I cannot get this dog well

edited November 2012 in Akita (秋田犬)
This is more of a rant than a request for advice. Mosura has had problems for months now and its getting very frustrating and disheartening. I feel like I am failing her. I get so mad that this situation even exists, I get mad that she isn't improving, and I feel guilty when I blame her. Not that I yell at her or anything, but I can feel sometimes my heart hardens and I just want to give up. Then I feel sick for having those thoughts/emotions. I cannot honestly say I've improved her life by taking her out of Japan. I cannot honestly say she's happy or well-adjusted, because her socialization and training has been put on permanent pause due to all of her health problems. She's still so scared of everything. I was so hopeful for her improvement when initially bringing her home, but she's been at the same level for months now.

She had her second heat in the middle of May at 10 months old. It seemed awfully young for a second heat to me, but it was just the first of the problems. She then lost her coat and continued to lose it; she barely resembles an Akita now. I thought it would start coming back in a few months, but instead, she went back into heat in August -- only three months later. Her heat started August 12th and only finally ended after 75+ days last week. She was incredibly messy both times, but two straight months of bleeding just about drove me crazy. I couldn't stand to have her in the house spotting on everything, I couldn't trust her to be alone out in her run. I tried putting panties on her but after she explosively pooped in them three times (with plenty of opportunity for potty breaks, once was even right after I put them on her) and needed a bath, gave up on that. During the middle of summer all three of my girls got hot spots -- but Mosura started chewing on herself and never stopped. We thought it was the extreme heat (it seems that was the case for Gojira and Gryphon) but now its cooled off. She took off all the fur inside her back legs and belly and around her vulva. She chewed it short and coarse, making her back end covered in stubble and black/purple specs of scabs. We put a cone on her and it was mostly effective. But I couldn't look at her - with her vulva swollen from her season and hairless rear end, it looked like nasty, scabby shaved balls. Mosura is a contortionist and managed to rake at her belly with her rear legs, continuing to lose fur and cause scabs. For a few days we tried putting socks on her feet, but they seemed ineffective and got nasty faster than I was willing to buy new socks. She has always been a habitual coprophage (poop eater) so really cannot ever be left alone in her run or in the yard. The only place she could be kept from clawing herself up and eating shit while I work was in her crate. So she spent a lot of time in her crate -- still wearing the cone. She's had the cone on for over a month now. In the past two weeks with her heat finally receding, I started to see some new white hairs on her butt. "She's finally improving!" I thought. Then yesterday or the day before, she figured out how to press her cone up against the side of the crate in such a way that it would allow her to chew on herself. Noticing fresh pink on her backend today I tried switching to a basket muzzle instead of the cone. She prefers the muzzle, which doesn't block her peripheral vision and so she is less skittish and terrified of everything. But the muzzle is slightly too big with her slender skull and now sparse coat, and she managed to paw it off. She made her entire tail base bloody and raw in a short period of time before we noticed. Meanwhile, since May she has stopped putting on weight and I think has even lost a few pounds (hard to tell with also losing coat). At the start of May I felt that her chest was beginning to fill out, and now her collarbone and sternum seem very prominent to me. She is very tall, but I doubt she weighs much more than Gojira. Because of her fear, I have had to carry her inside at night a few times when she was too terrified by an object or smell in the yard to come in -- despite whining, crying, and yodeling to be let in she cannot cross the last 20 feet. Fortunately she willingly will stand up to give me a "hug" and let me lift her that way and doesn't seem to mind me carrying her past the "scary" thing. Many things changed that could have caused her incredible itchiness and we didn't want to rush into changing her food and giving her loose stool if it wasn't food allergies. (Seriously, the only thing more disgusting than an autocoprophage is one with diarrhea.) Her hormones were obviously out of whack due to her short anestrus and prolonged, frequent estrus. It was incredibly hot for a few back-to-back heat waves that only finally stopped in the middle of October. We switched from Advantage to Advantix II and then Trifexis (3 weeks ago), and though I never saw a single flea, that doesn't mean there weren't any. While she was on the topical medications she had multiple baths (to clean off poop, clean her scabby bits, etc) which likely reduced their effectiveness. She might have had a reaction to the shampoos used in said baths; only the last couple times have I used only pure water. During the worst of the heat she would wade into our inground fish pond to cool off, which could have led to some kind of bacteria. At one point when examined by the repro vet due to her prolonged heat, the vet noticed a lot of bacteria in her girly bits on the slide. So she went on some antibiotics for that. This coincided with when she began wearing the cone so I'm not sure if it had any effect. She's been seen by the vet a dozen times, had multiple hormone shots and an ultrasound, blood tests, allergy tests, progesterone tests, heartworm tests, other parasite tests, giardia tests, probably other things I'm forgetting... Nothing gave us answers or had any noticeable effect. We've given her Benedryl for itchiness and it made her groggy, whimper, unable to walk. The vet originally wanted to put her on megestrol or some other drug for her reproductive issues, both of which had pyometra as a side effect -- I said NO WAY having just dealt with my second case of pyo. At about 40 days of being in heat the vet gave her a series of four shots meant to force her to ovulate. They seemed to have no effect other than draining my bank account (fortunately not as expensive as the human equivalent, which is $1,000 per shot). Now the vet wants to put an implant in which will work like human Norplant. It would force her to ovulate now and prevent her from coming back into season for two years and/or until removed. The implant itself is $600, I presume its thousands of dollars to put it in and take it back out. There are no guarantees she would ever be fertile after removing it. There's no guarantees she will ever be normal or fertile now, with how screwed up she apparently is. The implant uses the same hormone as the 4 shots -- which did nothing. We decided not to do that. Thankfully, finally, she stopped bleeding about two weeks ago and Ghidora stopped pining for her last week. Today the four dogs were able to be loose together in the house for the first time in two and a half months. She appreciated that -- and having the cone off for a while. But of course that was a mistake as I mentioned. With her cycle finally over and the California heat waves stopped, we've decided it must be the food. With no idea what she could be reacting to in the food, changing it will just be firing a shotgun in the dark and hoping we hit something, but we've got to try something different. Its the last variable to account for.

