dancinbcs

Another big issue these days is that so many people have not grown up with dogs. When I was a kid nearly everyone had a dog and you grew up knowing the basics of dog behaviour so knew what to expect as you reared a puppy. Everyone owned or knew a dog that destroyed things, an escape artist, a barker, etc so they knew that dogs sometimes did all these things. With so many immigrants from non doggy countries and children being raised in high density housing, a lot grow up with no idea how dogs act and think. Then they go out and buy a puppy and attempt to try to raise by the book but the books contradict each other. Personally I don't think anyone should rear a puppy if they have never lived with a dog before. Better to get an adult that has some basic training to learn about dogs before attempting to raise a puppy. A few people manage to get raising their first dog from a puppy right, but so many just have no idea and it is the puppies that suffer.

Wouldn't it depend on what the dog does whilst at the show though? Going from crate to ring and back again might not necessarily be great socialisation. I imagine the travelling, sounds and being exposed to different dogs (even if from a distance) would still be of some benefit though. An unsocialised dog will not have any success in the showring. Walking in and around a show and even lining up to go in the ring for group judging, involves being in very close proximity to a lot of people and dogs. All show dogs need to be examined by strangers (judges) as well so socialisation doesn't come much better than that. A lot of show dogs that come from bigger kennels are not house trained but you would be hard pushed to find a dog that had been shown for a while that wasn't used to travel, grooming and was well socialised with dogs and people.

I removed the name but I think the public should see how horrific these poor puppies look. It is an o/s page anyway but there are a few of them around the world. Thankfully none seem to be in Aust.

Just discovered a disgusting FB page for teacup puppies with several breeds. They are around $6500 and are supposed to be no more than 2 pounds full grown. Looking at how deformed the heads are they would be lucky to live long enough to be full grown. They all look like they have hydrocephalus. :mad :mad It constantly amazes me that people fall for these scams and of course the puppies are the ones to suffer.

Agreed. Dogs digest meat much better if it is in large pieces they have to chew and it keeps better not minced. I only use mince if they are ill or I need to get medications into a meal.

At that age the odds of it being a brain tumour, secondary to another cancer, are pretty high. So get x-rays done first to check for major cancers before heading off to a neuro specialist. If it is not just epilepsy then the prognosis is not likely to be very good. The problem with anything wrong inside the head is the dog cannot tell you how she feels and dogs with intense head pain and confusion can be very dangerous. Even if it is something that can be treated at great expense, the dog will not be able to tell you if she feels better or not. I lost a 10 year old last June to extensive cancer. Looking back over her last 6-8 months there were subtle neuro signs that did not seem to add up to anything. She was perfectly well apart from a very occasional cough. When we found all the tumours and fluid in her chest the vet did a chest drain and during the procedure she had a seizure. She had been ill a few days before but was quite bright when I took her for the x-rays and chest drain. It was as if I had taken a well dog into the surgery and a gravely ill one out. She never really recovered from the seizure and a week later yelped when I touched her head. I had her pts immediately because she obviously had intense pain in her head, most probably from a brain tumour.

The breed standard states the mature size range for Poms at 1.8kg to 2.5kgs. How much smaller would anyone want a dog?

Thanks for posting this link. It has further confirmed my decision to stay with 3 yearly vaccinations and stick to just the C3 I have used for about 20 years.

Well maybe this is the difference with my vets dealing almost exclusively with breeders rather than pet owners.

I use one of the best known vets in Sydney that are used by a large percentage of the breeders down here. Many travel an hour or more to get to them. They do not offer optional extras, giving fluids if THEY think the dog needs it but I have never heard of anyone having to get blood tests done before routine surgery. For that matter I myself have never had a blood test before surgery. The only place I have ever heard of pre anaesthetic blood tests is on DOL. One of the most common surgeries my vets do is caesars and even with a scheduled one I don't think bloods are ever mentioned, so I find these discussions quite puzzling when talking about routine surgeries like spays and especially simple castrations. What difference does the blood test make to how they do the surgery? What about anaesthetics for things like hip scoring? Do some vets do blood tests before that? Our vets use the best and safest anaesthetic for every patient so I don't know what they could do different anyway. Naturally with ill or very old dogs they do a full health work up including blood, x-rays, etc before considering surgery that is not an emergency the same as is done with humans but with obvious healthy animals that need routine surgeries why would they need blood tests?

