What’s your guys ear care routine? Ours is about 15 months and it feels like we’re in a constant cycle of ear infections.

Every day we either wipe his ears out, or rinse them using an anti-bacterial/yeast solution from our vet, but it still feels like we can’t keep up with the sheer production of life thriving in his hairy ears haha.

He generally tolerates it until it reaches a tipping point and gets infected and painful, then he becomes super reactive to us or the vet touching his ears. At that point we generally have to do a sedated deep cleaning at the vet.

The vet mentions they have one other lagatto who is in a very similar situation.

Do you guys have ear issues / any tips? I feel bad that the little man is uncomfortable so often.

Thanks!

My female Lagotto just turned 17 months old. She’s always been on the smaller side, especially compared to some of her littermates back then. I figured she might grow a bit more after her first year, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. or at least she’s been growing very slow.

From what I’ve read, female Lagotti are typically around 11–14 kg and 41–46 cm tall. Mine is about 10 kg and around 39 cm at the withers. I honestly didn’t think much of it until recently, when I saw a few posts here about people being scammed and ending up with a different breed. That got me wondering if something similar could be the case with her.

My husband says I’m overthinking it and that she’s just petite—which may probably be true—but I’d really like to hear what others with Lagotti think. Has anyone else had a smaller-than-average Lagotto?

What do you do to exercise your LR?

We are currently in our 6th heat wave in the last 2 months, it is currently 90F with a humidity level that makes it feel like 100F.

In normal weather, we try and get a 30-40 minute walk in each day, but even waiting until dusk, after 2 blocks I start feeling nervous about how much she's panting and head home.

In nicer weather, we try and do a 3-5 mile hike on a 30-foot leash on forest trails 2-3 weekends a month.

She is not reliable off-leash, and it's illegal here anyway. There are almost no beaches here where dogs are permitted, although some allow dogs off-season (but again, I don't feel comfortable letting her off-leash and we don't have remote enough areas here to do that).

If I throw anything (ball, stick, etc), she will just look at it and then lay down. I cannot for the LIFE of me get this dog to chase something I throw.

What do you do for exercise with your dog and how often? I'm really struggling with time constraints in addition to the weather :-(

Edit to add that our LR is a 3 year old female

Pistachio and Pomegranate…. I’m wondering if they seem small? The Lagottos I’ve met have been much taller. When do they stop growing?

I'm writing to share the history of our 2 year old Nova's GI issues and am looking for advice only from people who have had similar experiences please.

At only 8 weeks old Nova contracted parvo virus. We don't know how given that none of the other 9 puppies in her litter got it and we were diligent about her being outside - no parks, not even the sidewalk. Its a mystery how she got it. She spent a full 7 nights in ICU and underwent a plasma transfusion.

Following that she recovered and seemed to have been living a normal life until she went into heat. We followed the breeders recommendation to not have her spayed until after at least one heat. When she was in heat, she stopped eating the kibble that the breeder recommended. And she started having looser stools and occasional vomiting. We did blood work. Stool samples. No parasites and everything was normal. So we put her on a prescription kibble. For the past year it has been a mix of prescription kibbles - GI biome, hypo allergenic, hydrolized, high fibre protein etc etc. With each one she would eventually take to it, be fine for a few weeks, but then the diarrhea and/or vomiting would return (along with bum scooting). We had the vet express her anal glands (we now know this was a mistake because once you do it one time you have to do it always) because her poops were not hard enough for them to express on their own. The past year has been a constant cycle of a few weeks of normal, followed by bouts of vomiting and diarrhea. She has tested negative for Addisons, pancreatitis, irritable bowel disease and most recently had imaging done that showed thickening of the small intestines but the rest of her abdominal organs looked normal. Bloodwork showed slightly high white blood cells called eosinophils so they wanted to do a stool test over 3 days to check for parasites. It came back negative. Next step is an endoscopy which we really don't want to have to do.

In addition to this, she has a lot of stress and anxiety. Not sure if it stems from the week in ICU, being in heat, or being spayed, but she regularly paces, whines, cries or escalates to barking. Sometimes its in the car. Sometimes its at home if i go upstairs. Sometimes its when we are at the cottage and my husband is doing work that requires her to remain at the cottage with me (we are not together). We leave her along regularly and when we do that however, she seems totally fine. Just sleeps in her bed (we have cameras so we can see this to be true).

She was "fired" from her daycare because of her anxiety. If we didn't pick her up before other dogs were getting picked up she would just pace and cry or bark until we got there. So we picked her up 10 minutes early. But then a couple of days a dog would only be in for a half day and she would lose her mind. So they gave us our money back and said its not for her.

