dancinbcs

That depends on the size of the Germans. The smallest are much smaller than a Jap. The Japs are very "busy" dogs and definitely not the type to lie around doing nothing, unless of course they happen to be lying on your lap getting spoilt. Then they are more than happy to stay still.

Japanese Spitz were not bred to guard, they are simply companion dogs bred to be beautiful. Some of them are extreme barkers but others only bark briefly when there is a reason to bark. They will all bark when confined if they see something interesting because they are very brave when they feel safe but when out loose or on a lead, are far less likely to bark. I find them amusing at shows when they bark frantically at a big dog standing near their trolley, but if you take them out of the trolley, they go instantly silent. They are not stupid enough to bark at bigger dogs if there is not a solid barrier between them. The few German Spitz I have seen do seem to bark a lot and are not as friendly as the Japs I know, but they are still a very rare breed here so it is hard to make any overall assumptions about the breed as a whole. I find it hard to believe that such a rare breed would turn up in rescue. The puppy farmers don't seem to have discovered the Germans yet but sadly there are plenty of them with Japs. The temperament varies a lot in Jap Spitz as well and anyone not breeding with temperament as a high priority will have nervous yappy dogs. The only way to make a decision on temperament is to meet dogs owned by breeders and then decide if these particular dogs are what you are after. I love Jap Spitz but only some of them. Even among my friends outstanding quality dogs, there are only some that I would consider owning a puppy from.

They are two different breeds, developed on different sides of the world. The two breed standards can be found here http://www.ankc.org.au/Breeds.aspx?gid=7

She should be eating several times a day when feeding a litter. Mine usually have 3 meals and 3 drinks of Divetelact with Nutrigel spaced out between the meals. Are you feeding her in the box with the puppies? Mine won't leave the babies to eat for the first couple of weeks. You could also try Nutrigel straight from the tube to get the appetite up and keep the kilojoules up to her in the mean time.

None in NSW. Don't know about the other states. Breeds that have to be hip scored cannot have that done until 12 months so that restricts those breeds to a minimum of 12 months but other than that there is no reason for younger males to not be used as soon as they are capable. The old breeders used to recommend using males for the first time around 8-10 months if possible and it did result in much more confident stud dogs. The tendency to wait until they are older seems to lead to problem stud dogs that need stud masters or even AIs to achieve a mating. Our breed, Border Collies had a 2 year minimum (recommended by the bred clubs) for many years for both sexes, until we had our CL DNA test developed. This was the only way to avoid breeding from affected dogs as affected dogs showed symptoms by 2 years. Once the DNA test was developed this suggested restriction was removed.

For the heavy sleepers there is another way that works. I don't crate my puppies but put them in the laundry just inside the back door, with a baby gate across. Put their bed in the room furthest from the outside door and a patch of newspaper or pee pads just inside the door to outside(furthest away from their bed). Do the usual training during the day and take them out for a pee break last thing before bed. Do not leave water with them and only take them outside if you hear them cry. I just use newspaper and my puppies have the hang of going on it if they can't get outside. I let them out first thing, first person to stir has to take the puppy out immediately and praise like mad if they go outside. Don't praise for using the newpaper, just ignore it so they know they are not in trouble for going there, but it doesn't get praise. I have smart Border Collies and have had all my puppies trained to hang on all night by about 10 weeks. The boys can usually hang on all night at about 8 weeks, the girls a couple of weeks later. I know other breeds can be slower but the principle should be the same. Also feed the last meal one hour before bed. This stops them needing to poop through the night. With a puppy needing to pee more than once or twice through the night and peeing in crates and on beds, I would be getting a vet check done. She may have a UTI which is quite common in bitch puppies and makes training impossible.

He is probably groggy from a painkiller rather than the anaesthetic. They would have made sure he was out of that before sending him home. The painkiller can make them very groggy until the next day. Elbie probably didn't have one as he was desexed so young.

Firstly the dog was acting normally for many dogs. I don't know of a dog in my breed that does not try to attack lawn mowers and whipper snippers, often causing severe injuries to themselves. Dogs should always be locked away before anyone starts any power equipment and now your dad knows it. Obviously it would be best if he goes to the doctor but if you absolutely can't drag him there, get some Ichthammol Ointment from the chemist and keep applying it to the wound, several times a day. It is the best thing I know for preventing or clearing infections from wounds, especially dog or cat bites. Our family have used it on wounds on both humans and animals since before I was born and very rarely have ever needed antibiotics to heal a wound it was applied to.

Sounds like she might need a shot of Vitamin K. Definitely vet tomorrow.

