deafbat

Poor Boy! I hope everything turns out ok (and that the vet will get back to you sooner, rather than later). In the meantime, e-hugs your way!

oh man! these sound especially fun!! er... i mean interesting. you know, for the sake of science and what have you (and i'm not even little or a boy) nik- glad everything went well.

my fuzzbutt generally starts the night off on my (excuse me, HIS) bed, cuddled with me. he then migrates to the foot of the bed, and then sometime in the middle of the night, he'll either move to the area right in front of the bedroom door or the carpet at the foot of the bed, and then by morning he's back on the bed, generally up against me and trying to take over the pillows, the little monster. gotta love them, though. when i first brought him home from rescue he was relegated to the crate at nights and when i was away until he got potty trained.

oh man. that sucks. my prayers are with you and yours.

Hi Joe Anne- I'm in orange county, CA. All the trainers I listed are in the area (I got them from the socal aussie rescue site). They all say that they train w/ positive reinforcement (which is the same as positive feedback from my understanding?). I guess i'm just looking for specifics on methods and what sort of animals the trainer has experience with (fear aggressive? shelter/rescue? etc)

now that i've finally got solid obedience at home (without distractions), i think it's time that we started going to obedience classes, so that we can practice when there are distractions around. Here's a list of trainers/places i've been looking at in my area. Has anyone heard anything about these people? Laurie Zurborg Vickie Marx Lore Adams (but i think she only does in-home) Patty and Paul Thurner I think i'm most interested in Laurie Zurborg...

how awesome!!! go Solo!! and brava to you as well, Melanie, for all the effort that you've put into him.

not having gotten my bc from a breeder, i couldn't tell you with certainty, but it seems logical to me that the paperwork you would want regarding CEA and HD would be from the vet. Actually, whether you decide to go through a breeder or a rescue (which I strongly encourage btw), you would want to see the vet paperwork anyway, to make sure that whoever you're getting the dog from actually takes care of them. if I'm mistaken about the CEA/HD paperwork, I hope someone can correct me? (as this would be useful information to have in the future)

I think the question being asked was how do you tell the difference if the two very different problems are manifested with the same type of behaviour. or something to that effect

thanks for all the info, everyone. I'm hoping to eventually get into either obedience or agility w/ Ben, so I'm looking into it ahead of time. hopefully, as he gets stronger and healthier he'll become more active and less like the couch potato that he has been for the past couple of months.

When you trial w/ obedience, agility, etc, what associations/societies do you trial at/work with? the only ones I can find are the AKC and the UKC. Are there any others?

Perhaps the reason show people don't understand why the rest of us are frustrated is because we put on the frozen smiles and don't let on that we're insulted...

haha they said the same thing about the barbie collie last night too. Granted, the best of breed border collie was cute...it just doesn't seem to represent the breed(but then, it isn't really a BC by the standards of anyone other than show people). do they even allow working dogs into the show ring? anyone know if there are unspoken rules about that? I mean, it seems to me that all the BCs I've seen (rescues and farm dogs, mainly) are a lot rangier (and much less floofy, even those who are rough-coated) than show collies. How can a floofy dog possibly represent a breed it doesn't even closely resemble? I think I'm beginning to understand the frustration w/ the AKC and other show clubs. I'm probably not even coming close to what you all must experience, but I think I've made a dent in my comprehension.

I'll admit watching it. I wanted to try to figure out how they judge these dogs. so far, i haven't been able to understand how the process works. all I have to say, is these people are all kinds of screwed up. there's just no understanding it. i give up. also...it's amazing to me how vastly different a working collie and a show collie look. I definitely like working collies more The show collies look like Bernese mountain dogs (only smaller). While I like BMDs, they aren't BCs, now are they? Why should they look alike?

LOL! is *that* what that is?? I keep staring at it every time I go to the pet supply store and trying to figure out what purpose it serves. The two dogs I've had in my life were never insanely interested in toys. Ben rarely will touch one, and my old dog Coorain only liked sports balls--he actually taught himself to play catch--so I've never really needed to get creative with toys. Well, well, you learn something new every day.

maybe you should try feeding her in her crate to cut down on distractions? obviously you'd have to put the crate in a room away from lots of activity (bedroom, utility room, etc). just an idea.

