dancinbcs

That's exactly where the CL came from as well. A British imported working dog that came through NZ first and was used to establish working and eventually ANKC registered dogs about 60 years ago. CL definitely occurs in some working lines but most farmers just shoot affected dogs and don't bother with testing. Before we had a test available, I remember a working Border breeder, near where I was living, that was well known in the district for his great working dogs, except, according to the local farmers and stock agents, "so many of them go mad around 2 years and have to be shot". I am certain these mostly short coated working registered dogs had CL. They had no ANKC lines at all in them. The red colour is believed to have come from one famous working bitch described as a "Kelpie/Border Collie", that actually looked more like a red cattle dog. She is behind all ANKC dogs and no doubt some working lines as well. The op said her dog was unregistered from an unregistered breeder so she may well be all ANKC lines. Just because she is a handy worker, does not mean she has to come from ISDS lines. If she is an unregistered long coat she could be anything and that is why I believe the DNA testing is vital.

Yes, CEA is routinely tested for in registered ANKC BCs but it is the more expensive test and very few CEA affected BCs actually have any sight defects, so testing is not as vital in an unregistered litter. It would be nice to CEA test unregistered parents of litters as well, but I really can't see it happening. From next year it will be mandatory fro ANKC registered litters. CL and TNS testing are vital for the parents of ALL BORDER COLLIE litters, registered or not, because these conditions are 100% fatal and become an owners problem, not a breeders problem, due to ages affected. Red is colour not seen in the ISDS working lines so the OPs red bitch has just as much chance of carrying CL as TNS.

Restlessness at night, especially if he seems very hot, needs to be investigated. It is often the first sign of lymphoma.

I don't know why you didn't get the ultrasound done while you where there and then decide about the surgery. You normally don't leave a bitch for one and there is no need to sedate them. Having said that it sounds like the tooth really did have to come out and leaving it could have made matters worse. Pregnant women don't seem to have problems with surgery so I suppose a bitch and her puppies should also be ok as well.

I would desex the bitch and abort the litter. There are already plenty of dogs in rescue without adding a litter that could have a multitude of problems that may or may not be evident before you try to find homes for them. Close inbreeding is a huge gamble and something that should only ever be considered after very careful study of the lines and the dogs involved. Something not possible with a rescue. Even then I believe litter mates is too close. Having worked at a shelter I saw far too many good samaritans spend time, money and emotion to raise an unwanted litter, only to find there where no suitable homes and then had to euthanase them. Far better to do it now than when you have had 8 weeks to get attached to them.

No. I live on a farm, my dog is not from a registered breeder as with most border collies who live the farm life! She's beaut at rounding up sheep, but I don't think she'd be interested in the show ring! From a working perspective. Most farmers don't like the light coloured dogs as they don't believe the sheep have as much respect for them so if you are breeding just for work I would be breeding away from the red, especially a pale red. I know they can still work but mostly white and pale colours are not prefered from a work point of view. With unregistered dogs you could have any colours lurking so apart from what I wrote earlier about percentages, anything is possible. If you are breeding Border Collies, registered or not, keep in mind that your girl and her mate should at the very least be DNA tested for the two hereditary fatal conditions, CL and TNS to avoid possible legal problems later. It is law in Vic but no matter what state, if you breed an affected dog, now testing is available to prevent it, you could be sued. The testing is available at Uni of NSW. At least one parent must be DNA normal for each condition to avoid breeding puppies that could die between 2-8 months for TNS and 18-24 months for CL. The only cases that now occur in Australia are from unregistered Borders because the breeders don't bother to test like the registered ones do. The genes for both CL and TNS are throughout the breed and it doesn't matter if they are show or work lines, the risk is the same if you don't test to make sure you are not putting two carriers together.

Cool thanks, Do you guys think that it is better to have one border or two? Thanks I like to have at least two, a few years apart in age. Mine have always played together but I have never introduced an adult into the mix. Each addition has always been a puppy so the older dog can help raise it the way they want to. Male / female works best but two of the same sex can be fine so long as the younger one is not of a more dominant nature than the older one. Many people have more than one male BC running together, provided they don't also have entire females. Once you add girls to the yard the boys tend to not get on as well. There are several show breeders in SA. Give them all a call and see if anyone has an older puppy or young adult that they have decided to move on. Many breeders run on more than one puppy at a time and then pick the best show dog as they mature, rehoming the others. It can be a good way to buy an already trained young dog.