I agree. The RSPCA spends far too much money on animals that really should be pts and puts them through a great deal of suffering to prove a point and I'm sure for the publicity. Better to pts the damaged ones and spend the money saved on trying to find more homes for the healthy ones. There are dozens of perfectly healthy cross staffies being put down in pounds and shelters at the moment because no one wants them. Putting a very ill one through expensive and traumatic treatment just to prove they could save her, would be pointless.

Any large pet supply warehouse will sell powdered vitamin E for dogs. The dosage is usually for greyhounds as most racing greyhounds are on it regularly. Just divide the greyhound dose for a smaller dog. I used to use the Troy brand, but cannot get it any more. White E is very expensive but there is now a new one out from Value Plus that works out much cheaper. I have always supplemented all my dogs with Vitamin E and have been wondering lately if it also has something to do with the fact that I have never had any puppies with undescended testicles. This is a reasonably common problem in my breed and seems to happen in many lines, so I am wondering why none of my puppies and none of those sired by my stud dogs were ever affected. Maybe it is the lifelong Vit E supplements?

Foster mum if you can find one with similar sized puppies. Some bitches cope fine with a singleton and have a good milk supply. Others just don't seem to get the milk. In these cases a foster mum or tube feeding is the only answer, with a foster mum being preferable.

I am certain that fear of thunder is usually inherited. It can be a learned behaviour if the dog is left out in a bad storm without shelter but generally most dogs have the fear from puppyhood and it seems to occur in lines of dogs. You hear breeders comment that most dogs are frightened of storms because they have many dogs that are. None of my Border Collies have ever given a toss about thunder, fireworks or any other noise. Five generations and not one bothered at all but I will not breed from anything that does have a noise phobia. I actually find it is quite rare in Borders, not just my lines, unless someone breeds from a dog with noise phobia, when a percentage of the progeny respond the same way. Most are not stupid enough to stay out in a storm but they don't really seem to fear them. I remember one well known Obed. Ch trialling in UD that made a beeline for the clubhouse when sent on a seek back in a thunderstorm. On the way out of the ring he accidently stepped on his article, so quickly picked it up, ran back and threw it at the handler, then retreated to the clubhouse. Now that is just a smart dog. Hearing frequency does seem to vary, even among related dogs. I currently have a mother and son. The mother is up investigating every little sound and seems to hear things well before her son and while she is not frightened of loud noises she definitely responds to them. She is far more responsive to distance commands than her son and while he is definitely not deaf, they seem to respond differently to sound. The son is going to be working with me next year in the Responsible Pet Ownership scheme in schools and when he was assessed they couldn't get any sort of startle response at all out of him. He is so calm and so far I have not come across any noise that he really takes much notice of. He is more likely to notice something from sight than sound. The easiest dog I have ever had to live with, he is also the worst dog I have ever had for recalls if he sees something interesting like a swallow or a sheep. When his sight is focused on something he doesn't seem to hear anything, or he just chooses to ignore me.

Western Pet Foods sells assorted greyhound coats in small, medium and large.

Natural matings are apparently possible with the right assistance. Long before AIs were common in dog breeding, there was a brilliant stud master in Sydney that could get just about any breed to achieve a mating. I remember him telling me that he had all the Basset breeders in and around Sydney, as clients at the time. He is long gone now and had to move to the other side of the country to be able to retire. At the time most of the stud dogs in Sydney knew him and it was hysterical when he acted as steward for his wife, when she judged. The dogs all wanted to go to him and not concentrate on what they were supposed to be doing.

Money and commitment are the big issues. The Border Collie breeders in Australia had two DNA tests developed for our breed with huge co-operation from breeders and a commitment from the state breed clubs that lasted 20+ years. We provided 600 DNA samples as well as an enormous pedigree database to get them started on the DNA part of the research. We raised large sums of money and our NSW sub-committee managed to obtain a grant for $93000 over 3 years, that paid a PHD student to work full time on the project. A condition of the grant was that the combined breed clubs had to raise $15000 a year to go with it, besides the 10s of thousands we had already poured into the research. The research was also partly funded by the Batten's Disease Assoc, the human equivalent of CL and we drummed up a donation from Dogs NSW to help get it all started. I believe Dogs Vic also made a donation at some point as well. Getting a grant is not an easy task and it really has to be for something that will have a flow on effect to humans, for anyone to be interested. Our grant proposal took us several months of meetings that went half the night, to compile. Our wonderful PHD student was successful in finding the gene for CL in his third year, so it was money and effort well spent. Our second DNA test was developed using all the data and samples from the first one and extra funding from dedicated UK breeders.

