dancinbcs

Huh??? Why would you assume a dog is deaf because it has white on it? There is also nothing genetically wrong with having a blue eye. One of the pups from our last litter has a white face and 1 blue eye and he is perfectly healthy. Plenty of dogs in the working lines that are almost all white yet they can hear perfectly fine. What a strange assumption for you to make. I didn't assume it was deaf but said it had a better than average chance of being deaf. The reason the breed standard specifies no blue eyes and white must not predominate is because it does increase the risk of deafness but of course many dogs with blue eyes and excess white are not deaf. The biggest risk is if the ears are white inside and the red puppy in this thread appears to have a full white face and a complete white ear. Also the thread did mention she wanted to show them so they are totally unacceptable as show/breeding prospects due to the markings and eyes, apart from any conformation and type issues. Thundercat, I wish you well with this but cannot see a happy ending for any of you or the dogs. Good on you for trying to set your sister right. As they say, you cannot choose your relatives.

There is a better than average chance that the red one could be deaf with a white face and ear as well as the blue eye. The black' one's dam also has excess white so another risk factor for deafness. I think present her with all the info and be prepared to break off all ties with her if she proves to so stupid as to go ahead. Pounds are full of badly bred Borders so why add more to them.

Oh, and the bitch won't be mature enough for breeding until she is at least 18 months -2 years old so she will have to keep them apart during earlier seasons.

Print off the Sick Border Collie thread in the puppy forum and show that to her. Border collies need to be DNA tested for the fatal conditions CL and TNS and the eye problem CEA. As all these condtions are 100% preventable she could be sued for selling an affected puppy. The parents of litters should also be hip and elbow scored and have an eye test called a gonioscopy. All this will cost her about $500+ per dog that is if these dogs are not themselves affected byt TNS or CL and therefore don't live to breeding age. You cannot show a blue eyed Border Collie in Australia. Are these puppies even registered? If not they cannot be shown or have registered progeny. In most states now puppies need to vaccinated and microchipped by law before leaving, so mayb you could dob the breeder into the council and get them fined. Finally, what sort of fencing does your sister have? Many Borders can easily hop over 6-7' fence. What does she know about dogs and breeding? Does she realise a her first litter could be a midnight caesarian for one puppy that dies anyway? These things happen and she could be thousands out of pocket. Edited to add, yes the term is "red".

Jap Spitz have no specific health checks apart from a competant vet checking patellas and hearts at the normal puppy check but good registered breeders know what lurks in their lines even if their is no specific testing available. They are a pretty healthy breed generally but bad temperaments are a real problem in badly bred ones and with an unregistered breeder you have no idea how inbred the puppies are because you have no proof of pedigree or even if they are purebred. They are a breed favoured by BYB so please do not encourage another one. If you go to the puppy thread and read the one about the Sick Border Collie puppy you will see what can happen when someone just decides to breed a litter a year from their dogs. If you want a purebred dog then get a proper registered purebred one from a decent breeder who is recommended and knows what they are doing. Breeding healthy purebred dogs is not easy, unregistered purebreds are the greatest risk of getting an unhealthy dog and you would be better off with a crossbred or mongrel than an unregistered purebred.

Does the Jap Spitz breeder successfully show their dogs? If not I would probably avoid them. There are a lot of shonky JS breeders breeding very poor quality dogs. Other than that ir comes down to size choice. There is a big difference in size as you know.

The registered ones are registered as having been born in NZ and imported. There are possibly still some BYBs docking without even knowing or caring that it is illegal but Dobes are not common as pets so you don't see many around.

oops I forgot to mention...he's a Chinese Crested hairless, clothes in winter are a necessity Dog coats, including those with hoods and legs if necessary, in cold weather are fine for dogs that need them but I really think it demeans the dog to dress them in "people clothes" all the time like the dogs in the movie Beverley Hills Chihuahua.

I don't mind people putting fancy dress costumes on dogs for a competition or photos but dressing dogs in clothes on a daily basis is just warped in my book. If the dog needs a coat to keep it warm then the main consideration should be how comfortable it is.

The dog world is a very small place and every reputable breeder knows who the other reputable ones are all around the country. Ring some of the long time breeders recommended on here and if they don't have any puppies available or due, ask them about the breeder you have already contacted and for a list of other breeders to try. I know in my breed we refer pet buyers to other breeders all the time to make sure they go to good ones, not just registered ones. If someone asks about a breeder we know is shonky we can simply say "I have never heard anything good said about them" or "I know nothing about them", without lying or running them down but making it clear that they are not part of the group of dedicated, reputable breeders who have good reputations. BTW, Poms like most toy breeds, are prone to luxating patella so make sure when you get your puppy, that you have it checked by a good vet who is experienced with toy breeds. Preferably one who has lots of breeder clients.

I remember a 9 month old Boxer who had completely ruptured his cruciate a few months before and it had been misdiagnosed at the time. By the time they found a vet that worked out what was going on the growth plate had been damaged as well. So yes, they can do a cruciate at any age.

At least until 6 months try to avoid him jumping down from anything taller than his back. Jumping up isn't an issue but jumping down can be. Teaching a reliable sit and drop can prevent him jumping up onto things in the first place, sometimes at least. Borders seem to delight in flying off whatever they can but try to minimise it as much as possible especially if he is heavy for his age. My 2 bigger males were 14-15kgs at that age and 17 kgs by 6 months and I wouldn't want that size puppy jumping much.

