CaelinTess

http://www.pilchuckvet.com/animals/heartworm.pdf This is from a vet in my area. Actually, this is the vet office that handled the area where my horse lived for a time. I think this is the vet where a friend's horse was on the way to for colic surgery (unfortunately, the horse did not make it). It says the risk of heartworm in Western Washington (where I am) is low. I'll ask my own vet next time I take Tess in, but for now I am not going to worry about it. I am more worried about mosquitoes, so will try out the Bounce sheets once mosquitoes appear again. Allie & Tess

I will research heartworm in my area. When we had the foster dog (ages ago), the vet said we did not need to do anything for heartworm unless we went somewhere warm. I have two cats, but they are indoor-only. I'm on Whidbey Island in Washington State. Thanks everyone. (: Allie & Tess

I brush Tess often. She gets baths once a week (this is in lieu of the topical flea products she is hugely allergic to and works very well for us--no fleas present, even in summer). I brush her teeth every morning. I trim her toenails every week. She gets her rabies shot when required. She had her annual booster for the puppy shots but I don't think I will be getting her any more shots except the rabies unless we take a class that requires it. I hear people mention heart worm medications now and then, but my vet did not recommend this or even mention it. They did mention kennel cough vaccinations, but since Tess does not go to daycare or classes, they did not feel it was really necessary. Also, Tess had a kennel cough shot when she was little and got kennel cough anyway. They did recommend once-a-month flea stuff, but since Tess is allergic (huge weeping sores, depression, irritability), that is not something I want to use, either. Are there any other doggie health care needs I am missing? Tess is really my first dog. I had dogs as a kid, and we fostered a dog for 3 months once, but for all that, someone else (parents or for the foster dog, my husband) handled the major stuff. She gets plenty of exercise, her weight is good, she gets training, games & snuggle time every day... All my puppy and dog books do not seem to mention anything else and my obedience classes covered all the things that I am doing... I assume I am not missing anything but just wanted to be sure. Allie & Tess

You could try associating the horses with fun stuff. If the GSD and BC have fun things they love to do -- treats or toys or games -- you could do those around the horses. I wouldn't suggest throwing a ball while riding the horse... my own horse would lose it if I did that. Allie & Tess

I got Tess at 7.5 weeks... she is now a year and a half old... You will make it!! Puppies chew everything. The best you can do is use a crate and a pen and then supervise carefully wnen you are there. If the puppy picks up an illegal item, trade for a legal item. This worked with Tess. As I type this, she is shredding something -- but it belongs to her, so that's fine. Tess's greatest joy in life is shredding things. Fortunately she only shreds her own stuff now unless she gets ahold of some paper. We have to hide all the paper in this house. Many dogs outgrow this chewing everything up thing. Tess did not. Allie & Tess

You asked, everyone is telling you... GO TO A SHELTER. There are lots of BCs in shelters and rescue that would LOVE a job of their very own. It does not take long for my own BC to learn stuff. She can learn a new trick in about 10 sessions of 1-2 minutes. If I use freeze-dried liver, it goes much faster. If you want a trained dog, I'm sure you can find one via shelter/rescue. You just need to ask questions, same as anyone else adopting a dog... your questions will just be different. "How fast does s/he learn new things? How quickly did s/he adapt to this new environment?" and things like that. Allie & Tess

If the dog just happens to have a urinary tract infection at the same time (what the antibiotics might be treating?) this other stuff is going on, then he may not be able to hold on to get outside to pee, if he just feels like he has to go RIGHT NOW and can't wait. Tess had to go out to pee every 5-10 minutes until I got her to the vet and they diagnosed a UTI. But after she was on the antibiotics for about a day (after about the 3rd pill), she was doing MUCH better. So if your dog is not improving as quickly as your vet thinks he should (call the vet and ask how soon you should notice improvement, they will be happy to tell you) and ask for advice. Allie & Tess

Also, The Power of Positive Training is a good book, as is Dog-Friendly Dog Training. Both are available at most bookstores and online. I'm sure others will suggest more books, but both of those are positive only and in my opinion, that is the best way to train a puppy. Allie & Tess

