dancinbcs

I doubt it. I asked last year when travelling through Vic and SA and was told that Vic only has ticks on the east coast, not the southern coast. Cockatoo is a long way from the east coast being not far from Melbourne.

Have just come back and had a look at this thread. First Ollie Waffle you would have had a lot more sympathy hear if you had been honest in the first place and asked the real questions you wanted answers to. I am sorry you have had this experience with a puppy but as others have already explained no breeder, no matter how much they health test, can guarantee that a puppy won't suffer from some rare health problem and just because a problem occurs it does not make it hereditary. Having been involved in genetic test development for my breed I can tell you that you need at least 5 or 6 cases of a problem within the same line of dogs before the geneticists will even consider looking at it as hereditary. Not all heredtary problems are the same either. some need to be carried by both parents but others can be passed on by one parent. Until breeders know the exact mode of inheritence then removing all related dogs from breeding is just asking for more problems from narrowing the gene pool. You stated "At 4 months he was diagnosed with short ulna and radius curvus syndrome caused from a form of OCD. I have known of 2 dogs in my breed with short ulna and curved radius syndrome and it had nothing to do with OCD which can also occur in our breed and seems to be caused much more by diet and environment with only a small genetic component. Both puppies were from the same mother and the very experienced breeder and all her contacts and vets had never seen it in our breed before and had no idea what caused it. When the owner of the first affected puppy came back to the breeder, the damage was too great to be fixed and the puppy was euthanased. The breeder replaced the puppy. The breeder did a lot of research and when the dam had her next litter she warned all the puppy buyers about the problem she had encountered in the first litter and asked them to contact her at the first sign of the legs bowing. One puppy was affected and with the help of canine nutritionists the puppy was put on a completely different diet and the problem corrected completely. This highly reputable breeder bred about 500 puppies over 30 years and provided foundation stock to many other kennels but I have never heard of this problem with the legs ever occuring again in the breed. It may have had a small genetic component that caused the puppy to metabolise it's food differently to the others in the litter but it was clearly not a simple recessive genetic problem. You also stated "He is also a dwarf dog" But have not answered the question of what type of dwarfism it is and how it has been diagnosed. Dwarfism comes in several different forms and affects different breeds in different parts of the world. In 27 years in the world of purebred dogs I have never seen one so assume in most breeds it is pretty rare here in Australia. Even if a certain line of dogs in one country have it occuring it does not necessarily follow that it needs to be tested for in other countries, assuming that a test has been made available. Of course if a test is available it would only be for one form of dwarfism and another form of it can still occur randomly in a breed at any time. Again, I am sorry this happened to your dog but I believe the breeder did the right thing, offering a refund and requesting the puppy be returned at 4 months. This would have allowed her to have the case researched properly and if the condition could not be fixed the puppy should have been euthanased. Then you would not have had to spend $11,000 and further ongoing costs on this puppy. Dogs have multiple offspring because nature never intended for them all to survive and sometimes you have to make the sensible decision with a puppy, that this one was just not meant to be. All the money you have spent has been entirely your decision and has nothing to do with the breeder. Her decision about breeding on from her dogs or not, I'm sure will be very carefully considered after much research. No one in their right mind just ignores something like this and keeps breeding without weighing up all options after much research to try to work out what went wrong.

I find the quickest solution is to set them up with food on the bench and stand by watching but pretending you aren't taking any notice. As soon as they make an attempt to put a paw on the bench, slam your hand down on the bench as hard as possible and roar "leave" as if you are going to murder them for attempting to steal your food. Praise immediately they walk away from the bench. The message has to be load and clear. All food on the bench is mine and you must not touch it, ever. I have never had to do this more than once to a dog and have never had any dog ever again try to put so much as a toe on a kitchen bench. My dogs will actually stand on their back legs to look at what is on the bench, but never ever put a paw on it or the kitchen table. Having said that, I would probably never trust a Labrador 100%. When it comes to food, they just can't seem to help themselves. Try to keep all temptation out of the way.

We usually ultrasound at 5 weeks but with a bitch that may be re-absorbing it is a good idea to do it at 4 weeks and again at 6-7 weeks.

Actually I'm surprised the percentage of show breeders was that high. Among the Border Collie breeders listed here on DOL, I can only count about 83 out of 217 that are breeding for the showring. A few more breed specifically for performance dogs but the majority are just breeding for profit or the pet market. For me a dead give away of their intention is the fact that they only use their own "stud dogs". Anyone breeding a popular breed for the showring uses the best stud dog for their bitch, not just the one in their backyard.

Me too. Once I start weaning I like to have the potential owners visit so that I can have several visits to assess their suitability as owners. I never promise anyone a puppy until they are 7 weeks and I have decided if there is a suitable puppy for their situation and personality Like you I make them remove shoes and wash their hands and ask that they come directly from home, not from another breeder or from a dog park or show, etc. Until the puppies are about 5 weeks they only get to look but not touch and most are more than happy with this. Each breeder has there own preference on visits from buyers and anyone who has been unlucky enough to have a run in with parvo will of course tend to be over cautious about potential infection, in the future.

Websites are a good starting point, but a schmick website doesn't mean a good breeder. What is in the shop window isn't necessarily what is behind the counter. A breeder can say ANYTHING on their website, but it doesn't mean that they believe them. Many will say what they think people EXPECT them to say. If you've been reading any of the threads in General recently, there is mention there of a breeder saying one thing on her website but apparently practicing differenly in real life. The best thing you can do is to meet the breeders, at the least talk to them on the phone. Establish a rapport with them and use your intuition to decide whether or not you believe in them. I think I know the thread or should I say threads you are referring to in the Genral section! I hope that doesn't happen too often! I do have a breeder on my FB who is also heavily involved in showing and with the QLD club for that breed. She also lives close to me so she seems like a perfect fit but I don't know if she has any more litters planned for this year... Breeders heavily involved with their breed club are usually a good place to start. Most get involved with a breed club because they wish to do what is best for the breed. also if she doesn't have any litters planned, she can probably recommend someone else that does.

Two reasons I can think of. First the small numbers mean that they are not producing more puppies than they can find really good homes for by having say 6 litters of one or two in a year. That only adds up to a total of about 12 puppies for the year. Plenty of the larger breeds can have this many in one litter. 6 litters of two is a big difference in puppies produced to 6 litters of 10-12 in a large breed. Every puppy needs individual attention so the more the total number of puppies, the less time each one gets. Producing large total numbers also means you have to be less fussy about the homes they go to. Finding ten really good homes in a year is a lot easier than trying to find 60. You might be able to sell that number of puppies but are they really the best homes possible Second, if you are breeding to try to get the very best to go on with and show you need a few to choose from unless you are very lucky. Sometimes a singleton puppy can be just what you are after but in an average breed size litter of 6 - 8 the odds are that you will only get one really good puppy. For a Toy breeder to have 6-8 puppies to choose from they may need 3-4 litters to achieve this.

IMO three breeds is about the maximum anyone can successfully breed at the same time. Keeping up with what is going on within the breed gets too hard after that. There are a few breeders who are very highly regarded with three breeds but I can't think of anyone with more than that. Some have had other breeds in the past or still show another breed or two but three seems to be the upper limit for actually breeding at once, to get it right. Breeding three or four litters at the same time is not unusual either because many breeders need to take time off work to breed, so get it all over and done together for the year. If however they have 3 litters every month, that is a different matter. Most show breeders average 1-4 litters per year, depending on the size of the breed and therefore the litters. Toy breeders that only get small litters tend to have more litters so it is all relative. Breeders of true working dogs may also have more litters to meet demand.

If she likes Springers it would be a good idea to talk to some breeders about exactly how much grooming is needed with a pet. They are wonderful dogs and compared to many breeds do not have a huge coat. I'm sure maintaining it is just a matter of learning how and keeping a pet dog groomed is a lot less trouble than maintaining a show coat. Other than that, a Labrador or any of the other gundog breeds could be suitable so a visit to a show to check out some of the other dogs in the group would be a good idea. Some of the working breeds like Borders Collies, Aussies, Collies (Long or Smooth) and Belgian Shepherds could also suit her. All pretty easy to groom long coats, except the Collie Smooth. Remember The temperament can vary a lot within a breed so it is a matter of finding the right dog, not just the right breed.

What it means though is that the majority of people who are breeding are at the low end of the experience end. That's a bit scary. It would be interesting to know which breeds people stay with the longest. Like when there is a fad and everyone is breeding a popular breed vs people who have a not so over bred breed. Don't know about other breeds, but at our first Border Collie National Show in 2006 (breed entry of over 400 + agility, obedience & herding), there was photo taken of all the breeders who had been with the breed for 20+ years. I would estimate that at least 70% of the exhibitors there on the day were in that photo. Among show breeders we have far more "old hands" than newcombers. Most of the new breeders have no interest in the future of the breed and are just breeding with inferior stock to get coloured puppies. The newer breeders that are doing the right thing are very small in numbers, which is not good for the future of our breed.

The ANKC breed standard specifies "Double coated, with a moderately long, dense, medium textured topcoat while the undercoat is short, soft and dense, making a weather resisting protection, with abundant coat to form mane, breeching and brush" but short coats are eligible for shows in NZ and some other countries, but it would be rare to see one in a showring. The non-ANKC working Border Collies come in a variety of coats from smooth to medium/long.

