imported_danielle

Good Luck.... I hope you start seeing some positive results soon :P

Basically at heart I'm a bully girl so my faves are Staffies, ASTs, Brit Bullies, APBTs, American Bullies etc. If I ever move away from the bullies though I still love the big dogs: Rhodesian Ridgebacks, Dobermans, Rotties. I don't have enough room for such big dogs, but if I ever do I would love to get a ridgeback...... But I am totally in love with the bullies - they are medium sized, loving, beautiful with other dogs when well trained/socialised, short haired, funny... oh the list goes on and on!! Only bad things are allergies and breed specific legeislation (#@%*!!!)... But any dog with a good personality I like (I have considered owning Duck Tollers, Basenjies and Kelpies because I love them too)..... Hey I suppose I just love dogs :P

There could also be Kelpie in him...... there are a lot of working Kelpies in Australia that look like that!!!

It sounds like breaking the walks up, booties (if your dog will wear them!!) and a coat would all help.... Where I live (Perth, Australia) it doesn't snow.... But we do (normally when not in drought) get very cold, wet winters..... I have a Staffy X Kelpie (Zayda) and an American Staff (Asher) and they need coats with their short hair - as soon as they get wet its shivering time...... Zayda also has extreme allergies, one of which is a mould allergy and gets worse in winter.... The coat really helps keep her warm and stops the allergy from flaring as badly as it otherwise would... So I would definitely suggest a coat as a way to keep your dog warm..... The booties sound like a wonderful idea and we are meaning to try them with Zayda as she gets infections inbetween her toes from the allergy and wet in winter.... Only thing is I think we will have to train her to waer them as I can't see many dogs being happy with booties..... That's the only problem I could see with them.... But I know quite a few dogs who live in places where it snows and they wear booties quite happily....

hi..... I agree with Cassie..... The best thing you can probably do is to really reward her and treat her for peeing when she is with you and in the right place/time... By doing this hopefully she will come to associate peeing with reward/good things and not be so worried about it. Hopefully in turn this will help with the infections as well..... Have you tried just feeding her cranberry juice?? My dogs love things like that becuase of the sugar and a little bit shouldn't hurt as long as its a good 100% juice..... Much easier to get down than something like a pill!! hope things work out Danielle

Hi, As you will already know (if you have read any of my other posts) I have an EXTREMELY allergic puppy.... She has 5 food allergies, an intollerance and an atopic allergy to a mould spore for which she is currently undergoing a series of hypersensitisation injections (these start at an interval of every 4 days and move up to an interval of every 21 days rising in strength as they go and normally a hypersensitisation course lasts for 2 years). The only way to full determine what a dog is allergic to is to see a dermatology speciallist and undergo testing: normally interdermal skin testing for atopia and food exclusion diets for food allergies. Some dogs are extremely sensitive (as some one else pointed out) and react to the smallest amount. The way that your dog's rash has come on so suddenly suggests to me an atopic allergy as food allegies take time normally to go through the system. It would have to be a pretty severe allergy and if he's never had a reaction like this before I would suggest that he either got an extremely large dose of something he is allergic to or encountered something new that he is allergic to. But the only way to know for certain and take real steps to work on the issue is to see a specialist.... Yes this is expensive and time consuming but well worth it. My little girl is happy, healthy and sparky now where as before she was limp, skiny, had no fur and set off my skin allergies as well. You really need to be specific and treat each allergy separately.... Sometimes with extreme cases this means being limited to one food source, regular medicated baths (Zayda had to have twice weekly medicated baths at one stage) and cleaning routines..... I hope this helps.... Good luck, it seems that your poor little man has extreme reactions to something and you need professional help to find out what it is... Your regular vet whom you trust should be able to refer you to a specialist. Hope the new year is better for you Danielle

There is actually no such thing as a "non allergic" food..... People/dogs with food allergies are allergic to the source of protien. We become allergic to the things we are most often exposed to, especially from an early age...... Therefor, dogs are very often allergic to beef as it is used in so many dog foods. Because of this people started bringing out foods with novel protiens (ones that had never been in dog foods before) such as lamb and marketing them as hypoallergenic.... the truth is that they are not and now more dogs are becoming allergic to lamb as well because it is in so many foods..... The food you were feeding the mum had something in it that the pups were reacting to.... you have to do an elimination (test each ingriedent one by one) to work out what it is..... My dog is allergic to (that we know of): Beef Lamb Corn Tuna and Sardines She also has an intolerance for eggs (make sher go ADD). Hope this helps!!

my staffy X kelpie (female) does something that sounds like this when she has got a really interesting/strong/new smell...... but as all the others say - get it checked if you are at all worried: our pup's health is worth the money!!! (I've spent over $12,000 Australian and still counting on this dog!)

My 22-month-old Staffy X Kelpie has extensive allergies and what you describe fits this to a T. I would definitely suspect a yeast infection and another sign of this could be if she makes you or any body else itchy or break out in any kind of rash when you have contact with her. Zayda also had Demodetic mange and this could also be a definite cause

Hi, I'm in Perth, Western Australia and, as someone else pointed out, the Proheart Injection is annual here....... All of this makes very interesting reading and I feel great empathy for the people that have lost their dogs. However, I did want to present the other side of the argument. I have a beautiful StaffyXKelpie who is 22 months old. She has severe food and atopic allergies and we have spent all of her life sorting these out and finding a diet that is appropriate to her. We have her on the Proheart injection and have had no problems with this product. We made the choice to give her this for a number of reasons, the most important being: 1) all of the tablets you get contain flavourings that she is allergic to (and repeatedly giving her and allergy causing protien can force an anaphalactic reaction) 2) We cannot use revolution because her medicated bathing regime cancells this out 3) It is very important to have protection against heartworm and this is the only form Zayda can safely use People have said that they feel that their dogs have died from having blood clots by being given the injection when they are infected. This would suggested to me that it is not a fault of the injection, but a fault of the testing process that tells us if a dog has heartworm. Others have said that their dog has had an anaphalactic reaction: this means they had an allergic response to the medication. Unfortunately you cannot tell if someone is allergic to something without them experiencing a reaction. These are the same problems and reasons for why people sometimes do not have their dogs vaccinated. I think that it is important to take in all the available informaiton and make your choice based on what is right for you and you dog. Everyone has different sensitivities to different things and, unfortunately, these will sometimes be life threatening. I am not defending the drug multinationals or trying to belittle the sad times that these people have obviously experienced.... I just wanted to show that sometimes things work different for different individuals (as someone pointed out herding dogs have certain sensitivities and should therefore, avoid some products which are quite safe for others). I myself am allergic to one of the very common substitue antibiotics that is given to people who are allergic to penicilin, I have to have this information with me in case of an emergency as this medication is often given in such situations "just in case" the unconsious person is allergic to penicilin. The only way I could find out that I was allergic was to take this drug and have a reaction. The most important and responsible course of action for us to take as consumers is to be informed: be aware of what possible side effects maybe, weigh up the pros and cons of your life situation and then, if you decide to use a product, look out for those side effects and take immediate action. Vets are like people doctors and you have to shop around and find one that is willing to converse with you on such issues. We are lucky as we have extremely good vets (both GPs and Specialists) in this regard. I hope that no one takes offence at this - I am certainly not trying to say that anybody is wrong. But I have learnt through the experience of mine, my Dog's and other people's medical conditions that there are many things on this planet that work for some and not others and that are also illness causing or life threatining for some, whilst being perfectly safe for most. Thanks Danielle Brueschke