I'm tired of not having answers, I'm tired of there always something being wrong with her, I'm tired of the vet bills and visits (vet is a 45 min to 1.5 hour drive in traffic), I'm tired of the complex dog management between Mosura and Bijo/puppies and the other dogs, I'm tired of feeling like I've failed her, I'm just tired.
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Comments

  • edited November 2012
    @cezieg Thanks for sharing, it does make me feel better not being alone.

    You know, now that I think of it, my vet never mentioned mange. My sister-in-law had a horrifying bout of it last year and almost lost her kitty. The vet couldn't figure out what was wrong with Widdles (yes, that's his name) and he was getting very sick and weak. It was only when my sister-in-law started itching after the cat slept on her pillow did they figure it out. Every inch of his skin was covered in mites. It was really bad around his eyes and nostrils if I remember right. [Sorry if my story seems off, I only half-remember her telling us about it at Christmas. I don't really know much about mange.]
  • edited November 2012
    ... Is it just me, or did my reply to @cezieg somehow get posted before his reply? :O

    EDIT: Why are all of my replies showing up at the top of the thread! What the hell o.o

    EDIT x2: I figured it out. The server is freaking out because the time got rolled back an hour. So anything posted for the next 40 minutes will probably be out of order. Fun stuff. Any way to fix it, @brada1878?
  • edited November 2012
    @poeticdragon you're replying from the future... WHAT SORCERY IS THIS?! :)

    Wooooow that's sarcoptic mange, naaaaaaasty stuff! I feel bad for Widdles... mostly for his name, I kid! Did his treatment fix him up? The only two things that ever skeeved me out while working at veterinary clinics was sarcoptic mange and ticks.