Can't be Sheltie because long coat is dominant to short coat and I don't think Shelties carry a short coat gene.

Again I don't know the law in Vic but it is illegal for pounds to pts by anything other than lethal injection in NSW.

If your insurance will cover chemo it is worth a try with a young dog but I only know of one that has survived more than a year with chemo. I have one friend who spent $30,000 on chemo with a young dog but he only made 12 months. With older dogs I wouldn't even try because the dogs I know of have actually been quite ill from the chemo. I know not all are but I wouldn't risk it with an oldie. My positive experiences with cancer treatment have all been with Traditional Chinese Medicine and it can be used on it's own or in conjunction with chemo to avoid chemo complications like kidney failure. Lymphoma can be very rapid or very slow. If it is the slow kind you have time to get treatments to work but it does seem to be harder to treat than a lot of other cancers and it is increasing in frequency in many breeds at an alarming rate.

I don't know about Vic but in NSW surrenders have always been able to be pts the day they come in. When I worked taking surrenders for the main AWL shelter in Sydney about 20 years ago, dogs and cats were pts the day they arrived if they weren't chosen to be rehomed. There was always more animals than space so those with the greatest chance of being rehomed went to the kennels and the rest were pts that afternoon. I used to tell people what would happen but it never deterred even one from surrendering their animal. The same applied to the pound but they kept even less than we did because they had to hold all the strays for 7 days, so surrenders didn't get much chance. Now both the AWL and the pound have much bigger facilities and can hold more dogs than they used to. I just have no idea why anyone would expect the pound to hold their dogs for them until they could bail them out? That is just not how the system works.

My current Border Collie basically sleeps all day if there is nothing happening. If I take him out for the day he rarely sleeps in the car, preferring to see where we are going and will stay awake all day at a show. His mum on the other hand used to be awake and alert for a good part of the day at home but if I put her in the car she would be asleep before we got out of the driveway. At shows she slept all day except when required for grooming or actually being in the ring. My 12 month old Jap Spitz on the other hand is pretty much awake and moving for 12-14 hours a day and has just eased off a little from his average of 5 hours a day chewing stuff.

I find the beef soup bones too hard and inclined to chip teeth. Lamb neck would be my pick for smaller dogs and they can chew it all up.

In all my years of owning dogs the biggest expenses I have had have been for ongoing medications for old dogs and the insurance policies seem to have pretty low limits on medications. For a lot of years I had 4 dogs so the combined premiums would have been much more that I averaged on what would have been covered on the bills I had on average each year. Of course all the expensive bills were breeding related and not covered. Even with the few dogs that have run up $1000 for an illness at times, I am still way ahead on premiums. What really irks me is how much they concentrate on accident cover when so many accidents are caused by the owners lack of care in ensuring their dog's safety. If the didn't cover expensive accident damage due to owner negligence the premiums would be a lot less and people could afford to insure their pets against illness, which is a much bigger threat. With accidents that cannot be prevented, like a ruptured cruciate or broken leg from the dog stepping in a hole while running, aren't even classed as accidents. The other thing that could bring premiums down is for all puppies to have to have a vet exam first and provide proof of health screening of the parents before they can be insured. So as an example, in breeds prone to HD, it would only be covered if the parents had hip scores under a certain amount.

This is an emotive topic but also informative about choices and prices. With vet prices, the time to shop around is when your pet is well and not when you are an emotional wreck. The prices for euthanasia are usually reflected in their general prices so shop around for a good vet who's prices you are happy with, well before you lose a pet. I know my vets charge reasonable prices and provide a wonderful service so I rarely ask what anything is actually going to cost but I am on a monthly account and they let me pay as I can as I am not working at present. The decision with pet cremations and burials is the same as making the decision for a human funeral and again is easier made if you do some homework well before you are going to need the service. Enquiring about my first pet cremation just before I had my first dog put down was nearly as bad as having to organise a human funeral when I had never done that before. Now with my dogs, the decision is already made. My vet just asks if I still want Pets At Peace and organises it for me.

What a relief that they are out of danger and be thankful it wasn't paracetamol.

I use Pets At Peace as well and have quite a collection of their urns now. I think the actual euthanasia is about $50 or less but as the vet organises it all and I just get a final bill when I collect the ashes, I have never bothered to ask for a breakdown. My girl last year cost me about $1000 all up for tests, treatments, euthanasia and cremation in her last couple of weeks. Back in 2000 though I had one that needed euthanasia, full autopsy, pathology on the brain and cremation with Pets At Peace and the total bill was only $300 when I was expecting it to be at least double that.

I would also get her checked all over by a good doggy chiropracter to make sure she doesn't have any sore spots. Dogs can be tolerant of their owners touching them if they are injured but become fearful if others touch them and hurt them. I have seen this happen with previously confident show dogs that suddenly start backing off from judges, then you find their back was out but they showed no indication to the owner.

What type of painkillers were they? I know someone else who had a puppy eat a whole packet of Voltarin and survived. It did strip the lining of the gut and she was very ill but recovered eventually with no after affects.

If a wound re-opens then it is usually a matter of how your dog heals and is not the fault of the vet. They usually don't re-suture but treat with antibiotics while it heals from the inside. Some dogs have a bad reaction to the internal sutures and it causes the sutures to not disolve as they should. I had one who had part of her spay wound open and close for about 4 weeks until I finally noticed a small white thread inside the wound. A very steady handed vet managed to grip it with forceps and pull it out and the wound finally healed after that.