Dog Lovers

     

I've heard of cross species illnesses, but never experienced them before today. On Thursday afternoon Deliah started vomiting and I assumed she had Curious Beagle Disease (i.e. she ate something she shouldn't) and treated it as such (no food, no run, and mommylove) but she continued vomiting through the night and into the next morning. At first it was a feces smelling brown vomit, then transitioned to a yellow foam, then a clear slime, and finally just something that looked like water.  She just lay in my lap and her nose and ears were hot so I assumed she was feverish. Luckily it passed after 24 hrs...not so luckily, it passed to Charlie! He started barfing early Friday morning and continued through the night. Same types of vomit except that Charlie does it with flair- I measured one projectile vomit at almost 8 ft from where he was sitting! We popped in some of his fave movies and cuddled on the couch. To make it worse, he vomited up his heart pills so I was worried about that as well. :(  He's a huge baby so he whined the whole time he was sick, but he's better now. However, *I* started the process a few hours ago. Yay me. So we are cuddling again, except I don't have anyone to get me water, clean my soiled bedding, or replace my barf bowl. However, they are "wiping" my face and keeping my forehead cool with kisses! I'm assuming we've contracted some stomach bug, but I was wondering if this was common. I've never worried about catching something from them before, but I definitely will be more concerned in the future....Have any of you experienced this? I know swine flu had passed from human to dog in a few cases, but that was rare as well. (I had h1n1 at one point and didn't pass it to my 6 pets) The last time we all got ill was from contaminated tap water (yay crappy water that has never passed testing but still "is okay for use unless you have low immunity" ) but that was over a year ago and we have since switched to bottled water only. Dishes are washed in water boiled on the stove because I am scared of the tap water, so I don't think that's what happened this time. Of course, I don't have medical insurance nor would  I visit a dr. for a suspected virus, but I do wonder if stomach bugs commonly pass cross species. Thoughts? Should I invest in doggie sized face masks to prevent a future outbreak? :) lol.

Spent some time out in my fancy newly renoed yard with the three dogs and the pool.  Kind of nice to be with just MY dogs. :)




Ty and Zoey chilling out in the pool.  Zoey doesn't seem convinced.  Her one hind leg is held up.

 
Wyatt checking the Chis out.  "Whattcha doing??"


Zoey deciding she had enough.


Ty seems to be enjoying himself!


Wyatt enjoying the grass.


Handsome old man.


Wyatt REALLY enjoying the grass.


Now he has a stick!


Wyatt gets really upset when his shadow follows him... nah, he's actually being harassed by bugs.  Poor fella.

Just as a quick update on Beaker, all those scabs/spots began clearing up a few days ago and no new ones have appeared. I'm not sure what it was that I removed that got it to go away, but I'm just glad it's gone.

Anyway, as part of the attempt to get the spots to go away, we switched his food in case it was a food allergy. We switched him to the wellness whitefish flavored food. We figured that since he tries so hard to get at the cat food (seriously, he loves it) we'd try buying food more geared towards fish tastes.

For the initial period he seriously adored it and hoovered it down right quick. I'm talking, licked his dish. So we knew it was a hit. As the days have gone on though he's gone back to what he's done with all his food, and nudges it around in his bowl for a while before becoming disinterested. If I hand feed him some and he gets the taste in his mouth, he'll start eating it. And I was trying to hand-feed anyway to resolve some of his food aggression issues.

But it's been a little while now and he's still acting disinterested which, I admit, annoys me. I don't get it. I've taken to putting it in a bowl, adding a little water, and microwaving it for 20-30 seconds. If I do this he goes absolutely nuts for it. But I'm wondering if doing this every day is going to have long-term problems in that the microwave might be zapping out some of the nutrients in the food. I realize that sounds crazy, but yeah.

I don't even understand how I can have a finicky corgi, either. He will eat cat poop, cat food, dirt, stuff in the road, and all this if I let him. But food that he obviously enjoyed and is good for him? Noooooooooooooooooo.

