2 Devils

One of my border collie/jrt mixes seems to have a sensitivity to heartworm meds. He has become quite ill with at least 3 different ones. I did have some Sentinel leftover from when I was hoarding it and thankfully he is ok with it. When I run out I will have to decide what to try next. His great-grandfather almost died from heartworm meds (they believe he does have a ivermectin sensitivity). He no longer gets HW meds but he is also in a low risk area. VA is a higher risk area but will do what I have to do... it was also suggested splitting the dose into 2 different doses (am and pm). With any meds there is a possibility of a reaction. You just have to decide how to handle it and you may have to go through some trial and error to find a solution. Trip's reactions: fever, diarrhea, lethargy, etc... so yes he has a bad reaction but I will continue the trial and error when it is time. I will just keep an eye on him when he is given the meds.

That is great news.

I have a border collie that the wiring just isn't quite right. She is beautiful, smart and overall a nice dog. We say she has beauty and brains and if only she had the temperament to go with it. She is neurotic, frantic, fearful of many things, sound sensitive, has border collie collapse, probably hip dysplasia, etc... I have had fearful dogs in the past and were able to help them get past many things. Tempe on the other hand is not able to get past many things. When she was young, she would pace for hours and never relax. Anything would freak her. She had to have a night light or she would pee in her crate at night. I know that a couple of her littermates have some issues as well but not as bad as her. We spent a lot of time socializing her properly, getting her used to things in general... a butterfly could send her into hiding (yes this did happen). We had her evaluated by a behaviorist and another vet who actually knew her parents. In her words the sire is mental, period. She believed that not much could help Tempe except possibly drugs which we tried and just letting her learn to deal. Drugs did not help much and I actually thought of putting her down because her life sucked. She was stressed 100% of the time. Melatonin did finally help some and she was able to learn and deal with stuff. She was even able to compete some in flyball when everything was just right. She got to play when she felt confident enough to do so. She had a backup so if she started shutting down or things just seemed off we could pull her easily. She still gets melatonin some times but she has at least learned to settle. She is a great dog at home when only one person is here. If there are 2 people that can cause the more neurotic behavior even though it is normally my husband and I. So yes some dogs are just not wired correctly. I have one and we have learned to deal with her and her issues and she has learned to deal with life. I have learned to read her and whether her "confidence" is up or not. For her, if she will play tug with me she is good to go. If she won't play with me, then she is not up for whatever task I plan to ask of her.

The ear infections could be allergies to food or even possibly environmental. I would see about food allergy testing and/or depending on what is being fed to go to a high-end grain-free food and making sure the protein is something not currently given.

I normally put a dog on leash when teaching to retrieve. That way I can reel them in if needed. I would also work on teaching your dog how to think and do things when food/treats are out. This could be a problem down the road because your dog could end up crashing equipment if the dog is too worried about the food.

Our holistic vet said when giving human drugs you give half the recommended adult dose. Hope that helps.

Congrats on adopting such a pretty dog. For car sickness, ginger snaps can help. I have some stuff that I bought from a holistic store just called Motion Sickness and it has helped my 9 month old pup tremendously. I can now feed him before we travel. He won't sleep in the crate and just sits there looking really pathetic but he no longer vomits. For him, I think the sound of the crate rattling upsets him more now than the travel itself so we have put duct tape on the handle and have tried to limit the rattling as much as possible and it has helped.

You can also check out a new book by Lisa Pignetti called A Beginner's Guide to Flyball. You can get it from amazon. It is a easy read.

When she is a little older (6 weeks is pretty young) you can do: 1. Recalls on the flat to a tug or food 2. Work on having the pup target (with feet to hand, lid, then wall) 3. Working a lot on name recognition 4. 2 treat game, 2 toy game then 2 toys that aren't alike (this will help them not to become obsessed by one toy) - I should have done this game with my puppy and didn't. That is just a couple things you can start with

You can give dogs zyrtec once a day. The dosage depends on the weight of the dog. When all my dogs came down with some upper respiratory infection (not kennel cough), I was told to give them zyrtec. The smaller dogs received a 1/4 pill to 1/2 a pill once a day and the 30lb plus dogs received 1 pill a day. Dogs can also be prescribed hydroxyzine (atarax or something is the real name).

