health/behavioral issues

Question
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Follow-UP

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer all my questions. I will definitely stop giving him the Benadryl and get a different vet. I just don't know what to believe anymore about this pood dog - I just want to get him better and happy. When we got him he did have a few fleas and I started him on Frontline Plus just last week and we haven't noticed any fleas on him since. I will stop giving him a bath so often as well, I just read articles online about dandruff and it said that it was better to wash it away rather than let it build up because the dead cells actually cause more dry skin. He doesn't really mind the brushing too much - I think the real reason he doesn't like it is because he wants to go inside and play. He doesn't wince or try to bite the brush or anything, but I will only try to brush him out every so often. I just suffer from allergies myself and the brushing seemed to keep the hair he sheds to a minimal level. Thanks again for your response, hopefully we can get into a good Vet right away and Rocky will start feeling better - we'll all be so much happier then. Thanks again, I really appreciate your help!  

Answer
Hi Natalie;
If he isn't minding the brushing, and tries to get away, and seems to enjoy it, if you are using the right type of brush for his coat, brushing every day won't gurt him a bit.
The reason Iuggested cutting down on the brushing is because i have two that don't like brushing.
My Setter loves it, and she gets brushed a lot. My Sheltie doesn't mind too much, but the Lhasa and the Australian Shephers mix hate it.
i too have awful allergies, and I live in north Texas, the allergy capitol of the world.
Our climate, and the fact that we seldom have enough wind to blow it away, make this the number 1 place in the world for allergies.
My worst one is mountain cedar, and it grows wild around here. every time it gets cool, it goes dormant, then it warms up and it pollinates.
Lasyt fall alone, the mountain cedar pollinated 4 times, between november and January.
Yes, brushing my hair helps the itching on my head a lot. My head (especially the tops of my ears )starts to itch first, and the palms of my hands. EEEEKKKKK!
Thank goodness for Zyrtec!
The dryness is probably not dandruff, but rather from the allergies. I am not sure dogs get dandruff. they get everything else we get, so I wouldn't be surprised.
the watery eyes are from the allergies too.
Most dogs seem to be allergic to fleas.
I think all the junk we are putting into our inviornment is what is causing so many more illnesses in animals, and humans too.
I know back in the 40s and 50s we were not using so many pesticides, and so many other things we use now, and you seldom saw a person with allergies. Now, you see more people with them than not.
We have used so many pesticides that we have killed off the natural preditors, and we are getting new diseases all the time.
 www.Dogage.com is a good site for information.
They have some good information on skin problems.
there is a lot of really good information on that site.
Unfortunately, there are no requirements that have to be met before someone can give advice on care or training of animals, so people that know very little about it write books, and if you don't know what is right, it is hard to tell who to listen to.
I hope rocky gets better real soon, and gets back to being his own loving self.
Keep me posted.
Charlotte