hehehe, rightside is her right, just like your right....okay, now to the worried mom part, your pup is probably fine, many pets feel very tired after a trip to the vet, they are not use to being handled by strangers, and some of the meds can make them tired. If she is the same way 24 hours later, you need to take her back to the vet. Good luck.

If you are looking at the dog from behind, the dog's right ear is on your right. If you are face to face with the dog, the dogs right ear is on your left. Hope that makes sense.

As for vaccinations, some dogs get worn out just from the stress of going to the vet. I know both my pups come home and talk long naps on Vet days. On the other hand, I have had one dog that was allergic to the Rabies vaccine. She was lethargic, developed high fever, and had a seizure. I would watch your little girl closely this evening and if still not acting normal by morning, I would call your vet. That is just my 2 cents worth. Good luck and hope it is just one tired little girl.
Linda

You're to be congratulated for being observant about your dog's behavior. You know her best. If you feel something is a little off, you are probably right. That doesn't mean it's anything lasting or serious, but I'd keep an eye on her just in case.

Ear infections often (but not always -- depends on how advanced) look funky, so just looking in her ears may answer your question. They almost always smell funky. I sniff my dogs' ears often, and especially after I see one scratch at an ear. If anything smells funky on a dog for no apparent reason (they didn't roll in something icky), I always suspect infection could be the cause and it often is. So if in doubt, looking and sniffing should tell you for certain which ear is infected. That said, if the vet said "right ear" they are referring to the dog's right side.

OK, Thanks for not laughing at me too hard. That is what I had thought was the right side but needed to be sure. My little girl was back to her own hyper & hungry self by morning. The Vet did call today & talked to DH, apparently they told us to put medicine in the ear once a day & it was supposed to be 4 times a day. I thought that sounded more like it. My girl, Pumpkin, has long beagle type ears & she seems to shake her head & scratch her ears quite often. Whenever she would start this type of activity I would put some of those ear cleaning drops in her ears & clean them out with a tissue until I didnÂt see any more brown on the tissue, one ear did always seem to have more brown in it. It had a sweet smell to it. After I would clean them out, she would be fine for a few weeks. I did some reading & it said that dogs with this type of ear get a lot of ear infections & they are hard to get cleared up. That yeast or something like that builds up. Lack of airflow maybe? What is the best course of action to prevent her from getting ear infections again after I get this cleared up? Any tips for me? Thanks a million for the quick replies, as always, you all are the best!

I just reread what you all wrote & forgot to mention that you may have been right about the stress of the vet visit. DH said they had a hard time putting the scope in her ear & wanted to make sure not to hurt her. They asked him to leave the room, that some dogs are better when the owner isn't there, which I think can be true in some cases. As far as observation of animals & knowing when something just doesn't seem right is so true. Another animal may act the same way & be fine but you know what is normal for your animals. I have relied on this theory many of times when it came to my horses. DH says they are fine & I keep watching & most of the time unfortunately I am right & end up having the Vet come out for colic or some sort of illness.

All of my dogs are the hairy floppy eared types and those types tend to get ear infections a lot. After 25 years of fighting off ear infections and trying everything under the sun, what works best for me is to clean everyone's ears once a week with OtiClens. (http://www.nextag.com/oti-clens/search-html)

Since your dog is having food allergies or sensitivities (you can tell from her gassiness), that will predispose her to ear infections. Getting the food thing cleared up will help you keep her ears infection-free. The immune system can only handle so much at once.

Hi Terri, good to hear the dog is doing well. I love the look of Puggles, but I think that when I have searched for them online, I only see the puppies. Can you post recent picture of your little girl for us?
Thanks,
Nancy

Oceanna, I never realized she had food allergies, but the Vet did mention it could be cause by allergies, but didn't mention any allergy in particular. She does give off a lot of gas, not nearly as bad as DH but enough to notice it. What type of things would I need to avoid in her diet? I feed her science diet dry food, a mixture of sensitive stomach & sensitive skin food combined. Reason being that as a puppy she had a lot of loose bowls & this seemed to clear it up for a year now. Any suggested changes I should make? Thanks for the help. Nancy, here are a couple of pics of her now. The 1st one is where she sits & watches me while I read all the forums on the computer. Terri & Pumpkin in Michigan also.{{!gwi}}{{!gwi}}

How cute, Terri! I am surprised at how long her legs are. I don't know why, but that Puggle face looks so human to me!

Terri, you may want to look for a holistic vet to handle the allergies, or at least have your vet do a food allergy blood test. Our Megan had food allergies, and when you added her Ragweed allergies in the late summer, she got all itchy. We learned to not give her potato, sugar beets, wheat, or carrots and she did a lot better. She was not farty, though. Her allergies were exhibited by skin itchiness. Once we paid more attention to what was in her food, she got by with only Benedryl in the later summer and fall, no more prednisone. Our regular vet did the blood test that showed what foods she was allergic to. The holistic vet did give us some help, too.

I mixed up your Pumpkin's ear itches with the smelly, gassy dog in the other post - that is what happens when I don't re-read the thread before posting!

If you're concerned about allergies, there are a number of prepared foods available that do not contain the most common allergens. There is also the option of a raw diet (my preference, but I certainly accept that it's not for everyone).

As far as the vaccinations go, your dog has now had the boosters after her initial puppy vaccines. IMO, she doesn't need any additional vaccines beyond what is required by law in your particular jurisdiction (and that's simply to be compliant with local law). Vaccines do not "expire" after a year. My animals receive their initial vaccines and their follow-up boosters, but no more after that (except for rabies, as required by law). They certainly aren't dropping dead. I also have a cat that hasn't had a rabies shot in about seven years (my vet will sign any waivers necessary...she's had issues since I adopted her at 8yo). Neither one of us has managed to die yet.

I do recommend getting rabies shots to be compliant with local laws, especially with dogs, but the idea of getting vaccinations every year for the life of a pet is pretty old-fashioned and not particularly well-supported, IMO.

Of course, the idea of getting regular check-ups/physicals/whatever and bloodwork in older animals is a very good one, especially if you're interested in prolonging the life of your pets. I just happen to be of the opinion that it's easy enough to take an animal to the vet without vaccinations being involved.

She could have been tired after the visit or it could have been a mild vaccine reaction. I would ask about going to at least a three year schedule with her.

Lisa

Don't waste your money on a test for food allergies. The holistic vet I work for also has a PhD is immunology and works with lots of dogs with food allergies. She spoke with the allergy testing companies and they told her that they offer the test because the public demands them, but that they are very unreliable. A well done elimination diet is a much better tool.

You should really stop doing yearly vaccines too, unless your state requires yearly rabies. Even the AAHA and AVMA now recommend vaccines only be done every 3 years. Over vaccinating a dog with allergies could make the problem worse.

Just to clarify - it is just the food test that is so unreliable. The environmental test is much more reliable.