    Thank goodness that's not the mange Tsune had. Demodectic mange is the dog equivalent of the dust mites that live in human follicles. Demodectic mange is when the immune system is weakened and can't naturally control the demodex population, so they overpopulate and cause extreme itchiness. The only way to know is to do a skin scrape. If you have access to a high power microscope (think biology lab) you could even do it yourself, but I guarantee the vet will require to test there before treatment. As an upside, you could check yourself and save money before going in if it's negative. Scalpel or hobby blade, hold blade to skin like an upside down T where the bottom is the skin and the vertical part is the blade, scrape side to side on a heavily chewed area until reaching a point where the skin is another scrape or two away from bleeding. Use the blade to gather skin particles, smear on a slide and add a drop of oil, put a slide cover on, inspect under high magnification. If ANY demodex is apparent in the slide, then the dog has a demodectic mange infestation, since normally they live deep in the pores and numbers should be so few that you would almost have to cut out areas of skin to access the mites.
    And yes, you're paying $30-60 for that lol.

    Here's a picture I took from Tsune's slide of an adult demodex mite:


    *normally* it only occurs in puppies, which may be why your vet has not considered it. Since puppies have weaker immune systems they'll naturally be incapable of fully controlling them, they'll receive mites from around the mother's teats while nursing. Hence why you see many puppies missing hair or itching around their muzzle and eyes.

    Worth checking out! Tsune had it all over the same areas you're describing.
  • I feel ur pain little. I also had hard time with tachi. He was limping for 2 months when i got him. And he didnt eat much since then. He didnt grow like other male akita due to this reason. He is still skinny. Planning another vet visit next week. I think he has some other problem. Will update it next week.
  • edited November 2012
    @cezieg How contagious are both types of mange? If Mosura had it, would the other animals be showing signs too? I mentioned in my original post that Gojira and Gryphon got hotspots in July. But that's all it was - a little steroid spray and two weeks with a cone and both were fine. Ghidora hasn't had any issues at all, nor Bijo (although she's been somewhat quarantined since her arrival), the cats, or my rats.

    @timkim Man, our joint imports are/were a mess huh? I still feel bad that your vet was trying to bilk you over Tachi's baby tooth though.
  • These backwards posts are headache inducing!!! ~
  • I don't have any advice or suggestions, but to share I know your pain. :( ~
  • Wow that's quite an ordeal both you and her have been through! I don't know what it is about white dogs (of any breed) but they are almost guaranteed to have allergies and skin issues. One of the main reasons I'll never own any white animals.

    I definitely feel your pain on feeling like you're failing your dog. Since the first week of getting Tsune I was working with his skin issues. First it was flea bite dermatitis and about 50% of his skin was infected and incredibly itchy. So he was treated with a weekly steroid shot (anti-itch + anti-inflammation), daily shampoo of soothing shampoo, every other day shampoo of b. peroxide shampoo, and antibiotics. After three weeks it looked fully cleared up and there was no significant itching for three days... then he started itching again with a vengeance and chewed himself raw all over, clipped the hair off of the base of his tail + belly + inner thighs and genitals. It wasn't just a normal itch either, he would spasmically turn and start chomping on himself like he was possessed and his skin was on fire. I stopped him every time I caught it and would itch vigorously for him, which he really enjoyed, but there were plenty of times where I'd catch him already having begun chewing for like 10-20 seconds and was doing a number on himself. Inside, I'd get angry with him because he was hurting himself, I wouldn't yell at him or discipline him, but I'd still feel terrible and guilty just for the fact that I would get angry.

    So then after the second time the symptoms popped up, it was demodectic mange aka demodex. So I dropped a significant amount on ivermectin treatment and even more shampoo and soothing products. For anyone that doesn't know, steroid shots weaken the immune system and thus cause flare ups in demodex populations. Therefore there is pretty much nothing besides benadryl to combat the itch when it comes to demodex. For two months it was a constant struggle of getting the demodex to die off back to a natural population while also keeping Tsune from itching as much as possible while giving antibiotics to get rid of the back and forth skin infections from itching. The demodex would start going away and the skin would be all healed, so he'd itch less, but then he'd sneak some hardcore skin chewing the second his cone was taken off and BAM skin infection all over the place, weakened immune system from combating the infection, surprise a new skin scrape shows demodex again, ARGH. So for three months he had almost constant cones on. I felt so bad for the little guy and, like you said, angry for not being able to do more for him. After four months it got under control and no sign of demodex. When I left him at his new home he was on some follow up antibiotics to make sure all the skin infection was totally gone and wouldn't come back.

