sandgrubber

Here's a review of the active ingredients in many flea treatments. http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+2111&aid=598 Ivermectin is most commonly used (with dogs) for heartworm treatment, not for fleas. There are dozens of alternatives. If you want something natural, you might also try diatomaceous earth, which is not on this list.

I wish I had room for another dog . ..

I meant this tongue in cheek! Sort of like pointing out that if poodles and poodle crosses were banned, there would be less worry about 'oodles. Can't imagine BSL catching on here cause the #1 target is part of daily life, as much as the SBT is in Oz.

I wouldn't worry about it. My dogs, especially the puppy, eat almost all vegetables, including capsicums (for some reason they give the jalapenos and Haberneros a miss) and will eat large quantities of not-so-good veg when I'm canning. I would worry more about the garden than the pup. Getting the zoomies in a garden can do a lot of damage. I put a low electric fence around my garden so the dogs don't graze or play there. Onions are the exception . . . in any quantity they can be toxic.

My breed bias . . . Labrador, goldie or flatcoat. All tend to be easy going, friendly, tolerant, easy, home-centered dogs. Btw., all dogs are not equally prone to wander. My dogs won't go out the gate when it's left open, unless a deer or another dog comes by. They don't think of digging out, though they could easily. Selection within the breed is probably more important than the breed itself. Look for a breeder who not only says they breed for temperament but who will tell you what temperament they breed for. And make sure that is the temperament you want. Ask direct questions about the temperament of both the sire and dam. Find a breeder who temperament tests the pups and is confident they can pick the right one for your situation. Someone who places pups with Guide Dogs is the right direction . . . as they want bombproof, trainable dogs that bond well with people. Field work may be the wrong direction. Many people who do competitive retrieving like high drive, and it doesn't sound like you want a fetch-a-holic. With Labbies, there's more demand for girls than boys, so you'll get a better choice if you go for a boy. If you're not prepared to cope with a puppy, consider looking for an older dog.

Thanks for replies. Guess I'm feeling horrid guilt cause, in a way, I ran over my puppy, and it seems like the least I can do is take her for a vet check. So it's my drama as well as hers. Rationally, she continues to get better by the hour, and I think you're right, it really doesn't merit a vet visit so long as the trend is strong improvement. Good to have confirmation that I'm not just rationalizing.

I was backing up the car yesterday and heard the dreaded shriek. Patty (7 mo old Labrador) must have been deeply asleep underneath cause she usually gets manic with hope of a ride when the car door opens. She emerged very wiggly, but unwilling to put weight on her front right leg/paw. I do a careful feel up. She doesn't show pain anywhere. She allows me to manipulate all joints and feel over the little bones in her foot without indication of pain. I'm uncertain whether she was actually run over or just got a little pinched and screamed as much in fright as in pain. No obvious swelling. No lacerations. I sort of doubt she got the full weight of my car. It's a Prius and VERY heavy. I'd think really running over her would do serious damage. She seems to be enjoying the attention. Murphy's Law, this happens at 1 pm on Saturday. My vet closes at noon. I don't like the local emergency vet service. It's at the University. They tend to use emergencies as an excuse to try out expensive techniques, and you never know what vet you're going to get, or how long you may wait cause the vet is tied up with a more urgent case. So I give her a tramadol and keep her restrained with the idea of seeing how it goes.. Not hard to restrain her. She isn't enthusiastic about moving. Sometimes she sleeps with the injured leg up, sometimes with it down. Tramadol can act as a sedative, so this may be the drugs. It's now Sunday morning. Patty is now putting a little weight on the paw. My guess is that she pulled or wrenched something and it hurt a lot. The pain scared her. But whatever it is is healing rapidly. Expect to find her only limping slightly on Monday. Question: If the trajectory is steady improvement, should I take her to the vet on Monday? Do I continue to restrain her, or let her take exercise when she chooses to do so?