I'm having a bit of a sad moment today. My dog is starting to get on in years and after her morning walk she just curled up on my bed to go to sleep. She'd normally be bugging me to take her out again to run around or asking for a toy.

It's just a total reminder that my time with her is limited, I got her as an adult rescue (and I've had her for nearly 6 years), and it makes me a bit sad.

She's still shiny, happy and healthy but she's starting to slow down in really noticeable ways. She's moving on to a different part of her life almost, her personality is the same but all her habits are starting to change. She gets grumpy when she's up past 9pm.

Anyone else going through this/think about this? I know a lot of comm members have older dogs.

I spent the weekend with my partner, a friend of ours, and of course, Justice in Whistler last weekend. We ended up renting a canoe and going down the River of Golden Dreams, between Alta Lake and Green Lake. As I'm sure pretty much nobody is familiar with this river, it's bloody narrow, only about waist deep at most spots, surprisingly fast moving, and has so many turns and switchbacks it'll make you dizzy.

So, we got a nice big 3 person canoe that corners about as well as a particularly wallowing bathtub, and off we went, me in the middle seat with Justice sitting between my knees.

She was pretty awesome. She hung out and looked around, didn't wiggle about too much. I was surprised at how even her measly 35lbs could throw the balance of the canoe off, and had to make sure she stayed put in the middle.

So everything was going great, and we got to the first fast moving section, and managed to get a little turned around. No problem, we would have gotten pointed in the right direction fast enough anyway, except... a kayaker came along, dumped her kayak, and decided the best idea to get back in was to grab the side of our canoe.

...and over we went. Ack! Justice was wearing her lifejacket, but there was a moment of panic when she did NOT want to come away from the canoe, and tried to scramble under the seat -- note that the canoe was on it's side, or upside down at this point. While my partner tried to hold it up, I hauled her out of there -- her lifejacket has a very useful handle on the top.

Justice is pretty anxious by nature, so I was sure this was going to freak her right the hell out, but she actually handled it pretty well. I kind of think that since EVERYTHING scares her, she has pretty decent coping skills -- once we got to the shore, while she wasn't happy if I had to move more than 3 feet away from her, I was able to tie her to a tree and she just laid down and chewed on a random stick. Good anxiety ridden dog! :)

Anyway, glad she had her lifejacket on -- waist deep for me is still over her head, and she doesn't like swimming -- and here's a picture of my little nutbar drying out:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/arwenoid/4829470009/

Despite the dump, it was a fun trip, and I'm glad I was able to bring her with me. I'm hoping to go on more canoe trips with her, too. :)

I think I saw this on fark.com and thought I would post it here.  It is currently a story about dogs and US troops in Afghanistan, but much greater than that.  Go to Puppy Rescue Mission on Facebook  http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Puppy-Rescue-Mission/106320572741421

A really heartwarming story, especially after reading some of those leaked documents that show just how tough our men and women have it in Afghanistan.

My poor little dog has a small stick or stick like object, poking out of his butt.

He went out, and did his business, all his business. But, this became apparent We are now inside, and he is whining and burrowing under the cabinet.

I guess I have to do my duty, pull it out.

Poor thing.

I guess this is what one does?

I hope he is OK. Any advice is good. Thanks!

I'm not sure how to insert this so the Youtube video screen appears....so I will just post the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H17edn_RZoY

Hi, my vet thinks my dog has Cushing's Disease, but it hasn't been officially diagnosed yet. The tests will run us a couple of hundred dollars, but my vet says that even after it's been diagnosed, she is not sure about pursuing an aggressive treatment, as it is not drastically affecting my dog's health (yet). She's basically got the panting symptoms and the distended belly.

I'm just wondering if anyone has had experience with their dogs' having Cushing's Disease, if you sought treatment for your dog, or just any other information you have on this.

Also, what are everyone's favorite dental chews to give their dogs? I give my dog a bully stick once a week, but I have seen those things in the same of toothbrushes or an "x" that seems to really get in the grooves of their teeth, but I've also heard bad things about them like they're not easily digestible. Should I just stick with the bully sticks?

Thanks!

So Beaker has an issue in that while petting him a couple of days ago I noticed what could best described as lumps or clumps in his fur. If you part his fur and look at them, they look like sores that are scabbing off and the scabs have clumped his fur together.

It started around his collar and has move to the top of his head/his stomach area.

Now, he had a reaction like this before but it was right after he got his lyme vaxx, so we thought it was an allergic reaction. We took him to get vaxxed about a month ago for his yearlies and the vet said if he had a reaction to give him benadryl. Well, it seems a little delayed to be an allergy reaction to the shots now. We've been giving him the benadryl since we noticed the sores, but they're still spreading.

The last flareup lasted about a week before it went away as mysteriously as it came.

As I was looking through his fur, the clumps of scabs (I know, it's gross.) looked speckled, so I panicked and though that maybe he caught fleas/flea dirt from going to the groomer last week. I re-frontlined him today (was waiting to see if the benadryl would help.) but when I felt one on his head I investigated and from the flea dirt descriptions, I understand that it crumbles between your fingers. I took some scissors and cut off the one on top of his head that was in his fur and it didn't crumble or turn read. It's pretty obviously a scab of some sort, and the area underneath where it was (No I didn't pull it off, it was already off) is an open sore now.









That's what the other areas look like as well.

He's not itching or overly scratching himself around these areas. The most he's done is bite at his butt and hind legs which is normal for him, lol. And it's not excessive. I inspected his fur and didn't see any fleas or anything besides the scabby areas.

So I'm wondering if anyone here has seen anything like this. At this point it's not something I feel I should take him to the vet over since he's not scratching them or acting irritated or sick. I just want some kind of, "Man I wish I knew what this was and how to help." and I figured maybe someone here had a dog who went through this too. I really think he's having a reaction to something but I can't for the life of me figure out what. The only new thing is that he went to petco to get groomed a week or two ago. I'm also not overly worried because he did go through something like this last year and it went away after a week or so.

So I apologize since this entry was kinda gross, lol. I'm just hoping someone can help shed some light on the situation. Also so maybe I can stop cutting these out of Beaker's fur. He has a big ol' cut out patch on his head now and I feel kinda bad.

ETA: He has 2 more scabs behind his ears, but some of the others have cleared up. If it keeps up like this I'm taking him to the vet on Friday. I also switched his food in case it was a food allergy.

So I dropped a potato on the floor on Sunday while transferring a roast, and Lia could not figure out what it was. Hilarity ensued but I only caught a bit of it on my cell camcorder so it is short (a min. or so) and dark but funny :) She's so *special* but we love her :) 

I'm going away for 8 days, and Sierra's being kenneled. I'm going to miss her like crazy! I took a bunch of new pictures before I leave tomorrow.


(I didn't take this one today, but it's one of my new favourites of her EVER!)









Smile!!




Playing tug with her leash. She only ever gets to do this after she poops.

So I posted the other night worried about my lab Molly possibly having seizures.

I haven't been able to take her to the vet yet, but after doing some research and opinions from people on here I'm wondering if maybe she has thyroid problems that are contributing to neurological problems.

I don't want to be the kind of person that acts like I know more than doctors based on what I read on the internet, but I'd still like to see what others experiences have been. I don't want to make mountains out of mole hills either, but I'd also like to know what to bring up when I do go to the vet.
Ok enough rambling.

Have any of you had dogs that had thyroid problems? What kind of symptoms did they have? Anything weird other than weight gain?

I hope this works... a friend posted this video on her FB, and I just had to share it over here. It's truly remarkable and a good dose of warm fuzzies for the day.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=42233912302

So my boyfriend's mom has 4 dogs at their house (2 puppies and 2 adults, the puppies are brother and sister and I think about 5 months old right now, I'd have to go on a calendar and look). She said its getting to be too much to take care of all of them, especially since 1 of the adults is going blind and he is like 10 years old and can get pretty nasty if startled. So she is offering us to keep one of the puppies so they won't have to take her to a shelter or anything like that.

