poodlefan

What's your email addy Jan? I PM'd you about a spot for a friend and I - did you get it?

I would disagree with that. A clicker is a marker, not a method. In free shaping you want the dog to offer but I"m talking a behaviour that you have trained and put on cue. Clickers can be used to more than get dogs to offer behaviours (as you know). Surely there is one behaviour that you've trained and put on cue? Sit, recall??

There are lots of clipping possiblities from the full "show" clips of Scandinavian, Lion and Continental (not for the faint hearted to maintain) to the popular "Lamb" (long ears, clipped body, scissored legs, head and tail poms), "Teddy Bear" (longer hair on muzzle and body somewhat like TLC's dogs) or my favourite for my boys "Sporting" (short ears, no tail pom, clipped body and shorter legs). One of the joys of the fleece coat is you can have it styled in lots of different ways. For this pup, I'd go with the usual shorter face and feet and probably leave the tail the same length as the body. The area under the tail would need to be kept clipped very short for hygiene reasons.

Coat change tends to occur a bit later in poodles and is a nightmare stage. I swear it mats as you watch it. KatieP: Agree but if this pup has poodle type coat (which it appears to), it will have its feet face and tail clipped and be body clipped every time it goes to the groomers, not just to shorten its coat for summer. All that changes in the procedure is the length of the blade used. I've yet to meet a pet poodle owner who kept their dogs in anything but a lamb style clip without a hell of a lot of effort being put in to maintain it.

I know a few pro-groomers who dread these sorts of jobs but do it for the welfare of the dog. It would be rare to see an ungroomed 6 month old dog with poodle coat (or even worse double coat that includes a non-shedding layer) that does not require some scissoring to remove mats. Few sellers of these sorts of pups provide any decent advice on how to keep them well brushed and combed. A cheap slicker brush is NOT going to do the job on its own but that's what I've seen people walk out of pet shops with. You and I both know that these sorts of coats require effort to keep in good shape. I also groom my own dogs.. as the numbers climb it's too cost prohibitive to do anything else. They get done on average once a month.

Ask groomers what they think of that.. the idea of seeing a pup aged 6-7 months (which is, coincidentally about the time of their second fear period) that's got a lot of hair on its face, feet and tail and will likely not be a straight forward bath, blow wave and groom would not be high on their list of favourite jobs. A poodle pup bred by a responsible groomer would have its first bath and very minor face feet and tail clip aged 6 weeks. It's so much kinder to accustom them to the process of grooming little and often than to face a major grooming session for the first time in an adolescent pup. It's traumatic for the dog and for the groomer.

Oh shite, tearing up here too. All I can say is do it before those glimpses of the dog he used to be fade to nothing. You owe it to both of you to have some last happy moments to hold on to before that final goodbye. Talk to your vet. Ask about prognosis. Your last hope for improvement hasnt' yet faded but if it does.. you'll know its time.

4 months from now? Sorry, but that's simply rubbish. Most groomers would want to see any long coated dog that requires clipping no less than every two months. The hair on her muzzle, feet and around her bottom would be very grubby if it isn't groomed regularly. I would have her to a groomer soon, for a tidy up and get some advice on how best to manage her coat. Poodle cross coats can be very challenging. Furthermore, you need her to be accustomed to being groomed while she's a bub so she's easy to manage. Personally I'd favour every 6 weeks at her age. What grooming tools were you advised to use on her coat?

When my poodle Darcy was having spinal issues 2 years ago, he was very heavily medicated to manage his pain. He simply wasn't himself at that time. Gone was my cheeky boy that has a little poodle strut - he was miserable and withdrawn. Chances are those problems will reoccur as he ages and I've thought through what I'll be prepared to put him through in terms of managing the issue. If it gets to the point where a couple of periods of rest and medication fail to control the problem, I will give him his wings. If he cannot be "himself" and happy, I think I owe it to him to free him of pain. Its the last gift we can give a much loved dog. Sadly, for some dogs that gift must be given early but I would feel I owe it to them not to let them suffer. It may be 'goodbye' but it can also be freedom from suffering. Its never easy and like you Sunnyflower, I have thought it through before it needed to be done. For me, that will make the final decision easier.

