The constant veterinary battle.....

Just wanted to make a post about my boy.... Poor Brody! We have been making pretty frequent veterinary visits over the last few years, unfortunately the line seems to have major health issues, and unfortunately his breeders are continuing to breed from Brody's siblings! Pretty frustrating and not very responsible if you ask me.

The two dogs from Brody's litter and

the other identical mating that work in obedience or agility have lupus, addisons disease, and one of them died unexpectantly last year.

Brodys past problems include: thyroid issues, skin problems, kennel cough and eye infections, stomach problems, seizures, cortisol abnormal levels, then FAD, more skin issues....

In the last four months Brody has had no seizures, which is AWESOME after 7 months of irregular seizures about once a month. I think this was mostly due to me getting rid of any environmental chemicals, and a new probiotic supplement.

Unfortunately in the hot muggy Auckland summer we have had other problems...... Fleas! I have never had the problem before, and not both dogs are going crazy with fleas, and of course Brody gets FAD. Being newly chemical free I cant use the usual topical products on Brody, so heres what I have been doing:

• Advantage on Chace and Max the cat
• Organic flea oil on all of them frequently
• Lots of baths with neem oil soap
• dusting the house with a mixture of salt, baking soda and lemon essential oil
• Cleaning all the leaf litter and long grass and sprinkling diatomaceous earth everywhere
• Adding garlic and brewers yeast to their food
• lots of brushing with the flea comb. Yes through Brody's hair!

And now that I seem to be starting to win the battle with the fleas, I now have a very sorry for himself feeling coughing kennel cough inflicted boy.

Poor Brody.

Poor Brody...

Brody hasn't been very well lately, not good at all! It started a few weeks ago with his skin breaking out into new itchy spots all over his tummy and underarms, and constant scratching. So we went back to the vet and decided to add some supplements and bits and pieces and hold off on any stronger medication, just an injection to help with the itching.

The itching continued, and Brody was scratching away all day long, the kids at

school were constantly yelling 'Brody stop scratching!'.

Then on a Sunday morning he had a big grand mal seizure. It was the scariest thing I have ever seen in my life, I though he was going to die! He started with dry reching, then was on the floor with all muscles tense, I though he was choking. Then he started going into convulsions with saliva going everywhere and his bladder emptying.

This lasted long enough for me to run around the house like a crazy person yelling, and throwing trackies and a hoody over my PJ's, and finding my phone / keys / wallet. When he stopped convulsing I touched him, but he was still out of it and bit my hand. I left him for a minute to kind of wake up a little more, and then loaded him into the car... when I realised my hand was bleeding quite profusely.

When I got to the vet (that my friend Beth worked at, and it was open on Sunday thank god) I was a mess - crying, bleeding, PJ's and everything!

At this stage Brody was all hyper and still quite out of it. The vets sedated him and put him in a cage to keep an eye on his recovery for the rest of the day, it was pretty hard to leave him thrashing around in that cage!

Since then he has had no more seizures (touch wood!) and my regular vet has done some further diagnostic testing, and he is on thyroid medication for hypothyroidism. Although he wasnt completely out of the normal thyroid range, he was low enough for my vet to put him on the medication. Since then he has also gone onto a course of Prednisone to try to stop the itching... fingers crossed it all helps!

And me... well I got a trip to the doctor for antibiotics for the hand bite, and a speeding ticket!

Another big doggie weekend

This weekend we had two doggie events, but unfortunately Brody was not at his best! Since nationals (still waiting for photos and videos to post from the Paws N Music at Nationals!) he hasn't been eating properly, and the Friday night he threw up, poor boy!

On Saturday we were part of the Paws N Music demonstration at the Wag N Walk. The Wag N Walk is a big doggie festive in the Milford Reserve, North Shore.

Its a fun walk, lots of demonstrations, competitions, and stalls with pet products. IT was also fundraising for the SPCA, and Paw Justice.

From Choredography we had Suzanne with Finnegan, Suzanna with Monty, Hsin - Yi with Honey, Michelle with Moss, me and Brody, with Jan on the microphone. See Honeys blog for Hsin-Yi's take on the event!

Brody was great despite obviously feeling not too great, he just wasnt quite his ADHD self. His routine was great, he hit everything except his weave was a bit wonky, but thats ok! We get a great cheer from the crowd, and lots of 'Ooooohhhsss'.

Then on Sunday we had the Counties agility championship show. Brody was very tired, but managed to get two clear rounds (Starters and Jumpers C), but was a bit slow as he was tired, so missed out on placing.

August.... baths, vets, competitions, and basketball

Hey Everyone,

So the last few weeks, as per normal I have been far too busy!!

At school I have almost finished with basketball, which will be great as it takes up a lot of time. The season went well, lots of new girls,

and lots of fun. My top U17 team is playing in the final for their grade tonight, and hav

e qualified for the Greater Auckland Secondary schools tournament, which is next Wednesday.

Also my Tutor class (kind of like a

form class) has just completed our entry for the Fair Go secondary school ad competition, which looks awesome! The competition was to create a 30 second ad that promotes, or tries to sell an unpopular school subject. My students did a great job, and I cant wait to see the results! It was a bit of a rush in the end, with the final edit burning onto disk approximately 30m yesterday, rushed to the courier, as entries were due by 5pm today!!

I will post the video as soon as the judging is complete, I'm so proud!!

Brody's allergies have been playing up again (itchy skin and ears, lethargic and sad, upset tummy) so he has been back to the vet, his diet re-adjusted, and some more tablets! Poor boy, it has been affecting his competitions, as he is a bit down in the ring, and has to stop shake his head or scratch!!

We have had a couple of competitions in the last few weeks, with some success.....

We had the second Paws 'N Music competition at Ardmore, which was really good because heaps of my students from NSDTC (the new tricks class) came and had a go in the busking section, and Brody and I performed our routine to a much better standard, even though he has still a bit sick! But unfortunately the judge thought that we were placed in the wrong section (there are two grades) and marked us down heaps. So we placed third, which is good, but first would have been nice :-) It was also cool because we might be shown in the filming of a kids TV show that was doing a piece on Honey the Great Dane and her owner Hsin-Yi. I was jumping around in the background with Brody with their interview, trying to keep him under control!

Then on Sunday we did Elementary obedience at the Ardmore Benefit Show. We have been having some 'issues' with heelwork in the ring (its not as exciting as tricks or agility!!), so I tried to trick him into thinking it was tricks, by setting him up with some tricks before heelwork. It worked a treat, his heelwork was great!! Then he broke his sit stay... tried to go and say hi to a German Shepherd.

So the judge gave me my points at the end with the comment "That was a pity, you would have won if he didnt break the sit stay"!!! One day it will happen. Hopefully. I dont want to be in Elementary for ever!!!