From: berlind@acsu.buffalo.edu (heike berlind)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.dogs
Subject: Re: Dog is totally stiff
Date: 11 Oct 92 17:39:32 GMT
Organization: State University of New York at Buffalo/Comp Sci

In article <6497.83.uupcb@cutting.hou.tx.us> kathleen.brewer@cutting.hou.tx.us (Kathleen Brewer) writes:
>gotten hold of a toad? Toads are Toxic to dogs. I would also ask the
>neighbor if he had recently spray his yard with *ANY* chemicals.
>The diet is great. Rice is a natural binding material and the hamburger
>meat supplies the protien the dog needs. Any time my dogs get a touch of
>diarrhea I add rice to the diet in lieu of medicine. 99% of the time
>this takes care of it after 1 feeding. If not I run them to the vet.
>Take care, and keep us posted on your kees.
>Kathleen@cutting.hou.tx.us
>
Thank you everybody for their suggestions.  Wotan is fine again. He was
stiff for two days.  We gave him a total of two bufferin which didn't seem
to bother his stomach. He continued to have a temperature of 102-104 for a
couple more days. Although he moved around and played I could tell that he
was not totally okay. After approx. 1 week he was his old self again (all
this bad stuff like begging at the taple, trying to make daddy fall down the
stairs by catching his shoe laces, playing soccer for 1/2 hour, howling
again, what a relief :)).  We didn't take him back to the vet. On Monday he
was much better and we kept on watching him. If he had continued to be stiff
we definitly would have taken him to the vet again.   I found out 
a couple of things that might have caused all those symptoms.

1.  I examined his stool with a wooden stick -- and found undigested grass
    clippings in it which looked very dark (I am sure it was grass
    clippings because of the texture of the stool)

2.  Our neighbors on the other side of the fence started to recycle their
    food left-overs close to the fence.  I found some pieces of rotten food
    (bread, fruit, etc.) under the fence where Wotan definitly could get it.
    (--> diarrhea).
    Now I check this spot of the yard everyday to make sure he cannot get
    any more rotten food.    

3.  Kathleen said that toads are toxic to dogs.  When I read her message it
    just clicked.  We have a lot of toads in our neighborhood and our back
    yard.  Usually I prevent Wotan from picking up things and animals but
    there is probably a chance that he might have had a toad anyways.
    Thanks Kathleen, I didn't know that toads where toxic!

I guess what it comes down to is, that I have to better train Wotan, not to
pick up stuff and eat it.  I always considered our backyard "safe", which it
is obviously not.

So how do you train a dog (more important, a Norwegian Elkhound; everybody
who owns a Norw. Elkhound knows what pigs they are if it comes to eating),
not to pick up food (I mean anything he consideres food)? If I am around
with him he drops everything as soon as I say "NO", but what if he is
unsupervised in the backyard (usually he is in the backyard while I work in
the kitchen and I check up on him, through the window every 5 minutes)?  Is
there a way to do that or should I just not leave him in the yard
unsupervised anymore?

Thank you to everybody who send me supportive email about Wotan.  I really 
appreciated all your suggestions.  One person suggested to give Wotan a massage.
My husband gave Wotan a good 15 minute massage twice a day for a couple of
days and Wotan really enjoyed it.  I am sure that the message helped him to
recover faster.
Thank you again. 

Heike   
Newsgroups: rec.pets.dogs