Hello,
I've just stumbled on the letter from Marylin, Qld, regarding lurchers in Australia and I thought she might like to know that I am fortunate enough to share my life with a beautiful classically bred lurcher named Rosie. She was bred in the Huon Valley by a very knowledgeable lurcher breeder who had been brought up with lurchers in the UK.
Rosie is a glorious smooth-coated brindle, standing approximately 27inches at the shoulder and weighing 35kg. She is bred from greyhound-deerhound-wolfhound-collie lines and is quite imposing to look at, although of gentle and very trainable personality (she gained straight As in her first official obedience exam). I have lost count of the number of people who have approached me to inquire "what sort of dog is she?" almost always prefaced by "Oh, what a beautiful dog"!
To my surprise Rosie has shown a great keenness for water sports and loves nothing better than to ride the surf at our local beach that is, happily, open to dogs. Once back home the greyhound in her comes to the fore and she turns into the ultimate couch potato, spreadeagling the entire length of the 3-seater "dog sofa" that she shares with her best friend, Gizmo, my diminutive silkie terrier cross.
Like Marylin, apart from Rosie's breeders, I have not come across any other lurcher fanciers and would love to hear from any, especially this side of the Tasman. I strongly recommend the selectively bred lurcher as a wonderfully loyal, affectionate and intelligent companion for anyone prepared to commit the time to training and to ensuring adequate daily excercise. - Jenny, Tasmania
Hello,
I have a 16 year old poodle, who has many of the senility symptoms you wrote about in your article: '"Older dogs may become confused". She also suffers from liver disease, so I wanted to find out if the medicine you recommended, Selgian, could be given to her without having a bad effect on her already poor functioning liver. Thank you for your time and thank you also for being there for all of the animals who I'm sure would be very grateful for your kindness. - Alis
Hello Alis,
I could not say one way or another, but I do recommend you ask your vet about the medication and whether it would be right for your poodle or not. It would depend on what type of liver disease the dog has, and how badly, and how advanced the senility is too. Have her examined by the vet and then have a good discussion about getting her on the medication and whether it would be likely to do any more harm to her liver. There is obviously a point where the liver is stabilised but would not respond well to other medications and only the vet would know if she is at that point or whether the medication would do any harm.
Selgian is actually a medication that has been used for Parkinsons disease, but not so much now as they have discovered it is not as effective as they thought it was for that purpose. There could even be improvements to the medications used since the article was written, so a good talk with the vet is required. I would suggest you write down all the questions you want to ask before you go to the vet and don't be put off - make sure all the questions are answered satisfactorily. - Ed
