for the great info and advice.
McDude, your photos are awesome; the lab with the fish is priceless - made me LOL!
Thanks Argie's Wife for the diabetes info. That's very interesting that diet helped your pet so much, and I'm delighted to hear that Dr. Guest was so helpful. We'll definitely go to LRV.
Brought my sick doggie out to the island yesterday, and he seems better already!
About dogs and water, I can't offer advice about getting a dog to jump in, but I would say do NOT throw him in! Our Portuguese Water Dog fell off our dock as a puppy and was so traumatized he wouldn't go into the water beyond wading for several years! We took him to a beach that went out very gradually, and enticed him out deeper and deeper with favorite toys. We did get him to go deeper, but finally, it took his watching a lab at the beach retrieving, to entice him to go way out. Since then he swims happily. When nobody will play with him, he will take a ball out to the end of the dock, push it in to the water himself with his paw and then go in the water to get it. Doesn't jump in though.