    Obviously I'm not able to tell you it'll completely work out, nothing in life is for sure. But just wanted to share my own similar story so you know you and Mosura aren't the only ones!
  • edited November 2012
    Jack (my mom's Boxer) had demodectic mange as a puppy, after his accident. Demodex is not contagious, the mites are present on all dogs but it only causes issues when the immune system is low. We had a heck of a time getting him diagnosed, since skin scrapings will often come up with false *negatives*. Sarcoptic mange, on the other hand, is highly contagious.
  • @Sangmort did you JUST change your signature in the last few minutes? I like it!
  • @poeticdragon Like @Nekopan said it's not contagious at all, Tsune slept in my bed every night. It's strictly caused by a single pet's compromised or weakened immune system, which it sounds like poor Mosura's immune system is pretty heavily strained so it is certainly a reasonable possibility. The thing thats crappy about it is that it can flare up any time, on the up side... at least while they're on ivermectin treatment for it then they dont need their heartworm meds (ivermectin is the main ingredient in heartworm medication), so you kind of somewhat save money there.
  • @poeticdragon - LOL Yeah, realized the other one was ancient. Thanks! :) ~
  • we're going through a similar thing Claire with Athena, on going now for a year. so far vet bill is over £5000 and still we are no nearer to finding the cause. have you had biopsies to rules out SA or and bloods to rule out thyroid issues and other endocrine problems? we've done food trials to rule out food allergies had allergy tests on top and no improvements. with every heat Athena gets increasingly balder so we are now at the stage where we are managing her skin issues with baths and drugs and will more than likely be having to spay her and hope it helps. i'm totally gutted at the moment so know how you are feeling.
    rachel
  • My initial thoughts, other than I UNDERSTAND your frustration and its so disheartening with sick dogs, dogs in heat, males being insane, etc, is why not call it quits and spay her. I know of so many bitches whose health, behavior and skin dramatically improved with spay as a last ditch. Of course that can make management easier, too.

    It's 100% ok to rehome a dog that isn't a good fit and its sort of expected in breeding homes. Puppies take priority at times and dogs that aren't adapting well to multiple dog living, well, there are plenty of people who only want one dog. Don't beat yourself up, life is too short.
  • I'm really sorry to hear about everything you and Mosura going through. :( It looks like you're doing the best you can by her and I hope a resolution comes soon. Managing multiple dogs - especially when health problems or accidents happen - can feel like being stretched in every direction all at once. I'm pretty sure it could be used as an effective torture method. :/
  • aykayk
    edited November 2012
    I understand that Mosura must have been very expensive and so the hesistation to spay as a solution, but you might want to step back and evaluate if this is the direction you'll want to go in your infant breeding program.

    She is undersocialized, but there is a possibility that she is genetically fearful. At the very least, she sounds very soft tempermentally.

    Her cycling might be affected by the proximity of other intact females, but it's not normal/desired for a canine. It may be in Japan that this short cycling has been bred into their breeds since their dogs are being bred so early. Breeding a dog who goes through these short cycles will sometimes shock the cycle back to a normal pattern, thus hiding and perpetrating the problem. If you do ever produce a litter out of her, you'll want to only keep a male and pet-out the females. The male won't solve the problem in the line but only buy you a generation to try to fix the issue with a more stable, known line. Even then, it might be fruitless and will only be burning up your time and your dog limit.

