sandgrubber

Worth adding, in general, RSPCA and like organizations, worldwide, at the top levels, are inclined to spend far more money looking for donations and grinding political axes than helping animals. I do support reducing cruelty. I think many of the popular appeals focus on the wrong targets and push for measures not in the best interest of dogs.

BTW, don't worry about cuddling your pup when she is seizing. I always did so with mine. She took to coming to me and looking for a cuddle when she felt a seizure coming on.

Like most institutions, the RSPCA is a mixed bag. Many/most of the volunteers are true animal lovers, some working under delusion. Local branches vary and I'll bet some do far more good than harm. In some places crazed animal rights people, or high paid executives create sickening problems.

My old girl had similar seizures. My vet said probably epilepsy...which is going to mean a lot of testing to rule out other things and the tests will probably all come back negative. She recommended going right to low dose phenobarbital (with monitoring) to see if it helped. It did. My girl was on phenobarbital for around 3 years. I gradually tapered the dose off to nothing (against veterinary advice). My girl lived another five or six years with a few mild seizures a year and died at 14 yr 10 mo. (ie a couple of years more than average for her breed) Not saying you should do as I did (many people would consider it irresponsible to skip the extensive testing that goes into an epilepsy diagnosis) or that you should call it epilepsy because someone on the internet says it looks like what happened to her dog (you shouldn't). Just that 1. Diagnosis is likely to involve a lot of testing, which may be inconclusive and 2. If it does turn out to be epilepsy, it may be a mild and treatable form, not the dreaded grand mal.

If you want to see this behavior to the Nth degree, be around a bitch who is almost ready to whelp. They go nuts with circling and pawing abd and messing about with bedding.

Dietary allergies are vastly overrated, and don't typically show up as itchy feet. If he were mine I'd try a few months on a well-known brand of quality dry food (they're all much of a muchness so fat as I can tell) and... of course.... cut the experiment short if the problem gets worse. British bulldogs have loads of heredity problems. I'd also ask his breeder if they have had any experience with itchy feet.

I disagree too, for different reasons. How many times has the puppy won the heart of someone who claims not to like dogs? I'm prejudiced this way... but I think the greatest chance of winning hearts comes with high empathy sook breeds... notably Labs and goldies. It's usually better when everyone loves the dog.

My first thought is contact allergy. Maybe to grass. Is there Tradescantia (wandering Jew) on your property? But Rebanne is right, you need a vet's advice...and roo+veg isn't a balanced diet. Diagnosis via internet is a dubious process.

Good suggestion. Yep. I'm in NZ and we have possums. But my Springer (hunting lines) is possum mad, and she's not interested. Just the Labs. When I lived in WA, the Labs' great granddam had a special plant she liked to roll in. It was odorless to me. But when it happens on tarmac, I think you can rule out plants. Mystery unsolved.

My own theory is they're reacting to something taken up to the vomeronasal (aka Jacob's) organ... which is almost poorly developed in humans, picks up pheromones among other things, and is hardwired to reactive drives (notably sex drive) in the brain. Maybe a calling card from a female rabbit or cat that's in heat?

BBC News - Famed Mexican rescue dog Frida retires after nine years' duty https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-48753764

Many of us know and dread the smell when the beloved dog finds something raunchy to roll in. My two Labs sometimes do the same rolling act, with the same obsessive joy, when there's nothing apparent for them to delight in. Sometimes it's in grass; occasionally it's on tarmac. My Springer isn't at all interested. And I can't smell anything afterwards. Do others have dogs that do the same? Any ideas about what is going on?

https://www.google.com/amp/amp.abc.net.au/article/10708686

I agree. For rescues, where no baseline is available, thorough screening is appropriate. It would require a lot of study to say WHAT screening for what age/breed, etc. For young dogs in some breeds, I'd think hip Xrays would be more useful than blood work. I guess it makes sense to do oldies, too, although I'm 70 (borderline cholesterol, otherwise OK) and they don't recommend doing my blood work but every couple of years.Furthermore, as I get older they drop tests from the recommended panel... no more colonoscopies or boob xrays . Bottom line : better guidelines are needed. I think pressure to do (and bill for) unnecessary/unjustified tests results in resentment of vets. Vets get caught in the bind. Veterinary suicide rates are high... this very unclear question does not help.

Has anyone who does annual blood work (apart from the folks who need to do it to monitor some drug or condition) found it was useful for finding a problem early?

https://www.pethealthnetwork.com/dog-health/dog-diseases-conditions-a-z/retained-testicles-puppies Undescended testicle aren't good, and ate likely to be hereditary.

Not sure about prey drive being widely used as a training tool... I suspect many of the problem dogs had no training at all. But I think you hit the mark about failure to select against unpredictable, high drive, and unsocial temperament. The belittling of back yard breeders hasn't helped... I mean the old fashioned kind of BYB, selecting for the 'family dog' rather than breed, price, or show conformation: Where a family decides to breed a much loved pet because they would like to have a pup from her and at the same time teach the kids a bit about the facts of life...and have some pups to place with the neighbors. Not the money driven BYBs who sell litter after litter of the breed and color that's in vogue.

BBC News - Dogs' eyes evolve to appeal to humans https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-48665618

Evidence? I have read the opposite.

I asked precisely this question on skeptvet.com blogsite discussion of screening tests. It's worth reading the whole blog post, including the questions. http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2019/05/what-are-screening-tests-and-should-you-use-them/

I just looked at the pictures. The first few lines made it clear that this isn't research based (though the 2009 book it refers to probably is). I sure don't think the dogs in the photos look guilty. Anticipatory, maybe.

On the secondary subject here...more dog attacks: I have always scratched my head about why Oz bans pit bulls, yet staffies are extremely common (#2 in litter registration with ANKC) and AmStafs (which are genetically indistinguishable from APBTs) are allowed. Both are subject to BSL in the US and parts of Europe. There are bad apples in every breed, and people looking for a bad-ass dog will find those that fit their image of what is bad-ass...and breed from them. Easy to see that happening with staffies and AmStafs... or crosses thereof. With so many dogs acquired from shelters and internet sales, indiscriminately bred dogs pups and dogs and pups bred to be mean will often end up in the hands of people who can't cope with them. That cute wagging pup may not be so cute when mature. I don't see a good solution, but it's hard to see how the sorts of dog control measures becoming common in Oz are going to help. Cracking down on small breeders is definitely going the wrong way.

GSDs are complicated. Show/conformation judging criteria have promoted a sloped, sometimes arched back look that a lot of people (me included) think is unhealthy. The breed has a history of a lot of bad hips, and some people looking for guard dogs prefer aggressive types. If I were looking for a GSD, I would be looking for dogs that are health tested, but not show dogs. Ask breeders about what they are aiming for in temperament. When you find a breeder you like, describe the temperament you are looking for and let them select the pup.

Are you sure the problem is diet? You may want to talk to a vet. Pups can get tummy bugs.

I generally told puppy buyers that there were many diets that work (generally worded, Labs have been known to thrive on many different diets) . I think I suggested starting out with what I was feeding (mostly raw at the time) but said that scientific evidence about raw vs cooked was far from clear (the grain free nonsense wasn't yet big when I was breeding) and it was probably best to avoid canned food and the cheapest of supermarket foods. At some point I began passing on advice from my vet that raw chicken poses a salmonella risk for pups under 4 months and adding warnings about overfeeding. I have a science background but have also taken marketing courses. As I have often said on this forum, IMHO there's a lot of marketing and not much science differentiating dog food choices. I can't justify recommending any one diet. I am offended by your "isn't your problem" remark. P. S. To the best of my knowledge, none of my puppies ever had a food allergy or had dietary problems other than getting overweight.