[Haywood U]

Is there a reason to avoid vaccinating? I’ve had 2 bad experiences, but always just assumed they were coincidence…..I’m not Jenny McCarthy 😉

Almost 7 years ago I took my dogs in for all their shots. A week later I took my oldest (11 1/2 at the time) back in for a grooming. When I picked her up I noticed a growth on her shoulder – vet said to just keep an eye on it. I had never noticed it before – she was the “cuddle” dog and got a lot of hugs from the whole family, and nobody ever noticed any sort of bumps or lumps on her. Later turned out to be cancer and eventually had to put her down – just couldn’t continue to pay for the drainings and surgeries.

Last year I took my oldest (almost 15) in for his shots and the vet gave him the “new” 4way – said we would have to bring him back in a week for the 2nd round (??). Later that day, or maybe the next day, he came down with a bout of vestibular disease. Never did take him back for that 2nd round. He’s been fine ever since, but he has always been healthy without so much as one bout of sickness……just seemed funny they happened so close together.

I’m far from a conspiracy theorist, but I always wondered if any of those were related to the vaccines.

[Haywood U]

Your dog is beautiful.

It’s possible you have an Aussie Shepherd, ACD mix. Do an image search for “aussie shepherd cattle dog mix” – they turn out all sorts of ways. 😉 They also call them Texas Heelers.

I have an ACD – rescue dog that I took sight unseen. Was told it was an Australian Shepherd, and I always wanted a “frisbee” dog…….there is a big difference! He’s been a great dog – coming up on 15 years. He’s “red,” and must be mixed with something else, because he’s 70+ lbs….but looks are all Red Heeler.

Queensland Heelers – Best I could find is “The ARF has registered Australian Cattle Dogs without papers as ‘Australian Cattledog Queensland Heelers’ since 1965”

On to the anxiety side – I’m curious as to what you mean. What type of behavior?

Have you thought about using Benadryl? Apparently it’s fairly common to use for dogs for anxiety. My ACD had a bout of vestibular disease last year and the vet recommended Benadryl for its calming effect.

Dosage recommendations are 1mg per lb of body weight – but always check with your vet.

[Haywood U]

Thanks. With all the recalls and other things going wrong with things we give our pets (treats and toys), I just get worried. I read some of those things where the dogs stop eating because the food is causing problems, but eventually the dog is going to get hungry and eat. Then I look and see the other dog is eating the same food and no issues…but each dog is different. Of course the kicker was seeing her have no problems eating the same exact food from the other dog’s bowl.

I do sort of rotate food out – we buy several different brands and mix the food.

Previous dogs were always fed the “bad” food – Alpo, Ol Roy, KnB. All lived to 12-15 years and never had any vet tell me they were anything other than healthy. Somehow we managed to miss all the food recalls.

The new dog was quickly transitioned from Hill’s (rescue shelter said that is what they used, but she never seemed interested, always ran to the other dog’s food), to Puppy Chow, to finally forcing me to renew my Costco membership to get Kirkland.

So now it’s basically a 40lb bag of Kirkland and a 20lb bag of other stuff and mix it up in a 2:1 ratio (good to “bad”). Used to be out of financial necessity, but now it’s basically just for the variety. I guess we could just as easily mix up the Kirkland Chicken with the Kirkland Lamb and get the same results, but it’s also nice to know that if we ever run out, or are out of town, we can just run to the closest Walmart and grab a bag of food.

I’d like to stick with the twice a day feeding – seems to work the best for the older dog, and no need to upset the routine. I know I wouldn’t want to have to eat my entire daily food in one sitting and have it all sitting my system trying to digest.

[Haywood U]

Thanks for sharing your recipes. I picked up a dog treat book about a year ago and have experimented with a couple of different recipes.

One that really surprised me was one with sardines. I happened to have a few cans in the pantry – trying them is something on my bucket list, but I can’t ever seem to bring myself to try them 😉

3 raw eggs
1 can of sardines packed in olive oil
Package (sleeve) of graham crackers

Mix in blender until liquified. Pour onto a cookie sheet and spread out. Bake at 350 F for approximately 20 minutes until it looks rubbery and light brown on top.

Let cool then cut. (I used a pizza cutter to slice up into little squares).

My dogs went absolutely nuts for them.

Recipe didn’t give any tips for storage, but they lasted about a week in a plastic bag before they started to get fuzzy, so I’m thinking they need to be refrigerated or frozen. ???

[Haywood U]

I had really good luck with these liver treats – they are nice and small, about the size of those soup & oyster crackers.

http://www.petco.com/product/107245/Charlee-Bear-Dog-Treats-with-Liver.aspx

I’ve also used these – found both at Big Lots for under $3 a bag. Both are small sized treats – probably about the size of :

http://www.wag.com/dog/p/nutro-natural-choice-crunchy-treats-with-berries-10-oz-116742

and these, although the ones I used were peanut butter flavored, and not the new alligator or crawfish:

http://www.biglots.com/p/c/dogs/bayou-bites-natural-dog-cookies

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