Xan

After reading everyone's comments leading up to the video, I felt I'd learned some things, but didn't have anything useful to add besides hugs and encouragement. Then, watching the video, I had the same reaction as this: The swinging his head around as if to see what's wrong back there, the splayed legs, but when he runs it looks like everything works, just he'd like to get away from that bad feeling back there ... Lucy, I'm sending out those hugs and encouragement anyway! I'll be thinking rafts of good thoughts your way. :bighug The splaying out of the legs is something I picked up on right away. It almost reminds me of a dog with rickets.

Crossing fingers here! Maybe he just got into one of the goofy positions they do when they're sleeping and had a really stiff neck!

He's great! I'm still boggled that you have all those musical instruments around at dog-level. Hope none of them gets bashed during one of his bull-in-a-china-shop moments! My eyes are still recovering from that last pic!

Thank goodness it's treatable. I hope you can all get some relief soon! :bighug

Just looking at your various threads to get a fuller picture of this dog of yours. With the odd spot on the belly, the small toe, the hip dysplasia and funny breathing, it just made me think of my own weird (and deeply missed) Wabi. She was a deformed little thing, nose to tail, with malformed hips that also had arthritis. (you can see her in my siggy, on the right.) She would also do the breathing thing you describe. She didn't ever seem distressed, just like she had a hot flash. She'd lie in my arms in a nice sleepy roach, then all of a sudden her breathing would speed up until she was panting. Sometimes it would just pass without her even changing position, but sometimes she'd get up to go lie by herself. You could almost set your watch by her: 8:30pm, not every night, but the nights it did happen. Mostly in the evening, but rarely during the day. We never did figure it out, but it never seemed to amount to much, and she was so many ways weird that there didn't seem any benefit in worrying about yet another one!

I keep waiting for my Costco to get the turkey, but not yet. Glad to hear it's available in Hawaii, though!

We'll all be chanting away over here for Sara (and your DH's new job, and for Max's eye, and your nerves). You have a plate-full, indeed! [chanting] *Sara's brain bad things will drain. A good brain-drain! *Sara's brain bad things will drain. A good brain-drain! *Sara's brain bad things will drain. A good brain-drain! *Sara's brain bad things will drain. A good brain-drain! *

Thank you for sharing those memories of Maggie! Funny, sweet and now so touching! I hope they are balm to your soul.

Not exactly the same, but Pogo (my greyhound) had his upper jaw chomped as a puppy, resulting in it being really short and not much good for breathing. Oddly, even though it wasn't bitten, his tongue is also really short, barely able to get past his front teeth. He takes forever to eat, and makes a big mess, but after experimenting with wet food or dry, he seems to do best with kibble with water added at the last minute (not soaked). Hope he can get enough to eat, however long it might be taking. Has the tongue healed over?

What you're describing does sound like "just fun" rough-housing, but just for the off chance we're not seeing enough of the picture, or someone reads this in the future with a different dynamic, I'll tell you our story. When Pogo came here he was 9 months old, and the other two adult greys, particularly 3 year old Brilly (male), played very roughly with him, ignoring his signals of "Okay! Uncle already!!" and really hounding him. It made me very nervous, I asked about it, and probably failed to draw a clear enough picture, because I was told it was just normal fun. Not so much. Once Pogo turned the corner on adolescence, he also turned the tables on Brilly, and has been fear reactive of (mostly) male dogs ever since. We've had to work really really hard with him over the years, and it makes me a bit paranoid. Like one behaviorist said to us, "Once you have a reactive dog, it changes your whole world." Make sure you're seeing the whole thing, and know your dog body language. Use muzzles and trust your gut feelings! I wish I'd trusted mine back then. Even with us on full alert all the time, Pogo has still managed to tear into Brilly 3 times, and attack him less "successfully" several times. All that said, that video is so funny! Even though I had my heart in my teeth, it was still fun to watch them play!

So true! We had a behaviorist come to the house to help with Pogo (reactive, has repeatedly attacked our other boy), and he was able to hear her better than he had ever heard me saying the same things. Haven't figured out how to food-reward him yet without him catching on. Maybe that doesn't matter.

Boy, do I hear that! I can train the dogs *pretty* well, but DH is almost a lost cause! I try to impress on him the one I think is the most critical safety measure - to make them WAIT until you tell them ("okay") to go through a door - and his version (if he does it at all) is, "Waitokay".

Hm! Yeah, she's getting rewarded for this behavior enough times that it's worth doing, in her mind. You've got such a good handle on "leave it" and "take it". You must know your training stuff fairly well! You can probably wipe it out just by only giving her ANY food when YOU ask her for a behavior, not when she offers one. Ever. Evereverever. It may take awhile to extinguish the crazy begging, but wait out the "extinction burst", and you'll have it! Hang tough!

Having had a senior gal with IBD, my heart cringes when I read posts like these! Good thing his tests look good! I would also suggest a higher quality food, maybe trying different protein sources. If you get one he likes, good! If you're worried he's not getting enough, there are SO many ideas for taste boosters (but watch out for too much salt or fat!): parmesan cheese, garlic powder (not too much!), canned fish, tripe ... The smellier the better, apparently. You say he's been there a couple months. It might even be that he's still adjusting to his new life with you. Maybe he needs to eat in secret (behind a door, around a corner, in a crate), or maybe he will eat from your hand. Maybe his teeth hurt. Maybe he needs his kibbles soaked to mush and warmed up so it smells stronger. You'll find something! Good luck!!

That's so sweet! (And look at how white Jabari's face is! )

Checking in!

Aww. But, that's not as bad as I was picturing! So, yeay!

Yikes and yuck! Thank goodness he's out of that whole mess! How soon can he come home? Now we can all just switch to hoping for a speedy recovery!

Oh man! I know how you feel (don't we all!) I'll be waiting to hear how it goes, Lucy. With all fingers crossed that this IS the solution, and complete healing will now ensue. *nodding decisively*

Puddyrun, your girl sounds like my dear departed Happy. Good luck with her! Does anyone who is using the co on their face have a change in their acne status, better or worse? I have a touch of rosacea, much decreased over the years and learning better practices, but the co does not help the dryness on my face at all. It just sort of gooks up what would otherwise be kind of crispy. It's still dry and sensitive under a fine coat of oil, if that makes sense. I like to use a borage-oil based lotion, AND a tiny bit of co, which seems to work better than either by itself. But, CO can be comedogenic, so ... a few days, and, well, I have to stop for awhile, and let things clear up a bit ... Remember when they told you you'd grow out of it? I'm 52: They LIED!

Brilly got a bit of rock embedded in a pad once that left a little hole when it came out. It kept collecting stuff so that it couldn't heal, so I ended up putting a tiny patch of duct tape over the hole. It stays on way longer than you'd expect (a couple days, even!), and the hole was able to heal from the inside out. Good luck!

I never thought about using it for my dogs. I love coconut oil. It helped me out of a winter blues depression a couple years ago, and now I swear by it for my own health. I'm definitely going to start adding it to the dogs' routine care! Thanks for this post!!

Augh, Lucy! I'm so sorry Puzzle is still going through this!! (And you, and your wallet!) I'll be crossing all fingers and toes that the antibiotics can wipe this thing out once and for all!! Are you going to keep using the noni juice, too?

Since those sound similar enough to the opening moves of bloat, I would worry (being a worry-wort) that he might be building towards that. Maybe he has a tendency towards making extra gas, which could contribute? If the vet doesn't find anything, you might want to consider going over his food with a fine-tooth comb, and eliminate grains and soy. Oh, and dirt, socks and washcloths!

I'm wondering if there is a sub-detectable UTI, or ... diabetes? Isn't one of the symptoms excessive thirst and urination? They're both so young. I hope it's nothing too awful! Maybe take him to a homeopathic doc?