I think the biggest problem is owners not realising that every puppy is different and none of them have read the books that say what they are supposed to do. There are lots of basics that work for lots of puppies but there are always exceptions and if what you are doing isn't working you need to use common sense and imagination to work out how to manage. I always find it amusing when people ask on here about destructive dogs and everyone is quick to say the dog needs more exercise, stimulation, time, etc. Sometimes those things help but the bottom line is that some dogs just like to destroy stuff and others don't. It isn't a breed thing but an individual character trait. It isn't even a hereditary tendency, it just happen and managing these dogs is different to managing a non-destructive dog. The same applies to dogs that are clingy and those that aren't. Neurotic owners can make a clingy dog much worse but an independant one will be independant, no matter what the owner does. With the clingy ones you need to gradually let them learn to be on their own and they will cope.

My girls are always desexed when finished breeding and showing. I have had them done from 6 to 9 years but would prefer to make it by 8 if you could still show them in main classes. My last one desexed at 9 went back and competed as a neuter for a while. I hate that we cannot have a retired breeding bitch desexed and still show her in normal classes. Quite a few show bitches in my breed have not had their first litter until 5 or 6 with a second litter closer to 8 or 9, so age is very much a breed related thing. The 6 year old was speyed during a caesar with no ill affects. I know of many bitches that were speyed during the caesar for their last litter and none had any complications. It used to be done almost routinely. With bitches over 5 I prefer it to be done at the time if they are not going to be shown and it is their final litter because I know of so many that have had major issues with complications and life threatening infections after a caesar because the uterus has failed to shrink back. One Gr Ch became so ill she lost 5 out of a litter of 7 then had to have an emergency spey when the puppies were 2 weeks old to save her life. It could have all been avoided if the vet had speyed here during the caesar as requested by the owner. With males, I usually leave them entire unless I am certain they will never be required for breeding.

This is Jimmy my new working dog. I would class him as a fawn although he has now gone more of a chocolate colour in the couple months since I got him. Smooch is a Smokey, no tan whatsoever only a little white on the chest. The Smokeys are very hard to come by. Genetically these dogs are both fawn which is dilute brown (red/choc). In BCs it is termed lilac and they can have tan points or not but the fawn with tan points is not in the Kelpie standard. Robbi, your old girl is the same. Dilute brown with tan points and white markings. With that much white she could have BC in her as well and in a BC the colour would be termed lilac tri. It is not in the BC standard in Aust but acceptable anywhere else in the world.

The ones I have known of with problems tend to be related but none of mine and most of my friends dogs have ever been worried by storms and most don't care about fireworks either. Quite a few seem to like to run around and bark at the thunder in a storm, but very few that I have known have really been scared. I noticed an add on BC Rescue that stated the dog "like most Border Collies" was worried by storms. This had me puzzled because I have never seen it as a common breed trait at all. At out last specialty show in Oct we had one of the biggest storms I have ever been in. Really loud thunder, lightening and so much rain in half an hour that Castle Hill was under 6" of water. We suspended the show until the storm stopped then continued under cover and none of the dogs seemed particularly stressed by it.

There is a huge oversupply of badly bred SBTs and crossbreds, making them readily available to every moron that wants a tough looking dog and has no idea how to handle one. I know lots of people love them but they are more than the average pet owner can handle. Their energy and exuberance combined with strength, agility and the power to chew through just about anything makes them like a wrecking ball on legs that can escape from just about anywhere if they are not raised right and confined properly. They are also a very noisy breed so can cause problems with neighbours. The noise when they play sounds like a full scale attack is going on. Like most terriers breeds they are also intolerant of other dogs unless heavily socialised and trained as puppies. Even then, they may not start a fight but most will certainly finish it to the detriment of any dog that challenges them. So all in all they can be huge liability and once they get difficult people dump them or don't bother to get them back after they escape again. I cringe every time someone on here recommends them as a suitable breed for anyone who was not thinking about a terrier breed to start with. The really well bred ones from the top breeders that are socialised, trained and kept confined, can be delightful dogs and real characters but the majority that end up in the pounds are not like this at all.

