BJean

No, but they can be very, very inhumane. I have a friend serving in Afghanistan at the moment, he asked a local why none of the dogs have ears, apparently it makes them more aggresive having their ears cut off. The dog fighting problem s endemic in many muslim countries and in Afghanistan it is a public holiday for the biggest dog fighting day of the year, apparently by the end of the day 100,s of dogs are killed and maimed. Religiously sanctioned animal abuse is stil abuse. When the taliban came to power in Afghanistan, the pets were rounded up and taken from peoples houses and burned on a large pyre by the religious zeolots. I read a book about a family who managed to smuggle their dogs out just before the dog killings began. The koran however has a subclause about dogs, it says about all dogs being unclean except Salukis, who are classed as the hound of Allah and not really dogs but something very special and quite okay to share a tent with. Err, no. You're friend is putting the cart before the horse. The dogs'ears are cropped off because (as your friend would have noticed) there are no vets within cooee; cropping the ears prevents injury and infection. :D NB: There has always been dog fighting in Afghanistan. From the time there were shepherds with sheep there were fights between dogs. Common sense would indicate that severing a dog's ears is most definitely not to prevent infection esp. dogs with prick ears. Feeble excuse I'm afraid. What does your common sense indicate 'severing' (for maximum emotive effect) a dogs ear achieves and why?

It depends on what the second vet diagnosed the blisters and bacteria to be. Blisters can be from herpes, but I'd assume the vet would have mentioned this if Herpes was diagnosed. Otherise *to me* it reads like the first vet thought the discharge was normal, and probably vaginitis. The second vet took a swab and found bacteria (the only possible outcome) and so administered ABs. When these ABs didn't clear up the discharge the vet took a urine same and another swab (both positive) and administered different ABs. When she was on those antibiotics, I noticed some yellow discharge from her vulva, which our first vet said was "probably" normal. That's when I took her to another vet, who took a swab and found that she did have some bacteria there, so was placed on further course of the same antibiotic. However, the discharge was not clearing up so when she had the endoscope procedure on her throat, she also had a sterile urine sample taken and further swabs. The results were that she had blisters/bacteria in her vulva and a bladder infection

Nor is culture and ignorance an excuse for logical fallacy. Barbed wire collars and metal spiked collars actually have a purpose or protecting the dog when in a confrontation. And perhaps if American and British et al soldiers were not in Afghanistan fighting a war they cannot win the dogs would not be suffering as much, as with the people.

No, but they can be very, very inhumane. I have a friend serving in Afghanistan at the moment, he asked a local why none of the dogs have ears, apparently it makes them more aggresive having their ears cut off. The dog fighting problem s endemic in many muslim countries and in Afghanistan it is a public holiday for the biggest dog fighting day of the year, apparently by the end of the day 100,s of dogs are killed and maimed. Religiously sanctioned animal abuse is stil abuse. When the taliban came to power in Afghanistan, the pets were rounded up and taken from peoples houses and burned on a large pyre by the religious zeolots. I read a book about a family who managed to smuggle their dogs out just before the dog killings began. The koran however has a subclause about dogs, it says about all dogs being unclean except Salukis, who are classed as the hound of Allah and not really dogs but something very special and quite okay to share a tent with. Err, no. You're friend is putting the cart before the horse. The dogs'ears are cropped off because (as your friend would have noticed) there are no vets within cooee; cropping the ears prevents injury and infection. ;) NB: There has always been dog fighting in Afghanistan. From the time there were shepherds with sheep there were fights between dogs.

Stupidity, Idiocy, and a penchant for kicking tyres are the main barriers to entry (but not always!!!)

So just cause people are prepared to pay x amount for a purebred dog justifies the breeder to take advantage of that? As for crosses going selling for more than the average pedigree pup ? Not so sure about that, in fact I beg to differ. ;) I paid $1500 for my cavalier and I haven't seen any crossbred dog selling for that kind of money. nah them breeders should just sell pups at a set price, same for those vets that are open all hours just because an owner is prepared to administer veterinary attention at 2 am Sunday doesn't justify the vet to take advantage of that!! what an outrage!! Im appalled.

