dancinbcs

My vet prefers to do them around 5 weeks, so day 35 and it is usually only about $50. They don't charge a consult if it is just an ultrasound. They are breeder vets and have about a third of the breeders in Sydney as clients. I don't know of anyone that has had a pregnant bitch x-rayed by them as they seem to use all ultrasounds no matter the stage of pregnancy.

Not really sure about that area and sometimes just a couple of kms can make a difference. The ticks are mostly closer to the coast but some of the northern suburbs have them as well and this year they are a lot more widespread than usual. The best bet would be to call North Richmond Vets and ask them. They see a lot of the breeders in Sydney and would know if there are ticks in their area.

Sadly if there is already heart damage at 12 weeks, this puppy will probably not live very long. PDA is quite common in all breeds and in crossbreeds and is basically the heart not being finished forming properly. Some, but not all, can be fixed surgically but I know of one some years ago that sounded like your puppy's case. It was decided to operate at 12 weeks but she did not survive the surgery. This is a real possiblilty and then you are still stuck with the vet bill and no puppy. You basically have two choices now. Either let the puppy live until it starts to deteriorate, which could be weeks or possibly a couple of years, but remember the longer the time is, the longer you have to get attached. The alternative is to euthanase now or return to the breeder. Whatever you decide, please take up the breeder's offer of a new puppy or ask for a refund so you can buy another puppy later to help you get over the loss. I think it is every breeder's worse nightmare to sell a defective puppy. PDA is usually picked up as a heart murmur at 6-8 weeks and these puppies should not be sold but vets do miss the odd one. Some puppies with really small murmurs grow out of the problem by about 12 weeks and then are perfectly normal but if the problem is worse at 12 weeks then it will get worse, not better.

It depends on the breed and the breeder. With small breeds it seems to be the norm but with the larger or more boisterous breeds many breeders are happy to have buyers visit on several occasions, observing rules to prevent infection. I like buyers to come weekly from about 4 weeks as do many of my breeder friends but not all breeders do things that way.

I have just had a teat removed from a 10 year old that had one litter at 3 and was desexed 2 years ago. She had a lump that was discharging a yellow fluid from the nipple that did not clear with treatment. Apparently doing a needle biopsy on a soft lump is not reliable so we opted to take out the whole lump and surrounding teat as a precaution. It turned out to be a cyst BUT it had a tiny tumour in the middle of it that would not have been detected by a needle biopsy.This is the pre-cancerous stage of mammary cancer. I know this was an older bitch but it is something I have never encountered before. Sometimes it is better to remove lumps to be on the safe side. If it turns out to just be a cyst then all good, but at least you know for sure.

I have had ultrasounds done the day before whelping and they do tell you a lot with a smallish litter. I had one bitch have a litter of three and we could clearly see each one and which way it was facing on the ultrasound. It meant I was prepared for the huge first puppy to be born breech. No idea though how many you would get to count with a large litter.

As far as I know Prof Alan Wilton is still working to develop a test for CA in Kelpies but I have no idea where they are up to in regards to information and money needed for the research. It takes a huge amount of both as well as complete breedwide co-operation to develop these tests. Lack of reliable information on all known cases is the biggest hurdle. The aim of all these tests is to allow for carriers to be bred from safely so no affected puppies are produced. Removing carriers from breeding has never been the point of the exercise. Our CL test for Border Collies took him nearly 15 years to develop but the TNS one only took about 12 months. The funding required for this research was enormous and the BCC of NSW actually managed a govt grant of $93000 at one point as well as the breed clubs raising tens of thousands of dollars over the years. We also had assistance from the Batten's Disease Assoc (CL in humans) to help us along. The association between Batten's Disease and CL was one of the main factors that allowed us to successfully apply for the grant. Most of the funding for the TNS test development came from British Border Collie breeders.