    The skin/allergy issue could be a system of a compromised immune system. Though you mentioned blood tests were done, I'll ask if the comprehensive thyroid panel was done early on (ie. Hemopet). PoongSoon came out normal T4 and T3 under the regular vet's blood panel, but when submitted for the more comprehensive OFA, her values were all over the scale. It was non-conclusive for the thyroid diseases, but it did indicate that she was going through *something*.

    For dealing with a possible food allergy, my vet suggested using their prescription food which has hydrolyzed proteins. The process renders the proteins unrecognizable by the immune system and doesn't trigger an allergic reaction. If the dog improves while on this food, it is a food allergy and the dog can then begin the process of testing out commerical dog foods with limited ingredients. If the dog is the same, the dog can revert back to the old food. So this test could end up being a single bout of diarherra instead of mulitples.

  • Aww Claire, this sucks, but just hang in there and I know things will work out. I can't imagine what you're going through, I know it must be so frustrating and it's wearing you out slowly. **big hug**
  • I'm so sorry to hear of all the stress you and your dog have had! :o(

    I read above you weren't looking for advice so just wanted to share the first thing I thought of after reading your story - it was a friend of mine on the front range and the absolute mess she had with and adopted dog that she brought in that had mange and her story sounded an awful lot like what you are going thru. It was ridiculously hard for her to get a diagnosis for the mange as well, but as soon as she did things got immensely better.

    I sure hope that things work out well for you and your dog so that you can just start enjoying her.
  • edited November 2012
    To those who have asked about it, yes, I have considered spaying her. I don't think I can show her (at least not at this upcoming February show) and I'm not sure she'll ever be able to have puppies no matter what we do. Its worth a good long consideration about whether she should have puppies, given her problems. At about day 64 of her heat I was like "Fuck it, get her spayed now, I can't take this anymore." But the vet didn't want to spay while she was in heat and we also had Bijo and puppy preparations to worry about, so we held off. Now that she is finally out of heat I am feeling less desperate in that regard, so I don't want to jump to that decision too quickly. I want to know definitively what the problem is, and that a spay will fix or improve it, before I put her through a major surgery.

    As far as rehoming her goes... I can't place her until I can get her well, so there's no point in even thinking about it. I fear that a "pet person" wouldn't be able or willing to handle her issues though.

    I have wondered if I have an environmental problem at my house. Over the past year I've had three completely unrelated bitches from healthy, naturally-bred and fertile lines, born years apart in different parts of the country/world, all have reproductive issues. It just doesn't seem like coincidence! My vet initially discredited the possibility, saying that I would have been affected as well if there was some kind of hormone altering agent present. Then I mentioned I was recently diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). She thought it might be a possibility, then, but had no ideas for how to test to find out.

    We're going back to the vet again today. There are a few more things to try and rule out that we didn't test for before because the vet didn't think it was necessary. Thyroid function is one of them. I asked about it at day 35 of Mosura's heat but the vet said her symptoms didn't fit. This time I am going to insist upon it. I'll also ask about the "democratic mange" (lol I couldn't remember the term, so that's what I said to my husband over breakfast this morning) and a few other obscure things I found on the internet. We're going to a different vet today (same hospital, different doctor) so I will see if this one is more open to trying things I found through my own research. In general I appreciate that my normal vet doesn't do any extra tests she feels are unnecessary, but since we haven't figured anything out yet doing it her way, I wish she was more open to my ideas.
  • @ayk Thanks for the information about the food which has hydrolyzed proteins. I missed it in my first reading of your comment. That sounds very promising, so I'll add it to my list of questions for this afternoon.
  • I wish you and Mosura the best at the vet this afternoon!
  • Hemopet also came out with a food intolerance assay. No feedback that I know of, but it's also an option.

    http://nutriscan.org/
  • Poor Mosura! I hope you figure out soon what is going on. I think that you are doing the best you can and you're not failing her. You're taking her to the vet, making an effort to figure out what is going on with her. Just by taking on that responsibility, I say you are doing an excellent job. I wish I could be more helpful because I know this is extremely stressful.

