Our boy struggles with allergies - we can mostly manage his skin and diet, Cytopoint and wiping him down, but his ears are just a constant problem. They get overgrown with yeast so quickly. We even had him anaesthetised for a deep clean and testing and within a couple of days they were going gunky again.

It is really hard to clean them as he hates them being touched - I get the impression his ears are so sensitive and probably a bit painful at times. We've tried wipes and drops/flushes but any time we get close he barely tolerates us cleaning the outer portion of his ear.

He's especially bad right now so going to the vet on Monday, but has anybody found anything easy to use and reliable?

I don't have any nasty yeast pictures, but cute puppy tax attached anyway.

Meet Stormageddon Dark Lord of All, or Stormy. My poor old man had been with us nearly 12 years now. He's been my absolute best friend and held me together throughout the worst parts of my life.

But he's old and showing it. He'd been a super healthy dog, almost never got sick except for an ear infection that it took 5 different vets to finally fix. He got real sick once when he got an aggressive infection in his back left leg. Now though, in thr span of a year he had a terrible septic infection, a full body fungal skin infection; then in the last 3 months, a kidney/bladder infection and/or stones, lost his hearing, then lost his vision, massively degrade balance and coordination, fungal skin infection is back, button tumors popping up, and now we think he might have a bone cancer.

We can't afford to keep treating him, we can't fix most of it, and he cries in the worst way when he can't find people. I think its time, but he seems so genuinely happy when he's around us. Tail always wagging when we pet him or walk him, will still use his snout to lift you hand for head pats. Still a fiend for any scrap of food. Hes still him, he's still my lovely boy that's been with me all this time, but when we're away, he's miserable, the roommates gave us video. He'll spin in a circle for 15 minutes at a time, bumping his head every couple seconds. He howl/cries, wot settle, wont relax. His head is always twisted to the left and down anymore. He can barley navigate.

I dont really know what I'm trying to say, but I need to say it. I'm sorry.

Update: 3 hours after posting, he had refused to eat. My husband, who is at home just informed me. He's about 6 hours past meal time and has zero interest in his food. He's been led over to it twice abs refused both times. He'll take peanut butter in a kong ball, but absolutely won't touch his actual food.

Been working with a trainer for a while now, and getting frustrated at the very slow results.

At home, amazing, recall, commands, brilliant.

In essence, reactive when on a walk.

Everything in the world is more interesting than us. The want to get to the other dog is crazy. Threshold is about 50ft, any closer, no treats, calling, whistling help or gets his attention at all.

Age is 15 months, will neutering help with this or make it worse?

Obviously we will wait until he’s 2, just wanna get real time opinions/evidence before making our decisions.

Currently, walking him is an absolute ballache, and seemingly getting harder as he’s just so reactive.

Any opinions greatly received.

EDIT: He doesn’t have an aggressive bone in his body, he runs full pelt to the dog/owner, rushes past, and notices how the other dog is. If it’s old, or timid, he’ll be the same, if it’s just a sniffy dog, he’ll sniff the same.

He reads the dogs well.

If they move a muscle to run, he’s bang after them, and bowls them over repeatedly. All in “play” but obviously not a wanted behaviour for anyone.

To be fair, she had a 13 hour ride from Ohio and got here on Monday morning at 2am.

Outside she is completely different. Jumps around, bites ankles, tries to eat everything. Inside and doesn’t do anything but sleep! Which I’m grateful because I’m sleeping at night 🤣

Is this normal? She has her first apt on Thurs afternoon but i’m thinking she’s still adjusting?

We have a 9 month old female who has not yet had her first heat cycle. The vet recommended waiting until after her first heat, and the breeder unfortunately did not give any instructions on this.

I am curious if we could do a partial / ovary-sparing spay before she enters he first heat cycle to avoid the struggles of the heat process while maintaining her hormones for healthy bone development.

The biggest reason I am considering this is that we have 2 (neutered) male dogs and i do not want them harassing her when she enters her cycle. We are prepared to keep them separated but it's gonna be a hassle.

Yes, I am aware that it wasn't a bright idea to get a female when we have two males in the house. She is the first dog we've gotten from a breeder and I also realize we should've chosen a breeder who thought to give us instructions on this.

Thoughts?

My special slick back Ripper (aka bippy, rip, dippy). Time is flying so quick!

she’s on her way here from Ohio. we are beyond excited. she’s 3 months old.

any advice on what to expect? we had a boy before and he was mostly ridgeback but not a pure bred like this one. I have four cats here and my old dog did fine with them.

I want to make coming home as comfortable as possible for her - so any advice is appreciated! she doesn’t see a vet until 9/14 but we are trying to get in sooner depending on cancellations.

I found her nearly 2 years ago, abandoned on the interstate and tied to a guardrail with a broken leg (ya, messed up). I expected her to be a mix of alot of things so I was very surprised to find out that her parents were both purebred dogs. It seemed uncommon given the situation I found her in. She's super loving and extremely loyal and protective of my son and I. She's also high energy, very athletic with an enormous prey drive when it comes to outdoor critters (but is weirdly great with cats🤷‍♂️) . I hear this behavior is typical of Ridgebacks but if uve got any advice on how to best discourage that behavior on walks, I'd greatly appreciate it. She's great on walks until she spots a critter and It can get tiring getting my arm yanked out of socket bc a squirrel just appeared in her periphery lol. Thanks

N. Oregon Coast

I’ve read about RR and their tendency to sometimes chase bees and wasps (regardless of how many times they get stung), but I swear mine has, like, become immune to the stings?

He chases and eats paper wasps every time he is outside (these dumb wasps are nesting inside the hot tub out back, so it makes for a perfect ‘chase-the-wasps-ring-around-the-rosey-type activity’)

This dipdong knocks them to the ground and I CAN TELL HE THINKS HE HAS A STRATEGY for avoiding stings (sticks his teeth out far when picking them up)… but how in the world is he not getting stung. Especially after eating them. He never shows any symptoms! I am just at a loss here.

The sloth toy that makes up the majority of the fluff is a cheapy, but it's his current favourite so will likely get restuffed and sewn back up this weekend so he can have some more fun before it's retired...