All these products get into the lymph system and spread through the skin that way. The only reason to split the dose on big dogs is to give it two places to be absorbed due to the larger quantity. They should all be put on the neck or back where the dog cannot reach to lick or chew, so definitely not past the middle of the back.

Any photos of this lemon border collie? Lemon is just a vey pale red like the pale golden retrievers - the same genes control it. Not confusing red Kelpies with red Borders. In Kelpies RED is brown, FAWN is brown dilute and Cream is the "ee gene", any shade of yellow from pale cream to dark chestnut. In Borders CHOCOLATE is brown, LILAC is brown dilute and RED is the "ee gene", any shade of yellow from pale cream to dark chestnut. The Cream/Red ee gene masks the coat colour only so underneath the dog will be black, blue, brown or fawn/lilac and the pigment colour is determined by the nose colour. This applies to either breed. From a little futher research it seems Bantry Girl and her ancestors are the origin of the Kelpie breed as well as part of the foundation of the Border collie in Australia.

Don't know what the beaches are like but it is a really bad area for ticks. I will only take my dogs near Wollongong in winter as I am not prepared to risk the ticks.

Lucky red and tan is an extremely common colour among the working lines so I wasn't looked upon too frownfully ... I have often wondered where the ee red (cream in kelpies) in kelpies and border collies comes from. It is almost unknown (maybe non existent) in the British working dogs our working dogs were bred from but not that uncommon in the Aus working dogs. One of the first registered mentions of yellow on the pedigrees behind our Borders is the outstanding sheepdog trial bitch: Bantry Girl (F) 01 Jan 1915 VWSDA1915 Yellow/white From b/w photos she appears to be more likely ee red than sable, but it is hard to tell. She actually looks more like a red cattle dog than either a Kelpie or a Border. Her sire Bantry/ Banshee was also listed as yellow. He was from a blue Kelpie and a tri Border. Bantry Girl's dam was also a black tri kelpie/border cross. So Bantry girl is a from a combination of Kelpies, Borders, Scotch Collies and various other unregistered working dogs that there is no record of. I suspect her colour may have come from a dingo because there really isn't any other explanation for it unless she was actually sable. If she was sable I have no idea where the ee red came from. She is behind every Australian ANKC registered Border and no doubt many working Borders and probably Kelpies as well. The ee "red" is not seen in Borders that did not originate in Australia so it is definitely an introduced colour and it annoys me that red was introduced into the standard but sable, which is long standing breed colour, wasn't. Both colours were called sable before the term "red" was put into the standard. Brown Borders were also called red (like Kelpies) before someone decided that the colour should be called chocolate.

I try not to sell a puppy to anyone with kids between 6 months and 3 years. I just think there is too much chance of a toddler damaging a young puppy. If the baby is 6 months or less the puppy will be 7-8 months at least before the baby gets on it's feet. Once on their feet it is pretty hard to control their every move and you can't really explain much to them until they are closer to two. Untrained puppy + toddler to me is asking for trouble. I know breeders do manage but they are experts in dog management.

They asked us to choose a name. Hence my asking. We are keeping the kennel name. We just need to choose the next bit. Most pedigree dogs have a name based on something from their parents registered or pet names if the breeder doesn't just choose a theme for the whole litter. So hard for anyone to make a suggestion without knowing who the parents are.

I think that needs to be clarfiied to read. Thyroid problems have been documented in Border Collies but are very rare. I only know of two dogs since 1983, when I became involved with the breed. Any dog can develop thyroid problems and saying a breed is prone to it, implies that there is a breed problem, when clearly there isn't. I know some overseas countries test for it so assume they may have had problems in their lines but there are many unrelated lines of Border Collies throughout the world and while our lines in Australia have one problem the others don't, there are several other problems that have been recorded in other countries, but not here.

I thought that site would do your head in. Seriously, if you go back and read each section several times over a few weeks, it will sink in. Piper, I am pretty sure I have seen Spinifex Kelpies in the showring over the years. I would guess they are dual registered.