    Have you thought about feeding her raw food? I've heard success stories about illnesses going away once switching. Though, the poop-eating issue might be gross if she has diarrhea.
  • LOL "Democratic Mange", that would explain what a lot of my facebook wall has become, as in democratic process.

    Well I'm crossing my fingers for your upcoming vet visit with her. Don't get yourself down either way, you've done an incredible amount of work with her. FAR more than any regular pet owner would and have had the most patience that could be imagined in your situation.
  • edited November 2012
    I'm really wanting someone to try the food intolerance thing and get a report on it! One of my friend with another kind of dog with serious food allergies (like he gets hives, then serious GI issues) may be trying it this month--if I hear back, I'll post about it.

    Yes, I think one thing that would help would be to spay her. She doesn't sound like a dog that should be bred, in my opinion. The fearfulness is one thing for sure, but if you don't know what is causing the skin issues or the rapid cycling, then....yeah, you don't want to pass this on to another generation of dogs. Which is another thing that really sucks, because of the cost of importing her, etc, and then not be able to breed her....that's just adds to the disappointment, I'm sure.

    Mostly, though, I wanted to say hang in there, and I really do understand how hard it is to deal with a dog like this. I've talked about my problem dog mostly on the Shiba forum, and not here recently, but....I have a Shiba (puppy mill girl) who is very fearful and off in temperament (also extremely unpredictable and reactive with some other dogs). She has so many things wrong with her. She has a seizure disorder, and we don't know if that was genetic (probably) or was from an injury when she was bit in the head by coyotes. She had luxating patella on both legs, and we did the surgery on one, but she had also torn her ACL so there was that too and it was expensive and a long recovery. Now the other one needs to be done, but we probably won't do it, because....there are just so many other things. I've already spent about $12,000 on her (low estimate) from her various injuries or the vet bills from when she has tried to kill my other Shiba. She has chronic kidney disease, and has had some liver problems too, possibly from the phenobarb she takes for the seizures. And she's just nuts, honestly. Sometimes she goes outside and won't come back in because she's too scared because she doesn't recognize us. Then she runs around the yard in terror, barking. She gets way overstimulated in play then tries to attack the other dogs (including the Akita, who is tolerant, but not THAT tolerant). Some days I am so tired of dealing with her that I am angry at her, and don't want her near me, and of course I feel horrible about that. And somedays it makes me cry to think of losing her. We've had to think about putting her down quite a bit, several times a year it comes up, because I figure if she's really going to be a threat to the other dogs, it's time. Or earlier this summer when her kidneys seemed to be failing, my vet said "do you really want to spend more money on this dog?" and you know, I don't, but I also can't bring myself to put her down if it looks like she's going to recover. Because she can be sweet, and she's super smart, and it's not her fault she's so fucked up. Dealing with problem dogs like this is really, really exhausting and emotionally draining...Bel is spayed, thankfully, so I don't have to worry about that, but I certainly wouldn't want to pass on any of her traits for others to deal with!

    anyway, sorry this was so long, but it's just to say I really do get it about not knowing what to do with a dog, and all the frustration of dealing with an animal that has chronic problems and fearfulness. Hang in there.

    eta: oh, forgot to say, that yeah check for mange and insist on they thyroid test even if the vet doesn't want to do it. Better to know! And while not everyone will agree, a lot of people think that if a dog is low normal you should treat it for thyroid because when the test is done the reading usually indicates the "highest" the thyroid level goes, and if it is low, they are going to have some problems still (true for people too), including Dr. Dodd and my very conservative vet. Also, my dog who had serious skin problems was both low thyroid and had severe allergies to several ingredients in his kibble. He improved with a raw diet and thyroid treatment.
  • At this point in the game, Mosura's fearfulness is limited to the house and when people come over. It can take a day or two for her to get over someone strange being in her house or yard. She will associate the fear with an object most of the time - maybe a chair the person sat in, or a can of soda they drank. She freaks out about going near the spot the object is/was. If she does get close she sniffs it, then rears her head up and looks around wild-eyed like she expects the source of that smell to pounce upon her at that very moment. I've tried putting chairs etc back where they belong with limited success. She still remembers it was out of place and focuses on that spot. Sometimes, though, if I sit in the chair it can seem to help... but not enough of the time for me to be sure its a pattern.

