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How To Stop Dogs Scratching In 8 Not-So-Easy Steps

why dog scratching

If you’ve got an itchy dog, it gets very frustrating very quickly. Nothing seems to help for long, and everyone tells you something different. Is it the food, is it grass, is it mites?

I’ve been seeing itchy dogs for nearly 30 years and I’ve yet to see one who can’t be helped. Here I’m going to boil down all the conflicting advice into a simple step by step approach.

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Help! My Dog Has Retained Puppy Teeth

Dog retained puppy teeth

The key to a dog’s teeth developing properly is that it isn’t just programming. Sure, their structure and growth are genetic, but a tooth’s final position is dictated by the teeth around it.

When it works well, each tooth finds the gap it needs and they all end up being perfectly spaced. But what you see above is what happens when there are extra teeth in the way. These are persistent deciduous teeth.

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Perfect Fit: The Custom Fitted Fleece Dog Harness

dogs wearing harnesses

Not long ago I published a survey of top Australian dog trainers about their favourite harnesses. It was an eye-opener for me.

bernese dog harness

Strikingly, one particular harness stood out from the rest: the Perfect Fit®. At the time, I hadn’t heard of it, and it was hard to purchase due to the need for a custom fitting. Then, an existing Adelaide importer asked me if I could start to stock it.

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Adopting an Older Ex Breeder or Shelter Dog

older dog adoption

Not long ago I saw two adult dogs in a row that had just been adopted from their breeder. The first one wasn’t perfectly normal, but he’ll be OK. However, the second one, Jethro was in real trouble. That’s him in the picture.

Right now, he’s frightened of many things in an unpredictable way. He’s frequently frozen and unwilling to move, difficult to walk, wary of strangers and not interested in food. At night he wanders the house unsettled. But he’s also showing signs of the lovely dog within.

Recently I told you that the best age to get a puppy is 7 to 8 weeks old. But there are plenty of dogs and puppies over 16 weeks old needing homes. Here are some examples:

So what happens if you get them? The answer is that they still make great pets, but not all of them and not always in the same way.

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A Puppy Checklist For The Social Distancing Age

puppy socialisation coronavirus

UPDATE 13 May: Limited puppy preschool places are now available at our clinic on Thursday nights. To comply with current regulations, we request that:

  • only one person comes with each puppy
  • class members wait outside until the start time

For puppies elsewhere in the world, I’m afraid that the puppies of the next few months won’t grow up the same. I fear that this virus will change how they enjoy the rest of their lives. But I also think you can do something about it.

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Broken Legs In Italian Greyhounds

Italian Greyhound broken leg

Dante is an all-too-familiar story. I saw him recently for vaccination and immediately noticed the scar on his leg. What happened? He was running and broke his leg.

If this happens to your dog, here’s a quick first aid tip: carefully put the lower leg into a roughly normal position, wrap it in a t-shirt until it’s a thick roll and then sticky tape it. If you can’t do this, just keep your dog as quiet as possible. This will stop possible damage to soft tissues caused by excessive motion across the fracture site. Then go straight to a vet.

Leg fractures in Italian Greyhounds are common. If you’re looking to buy a puppy, or take out insurance you might well ask, “yes, but how common?” The answer may affect what you do next.

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