Sandra777

What HW said. You need professional assistance and quickly. Two female Staffords this close together in age is a very difficult situation to manage.

Face judging does happen - absolutely. But after 30+ years in the show ring I honestly believe that what is perceived as face judging is made up of... - a simple fact that well known, established breeders tend to have better dogs than novices, prepare them better & present them better. Even if the novice's dog is equal to (or better) than the other dog, it probably isn't conditioned, groomed (in coated breeds) or handled as well. Even in the case of a "known handler" taking the dog in the ring rather than the owner - most of the time the really good handlers know a good dog when they see one so will only show a really good dog in the first place plus have the talent of getting the best out of it. The judge only has 2 or 3 minutes to assess the dog (totalling up the class gaiting together plus individual exam time) so if for 2 minutes the dog is standing with it's front feet together while the newbie handler fusses around with the lead, that's going to be a big black mark against even the best dog. It's all very well to say that the judge should be able to look past the handling, but judges who try to do this tend to get abuse for being 'slow' - it takes time to assess a dog which is stacked badly, wriggles, doesn't gait straight etc etc etc. - ignorance. A judge can't be expected to know the finer points of all breeds in a group, let alone all breeds at the show. Some judges simply wouldn't know a good Mongolian Rat Pointer if it bit them on the butt so if Mrs X has been in the BIS line up ten times with her MRP it "must be a good one". Sometimes this is done out of genuine mis-guided belief that the dog "must be good" and sometimes it's because the judge simply has no interest in the breed (or the whole group on rare occasions) and puts up the "winning dog" so they look like they know what they're doing. - genuine face-judging.

I have had a fair number of rescues with very severe Demodex (a couple a few years ago were incurable, virtually bald and were PTS they were that bad) - none of them have acted in any way that suggests it is a painful condition. Obviously having not had it myself I couldn't say for sure, but I've never seen any sign that the dogs are bothered by it. Secondary infections, absolutely, but these are covered by antibiotics. It isn't something that will necessarily go away in a hurry and by piling more and more and more chemicals on it might have the effect of suppressing her immune system even more so actually prolonging the 'fight'. I would seriously look at a second opinion because a lot of what you have written suggests your vet is not working from a position of extensive experience with the condition.

Lisey the Siberian Husky & Alaskan Malamute Social Club do this in Brisbane - last year it was at Durack. They have a website & fb page. First comp is on the 20th. Pretty sure they have to be 18 months old to have a go at the competition.

5 metres - thanks esky! The competition here is run as the dogs pull equal weights until they "fail" or the owner opts to stop, but the placings are determined by the dog's body weight not by the maximum weight pulled so you don't have to get top weight to win - a 10kg dog who pulls 100kg (10 x it's weight) will beat a 50kg dog who pulls anything less than 501kg. (500kg being 10 x it's weight) There is novice and open depending on the dog's experience. The club here doesn't give out a prize on the day for the most weight pulled, just the 1-2-3 placings based on the dog's body weight, but they may have club prizes for this at their end of year picnics, I don't know. Amstaffs & Staffords seem to be the only non-Sibe or Mal's that come to events up here, although there was a Bullmastiff type dog that turned up once last year so perhaps the word is spreading In practice most light weight dogs (under 14-15kg) seem to be handicapped by their simple lack of weight to pull the sled off the mark at the higher weights - basic inertia wins. Our 14.2kg bitch pulled 225kg, but she couldn't get it started so was eliminated - if the dog "fails" the attendants get the trolley rolling and will push it a little to make the dog believe it's achieved - for her once the trolley was moving she kept it going no problem at all. Dallas was always just speciality show fit for this, we didn't do any special training - walking, flirt pole & ball chasing was his lot :D

Can't remember the exact length - but about 8 or 10 metres seems about right.

Hope they don't live in Victoria with an unregistered pet shop Stafford :cry:

If you find beefy guys and their bull breeds off putting rubyblue - how about a beefy gal and her bull breed.... This is early in the rounds, there's only about 50kg on the trolley (+ the trolley weight itself), but a good place to start and to build up their confidence This is our gorgeous Dallas who died on Thursday but he loved weightpull and we had so many hopes for him to compete this year (when he'd be 3 so fully mature) Great sport for a strong determined dog - some will do it some won't and if they hate it there's nothing you can do to convince them otherwise. 3 competitions for 3 wins overall - but a strong 16-20kg dog probably has a distinct advantage over most strong 30-40kg dogs in novice events. Dallas' best pull was 26 times his own body weight, just over 400kg. For a bigger dog this could be 780 - 1000kg which is a big ask for a dog not conditioned specifically for weightpull. Think the grin says it all...

