks at this stage) but it's the GSD that does all the whining! We joke about it, it's a in house joke that we say all the time "If only he could talk!" He whines when you go and say hello and he whines when you throw something for him, and when he picks it up and brings it back, actually pretty much everywhere! But it's not an "I want something' whining, he really is just talking to you! It's very cute! Will have to see if the Dobe does it when he's older as well!

Well thought it was time for an update (As well as an opportunity to say to Stamp, please make your mum send us a video!!) I am officially in trouble. Blackbanned, outcast and grounded. I have been shunned from my own house and all for the silliest of reasons!! You see, the German Shepherd is not offically mine. He was bought by me as a present for my husband. And I did my research and bought one from schutzhund backgrounds, not show lines. Which means he is very active and loves to be working. Which I have been exploiting. Shamefully. And to my own downfall! Apparently the shepherd is very very happy with this new fandangled training method. He gets excited, he whines, he whinges, he lunges and snaps and he's learning very very fast. HOWEVER he is not my dog. AND he will now not even sit for my hubby WITH a piece of food!!! I had a very irate husband come stomping into the house and told me his dog had completely ignored him when he went to say hello, and that he wouldn't even sit for him even though he had CHICKEN! I have now been told in no uncertain terms that I am not to 'play' with him, feed him or train him as the dog doesn't like him anymore :D BUT hubby is now VERY interested in this training method and will start using it with the dog himself I had to giggle when I took my Dobe outside for his training session, and hubby was in the yard with the GSD waving a piece of chicken in front of his face while the GSD's eyes were riveted on the ball I had in my hand! *sigh* I'm am really loving this........................... (And yes I am just ever so slightly evil. Just slightly )

To everyone's pictures and video's, they are fantastic! and to Jefe's Owners! I wonder how you can explain to your neighbours it was an online dog site that made me do it.........................honest!

bring on the video!!!!!

I just watched that video of Pekko in the snow! Amazing stuff! He looks so happy too! Keep em coming!

Here are some pictures of the Sar Dogs in action at K9's Melbourne visit, they were unreal!!

Aha! Well that would explain it! So how does one get the dog NOT to look like he's constantly expecting something? I noticed Lablovers beautiful Stamp, focused on what she was asking him to do the instant his prey item dissapeared, he didn't spend the whole time running around looking at her jacket! So how did you do that Lablover??!! (Seeing as where you store his 'prey' item it's a good thing he doesn't, otherwise you'd have a dog running around looking at your chest all the time, and some people may find that rather odd! )