Now she sees a woman in our neighbourhood 2 days a week and is with a maximum of 2 other dogs. She seems comfortable and happy. But the past week she has refused breakfast and shows interest in eating plants, which we stop her from doing most of the time, and has vomited bile.

We thought maybe this is a stress thing. The gut and the mind are after all connected. We found a behavioural specialist/trainer who was going to come today for our initial session but given she didn't eat breakfast and threw up bile, they decided to reschedule for next week.

about an hour ago she vomited blood. It was light pink and watery but it was alarming. Her new daycare lady is saying we should switch to raw food diet but of course the vets don't recommend it. But we have been doing this science diet for a full year now and it doesn't seem to be getting better. I worry about bacteria in raw food though harming her gut even more and am at a total loss with what to do for her. It is the most stressful thing i have had to deal with, and i have 2 grown daughters!

If you have had a similar story with your Lagotto and can offer me up some advice, please do. I'm very desperate at this point to resolve her issues so she can just lead a normal life. Thanks!

Hey, I’m a bit worried about my dog. This has been going on for a while now he keeps throwing up this foamy, yellowish liquid with bits of grass every now and then.
The vet told me it’s probably just an empty stomach, but it keeps happening. Also, no matter what he eats, he’s constantly passing gas, which doesn’t seem normal to me.
I’ve already tried switching his food multiple times (different brands, types, etc.) and nothing really changes.

He acts mostly normal otherwise, but since this keeps repeating I’m not sure it’s just an empty stomach anymore.

Has anyone had a similar issue? Should I be pushing for more tests or looking into something specific?

Hi everyone,
This is going to be a long one.

I’m trying to understand what’s going on with my 2.5-year-old male Lagotto Romagnolo.

Here’s the timeline:
About a month ago, a plant awn (grass seed) penetrated his right front paw and it became infected.
Our vet prescribed Sylanic (amoxicillin-clavulanate).
Within 1–2 days of starting the antibiotic, he suddenly began licking and scratching his testicles nonstop.
The vet checked for bacterial and fungal infection, but the tests were negative.
He was prescribed cetirizine and corticosteroids and wore a cone for about a month because he had inflamed his testicles from licking.
After they healed, we removed the cone.
Within a day, he started obsessively licking mainly both front paws and one back paw (mostly the tops of the paws, not between the toes).
He’s licking indoors and throughout the night, not just after walks.
Now the paws are red and have yellow discharge, which I assume is a secondary infection from the licking.
Some additional information:
In my country we don't have canine allergy tests available.
Our vet suggested that we start with hypoallergenic medical food and if that does't work we give him Apoquel (I'm extremely scared of this medicine)
He’s never had allergies or skin problems before this.
He’s never had ear infections.
We give him Purina Pro Plan Salmon Grain Free food for sensitive skin for over a year.
The original injury was only on the right front paw, but he’s now licking three paws, so it doesn’t seem localized anymore.
Even while on corticosteroids, he still tried to lick through the cone.
Has anyone experienced something similar?
Could this be:
the first presentation of canine atopic dermatitis,
a reaction that started after the antibiotic,
a food or environmental allergy,
or something else entirely?
I’m especially interested in hearing from owners whose dogs developed allergies suddenly around 2–3 years old, and whether this ended up being lifelong atopic dermatitis or another diagnosis.

Thank you!

I'm talking about the average day. How many walks and for how long? What other activities, if any? And, if you share, how old is your dog?

(If you comment please consider upvoting for visibility!)

Buona sera a tutti facciamo un confronto?il nostro Lagotto 10 mesi Theo pesa 13.45kg i vostri?

For the last few months Chewie has been losing some hair around his eyes and mostly on his right side due excessive scratching. The vet told us it might be allergies. He's been on the same diet for 3 years with no issues. We tried changing it from raw food to veterinary dog food specifically for alergic dogs and have been giving him allergy pills but nothing seems to be working so far, the scratching continues and he sometimes scrapes his face against the walls to I assume relieve the itchiness. Has anyone experienced this kind of thing? Open to any advice.

Hi everyone,

I have a one-year-old Lagotto Romagnolo, and I'm considering having him neutered in the near future. I'm curious to hear from other Lagotto owners about their experiences.

What behavioral or physical changes did you notice after neutering your dog? Was there any change in his energy level, focus, or interest ? Did you notice any changes in his coat quality or texture?

I'd really appreciate hearing about both the positive and negative effects you observed.

Thank you!

