dancinbcs

It doesn't matter what else in on the pedigree, merle to merle can result in defective dogs and this is why these matings are banned in BCs by the ANKC. Merle is dominant so one parent must be merle to get merle puppies. It cannot just pop up in later generations unlike sable which is recessive. A genetic tri cannot however carry sable.

I doubt that many show breeders would do a mating like that without a very good reason but there are plenty of non show breeders in many breeds out to make money by breeding unusual colours. It is happening a lot more with Border Collies than with Collies or Shelties but is still likely to be the reason in them as well. Merle should never be bred to sable as it can be impossible to see the merle in some of them. Even more of a problem in BCs is breeding merle to red because the merle cannot ever show on a red coat. These matings can lead to accidental double merle matings in the next generation but are being done by people who do not understand the genetics involved and just want to breed odd colours that they can charge an unsuspecting public much more for than the standard colours.

The absolute worst thing you can do with a dog that guards food is to take it away. This is a guaranteed way to escalate the problem and make the dog more likely to attack the cat as he will associate the cat coming near his food with it being taken away. The only hope you have to undo the harm you have already caused is to reward the dog with something extra special every time the cat goes near his bowl so he associates extra goodies with the presence of the cat near his bowl. I have always fed all my Border Collies together but I always supervise the entire meal. They know I am in charge of the food and will not allow other dogs to steal their food. I have never had one even attempt to guard food. My young JS however thinks everything belongs to him but he has gradually learnt the house rules about food and treats and is now easily managed with an occasional reprimand when he forgets his manners.

Dachies are very often serious guard dogs and they will bite anyone they see as an intruder. This is common to all breeds that are aloof with strangers. They are a breed that vets are very careful with because they are one of the breeds most likely to bite a vet despite being wonderful with their own families. After the vet check a behaviouralist is vital to help you control this dog. You said he as spoilt and that is probably part of the problem that he doesn't see you as being in charge so has decided to take over and needs to guard everyone.

Do you really need heartworm protection in SA.

All good suggestions but also keep an eye out for any possible neuro symptoms. Weird reactions to light or sound that have never happened before, trouble with depth perception when jumping and changes in temperament can be an indication. They can be hard to detect and don't always add up to anything obvious. I had a dog with brain damage from scar tissue formed by bacterial meningitis that was not detected. He was lame for 6 months before he finally launched a sudden attack on me and all the other little strange things he had been doing started to add up. I realised he was in fact in severe pain so he was pts and the autopsy showed the brain damage and also showed that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the lame leg.

If they want bombproof they need an adult. Try the Boxer clubs for a retired show dog.

I use good quality retractable leads all the time. Mine are about 20 years old and still going strong. The cheap ones should be banned because they just fall apart and retractable leads should never be used for walking in the street. Used correctly they are great. What I would like to see banned are the cheap chain leads with a leather handle. Every jerk with a powerful dog who pulls seems to buy them but the links are not welded and they snap very easily. I have no idea why people will buy a $20 good quality check chain and a cheapy $5 chain lead and expect them to be the same quality.

I use good quality retractable leads all the time. Mine are about 20 years old and still going strong. The cheap ones should be banned because they just fall apart and retractable leads should never be used for walking in the street. Used correctly they are great. What I would like to see banned are the cheap chain leads with a leather handle. Every jerk with a powerful dog who pulls seems to buy them but the links are not welded and they snap very easily. I have no idea why people will buy a $20 good quality check chain and a cheapy $5 chain lead and expect them to be the same quality.

Technically, all entire bitches have phantom pregnancies if not mated because the progesterone level rises regardless of them being pregnant or not and drops at the time they are due to whelp. Some show a lot more signs than others but it evolved as a survival thing in wild dogs. In a dog pack only the alpha female mates and whelps. All the other bitches cycle with her and have milk available to raise the litter in case anything happens to the dam of the litter.

Pure Lanolin is fine. I always use it for about a week before the litter is born and then as necessary while the puppies are feeding. Massage into the teat and wipe off any excess.

My bitches all had phantoms, dug holes and were in milk 9-13 weeks after every season. Perfectly normal but a pain when you are trying to show them. They would be out of coat before a season then coat up, being in full coat from 6-17 weeks from ovulation, before dropping it all again but they put on weight and had milk for at least 4 of those weeks when they looked decent. This happened twice a year, every year when they didn't have a litter and they all only had one or two litters in a lifetime.

The dog is Billy, a UK import trained and co-owned by Kelly Gill who owns the Wonderdogs.

