alanglen

Chocolate labradors, and yes they can be a challenge! Madeleine is nearly 6 years old, has a bunch of A/J titles, her Endurance and is working on the obedience (one more pass please!!). She is just getting started in the tracking. Also she is mum to the others! Tahlia is 3.5 years old, has a bunch of A/J titles too, is a little gun at tracking and adores it, not to mention the screaming for lure coursing! Oebdience is not her thing! The baby girl, Jindabyne is 4 months, started showing and tricks, she will get to play in it all one day!

I have the two adults and am embarking on training the next generation who is at present 4 months and learning exceptionally fast! The two older girls are competing in A/J, O and tracking. The baby is showing at present and learning O. I find it much harder to co-ordinate the days of competing than the actual training. It's hard to decide which day we should go to! At least we have heaps of fun anywhere so it's more about who's enjoying what the most! The third has definately added on a new challenge management wise!

Have multiple lab's here and it sounds like you are feeding very nicely. My guys are on eukanbua or Hills (some dogs do better on different brands) but have never had a problem with euk or hills with labradors (and to be honest, never heard of a problem with euk and labrador's full stop!) Have to say I would avoid advance personally, too smelly! the royal canin labrador is also well produced. I also feed chicken carcasses to assist with teeth and cooked chicken or raw meats as training aids. It sounds like you are doing a god job! Now onto the training and socialising part!

Kind of scary that the Devon Meadows website is from 2005!! Hope it's been updated since then! Any photo's of the pool in narre warren?

My girl had to have the rare type of DI too, just my luck! She had partial partiutary DI and so went through periods with the desmopressin eye drops and periods with no medications at all. Very severe salt restrictions in diet thou. Oh and yes it definately crept up on us, was possibly happening for a little while before we noticed which dog was drinking more and then was able to get the exact diagnosis made, it's not exactly common! The water diabetes in greyhounds I have always understood to be a different condition. DI is usually referred to as salt diabetes. There are heaps of different reasons to cause excessive drinking and urination and certainly a blood profile is the way to go! Best of luck Alanglen

What a fluke, was just about to log off and saw this! It's one of my pet topics, not commonly diagnosed but I lived with it with a cattle dog girl for nearly 5 years. She was my best mate and lived a happy time with it, have you got one diagnosed? pituitary or renal?

I'm sorry but I really don't this is that sincere a posting. A 19 year old single mum with a 3 dogs, aiming to get into the show ring with a labrador but not until buying one next year.... Now complaining about a crossbred pup (finances and behaviour) that has just been bought, when there are two small children in the household. Why would you justify spending $600 on a pup when you now can't afford the behaviourlist/trainer that it needs? Please return the pup and give it it's best chances, and do us a favour and refrain from buying another. I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, it is, and I do mean it to be, I just find it very confusing that people work so hard in rescue to fix issues like you have just created.

All welcome to enter! GSD club usually fewer dogs and run at Altona near a lake, hope it helps, have been involved with the GSD club one and the Vizsla one, both with lovely people!

Anyone else think it not appropriate to be getting a pup when a toddler is only 3 months old? Personally at least 2 years old for the toddler before I would bring a pup into the household. please do lots of reading before booking a pup. Regards Alanglen PS this is meant with all the best intentions, I just think a baby pup and a child baby, regardless of the breed, will cause trouble!

Parvo confrmed in cases in the last month in Frankston, Narre Warren, Hastings, Bayside and Cranbourne (and that's only what I know of!). Parvo is alive and rife at this time of year. Very wise to be very careful.

Try lure racing! Not quite lure coursing, it's for little dogs only and they race each other towards their family with a lure line in the middle! Kind of like greyhound racing for the littlies! They love it! Abig more suited to smaller bodies than coursing as the lure goes a straight line. They even have competitions and fun days as well. Shame my big dogs can't play but the little dogs have a fantastic time!

Last I heard, they were illegal to use, maybe things have changed, but I think you will be hard pressed to find a club anywhere that will allow them.

I would suggest finding a canine mum asap! She hasn't had the "inhibition" taught to her by her siblings and mum, one of the massive perils of handraising a single pup. You still have time to correct this but asap, the longer it goes on the more of your critical period is going to be lost. She should be moving to solids now anyway so would suggest fostering her to some-one with a maternal female, preably with other pups at present. Is she a rescue pup or your own?

Cold Water Tail may also be known to people as "Tail pull injury", cats get it too, and commonly happens when in water and bending, twisting etc, or otherwise playing games / injury! Pretty common, worthwhile having a vet check thou and making sure it's not broken! anti-inflamm's can reduce the pain. Regardless of the name, very good prognosis! Just a sad pup until it all heals!

Personally I'm not a fan of these "breeder terms of sale" and cannot imagine why you would pay for a dog and then not be allowed to do with it what you choose. I am aware of lots of these contracts but they are a minefield and do be careful. Personally I would stick to the pet only and full purcahse term which should still be avaialble if you have booked the pup and paid a deposit as it wasn't part of the original plan. You can then still still show it as you please etc. If you are not 110% with the contract then find yourself another breeder and pup. Best wishes

Definately agree that breeding for brains and training attitude, and drive is possible! Even agree that breeding for specific talent in tasks is possible. Definately agree with the horse racing analogy, breednig is all about combining traits and yes whilst any trainer can get a dog to improve, starting with well bred dogs who show an affinity for the chosen field definately makes life easier. I have bloodlines which are not show based but training based and it's more about their health and intelligence! The girls also have the natural ability to detect seizures which is being passed down from generation to generation. Could not agree more about breeding for training and there are several very talented breeders out there who almost solely breed for their chosen dog sport field with amazing success.

