coralandruby

I'll try that "Bitter End." Hopefully it will work, although we haven't found many things that Ruby won't eat If all else fails, I guess she will be confined to her crate during the night. Thanks for the advice! Jessica

This morning, I woke up to a very strange sort of grinding sound. I started to search the house for the culprit and I found Ruby, laying on the floor chewing the paint and plaster off of the wall. She has done this a few times, and I thought that we had corrected it. Once was a floorboard and the other time was the wall, which she chewed while she was laying on the bed. She only does it when I'm sleeping and she's awake. I'm worried because paint and plaster aren't the best things to ingest and now I have these three dents in my wall. Is there any way to correct this behavior? Should I put her in her cage while I'm sleeping? She has plenty of chew toys and she's a pretty good dog otherwise. I just don't understand her fascination with the wall. Thanks! Jessica

Denise, I do not have experience with UTI's in dogs, but I do have a cat that has had one before. The vet put her on Clavamox and it cleared up within a few days and she was noticably better after being on medicine for a day. One of the characteristic signs of a UTI or bladder infection is blood in the urine, which means you are lucky if you don't see that. If your dog likes water, you can put her in the bath with warm water and a little baking soda, it helps with the itching and burning. You may want to try cleaning her with doggy bath wipes in the future, which you can probably get at any pet store. Good luck! Infections of any kind are no fun. I hope she gets better soon! Jessica

I had learned that animals and humans get car sick because of an unbalance in the system. There is fluid in the eustachian tubes in the ears and when the body is in motion, the fluid moves. If you don't look out of the window and see the motion, your brain won't match the motion in your ears. This causes you to have motion sickness. My Ruby had really bad car sickness, especially when we went on a long ride out to the country and dramamine didn't work, but she finally grew out of it because she is now big enough to see out of the window. Also, my friend has an SUV and his pup got sick in it a lot until he outgrew it. Good luck!

We feed the dogs Pedigree. I don't know about the low sodium, but we use it because of the omega fatty acids since our other dog has really bad dry skin.

My bc, Coral, has a heart murmur. She was born with it and doesn't seem to be too affected by it. The vet says that if we see her acting tired or getting worn out, then we should worry but not until then. We are starting agility training next month. I was wondering if anyone else has a dog with a heart murmur that does agility or any other kind of activity that requires a lot of energy. Coral is true to her border collie nature, so I'm worried that when she is exhausted that she will just continue to push herself. She's pretty active. Just when I think she can't possibly have any energy left, she picks up a ball and drops it at my feet. I really want to do agility with her, but I don't want to push her too far. Any advice? :confused:

Thank you all for your information! We found a local training school. We have to go through obedience training before we can begin agility training. Coral and Ruby are scheduled to begin school in August. Hopefully, they have openings become available and we can start sooner. Again, thank you for taking time out to help us begin our journey! Jessica, Aaron, Coral, and Ruby

Hi! I have some questions. My boyfriend and I really want to get our two border collies involved in agility. However, we have never had experience in this field and do not know where to begin. Is it better to have professionals train the dogs or to try and train them ourselves? How do we begin with either options? Also, are some border collies not suited for agility? Our older border collie loves to fetch and run, while the other is more calm and would rather cuddle. We're not sure that she would enjoy agility, but since we have never done this, we have no idea. Thank you all so much for your time in advance!!! Jessica, Aaron, Coral, and Ruby