Any condition with eyes that does not clear up in few days with normal vet treatment, needs to be referred to a specialist. I am astounded that a vet would treat an eye for 6 months and not send you to a specialist.

There must be different sizes in the Deer Wire. The one my friend had was only about 2" square 3' off the ground. It was smaller than that at ground level and bigger above.

I have friends who used deer fencing to get the extra height a lot cheaper than chainwire. The mesh is smaller at the bottom and gets wider as it goes up.

I hate the stuff. Far too toxic to have around me or my dogs, especially anywhere the dogs might lick. If I am really desperate I use flea/insect bombs in the house and air it really well. Gets rid of fleas and spiders and is less toxic than any of the surface sprays.

Thanks dancinbcs! Very informative post I'm glad someone understood it.

Dogs NSW There is a show and trial guide on there but you need to call them to organise to set up at a show. They do charge fees for businesses to be on the ground but nothing like the Pet Expo fees.

For a Welshie a 36" crate should be fine even as an adult. Most medium dogs fit in them. If it fits in your car it is the safest and most comfortable way to transport a dog. I don't use crates in the house much but my puppies get used to them in the car and at shows so if I need to crate them at home they are fine. At home I usually use a puppy pen instead of a crate to confine them if I can't watch them. Take the puppy on the school run because that is great socialisation with kids but not to the supermarket. I never leave a dog in the car unattended in a public area just in case someone steals the car. Apart from that it can get hot enough inside a car to kill a dog in a matter of minutes, even on a slightly warm day.

Teach a lightning sit with a stay. Make a game of it to see how fast he can sit and work on how long he can stay. Practice in all different situations and at different distances so he will respond no matter what the distraction. No dog can sit and jump at the same time. :D

From Wikipedia "An early Kelpie, Sally was mated to Moss a smooth haired Collie and she produced a black pup that was named Barb after the black horse, The Barb who won the Melbourne Cup in 1866. This then was how black Kelpies became known as Barb Kelpies.[8] There were a number of Kelpies called 'Red Cloud'. The first and most famous was John Quinn's Red Cloud in the early 20th century, and then in the 1960s another "Red Cloud" that became very well known in Western Australia. This started the tradition in Western Australia of calling all red or red and tan Kelpies, especially those with white chests, Red Cloud Kelpies."

Chocolate and red are different colours according to show people. Although it is difficult to tell by looking sometimes :p Would be interesting to DNA test the chocolate and red show dogs to see if there is a different gene I do find it strange that you can't have tan markings with chocolate but can with red. But then I have seen some registered red/tan dogs who are darker brown than registered chocolate dogs :D As for the colours of the pups, what colour are the parents of the black/tan dog? If they are both black there is a good chance that the dog doesn't carry the red gene. If one parent was red then it was just a fluke that all dogs were born black/tan You would "expect" 50:50 from a red to black mating in terms of colour, but really it is a 50:50 chance of each pup being red or black Red and chocolate in Kelpies are both the brown gene so they are the same colour but when the standard was written no on knew that. Sadly many standards are genetically incorrect for colour because no one had a clue about genetics when they decided what colours to include. Chocolate in a Border Collie is brown but the colour termed red in BCs is the ee gene which is called orange/gold/yellow/cream in most other breeds. Dog pigment can only be black, brown or the dilutions of these two colours, blue/grey or fawn/lilac (Wei colour). Hair colour can also be yellow (ee) which masks the basic pigment colour in the coat or white. All other "colours" are patterns made from combinations of these colours. The shade and intensity of any colour, including black will vary from dog to dog but they can still only be one of four basic pigment colours and anything else is a coat pattern. This would be so much easier for everyone to follow if the colours had the same name in all breeds.