    She is always sweet and affectionate with my husband and I, and she seems to genuinely want to be with us to soothe her fears. She is happiest curled up next to the couch zonked out. Once she is in the place she wants to be -- whether its by the couch, in the back part of the yard, in her run, or in her crate in the bedroom -- she's just fine. Upon arriving, she does a full body shake off and then is happy and excited. The problem is getting her from point A to point B. I've had to carry her outside to go potty the morning after someone came to the house because she wouldn't walk through the livingroom to the door. Then a little while later I have to carry her back inside because she wouldn't come up the back patio to the door. I've tried to wait her out, to slowly lure her one step at a time closer to the door. It can work, but it can also take upwards of an hour and a half. Sometimes I really just need to move the dogs right away and then carrying is the only solution. I try not to drag her by leash past a "scary" thing because I think it would make the situation worse.

    The funny thing is she doesn't do it in public. She's not gregarious by any stretch of the imagination, but out in public she is fine meeting strangers and just calmly chillin' by my side. As long as the person isn't being very physically imposing, she'll mostly ignore them. She even fooled a vet into thinking she is outgoing! Even if she is nervous about someone in public, her response is just to stick close to my side or sit on my feet. She doesn't bark, growl, or dramatically cower or try to flee and flail at the end of her leash. She's made friends with family members and dog trainers in public places, and will come to them, accept treats, let them pet her, and so-forth. But if those same people came to the house, she'd have a fit.

    She has done well at public events, like AKIHO shows in Japan and the summer picnic we went to at the end of May. She wasn't bothered by the other dogs and people at our pet manners course we enrolled in, and at the end of the second course was working on long distance recalls running opposite another dog. She certainly seemed to be making rapid improvement until everything at our house went to shit in July and we stopped the classes. I even wanted to compete in obedience with her, as I think she would be very good at it. She is focused on me, incredibly smart, eager to please (not the least bit stubborn), and food motivated. I could get her to do anything I want with enough practice, I'm sure. I was really looking forward to trying the sport with her.
  • edited November 2012
    I think Tachi has problem in his mouth. He is drooling and dropping food if I give him treats.
    I thought he is just drooling because he is large breed but I read some article and find out it might be his mouth problem.
    He is getting skinnier everytime and he eats very slowly.
    I went to Vet more than 10 times when i first got Tachi due to diarrea and other stuff. I met this vet several times and consult with him about his drooling and stuff. this vet told me everything seems fine.
    now i'm going to new vet that has really good review and comments from ppl.
    Hopely I can find out what is wrong with him and can fix it asap.

  • Maybe he has a broken tooth? Or something worse. It sounds serious.
  • He doesn't have a "splinter" or something else lodged in his mouth somewhere does he? Check the roof of his mouth, his gums, lips, in between teeth, etc. just to be sure. That's scary! I hope he gets better soon!
  • Poeticdragon:

    Many of us have been in the same situation in regard to health with their dog(s). It is so hard to watch an animal pick itself apart and not be able to do much about it. It's a long road to narrowing down the issue.

    FWIW, immunio. disorders are complex and one symptom often correlates to a whole slew of other problems metabolically. Thyroid, mange and or allergies all tend to heap up to be hugely problematic manifesting digestively, dermally, and also affecting behavior. If cycling has been an issue too, then really it's not worth putting the bitch through more strain as well as draining your bank account to try and create a miracle litter. Logically, or even probability wise, it does not appear that the odds will be in the would be future litter's favor health wise. It would be costly to have to take back any future pups should they too have compromised health... Who wants to gamble their kennel reputation on a wing and a prayer. There are so many other things that need to go right, health should not be one issue that has to be second guessed in the next generation taking away from your main focus.


    Good luck and hang in there in breaking the problems down to resolve.
    Snf

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