science_doc

Thanks so much for your help guys! I think the vets skipped the aspiration because they think the lump appeared too quickly to be cancer. They treat me a bit like I'm some nut job who keeps bringing her dog back and taking up their time for no good reason. K, the lump is next to the nail, on the side/front of the toe, but the black pad part under the toe appears unaffected. She has licked and bit at it so much there is no hair on it anymore. In fact that's how I notice the lump she was biting and pulling at the hair. I assumed I was going to have to cut gum out of her paw (doggon hair husky toes). When I'm home I can keep her off the toe, but while I'm working, who knows? I didn't want to by one of those neck collar things, but maybe I should?

Hello everyone, long time no post. I'm having a dog health crisis and I really need the advice of some experienced owners. Frankly I'm scared to death. Last week Wednesday night I noticed what looked like a huge red lump on the side of my dog's toe. I had just cut her nails the weekend before and had not seen this, so I assumed it was an acute injury of some kind. I ran her to the emergency clinic and the vet looked at her toe, pronounced it an infection due to an imbedded foreign object (with no obvious entry wound) and gave me antibiotics then sent me home with instructions to soak the toe in Epsom salts until the swelling went down. I waited 5 days and nothing improved, so I went back to my vet during the day and had another check. The second vet agreed with the diagnosis of the first vet, and just told me I had to be patient these types of nail bed infections take time to heal. She upgraded the antibiotics from amoxicillin to clindamycin. However, she said one thing that's keeping me awake at night. "she said she didn't think it was a tumor, but Hailey has hit the age where that was a possiblity (going on nearly 6) and unless it was just fooling her this was not a tumor due to the accute nature of the wound". The other thing that bothers me is that Hailey is not lame or even slightly limping on that leg, and I would expect with the size of the infection that she would have some pain? Anyway would anyone with experience in this area please advise me. I am considering taking my dog to another vet practice to get a new opinion, but I don't want to waste the money just to find out that I am completely paraniod. Thanks

Absolutely dogs can have strokes. Honestly I don't know what the symptoms are like in dogs, sorry I can't be more help there.

I used to hunt deer and small game back home in Wisconsin. We would eat every bit of meat we brought home, far healthier and way less fatty than good old beef. Anyway I used to spend huge amounts of time in the woods because my first career attempt was wildlife biology. The problem with critters like deer, squirels, racoons, rabbits, etc are that they THRIVE in the "edge of the woods" kind of communities created by suburban sprawl. Even better that in places like Wisconsin there are vast corn buffets between the subdivisions. My parents must have planted about 2 dozen rose gardens and every year eaten to the ground by deer. Those da** deer were so tame you could open up the patio door and scream and they would just flick their tail. Anyway my point is that preditors like wolves don't really seem to enjoy that kind of close proximity to people. If you think you want them in all up close and personal I think you better get the cats, dogs, and children in off the streets first. How often do we hear stories of mountain lions killing people and pets in California? Allowing nature to take it's course in and amongst people just won't work, never has never will. I also worry about disease being a more painful end than being hit by cars......I wonder if the deer herd in Wisconsin picked up the "mad cow" like encephalopathy due to close proximity with herd animals like cows, sheep, and goats? Over population is never good for the health/immunity of the herd. There is no way that deer farms are responsible for the huge deer herds in the midwest, when was the last time you saw a wild cow/sheep/goat wandering about? PETA give me a break!

COOL they make um for people too: [url]http://www.flat-d.com/[/url] I've seen this same product for people before, toooo funny!

Not that I know all that much about dog training since I'm currently being trained myself, but I thought that you were not supposed to give corrections on a prong collar, but rather allow the dog to bascially correct themselves only when they pull? I have to say that when I put the prong collar on my own neck and tightened, piching the skin together did hurt. However, I think that's a better option than having the dog basically choke themselves and damage their trachea. I don't think the pinch should be anything but a last resort. I was lucky enough to be able to ween my dog from the pinch collar to a buckle collar after about 6-12 months of tough obdience work, but 2 different trainers I have worked with say some dogs will never ever stop pulling. As for the shock collar, I know that there are potential problems with using it, but right now if my dog gets free she will run off and someday this might cost her life. I am willing to continue trying to working recall with some of the tips I have gotten from people on this site, but in the end if I have too, I am willing to give the collar a try. However, I will only use the collar with a qualified instructor until I feel confident in the technique. I just think that recall is that important......but then again I'm still learning.....

Hailey got loose and got skunked, didn't help her recall a bit, :lol: I hate to say this but she stunk like skunk every time she got wet for about 1 year! I didn't do the tomatoe juice thing, but a vet told me to mix baking soda and something else, hydrogen peroxide?, with dawn dish soap......worked after about 4 baths!!!! Happened right in the middle of a move last summer!

I too used a prong collar on Hailey for about the first 6 months I owned her (she was already 4 years old not a puppy), mostly because she was a TERROR on a leash. I think they are excellent tools and in some cases as discussed above necessary for control. What I didn't like was always having to use that collar, I naively thought that I could transition to a buckle collar with no trouble at all and her pulling would majically disappear. That was completely wrong, Hailey learned nothing from the prong collar, I had to teach her to heel before she could walk without yanking my arm out of socket all the time. I realize that those of you with dog experience are going duhhhh, but I have learned that the things taken for granted by many people on this board are the very things that dog newbies like me just don't get. I figured that repetition with the prong collar would make her give up on pulling. That is true, but ONLY when she is wearing the prong collar. In order to prevent pulling with a buckle collar I have to give the verbal commands. Does that always stop her from pulling, nope, but since I have done some obdience and worked really hard most of the walks (2-3 miles 2xper day) are a wonderful experience. I talked about switching to a gentle leader with our class instructor and she said that it would simpley be another tool and that in her opinion many dogs don't learn not to pull with that either it's just another way to gain control until you have the necessary verbal commands in place (slow, heel, leave it, etc.). I think that prongs and gental leaders and both great tools, but new dog owners need to teach the commands too. By the way, these are just the thoughts of a rambling new dog owner who is slowly learning the ropes of dog ownership, there are many people on the board with way more experience than I have!

Welcome :) Our dog Hailey is a 5 year old husky mix from the local shelter. We are hoping to get another husky from a rescue in a couple of years. These dogs are by far my absolute favorite breed, but we have kitties too, so we have to pick our family members carefully :roll:

I have loved dogs my whole life, when I was a child I bugged my parents so badly they adopted a puppy from the HS for me. This dog was a sheepdog/terrier mix. Unfortunately, my parents didn't have the time or interest in this dog to train and socialize him properly. He was one of the most VICIOUS dogs I have ever met, but only with people outside of our family, so my mom and dad tolerated him for awhile. Then one day my beloved Patches growled at my dad and my parents decided he needed to be PTS before he hurt someone. After that I sort of gave up on having more dogs............then one day my master's degree mentor asked me if I would dog sit for her dogs. Oh my god, she had a female siberian husky and a male alaskan husky(really a GSD/siberian mix, LOL). They were the most beautiful dogs I had ever seen. I mean come on, all that hair, the attitude, the constant attempts to escape, the attitude, the amazing prey drive, the attitude, the howling, what's not to LOVE! They are such an intelligent athletic breed, I'm hooked for life. However, I must say that in the future I plan to adopt the oldest dogs from the HS regardless of breed and give them a home, but I'll bet there will always be some husky mix in my life :drinking:

Once again thanks for all the great suggestions! I was wondering what would happen if I stuck the collar in the wash :lol: That collar smells so bad it's going to need the baking soda/vinegar treatment first for sure! I wish I could afford to buy tons of collars too! My partner and I are graduate students in the biomedical sciences. We have both been in school for about 5 years now and we make very little money. We have 2 cats and the dog and fortunately for our credit card companies we LOVE to spoil our pets anyway. I think they eat, sleep, and play more comfortably than we do. But, with that comes some limits as to what we can spend :( Both of us are terribly excited for graduation and real jobs! Our plan is to start fostering cats and dogs as soon as possible. I'm afraid were going to end up with 10 of each. We definately need to be out of the 2 bedroom apt. before we get anymore......we have more pet hair than carpet!