Thanks for this, I will give it a go, I'd prefer they just stayed away rather than trapping them. I've never heard of this. I'll give it a go as well. I could place little balls of camphor (or maybe hanging strips if they are made ??) on the inside of the fence where Tippy generally comes in and where my cat doesn't go. The supermarkets sell camphor in little green plastic hangers that are meant to be hung in a wardrobe but they are great to hang on fences and trees that cats like to climb. The camphor just evaporates every couple of weeks when they are outdoors. We had cats climbing the tree in our front yard, peeing on our front door and climbing the fence at night to fight in our yard, once the dogs were in for the night. The camphor was my last resort before trapping them and it worked a treat. The cats would go through the neighbours yards and cross the street to get away from our place.

My brother thought his lovely old cat was fine to have loose in his yard because she never roamed. She was 16 years old and asleep on the front doorstep when two roaming dogs ripped her apart. $600 in vet bills and the cat didn't make it. So if your cat is going to be in the yard it should be confined to a fenced/netted back yard. As for those people who want to keep cats out of the yard altogether. Camphor works perfectly as a cat deterent. Place it around the areas the cats frequent and replace every couple of weeks and the neighbouring cats will give your yard a miss.

The original post was mine. Details here Instant Dog Coat

I doubt electric fencing would work with cats but you could try fence rollers to both keep your cat in and the other one out. Fence Rollers

I don't ultrasound until 5 weeks and by then you can see them moving around clearly and do a decent count if you want to. A lot depends on the quality of the ultrasound machine and the skill of the operator. I have never even considered an x-ray, the ultrasound told me all I needed to know.

Ultrasounds can show numbers in litters of up to about 6 or 7. I have never had the count more than one out. In large breeds with big litters numbers are hard to count. Most importantly though you will know if there is just one or a full litter which is really important because with just one they often do not go into labour.

Little Charlie may not have lived a long life but it was years longer than it should have been due to your dedication and love. RIP Charlie, you will be remembered by many.

Numbers of registered purebred Maltese born, have actually steadily dropped from a high of around 2000 a year nationally in 1988 to around 300 per year now, so they are almost a rare breed now. What are common are BYB small white mongrels that all get deemed to be Malts and Malt crosses while most probably have no purebred Maltese in them at all.

One thing that should be standard on trailers but doesn't seem to be is lockable internal wire doors so you can leave the outer doors open and make sure no one can open the internal doors without authority.

I've never had a dog worry about the stitches from any surgery and since I started asking for minimal clipping, have never even had them worry about clipper rash. Some vet nurses get very carried away and shave a much larger area than they need to and this just increases the problems with clipper rash. I have also never had a dog need an e-collar but they have always had someone home with them. If I had to leave them unattended for any length of time I would put one on. The only dog I have known to rip stitches out was after a caesar but you cannot put an e-collar on a nursing bitch. Sadly in that case the damage was so extensive that the bitch died.

I have known of quite a few dogs with tumours on the spleen. If it hasn't spread and they can get it out quickly without the tumour rupturing, the dog is usually fine afterwards. It is urgent surgery though. I know of one dog who passed away a few hours before her surgery was scheduled. If the cancer has already spread or the tumour ruptures then the prognosis is very bleak.

Box 1 Gold used to be the same thing but now it's actual kibble, not sure why they changed that (I'd still not use it though, it's definitely not a high quality food) Ingredients do look the same (from what I can recall, anyway- the last time I bought Box 1 Gold was about 5 years ago). The original Farrells biscuits and kibble were just wheatmeal, meat meal, tallow and salt. They were the most popular foods for greyhounds along with fresh meat and a concoction of supplements. When I worked for Western Pet Foods in the 90s we sold an enormous amount to the greyhound people. Box 1 bought out Farrells and kept the same formula for Box 1 biscuits for a number of years, then for some reason known only to them they changed it and added flavours and preservatives. That is when I stopped buying them. Most dogs had no problem with the original formula and my dogs always had a Box 1 2x2 for breakfast. Garlic is fine for dogs and is added to many dry foods. I have fed a teaspoon of granulated dried garlic to a 17kg dog for months to clear up itchy feet and it worked with no ill affects. Small amounts of cooked onion are also fine and dogs who get sick from onion have usually been fed a large quantity of left over bbq onions or similar. I have never heard of it being used as a supplement though. We used it before the change and like I said, it still wasn't a good kibble- wheat is a known allergen for dogs, "meat meal" is a worringly vague description of a meat source, rendered fat is not healthy and salt is unnecessary and added for only two reasons- to help preserve and to make it palatable. A lot of greyhound people will feed whatever is cheap- Box 1 was cheap because the ingredients were dirt cheap and not of good quality. Even most supermarket dog foods seem to be beginning to move away from wheat-based kibbles. In the days it was made nearly all dog food was wheat based with just a few rice based ones starting to show up. Thousands of greyhounds survived very well on Farrells for decades but they also had plenty of fresh meat to go with it. It was never meant to be a complete food.