Sandra777

I don't weigh my pups but weight loss after birth is considered normal. I would be ensuring this pup gets the best teat (usually one of the back ones) and holding her on there so one of the others can't push her off. Supplement her if she'll take it, but if you make sure she gets as much as she wants from mum 10-12 times a day she probably won't need it. Not at all unusual for one which has had a slow start to start catching up quite quickly and be the same as the rest by 10-14 days old. If she's is still loosing weight at 4 or 5 days I wouldn't fancy her chances myself.

Mine must all be stoooopid too - "who wants lollies" results in whatever is given next being swallowed so fast they never figure out what it was!

x2 Unless the pool is an inground one which has steps ALL the way around there is always the possibility of a dog falling in, startling itself, panicing and trying to get out right beside a safe spot and drowning. Relying on them not drowning because they're Labs would be playing Russian Roulette. No dog on earth is able to swim for 8-10 hours while panicing and trying to ''climb'' a pool wall.

True.........that's the object of their exercise, to get the dog world to implode and people just can't see it. We need to be standing up to theses organizations and tell to to go bu@@er off, not get into bed with them. Absolutely.

Maybe a bit OT but check with the kennels as most require C5 and won't accept C3 - which is why mine never go to kennels.

What does it say on the breeder's diet sheet? Personally I don't use puppy food at all but understand the point is to transfer them to adult food when they have completed their growth - which would be 6-8 months with a JRT but much later with giant breed.

Pick it up and he won't have the opportunity. What are you feeding him. A lot of the time a dog will learn this behaviour off another dog, but if he's an only dog then he has probably started doing it because what is coming out still smells like food to him. Eating what they view as food is a normal canine behaviour. A vet visit is unnecessary, he's behaving like a DOG. Search here and you'll get lots of suggestions.

Horrible things, and they last about a minute here so a waste of money and too much of a choaking risk. Too many of the cheap ones are made from who-knows-what from who-knows-where.

Haha was just coming in to suggest you PM Stonebridge.

Go to a marine shop, buy however many metres of natural fibre rope you want and knot your own ropes toys. You're lucky you still have your black kong, but put zero money on you having it for much longer Tyres without wire in - so wheelbarrow or bike tyres, Ours are particularly fond of palm tree fronds but I wouldn't say they were indestructable. Branches and fence posts (preferably not the ones holding the fence up) are favourites too. Be aware that if you have a ball obsessed dog, those big balls they can chase but not get their teeth around can cause problems with them chasing them all day and rubbing their noses raw/bleeding and possibly risking heat exhaustion - nothing like a Stafford that can't get/wreak what it wants to!

Plastic zip ties solve this problem.. Caught AQIS out with this though, receiving a puppy which had been 'checked and found clear of fleas/ticks/external parasites' with a stamp giving an inspector's name at the destination airport - and the zip ties were all still in place. X-ray eyes

I wouldn't worry about the lead chewing/holding thing until she's happy and going forward reliably, get too caught up in stopping her touching the lead and you run the risk of making her hate the whole thing. Let her hold it, carry it, whatever just so long as she's moving forward. I have a 14 month old that still grabs the lead when she gets really excited, but a ah-ah stops her if she tries to chew it or pull on it, but she's allowed to hold it is she wants to at other times, she never bothers for long.

Glad it worked out OK!

A lot of mine do - all closely related, had 3 generations at one stage all with 7 or 9 nipples. No biggy. Happens in the boys in the family too

Anything you can pawn for a couple of weeks? If you can't/don't want to get a credit card for whatever reason, what I would do is go in to the vet's and arrange for you to transfer $5 or whatever you can afford every week into their account so that you have a credit with them, it builds up pretty quickly especially if you continue to pay an amount at the time of the visit if you possibly can (ie don't use up all the credit if you can avoid it)

With a rarer breed such as an Akita I would be getting on to it pretty quickly, there aren't hundreds of litters and breeders to choose from like there are in other breeds. Phone a couple of breeders near you, say straight up front you aren't interested in a pup for xxx months and see if you can meet them, meet their dogs and chat about the breed. ETA: I would think that most of the health info you have found about the breed in the UK and USA would be the same as for Australian-bred Akitas - they're not all that common and most have imports pretty close up behind their pedigrees.

What other perfectly natural behaviours do you plan on discouraging??? Sorry I really don't understand why you think it even is a problem - it's a natural canine behaviour. Discourage him from doing it in inappropriate places and otherwise just leave it alone or you could end up creating an overall phobia about peeing anywhere in your presence

Instead of making up a story, just phone them up and ask them straight how many people will be at the party and what arrangements have been made for the puppy after it has been presented - do they have a safe quiet place for it or is it expected to party the night away. If they're not too far away perhaps you could offer to bring the puppy to the party then take it home for the night and they can come and collect the pup the next day. Have a rational conversation with them and point out the pitfalls of what they plan - it could be the ''party'' is 5 people having a cup of tea

You keep asking should you discourage it - how do you plan on doing that???? What you need to reinforce is the rule about you don't pee in ANYONE'S house - how he physically pees really isn't relevant. Males almost always have one or two more drops they can squeeze out to mark with - even if they've had a huge pee outside first.

Oooohhh bad breeding stock Have there ever been any tests done about whether this occurs in dogs or not?

Immunity directly no - but a robust immune system yes, as steve cites above. Are you sure the puppy owner wasn't confused by the maternal immunity issues and thought the vet meant immunity was inherited from the mother and not acquired from the mother? The ability to put up the correct immune response to vaccination is definitely linked to a robust immune system which is at least partially genetic but honestly, if the pup had zero immunity I'd be looking at maternal immunity interfering with the original vaccination or a bad batch of vaccine.

Not true IME. Very occasionally you get a dog which is born wrong in the head, and more frequently you get a dog with a brain condition which is nasty because of this, nothing to do with the owner. But yes, 99.9% of the time it is the owner and/or the "breeder" who have caused the problem by mismanagement on so many levels. Best wishes to the family attacked.

It's normal canine behaviour. Bitches mark too - and some lift their leg to do it. Left unneutered dogs begin to lift their leg anywhere between 4 months and never so it's likely your dog has only just grown up enough to do it. This and humping are two behaviours neutering is said to stop but don't. If the dog is marking inside your house he isn't properly housetrained, if he's marking inside someone else's you should take responsibility for this and either not allow him inside other people's houses or when you do visit, keep him on a leash so you can prevent this until he's settled in, or keep him confined (playpen, baby gates, crate) when you can't actively supervise him and interupt him when he starts looking like he's going to lift his leg inside. Some of this is house training, some of it is normal dog marking strange territoty behaviour. I've never had a problem with males doing this when they are fully grown and mature (just with teenagers like your boy) - but I have no idea if this applies to neutered dogs or not as I've never owned one

Often a simple bacterial infection, sometimes a sign the pup has contracted herpes from her mother during birth. If she is a breeding prospect you need to know which it is.