Sandra777

What time do you have to be there? There's a show at Durack, have the pups entered, but I'm pretty sure Mouse would love lure coursing - she loves the straight line lure coursing the Stafford club puts on.

You weren't there Sunday night! Got up 5.00am Monday to come home and there was quite thick ice on the car. :D Totally over that I can tell you Fortunately missed the big mess on the M3 north of Sydney.

Staffylover - I just have to ask. Why do you state on your dog's profile that he has a black nose when it's perfectly obvious in the pictures that his nose is clearly grey? Ignoring the simple genetic fact that a blue can not have a black nose. Good luck with him, enjoy the show ring and the whole Stafford owning experience. ETA: It is confOrmation, not confIrmation. Not being pedantic - confirmation is something quite different to conformation!

Perhaps the intention was to bath the dogs immediately prior to opening hours? Probably not likely, but a possibility. When I had kennels it used to drive me demented when people would come and park in the car park and wait - because the dogs knew someone was there and wouldn't settle. What do the dogs "stink" of - Faeces and urine? Obviously a really bad sign A doggy smell which you possibly aren't used to? Not uncommon for dogs which have been kenneled even for a short period of time. Kennels are not obviously a human home and may well have been cleaned with products your nose isn't used to Do they smell of dirt and grass and leaves? - which probably means they've been having a ball outside all weekend. Sleeping a lot when they get home is pretty common. Even if the dog is happy and pretty settled, it is still very alien for a pack animal to be shoved off to a strange "territory" and surrounded by strange dogs all weekend. The best kennels in the world are still a stressful and alien place. Of course it could also mean they've had more exercise than usual (playing outside) so are physically exhausted. If you feel they were unhappy at this kennel then definitely go back to the one you feel they were happier in.

Then it shouldn't be very difficult to arrange a sheltered bed, a shady spot and allow him to stay outside during the day while the weather is still nice. So long as the fencing isn't such that it lets random people see him, reach over and touch/tease him (or even steal him) then he'd be fine outside for another 4-6 weeks at least unless it's a really cold/wet day Great - very good for the urinary system Frisbee, agility, obedience, dancing with dogs all great stuff for a smart Border!

Please don't get the idea that people are picking on you. You ask a question on an open forum and you will get suggestions. No one I can see has said you're unsuitable or irresponsible or anything of this nature - most people have made suggestions based on their experienced, asked questions to clarify points which you haven't mentioned or which aren't clear to them, and made suggestions that might not be related to your problem now, but which are intended to help you in the future. Do you live in a house or duplex with a yard or a flat with no outdoor area? The Bunnings compost bin pens are tiny - much too small for a Border puppy (I didn't even know what sort of puppy you were talking about). Crazy Clarks were selling playpens last year, 3m lengths for $30 at the time, so have a look there. Maybe even buy two. They certainly aren't high enough to keep the pup in outside, but may do the job inside. Or have a look online. I still can't figure out what this tent thing is you're talking about? Is it a covered in area like a crate or an open topped area like a play pen? Does it have a floor built in to it? Newspaper to protect the floor if need be and nothing else will be fine. The more smells and things you put down the more likely you are to distract the pup from actually toileting there if it really needs to go. Personally I think there could well be something wrong with a 9 week old pup that can hang on for 8 or 9 hours - apart from the UTI did the vet do anything to check that the whole urinary tract was functioning properly? UTI in a dog pup is pretty unusual isn't it???? (Don't keep a lot of dogs myself, like the bitches ) What are you feeding him? Did the vet suggest specific foods which would help him drink more or supply the liquid he needs to keep his urinary tract healthy?

As PF said - he won't toilet where he sleeps and eats, and this is an instinct you really don't want to mess with! What is a play tent and what size is it? Can you get a puppy pen which is large enough to allow him to be at least 1 metre away from where he sleeps and place the indoor toilet area/drops there. Never heard of these toilet training drops, how do they work? Are you sure they're not to disuade him from toileting in certain places A puppy pen with a crate attached for his bed area would work in this situation - but even better would be to have an area outside where he can be in the fresh air with some stimulation as he gets older - and able to toilet outside as you want him to anyway. Can you fit a dog door or set up a puppy pen or kennel run outside?

Come on over the the Stafford thread (general/breed threads), this is more of a general info topic than a problem solving topic ;) But the short answer to your question - I don't think she sounds abnormally small. As long as she is healthy and happy and gaining weight at a steady rate she's fine. My 12 week old pups are fed 3 times a day so if you are out all day feed her prior to work, immediately on coming home then later in the evening. I wouldn't leave food down for her during the day but just before walking out the door to work you could give her a stuffed kong or a couple of 4x2 biscuits to keep her occupied.

Keep your **** dogs at home! So what if they had never done it before, they were caught in the act this time. Big shame the stock owner wasn't a better shot and the dogs suffered, but hardly his fault the dogs were there to be shot at in the first place. Oh yes... Miniature Staffordshire?

It could well be a change of coat. With the darker brindles (which is what a blue is a dilute of) they often get very brown/red on the ends of their coat when the hair is ready to fall. I wouldn't be using a stripping comb unless someone can show you how to use it. You can get grooming blocks from the show vans - which work well if the coat is starting to fall. A rubber hound mitt does the same job but slower If the shampoo agrees with the dog and doesn't cause him any skin flaking or itchies it's probably fine. A final rinse of a cup of white vinegar in a bucket of water can help control a bit of scurf but if there's a lot then look at a different shampoo or make sure you're rinsing properly.

