dancinbcs

Just a note about Elfreda kennels. Yes they bred a lot of dogs but they had the perfect set up to do it and they bred for the good of the breed by turning out consistently well constructed, healthy dogs with great temperaments. I doubt they got rich from breeding because they used to spend a fortune on food and supplements for their puppies. I worked for the pet supply warehouse they shopped at every week so know how much they were spending on the very best of everything. They never cut corners or went for the cheap option. Money was never their priority, breeding good dogs was, even if they didn't show. It is possible to breed dogs on a larger scale like the the old kennels in the UK used to but you need the knowledge, facilities and dedication to do it right and most people with lots of dogs do not have all that.

Good news about the blood sugar coming down. I have never tried honey with the dogs but it is worth a shot as it was the best way to get down the foul smelling tea like concoctions that I had to take at one stage from brewed up Chinese herbs. The other trick I used was to suck on an ice cube first to deaden the taste buds. That may also work with a dog. For myself, I had to brew up and drink 2 cups of this ghastly stuff a day so I would cool it to tepid, suck an ice cube, quickly drink the stuff and then suck on a spoonful of honey to stop me gagging. Not fun at all but the treatment worked. I am so glad I didn't have to use liquid with my boy. I hope you work out something he accepts soon.

Whether a house has a dog smell depends on the breed of dog. I have been in dozens of homes with BCs and JS and never found one with a dog smell, even if they were really messy with dog hair lying around. On the other hand I have been to homes with Goldies, Labs and Cavs and immediately notice the dog smell even if the house is immaculate. GSDs usually do have a doggy smell so the OP would probably have that to deal with. If it was me I would offer to wash the dog and keep him in part of the house with baby gates and if they aren't happy with that tell them to find somewhere else to stay.

Gary and Neil Barnsley in Greendale, NSW. I have been going to Gary for about 25 years and all of my breeder friends use him as well. Barnsleys

I have never heard of a puppy crying with pain while teething so a vet visit is a must. If it fact it is just sore gums from teething, Bonjella for human babies can help. I have used it on puppies who are finding it hard to chew with a sore mouth.

Very large off leash areas might be ok if they had big signs reminding owners that dogs had to be under effective control and that it is an offence to allow your dog to make uninvited contact with any other dog or person. I personally like the idea of set hours so anyone who does not want their dogs off lead can have a more relaxed on lead walk with their dogs at other times.

Yes, milk fever is an emergency so vet now and take their advise on how to proceed, depending on her blood calcium levels. Giving too much oral calcium can make the problem worse.

There is no rabies in Aust so dogs do not need to be vaccinated for it.

The breeder did a good job selecting breeding pairs with sound nerve. Storm phobias and fearful behaviour like this is genetic........such a shame to see so many dogs suffer at the hands of breeders who dismiss phobia as a genetic flaw. She also played the pups one of those "sound" CD's...so I think they were all pretty much desentisized to all sorts of loud & disturbing noises I believe genetics is the major problem. I have never owned or bred a storm phobic dog and I don't play noise tapes to them. I just will not breed from anything that is noise phobic before the age of at least 10. Some old dogs do seem to react differently as they age and I think this could be due to hearing loss making the noise sound different. Truly storm phobic dogs react to the drop in atmospheric pressure, long before the storm hits. Some neighbours we had years ago, had a 20 year old cattle dog who spent a lot of time on our front verandah. We never let her in our house but the previous home owners did. She was happy to stay on the verandah unless there was a storm coming when she would dart in the door as soon as it was open and scoot under the bed in the master bedroom. This could be 2 hours before the storm hit and she was always right in predicting a storm. Before 10, I never bred from my dogs after they were ten. Sorry, badly worded. Of course you breed dogs younger than that and do not breed from any that show a storm/noise phobia but if a stud dog developed a reaction around 10 or so, I would still use him. We often use stud dogs up to 12 or 13 and occasionally 14 years in Borders. I am also reluctant to use progeny of a seriously phobic dog.

The breeder did a good job selecting breeding pairs with sound nerve. Storm phobias and fearful behaviour like this is genetic........such a shame to see so many dogs suffer at the hands of breeders who dismiss phobia as a genetic flaw. She also played the pups one of those "sound" CD's...so I think they were all pretty much desentisized to all sorts of loud & disturbing noises I believe genetics is the major problem. I have never owned or bred a storm phobic dog and I don't play noise tapes to them. I just will not breed from anything that is noise phobic before the age of at least 10. Some old dogs do seem to react differently as they age and I think this could be due to hearing loss making the noise sound different. Truly storm phobic dogs react to the drop in atmospheric pressure, long before the storm hits. Some neighbours we had years ago, had a 20 year old cattle dog who spent a lot of time on our front verandah. We never let her in our house but the previous home owners did. She was happy to stay on the verandah unless there was a storm coming when she would dart in the door as soon as it was open and scoot under the bed in the master bedroom. This could be 2 hours before the storm hit and she was always right in predicting a storm.

Many years ago a friend came home to find a window broken. She rushed inside to check on her GSD and found a happy looking dog and a small patch of blood stained denim from the seat of someone's jeans. Nothing was stolen so the dog on that occasion did it's job as a guard dog and no one ever broke in again.

