Staffyluv

Wow Mon, that is a HUGE litter.. Sorry about the little one that didn't make it. If I was you - I would type that list out, in large font, and post it above where the puppies will be viewed - with a heading like.. 'Please only query or comment on the price of our puppies if you are willing to come back and do all this with the next litter:)' With 12 baby Dobes running around soon, your place is going to be very busy.

With mine it is grandparents. That said, he actually has more non blue ancestors than blue ones. That would be a good thing that your dog has more non blue ancestors.. I think the biggest issues come from those breeding blue to blue - just to try to get blue pups with no regard for health, temperament and conformation. *Snap Aussie - just said the same thing

You can't register a Stafford as pied in Australia so it's not going to be reflected in any stats the ANKC can produce. I didn't know that.. Do they just call classify them as the most solid colour they are - or can't you show them at all? I didn't know that either. Guess you could register as black/red and white? Because the word pied doesn't appear in the standard it can't be used to register the dog - stupid but true.... Have one predominantly white dog with brindle patches registered as Brindle, white as his export pedigree stated brindle pied (allowed where he came from) and despite two attempts to get it corrected I can't get his ANKC papers changed to say White, Brindle. His sister is more heavily marked but registered as white, brindle because I had wised up by the time she came and wrote a big long scree AND attached a photo when I registered her here :D I'd have no idea how many pied dogs are registered as white or how many are registered as brindle or red (or blue) Thanks for that.. We had a papered boy before Ollie dog, Louis, who was what I considered pied but i'm sure his papers did say white now I think about it. I think it is just sad the way that so many are breeding for colour.. With no or little consideration to temperament, conformation and health. I don't really think a blue Stafford is ugly (to be honest, I don't think any Stafford is ugly), like most I just prefer another colour like dark brindle, the darker the better. I seem to be drawn to the dark colour with lighter tan stripes... Lucky for me there are plenty of these around. So when I choose to get another purebred it won't be hard to find a good one.

You can't register a Stafford as pied in Australia so it's not going to be reflected in any stats the ANKC can produce. I didn't know that.. Do they just call classify them as the most solid colour they are - or can't you show them at all?

HA that ad in particular seems to be popping up a lot lately. I always click on them - because it costs her money.

I have never really bothered to look at their page because I have never heard anything very positive about them. But someone said about the donations, so I thought I would have a look and honestly just looking at the amount of people offering funds, even if it is only a few dollars a week (and that is what they promote - weekly donations) - their turnover would have to exceed the $150K cap for NFPs to not be registered for GST..

Sorry to hear Kibah has a problem, hopefully it will sort itself out and no further investigation or surgery will be needed. If it is thoug, she will probably amaze you with how well she copes and adapts to any change required to save her.. Our dogs are amazingly adaptable creatures.. She is such a pretty girl and certainly doesn't look her age.

Yep, agree they are probably the most popular colour these days.. Personally, I find the colour bland looking. I think I have seen maybe 2 or 3 that were a nice 'blue'.. Give me a brindle dog any day over a diluted colour.

I noticed PR isn't GST registered.. Judging by the amount of funds going into that business I would suggest her turnover is more than the $150K for NFP GST requirements..

I would be inclined to agree with you. Recheck in a coup,e of months to see if there are changes and if need be, do the biopsy then. Hopefully the heart thing is nothing and won't need treating. Poor little lad, sure has been through the wars.

My boy gets one for breakfast or 1 turkey neck or half a chook carcass.

pers I am so sorry.. Run free Hammy..

I just had to share this mornings moment. 2 Staffords on our left and 3 pugs on our right.. A tennis ball in hand, leave it, lets go - he walked between them all and kept coming with me. This would NEVER have happened once upon a time. It may not happen next time but it shows massive improvement in his ability to ignore other dogs and make me and the ball (still not sure I win out over the ball) his main focus..

Brain training.. Teaching tricks and playing games. Games like tug, fetch - just basic stuff but he loves it. I teach him to catch things, find things, bring things etc. We do lots of heeling, staying, dropping, sitting, waiting, recall work in the back yard and the house. I tend to use every opportunity I can do do something with Zig. I work from home, so just going from my office to the house to make coffee is a good change to do heel work and left and right turns as well as stop/halt and then I walk inside and call him in. We do the same at the park when we go for a walk (all on lead) - we walk for 10 minutes, train for 5-10 minutes, walk another 10 minutes etc for about 45 minutes all up.

Jules reactive doesn't mean anything bad. :) In our case Ziggy has more value for other dogs than he does for food or me - so he 'reacts' badly by pulling towards the other dogs. I don't want this 'reaction', so we are training and using tools to change the reaction to something that is wanted. Some dogs are reactive to kids on skateboards, loud noises, other dogs (both aggressively and non aggressively) etc. To get Zig out of pulling we have used most tools available - it doesn't help that he has no interest in food at all, so distracting with treats doesn't work. The thread has loads of useful info on training and how to train out of undesired behaviours. It is also a great place to talk about our achievements and get support for our set backs.

