Sandra777

I state I will take 'my' pups back but I've only had 3 occasions in 34 years where this has been necessary. Oh and two where adult rehomes came back but they were only on trial so not the same thing. 1) 3 year old bitch didn't get on with new boyfriends 'labradoodle'. We actually met said crossbred and it tried to bite three children in the space of 2 minutes while 3 year old Stafford bitch frolicked around and played with the same children. BF was a and the relationship broke up about 6 months after we had rehomed the 3 year old. 2) 18 month old dog "bit my 2 year old". Yes dog did bite child however long story but after dog had been PTS and examined it was determined by the vet that dog had (healed) broken ribs and scrotum had been burnt. Not suggesting 2 year old did this but obviously dog was in a fair amount of pain. Still cry over this boy. 3) 5 month old puppy, owner died. The family knew where the pup had come from and phoned us. They had a family friend who wanted the pup so technically the pup never came back to me but went straight to family friend. The main reasons I say I will always take 'my' pups back started when Staffords were being stolen/claimed from pounds for dog fighting, then continued when the BYB boom started when anything entire was snaffled up to feed the boom, and now continues because so many perfectly good Staffords are PTS in pounds every day I want to avoid anything I 'made' going this way.

Same as everyone else has said - ask the breeder :D Personally I'm not an Eukanuba fan but whatever suits the dog is what is best for that dog.

Yes it's entirely possible he has some rocks in his stomach. As for whether that will do any harm long-term it could be a bit luck of the draw. Ages ago I had a 6-7 month old puppy who ate gravel, you could actually feel the rocks in her stomach We blocked her access to the gravel and she pooped out lumps for about 2 weeks, and lost about a kilo in weight in that time too. She lived to over 15 so obviously did her no harm long-term (she gave up eating rocks after those 2 weeks too). I'd be inclined to try and break to poo eating cycle so break the rock eating cycle too.

Unless you're a judge or someone else important in which case this rule is ignored

Portuguese Water DOG

Agree with knocking down her workload. Also instead of trying to continually tempt her with different food, give her something she usually likes but only a small portion. If it's wet food warm it up slightly (room temperature) as then food usually gives off a bit more smell, if it's dry then mix up some 'gravy' and pour it over (gravy can be no more exciting than the water off a meat-ball sized bit of mince cooked in about a cup of water for a couple of minutes) If she eats the whole portion then leave her for a few hours and give her a little more, if she doesn't then throw it away (or feed it to another dog), and offer her fresh later. Constantly swapping and changing doesn't do any dog any good especially one who's decided to behave like a princess :laugh:

not entirely, Ive always had my puppies vaccinated from 6 to 8 weeks, and the recommended 3 vaccinations, yet have still had 3 get parvo at around the 4 to 6 month mark. so it happens all right. I don't think you're taking what I wrote in the way I meant it. The article says at the beginning that 28% of pups with Parvo have been vaccinated. No idea if this is an accurate figure or not because one parvo shot at 6 weeks could well be reported as "puppy was vaccinated" when the reality is that no sensible person would have believed it to be immune on this basis. I would have no problems with accepting this statistic though because sometimes vaccination simply doesn't work whether this is because of the vaccine itself, maternal immunity, "wrong" strain, pup was already infected or whatever At the end of the article it says that 28% of vaccinated puppies will get parvo which is a mis-representation of the original statistic. 28% of parvo cases are vaccinated is a totally different statistic to 28% of vaccinated pups will get Parvo. The latter suggests that if you vaccinate your pup you have 28% chance of it catching parvo which is what I was referring to as 'scare tactics'.

If he's improving I wouldn't be overly concerned. Lesson learnt - don't overload his system by vaccinating & worming on the same day :)

"Furthermore, 28% of vaccinated puppies still get the disease" Huh? 28% of puppies with Parvo have been vaccinated is NOT the same as 28% of vaccinated puppies get Parvo Scare tactics & sloppy.