Yeah makes you ask what people think is in poo - most dogs love eating that too. My theory is that they've been reading about fecal transplants and, in order to achieve more perfect digestive systems, want to gain micro-organisms from as many species as possible. The idea of probiotics for dogs amuses me. All the dogs I've owned are aggressive in searching out additions to their gut flora (much to my disgust). Vets tell me that healthy dogs over 4 mo can cope with Salmonella . . . so concern over freshness of eggs is unnecessary, except for pups.

1. that dog does not look like a pit bull . . . or like the dogs that everyone calls pits in the American South. Too rangey. Chest too narrow. Not enough bone. Ears almost floppy. Muzzle too long. 2. "she described Dante as 'an absolute honey' who loved being cuddled and playing with her two kids, Fury-James, 4, and Lahtezia-Lust, 5" is absolutely in pattern for pit bulls. Their owners almost invariably describe them as affectionate toward family members, and ignore their reaction to other dogs. 3. hard not to be judgemental toward someone who would curse their kids with names like Fury and Lust, and their dog with Dante the Infernal. Conclusion: Sick idiot owner ought to be locked up and should not be raising children, much less dogs. This has nothing to do with pit bulls and everything to do with idiot owners who like ferocious dogs.

Your 'proper' way is only rational if you place a low value on your dog's life and/or don't find it awful to have your dog impounded and having to employ lawyers to get your dog out of the pound. Sadly, right does not make might.

In my kennel management days, one of the Australian vets we worked with said cooked rice + small amounts of meat and supplements could be prepared as a substitute for Hills. If you do some vet shopping you should be able to come up with a vet who can provide recipes for an equivalent diet . . . maybe even one that the dog likes.

For once you all in Oz can feel grateful you have BSL. I live in an area where pit bulls are the generic working man's dog. They come in a lot of sizes and shapes and temperaments. Some are nightmares. Some are sweet, hardy waggy dogs. Many are a bit dog aggressive and hit the fence, or the end of their chain, when you walk your dog past. Only a small fraction have registered pedigrees. In the local Craigslist -- the equivalent of Gum Tree -- there has been a sudden appearance of ads for 'pocket pits'. Theoretically these are a Patterdale x APBT cross, but in practice they seem to be pit x some small terrier or terrier mix. I hope Oz is able to avoid some equivalent sickness. Somehow I can't see a 'pocket staffie' catching on.

Great video. Thanks for posting. Now I know why their tongues are so long! I had no idea that they curled backwards to scoop water. Next time I mop up the slop around the water bowl, I'll have an image of how it got there .

Nice try, but if it means your dog gets seized, not worth it. I don't think anyone whose dog has been taken, and who has either had to go through a whole legal process to get the dog back, or who has lost and had their dog pts would agree that 'they' don't have power. If you could get hundreds of thousands of people to march with dogs in hand, as in the classic civil rights demonstrations or Gandhi breaking the Salt Laws, you might succeed. But the anti-BSL community has seldom shown the numbers or the cohesiveness and resolve to be politically effective.

Similar here. When I had a boarding kennel, I encountered quite a few dirty desexed dogs and bitches. And lots of chronic humpers who had been castrated (including a few speyed bitches).. HOWEVER, the stinkiest pee, hands down, came from entire males. Not all of them. But we had a few who really reeked. This is unlikely to be a problem in a home situation, unless the owner is into indoor dog toilets.

+1 As a kid I used to tease my mother's Labrador, who would eat most anything, by tossing her things I thought she wouldn't like. No one told me onions were poisonous to dogs. The dog wanted nothing to do with onions . . . one of the few things she wouldn't even catch, much less gnaw on.

My dogs, who sleep in the bed, do the same rolling thing, sometimes on top of me as well when I'm in the bed. It looks just like the gesture they use when they find something fragrant on a walk. I wonder if they're being affected by human scent. Pheremone driven behavior????