Dr. David Senter of Englewood, Colorado, a Board Certified Specialist in Veterinary Dermatology ... "Most dermatologists will elect not to treat a dog with generalized demodicosis unless it has been spayed or neutered. The reason for this is simply due to the high likelihood of the affected dog's offspring to develop demodicosis. There is absolutely no benefit to NOT spaying or neutering a dog undergoing treatment. On the other hand, reproductive hormones in female dogs in heat (estrus) or in pregnant dogs can cause worsening of the mites or make it more difficult to control them. However, the presence of male reproductive hormones (un-neutered males) makes no known difference in the ability to control the Demodex mites. On a different note: I do not treat dogs with localized demodicosis (less than six affected spots) because more than 90% of them will resolve on their own. By treating them, you will never know if the patient would have become a generalized case or not.

I would tend to think they're bites not demodex until proven otherwise. Her first season could well be another trigger, so you may get a relapse due to hormones. Once she's spayed you'll have a much leveler playing field as far as hormones and other triggers to try and get on top of the problem, so I'd be inclined to do that sooner rather than later after this heat is finished. Just re-read the original post. This pup has been on ivomec constantly since the malesab & advocate "failed to work"????? Just how long has she been treated with ivomec for?

Change your vet. Demodex is present in virtually ALL dogs but only a few will react to them. In virtually all cases the pup receives the mite from it's dam in the first few days of life, the mites are normal part of the skin flora & fauna of dogs - no different to the mites we have living on our skin & the mites which live on all land mammals. First queston would be are the new red crusty patches around her jaw actually demodex or some other allergic reaction? What may she have come in contact with which is new which she could be reacting to. Has this bitch had a season yet?

We lost our gorgeous boy Dallas on Thursday. He wasn't quite three and died of a pulmonary hemorrhage - probably caused by an aneursym. Why do we let ourselves loves these guys so much? Run free spotty guy.

Deinfitely immune related - so the things you need to consider are: - Family history. What does the breeder say? Owner/breeder of the sire? - What vaccinations has the pup had, did you notice any change in the skin condition related to these? - It's my personal opinion that colostrum powder from cow or goat milk is fine for baby cows or goats. My understanding is that the gut of most mammal doesn't absorb colostrum for more than a few days after birth - however this could be old information since I know it's something that's become quite popular in the last few years and perhaps better research has been done. Permanently curing demodex which has been on going since 10 weeks of age is going to be a mission - but it depends on the severity. At any point have you simply stopped all chemical treatment and what affect has this had? In many cases the problem corrects itself without any interference at all, but if stopping treatment makes the dog's condition severely worse then obviously not something most people are willing to do. The balding and the infection are two separate things and you can treat the infection (obviously something you need to do) without continuing to treat the demodex How bad is the balding, how bad has it been in the past?

One or two puppy shots (will wait until 12 weeks if everything suits to do so) one at 14 months then not again. Like someone else has mentioned though, my dogs are out and about - keeping their base immunity active I have no doubt. Dogs isolated in their own back yard may well be a different story.

I would suggest that as she's probably a bit bigger than the pups I'm used to, you grab her by the collar at the same time. You need to be stern and consistent - she's got away with this for 3 months, it's not going to change overnight and it's likely she will get worse before she gets better. If she is getting genuinely angry/aggressive though, stop immediately - definitely not something you want to esculate in to actual aggression.

That's not a pedigree poodle because they only come in miniature size. Er, no it's not a pedigree poodle because it's a Portuguese Water Dog :laugh: Suggest you don't try walking a PWD & a correct-sized Staffordshire Bull Terrier (no, it's not a miniature anything thanks!)

RIP Jade, what an appalling way to die. LInk with pictures of 3 of the dogs, and surprise surprise not a Staffordshire Bull Terrier or Bullmastiff to be seen. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html

I have three - only use one at a time :D - great in the right place and if the right quality. Paid an awful lot of money for my best one, which has showed no sign of slipping, breaking or doing anything it shouldn't when attached to my 3 year old boy who can weight pull more than 27 times his own body weight. Never EVER used on the street or where it's likely to meet loose dogs though! Agree that they are often used by people who have no clue about dogs.

