persephone

Gorgeous little face :) I hope next year is better for you.

warning! vego's & vegans do NOT LOOK I think it's perfect!! :D

Kirby ... run & bark now over the bridge ... That was a beautiful tribute .

alcohol & chocolate sound the perfect dressing for your wounds :p

minigirl - yes, I can understand that :)

Does your vet suggest wound /stitch site cleaning, P f L ? I was always taught to leave them well alone , as liquid can help nasties track down thru the stitch holes ...Maybe things have changed :) I am glad he enjoyed his walk!!..and I guess you were smiling as well :) Hope you both have an R&R weekend!!

..maybe I've perservered with too many over the years , only to have them PTS a later stage ..I won't do it nowdays , I'm afraid.

This poor little mite would have been given his wings that first day if her were mine .... of course there is a possibility he may be able to survive ... but IMO, breeding is to provide healthy, robust and happy puppies ...

:)

Good for Apollo as well :)

Very dangerous advice. In my breed they never go over their due date without it being due to a major problem. Primary inertia can happen in any breed so if they are not in labour by the due date they should be monitored by a vet and have a caesar at the first sign of puppy distress. It is always safest to ensure that you actually know if they are pregnant or not by ultrasound or x-ray. With modern vet practices, guesswork and risking bitches should be a thing of the past. Its not dangerous at all to not rush to the vet if they don't give birth exactly on the first day 63 days after the 1st mating. 63 to 65 days is a common time frame for almost all breeds & that is an average guide not a set in stone day. Your particular line of dogs may always do this but not everyones dogs or indeed all dogs of a specific breed whelp precisely to date. For some dogs traveling back & forth to the vets, going in there, being handled & examined etc may be so stressful if they are that close to the day that its not worth putting them through it unless there is a problem or sensible reason to think so. They may start to give birth in a crate in the car & be so stressedOver many years mine have whelped at 59 days, which was alarming but she did that with 3 litters & all was well, through to 67 days for others & all was well too. Ultra sound is fine if one must know but is not always reliable in numbers & they can absorb. Xray is only for a really need to do IMO. Everyone does is differently but I can't see danger in going over 63 days. It is common & normal. Many vets wouldn't even say come in if it was day 64 & nothing was wrong. The point is that the OP doesn't even know if her dog is pregnant of if it's a phantom so clearly this dog has not been seen by a vet at all. The dog has hardly been caused any stress by travelling, being handled, examined etc., by a vet. Your dogs may have sailed through gestation and whelping without any problems but it's very unwise to assume the OP's dog, who you have never seen and know nothing about, will be ok. Why would you not encourage the OP to take the dog to the vet? You state there is nothing dangerous going on here. You can't possibly know that. For some reason that I fail to understand, the OP appears very reluctant to seek vet advice irrespective of her not having a clue about her dog's condition. This to me is foolish to say the least. If there is a problem the dog suffers due to lack of vet attention. Why gamble with your dog's health by witholding vet advice? To the OP. Keep your dog safe. Take her to the vet. cavNrott , I agree. Without even knowing if the bitch is pregnant ..one cannot carry out a plan of action . I hope by now she has had a vet check to find out if she is in fact pregnant or not :) Learning about pregnancy/whelping is never-ending . There is always something new ..always something different! It pays to never be nonchalant. :)

Costing yet to be done - accommodation would be in the homestead :)

playing dogs ..of course they can break skin- especially where gravity is involved - dog makes contact ...and has their weight behind it as well.... As said - we don't know if she was playing or guarding ...... Hope you can get some guidance from Aidan :)

SO glad he is happy to be home, and that you are feeling better :)

Gorgeous , gapvic!!! An evocative scene :)

speaking of which ---THIS was just posted . CLICK

Not sure ams - he's just sussing out interest - MAYBE Aug/sept this year ..or sometime next year (NOT during the hotter months ) :)

One very photogenic girl :)

I think that is true. :)

:laugh: :laugh: priceless... H I'll try & find some photos ..few & far between , but I do have some ..she had legs about 2 inches long, and some hair that was longer .... and the heart of a GSD!

I guess my first 'independent' dog was just after I left school .. bought from teh paper a mini foxie . BUT she was wire haired and had a dachsies' legs ..and was black & tan !! She was also very young, full of mange and had an eye abscess. She was here for about 17 years ...a lot of them she was Mum's dog as I was away working - but in teh beginning we were always together .She was so tiny, I would wrap her up/put her in a bag and take her everywhere ... She was a brilliant watch dog - decided she LOVED working sheep ..would run underneath them ..adored helping out on trucks as sheep were being loaded ... I originally did some training with her around the sheep with her on a fishing rod .. so I could reel her in, etc ( no flexi leashes back then :p ) her friends called her a "Cross between a toothbrush and a meat ant" and toothbrush was her nickname - actually better than her real one ,which was "wreckit" as that was how she looked when I got her

teebs ..Atlas :) Now there was a character!!

Any dog, pretty much,can have a beneficial effect - afraid I don't condone breeding Xbreds specifically for this task ... I have seen both purebred and rspca mutts work wonders with kids living with autism and other things .Everything from a newf down in size :) individual people/situations require individual dog sizes/breeds/coats. Not every family wants/needs a dog with a coat which needs a lot of care, or floppy ears which may lead to ear problems ,

a mini "pharoah hound" :) she's lovely . That's a pretty nice first 'adult' dog , Kirislin.

Glad you have some good memories, trifecta :)