Great that you have found a solution. It sounds like he was removed from his mum way too early so it is great that you have an older female that can act as a mother to him, and teach him how to be a dog, otherwise he would have grown up with behavoural problems. Being a rescue he may not be the age they told you. Unless they had him from birth, they don't really know. If he was surrendered, the owner might have lied about the age so they would take him. From your other thread, where you mentioned his weight I suspect he might be a few weeks younger. I have seen Border puppies as small as yours but mine are usually about 4-5 kg at 6 weeks, so 3.5kg at 8 weeks is rather small if that was his real age. I am also frustrated that the RSPCA expect breeders to guarantee the health of their puppies but they will happily home puppies with no such guarantee. I bet they did not give you proof of his DNA staus for CL, TNS and CEA. Please correct me if they did. This will be mandatory for registered breeders of Border Collies from next year but most are already doing these genetic tests to ensure we never sell anyone a puppy that will be affected by any of these diseases.

Try this website to clarify or further confuse colour genetics for you. Take note of the tan point and dominant black sections especially. http://abnormality.purpleflowers.net/genetics/index.htm

You never really know what causes allergies until you get tested. I get asthma and have been allergy tested twice with the same results. I am allergic to pretty much most plants but have very severe reactions to grasses. I am slightly allergic to cats but not to dogs or horses and strangely I am one of very few people that are not at all allergic to the most common allergen - dust mites. There may not be anything you can do about Ollie's coat but I suggest trying Dr Ann Neville at Sth Rd Animal Health in Bentleigh. She is a vet that does Chinese Medicine as well and uses hair analysis in doing a diagnosis. If there is a deficiency causing the excess shedding she will be able to work out what it is. I have BCs and can live with their shedding, but having owned a Lab, I will never again own any dog with a short dense double coat. That level of shedding drives me insane.

All pet health insurance companies exclude all conditions related to breeding. You can insure the dogs against other illness or injury but nothing to do with reproduction.

I wouldn't use the vet's as an indicator of calmness. Most dogs don't worry about injections but plenty just hate the vets for a variaty of reasons. I have one of the calmest, most bomb proof Border Collies I have ever seen, who is fine in any situation, including acupuncture but is not at all confident at the vets because of some bad memories from there. Unfortunately I am not in Vic or would volunteer him.

Ok...so you've got me there....what is a Thunder Coat & how does it work Google "Thunder shirt" and you'll find it... I know of another user on here who swears by it for just generally calming their dog in situations which normally agitate her! :D Thanks for that...I have got this on order ...Calming Cap. Has anyone ever used one of these on a stressed dog? http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseacti...p;ParentCat=449 Never heard of the cap but the shirts work on dogs that are frightened. A kids T-shirt works as well. No idea if any of it would just work on an excited dog but they probably would.

I've had a couple go 48 hours in stage one labour. The first one then proceeded to produce 6 puppies in 1 hr 40 min, so she was fast when she got going. These days I always check with daily ultrasounds during long stage one labours, just to make sure everything is OK. Well worth it for the peace of mind.

Most dogs find having even their feet placed in water threatening. Having a breed with white feet also means that if we put water in a bath all it does is let the dirt from the coat, soak into the feet. Definitely not a good idea. Always stand them in an empty bath, with a non-slip mat as suggested and use a hand shower. Then just be firm and don't take any nonsense. Always praise when they are being good.

Hopefully with you getting it diagnosed so early and it being only a tiny lesion, the rest will allow it to heal without surgery. If he does need surgery the prognosis is good for a normal life, but he will be more prone to arthritis as he ages. Cage resting a Border is the pits but due to the rate that they tend to injure themselves, many owners have to face this hurdle.

I used them once when they first opened, on a trip to Melbourne Royal. We stopped off there to wash several dogs on the way. The baths with built in dryers were great but you need to work really fast if you don't want to spend a fortune. They charge for the time you are there. Probably not a problem with one dog but it adds up if you do several.