Don't know what you would get for $200 unless you are lucky enough to find one second hand. I can thoroughly recommend Oldfield dryers but I paid about $200 for mine about 25 years ago so they are considerably more now. I got my monies worth though with that original dryer still going strong.

The ANKC breed standard specifies "Double coated, with a moderately long, dense, medium textured topcoat while the undercoat is short, soft and dense, making a weather resisting protection, with abundant coat to form mane, breeching and brush" but short coats are eligible for shows in NZ and some other countries, but it would be rare to see one in a showring. The non-ANKC working Border Collies come in a variety of coats from smooth to medium/long.

He sounds like every male Border I have ever owned except he is content to be in a different room to you. My boys always want to be as close to me as possible. The boys like to be with their people and are not as independant as the girls. Also remember he is a working dog, bred to work closely with his handler as opposed to something like a hound that is bred to live and work with a pack of hounds. As a herding breed he also needs to keep his human "herd" together when you are out, so going in different directions is bound to worry him a bit.

I have co-owned and co-bred several dogs over the years with a variety of different people. I always just have verbal agreements and it has always worked for me. My main concern was just keeping my lines and prefix going with keeping limited numbers, rather than any monetary gain for me. My arrangements have either been with pet owners, who had the litters at their house, with my help and under my supervision, or with new breeders, I was mentoring until they felt ready to go out on their own. Basically, contracts are pretty much impossible to enforce and if you are not sure about the person you are dealing with, don't get involved with them in the first place. There will always be some minor disagreements and sometimes peoples lives and priorities change and they let you down, but that is part of life and you just have to move on. The best agreement I know of for getting a bitch back to breed with is to sell the bitch at full price, either outright or in dual names, with a request to have her back for a litter. The decision however to let you breed the bitch, should be left up to the owner. If you get the bitch back for a litter, refund the purchase price, less any health testing costs you incur, if the owner is going to breed her themself. If it is pet bitch then you would need to pay the health testing as well as the refunding the purchase. This way if the bitch dies from an accident, for example, before she comes back or the owner decides they just can't let her go, then at least you are not out of pocket financially. If it is a bitch you must have a litter from, keep her as a baby until you get that litter, then think about re-homing at a later age. With stud dogs a co-own with both owners allowed to use the dog at no charge, usually works out fine, so long as the owner keeping the dog gets to keep any outside stud fees. Of course both owners should agree to any proposed matings. Basically, if the owner who has a dog or bitch in residence, has the right to own the dog as they see fit, except for needing to OK breedings with a co-owner, things usually work out fine. The one main reason to co-own is to stop the dog being on-sold, especially for export. In my breed, this is the most usual reason to sell pups in co-own arrangements, rather than for anything the breeder may get back from the dog. With desexing pets, I have never had anyone that bought a Border Collie off me purely as a pet, not desex it. People puppy farming from small breeds is a real problem but is not usually something that tends to happen with the larger breeds as much unless it happens to be the "breed of the moment" like SBTs are at present. Most pet owners simply want to desex their dog as soon as the vet tells them to. If you really want o make sure it is done then refunding a large desexing deposit is the way to go.

Yes, the best and easiest way to start off is to find yourself a mentor who has been in the breed a long time. Preferably 20+ years, so they have seen a few different generations of the breed. Your mentor should be well respected within the breed and have been successful in their chosen field of showing or performance. Hang around at shows and trials to get a feel of how different breeders are regarded. Most importantly they have to be someone you like as a person and feel you would really like as a friend as you will spend many hours on the phone to them. A mentor should be happy to guide you for a few years until you get to know what you are doing then be prepared to step back and let you go it alone, if that is what you want. If possible talk to someone else they have mentored along the way and make sure they are not too overbearing to deal with. A co-own situation can be a good way to get top quality stock years before anyone will trust you with something owned outright. Just make sure the agreement is benificial to both parties and not just to one. I was lucky enough to have one of the best mentors ever in our breed and in turn, I have mentored several other breeders. I have even put my prefix in dual names a couple of times to co-breed litters with new breeders to get them started off on the right foot. When they felt confident enough to go it alone they then applied for their own prefix and mine reverted back into my name.