I wouldn't be feeding a pregnant bitch extra calcium, additional calcium during pregnancy can quickly lead to all sorts of whelping and post-whelping problems up to and including uterine inertia & eclampsia. And IMO a pregnant bitch doesn't need to be filled up with useless filler carbs such as pasta & rice - feed her food she can digest with the least possible bulk is my belief. under suggestion from our vet we were told things like yoghurt and a bit of calcium carbonate would do her some good especially for the period of gestation whilst the babies are developing their bones. she loves her rice and pasta I'm not depriving her of things she enjoys as its one of the few things she will eat willingly. I'm sorry there's no set mind map for each bitch, each is different we're listening to our vet as well as past experience with litters. Not saying there is smisch just saying what I wouldn't be doing. You did say you were feeding her extras such as calcium and pasta and rice, not that pasta and rice were old favourites :D Yoghurt, bones, milk, cheese is not the same as "extra calcium" to me - but my opinion remains the same re non-food items of calcium supplementation such as calcium carbonate (backed by my vet) :) If it works it works - now what was the original question :laugh:

I wouldn't be leaving a companion-breed puppy this age outside all night at all. Any reason he can't sleep inside?

I wouldn't be feeding a pregnant bitch extra calcium, additional calcium during pregnancy can quickly lead to all sorts of whelping and post-whelping problems up to and including uterine inertia & eclampsia. And IMO a pregnant bitch doesn't need to be filled up with useless filler carbs such as pasta & rice - feed her food she can digest with the least possible bulk is my belief.

I don't use puppy food at all either. At 30 days I won't have changed the bitch's diet at all - nothing different here until 6 or 7 weeks depending on the bitch & how many she looks like she's carrying and at that point they will get a little more food (increasing it slowly) but the part I increase is the high quality protein.

"unbonded" - no, but like someone has already said, there's been a few I never "bonded" with in the first place. Personally I think there's far too much emphasis put on so-called bonding. Some dogs have lived out their lives with us and they are still missed to this day, others have stayed for life and sometimes we are hard pressed to remember their names. Sorry if that offends sensibilities but each and every dog here is given love, boundries, training, food and attention regardless of whether we feel some sort of "bond" or not. Some we have had to rehome for various reasons and are never missed, some we still talk about and wish we could have kept and one I had to rehome I still miss terribly and want to "replace" her every single day. If you no longer want to share your life with a specific dog this IMO isn't anything to feel ashamed about and if it's in the best interests of the dog for it to be rehomed then so long as it's done responsibly then personally I see nothing wrong with it - but dumping it in a pound because you don't want it is a whole different story! Not suggesting this is what the OP is intending, just saying those people that do are pond scum.

Chip at 5-6 weeks so I can get them registered, vaccinate with C3 at 7 weeks, would do it later if pet buyers didn't get so antsy about "why was this puppy not vaccinated with C746 at 6 weeks old like Dr Harry says they have to be"

Puppy of a small delicate breed - no way ever. As has already been pointed out, even if the other dog doesn't mean any harm at all it's too easy for a small delicate puppy to be seriously injured by a dog that's really not that much bigger (so it doesn't have to be a big vicious pib-bull attack, a boisterous Cocker Spaniel could break an Italian Greyhound puppy for example...) Perhaps your friend needs to go to the dog park at the time they intend to do so without the puppy and have a look at the natives :laugh:

:laugh: :laugh: Well said :)

Phone with all her details & it should be fine.

Problem with that I've always found is that their best-mates'-partners-best-friend's-brother-in-law's-cousin is a breeder so "knows all about it" and if you tell them they must have a whelping box and feed the bitch expensive (read decent!) food they always know that it's 'not necessary' so they ignore the bits of information that actually ARE essential - like the dream that anyone can make money breeding dogs (except "blue english staffy" breeders of course ) Yep - that one usually takes the wind out of their sails :laugh: :thumbsup: Good work!!! :)