So does mine. Do they like lamb?

And knackwurst

Fish or seal might also feature. It does suggest that Sibes might be expected to be more tolerant of a high protein, high fat, less cereal based diet than many other breeds.

This is what I did after the last pup turned 12 weeks. I went to two meals at 5 months from memory. I would book her in for her first professional groom now. I don't know her coat type but its likely to require regular clipping. Way better to get that established in a baby puppy than to present a groomer with a frightened matted older pup. What grooming advice did you get when you bought her. I'm guessing not much.

Yaks toenails might be important for the Tibetan breeds. ;) There are, as far as I can figure, breeds were cereals would NOT be a common feature in their traditional diet. Arctic breeds spring to mind... not much oatmeal available for Sibes or Malamutes I suppose. Other breeds would be more traditionally accustomed to rice based diets rather than other cereals...

I have yet to have to have a dog PTS but for me it would come down to quality of life. If my dog was in pain and there appeared to be no prospect of relief in sight I would give him his wings. I am sorry to hear about Oscar. He's so young for you to have to be making such a hard decision.

I have long suspected that poodles contributed to the kelpie breed.. now I know for sure. Mine won't touch kanga either.

If you're going ahead with littermates, I'd get one of each sex.

As the title suggests, what diet would your dog have been fed in its country and historical period of origin? Thinking things through, a dog that did not do well on the food available in that place and at that time would be unlikely to bred on. Therefore I think that perhaps there are foods that from a breed perspective, dogs are more likely to do well on or at least tolerate. Lets take Whippets as an example. While small greyhounds have been around for centuries, Whippets as a breed are a product of 19th Century, working class, Northern Britain. As valued race dogs, chances are they ate as well as, or indeed better than the family but what was available at the time? It seems that dog biscuits or cereal would have formed a significant part of a dog’s diet, puppies may have gotten milk also. The most readily available cereals would have been barley, oatmeal and wheat imported from the USA. Horse meat and the odd bunny may have made it into the food bowl and no doubt table scraps also. Later 19th Century working class diets tended to be cereal based although meat quality and availability and canned goods started to feature and this improved over the period. So I’d say early Whippets were probably accustomed to a cereal based diet, supplemented with some meat, the odd wild caught meal if available but nothing fancy.This Irish Wolfhound website provides some idea of what dogs got fed although I imagine Wolfhounds weren't the dog of choice for a working class family! A Whippet with cereal intolerance seems unlikely to have continued in the gene pool. Anyone else care to offer their thoughts on the issue?

Unless you isolate judges from the time they accept their appointment or get them to sign a confidentiality agreement how are you going to prevent this information getting out? What is stopping Judge A from mentioning to Friend A - "I'm judging at xxxxx on dd/mm/yyyy"? Or committee member B talking to friend B, etc, etc? As I've said previously, with access to the internet and web applications like Facebook, twitter, etc it is very hard to keep information restricted. Agree with Keshwar. All removing judges names from Schedules will accomplish as far as I can see is restricting who knows about who's judging to a more limited audience. People without an "in" will be the only ones in the dark about it. Those who'd follow a face would probably know anyway.

What breed/s is she?

Your other option is to let her out into the back yard with some food and toys and see how that goes.

Puppy is cold? There's no colder place in a house than the laundry. It's a heat sink. Puppy needs to go to the toilet? Few 4 month old pups I know have sufficient bladder control to last 7 hours. Puppy is lonely? You've got a very people focussed breed and your sleeping arrangements physically isolate her. Puppy is hungry? At her age she'd still need 3 meals a day. My guess is that it's one or more than one of these reasons. My best bet would be that the toilet issue is the most pressing one. Solution? Buy a crate, put it somewhere warmer and get up and toilet her for a while yet. After you've toileted her give her something to occupy her for a while. A chicken wing would be one option or a food stuffed kong. I'd give it another month before I expected her to last longer.

If he's fecally incontinent (ie can't control when he poos) I'd be seeing the vet TOMORROW.

I have to say I'm not seeing a lot of Malamute.. where'd you get him?

So if you have trained a behaviour (by your definition) and the dogs don't respond to a cue, what do you do?