Really glad to hear it agentz, and good on you for rescuing him. Hope he brings a lot of joy into your life.

Audrey

Hiya

I haven't had a dog with pancreatic problems so can't comment from personal experience. However I have known of dogs with pancreas problems who do lead a reasonably normal life if they're managed properly.

There's two things that can affect the pancreas. One is inflammation or pancreatitis. It can be acute, they're extremely ill with vomiting, fever and severa abdominal pain, so it's obviously not that. It can, however, become chronic and sure, you do need to manage the diet to control the fat intake.

GSD's can also have exocrine pancreatic insufficiency which just means that the pancreas doesn't produce enzymes to digest food. That condition needs addition of pancreatic enzymes to the diet and dietary control.

So, how did it pan out for you, agentz? Did you end up taking the dog?

Scotia

Hennaly, if you're up to it, there's an easy way of getting an idea that your dog is going to whelp soon. Take her temperature with a thermometer up her bottom. There's usually about a 1 degree C drop in temperature about 24 hours before whelping. Normal is in the vicinity of 38.5 degrees celsius. I guess this way you could check a couple of times a day and you may be able to relax a bit more. Obviously nothing is 100% with animals, but that does happen with most dogs.

Audrey

Thanks for the update Jen. I know what you mean, if they find something it's possibly not going to be good, but at least it's something. If they don't find anything, where to from here?

Look forward to hearing the biopsy results. Keep your chin up

Audrey

That's a great site, Anne, and should be compulsory for anyone who thinks they want to breed. It's sure not a decision to be taken lightly. Thanks very much for the link.

Audrey

Great work Felicity, I love the eyes. They have a real softness in their expression. You do have a talent.

Audrey

Yuk. That's gotta be worse than sponging dog pee out of the carpet in the back of my station wagon, at least pee isn't chunky...

Audrey

Wishing you all the best Jen, keep us posted.

Audrey

Hi Jen

From what I recall (been a while   ) it's not that easy to diagnose a fungal infection up the nose either, so many conditions present the same. It's not that easy to biopsy up there, an xray  may be worth a shot next.

Audrey

I tend to agree with you, dogmad. I have a 4 year old, and I know where he is every minute of the day. They're too young to be off on their own. These dogs are mature and hadn't done anything like this before, so the owner seems to be being pretty responsible. If the dogs had a history of this sort of behaviour, I'd be more inclined to say dogs with that sort of temperament don't belong in suburbia, but the child had been patting them just that day.

Audrey

Can the dogs or the owners be held responsible for this tragic attack?

http://www.couriermail.news.com.au/story/0,20797,19858956-952,00.html

The dogs were behind two fences, and in a pen. The child wandered away from home in the cold dark evening, and walked past about 6 houses to climb over the fences and into the dog pen. The child had been playing with the dogs earlier that day.

I'd be interested in opinions.

Audrey

Hi Jen

Some dogs get fungal infections of the nasal cavity, which can present like that. It can be hard to treat as the antifungal medication doesn't penetrate into that area very well.

Another possibility - and probably not the sort of thing you want to hear. My 12 year old Border Collie had the same problem, she ended up bleeding from both nostrils and it was diagnosed as a nasal squamous cell carcinoma which had broken through the nasal septum.

Do let us know how it goes for you. All the best.

Audrey

You'd need to do your homework really thoroughly with respect to a professional trainer. I've heard of some that actually have made a dog's aggression worse.

Perhaps I'm harsh, but dogs that are aggressive to children should not ever be allowed anywhere where they may have access to children. So, no walks. No children visiting - do your parents have grandchildren? If that's not good enough quality of life for Bobby, then euthanasia is a very valid alternative.

Audrey

Hi there

Great site, and great idea. Might I suggest that you post your request in photography forums also, to get your message to not only petlovers, but to photographers who photograph pets. Depending on the photographer, some are actually in business to earn a living, and they may ask you to purchase the rights to use their photos.

Good luck.

Audrey

Hi

I own a 3 year old Australian Cattle Dog, desexed female. We have done puppy preschool as a baby, then clicker obedience classes, agility classes and just recently we've been learning flyball. She's a very fast learner and just loves it. So, theoretically, the training and socialisation from puppyhood has been appropriate.

In the past several months, she has shown a degree of dog aggression. She will go and say hi to a dog, wag her tail, sniff, and if there's any hint of anything from the other dog, she will get into them. When she was at puppy preschool she was menaced by a large German Shepherd pup, and when she was older, at a dog park, she was attacked and bitten by a Staffie. It looks sometimes as if she's going a dog because she thinks it's going to go her, and she wants to get in first. Very anthropomorphic

We also own a 12 month old ACD, desexed male, and she's becoming quite dominant over him. Appropriate, I think, but she's becoming a bit more aggressive than I think she needs to be there.

I've always been hesitant to allow her off leash in a dog park or on the beach, because of her tendency to attack other dogs. She is worse when she is hyped up, and adrenalin is coursing through her veins. She doesn't hear you call her, she's so focussed on getting to the other dog. She also gets fired up at dogs who bark at her through a fence when we go walking.

On Tuesday night, we were at flyball training, and she ran over to me, then kept going and took on a dog racing in the next lane. That dog reciprocated in kind, and it was on. A lot of noise, but no harm done. The other dog's owner picked his dog up, and my dog was still jumping up trying to bite the other dog. I had balls, toys, treats... all of the good things but getting to this other dog was so much more rewarding.

She is lovely to people, and very trainable. I will continue to go to training, but keep her on lead, as I don't think keeping her away from other dogs will do her any good. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what sort of behaviouralist or trainer I should seek. This is more than just an obedience training problem, this is the worst she has been, and I would like to get it fixed reliably. It would be a shame for her not to get out and about because of it if there's something I can do to remedy her behavior.

Thanks for reading this far, and I look forward to your suggestions.

Audrey