In your situation with an only dog I would try to arrange to meet with one or two owners with friendly dogs, that you know well. If you can manage to meet at the offlead park at quiet times you could let the dogs play but put them straight back on lead if you spot a strange dog. Don't know how busy the park you use is or if this is possible, but I would certainly be avoiding large packs of dogs in future. Anywhere there are large packs of dogs, fights are bound to break out because it is a very un-natural situation for dogs to be put in. Your girl seems to have escaped this encounter mentally unscathed but a second attack would be best avoided. I just never take any chances with mine because my breed tend to not take being attacked very well at all and I have seen many perfectly friendly dogs become seriously dog agressive after just one attack. They have memories like elephants and usually take a sudden and lifelong dislike to the entire breed that attacked them. As for breaking up fights that may occur despite taking all precautions, I find each owner grabbing a tail to be the best method of getting them apart if they are breeds that don't tend to really hold on. With a firm grip on the tail you can pull the dogs away from each other, lifting the back legs slightly if necessary to get them off balance enough to end the fight. With terriers that tend to latch on and not let go it is more complicated but the average dog fight which is mainly noise, saliva and an occasional puncture the tail method works. Of course it only works for breeds with tails.

Wonderful. All those beads for the dog to swallow but then I have a breed that tends to eat their collars or kennel mates collars on a regular basis if they get half a chance. Bling collars are useless anyway for coated breeds, they wreck the coat and you can't see them anyway.

Get back to the vet asap about the reaction to the amoxyclav. they can give a different antibiotic instead. I have a dog that throws up if given amoxyclav and his vet records are clearly marked to make sure no one ever gives it to him again.

Good idea to wait and see what happens before committing to this puppy. Personally I would never sell a puppy with heart murmur because there is no way of knowing if it will correct or get worse. If it corrects as the puppy grows then it should be fine to take but if it doesn't the puppy will have ongoing problems and a shortened lifespan. Some problems that cause murmurs can be surgically corrected but the surgery tends to cost much more than the price of the puppy and even though the puppy should then lead a normal life, most buyers would not want to pay for a puppy that has already had surgery. This often makes surgical correction financially unviable for many breeders. Most breeders I know that have had puppies with murmurs that persisited, have opted to keep the puppy or place it friends or family for however long it may have until the symptoms really kick in and it needs to be pts.

First it is absolutely against the regulations for all registered breeders to let puppies go before 8 weeks and in NSW at least it is actually against the state law. The law also requires them to be microchipped and vaccinated and for the vaccine to have been given time to take effect before they leave. Puppies need that vital socialisation period from 6-8 weeks to learn how to be dogs, how to interact with other dogs and how to learn bite inhibition. Puppies removed from the litter before 8 weeks are far more likely to be timid or agressive with other dogs as adults. The bottom line though is that ethical breeders do not sell puppies at 6 weeks. Staffy's are a dime a dozen at the moment and there are more unscrupulous breeders producing them than any other breed at present. There are still plenty of reputable ethical breeders to choose from so there is no need to go to one that is unethical, breaking ANKC regulations and possibly state laws.

Great article. Thanks for posting the link.

Any idea where they will be advertising?

Hi Poochiemama, A lot of people really get into me over my thoughts on socialisation and tell me I am totally WRONG, but sometimes socialisation done incorrectly creates DA dogs I have found. In theory it's good, but some puppy classes I have seen, there are dominant puppies belting up submissive one's etc and although it looks like harmless fun, not all the puppies are happy and are beginning to act defensively to some degree. Quite a few people have done all the socialising routines to the letter, and suddenly their dog becomes reactive out of blue and they are left scratching their head why it happened. ;) There is some merit in socialising, but I don't see it as important as many people do. My Malinios is 12 months old and the only dog he runs with is my 8 year old GSD and is the only dog apart from his litter mates he has ever interacted with. He wanted to chase other dogs and play probably bite them too and bounce around like an idiot on the end of the leash when younger seeing them, but I have almost got him to the point where he ignors them now which is good for handler control. Providing other people's dogs are calm, he just walks past with a glance and seeing another dog is not an issue for him. My GSD is the same and only had my old boy as his doggy friend growing up and he just has no interest in dogs at all to create distractions for him to make training and focus difficult. A lot of the well socialised dogs you see are complete nut cases at the sight of other dogs totally out of control until they get their doggy fix and the owners can't do a thing with them with such a high distraction. I guess too, my dog's are strong dogs if they go off, pull and lunge in distraction, they pull you off your feet with a few scars to prove that ;) , but other dogs being an instinctive major distraction especially if they are conditioned to enjoy their company, is a huge training disadvantage to create handler focus and break them of the habit. So, establishing the point where they ignor other dogs competely I have found takes away the necessity to try and break the bad habits associated with over socialised excitable behaviour which is pain in the butt to fix Fiona Very well explained My dogs have always had all the socialisation they need meeting other on lead dogs at shows and obedience training but they rarely "play" with other dogs not owned by me. The puppy pre-school I use concentrates on teaching puppies to ignore other dogs and concentrate on their owner. I am happy for them to socialise on lead with another friendly dog so long as they bring their attention back to me immediately when asked. Letting them play with dogs they don't live with is a nightmare if you want reliable show or obedience dogs. The last thing you need is them wanting to run off and play when they should be concentrating.