Its only in recent years that I have come across a couple of breeders removing front dewclaws from Border Collies. Most of us have never even thought of removing front ones and now there is evidence that it helps stabalize the wrist in activities like agility, it seems we were well taught by the old breeders. Rear ones are always removed and they can be done immediately after birth if they are just hanging by a thread, but I have always had the more solidly attached ones done by the vet at a few days. This included a few with doubles on the rear. In my experience rear dewclaws seem to be a dominant trait. I used to get them in every litter, then breeding on from dogs that were not born with them, I never got them again. The issue of front dewclaws seems to be dependant on how much they stick out from the leg. In some breeds they are very prominent and I can see that they could cause problems, whereas my dogs have them neatly tucked in and removing them would have left an obvious dent in the leg. I agree with Steve that removing them to save the owner clipping them is no longer an issue with modern owners, so I suppose it comes down to how many injuries they cause in a breed.

What about sharks? They love the taste of dog.

In my breed they can stop growing in height any time from 6 - 18 months so I advise puppy buyers to switch when the dog starts to grow out rather than up. Once they start to gain weight and look more solid it is time to change, whatever age that happens to be.

Lovely offer Nekhbet. You are probably the one of the best people to deal with this sort of problem.

Definitely have a safe area such as a room, garage or dog run that can be locked to keep her away from multiple kids. If it is just one sensible child I would try a basket muzzle and keep the dog on lead to start to desensitize her. Get her used to the muzzle first so she doesn't just associate it with visitors. Don't know what age your kids are or what age the dog reacts to but I used to have a dog that was nervous around small kids. The little brat next door used to tease her through the fence and she ended up snapping at kids if she got a chance. They were only little warning snaps for the kids to keep away, but still a worry. I had a young niece at the time and the dog was not comfortable with her at all. When they visited, the dog was locked up. Then when my niece was about 5, I started teaching her how to give obedience commands to the other dogs. Once she was confident I took her and the dog that didn't like her to the park for a walk. When we stopped I asked her to tell the dog to sit and then drop. The dog complied with the commands and visibly relaxed. Over a few months I had my niece do more obedience work with the dog, walking her on lead and issuing commands. The pair went on to be great friends and the dog was then fine around all kids from about 5 onwards. I think the issue with my dog was she just wasn't sure what kids were. She didn't seem to view them the same way she did adults and was wary. Once my niece started treating her like an adult would, she realised that she was in fact "a person" that could issue commands and she stopped being worried. With your dog, she may not recognise kids outside your family as being the same species as her people. Maybe try the same technique with one visiting child at a time, with the dog muzzled to start with. Always reward the dog for any amount of progress and try to not expect her to react. Even try getting a dog savvy friend to come and help by holding the lead so the dog doesn't pick up on your expectation that she will react. Edited to add that the neighbours that caused my problem had to lock up their Bull Terrier if they had visitors. The Bully was more than tolerant with their child and would defend him with his life. No one, including the parents could threaten that child while the dog was around so to make sure he never reacted to a little friend acting in any sort of threatening manner, the dog had to locked up in the garage if they had visitors. If the child wasn't around the Bully was friendly with everyone. Lots of dogs guard their kids and if this is the problem, locking them away is the only solution to keep everyone safe.

A lot depends on the breed for some reason. Hounds seem to have better success than other breeds. Large FS litters in Afghans and Greyhounds are common but not so much in other breeds.

I'm pretty sure one of the things recommended frequently on here for itchy skin, is calendula tea. They could also try some Curash baby powder. The zinc in it eases rashes and it is safe for human babies so should be safe for puppies.

I only know of a few maidens that have successfully whelped a full litter conceived by frozen semen. Most seem to have just one puppy or none at all whereas the experienced mothers seem to conceive more. Of course this might have happened with natural matings but at least the cost would have been less and precious, irreplacable semen not wasted. Maidens often miss on their first mating (natural or otherwise) but are fine if mated on the next season. No idea why, just anecdotal evidence over the years. If you are doing frozen semen for convenience rather than flying the bitch interstate then the cost is probably comparable anyway. If, however the semen is very precious and unable to be replaced, I would prefer to use it on a proven bitch that you know can conceive and raise a litter.

I'll guarantee the neighbour has done a lot more than shout at her, for her to be that frightened. I would never leave her out if you aren't home in case the neighbour is doing something ongoing that you don't know about. Try to find out if the neighbour is using any sort of dog whistle or ultrasonic device that you can't hear. That could be what is freaking her out. If you can't talk reasonably with the neighbour and find out what is going on, The only permanent solutions would be to put up a really high soundproof fence or move.