If she was my dog I would have pts by now. Too many things wrong with the poor old girl and the shelter should have made this decision, not rehomed her. I do not believe in letting dogs suffer through the confusion of dementia, especially if they have other health problems. For me it is all about quality of life, not how long that life is.

I feed turkey necks and chicken wings but found the turkey wings tended to splinter too much. The turkey legs should be fine for a larger breed. One leg would be about 3 days food for my guys. I did buy them for a while to roast to use the meat from them as training bait. The dogs loved them but they are a pain to pull the meat off.

Info from Bayer about Advocate and Lungworm

Try Vineyard Vet Clinic or Quakers Hill. Both are used by a lot of breeders and have very good reputations.

National Parks in different states have different rules so it is worth checking before you go. In NSW dogs are not allowed to enter the boundary of any National Park but in Vic they are allowed on all major roads through the NPs that are owned by the state government and in all carparks.

All the above suggestions plus try to organise your vehicle so the dog can be safely contained behind a dog barrier or in a secured locked crate so you can leave tailgate open but your vehicle can still be locked. I had crates secured to a cargo barrier in the back of my wagon, then padlocked the dogs in the crates when we travelled along the Great Ocean Road. Most of it is National Park but the dogs are allowed in the carparks so we left them secured in the wagon with the tailgate up when we walked out to each lookout. The other handy thing is to get a good supply of drugs and remedies from your vet, including things like antibiotics, scourban, ear treatment, etc so you can call the vet from where ever you are and use the treatments as directed. Liquid vitamin C and instructions on how to administer it intravenously can also buy you a few hours to find a vet in the event of a snake bite.

If you can afford one, the portable air conditioners are quite good. Don't get a Delonghi one but the others are fine and they don't need to be installed. The cooling only ones are cheaper than the reverse cycle. Also handy to keep the litter cool if you strike really hot weather with them. I went straight out and bought one some years ago when the vet prescribed it for an oldie with heart problems. They were much more expensive then and I got a Delonghi reverse cycle one. The cooling function was fine but the heating didn't work in winter. After a two year battle with the unit spending most of he time in being repaired, I finally got my money back and bought a split system.

I am in NSW and didn't get an email either. Dogs NSW definitely have my email address because I have had emails from them in the past but not in the last two years.

It would also be handy if they actually knew that the dogs are in fact red not wheaten. :banghead: Oh and that the most likely outcome of red to choc is black :laugh:

Yes, dogs/pups plural is fine but one dog on it's own is a different matter, especially with a male as they are very sooky compared to the more independant girls. The biggest problem though with having them sleep outside is the fact that they are an "alarm breed", bred to bark at anything unusual so out on acres might be fine but I wouldn't want one outside all night in suburbia. Having said they my little guy doesn't work the night shift, sleeps like a log but he is secure inside with us.

I had my JS puppy in a puppy pen under the kitchen table. From day one he slept about 6 hours through the night and called to be let out early in the morning to toilet. I then took him out, praised him for going and put him back in the pen until I wanted to get up. Sometimes it would be half an hour, sometimes 2 hours. I left newspaper at one end of the puppy pen for a couple of months in case he couldn't hold on but he only peed on it a once per night for the first couple of days and after that could hold on. In hindsight he was completely housetrained by 10 weeks but I kept up the training to toilet on command for several months to make sure he didn't make any mistakes. A puppy pen can also be put on a plastic tarp in a carpeted room but cold floors are best for a JS coming into summer. I have no idea how you would get a lone JS to sleep outside without barking the district down every time they hear a noise. Mine likes to be as close to us as possible and once he was almost trustworthy in the house, around 8 months, I allowed him to sleep wherever he wanted and he usually chooses the cold floors, a dog bed in my room or on one of our beds, depending on the weather. I prefer not to crate coated breeds because they can get very hot. We only put the pen up now if we are all going out and he gets put in there with no fuss as he has the other dog loose in the house for company. Right now he is lying next to me touching me as he prefers to have some contact with one of his family whenever possible. If he cannot lie next to one of us he lies touching my other dog when he can. They are not a breed that likes to be alone.

Is she only doing it with male dogs? It is normal behaviour for entire females who are not in season or do not wish to be mated if they are in season, to do this when a male makes advances to them. No idea if desexed ones also do it but is possible the same instinct to protect their rear end is there. I would let her continue to meet friendly dogs if she doesn't really seem scared of them. BTW a lot of adult dogs have no interest in "playing" with other dogs so don't feel that it is necessary.

I didn't know this part. I wonder how it came into existence. A little over 30 years in Australia. I had an old dog with it in the late very 70s. Luckily he survived but most young dogs who got it died at the time. It was thought to have spread to Australia by people flying in with it on their shoes from countries that already had it. Not sure when or where it originated though as a mutation of some other virus.

Puppies inherit their temperament, intellect and instinct from their ancestors, not just the sire and dam. All these things are set at birth and very obvious by 6-8 weeks. Dog behaviour depends a great deal on how they are raised but some temperament traits will never be overcome by environment. Truly aggressive puppies may be able to be "managed" but they will still be aggressive no matter how well trained. Very soft, submissive puppies can be carefully raised to boost their confidence but they will still remain soft and submissive in some situations.