Thousands of bitches raise pups without any special food or even any extra food. I have never taken a bitch for a vet check after whelping, I can hardly complain if someone else doesn't either - even though it's highly probable they wouldn't know when they actually do need to. A kennel works fine for those same thousands of bitches - or a plastic 'basket' type bed - or a plastic kids paddling pool. Newspaper is free, many pups are raised on bare boards/plastic. How many pups are sold/given away in Australia each year without vaccination, microchipping or even basic worming? Even in Victoria where it's illegal? Now you get in to the arguments that actually hurt the pocket :laugh: The last caesar I paid for was $1100 at 6pm on a Sunday. I was prepared before hand though and got this at a 'regular hours' rate and not at an emergency clinic - AFAIK afterhours and emergency clinic = double this no problem at all. If she won't feed the pups, in this sceanario I would assume the pups would die or OP would be back trying to find a foster mother.... I have had to handraise ONE puppy on one occasion, and that was only for 3 days until we found a foster mum (god bless BYB's and their labradors) - I cannot comprehend the work involved with handraising a whole litter all the way through and am humbled by anyone who has actually done it. The dangers few think about are things such as mastitis which can come up rapidly and can be very expensive to treat, plus often means the pups need to be handraised & fading puppy syndrome which cuts in to the profit something terrible If they pay a $200 stud fee for the neighbour-down-the-road's 'blue healer' :) the bitch has 5 or 6 pups with absolutely no problems at all they could well stand to make a small profit assuming they don't count their own time and effort (no matter how small) 6 pups @ $200 $1,200 Stud Fee $200 3 x 20kg bags of Bonnie for the bitch $120 1 x 20kg bag of Bonnie for the pups $ 40 Vaccination @ $60 per pup (can be more or less) $360 Microchipping @ $60 per pup (can be more or less) $360 Worm Pills - 4 for each pup (over the 8 weeks)@ $3ea $ 72 - 2 for the bitch x 4 doses @ $3 $ 24 Advertise on Gumtree - free Advertise on Trading Post $ 20 ? Total costs $1176 Net Profit $24 :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Even if you assume you were going to feed the bitch one bag of food during that time whether she had pups or not it's still only a $80 'saving' - $104 profit. Without vaccinating or worming or microchipping ------- now then it becomes a bit more profitable! But the question needs to be asked - do they have a suitable enclosure to confine the pups once they get mobile - are they house/garden proud? Do they have any idea how much destruction 5 or 6 puppies can do, to say nothing of the poo..........

Grass, tile cleaner, laundry detergent (via her bedding), fertilizer/weedkiller used on the lawn... Have a think about anything that may have changed in her environment. Because she's young it's hard to say because sometimes an allergen only occurs at a specific time of year so it goes away by itself quite quickly but then comes back the same time next year. Antibiotics won't do a thing for an allergy AFAIK - it will help any subsequent secondary infection though. Have you tried her on a small dose of antihistamine? Does the rash actually bother her (itchy, uncomfortable)?

Could be about right - coming back is cheaper than going over because of the blood test. You must use an agent to make the actual booking in NZ - no reason they can't take the dog to the freight depot themselves though so they don't need ot pay for boarding or transport or anything like that....

If he's perfectly happy in his playpen don't worry about confining him to the crate right now. You could put it in his playpen & put his bed inside if you wanted to, but make sure he'll go in before you leave him and make sure the door is either removed or firmly fixed open.

Early neutering delays the closure of the growth plates so the dog will grow a little taller than it would likely have done otherwise - but honestly I hardly think it's going to make an enormous amount of difference to the height of a mini schnauzer :) I would be more inclined to consider things such as is he physically mature, mentally mature, has he started to body up and fill out. Is there a specific reason why you are in a hurry to neuter him? I personally wouldn't neuter a small-medium breed dog prior to 18 months without a very good reason - let them grow up and become dogs is my opinion.

Have another look for portable enclosed runs - they certainly are available in a strength to confine a pup that wants to get out! You would need a kennel and run not a "playpen" so maybe do a different search :) I would not leave a baby puppy of ANY breed in a crate for this length of time - a playpen with attached crate yes.... Is there an area in your flat that can be partioned off - bathroom? kitchen? so he has more room. Definitely agree crating for this length of time would be physically bad for him, no matter how long you 'build up to it'. Good luck finding a more dog friendly place to live!