We have a double thick nylon buckle collar that Hailey has been wearing during the day for around 1 year. The other day we noticed it had become incredibly STINKY. I mean like sour dead animal like smell! So we stopped using it for a bit and left it outside to "air" out after washing with dish soap. No good, terrible smell, so we washed it with laundry soap and let it dry. Once again, no go, still VERY SMELLY. Has anyone else noticed this problem with nylon collars and is there a solution besides just buying a new collar. I bought the double think collar so it would last longer, but if they need to be replaced every year I'll just get the single thickness from now on :roll:

:o Holy cow thanks for all the fantastic advice! I knew if I posted my problem you guys would come through. We have thought about trying the shock collar to work on Hailey's recall (based on a suggestion from a friend with an invisible fence), but with 2 caveats. 1 - It would be a method of last resort, I feel pretty bad about using negative re-enforcement, but if it's that or her life, I choose a little discomfort over dead. 2- Since we are both doggie novices we would do the shock collar training with the help of a good professional trainer. We would by no means going to take using the negative re-enforcement lightly, if I ever need to go that far. However, I think that for now I'm going to try the suggestions everyone has given me. I guess I was a bit naive to think that I had put in enough work to have recall......live and learn. I'm sure glad we get so much pleasure out of training :D

:D :D :D :D Thanks for the advice and the encouragement! It's nice to know that I'm not alone in the struggle to work recall. I have tried recall inside a tennis court and she does pretty well, I guess it's like being on the lead, not too many distractions so she might as well come get the treat. I am discovering interesting things about myself while working with my dog. Like thinking that once I taught her the "meaning" come she would just choose to do that whenever I called, LOL. Besides her breeds (Husky/hound or lab or shepard) she is a "talker". In dog class the instructor and the class used to laugh at us, cause most times we would give Hailey commands she barks (sounds and awful lot like complaining :lol: ) while she does what she was told. I figured that she would be a challange to train. The only reason I am so fixed on recall is her 3 escapes in the first year we owned her. I am always in a state of worry when she is at other people's houses or people are at our house. You can explain 100 times that she can't be trusted and in my experience people just don't get it (or don't believe me or are not used to thinking about it) until they watch her little tail go out the door and down the street. Last time this happend at a friend's house I had to do the running away thing and when she got close enough I wheeled on her and tackled her. I figured an injured leg due to me was better then dead by car, she had already crossed a busy road twice :( So I'll just have to keep on working her and try some better treats in a better area :D Guess I can't quit trying just yet!

I took Hailey to the dog park last weekend and I was totally excited since she had done so well with recall in her classes. However, as soon as I let her off leash she was gone like a SHOT!!!! She refused to return on my voice command so I resorted to blowing a whistle (also taught in class) and she reappeared extremely briefly to be sure I was alive then darted away without stopping, never mind sitting at our feet like in class! Now this "park" is 17 acres of uncut completely wild grass, so most of the time when I was shouting for her she was completely invisible. BUT, I am really disappointed and I don't really understand what this means. Once we caught her I snapped a 30 foot lead back on did 5 quick recalls, which she was perfect on, then released her again, same story gone for 45 minutes with ZERO return. I have to admit I'm a bit frustrated? But my real question in all of this is should I be frustrated? I have reason to believe that she spent the last 3 years of her life living with people that had a fenced yard and seemed to have done zero training. I have no idea what her first year was like. So they big question is am I fighting a battle that can't be won? Are there some dogs who just won't come when called end of story? Or is she just stubborn? Or am I going to have to try another technique? Another thing that crossed my mind is that she spends so much time on leash that when I do let her off she gets so excited and wild she forgets all about coming when called, maybe that means I'll have to wait until I have a better situation, like a fenced in yard, to really work her recall. I know that I'll never be able to have her off leash without a fence, but I would feel better if I had a little control........Sorry about the length of this post, but I just don't have the experience to know what to do next, please help :drinking: