dancinbcs

Just be careful with bulky knitted socks because they can unravel if chewed and cause a choking hazard.

What breed do you do sheep dog trialling with? The only breed I can think of that might fit the physical description is a Bernese but the bigger and heavier the dog the less active they usually are. A large active breed that might fit is Ridgeback. I do yard dog trials, I have a kelpie for that. I did training for 3 sheep trials with my old kelpie boy but gave up as he was too hard on the sheep. I fostered a border collie but he was TOO active for me and I couldn't keep up lol. We had a short haired BC when i was young and she was nice but seriously energetic as well. I want something that can turn off and lounge around when i'm busy studying and isn't going 24/7 Borders vary enormously in temperament and activity level, even in the same litter. An ANKC Border with the right temperament would be a perfect match for your lifestyle but if you have your heart set on a Rotti try to find one from someone that does herding with them. There are a few around and they would probably fit in very well with your situation. As also mentioned, a Briard or Bouvier could suit if you don't mind that much coat. Or if you really like coat or are prepared to clip it off, an Old English Sheepdog would be perfect. You can do obedience or herding with any of these breeds and the OES in particular has a big square head.

I don't know what the breed averages are for Lagottos but those scores would be acceptable, if not ideal in Border Collies, a similar size breed in Aust. A 4:6 or a 5:4 would ideally be bred to a dog with a lower score if possible but in BCs putting them together would not be considered really high risk. In the UK they would be considered fairly low scores for BCs because they get less really low scores than we do, so their breed average is a bit higher. Thank you for taking time to answer my questions.....just such a big decision, I am not looking for a show dog, just a family pet that hopefully won`t have issues with hips in future. With a rare breed it is always harder to get exactly the ideal due to limited breeding choices but for a pet the odds of getting a dog with problem HD from that combination would be slim. You need scores of around 15:15 before the dog starts to be adversely affected but we try to breed from much lower scores. The scores go up to 53:53 so 6 or less for each hip is farely low. Even dogs with good scores can throw the odd really high score so there are no guarantees with hips but mid sized breeds are not particularly susceptable anyway. Good luck with your Lagotto puppy.

What breed do you do sheep dog trialling with? The only breed I can think of that might fit the physical description is a Bernese but the bigger and heavier the dog the less active they usually are. A large active breed that might fit is Ridgeback.

Good news that he is feeling much better. Now fingers crossed for the test results.

I don't know what the breed averages are for Lagottos but those scores would be acceptable, if not ideal in Border Collies, a similar size breed in Aust. A 4:6 or a 5:4 would ideally be bred to a dog with a lower score if possible but in BCs putting them together would not be considered really high risk. In the UK they would be considered fairly low scores for BCs because they get less really low scores than we do, so their breed average is a bit higher.

And the truth is a statutory defence to a defamation case, so if a vet (qualified opinion) tells the owner that their pup has health defect, publishing the breeders name of the defective pup is not defamation unless the breeder didn't supply the pup or the pup isn't defective :) Actually the breeder can still take the buyer to court. It is then up to the buyer to prove that it is true. The breeder can also take Troy to court. IF the buyer had the papers and had transferred them into their name, there is nothing to stop them printing that "my dog Prefix xxxxxxx xxxxxx, has been diagnosed with generalised demodex". That is a statement of fact about a dog they own outright, it isn't slander or defamation, so long as they make no personal comments about the breeder. The problem here is that the dog is still in the breeder's name until those papers are supplied and transferred. They technically don't even own the dog outright yet, so can say nothing public about it.

If you live in a rural area you can legally shoot the dog. Just make sure someone that is a good shot gets to do it.

Don't get x-rays done by just any vet. Even in the practice I go to, that deals almost exclusively with breeders, only one of the vets does the hip x-rays because getting them right is quite complicated and if they are not perfect the result can be out by a lot. You need one that does regular hip x-rays every week. The only ones I trust to give any sort of indication of possible hip problems from palpation are the chiros. Mine are very good at predicting good or bad hips but vets just don't know what to feel for. So maybe try a chiro first, then look for a breeder's vet that is more used to doing x-rays. Ask your dog's breeder to recommend someone.

A puppy heating panel placed on bricks to one side under a trampoline bed so it just touches when they lie on it, is great. Put a thin mattress and drybed over the the bed as well. That allows them to have whatever part aches over the heat.

Icthhammol Ointment from the chemist will heal it from the inside out and clear any infection. Just apply it several times a day. Heals punctures and infected wounds on dogs, cats, horses or humans. I don't know how anyone lives without it.

Yep currently have 2 purebred pets with chronic illness. One breeder offered no support at all to me. I didn't expect money but a 'how is your dog, hope you are ok' would have been nice. Buying from a registered breeder is no guarantee they are going to give a shit. Bit bitter, sorry. There is no way to prevent the mutitude of rare problems that can crop up in any breed or in humans for that matter but the point we have been trying to get across in this thread is that if a DNA test is available that allows you to eliminate breeding puppies affected by a particular hereditary problem, it should be used by anyone producing puppies for any purpose, registered or not. There is simply no excuse for any Border to now be born with TNS, CL, or CEA as they are all so easy to control with readily available DNA testing. The testing of the parents makes the puppies more expensive but it is worth the extra cost for peace of mind and even if you don't understand all the DNA stuff, all you need to remember is that one parent must be clear/normal for each condition for the puppies to not be affected. Before we had the CL test all puppies were sold with a disclaimer that the breeder could not guarantee that the puppy wouldn't die from CL between 18 months-2 years. Breeders were trying their best to breed around it, fundraising and research was ongoing and the condition was rare but every Border Collie was still at risk and there was nothing more that breeders could do until we, finally after 25 years, got the DNA test we needed. JulesP has been very unlucky to run into a very uncaring breeder but most of the breeders I know are not like that. The dog concerned has liver shunts and she is only the third case I have ever heard of in Borders, so it is excedingly rare and not something that could have been prevented. In fact I came across the first case I had heard of when researching all the reported possible TNS cases when we started trying to get that DNA test developed. One breeder had a very ill puppy that she suspected had TNS in but it turned out to have a liver shunt not TNS. Owey and Baileys's Mum, I hope Bailey is still on the improve today for you and that the test results will be back soon.

You should be able to buy some at the show. If it is at Erskine Park, there are regular show supplies shops set up at most shows.

Oh, Bailey's "mum", what a difficult time this has been for all of you and the children. I pray that Bailey does not have TNS and gets to grow up with your kids as they have endured quite enough to deal with so far. I also hope that this thread helps others to know about health testing and avoid the type of heartbreak you are going through now.

All puppies have always cost the same to breed and raise. The registration papers currently cost $29 for main and $22 for limit so if a puppy was sold less the cost of the papers that would be the only saving. I have never understood why papers could cost hundreds more when the registration fee was such a tiny fraction of the puppy price. I think a lot of people who previously bought without papers were shonked by unregistered breeders who were not able to register the puppy anyway. The difference now is that you get limit papers to prove that the puppy is indeed the one you thought you bought. So that is my final word on this as we are getting off topic a bit about Owey's sick puppy. Owey, I hope the blood sample got away and that the puppy is hanging in there while you wait for the result. Did the "breeder" get the parents and siblings tested at the same time? Did restrictions exist in the past for the amount of litters a bitch could produce in a given time frame as does now? Could be a factor if it did. Breeders may have produced "Pet Only" litters that went under the Radar of the registration body. Could be one of the reasons Limited came into being. Maybe in some breeds but not that I was ever aware of in Borders. They are such a demanding breed to have as puppies that most breeders would go insane if they had to raise more than 3 litters a year. There was one NSW breeder that had 10 litters a year but they had a lot of dogs to breed from. A lot of their dogs were also sold at the saleyards so who knows what papers they provided with them. The limit register came in when there was no other way to stop puppies being being exported. Most overseas KCs required an export pedigree to register progeny in their country and the BC breeders were some of the main ones asking for a way to stop them being issued. People would come with a family to buy a bitch puppy as a pet with papers and pay the going rate of about $500 at the time but they were fronts for dealers buying for puppy farms in Asia. The puppy would then be onsold to the dealer for several thousand and the first the breeder knew about it was the puppy would be exported for breeding to an Asian puppy farm. Puppies on limit register cannot be issued with an export pedigree so that fixed the problem until a few countries decided they didn't need the papers. Owey, I am glad to hear that the test has been organised and that at least for now Bailey is improving. I hope that continues and that we are all wrong about the TNS but the symptoms certainly fit a classic description even though a lot of dogs only have some of those symptoms. At present a well bred registered puppy from fully health tested parents in NSW should cost $900 - $1000 from the very best breeders. $500 would barely cover the direct outgoing costs of breeding and raising a healthy puppy, let alone anything for the breeder's 8 weeks of hard work and something towards keeping the mum. Most Border show bitches have 1-3 litters in a lifetime of approx 5-7 puppies per litter and the show breeders usually keep at least one per litter. To break even with the cost of producing the litters and keeping the bitch for her lifetime you would need to sell approx 80 puppies from her so it is never going to happen. If things go wrong with a litter you can be $2000-$3000 out of pocket on that litter alone with no live puppies or maybe just one so $1000 is money well spent on a healthy puppy.

All puppies have always cost the same to breed and raise. The registration papers currently cost $29 for main and $22 for limit so if a puppy was sold less the cost of the papers that would be the only saving. I have never understood why papers could cost hundreds more when the registration fee was such a tiny fraction of the puppy price. I think a lot of people who previously bought without papers were shonked by unregistered breeders who were not able to register the puppy anyway. The difference now is that you get limit papers to prove that the puppy is indeed the one you thought you bought. So that is my final word on this as we are getting off topic a bit about Owey's sick puppy. Owey, I hope the blood sample got away and that the puppy is hanging in there while you wait for the result. Did the "breeder" get the parents and siblings tested at the same time?