Thanks again everyone. AK dog doc ( i hate to keep taking up time w/ questions, but i'm sure you understand), i got bufferin. my question is, since i'm supposed to give ben 1 pill 2x a day (but 1 pill, by the calcs that you provided would be for a 65lb dog), should i just cut it in half (thereby reducing the dosage to the equivalent of a 32lb dog--ben's 45lbs) and give each half to him with a meal? also, i think he's in too much pain to be able to maintain a poop-squat position long enough to go, so i think i have to take him into the vet to bandage/put a splint on the foot. which brings me to another question. is it ok for him to have both aspirin and dramamine (25 mg given an hour before the first trip, obviously, because he gets carsick every time he gets in) in his system at the same time? or should i hold off on the dramamine? thanks so much, again. I've never had a pet that broke *anything*, so i'm worried sick about ben.

The vet asked about meds, so he knew ben is on interceptor before he made the recommendation for aspirin (excuse the heinous grammar). I'm pretty sure by buffered aspirin you don't mean the generic kind (of course, i could be wrong). Do you have any suggestions as to what to look into in the way of aspirin or where to get it (i'm obviously not the kind of person who has to constantly watch what I consume and look at ingredients--other than as a weight issue--as I have no allergies)? also, in regards to Arnica, i know people have discussed homeopathic drugs on the board, but what, exactly, will this do? is it a pain reliever? a depressant? thank you so much to everybody for the information and condolences, and AK dog doc, I'll be sure to monitor his stool and any signs of vomiting

Well, that had to be the most traumatizing visit to the vet in my entire life. We went to the emergency clinic, since my vet's office was closed. We watched a 17 year old poodle die of congestive heart failure in the waiting room...fluid and blood just poured out the poor girl's nose shortly after she came in. I don't think I stopped crying for an hour. If I felt that way, you can only imagine how her owner felt. So I talked with him and I hugged him, etc. Then I felt guilty about bringing Ben in with what seemed to be something so comparatively trivial. Anyway, it turns out that he has a fractured toe on the right foreleg (I think they called it the lateral toe...it's the outermost one). The x-ray made it look like a fairly clean break, and it wasn't all the way through the toe, which i think is good (?). Doc said to come back tomorrow if he can't rest easily so that they can bandage it(apparently it isn't necessary at this point). So lots of rest for the next two weeks, no strenuous exercise, and, apparently, 2 aspirin a day (one in the morning one at night). AK Dog Doc, any thoughts on the aspirin thing? on the bright side, he has gained 10 pounds since I've had him. oh yeah. and I realized today that it could always be worse.

update: We're taking him to the emergency vet (do all vet offices out here close so early on saturdays?!?) as he has only gotten worse. Wish us luck that it isn't something extremely serious!

I know this was discussed in a previous post, but I can't seem to find it, so here goes... Ben came in tonight after having a potty break outside. I noticed a little bit later that he was limping, so I checked his paws for anything that could have gotten stuck in them, but found nothing. I plan on taking him to a vet tomorrow (not mine, since they'll be closed) if this doesn't get better by then. Doesn anyone know how roughly how much an exam/x-rays will cost for a sprain? His exercise today was a little more strenuous than normal--more jumping, twisting, jumping while turning, etc, and I'm afraid something either got strained or sprained. Naturally, I feel totally guilty and I'm really worried about him too, esp. since I can't figure out what's wrong. I guess I should have waited until he was totally healthy. I'm sure his body is still pretty weak from the malnutrition that made up his first two years of life. I totally should have waited until I was sure he was 100% better. If anyone has any ideas as to what it could be, I'd appreciate the input. Thanks, guys.

hmmm....interesting...where can i purchase such a toy?

oh, i know. i monitor ben's rope toy activities very closely. i've managed to take away almost every piece of rope he's chewed off and, thankfully, he doesn't chew it unless we've been playing 'get it' or i tie the rope up even more and stuff cookies into it--in which case, he's only interested in getting the cookie out (he uses his tongue and paws to do that).

on that note, what about squeaky toys? i won't get any for ben b/c i'm afraid that he'll completely destroy it and eat everything (including the squeaky), and i know that it isn't good for them, but squeakies seem to be the only thing that pet supply stores sell besides rawhides, cloth bones, and nylabones. even most of the rope toys (the ones where the ropes are representative of the arms and/or legs) seem to have squeakies (anyone know why that is, btw?). Ben has a stuffed snowman rope toy that he absolutely loves (luckily no squeaky), but its so hard to find those kinds of toys. I guess I'll just have to rely on that and his baseball. the funny thing is, he won't touch a ball unless it has already been used (either for sports or by another dog). go figure.

awesome. thanks guys. i will look into the string thing, although it might turn into a game of tug o war (a bad habit he picked up from his girlfriend).