Amble along to your nearest marine/fishing/boat shop and buy yourself some suitable rope - soft, natural. Tie your own. Really cheap and you can make them as big or small (within reason obviously!) as you like.

I would be guided by the vet specialist. From what I have heard the best treatment depends on many factors including age, density of the hair, number of the hairs etc etc etc. Leave your options open and find a specialist that will give you both sides of the story AFAIK For a few fine lashes laser usually works fine, for a whole row of bristly ones multiple treatments are likely to be required anyway.

You're not alone in your amazement When the pet buying public wake up and realise that there is nothing particularly rare about blues and refuse to pay the big money for them the puppy farmers who are breeding them will continue to do so. Until people refuse to pay those prices for something which is neither rare nor special the trend will continue. Yes you can. It is an accepted standard colour. However.... the standard requires a Stafford to have a black nose, which is impossible in a blue. This alone wouldn't really be an issue because a grey nose is a fault like any other fault not a disqualification and dog shows are judged on virtues not faults anyway. The vast majority of blues are bred because they are blue, not because they are good Staffords. This means it's pretty unlikely the pups will be good enough to win at shows regardless of what colour they are. Personally I don't have an issue with the colour provided it's actually blue, not any of the various shades of Weimaraner grey and baby-puke brown which are being bred. Just because they're registered breeders doesn't mean they a) know anything about the breed or b) are ethical. Unfortunately virtually anyone can pay for a kennel affix in Australia. No ethical breeder I have ever met (been in the breed 32 years) has ever found the need to add the word English to the breed's name.

I answered on your other thread - but for the benefit of people who might read this thread in the future...... Buy a dog. A dog/bitch combination will virtually never cause you a problem. Two bitches can be fine together, but if they're not what will you do???? Some people will try to tell you it's all in the training (especially unethical breeders trying to sell you a puppy ;) ), but while some things canned be fixed with training, some things can't and if two bitches have a hatred of each other then there's nothing you can do except rehome one or keep them separate for life. Not worth the potential for heartache for the average pet owner. Littermates IMO are a bad idea for anyone without enough experience not to have to ask the question.

Offer to lease the dog for stud duties for whatever the minimum period is? Offer to pay their membership fee? Personally I think it's really weird that the stud dog owner needs to be a member of anything for their dog to be bred from by a registered breeder.

Doesnt sound like either - demodex usually starts as a dry scaly patch, hotspots just appear in second Allergic reaction? Sting? Prick from a thorn?

Definitely buy a dog. Bitches a couple of years apart may well be fine, but if it's not? A dog/bitch combination will virtually never cause you grief - but personally I still would not leave them together whent here's no one home.

Have you very very carefully examined every single inch of his upper and lower jaw not just the gums? A dog I sold had bone cancer in the jaw and the first indication was foul breath - but I would imagine the dog would be in a fair amount of pain and you would have noticed this when examining the gums. ETA: this was a Stafford so was still eating everything in sight quite happily.

Good pig dogs are worth a fortune. Delivering an instantly fatal shot to a pig isn't as simple as you might think - you can't just randomly shoot wild pigs, you have to catch and contain them first. Would you prefer someone go and start shooting the pigs regardless of whether the shot is fatal or not?

Why does he need to chew his food? Dogs are carnivores, they don't have the teeth to grind up their food like cows/horses/sheep/humans. They have extremely strong stomach acid designed to digest large lumps, bone and kill off nasties they might pick up while doing dog stuff (eating 'off' food, eating poop, eating flies :D ). If the pup is vomiting through over eating then stop giving him so much food. If he is vomiting chunks of food then sorry this is actually not incredibly abnormal, dogs are designed to vomit stuff that doesn't agree with them, sometimes they give it a second go sometimes not. What sized puppy are you talking about? For a pup which will grow into a 15kg dog I will give them anything the size of a chicken thigh all in one piece and they chew off bits off as they like. Chopping his food up small enough for him to swallow whole only encourages him not to use his teeth for the reason they are there.

shes 18 months shes not much taller then a stafford the same height as a pitbull ruffly her coat is smooth and close very much like a stafford Maybe Amstaff cross then?

Could be virtually anything but the shape of muzzle suggests some sort of collie type while the angle of the eyes suggests Bull Terrier. How old is the dog, how tall is she, is her coat smooth and close like a Staffords or soft and more fluffy feeling?

What did the breeder tell you to feed? I would believe an ethical breeder of a breed long before I would believe the back of a dry food bag!

So I'm an idiot yet you agree with me. My head is spinning. And what is this obsession with making out "pit bulls" are LARGE powerful dogs. The real ones are generally around (or under) 20kg - which doesn't make them LARGE by any stretch of the imagination.

She takes EVERYTHING out of their packets and puts them in little jars all over the house. Probably should be grateful she hasn't already taken the dog's medication (if that's what it is!) out of the bubble packs and put them in jars. Don't ask for an aspirin, you might end up with a dog worm pill. Does she have any reason in particular for doing that? Lacking a physiciatry (sp! ) degree I would have no idea