8 week old puppies need to be on 3-4 meals a day. If you feed at say 8am, 1pm, 5pm and 10pm the puppy should poop after each meal and first thing in the morning. I give a main meal at either breakfast or lunch depending on when the puppy is most hungry and at the last meal at night. Small meals of something to chew on are given at the other meals. The food takes approx 9 hours to pass through before they need to poop so work your times around that. If the puppy is still not hungry enough to eat 4 meals cut it back to 3 with the middle meal half way between the morning and late night. Food wise the dry food should not need softening at all by this age and get rid of the rice. If you really want to you can use a little canned food for flavour but the you would be better feeding something like raw chicken wings alternately with the dry food to give her something to chew on and adding snall amount of canned fish or cottage cheese to flavour the dry food. At 8 weeks she needs food to chew, not mush. A hard dog biscuit can be good for one meal for a puppy and for training treats try to use some more natural ones like cheese, cooked meat or chicken or dried liver rather than just the commercial ones all the time, that are basically junk food for dogs. Puppies grow at different rates on different days and the appetite can vary from day to day. If she is wolfing food down she probably needs more food but if she is hesitant cut the amount down. 6.1kgs is on the smaller side for a Goldie that age but still quite normal. Feel her ribs every day to determine if she is feeling thin or fat and adjust the food accordingly. I would let her have a good run around and toilet time for about half an hour after her last feed then if you are still up at 2am take her out to wee on a lead, then straight back to bed with no fuss. BTW she looks gorgeous.

I believe it was common in SA and WA for some odd reason but not in the eastern states. I bought my first show dog 29 years ago in Vic and the others in the litter all went with papers back then. Lots of pet dogs got borrowed back for litters or sired litters in those days, as needed, because they all had full papers. In fact in the next decade I only met two people who had started out with a dog without papers.

If you are using a monthly heartwormer as well, try Interceptor. The intestinal wormers in it are not as harsh on a delicate gut as Drontal is.

I would estimate that 70% of ANKC registered puppies go primarily as pets, even from the most prominent show kennels. In a show litter there is usually only one or two that go into the showring. If you can get sports homes for some of the rest that is great but by far most of them go as pets but to more experienced dog homes. So getting a pet Border is not at all difficult provided you are the right home to raise a Border and there happens to be a puppy to suit your situation available.

I really don't know where this myth about puppies without papers being sold cheaply came from. Before the limit register came in, in NSW, all puppies were sold on main register for the same amount. What the owner did with the puppy was up to them. If someone really didn't want the papers the breeder would sometimes knock maybe 5% of the price but the puppies were never sold cheap. The extra cost of a well bred puppy is nothing to do with the cost of "the papers" but with the cost of raising a healthy litter with a verified ancestry. Limit register puppies now should also not be cheaper unless it is a breed where someone has spent a lot of money importing lines. In a breed like Borders, this isn't the case and all puppies cost the same to raise so they should be sold for the same amount. In fact I know many show breeders in several breeds that give away their main register puppies to get them into homes that will promote them and they charge for the limit register pet puppies to cover some of the costs.

It is true that it can be difficult to get a Border as a first dog because there are usually plenty of experienced dog homes waiting for puppies and I admit that I am reluctant to sell a puppy as smart as a Border to someone with no dog experience at all. In fact I do not recommend a puppy of any breed for anyone that has never lived with a dog before. A very few dedicated people pull off succesfully raising a puppy but so many stuff it up and ruin the dog for good. This is why pounds and shelters are full of 8-12 month old untrained dogs. In my experience Border puppies tend to train their owners if the owner doesn't have a clue were to start. Preference goes to those that know the breed or have had other demanding breeds like GSDs, Dobes, etc but plenty are sold as pets to people who know what they getting themselves in when keeping a Border as a pet. They don't have to compete in anything but all Borders need more mental and physical stimulation than most breeds. If I can't find a home that will do obedience/sports I like family homes with several active, well behaved kids. I figure if they can raise kids they can raise a Border. A lot also depends on the individual puppy as the rare lounge lizards would suit a more relaxed home where the hyper puppy would create havoc. It is all about matching the best home to each individual puppy. I am surprised that you were unable to buy an ANKC puppy after doing agility training with your first dog though. It should never be about titles or competeing but about providing the dog with a suitable lifestyle and proving that you can raise and train a puppy. Despite all that though, whether a puppy is from a registered breeder or not, is purebred or not, it should still be bred with health as a top priority and until the public demand this, unhealthy puppies will continue to be bred and sold to an unsuspecting public.

I've know of several bitches to not be ready until at least day 18-20 and even had one mated successfully on days 27,28 and 29. Most of mine were never ready until day 14 at the earliest. On the other hand I have know of them to be ready as early as day 3. Seasons last 2 to 4 weeks and they are ready when they are ready.

Was there a mating before the day she stood best? Even that could have been a few days after ovulation so she could be due several days before you think she is. I have also had them in pre-labour for up to nearly 3 days before going into true labour. If you really think her waters have broken and she is not in proper labour today, a vet check is in order.

It shouldn't make any difference to her seasons. If she was on a 6 month cycle she should still come in mid September. The only thing to do to dry up the milk is less food and more exercise. The milk will only last for a few weeks with nothing feeding off her and they usually have most milk about 4-5 weeks or so after they would have been due so a it sounds like a normal phantom.