sandgrubber

Such ratings are subjective and aren't worth a lot . . . though I confess, when I was a kid, there used to be an Afghan hound who followed his kids to the bus stop. It wasn't really his name, but he answered to 'Stupid' . .. and he did live up to the name. At least he was smart enough to make it home from the bus stop. Not being beholden to humans could be regarded as a sign of intelligence.

I'm far from VIC, and can easily buy the equivalent of C5 in the USA and do it myself (three dogs for $20 or $30); and there are several options for 'vaccination day' services at the flea market or local drug stores, where a vet does mass vaccinations for $20-$30 a shot. It's bad that Australian vets take advantage of their monopoly access to vaccines. When I lived in WA I found a mobile vet who was far more reasonable, especially because I had several dogs and she could get them all at once. It might be worth calling around to local vets and a vet school to find out if anyone would be interested in doing a 'vaccination day'. You might even find a local boarding kennel or feed store that would be enthusiastic about sponsoring such an event.

Yup! Testing is no panacea. So many health (and temperament) problems require observation, record keeping and pedigree analysis based on honest reports from breeders/stud owners etc. Often inheritance is complex and there is no official test, eg., cancer and bloat prone-ness, epilepsy, allergies). With the brachy breeds, it is possible to screen (as opposed to test) for steniotic nares and BOAS. The Frenchie mess would be less messy with pressure, preferably from many directions, for health screening for obvious health problems.

Shortages/surplusses in the USA are regional and breed related. The South is generally the surplus region, but the surplus is dominated by pit bull types and chihuahuas with mixtures of hound, Lab, and herding dogs. The shortage areas, eg. the NE and NW, have limited demand for pitties and chi's. There are also imports from Mexico. I don't know about the breed mix typical in Mexico, but I'm willing to bet the pits get culled. There is quite a bit of resistance to importing dogs from overseas (less so for across the border). Why spend all that money when there are dogs nearby needing homes.

I was pretty shocked and called the lab that did the titre tests. They said something to the effect: "Yeh, failing titre tests within the period supposed to be covered with the vaccine is pretty common".

They were vaccinated 1.5 years ago.

I've been a vaccine minimizer. I'm preparing to move from the US to NZ and was unpleasantly surprised to have a dog who was only 1.5 years out from a 3 year rabies vaccination fail a rabies titre test, and another just barely pass. This makes me hesitate when I hear 'good for life' claims. I'll be sticking to the 3 year routine. It's unfortunate that good long term experimental trial results are not available for many diseases for which we vaccinate. The tests required, however, require keeping a pack of experimental animals for years, and then exposing them to the disease. Not cheap, and risks getting some dogs very sick, if not euth'ing them. The Rabies Challenge (a long term trial of rabies immunity response) is showing that immunity is not life-long for that vaccine. "Fifteen dogs were included in this trial. Only one of the 5 dogs vaccinated in 2007 showed protection against rabies, while 4 of 5 dogs vaccinated in 2009 (80%) demonstrated protection against a rabies virus challenge. Once all 5 of the unvaccinated control dogs showed the very early clinical signs of rabies virus infection, they were humanely euthanized." http://www.rabieschallengefund.org/latest/summary-of-latest-rabies-challenge-trial

This thread has resurfaced. I'd be interested to hear how Ebony is doing. I notice, no one answered your question about whether you should contact her breeder. The answer to this is an unqualified YES!!!! Any responsible breeder needs to know if and when they are throwing pups with epilepsy. Without such feedback they are powerless to prevent future problems.

I'm confused about walking my oldie. I'm an oldie myself (late 60s) and the doctors tell me that keeping up an exercise regime is one of the most important things I can do to maintain health. I tend to walk, run, or power walk even if it hurts . . . and I think on the whole, exercising reduces the pain. Does the same pertain to old dogs? For example, can you forestall the weak back end problem by keeping up walkies? There may be a tradeoff between pain (which the dog hides as best as it can) and the pleasure of walkies. If the dog 'chooses' to accept the pain, is it possible that the dog is doing the best thing? Is there any evidence that exploring and physical activity tends to keep dementia at bey for dogs . . . as it seems to for humans?

Jarrah, at 12, is showing signs of dementia. She's sometimes looks confused and barks her 'help me' bark for reasons I can't understand. For example, yesterday, she acted like she was trapped by a kitchen stool that she could easily have walked around. Otherwise her health is ok for her age. She seems to be night blind and deaf, and she sleeps a lot, but she showed no problems on the senior dog blood work panel. She still wags a lot and occasionally plays for a minute or so with the younger dogs. I am due to move to New Zealand on March 1st. The dogs fly, first from Florida to LA, then stay overnight in a kennel and fly on to NZ the next day. Thereafter, they have 10 days in quarantine. Visitors permitted, but only for a few hours a day. I'm afraid this all will be too stressful for the old girl. Wondering if it might be kinder to give her an early departure over the rainbow bridge. Has anyone had experience with demented dogs making a major move?

I just use 1% Ivermectin at around 0.1 cc / 10 kg once a month. That's more than is in HeartGuard tablets, but entirely safe for dogs that aren't MDR1 positive. Treatments for mange commonly use doses that are a hundred times more. It's cheaper than chips.

You might want to ad a note to the sticky about reporting toxicity in the General Forum, and report the toxicity. I am aware of people warning against the proheart 12 needle, but can't remember anyone posting that their dog had died from it.