Check out the reactive dog thread in the training forum here.. We have the benefit of awesome trainers giving their experience and suggestions as well as quite a few owners who have tried all sorts of methods to deal with 'reactive' dogs..

Yep, I have tried a lupi harness and a sporn harness.. They both worked for a while but then it was like he didn't care that it pulled under his front legs. I now tend to walk in the other direction as soon as he starts to pull in one direction - changing direction quickly. I also use a fence to help him not go in front. He walks next to the fence and I don't give him enough room to come past, so he can only get his head beside my knee (his body won't fit between me and the fence for him to go past).. There is also distraction - try and distract him when he sees the other dogs before he gets to pulling stage. I use a tennis ball but if he is food orientated even better.. Do a sit, drop, heel, stay - whatever you have trained for and works and treat, treat, treat..

I had a portrait painted of Ollie dog (by a DOLer) and he had 3 professional photo shoots done as well.. There are plenty of awesome photographers around.

Good luck Boof for tomorrow. Ol had holistic treatments for quite a few years after his chemo and some supplements right up to the end of his life.. I think we know our dogs best and we can see what does and doesn't work for them..

I gave Ollie dog his wings at the ripe old age of 14 and a half years old in October 2011. He was diagnosed with Mast Cell Tumours when he was 8 and was only expected to live another 2 years tops. I think the biggest thing for me was that he was comfortable, no pain and enjoying his life. He was well and truly retired at 12 years old and lived his life for his early morning walk (he seemed to enjoy it much more in the cool morning), the odd game of tug (most of the game was him chewing the toy, rather than tugging on it).. And loads of love and cuddles. Ol was my heart dog and it broke my heart to say goodbye but he deserved to go out with dignity after giving me over 14 years of love and devotion.. Ollie dog at about 2 years old Ollie dog by Jodie Moore Photos, on Flickr And his 10th Birthday party Ollies 10th birthday by Jodie Moore Photos, on Flickr He is also in my signature..

Haha, that has saved my arm from being removed by an in flight Ziggy on more than a few occasions. Another quick update from us as we just had our second obedience class. I took him about half an hour early again and he had a bit ball chasing run with the trainers BCs and lovely Beagle. Just that 15 minutes of running before class seems to wear him down enough to sit in class. We had a couple of new dogs start this week and they were both all about saying hello and having a play - so Zig was a bit harder to handle (watching them play around a bit).. I moved him down the other end of the line, next to the lovely little cocker girl and he settled back into nice heels, sits and stays. Today we worked on right and left turns and come (on lead).. He did really well - not as good as last week with ignoring the distraction but still 'outstanding' for him. We still have loads of room for improvement but it still feels like the right decision and I am really enjoying working with him at all the basics. I am going to give the ToT another try next week each night at dinner time to see if it works this time (I tried it once and I think I was just not in the right frame of mind to see it through - it was a bit of a half hearted effort on my part).. We can't use the squeaky ball in class - so I took the squeaker out but when you squeeze the ball it still makes a soft sound of air rushing out where the squeaker was - he is more than happy to respond to that sound.. I am very encouraged by this so far..

Happy Birthday Charlie..

I tick all those boxes Replace the agility ones with 'it is Zig's day to go to the park' and I hit those ones as well..

I know you said not the vet yet due to funds but from memory, Ollie used to have cartrophen injections (one a week for 4 weeks and it lasted all winter) - it really didn't cost very much at all. The first time we saw the vet to confirm that is what we were going to do and then the nurse saw him the other times (so no appointment needed - just a time to duck in). If you are comfortable giving the injection yourself, I am sure your vet would give it to you to take home and administer each week for 4 weeks.. Otherwise most other suggestions I know of have already been suggested. Warm, dry bedding - a low bed that they can walk on and off (like a trampoline bed) but make it soft (put some good padding under it. In winter an electric blanket on very low is awesome. Good luck

Just a quick pop in to see how everyone is going. I don't like to offer much advice because I just don't know enough to do so. It is better to just tell what we are doing now and the issues we are having - what works for us, may work for someone else as well. BC Stella sounds lots like Zig - he accepts the treats at home and everything he does is awesome but out, his level of concentration in an area full of distraction is so little. We have been working on one or two things only at a time, every time we go out to the park. We always end with a 10 minute play session of him chasing me for his ball. This morning we did heel and come.. We use a tennis ball because I have totally given up on the treats - he just won't take them no matter how hungry he seems to be in a distracted environment. But the tennis ball is king and it wins even over other dogs now. He is doing really well. This morning he was doing so well there were 2 lots of people watching him and when we finished they came over to see if their dogs could say hello and to ask where we go to training (cause they want their dogs to be that good ).. Mind you as soon as the other dogs were that close it all went out the window.. But we did regain some composure and he got to meet 3 new dogs (2 staffs and an ACD).