What are you feeding your puppy? Bladder infection can be caused by lack of water consumption, which may be relevant giving what you describe of your puppy's inefficiency drinking water and palate. What ABs were prescribed for the urine infection? As to everything else: What did the pustules on your puppy's stomach look like? Were they causing discomfort to the puppy? What age did they appear? What did the vet say the pustule were? What ABs were prescribed for the pustules? Re Discharge: Did your vet(s) rule out vaginitis? What ABs were prescribed? Vaginitis is often worse when humidity is high (I notice your home state is QLD, Im not sure if this is relevant or not). Vaginitis is NORMAL mucous produciton in young bitches. It is NORMAL for bacteria to show up on a vaginal swab. imo neither the first vet or the seciond vet sound great. Did the second vet suggest lack of water for the bladder infection? What type of blisters/bacteria did the second vet identify so as to require more ABS? What ABs were prescibed for the discharge? It sounds as if your puppy had puppy pimples and vaginitis - all normal in a young puppy and certainly no need to have ABs. I think you need to resolve the dogs pallet problem as that will prevent the bladder infection from reoccuring. Please dont bombard your puppy with ABs, she only has a baby system and so ABs should only be administered if necessary to fight infection. ie the baldder infection. imo your puppy sounds like it has a palate issue which has caused a bladder infection. If the breeder is paying for this then get the palate issue resolved and then bladder infection will resolve. The other problems, imo (and it is only going from what you have written) sound like vaginitis and puppy pimples, normal for young puppy and no need to treat with ABs. The ABs over so many weeks may NB: Yeast infections in ears are also exaceranetd by humid weather.

Neither did I

Yes I also would think Anatolian. It's a CAO though just not very representative. Here is example of excellent CAO: Rus CH Baynak: Rus CH Kibir:

thanks

Ahhhhhhhh now I want to see the photo! Is it possible to scan it????

lol okay I know where the info is from then Why would they say CAO are good with strangers? Even if your own dog was, the breed as a whole is not. Unless the article was just about one CAO and her personality?

oh dear I hoped she didn't cut and paste the wrong breed photo. will see if I can find the mag on my way home tonight.

Did the dog in the photo have cropped ears and docked tail? When you say like an Anatolian do you mean it was fawn in colour or red? Or is it to do with the skull / muzzle / expression of the dog's head.

what did the article say? I ask bcz a few months ago the author emailed me a list of questions. In reply I asked her what information and photos to date and if she had met any of the breed herself. She replied she hadn't and just emailed me a list of questions for me to fill out /answer: 1. How long have you been breeding/involved in the breed? 2. If you had to describe the perfect person for this breed, what type of person would it be? 3. How would you describe the breed’s personality? 4. Does the breed require much training/are they easy to train? Do they participate in agility etc? 4. Does the breed require much exercise? 5. Does the breed require a lot of grooming/care? 6. Is the breed good for families/children? 7. Does the breed make a good watchdog? 8. Do you have any funny stories/moments about the breed you could share with readers? 9. Are there any hereditary diseases in the breed? 10. What do people need to be aware of before becoming a proud guardian? 11. How much do pups cost? How often are pups available? 12. What is the breed’s lifespan? 13. What backyard requirements does the breed require? 14. What is the breed standard? 15. What is the average size of the breed? 16. Anything else you would like to add? I thought well buggered if I am going to write your article for you and imo, you dont write a breed profile for a breed you have never met or seen. Perhaps another breeder filled out the questions for her. Or maybe USA sources were used. casowner what do the dogs in the photos look like?

What breed is charlie? Sorry to hijack your thread but I was talking to an owner of a guide dog puppy and apparently poo eating is common in Guide Dogs puppies (???) I dont know if this is true I was hoping to find out more info and any success stories of curbing the behaviour. nb: Charlie doesn't sound too bad the dog I am referring literally eats its as the other dog is producing it. Quite gross.

Did they go from limp to stiff as a board as if the puppy was made of wood? You think that's it the puppy is dead, and then a few minutes later it morphs back to normal .. Have experienced this, very disturbing as ythere is nothing you can do to alleviate. Research came up with E coli possibility also hypoglycemia. Caused possibly by inability to effectively metabolise what is ingested. There was a thread on it a while back, from memory Steve lost a whole litter (???) from pups going stiff as a board .. wil try to find the thread as memory sketchy

very expensive. Entropian surgery for a 5 month old Anatolian puppy cost $600. What was involved in Chowie's surgery? Re inheritence: Both sire and dam had no entopion or history of producing entropion. the puppy in question however had one of the biggest boofiest ASD heads I'd ever seen, spec vet thinks entropion resulted from skin / head structure of the individual puppy.