My old girl (12 yr Labrador) is happy doing 5 k at a slow trot with my other two. They get a little swim at the creek, around 2k out.

Eggs are great, but for small dogs, you don't want to feed too many for fear of off-balancing the diet. . . .an egg a day would be a big chunk of the diet for, say, a chihuahua.

You have the right to not buy the puppy. Unless you see evidence that the pup in question is worth a premium price to you, I'd advise doing so.

Demand a refund of your deposit. Don't ask. If they said 8 weeks initially, you have a verbal contract. Codes of practice support 8 weeks. You could take them to small claims court, but doing so would be a pain in the backside. However, it would be even more of a pain for them because they would most certainly loose. The threat of being taken to small claims would most likely suffice to get them to return your deposit.

I worry about Labrador stereotypes. They aren't all that bad. Almost every Lab I've known, and I've owned around 20, has been a gutzer, and will eat almost anything that falls on the floor when I'm cooking. They also happily eat acorns. I've owned a few that tear their plastic toys andM tennis balls to pieces and the pieces decorate their poos. However, the only thing I've ever had to help one pass is long strands of grass, and that's pretty rare. My present trio won't even steal from the food bin when I forget to put the lid on it . . . and none of them has ever turned over a trash can.

please fill out the issue. What are the 5812 standards?

For some perspective go to the 'They Ate WHAT?" Xray contest in veterinarypracticenews.com (they do this every year so there are several such pages) http://www.veterinarypracticenews.com/2016xraycontestwinners/ My favorite this year didn't even earn an honorable mention . . . Finn, a 2 1/2-year-old Labrador retriever, likes to eat lots of different things. She wasn’t her normal perky self when she presented after vomiting up a piece of a pacifier. A radiograph revealed suspicious material in her stomach and small intestines. A further history of her gustatory adventures included possibly eating a peach pit a few weeks earlier. We performed abdominal exploratory surgery and recovered 23 green pacifiers (mostly intact), one peach pit, multiple pieces of white plastic and a black foam nipple. Funnier still, there were no babies in Finn’s house. She collected the pacifiers over multiple visits to a relative’s house. Finn made a beautiful recovery and is still a Lab who likes to eat.

This belongs in "Other'. Lovely as the stories are, they have nothing to do with pedigree dogs.

Also . . . don't beat yourself up if your attempts to prevent this sort of fear fail. Some of it is pretty hard wired. Gun shy dogs tend to stay gun shy, though you can modulate the startle response. My guys, all well-bred gundogs, never had any conditioning. They all love loud noises. Drop a pan and they'll run toward you; they've been that way from 8 weeks. Power tools . . . same thing. They sleep through fireworks and thunderstorms. My mother had a dog who barked at thunderstorms, as if trying to scare them away. I take no credit for this . . . it's in the bloodlines.

I sold my boarding kennel to some lovely folks, who are now having a hard time. WA's economy hasn't been so good. Seems like people haven't been taking as many vacations, and aren't as willing to spend on their dogs. I'm curious, is everyone having a hard time? Or Is it just WA?

Not dog specific . . . but pertains to veterinary meds as well https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/homeopathic-medicine-labels-now-must-state-products-do-not-work/ Over the counter homeopathic remedies sold in the US will now have to come with a warning that they are based on outdated theories ‘not accepted by most modern medical experts’ and that ‘there is no scientific evidence the product works’. Failure to do so will mean the makers of homeopathic remedies will risk running afoul of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The agency argues that unsupported health claims included in the marketing for some of these remedies are in breach of laws that prohibit deceptive advertising or labelling of over the counter drugs. The body has released an enforcement policy statement clarifying that homeopathic drugs are not exempt from rules that apply to other health products when it comes to claims of efficacy and should not be treated differently. In order for any claims in adverts or on packaging not to be ‘misleading’ to consumers it should be clearly communicated that they are based on theories developed in the 1700s and that there is a lack of evidence to back them up, the statement says. It adds that the FTC will ‘carefully scrutinise the net impression of [over the counter] homeopathic advertising or other marketing … to ensure that it adequately conveys the extremely limited nature of the health claim being asserted’.

I would look for accidents early in life before concluding anything. Asymmtric scores often have environmental causes, but you can never REALLY know. I have a similar problem with a girl who, radiometrically, has one bad hip (they don't use the same scoring system in the US, so I can't give you numbers). She fell off a porch at six months and had to be crate rested for several weeks. One of her tendons was nearly severed. I had one test litter from her because I really wanted a pup from her. So far no problems (3 years). 2:1 dam, 0:0 sire, great scores back a generation, no other hip problems in the lines that I could find. I ended up getting her desexed because . . .well . . . it's a worry breeding from a bitch with a bad hip score.

I would avoid that breeder. If they do not select sire and dam for temperament, they cannot be doing a good job of breeding. Temperament is largely genetic. Why are herding dogs different from sight hounds, different from scent hounds, etc. GENETICS! Try training a dog that is hardwired for dog aggression to be dog friendly. A good trainer can get to hold back and tolerate other dogs, but the underlying aggression is still there. Try training a well bred Labrador as a schutzhund. It's an uphill battle. Soft mouth, strong bite inhibition . . . a good trainer can make biting a game, but the dog's heart isn't into attacking. Or for that matter, try to teach a Labrador to herd sheep. Good luck!