Gayle.

A whole tin of sardines in oil would be a HUGE shock to the tummy of such a tiny dog, so I think that's probably the culprit. There's a fair bit of oil in those tins....at least a tablespoon full, and the fish is oily as well. When I give my dog sardines they get a half a tin each, mixd with their kibble and they are a lot bigger and have more mature systems than your little one.

I think you underestimate the peer pressure (where peers are pretty novice in their breed) to appear really caring and careful about what happens to the puppies they breed. Some of it is genuine but nobody would admit to just taking the money from people who wanted to buy a puppy. In 40 years, I know I have made a mistake at least twice about puppy buyers, one of them was OK in the end but I still lose sleep over the one where I broke one of my own rules which proved a mistake. What relevance does that have to breeders going on public forums, which anyone can read, and writing insulting posts about the unsuspecting wanna-be dog owners who contact them to enquire about buying a puppy? It's not a good public face for breeders in general. Why on earth would someone....who's read a few of those posts.....even contemplate contacting ANY registered breeder when their first impression (and subsequent impressions as these posts are invariably followed by other breeders bagging out their own enquirers) is that they might break one of the mysterious and unwritten rules about making enquiries after a puppy? Generally it doesn't mean they aren't going to buy a puppy, it just means they won't be buying one from a registered breeder, as who wants to set themselves up to be ridiculed and insulted?

The breeders who are pleasant to deal with, who cop the silly questions with a rueful grin, who take time to reply to oddly worded emails etc, aren't on public forums bagging out people who make enquiries with them. They aren't the ones writing unfortunate posts that people searching the internet for pedigree dog breeders will stumble across.

I;m about to start supporting the neuter classes with Shae. I need to get a vets letter confirming her neuter status (I don't have the desexing certificate) then get her papers changed, and I can show her! I have ummmed and aaahed about this for a few weeks, she was not bred as a show dog and was neutered as an 8 week old puppy and sold as a pet. I am her third owner, and after a few months of TLC, weight loss, and waiting for her coat to grow, I have discovered one very stunning little girl has emerged. Even if we never get a point, we will have some fun AND support the neuter classes. Her best mate is Isaak, my current show dog so she can be company for him as well.

Breed specific, but at the Albury shows in August we had a state breed match (NSW, VIC and SA) as well as a breed specific grooming clinic and breed standard lecture and there were over 40 Aussies entered. And a whole lot of Aussie pet owners came for the weekend with their dogs and it was fantastic.

I got a 5yo Australian Shepherd in Feb, her coat had been clipped back to the skin. She now has about the longest coat I've ever seen on an Aussie, it looks amazing. But my other girl had a patch on her side shaved about a month ago, as she tore a hole in her flank and needed stitches, and it's hardly grown at all. Hopefully your dog is like the first one!

Regarding helping a newbie, I'd love to but I generally don't know the newcomers from the old hands. I offered to take a young girl who was interested in handling, to shows with me so she could learn with my dogs but it turned out she had other thin gs to do, so that fell through.

Member of my breed club although not as active as I'd like to be due to sheer distance. But I participate in other ways.......stories for the newsletter, phots for the annual calender, support their shows, purchase breed merchandise from them rather than from the Internet. Welcome anyone who wants to talk about the breed and invite them to interact with my dogs so they can see just how gorgeous they are. Talk, talk, talk up the benefits of buying from a registered breeder, buying a health tested pedigree dog. And get out and about in public with my dogs. They invariably attract attention and it's always an opportunity to talk about how fantastic pedigree dogs are. I know my lmitations in public relations, I am great at talking to people who approach me but I am not good at approaching strangers. I am also not a good committee person although I've tried. I just don't thrive on it like other people do. I'm not good at politics so I leave that to others.

If someone comes to my house and they don't like the way things are, my response to that is "Then don't come here". I don't particularly like crates inside, I think they are ugly things although we currently have one in our room because our newest dog came to us having been trained to sleep in a crate, as he paces a lot and can't keep weight on. The crate makes him relax and conserve energy. But he's been sleeping outside of it next to my husbands side of the bed and not pacing so we can probably look at packing it up soon til the next puppy arrives on the scene. All of our dogs are happy to be crated when they need to be, at dog shows and other events, despite the lack of "crate training".

I'm another one who thinks that the governing bodies are doing way too little in promoting the benefits of owning pedigree dogs, but it would also require a combined effort on the part of breeders to ensure change. And one only needs to spend an hour or so reading posts in the restricted breeders forum to see that some breeders have a very low regard for people who enquire about buying puppies.