It was I WAZZATXOLO and I said No Police dogs are NOT asessed on their agression its the drive In fact overly agressive dogs dont make good Police Dogs ! I said drive which is a different kettle of fish to prey drive too ( research that as well! ) :D Anyhow what would I know !!!!! Gee whizz there are so many experts and a few spurts lol. My comments were made from personal experience from a Senior Police Dog Trainer, but what would he know anyhow ! I stand by my initial comments and I am sure if you research YOU will find they are spot on!! Good luck with your mass debate Wazzalot, you are saying the same thing as Staranais - staranais has grouped drives that are often constituent of aggression under the term 'aggression' + prey. A dog's sense of defence, territory, rank determines its propensity to exhibit aggression (in the context being discussed here). To say that aggression is not important in a certain working dog makes no sense as aggression is the physical expression of the aggregate (defence, territory, rank) + prey If a dog is "too aggressive" and so unsuccessful as a police dog working dog or whatever it is because the dog has inadequate nerve aka imbalance of constituent motivations that produce an 'aggressive' response, Failure as a police/working dog is because of inadequate drive / nerve = too much or too little 'aggression' Success as a police/working dog is because of ideal drive / nerve = ideal level of 'aggression' ETA: some farmers from non english seakling background use the words 'crazy and 'tough' when describing an ideal type of LGD temperament that they need for open range. 'crazy' means the dog wil do its job defending and protecting the stock. To be 'crazy' [or 'aggressive' or 'tough'] a working ASD in open range needs strong sense of defence, rank, territory. once again different words, describing the same aggregate drive response.

No thankyou. Cloaking your opinion in sardonic inference, does not make it representative of the public's thoughts and voice. The public has a great capacity to learn and do the best by all dogs; if only they are given balanced information.

I dont think obfuscation through the use of euphemisms is beneficial long term. Yes restricting canine temperament descriptions to PC words people prefer to hear will not effect the summation of most companion / lap breeds but it will effect the learning and knowlegde base of dog owners in general. If use of the word aggression sounds the death nell for GSD then all dogs are done anyway.

A dog that does not react. A dog that is able to ignore inapproproate / unwelcome approaches by other dogs / humans; ignores hyperactive / over enthusiastic dogs bounding over to 'play'. A dog that treats all aberrations of other dog behaviour (and human) as a tolerable part of the norm. Of course socialisation on its own will not achieve the above. It also depends on the dog's nerve and to an extent how important reacting is to the dog Eg: a dog with strong inbuilt defence or rank drive can be socialised all the way to everywhere until the cows come home, but there wil be some dogs /circumstances where the dog wil exhibit a response that dare I say, will be 'unsociable' nb: I often endure with wry amusment, the common observation when one of my dog growls at another or exhibits any kind of aggression "oh was he/she not socialised properly?"

Perhaps the advert wording is not the problem but your own perception of the word 'aggression'? Given aggression is a natural part of the dog psyche, how is it that aggression is not a natural part of the GSD Can you explain why aggression is not constituent? nb: The advert also contained these words: natural drive; balance.

A puppy from the breeder who does do the health tests, but has had minimal puppies could pose as more of a 'health unknown' simply because there is not the proven previous litters on the ground from the sire/dam combination. Hence any indication of genetic propensity and what that might be.

It also pops up because there are many genes contributing to the formation & growth of a hip joint, and we can't directly test for or eliminate each undesirable allele. If we could, there would be no need to radiograph. Yes. Even if you could test for all genes contributing to the formation & growth of a hip joint, would you still exclude a dog from breeding program based on such results? You're very right, hip scores and elbow scores are not the be all and end all of a good dog, or even of a good hip. But the fact that some breeders pay too much attention to hip and elbow scores is no reason not to score dogs at all. Even if you still choose to breed a dog with only moderately good hips because it is a fantastic dog in other ways, at least you can choose to breed it to a dog with great hips, as proven by performance and radiographs. I can not think of one single good reason not to hip and elbow score a breeding dog from a large breed that sometimes shows ED or HD. Whether we can come up with reasons or not is not the issue :rolleyes: The question is can furbabies buy a sound large breed puppy if ED and HD xrays have not been taken? And if not, what do we suppose sire/dam xrays will indicate about the health and longevity of the dogs in consideration, or indeed even the sire/dams propensity to pass this hip structure on, that pedigree and breeding history, siblings grandparents etc and an eye for balanced sound structure can't? And all this, coupled with the incidence of bloat and cancer in the breed. Which health issue to pick? As a breeder do you breed from fair average hips or from a bitch who's granddam or offspring died of cancer; bloat? As a puppy buyer what concerns you more?