imported_Kat

You look like you are having so much fun doing something you love :D great job with all the doggies too! When I bath and groom Meg normally it would take very little time, but when it comes to Crufts and doggies have to be looking their best for the camera, it takes me a ful day to bath her , blow dry her properly, strip, groom and trim :lol:

isn't it interesting the way that justice can work...

There are just some idiots out there that give us our laugh off the day :roll: I can picture Aspen sitting there all placid and the wee white rat snapping! :lol:

Cooking oil or mild olive oil is usually the best sort of thing to clean the ears out. If you syringe a few drops in, then massage the ear wel and then use a tissue (never a cotton bud) to clean out any gunk. Also as Divine said , a diet change can help greatly to control infections. Vitamin c in a small dose can also help with inflammation. Antiiotics are wonderful things but sometimes they can dampen down the animals natural immunity therefore it is better to have a healthy immune system and to prevent the onset of infections.

Hi there if the vaccination was given in the rump incorrectly then there could well be a swollen depot of air. Keep massaging the skin between thumb and finger and it should disperse. If it doesn't disperse within a few days then take your dog back to the vets or especially if he isn't eating, as this could indicate an alergic reaction to a component in the vaccine. With regards to Joey's behaviour it sounds as if he has some slight dominance issues. Does he only growl when he is in possession of a bone/toy? Has he ever snapped at you with no cause? A good behaviourist is hard to get and usually most things you can work on yourself with a little guidance. If he is known to be slightly aggressive or unpredictable however , be a resposnible dog owner and keep him on a lead when he is out and don't allow strangers to pet him. This is one way that you can help the pair of you to avoid an accident.

Meg and Zoe's collars are always kept on them. they are both well fitted quick snap release collars and safe to be left on.

HF you really are having such a bad time of it. *hugs*. With this hurricane I am guessing that a lot of birds would have been dislodged creating more activity and therefore more droppings. There is a possibility when you had the dogs out that they licked their feet and licked bird droppings from their feet. Now birds are carriers of all sorts of nasty pathogens including e-coli. It sounds as if your doggers could have picked up a coloform infection which is a nasty form of colitis and food poisoning typified by bloody diarrhoea and sever vomitting. I hope that your vet gets the infections under control and that your doggers are feeling more at themselves really soon. :wink:

I'm sorry to hear this :(

Poor doggers! I hope they get to the root of the problem soon and your doggies are back on form :wink:

Congrats :D ! I would say that he is a BC mixed with maybe lab/boxer.

Those are excellent photos and thank you very very much for sharing. :D I have to say that Cruiser is a fantastic Dobe and has a lovely muscle structure and topline and yep should have beat the Dane :wink:

I think that personifies the word of contentment :wink:

It looks like a little cyst which should be easily removed by your vet. Let us know how you get on. :wink:

Hi Court, yes Prednisolone is a steroid based drug but we kept the dogs who needed it on a very low dose and there were no side effects of weight gain at all as we had the owners well educated.

I definitely was seeing more and more labs (especially blacks) showing dominant aggression when I was doing behavioural consultations in N.Ireland. Then just on Friday when I had Meg down at the park we were charged by a black lab bitch who I posted about in another thread. They are such a popular breed still and unfortunately are being overbred which is leading to changes in their social behaviour.

Definitely no Ibuprofen. There is a great pain relieving drug called Zenacarp if your vet maybe will give you that. Kids Aspirin would be the only human drug I would reccomend. Hope your baby feels better soon. :wink:

This is a difficult situation to address. When I worked at the surgery we saw so many dogs (westies in particular) that had dermatological conditions and unfortunately some of those dogs were so miserable that we were doing them a kindness in euthanasing them. The best drugs that we found to control skin problems were piriton and prednisolone with brewers yeast powder and malaseb shampoo. Of course this owner will want all avenues explored for her pet. Keep us updated on the little dog. What age is he by the way?

It certainly sounds as if she is not confident with being handled by humans and hyper sensitive. You could try ignoring her when she screams for attention like with the tape. By this I mean in that sort of situation remove the tape but don't reassure her and simply walk away. You could aslo try something to build up her confidence and her bond with you like agility (even little dogs can do agility!). Don't excessively cuddle her but take a colder approach slightly and just pet her without picking her up then walk away. This will make her realise that she will not always be given a lot of attention when a human is present. Chis can be tough little dogs regardless of their size, and in essence its a matter of trying to make her a little stronger emotionally. Good luck :wink:

This morning we were on our way back from picking up our new kitten (more about him later!), and we spotted a Bernese mountain dog running loose. This dog had vet wrap around his leg and was obviously very lost dodging traffic. I jumped out and the big eejit was having a great game of catch me. Just then I spotted a guy running with a lead. It turned out to be a vet from the nearby veterinary clinic and he had the dog out for exercise in their clinics yard and the dog had jumped the hedge. The dog had surgery yesterday for swallowing several sewing needles! We chased him for about 45 mins through houses and streets and finally trapped him in a garden where he wasn't having any of the vet coming near him. After a lot of persuasion and talking to the dog he finally let me slip the lead over his head. Needless to say the vet was extremely grateful and as a result told us to bring in the new kitty when he is old enough to have free vaccinations and health check! :D Isn't it so funny how things work out :wink:

Real tear jerker :(

Puppy breath!!!!! Congrats and welcome to Tigger :D

Congrats Mouse! I saw a cracking chocolate coloured Shar pei in Groningen a few days ago and thought of you. :D

Dogs don't just come into the world with bad habits and people just don't seem to grasp this concept in some cases. Dogs learn by example and chewing at this early age is going to be due to teething but it could also be a sign of boredom which is where suitable chew toys should be given to the puppy. I think what you should do is attempt to guide your co-worker. Don't dictate because if people are trying then they hate being dictated to, but gently pass on subtle ideas.

grrrrrr I just have to rant. I'm back in N.Ireland for a few days and had Meg down at the park today. Meg hasn't forgotton me! She mauled me with puppy whimpers and puppy hugs and kisses and wouldn't take her eye of me at all when we walked to the park :D . Anyhow down at the park I did a little training and we were on our way out when a black lab bitch came bounding up to Meg barking and snarling and showing dominant aggression towards me. I downed Meg just on instinct and stood over in front of her. This bitch was seriously lunging and meant business and there was no one else in the park so I was using my fleece in front of me to defend myself which she was nipping at. Her owner comes strolling into park and I yell "call your dog" to which she replied "shes only playing". Some ruddy play! Every time I went to move the bitch was marking me. I yelled to the woman to put her dog on a lead and she gave me a barrage of bad language effing this that and the whole fricking lot! :o I lost it at this stage and told her that her dog was aggressive and should be on a lead before it mauls a kid or other dog and told her that it was people like her that gave us good dog owners a bad name. She was effing and blinding and grrrrr people like that are just so frecking irresponsible! Surely they can see for the good of their dog that it should be kept on a lead if it shows aggression? I just have to wonder at people... :roll:

whoa hold on. No one is judging you. People are just curious. Have you ever considered that people just want to expand their knowledge and want to know what a term means? This is a great board of people from all breed and cross breed backgrounds with one thing in common. Our love of dogs. That is what unites us.