I agree, but at least she is breeding to a black, which is the safest way with colours in Borders. You won't muck things up too much if you always breed back to black, no matter what colour you start with. If in doubt always just breed to a black. The best quality coloured dogs usually have at least one, if not two black parents. Breeding colour to colour leads to a sharp drop in quality. It is the idiots that combine different colours other than black, with no idea of the consequences that end up problems in our breed. At the moment we have some breeding red to merle which is just plain stupid as the merle won't show on the red and there will end up being merle to merle matings done unintentionally with future generations. Colours in BCs are quite complicated and many experienced breeders still do not understand them. This is why we have a standard that makes no sense colour wise. Not enough breeders understand enough about the genetics to agree to fix the standard. Even with the best understanding, surprise colours will still turn up unless everyone goes to the expense of DNA testing for colour.

Both advantix and Proban need to be started a couple of weeks before. If using Advantix you would need them on at least the second fortnightly treatment before leaving. No idea if you can use them together or not. Frontline is the only thing that works straight away but is not as reliable with dogs that swim all the time.

The sire has a 50% chance of carrying red. If he does carry it each puppy has a 50% chance of being red. If he does not carry the red gene, none of the puppies will be red. There are also plenty of other recessive colours that both could be carrying so don't be surprised if you get colours other than black or red. Some reds actually have a pigment colour other than black so are genetically that colour with a red coat. Also tri markings don't show on a red so they can be genetically tri as well. Red is a masking gene and only affects the coat, not the pigment and a few reds are actually genetically sable not ee red, just to confuse the issue. Looking at the pedigree with someone who knows the lines well would give you an indication of likely colours. Edited to add: I hope both parents have all their health testing done ie. 3 x DNA tests, hips and elbows.

I would change the sardines to those in spring water rather than oil because the fish already contain oil. Also watch how much liver he is getting in the mix. Too much can cause vitamin A poisoning. Small regular amounts are ok but no more than about 50gms per day.

If I was going down there to swim dogs daily, I think I would go with Proban. The paralysis ticks are really bad along the NSW coast and particularly bad this year. Much as I hate the idea of oral solutions to parasites, Proban is the only thing that kills ticks if they get them internally eg. down the throat or ear or in the anus. All more likely with dogs swimming. If I lived on the coast I don't know if I would keep them on Proban all the time but for a shorter period for a holiday I think the Proban is worth it.

Well it doesn't cover many cat colours either if that is the case.

Grizzle is actually a colour in at least one breed standard. Can't remember which breed though. It is a grey mixture.

Typical government idiocy. Who ever heard of a tabby dog? So many dog colours are not on that list that it is useless. I would just call him red as it is his main pigment colour. I didn't realise you already had your new addition. He is lovely looking Kelpie. How old is he and where did you end up buying him from?

The only time I tried Advantix I ended up with a dog covered in fleas within a week. I went back to Frontline after that and usually get 6 weeks at least out of the Frontline for fleas.

Haven't read all the posts but my experience with two super chewers taught me a lot. All my dogs have chewed a few things but two of them would destroy anything within reach for at least 2 or 3 years. Both these ate their bedding every night, the second one had his hession bag on the trampoline bed replaced twice a week. Both chewed the door frames in the laundry where they were confined when not supervised but the first one did the most damage to general house and garden items because I didn't know how to deal with the problem. The only way to avoid things being chewed when you are not supervising is a physical barrier, such as a crate or an ex pen. If you get a kennel for outside, make it a secoind hand one because it will probably get chewed at this stage too. The one thing that made a big difference with my second chewer, was having a toy basket kept stocked with toys he could play with or destroy. Whenever he was loose in the house, under supervision, I would praise like mad every time he went to his toy basket to select a toy. If he showed any interest in something that was not his, a growl from me made it clear that the item was mine, not his and he left it alone. If a puppy tries to take something that belongs to another dog, it will be growled at and understand, so using this technique works well. The other really important point is always praising when they do the right thing and it is something many owners forget to do. If they are lying quietly chewing something they should, you need to let them know they are doing the right thing. Also providing plenty of big bones and hard chews like deer antler and compressed beefhide (if you can find any these days that is not from China) will help them use up the urge to chew. You cannot stop a chewer from chewing, you can only make sure they chew things they are allowed to chew.

And no more than 1 on any particular point. So a dog that is 0:2 will not have an A grade if the 2 is on the same point, but a dog with 2:2 can be an A grade if the scores are distibuted on two different points on each hip. All very confusing and not very helpful. Most breeders I know take no notice of the grades and just worry about the scores.