I only really know my own breed, Australian Shepherds well, they don't drool or shed excessively but they're not overly large. Just a bit bigger than a Border Collie. Some of the black tri males bear a passng resemblance to the smaller Swiss mountain breeds if you like that look, but you'd need to be prepared for a highly intelligent, active dog who needs to be an integral part of the family and not an outdoor fixture. They probably aren't what you're after though. Bouviers are fairly big, don't drool or shed but don't always have the sunniest of natures. They need a fair amount of grooming though.

Burmese are cats, I think you mean Bernese Mountain dogs. They are the only ones in this country, there are no breeders of the other Swiss mountain dogs here.

I'd wear the black regardless. If the judge can't tell the difference between a hairy dog and a pair of black pants, they probably shouldn't be judging anything. Last weekend I had someone giving me some handling tips and she was wearing black pants, and demonstrating how certain positions improve the top line, the head set etc, and she was doing it all with my black tri boy and I had no problems seeing his outline. At the last few shows I've been at there have been a few of us with black tri dogs, wearing black pants and red tops.

I;m a bit boring, all mine are Australian Shepherds. When I lost my first boy in July, I thought briefly about getting another breed but after a walk around a dog show to look at the different breeds, I ended up back with the Aussies and decided they set the bar and no other breed surpassed it for me.

What about brown? I've seen a blue merle dog with a handler dressed in brown and it looked nice. Burgundy or dark purple? They would look good with any of the dogs. I'm also short and dumpy and avoid pastel, fluoro or crayon colours like the plague. Pale colous make me look like a marshmallow and bright kindergarten colours just look ridiculous. If I don't feel as though I look decent I get very self conscious n the ring.

I'd wear black. I show a black tri dog and I always wear black pants in the ring. Other colours I'd consider are navy, taupe or camel.

My young boys' name is Isaak but his nickname is Pig and he answers to both without a problem. I would just choose a whole new name for the dog and start calling him that, he'll soon pick it up.

Dusty has got the nicest coat she's ever had (aside from the big hole chopped in the side of it where she had stitches). It's thick, black, glossy and silky and her undercoat is very black. Isaak is going through a coat change from adolescent to adult and I've noticed his undercoat is also coming through a true black, not the sludgy grey a black tri Aussie often has.

I went with a breed I'd barely heard of after investigating the breeds I'd originally wanted. Firstly, it was hard to get breeders to reply to emails. Secondly, once one did and I found out how much the pups were, I wasn't prepared to pay that amount for a dog, and thirdly my husband said he didn't want a dog that looked like an alien. So we discussed the whole thing and I did a big re-think and we ended up with a breed we wee both happy with. Now we have four of them.

I lost my first boy Benson very suddenly to kidney failure in July. He is the Aussie in my avatar. I cry for him every day. He was only four and I thought I'd have him fir many more years. My heart goes out to you, I'm sure you'll find another beautiful Aussie to fill the gaping hole Bracken has left.

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Oh Gayle, My heart just leapt! Always said I wanted a dog with Bracken's looks and a blue eye. And you have her!!! Now if I could just find a boy like that and I'd be one very happy girl. Thanks for posting your beautiful pic. Give Shae a cuddle and kiss from me. Shae came to me at the age of five, she's from Borderton Kennels in WA. She was returned to them twice because her previous owners either didn't want her or couldn't keep her. When she came here, she was fat, her coat had been clipped almost to the skin by her previous owners and she walked with a stiff legged gait. That was in Feb this year, her most recent owner had dropped her off in Perth on their way to Dubai. Now she is fit, slim and has the most amazing coat and she is SOOOO beautiful. And she has two herding titles! I am so proud of her, I took her to a herding clinic at Easter and the first time she was given sheep to herd, it was like the last piece of a puzzle clicked into place. This little dog (and she is tiny, much smaller than any of my other dogs) grew in stature and presented this commanding and purposeful presence and all her instincts told her what to do. Since then we've entered trials and she has an absolute blast. She is adorable, like a little muppet although she's a feisty brat sometimes but she's just the most fun in the world to live with. She has turned into such a stunner I'm thinking about entering her in neuter classes in dog shows.

Check out my little Shae....she looks like a girl version of Bracken.

Shae has a Walkabout mum and I can see where her pretty head comes from. Bracken was gorgeous.

Someone told me they don't like the state the oval is left in after dog shows......rubbish, dog shit and hair all over the place. Not sure how true it is. Next year it will be at Gaskin Park in Churchill. The only thing I don't like about the Morwell ground is that there are only two or three entrance points to the actual oval and none at the back. So it was a fair hike to the nearest gate to get onto the oval.