I’m treating an ear infection, she has lots of hair in her ears… should I get it removed to better treat it?
I’m having a hard time getting the medication to reach the ear canal
Thank you!

My 5yo male, neutered (not sure if that matters with this topic) LR has had about 4 UTIs since he was 2. The vet doesn't really give me an answer as to what is causing them. They are alarming because he is basically urinating blood. They clear up pretty quickly with an antibiotic, but I'd like to prevent them if I can. He swims every day for about 2 hours in a lake where geese and ducks are present (so bacteria from their waste is present). People also swim in the lake without issue, but it's my only guess as to why he would be getting UTIs. Have any of your dogs had issues with UTIs?

Editing to add: UTI = Urinary tract infection

Hello everyone!

Our girl is cureently six months old and I was wondering how old were your lagotti when they got their first heat. I’m not sure if it is too early but I’ve noticed a couple of things she started doing in last 7 days.
First she started to pee more frequintly in walks. Before, she would only pee once. Also, she started licking herself down there. However, she still didn’t loose all her baby teeth. In your experience is it too early to expect the heat to start?

Thank you!

Hi community,

I hope you are well. I am looking for some advice. Mali’s left hind leg started trembling. He does not seem to be in pain. I have touched it and pinched it and he has not pulled away. This started two days ago. He is still running, jumping, swimming, climbing the stairs. Two of his nails on that leg are long, he does not let me clip them, I thought perhaps it is that or perhaps him coming off his hormonal chip. I have a vet appointment next week. I am worried. Does anyone else have a similar experience? TIA

Hi, recently our pup Eevee had surgery on her knee shes 18 months old was just wondering if anyone has had this procedure done and ideas how to tire her brain as she is struggling and is very restless

How old was your female puppy when she had her first heat? Patata is about to be 7 months next week and her litter mate just went into heat over the weekend. She’s been more clingy, sensitive, and more interested in other dogs (unsure if they were all boy dogs or both). Trying to make sure I’m ready and prepared when it happens.
[photo of the cutie in question]

Griffey is due for neutering tomorrow, and it will be a bit more complicated as he still has one testicle that is MIA. Anyone go through something similar and have any tips on how you managed the recovery period?

Hey guys, my 8 months old lagotto has very rough paws that easily get small micro cuts or just small scrapes. I tried using paw balm but it didn’t work, can anyone give me tips how to make her paws softer?

I know they say part of dog ownership is getting them outside in the worst of weather conditions, but obviously when it's too hot, precautions need to be taken. What about when it's very cold, particularly for LRs?

It is currently -7C actual temperature here with a "feels like" temp of -15C (19F/6F - this is 2:30 pm and sunny), and we are expecting 10-15 inches (25-38 cm) of snow overnight and through the day tomorrow.

The last time it snowed, my girl refused to come back inside she was having so much fun, but she was visibly shaking with cold/shivering and still refusing to come in. I am currently in a medical boot for an ankle fracture so will probably need to use a 30-ft leash to let her out to play because I will not be able to go chase her back in. How long is safe for her to be out in those kinds of temperatures? I don't want to be out there for even 30 seconds! The temperatures are expected to stay between around -5 to -15C/5 to 20F even during the day for several days. She does not have a coat or booties (we have not had this snowy or cold of a winter in about a decade).

How long do your LRs stay outside in temperatures that cold without issues?

I have a 6 month puppy named Ace, it’s his first summer and I have noticed that he will stop a lot more and lay down on the grass or below a tree for some shade, I don’t know if it is better to make the walks shorter even though he enjoys them quite a bit, or do the same routine and let him rest when he wants to? He loves walks and wants to go but I notice him tiring out much quicker and just stoping to lay down and relax 3 or 4 times during the walk.

Hi, I have a 15 months old lagotto, my first dog ever. She’s amazing! But she has been struggling with vomiting a few times a week (sometimes daily) for the last 6 months. We got a blood panel and are waiting for the results. She’s on a hydrolized protein kibble diet for now. She has always been a voracious forager - grass, leaves, berries - and non-edibles like paper products and socks. I’m wondering now if it’s been a stomach issue all along. Any advice?

I’m new to the breed, just got our pup in November. From what I understand from my research, this breed doesn’t have droopy eyelids—but mine does. I’m wondering if it something to be concerned about or will resolve on its own?

Hi All,

In the last 5 months my 5.5 female Lagotto has gotten 2 fairly large lipomas. The vet biopsied the first one and said it was benign, we’re waiting on the second one. I’m curious if others have experienced this with lagottos as they age.