Westies

I have just taken her on a walk – roughly 45 mins, and I have just noticed that the nail that is higher up on her paw (im unsure of what this iscalled) is bleeding. How has this happened and what should i do?
the dew claw (thumb position)

You or someone else may have cut your dogs nail to short and it started bleeding when she put pressure on it if so then there’s a special type of powder for it!!!Hope this helped!!!

Has this happened to your puppy. Did he eventually regain his/her appetite? When?

Its perfectly normal.

Just like a flu jab in people, it can be sore afterwards and can also give them an upset stomach or headache etc.

It is PERFECTLY normal. As long as the dog eats 24 hours after its fine. If you are worried about him find his favourite food (even if its a bit naughty I.e a fatty treat) and give him some for strength.

Don’t worry though, my dogs all do this everytime they have an injection of any kind. Only worry if he gets a terrible temperature or goes over 24 hours with no food/water.

I live in the UK where rabies has been wiped out in canines, however they do the same thing for their parvo-virus injections.

My two 6 months Westies start the day with a normal stool. Then some days they can have diarrhea AND constipation on the same day! We took them to the vets and they said to keep an eye on them but that it was probably because they recently changed food (which we did gradually). That was a week ago so we are taking them back tomorrow but have you any ideas? It could be a foreign body but does seems strange that both of them are affected.

For example, if the first food wasn’t completely right for them and you’ve now recently and gradually changed food, then it still can take 2 to 3 weeks before the effects from eating the first food disappears.

But it really doesn’t sound normal if they for long periods are so variable in their stomachs, changing between a few days normal and then some days with very varied results. Maybe they’ve inherited a disposition for having sensitive stomachs, maybe they help each other with eating unsuitable things when you take them out on walks, maybe it is something else or a combination of things, to even make a guess can be difficult.

If your regular veterinarian can’t find anything wrong and the problem continues, perhaps you should ask your veterinarian for a referral to a veterinarian specialising in gastroenterology (a gastroenterologist) or perhaps try changing food a third time.

Have you talked to the breeder? Has he/she had any similar problems amongst their breeding animals and/or heard of other Westies with similar problems?
Have you talked to the trainer at your dog club about it?

Have you tried asking about your Westies problems on a Westie forum? Although, as with this site and many others, you usually only have the other member’s word for that they actually are the one they say that they are and really know what they say they know and even though, I don’t know how active their forum members are, as in, how quickly you might get any answer, it still could be worth a try.

http://www.westhighlandwhite.co.uk/forum/index.php

http://www.crazyaboutwesties.com/forum/index.php

Actually, I just remembered what happened after that I moved house about 10 years ago, after a few months my b*tches and cats began having stomach problems, but as I recall it, their stomachs "only" varied between normal and diarrhea, so maybe it isn’t relevant for your dogs, anyhow with veterinarian help we found the cause of it, it turned out that the water that came from a private well contained Radon.
On the paper, it had too high levels to be safe for human consumption but the levels was not high enough for my body to react on it, but enough high to affect my cats and b*tches, who only weights between about 2,5 to about 15 kg. (which could be the equivalent of the average weight of a newborn baby to about a 3 year old child).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radon

My puppy’s ears are still floppy and she is 7 months old! Are they meant to prick up ? Or do some just stay floppy ?

Thanks xx

Well, at this age, they should have pricked. I know quite a bit about Scotties and Westies are similar. Occasionally, the dogs ears don’t develop cartilage strong enough to stand, or will have a floppy tip. When the pups begin teething, the ears may droop since calcium is being diverted from the cartilage to the forming teeth. This is typically seen only in dogs that have had the ears upright already.

Can you contact the breeder for advice? Like I said, I know Scotties and in this breed the ears would be up if they were going to be. For younger Scotties, the ears can be taped for a few days to help out, but you would need to get the appropriate advice on how to do this from your breeder–if this is even an option at this point.

I heard clicker training is good for westies is this truue ??
And what is it and how do you do it ?

The method is effective for most dogs, especially small breeds. But, I prefer to use my voice instead of a clicker. There is a great book you should look up called The Power of Positive Dog Training that does a good job of explaining it and will give you a week by week training schedule.

my westie is 1 yr old. the golden is 3 months. one thing i’ve noticed is that the golden is very relaxed while my westie is tense.

It depends on the individual dog – not the breed. My golden retrievers get along well with any friendly dog, but they’ve also been socialized. If you have a golden who has never been out of the house, I’d be a bit more wary.

Only answer in minutes
and how many walks that should be

3-4 walks a day about…15 minutes each

It depends on how big they are and what kind of food you’re feeding them. The person that said about 3 cups a day is right, to a point. If you’re feeding a "grocery" food like Pedigree, Beneful, Dog Chow, etc. Then yes, about 3-4 cups is right. If the first few ingredients contains corn, then you will end up feeding more because they aren’t getting all of the nutrition from it. If you feed a "premium" food like Nutro, Iams, Eukanuba, etc. then you can get away with feeding them just 2 cups. Those foods have little or no corn so your dog is digesting the maximum amount of nutrients. Also, remember, the feeding directions on the back of the bag is a great guideline. BUT, they always end up having you feed your dog a little bit more than what they actually need. They are in the business of selling food, so of course they want you to run out sooner and purchase more food.