Might help to ask your vet if heat packs or ice packs may help? Also might suggest a very gentle massage towards the opening of the whole in the ear, more junk will come out (better out than in!), need to be gentle to avoid dislodging any clots etc but this will usually help. As for the neck, don't stress, that will all be absorbed at that level and I certainly wouldn't be keen to put drains into a neck unless forced to. You and your vet look like you have things well under control, give him a huge hot dog and a donut for me!!

Sounds nasty, fingers crossed for a good recovery for him. Perhaps get some of his favourite foods today for him to enjoy when he gets home. Lot of cuddles, helps with most things.

I would suggest uploading the photo's, the red merle on the legs isn't always cattle dog and the black strip on the back doesn't fit well. Cattle dogs are great fun and wonderful dogs, I was proudly owned by them for most of my childhood!!

I really understand how hard this has all been for you and I applaud you for seeking help and returning him to the breeder but I wouldn't ask for my money back! I would consider a lot of is your responsibility in that you knew you had young children and purchased a pup and so the money falls back to your problem. I would really be concerned with any breeder who allowed you to take on so much but perhaps you could settle for half refund if any? It will still take the breeder some time to find another home for him. Find yourself a hot bath and allow some time to relax, it must have been a hectic week but look after your children and find yourself an older dog when your children are at least 3years old. This will also give the little man a chance to find his perfect home.

Please talk to your breeder asap. It sounds really hard for you right now and a active bouncy young pup will be pretty hard with two tiny children. It's sunny weather perhaps have the pup outside during the afternoon but you need to speak to the breeder about how they have been looking afte him so that you can ease his transition but it will be hard, please talk to them asap. We can give advice for specific bits and pieces but it sounds like you need some personalised help at home.

I agree with the vet! It's been a long time since our dogs were "wild" and certainly nutrience is not a premium food. As for the raw food and dogs not digesting bacteria, there are heaps of dogs hospitalised for gastro from the bugs in raw meet, look up HAeemorrhagic gastroenteritis and the number one cause! I will feed both raw and cooked but essentially only feed it very fresh raw and that should be ok. As for human vs pet mince, prefer human but pet is ok if your pet is otherwise healthy and can digest it normally. As for the advance can and dry option, probably much healthier for your pet! I would say beware of people over the internet and strong views on food. Speak with your vet or their vet nurse team and come up with an option designed for your family and companions, some people have ended up really cynical about vets on here and they are letting that blind them of good advice. Good luck with your decision.

Have just caught up with the thread and I can really understand how frustrated you must be getting! call the bite/mouthing whatever you like, it is highly likely to scare any child, particularly if she hurts. Also the growling around food is completely unacceptable. She may think you are going to take it awy, she may also think that she ill get rid of you by growling (which appears to be working), not fussed why she is doing it, other than to say it needs to stop asap. Personally I would have thought this girl needed some discipline and pack order. By discipline I don't mean hurting her but I do mean, authority time. Time out only works if it is a boring place and going there needs to be immediate and without speaking or any possible positive. Personally I use outside. I do have crates but I find by the time i grab a pup, rescue dog or an adut lab and put it in a crate the dog has forgotten why it's there. I have a loop lead handy at all times, over the head when growling and outside, no speaking no nothing. Stays there until settled, end of story. If it happens again then again outside. I really understand this is getting to be a very difficult scenario for you and maybe this little girl is too much for you. I think she should settle pretty quickly but if you don't curb it she is likely to end up a wild child and growling and biting roughly. Really and honestly I would suggest you spoke to the breeder or a rescue group to see if rehoming might be appropriate. An older dog might be more appropriate. this isn't something I often suggest but she needs training and your family need some guidance and help and finances do come into it. Getting a personal trainer out to your home is almost guaranteeed to cost more than a crate ever would. Anyway I really hope that I haven't upset you and I do think that it sounds like you are doing your best but pet needs to be a whole family situation and she may be too much for hubby and child. Anyway the decision is yours and I wouldn't do it lightly but se does need to be established in the lower part of the pack very quicky. She is young and will come around but she needs time and money put into training and work. Best wishes.

It sounds like you have lots of great advice and by all means take the help. I have to say be very careful with teh water bottle with a gundog!! My girls thinks its a great reward, no matter how gruff I try to be when using it, they think huge game and my youngest will even deliberately be naughty in front of me if she knows a water bottle is around, it's so clear that she loves it! I have lab's too and they can be a trying breed when young but she sound like a handful, if it helps those that are harder work at the beginning often turn out to be the smartest and best bonded! (just an observation!) Definatey get some training help and adopt those things mentioned above, but I would contact your breeder, half a day playing games with the other dogs will wear her out nicely, and exhaust her, hence she is unlikely to try much of the rough game playing. Also her behaviour is unlikely to be tolerated by an adult/motherly labrador and I certainly know that my girls would put her back into her place by ignoring her or pushing her out of the group until she settled a little. My mum has also been known to put a heavy paw on a pup and hold it down until it settled! Use the help of the breeder and the maternal instincts o the other dogs to your advantage, it will definately help her.

At least they will have been able to get a good clean-out whilst she was asleep! Maybe the kennels is a good move, then she can blame them fo the sore ears and not you! Not the first time that trick has worked! Best of luck.