I started Tess learning stuff the day I brought her home at 7.5 weeks old. I think I spent 5-10 minutes a day doing training stuff with rewards and cues and split that up into 3-4 sessions a day of about 2-3 minutes each or something. Letting a puppy be a puppy is very important, but there is no reason you cannot start training now. By the time Tess was in her first puppy class at 11 weeks old, she knew sit, down, shake, and "where's Roger?" (my husband) pretty reliably. I wish I had ignored everyone who told me to wait on "come" and "heel." Those two would have saved me a lot of grief if she knew them inside-out like she knows sit, down, and shake! Even just 2 minutes a day then would have made such a huge difference now. Just my perspective. (: Allie & Tess

I found that the NADAC web site has all the specs. My husband built an A-frame, teeter, bar jumps, hoop jump, and weave poles. My only complaint about the weave poles is that they are not flexible at all, so we are going to get those white poles used for electric fencing and use those instead. http://www.nadac.com/Rules_for_NADAC_trial..._Specifications USDAA also has their specs posted: http://www.usdaa.com/rulesReg_ObsReqs.cfm Allie & Tess

Teach him "down" too and then you can ask him to sit when he is down and ask him to down when he is sitting. And "stand" and a trick or something. I did that with Tess. She was QUICK and now if she wants something, she sits and then lays down to "ask" for things. We find this very cute. Allie & Tess

Tess is ABCA at the breeder's request. I have had many people tell me that if I want to do agility I will have to register her with the AKC. I just laugh at those people. Allie & Tess, where mutts rule (mutt horses, mutt cats, and our next dog will be a rescue--hopefully paper-free! )

Bonus about things that are the exact size of a tennis ball... they fit in a chuck-it. None of the "orbee" balls -- not small, and not medium, fit into the chuck-it very well. Tess LOVES the small ones, though. I got two glow in the dark ones, and those are fab for night games. I will look for a few pinkies myself and see if Tess goes for those. I have a feeling, though, that they would last about 3 minutes if they are the ones I am thinking of. Rubber, and very easily torn apart. Tess is an Industrial Chewer-Upper of toys. Allie & Tess

Tess does not have ongoing access to her fetching toys (otherwise she would not fetch them!) but she does chew up tennis balls. So after 3 tennis balls from Petco were chomped in half, I went with some synthetic ones and they work great and so far I have not had to replace them. I got them at a pet store but I think they come from Planet Dog. And Tess's teeth are plenty sharp. Fortunately she does not use them on me. Allie & Tess

I got Tess a wading pool and filled it with cool, fresh water every morning and then put it in the shade. She was THRILLED. Of course, it took us two weeks to convince her that the pool would not eat her alive. But that's just Tess. Anyway, provide a cool place and your dog will probably be fine. Clipping belly hair might help, but providing something cool to lay on or in might help too. Sure helped Tess. My mother-in-law's dog gets terribly overheated very easily. Tess was able to play and play and play when we had our "heat wave" last summer. I would never shave Tess. She'd look funny and also I am worried the hair would not all grow back. It probably would, but eek! what if it didn't... Allie & Tess

Tess took MONTHS to be willing to go potty anywhere other than her spot in the backyard. She would wait all day if we went to see my parents, then when we got home she was desperate. Something that has helped us is having potty commands, so you might try that. With Tess, we just were patient and eventually she caught on that it was okay to go potty *outside* in general and not just in this one spot. She was a breeze to potty train, though! She knew her spot and that is the only place she would go. That's my Border Collie, one sharp cookie. EDIT: To this day, Tess goes potty on leash and I pick up after her immediately. I have done this since the day we brought her home. I prefer she got potty in our yard when and where I tell her to, so that I can clean up and then she gets freedom in the house because I know there will not be any mistakes. Allie & Tess

I did finish out the class I took from that not-very-good instructor with Tess. I just told myself that I would not be forcing my dog to do anything and then I didn't. I even got Tess to walk up to the little girl who terrified her (just by existing, the little girl was in fact very nice ) and take a treat from her hand. I considered that a major victory because Tess is hugely suspicious of children. I just did other things at the practice time instead of trying to force my dog to walk up to people in the "sit for greeting" exercise. For Tess, it was more like an "other people are not all bad" exercise where we sat and watched instead of trying to hide. The instructor was NOT pleased with me at all but my dog sure was. Here things were finally going at her pace and she was no longer trying to hide under my chair. I like what Denise suggested; however, I am still not sure that I would return to the class with your evil poodle classmate. Allie & Tess

Tess is afraid of everything and everyone. The last class we took was too much for her and the instructor did not seem to have any sympathy for Tess, either. Tess was clearly mortified and the woman just said "Well, pull her up here to meet me..." and that was when I decided that instructor was not for us. I think you are wise to quit. Jazzy is certainly not manipulative or anything else the instructor was saying. Jazzy was just telling you what was going on and you were listening. You need an instructor who clearly understands that you know your dog better than the instructor ever will. Allie & Tess

In addition to Tess, I have two cats. They were kittens when I got them from a rescue. They are now both 6 years old. I got Tess from a responsible breeder just over a year ago; no rescue would give me the time of day because I didn't have a fenced yard. Allie & Tess

Glad to hear I am not the only one who tells people not to pet my dog. I just wish my family and in-laws understood this, but they all think "Oh, a dog! Let the kids play with the dog!" *sigh* Tess is not that kind of dog. Tess just wants to go her own way -- like me. I'm glad for this thread, it gives me something to quote to my family. "There are all these people with dogs who don't like {_____)... they manage the issues by AVOIDING (_____)." Imagine that. Common sense prevails. Allie & Tess

Tess is perfect in every other way as well. We just plan ahead and we cope just fine. (: Today, for example, we went to the vet for shots and Tess did not pee anywhere!! YAY TESS!! She also did not bark or growl at the vet this time. She also was willing to eat treats this time. She did not take them from strangers but she did actual WAG her tail in a friendly way at the technician. Poor doggie. Scared of everything! She always has been. We are going to go in to the vet's office regularly and use the scale so that place is not so scary. If your dog is not afraid of everything or shy, it is very likely he'll grow right out of the submissive urination. Tess probably won't grow out of it, but we don't care. She's such a delightful dog in every other way. Allie & Tess

My BC Tess will submissively urinate when she meets people or a dog she considers scary. She has done this since age 7.5 weeks. She is now a year and 3 months old and still does it, but not as much and not as often. Our solution was to just have her greet people outside and then when all the fuss is over, we all go inside. I did not mind cleaning up but I did not want her to think it was okay to pee in the house under any circumstances. Some dogs do this when they are super-excited as well. Another thing that has helped us is to have Tess go potty outside before greeting people (though we still have her greet people outside since she still urinates submissively). I have heard that some dogs grow out of this and some don't. The only time it was a bother for me was in the first obedience class we took (got tired of carrying around the nature's miracle and paper towels everywhere ). After that she seemed to do a bit better in the other two classes we took. Allie & Tess

You know... you could get a pager or a cheap small cell phone with a vibrating function... that could be your recall. Of course, it wouldn't be instant if she wasn't looking right at you to see your signal, but if she wandered around the house or something, then she'd know to come back... wouldn't work in an emergency, of course. I may teach MY dog that and she's not even deaf. I found some mailing lists/yahoo groups that are for people with deaf dogs. If you haven't seen them, you might want to join a few and see if they might be helpful. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/deafdogs/ (that one seems to get roughly 1,000 messages per day! Start there!) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Texas_Deaf_Dogs/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/deafdogowner/ Allie & Tess

Have you contacted a local rescue to see if they know anyone might be interested? Also, you might have better luck in the general discussion forum instead of the health forum if you are looking for a home for the dog instead of looking for information about a health issue. Allie & Tess

Tess has a UTI. We got a bunch of pills and Tess may need an operation if she has reccurent UTIs because of a troublesome flap of skin. But she is OK and we are all glad. Her weight is just perfect, too, they said, at 42 pounds. She looks good, they said. They said this even as she was snarling at them for taking her temperature. Tess got a whole bunch of new toys at the pet store on the way home. It is her 1st birthday tomorrow. Thanks everyone for all your help in getting the urine sample. It helped us stay away from the needles and various ultrasound things and my dog having to go into freak mode because I would not have been allowed in the back where they do the cysto. Allie & Tess