Diva

Can I ask why you only fed 1/2 a meal? I would have thought that a normal meal would have moved it through better and provided a bit of wrapping. I am probably wrong as my guys don't tend to eat odd stuff.

yes I thought the same- if you are a member of a few it starts to make for a long ad.

yes that is how I have always felt about it too, even with those I had no intention of ever showing or breeding.

The only real way to stop it is to desex all puppies before sale - but there is veterinary evidence of potential negative health issues from desexing large dogs in particular at a young age so many breeders choose not to for health's sake. And no matter how good their checks on buyers are some people will just lie to get what they want. (Of course I do not know whether the breeder/s of these two were diligent or not). Distance isnt an issue pups move all over the country.

Oh I am not particularly confident or capable, I wish I was. I have learnt from attacks on the street that I can't defend my dogs effectively in the face of serious intent. That is probably why I watch body language and owner rather than breed, they are better predictors of the level of risk.

I don't think in terms of scary breeds. To my mind they all deserve respect and i don't take any unknown dog's behaviour for granted, I go by their body language. That said if a waiting room is crowded and the weather not too warm I usually take my dogs out to the car and come back and pay, that seems sensible. I would be more concerned by a clueless owner of any breed than the dogs breed. Somewhat off topic but I get stunned by just how clueless people in vet surgeries can be, like the owner of the tiny dog with its leg in a caste that let it wander around off lead and right up under the feet of my two big girls, or the owner of a larger dog that came out of the consultation room door with her dog on a flexi lead and let it get right across the room and literally on top of mine before saying she hadn't noticed anther dog there and why shouldn't they play anyway. Ummh because my dog is sick and you and yours have zero manners, and it's a vet surgery not a dog park.

I think there is a way to access the ANKC registry online, at least for NSW members, and probably more widely. But I think its searchability is limited and I doubt you can get a whole litter record with names, I might be wrong. There is no Australian national health database, although I know there is work in that direction. It may well be limited in functionality for a number of reasons, at least initially. There may already be something specifically for your breed though, outside of the ANKC processes. For my breed, there is an international pedigree database which is voluntary but very comprehensive and allows listings of siblings etc (the Borzoi Files), as well as a couple of other similar efforts. I know whippets and salukis have similar, i am sure many more breeds do. For health there is OFA in the US although not many Aust dogs of my breed have results on it. Some other countries do the health info much better, Finland comes to mind. Although you would think these kind of databases would be widely supported, you might be amazed at the arguments put up against them, every thing from system capacity and cost to privacy concerns and data standards. Quite a lot of people don't want public listing of health test results when it comes down to it. And of course doing that kind of information management does have a cost, and the dog scene is replete with people who resist any extra cost amd think they already pay too much for registrations, show entries etc.

Oh I agree, if the pup was sick when it arrived you are entitled to some remedy, whether parvo or not. If I was the breeder/broker my driving thought would be if any others in the litter are sick and getting them checked on and into vet care if needed. I hope if the pup contracted the disease in NZ no other pups beyond that litter were on the flight. Parvo is such a horrible disease.

Maybe this is a case of a bitch being sent to NZ for whelping so pups could be docked? I don't have that sort of breed so I am only going on what I have heard happens or used to happen. That is the only case off the top of my head where I can see the local person considering themselves the breeder rather than a broker. Unless they own the sire and consider it a co-bred litter with whoever is in NZ. Quite confusing, and it opens up lots of opportunities for the little pup to have contracted the virus. In any case, the person should have replied to you by now. efs

I just get them at our little country IGA ...down the back with chicken necks & bones & pet meat ..... ( in S.A ) Both my local chicken shops in Canberra carry them.

Sometimes 6 week vaccinations don't take, as the maternal antibodies are still in effect. What did the breeder say when you raised the cost issue with them? Did any of the other pups in the litter fall ill?

Never had a problem with colourbond, it doesn't bother mine at all. If they want to see out they only have to stand on the small verandah but they rarely bother.

I would say i have one of each. And even though the optimist is delightful, the pessimist and I bond over our pessimism, :laugh:

If I was going to insure, I would get it from a puppy. Both to avoid future exclusions and because I have found puppies much more accident prone than adults

It doesn't sound noticeably high to me, but I am trying to extrapolate from my big dogs. I pay more attention to sudden changes in drinking patterns rather than overall amount I guess.

Depends a bit on what their food is, dogs which are fed kibble drink more than dogs on fresh meat diets.

I am not experienced with this breed, but in mine a slightly overshot puppy may correct to a scissor as the lower jaw seems to grow last. I might take a chance on slightly over shot if scissor was what I was after as an adult. But I would not take a chance on overshot correcting all the way to the desired undershot in your breed. Not if you are set on showing him.

I am very sorry for your loss. It does sound as though something medical may have been underlying his problem, he was lucky he had you to give him a gentle passing.

Cryogenes. Great service.

Hev you tried lamb flap? Not weight bearing, and you can cut to suit the size of your dog. Basically it's the rib bit. Soft bones. They are fatty so too much would put on weight.

A life well lived

Could you provide the link please? I need something like that I can't find it on this computer, I have it bookmarked somewhere, it was a USDA site but I can't find the right one at the moment. But this isn't bad if you are OK with unreferenced and just want a quick guide http://www.dogster.com/forums/Raw_Food_Diet/thread/697247/1 (scroll down) or this http://dogsdinner2.webs.com/anyoldbone.htm of course it varies widely depending on what sort of bird you get - some are much meatier than others. So take it as a guide only.

Bizarrely they did send me a letter a few years ago querying that I didn't have a permit for one of my girls - fortunately I had my paperwork in order showing that I had applied and paid, the stuff up was their end. Mine have never come to their attention otherwise, so I assumed it was a zealous work experience person or something.

According to one of my reference sites, a chicken wing is about 40% bone, a neck about 30%.

It is a strict liability offence under the ACT's Domestic Animals Act 2000 to own a dog that has not been desexed unless it is under 6 months in age, you dont have a sexually entire permit (which costs), or the dog was born before June 2001 when the system came in. Policing of the Act may be poor, I dont doubt it, but you certainly need a permit under the Act and it is clearly set out on the TAMS website.