Her name is Bella, but I don't like that name because they chose it because of Twilight. I know its a dumb reason not to like a name but that's just how it feels, every time I hear it it reminds of the horrible acting in that movie and I really just can't think of that every time I were to call my dog's name. So I've been trying to think of names. So far I all I could think of is Kiara and Mercedes. I like Mercedes but I feel it would be too long for a dog's name.
I'm really horrible when it comes to choosing names. Any suggestions? Sorry I don't have a picture of her right now, I thought I did but I think its on my boyfriend's phone and he is gone right now. She is brown/black and has v-shaped ears sort of. She is a chihuahua mix (her mom is a chihuahua/dachshund mix and the dad is a rat terrier/chihuahua mix) so she is going to be pretty small.

Thanks! :)

Here is my step-mom's dog Nellie.... She's part labrador, and pit bull...She's an absoulute angel. I love her so much. She's the sweetest little girl. She doesn't like her picture taken at all so this photo is a bit blurred, but there is Nellie!

Maggie has food allergies. I've known this since she was about 2 years of age. Her vet tried Kangaroo Oatmeal food ($80 for 15 lbs.) and she was still a bit itchy. We then switched to California Natural Herring and Sweet Potato $50 for 30 lbs.) and her itching subsided and has been "under control" for the most part. She can chew beef bones from the butcher shop without itching. She can have sweet potato dog treats with no itching. A year ago Thursday, Maggie's vet died. He has since been replaced with a knowledgeable vet, but our rapport is not there yet. She doesn't know our pets like he did, nor we do. Maggie ate something about 2 weeks ago...who knows what...and had severe diarrhea and some vomiting. The vet gave her medication and it she is back to her normal self. She is itching, but that is because the vet gave us bland food for her tummy to help her get back to eating....and I didn't read the label assuming they remembered she had food allergies and it had chicken, rice, and some other grains in it...and Maggie is itching. She hasn't touched the food for over a week and a half, but she's still a little itchy, which is to be expected. The bad part about Maggie's food, is that it is very hard for her to have normal....bowel movements... after episodes of diarrhea or in general. She doesn't maintain the appropriate bacterial/healthy stuff that is needed. I'm thinking about switching foods and have been doing research...
I need your opinions on the following:
Blue Buffalo
Eukanuba
Canidae

I need something she will WANT to eat rather than picking at it as she currently does and also needs to be grain free (for the most part oatmeal and rice have been "okay") and avoid chicken! Fish is her best choice.

Update: I went to the store and found they had Taste of the Wild. I bought a small bag for treats and to start mixing in. It is smoke salmon and "grain free." Maggie thought I brought her amazing treasures and actually ATE. She hasn't eaten much the last few days and she gobbled her whole breakfast. This is a GOOD thing. Any thoughts on Taste of the Wild? Do any of you use it and with what results?

Hi there!

While I don't own a dog (yet), I'm hoping that this group can give me some insight.

My partner works in law enforcement and is thinking about applying for a position as a dog handler. The dog would be a "seeking" dog and trained to hit on large quantities of drugs and tobacco.

I'm wondering if anyone here is, or lives with a dog handler?

If so, can you tell me about the home life of the dog? I know the dog would spend most of its time with my partner at work, but I'd like some information about how you handle the dog when its "off duty".

My partner is also doing some research into this and talking to people at his work, but I thought I would ask the internet as well!

Thanks for any insights you can give.

This is my father with his pal Duke, i love this pic, my husband and bought my parents Duke, who is about 3mths in this photo for my parents after the had to put down their faithful sharpei Bruno after 13 years. After they had mourned their loss of Bru, and i knew they wanted to replace what was missing in their life, we brought them this lovable pup whos personality makes them smile and reminds them of how wonderful it is to have a angel in their lives once again no matter how long that maybe..This pic makes me glad of any expense that it might of cost..Love u Duke Thanks for making my Dad smile like this again.

This is dom an boom playing at about 4am, i have trouble sleeping an they usually accompany me when i am awake, well on this nite i was actual asleep until their late nite anticks start an woke me up, i was to busy laughing to be upset. I guess they may need pup ambien ..

I was browsing my stupidly large collection of webcomics today, and saw this wonderful thing:

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/07/dog.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Hyperbole-and-a-half+%28Hyperbole-And-A-Half%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

I don't think I've laughed that hard in a long time, because it's so very accurate about those dogs that you just really have to wonder.  I sometimes wonder about our youngest, even though she's part Border Collie... she doesn't seem very smart!  But she's only a puppy, so she's entitled to being kind of silly.

I also have a question! (Yes, I know, I lured you in and then HIT YOU WITH A QUESTION.)  The aformentioned puppy is indeed a Border Collie cross, we're pretty sure- she has a lot of the characteristics.  But she's also pretty tall for a BC and weighs 55lbs, which I think is on the large side for one, too (I'm not sure though).  Anyway, we know she's a mix.  The thing is, we're pretty sure she's mixed with some kind of sighthound, cause she has this ridiculously tiny head (we call her Pinhead!) and this long plumey tail she uses for balance.  Also those long legs and a tuck-up belly, where her waist is tiny and her hips are significantly higher than her shoulders.  She runs like a sighthound when we can get her to run full-out, which takes lots of room and our other dog running at high speeds.  But here is my question- her neck isn't quite as long as your standard sighthound, but it's still pretty long, and I know you're supposed to use thicker collars on longer necked dogs so you don't hurt their necks.  But I don't know how to figure out just how thick a collar she needs!  The one she has now is the one she wore as an older puppy once she outgrew the other one, and it's very thin.  Does anyone know how to figure out what thickness of a collar a dog needs?


The ding dong in question at Christmas, before she reached full-grown!  Also, Abby's back end- she was sleeping curled up against my leg while Belle slept curled up on the bed.  Not a big bed, I'd add, but at least Abby slept on the floor.  Belle will sleep on the bed always if she can get away with it, and she always can because I always wanted a dog that'd sleep on the bed.  Even if I only have a small twin bed at home and we don't both fit really well- she literally takes up the entire bottom half of the bed.


The dingdong and her sister, who think I was put on Earth with the express purpose of providing a lap to curl up in, legs to lean against, and hands to give behind-the-ear scratches.  Which is just fine with me, because I missed my dogs while I was in England!  Belle is the overgrown puppy in my lap and Abby was stretched out against my leg so I could scratch the white patch on her chest, which makes her do this funny blissed-out face because she just looooved having her chest scratched.  Weird little dork.  She and Belle both- they're so special.  It's why we love them!

Hey guys, I have a long story so I put it under a cut.
If you have time, please read this, I would appreciate any advice you can give me.



I have a 15 month old Jack Russell Terrier. I've had him in my care for a little less than a year, and he's always been very friendly and loving to others. But I've noticed some signs of aggression in him, in very specific situations, and until yesterday, I thought I could just train him to behave, but now I'm getting worried. So yesterday we went to the park so that he could play with other dogs (he sees these dogs every day so he knows them). He just recently starting humping other dogs, but he only does it to other male dogs, and he gets VERY excited when there is a male dog around. With girls, he is calm, he doesn't even play with them that much, but if there's a boy around, there is only one thing on his mind. So anyway, we let him play yesterday and then it was time to go home. So we're trying to get the leash on him, but of course he doesn't want to go, and when I grab him (gently, just so that I could hold him while I put on the leash), he starts growling and biting. He was uncontrollable! He's a small guy, but he's very strong. He bit every person that tried to grab him! No serious wounds or anything, but it was very painful. He got sooo angry. Everyone was telling me to grab him and pin him down on his side or back so that he could submit to me and I could put the leash on, but they don't know how hard it is when he's wriggling around like crazy, growling, AND biting! So I finally managed to get him on his side, and oh my god, he started screeching like mad. He sounded like he was possessed, it was horrifying. It was like we were hurting him or killing him or something, so bad was the scream. But I managed to get the leash on him and lead him away from the dog. As soon as the dog was out of sight, he was completely calm. I got home and started bawling because I had never seen him so angry before. It was also embarrassing, because none of the other dogs act like this, and I'm sure the other owners were scared too. He's never been this angry before. He shows similar signs of aggression (not as severe) when he grabs a piece of garbage (we trained him not to do this but it still happens from time to time) and you're trying to get it out of his mouth, or when you're trying to put the leash on him and he really doesn't want to go. Otherwise, he is pretty obedient and loving. That's why I was so terrified after this, I just wasn't expecting it.