The east and northern suburbs are all tick areas but the west and south west are not. I am near Liverpool and there are definitely no ticks here or towards Campbelltown or Penrith. The DogsNSW grounds at Erskine Park are also safe from ticks. Sutherland shire, the Eastern suburbs, Northern Beaches and northern suburbs, west to about Castle Hill seem to be the worst affected. Our vets at Austral have never had a tick case on a dog that has not been out of the area and strangely you can get pockets where they don't occur in areas where you expect them. I have a friend in Dural which is between Arcadia and Castle Hill, that both have tick problems, but there have never been any ticks on her property. There are ticks around Liverpool/Penrith- they are just not very common in the area but it is still best to check during summer months and know the signs!!!!! Also had a friend who's suspects their dog picked up a tick from fresh wood chips the council had put down in a very safe area! There are cattle ticks in the area but not paralysis ticks, unless thay are brought in. We have been here since the early 60s and have never heard of anyone's dog getting a paralysis tick unless they have been out of the area or someone has brought in another dog or travelled themselves, to a tick area. My friends in the northern suburbs have to battle with them every year and many have had dogs affected over the years. I brought one back either on my car or proban treated dogs from a Qld trip. The dogs I took were fine but a couple of days after returning home I found a tiny tick on the eyelid of a dog I had left at home. It had obviously hitched a ride somehow. So yes, there is always a risk of them being brought into the area and I know of dogs that have picked them up at shows in non tick areas, if they were camped next to dogs from the coast, so knowing the symptoms is important just in case.

The east and northern suburbs are all tick areas but the west and south west are not. I am near Liverpool and there are definitely no ticks here or towards Campbelltown or Penrith. The DogsNSW grounds at Erskine Park are also safe from ticks. Sutherland shire, the Eastern suburbs, Northern Beaches and northern suburbs, west to about Castle Hill seem to be the worst affected. Our vets at Austral have never had a tick case on a dog that has not been out of the area and strangely you can get pockets where they don't occur in areas where you expect them. I have a friend in Dural which is between Arcadia and Castle Hill, that both have tick problems, but there have never been any ticks on her property.

This is nothing new. I worked for one of the first large pet supply warehouses about 20 years ago. The owners were very experienced Greyhound breeders and they told me the same thing about the puppy worming suspensions then. Even though we sold them, we were instructed to advise customers that we did not recommend them as effective. The owners had tested all the wormers on their Greyhound litters and found all the puppy suspensions absolutely useless. After that I never used one again and moved to tablets. I had also found that my puppies hated the suspension and managed to spit most of it out anyway, whereas a a small tablet given with a little Nutrigel was readily accepted. One breeder friend also had a puppy inhale the puppy suspension into it's lungs so that was another strike against it for me. The tablets are much easier to dose and far more effective in removing the worms.

I found the opposite for fleas. I usually use Frontline in summer and usually get 6 weeks out of it for fleas. A couple of years ago I decided to use Advantix instead and they were crawling with fleas within a week. I am not in a tick area but treat them with Frontline if going anywhere near a tick area. If really venturing to the coast for longer than a day I put them on Proban.

Great news that your vets prediction of doom was not accurate. I suggest you get Bonnie some Nutrigel and let her lick a small amount from the end of the tube several times a day. It will boost her calories and vitamins without filling her stomach. Great for dogs recovering from any illness provided they are allowed fats.

And the puppy pre-school allowed her to do it. A puppy with that temperament at that age should be pts. Yes, very aggressive puppies do exist and they are just a disaster waiting to happen. Some friends once had the local very agressive mongrel terrier cross, jump a 7 foot fence to mate their just mated bitch. Hoping at least some of the puppies would be by the very old stud dog they had used, they allowed the pregnancy to continue with the intention of DNA testing. While waiting for the DNA results the puppies (who did not look quite like pure breds) became so aggressive by 3-4 weeks that the bitch wanted nothing to do with them. After confering with a very experienced trainer they had the whole litter pts due to the aggressive nature of the puppies. The DNA later confirmed they were all by the crossbred dog. The breeders felt that they were not suitable temperaments to find homes for. I saw the litter and the aggression between them and when you handled them was unbelievable in such tiny puppies. Some of the people who run these puppy pre-schools ought to be shot. They know nothing about dog behaviour and create far more problems than the puppies would ever have had. How is allowing one puppy to terrorise another going to teach either of them anything positive? Whether a puppy is genuinely aggressive or just a dominant bully, it should never be allowed to intimidate another puppy. The puppy pre-school I use does not ever allow puppies off lead and is simply there to teach the puppies to behave in the presence of others. No chance for any puppy to intimidate another. Any acting in an intimidating manner are moved further away so they don't upset any of the others.