The dog musing/vent thread

Lyzelle

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I am in such a painful delimma today with Zander. As most know he has been miserable this year with itching and scratching and biting. His coat is yuck, he stinks, he's ripping out his coat chunks at a time. He has dropped weight I assume because he's just so darn tired of scratching and then that makes him anxious, and then that stresses him out more...

It wasn't fleas, skin scraping is clear. Isn't food unless it is recent and new and either eggs or pea/potato. So we went ahead with a cortisol shot and week and a half steroids/cortisol.

It is an immediate change. He isn't itchy, he slept well, he is so full of himself and happy and dorky as he used to be. I'm THRILLED he feels better. But I hate to think of this as a cure. I don't like the idea of this being his treatment. I don't want to know long term side effects. But I don't want him miserable either.

Sigh. I wish there was something better I could do. I wish it was a simple food allergy and I could such switch him. But when he is allergic to the WORLD, it isn't as simple or easy or guilt free.
 

Saeleofu

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Lyz, I had to break down and give Logan steroids this year, too. TWICE. :wall:

I'm planning on waiting to see if he does the same thing next year, and if so doing allergy testing/desensitization. BUT I'm hoping that since this year was such an awful year for allergies, it's not going to be as bad next year.
 

*blackrose

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I am in such a painful delimma today with Zander. As most know he has been miserable this year with itching and scratching and biting. His coat is yuck, he stinks, he's ripping out his coat chunks at a time. He has dropped weight I assume because he's just so darn tired of scratching and then that makes him anxious, and then that stresses him out more...

It wasn't fleas, skin scraping is clear. Isn't food unless it is recent and new and either eggs or pea/potato. So we went ahead with a cortisol shot and week and a half steroids/cortisol.

It is an immediate change. He isn't itchy, he slept well, he is so full of himself and happy and dorky as he used to be. I'm THRILLED he feels better. But I hate to think of this as a cure. I don't like the idea of this being his treatment. I don't want to know long term side effects. But I don't want him miserable either.

Sigh. I wish there was something better I could do. I wish it was a simple food allergy and I could such switch him. But when he is allergic to the WORLD, it isn't as simple or easy or guilt free.
If it makes you feel any better, Gracie has been on a maintenance dose of Temaril-P for the past year, without breaks. That is the only thing that keeps her skin happy, and we still have to do rounds of antibiotics every other month or so it seems. I ran bloodwork on her last week, and her values were WONDERFUL. The vet was actually shocked and said we must have her on the perfect dose, as she there wasn't even a rise in any values.

I'd much rather have a happy, non-itchy, non-hivey dog who I have to monitor every 6 months than a miserable dog. Of course, in a perfect world, we'd have her allergy tested and get allergy injections...but that would cost between $600-$800 for the initial workup and that is WAY out of budget. So Temaril-P and bloodwork every 6 months it is.
 

Southpaw

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I met a Dutch Shepherd today. He was super cool. Way cooler than I thought he would be. I was expecting him to be a spaz and sketchy around strangers and even before I met him I was like "I'm not trusting this dog." But he was a complete sweetheart and gave me delicate kisses while I took his temperature and in his mind nothing bad could happen as long as cookies were involved.

Needless to say, he got a star sticker booped on his forehead for being such a star patient! :thumbup: I kind of love when dogs are so pleasantly surprising.
 

Saeleofu

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I met a Dutch Shepherd today. He was super cool. Way cooler than I thought he would be. I was expecting him to be a spaz and sketchy around strangers and even before I met him I was like "I'm not trusting this dog." But he was a complete sweetheart and gave me delicate kisses while I took his temperature and in his mind nothing bad could happen as long as cookies were involved.

Needless to say, he got a star sticker booped on his forehead for being such a star patient! :thumbup: I kind of love when dogs are so pleasantly surprising.
I've only met 2 dutchies, and they were both awesome. One was Indy, the other was the bitch traveling though in heat on my last day at the clinic.
 

Southpaw

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I've only met 2 dutchies, and they were both awesome. One was Indy, the other was the bitch traveling though in heat on my last day at the clinic.
I feel bad that I was judging him so harshly before he even walked in the door lol, I really know absolutely nothing about the breed. I was just kind of lumping them in with German Shepherds (because why not?), a breed that I'm just not comfortable trusting very far (sorry). But this dude was wonderful and I'd be happy to handle him any day of the week!
 

Saeleofu

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You know, reading what I wrote, I realized the only two Dutchies I've met have both been bitches in heat :rofl1:
 

CharlieDog

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You know, reading what I wrote, I realized the only two Dutchies I've met have both been bitches in heat :rofl1:
Hahahaha, I was just about to point that out!!! lmao.

Indy's a doll. Other Dutchies I've met (just a few) have ranged from AWESOME to SPAZ lol. One was a no touch dog on the Police force though.
 

Laurelin

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Mia has awful diarrhea today. She was very subdued this morning and wouldn't eat her food from her treat ball. Just kept lying down and going back to sleep. Gonna keep a close eye on her.
 

Dogdragoness

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I am in such a painful delimma today with Zander. As most know he has been miserable this year with itching and scratching and biting. His coat is yuck, he stinks, he's ripping out his coat chunks at a time. He has dropped weight I assume because he's just so darn tired of scratching and then that makes him anxious, and then that stresses him out more...

It wasn't fleas, skin scraping is clear. Isn't food unless it is recent and new and either eggs or pea/potato. So we went ahead with a cortisol shot and week and a half steroids/cortisol.

It is an immediate change. He isn't itchy, he slept well, he is so full of himself and happy and dorky as he used to be. I'm THRILLED he feels better. But I hate to think of this as a cure. I don't like the idea of this being his treatment. I don't want to know long term side effects. But I don't want him miserable either.

Sigh. I wish there was something better I could do. I wish it was a simple food allergy and I could such switch him. But when he is allergic to the WORLD, it isn't as simple or easy or guilt free.
It must be something having to do with the season, because I have been having to give Bear, the JRT Benadryl twice a day for his itching or else he is miserable. his skin gets all red and you can tell he just isn't comfortable in it :( its hard to watch, having sensitive skin myself, I know what it feels like to have itchiness and allergy to something.

I also looked at the food I was feeding and noticed that the beef version I was feeding had yeast extract and rosemary in it, so thinking it was that, I switched to another formula (same brand) that didn't have either and it seemed to help some but he was still itching and was generally still uncomfortable, so I had to break down and give him Benadryl.
 

crazedACD

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Went for a little hike this morning with Romeo and Fiona. Romeo of course appreciated climbing on all the boulders and has a blast. Fiona was getting into it too...she really likes climbing and being up on stuff.

Come around the bend, and I can see someone walking ahead-Fiona was leashed already, I called Romeo and put his leash on. A woman starts walking towards me, she is saying something, and then a GSD comes barreling out of the woods and into my dogs :eek:. The woman finally gets within earshot, she's saying her husband took her pitbull around the corner, and could I wait until they get out of eyesight because he is aggressive, but it is OK if my dogs attack her GSD, he won't do anything. Wtf?
 
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Just scheduled Penny's spay surgery. Super nervous. I know they do spays on much smaller animals than her but she's so tiny. Maybe 2.5 lbs. She turned six months old today.
 

PWCorgi

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Just scheduled Penny's spay surgery. Super nervous. I know they do spays on much smaller animals than her but she's so tiny. Maybe 2.5 lbs. She turned six months old today.
They do, ALL THE TIME! Just think about all the cats that go in :) When Siri came to work with me for her spay, at 10.5 pounds she was the second largest animal they did that day, lol. She will be fine! (which I know is easy to say when it's not your pet :p)
 

PWCorgi

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Hello winter, hello again allergies. Frodo is back to licking/scratching and I know it's not food because nothing has changed for months with regard to his diet. :(

Also Siri is driving the whole household crazy, we started working on agility stuff again today because otherwise I'm going to kill her.
 

Oko

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Feist came home allergic to retrieving. Like, lol no never would she ever bring anything near me. She'll now retrieve most of her toys. I didn't train it at all. Thank you, puppy.
 

Dogdragoness

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Hello winter, hello again allergies. Frodo is back to licking/scratching and I know it's not food because nothing has changed for months with regard to his diet. :(

Also Siri is driving the whole household crazy, we started working on agility stuff again today because otherwise I'm going to kill her.
I know I am going to sound like a very terrible person for it but the allergy licking / scratching gets HIGHLY annoying. I can't stand the sound >_<. I know they can't help it but I always tell bear to stop lol
 

Saeleofu

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I woke up SO COLD this morning despite having a heating blanket and the heating blanket turned on. Guess what I found? Gavroche had taken the blanket, bunched it all up into a dog-sized nest, and was sleeping on it. THE ENTIRE ****ING BLANKET. Thanks, dog >.>
 

Beanie

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Writing this book has me thinking about things it shouldn't.
Auggie is retired. I really should just let it go.

But I can't. Why? When I retired him I knew I made the right decision. Most days I still feel like it was the right decision.
But I also know he loves to play. I know he was furious in Springfield when I took Payton and left him in the crate. He could hear me running Payton and he barked angrily in his crate the entire time. When it came time to let him out so I could take him out to pee, he was excited and rambunctious because he thought he was going to get a turn.

And now I just don't know. Maybe I didn't make the right decision. Maybe I should still be running Auggie. My friends said I should just run him in jumpers every now and then just for fun. And while writing this book, there's a tiny voice in the back of my head: You're a better trainer than this. Why did you throw in the towel? You can beat this. You just have to be more creative. You have to try harder. You need to train better.


My biggest concern is that Auggie is not physically well suited to agility. His short toe anomaly means his feet just aren't totally flat to the ground. VMOs have looked him over and seen his feet and never said "This dog really shouldn't be running." His breeder is a CVT and never told me "it's probably best for him if he doesn't run." His holistic vet knows ALL my concerns about his feet, probably more than anybody else, and has never told me he can't play or shouldn't.
If NONE of these people have told me he shouldn't be playing... why do I think he shouldn't? I know it's a contributing factor to his movement - but does that really mean he shouldn't play?

I don't know what to do.


All complicated by the fact that more than anything I just really, really want to run Auggie again.
 

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