They can also take Zyrtec

Chronic ears problem can be a food allergy or even external allergy. If it happens a lot I would look into some kind of allergy.

Thought I would check in and see how the ear(s) are doing?

I am not an agility person but have taken some classes so take what I say with a grain of salt... I am a flyball person. Could you accidentally be pulling/pulled Ollie off the equipment with your body movements? And then it just spiraled out of control? Could you be stressed at trials which made Ollie more nervous? If you can find some places that have equipment but aren't your normal places, I would think about taking Ollie there so you can work him in different locations. As someone said, it could be the equipment is "different" compared to what he is used to practicing on at class. If there are local trials, I would think about going just for the socializing/environment but not actually trial except for possibly jumpers but if he messes up I would continue like nothing happened and take the NQ.

Now that is looking much better. When you go to a real box, you need to have the exact same props, etc... still not triggered ball in the box - just a dead ball until she learns to get her mouth over the hole.

Puppy recalls on the flat are great to a tug preferable if tug motivated. If that is solid add a solid dog doing side by side recalls, possibly at more of a distance and then get closer as needed. Opposing recalls which can teach a dog to pass without even working it much Work on switching a ball for a tug... Work on target training - feet to hand (dog needs to reach up until up on back legs), then feet to a target (lid), move target to wall or something to start working the puppy to snap off (no turn at this point,just front paws) - then you can add the board with the target on it high up and work the turn at that point As SoFreshSoClean basically says is not all dogs learn the box the same way. When I teach classes I don't teach the turn the above way but did teach my new puppy this way. I started the target training when he was young so he had the foundation to start working the turn when he was a little older. For classes I teach more of a lure but not with a stick. Folks in classes normally want a faster result and many dogs have learned the lure way without a problem but truthfully I try not to use food unless the dog is not toy motivated... You will need to figure out what works for you and your dog.

So a couple things I noticed right off: 1. You need a higher jump board 2. Need a jump with a side on it (on side of her turn) as she goes very wide coming off the board 2 out of 3 times. If you are going to throw the ball even when practicing make sure to throw it straight out and not to the side. 3. One thing you can try if velcro doesn't work is - stand next to the board and have her take the ball from your hand while it is at the board. You may need to start with luring with the ball and her getting it from your hand further away and start getting your hand closer to the board. 4. On the box, you can try making a smaller board with matting and put it against the box at different angles and see if that helps getting the ball off the box. Again you can try the hand thing if needed. Sometimes I have found that if you alternate some hit its with adding a ball they can pick up what you want. 5. Make sure the ball is not triggered in the box. I would slow/stop the trigger and put the ball in the whole so they may hang a little but that will fix itself once the ball is triggered. Hope this helps some. It is hard to give advice when we don't know the turn was trained, what props, etc... These are just some ideas. I also don't like having much distance from the board/box when teaching the turn. If the dogs learns your movement for a turn when you are standing near the box, that can help them figure out a turn with a ball.

Just wind and some rain for us. Our house is on a hill so not worried about flooding. Of course we are surrounded by trees but a tree shouldn't hit the house if it comes down - most are facing/leaning away from the house. The cars on the other hand could get hit. We are more concerned about losing power but again that happens rarely for us but we have had some flickers. Hope everyone stays safe. I have some friends up near Delaware/NJ and hoping they fare well.

Can you post video without a ball and then with the ball? This will give us a better idea of what is going on.

So my thoughts: As Sue said, there could be a cause and effect going on? The shoulder problem could be tendonitis or bone spur or both. My eldest borderjack has bicipital tendonitis, a bone spur and some arthritis in his right shoulder. We had a steroid injection done followed by more crate rest and it really helped. He still comes up stiff at times but some of that is him not being in the shape he once was. We are working it but at a slower pace. This was from an injury a couple years ago and a couple times a year it flares up. Back in May after playing disc it flared horribly because he landed incorrectly. After a week of rest there was not much difference and the regular even said go to the ortho so we did. He did the xrays and injection and said a second may be needed. Riot can no longer play disc but flyball is ok. Weird but we are going with it. I will give him the next 2 tourneys and if he is still not running correctly, he will go back to the ortho to see what else can be done. He basically had almost 3 months of crate rest followed by swimming a couple days a week for a month. It was only in late August that he started playing ball again and doing flyball. I guess I am suggesting to look at having a steroid injection in the tendon followed by crate rest for a month and then very low impact exercises for a month. If that doesn't help fully, have a second shot done followed by the crate rest and low impact exercise for a month each. Riot is still not 100% but we were told the bone spur could be causing him to have lost some of his shoulder mobility and that he may never regain full use. If we go back to the ortho vet in Jan, I will be asking if doing flyball will actually make him worse and whether he should be retired or not. He is 8 yrs old. If they think surgery could possibly fix the shoulder, we will look into that as well. Needless to say, I can understand the frustration. You just never know what will actually cause the limp to come back as something you have done many times does nothing and then one day it does. For the knee have the vets checked whether the CCL and/or the meniscus is in tact?

LOL. It will be interesting to hear if it helps or not. I can only imagine the look on the vet and techs faces.

I was wondering if tick borne diseases were in Australia as well. If there is the possibility and even if the test comes up negative I would try the doxy route as Julie suggested. My borderjack has what is thought to be bicipital tendonitis with a bone spur and some arthritis in his shoulder (xrays were done so we know about the spur and arthritis). I am trying to new joint supplement called 4Cyte which is similar to Sasha's Blend which is made in Australia. I have heard some really awesome reports about Sasha's Blend. SB is not sold in the US as of right now and SB put me in touch with the folks of 4Cyte. Really nice and trusting folks. If you don't have TBDs in Australia I would see about getting back xrays if not already done so. Almost looks like it could be a disc issue. Our holistic vet also thinks Riot has an issue in his neck that causes him to go 3 legged in his hind end. I can't remember what it is but she thinks it was injury from a puppy before we got him. I also wonder if she may be having muscle spasms.

Can you video Kenzie so we can see what she is doing? Many of us have been through all this before and we may see something. What kind of surgery was it again? 1. Could it be scar tissue? It may be pulling really tight and feel like it wants to rip. I know from experience that sucks. My scar tissue did finally rip and it was painful but did finally feel better. 2. Maybe muscle problem. 3. Arthritis 4. Out of adjustment 5. Toe issue It could be many things. Have there been any recent xrays done? If the current vets can't figure it out maybe try a holistic vet as they actually get there hands on the dogs. They may feel something out of whack. Sorry you are having so many issues. It sucks.

I guess I am a little on the other side of things. We have pretty good neighbors. 1. I would talk to the guy. Explain that his late nights and loud music keep you up at night. Try to make a deal with him. If he would keep his "house" quieter then you will try to keep your dogs quiet until say after 1-2pm or something. But explain that you and your dogs deserve to be able to play outdoors and yes they will bark. Maybe buy the guy some ear plugs. 2. I would keep the dogs quiet first thing in the morning because they may not just be disturbing him. It may disturb other neighbors as well. My dogs bark and act like idiots sometimes while outside. I don't leave them outside unattended for more than a few minutes just because I don't want to create bad habits with them or disturb my neighbors. The guy may seem like a jerk but at the same time unless you try to talk to him about things you will won't know if he really is a jerk. If you talk to him and he is a jerk about it then well, don't worry so much about the noise and suggest that he get some ear plugs and tell him to stop yelling at your dogs. The problem with not being nice to neighbors when you have dogs is the fact you don't know if they will do something to said dogs.

Are you sure he is actually scratching his nose and not trying to scratch is mouth? He may just have bad aim. I have been giving my allergy dogs olive extract as it is good for the respiratory systems and it has really been helping.