Anyway, he's not neutered. I really hate myself for not doing it, but my parents were really against it (they are old fashioned, think its inhumane, etc) and I decided not to do it. There would be no chance for him to impregnate other female dogs so I thought that it would be fine but after this incident I am set on neutering him to ease the aggression and the humping. I am just worried because he is 15 months, and they usually do it much younger. I'm worried that he would not be able to adapt to it, and that he would suffer emotionally. I don't know if these are irrational thoughts, but I'd like to get your opinion before speaking to my vet. So I guess I'm asking if you have any experience/advice for neutering dogs who are older. He is still very young, but he's not at the ideal age for neutering. I could never forgive myself if I went through with the operation and he suffered emotionally because of it or his personality changed for the worst and he lost the livelihood that he has. And I understand that neutering alone will not fix the problem, and that training is very important, but I'm hoping the neutering will help.

Also, does anyone have any tips for training him against this aggression? I'm not sure how to go about it because he only gets mad in specific situations, so it's not like I can provoke the situation. And I don't want to take him to the park again because it's VERY hard to deal with him when he gets overexcited and doesn't get his way. I do want him to play with other dogs though, I want him to socialize, and I don't want to take away all that fun from him, but at this point, I have no choice but to avoid the park.

Anyways, this was so super long and I'm very grateful if you read it all!



Edit: Thank you so much for your help everyone. You gave me great advice and training tips and I appreciate your time a lot. It is obvious that I made some errors in the way that I handled the situation and I feel very bad. You all probably think that I am a terrible dog owner, haha :(

crossposted to jrterriers

I had someone request I put up more pictures. My camera has been out of order for a few months, and rarely do I get the pictures to transfer off my phone. Too bad, I got about 80 on there. Anyway, this is the most recent picture of Risk and it's still two, almost three weeks old.

Risk always comes with me to my sisters so he can play with the other dogs for a second, and I wasn't aware my lttle sister would be throwing Izzy, Ellie, and Kevin back with him.

It started out with my sister holding Kevin, me driving, and the dogs in the back. Risk was tied up, like usual, and the girls were loose. Ellie gets car-sick, or at least it looks that way to me. She worked herself up and started foaming at the mouth. She was very nervous and unhappy at being back with Risk, who was overjoyed and jumping on everyone. So, Ellie came up to sit on my sister's lap. Izzy didn't want to be left alone with Risk, so she too came up to sit on my sister. There wasn't room on her, so Izzy decided to sit on me while I was driving. All the while, Kevin had gotten away from my sister and into the backseat with Risk.

Risk wouldn't intentionally hurt anything, but he his large and can't hear if something yelps or cries. He got in trouble not long after I got him for clamping onto Ellie's ear. He wasn't looking at her so he had no idea she was yelping. He's gotten much gentler...except with Ellie since she still runs circles around him. So, while he wouldn't mean to hurt little Kevin, he was very excited to have something back there that wanted to cuddle up to him.

I'm trying to drive and keep Izzy out of my face. My sister is trying to reassure Ellie and lean back to get Kevin. I snapped this on my phone as we came to a red light. My sister just rescued a sopping wet Kevin, and Risk wanted him back. You can see the drool on the seat. He's been drooling more since he started teething.