Yes. <div><br></div><div><br><div>p.s. it's the exoskeleton that gets stuffed. In answer to Rural Pug's comments, diatomaceous earth is probably bad for a wide spectrum of arthropods, but because it is heavy and settles rapidly to the ground, it's unlikely to affect flying insects (bee safe) and because it mechanically affects exoskeletons, it's unlikely to have effects down the food chain, ie, on predatory insects, birds or insect eating mammals. </div> </div>

Roundup is the most used agricultural chemical in the world, and one of the most heavily tested. Testing has been done on dogs (beagles). They found that very heavy dosage put directly in the dogs food caused some problems, but there is no evidence that the amounts used to kill weeds will have any effect on dogs or any mammals. This is one of the reasons it is widely sold for home use . . . even idiots are unlikely to poison themselves or their pets with the stuff. The residence time in the environment is said to be about two weeks (less in hot weather). There is some evidence it may persist longer in the soil, and there are some people who feel the stuff is doing a lot of damage to the environment, particularly in soy/maize growing regions. Bottom line is don't worry about it. Or if you are strongly anti-chemical and choose to worry, the risk, which is tiny, will subside in a couple weeks. p.s. you might talk with the guys who applied it. Although glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup) is non-toxic to mammals, sometimes they mix it with other chemicals to make sure the plants absorb it well. These may have some toxicity. OOPS! Didn't read right. Twice as strong as roundup could mean lots of things. I would guess it means roundup at a lower dilution. The stuff farmers and landscapers use is both powerful and cheap . . . but the same chemical you'd buy in your local garden shop as Roundup. The alternatives are more expensive and less safe.

I have no idea in Qld. But note that the stuff is heavy, so expensive if you have it shipped. Have you tried your local feed stores? or ask them if they can order it for you. It is used with livestock as well as dogs.

I'd let 'em rip, so long as the exercise isn't resulting in trauma (eg, falling off things, collisions) that may damage bone structure. Has anyone had a case of a high-energy pup given loads of free exercise turning out with problems because they were given freedom? I've never have.

So sad. What a crushing decision to have to make after all you have invested in trying to save them all. Still, good that three survive . . . not to mention the dam. Hoping you can go forward now without a burden on your mind.

A recent study based on a large number of pups followed until 10 yrs of age (sighted somewhere in pinned Studies about Dogs Topic in the General Forum) found walking was not a problem, but stairs were a big problem. Farm raised pups given free exercise had better hips . http://www.scienceda...20326112842.htm " The opportunity to exercise daily in parks up until the age of three months reduced the risk of HD, whereas the daily use of steps during the same period increased the risk. Overall, it would appear that daily exercise out in gently undulating terrain up until the age of three months gives a good prognosis when it comes to preventing HD."

if you have a heap of humidity, it may not work ...Arizona would be perfect! AFAIK it scores/cuts the insect exoskeleton ..allowing the insect to dry out ..but if wet/damp ,the powder doesn't cling or do what it's supposed to, apparently . Diatoms are amazing little things alive,or fossilised, it seems :) If you have air con and high humidity, you probably have dry air inside. So should still be effective for indoor remediation. Outdoor, not so good. Action on the exoskeleton is good. It means this should work on fleas and ticks alike, and there's no danger of developing resistence. I'm confused by warnings about applying directly. Cautions that it may be drying. Does this mean it's ok if the dog tends to have oily coat and skin? Might direct application actually help reduce incidence of hot spots and cut down subinaceous body odor?

The good side is that this variety of stupidity doesn't seem to be contagious. No one really knows how dogs relate to pain. They sure tolerate things that people don't. I wish there were a way to ask the dog. I think many of them shed minor pain like water off a duck's back, but suffer greatly from loneliness and boredom. Think of all the dogs who do things that they know will bring punishment cause they want the attention. Very hard to say whether tats are more or less cruel than, say, extreme grooming where the dog is kept stationary for hours while being died and clipped into some fantastimagoric living sculpture.