Pretty much this :). On the tongue is probably less harsh but if you miss, doesn't really matter. Just watch out if you have long fingernails - the plan isn't to gouge out lumps of flesh Generally it's a matter of holding the jaw rather than pressure on the tongue itself - just a different version of grabbing the cheek or lip. Not something I'd recommend for small delicate dogs incidentally!

She seems to have successfully trained you to provide treats when she bites :D Yelping obviously isn't working so I would dump that immediately. In a dog with a high prey drive the human yelp often sounds like prey not like litter mate and stimulates them more PLUS, at 5 months IMO the window for this to work has long since closed. Bigger breeds develop at different rates to the medium breeds I'm used to but with mine, if they bothered an older dog at 5 months they would get a roar and a snap - 'stop bothering me you annoying brat'. If she was mine I'd be using my best growly voice and saying a loud NO. If she ignores you physically remove her from the situation (outside, crate, behind a baby gate) no treats for obeying "eventually", no approval for anything except instantly stopping the unwanted behaviour. Simply don't allow her to bite your hand, if she tries grab her lip or cheek or put your thumb down on her thumb and hold her jaw as already suggested. Hold firmly, no need to shake, pinch or do or say anything, just hold her firmly and make her stop the behaviour on her own - when she does release her and do nothing. No praise for obeying "eventually" remember! She will probably take a couple of days to realise this is no longer a fun game. THEN you have to teach her that it's OK for you to touch her mouth (check teeth, pull lips (gently!), tickle whiskers etc) but it's not OK for her mouth to touch your hand. Don't confuse the issue by trying to teach both things at once.

Very simple - MUCH simpler than sending one from here to NZ. You must use an agent for the booking but if the person at the other end wants to do the running around with the vet then there's no reason for the agent to ever even touch the dog :) On top of freight you have about $300 for a vet certificate no more than 72 hours before the flight and about $80 for fees at this end. For a NZ agent Tania @ Dogpower gets the big thumbs up from me - brilliant service.

Advance is hardly rubbish. If your pup's breeder has raised litters of healthy Danes to adulthood on it, I'd be sticking with that. Between TOTW and Holistict Select, Advance has a lower star rating. http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/advance-pet-diets-dog-food/ True, high star rating doesn't mean suitable for your dog and vice versa, but at least we know where they stand from an independent product ingredient table point of view. 'The breeder is fully registered and reputable'. Doesn't mean anything. Perhaps, if the breeder did feed the dogs with a higher quality (if that exists), then the pups may have the next level of health and strength. At least that's just the theory. Or perhaps, being a giant breed specifically being discussed, the pups would be a total mess after being forced to grow faster than desirable, with the multitude of health problems this causes.

Logan have special kennel permits for CCCQ members - up to 9 dogs with not a lot of conditions (they all have to be registered on top of the permit fee though). Ipswich if you're on 2000 m2 or more is four dogs with no permit required and people I have spoken to who live in the Brisbane City Council area itself reckon it's pretty easy for a CCCQ member to get a multiple dog permit. Moreton Bay have a special CCCQ member's permit too, also meant to be not to hard to get. As for facilities, no idea - don't use dog parks or the like!

ACT used to be a really big Stafford show, partly I suppose because it's a bit more central to Vic & NSW than Newcastle and partly because it has a great atmosphere, but in the last couple of years they've had a smaller entry than before I hope it's not going to continue this year because the committee works really hard at making a great show for all. There were only about 80 or so shown on the Sunday last year (there were 60 entered in Durack this weekend just gone), but in years gone by it was one of the bigger shows. Melbourne a few weeks ago had just over 200 entered with not enormous numbers of absentees; the Northern NSW show in Newcastle (September) had about 20 or 30 more than this and Queensland had about the same last August. Hope ACT's numbers go up, it deserves to be a well supported show I reckon, but of course it just depends so much on the judges the club can get. You'll enjoy it anyway I'm sure :-) ETA: Rainy will be there too....

We don't miss the ACT show Lisey :) Driving though, so work on Tuesday will be even more fun than work on Monday will be for you :laugh: