MissMaddy

My female GSD was quite nippy and extremely pushy as a puppy with my mum who had no idea how to be firm and discipline a dog of the size (well any size really) with determination and high play and prey drive (and drive is something you need to know about if you plan on having any dog bred to have medium-high drive for work of any sort). My male on the other hand, was and is a much more laid back dog, and he hardly nipped and never got pushy with my mum (although I did move out when he was about 4-5 months). His drive thesh-hold is higher, and as a result, is an easier dog for less experienced people to handle. Like any dog, though, he could have become a lot naughtier and uncontrollable without firm and consistent handling.

Can you delay getting your puppy? Perhaps waiting for another litter once you've done a little more in the way of learning about dog behaviour and training? Perhaps going along to the german shepherd club to learn a little more about the breed and see a few at different levels of training (and I guarantee you'll see some beautifully trained dogs with very competent handlers, as well as some that are not so well trained wth handlers who still have more to learn, and everything in between). If your friend has agreed to train their puppy, maybe you could go along with him to training to learn to work together and make sure you have more knowledge of handling a big dog before you get your puppy. The other option would be to visit quite a few GSD breeders and see if you can handle their dogs under their supervision, to ensure you are happy handling a dog of the size and energy levels. I have 3 large dogs (2 GSDs and a rotty) together when I'm home and they get along well. I do put boundaries to their playing though, and they are in separate runs when I'm out.

It's a 3 berth, so that's the one thing I'd like different (would prefer a 4 berth if possible). It's only $300 but is the older style round trailer. I'd also be thinking new double doors to have wire inside the main doors. I'd also want it pretty tough, between the 3 I currently have and any possible dogs I have in the future, I think tough is important! Is colour bond more expensive than aluminium?

I've found an older dog trailer very cheap. It needs some work, possibly not a full rebuild, but I want to try and figure out if it's worth it, especially if I decided to completely rebuild it. As far as I can tell it needs new lights, a repaint, probably redoing inside, the addition of a tackbox, ventilation added (it has whirly birds but not great ventilation in the sides). It's a 3 berth.

The new vaccination protocols have me a little confused. My female GSD is nealry 4 years old and up to date with all vaccinations although is now due for her annual vaccination. I'm wanting to put her onto the new 3 yearly vaccinations and have a few questions? She had C5 last, so what would she be due for next? Do obedience clubs accept 3 yearly vaccinations? Or are they still insisting on annual? My male GSD is just over 12 months. He only had 2 vaccinations as this is the norm out where I am (Bendigo). I can't find his paperwork (he was done at the same vet as my girl so I'm pretty sure it was C5), but was considering getting him the next one now and then seeing if I can put him onto the 3 yearly also? My female rotty just came here 2 weeks ago and I'm pretty sure had 3 puppy vaccinations (the card is at the breeders as it fell out of the folder). I'm also hoping to give her one annual one and then onto the 3 yearly. Is there anything else I need to know or do to get them onto this new regime?

Definitely GSD cross (or possibly pure if byb), long haired.

I have 2 GSDs and a Rotty. Walking is easy! I live on 12 acres with 2 dams, so I just open their gates and they run together under supervision. I have 3 separate runs for when I'm not home. The GSDs are both on the same food, the rotty girl is on a different food as she's only 7 months. I'll let you know how I cope with buying it, we've just bought our first bag, and her breeder have now been getting me very cheap meat so that will make stuff a lot easier. Bedding I just pick up sheets/blankets etc from the op shop. I also recycle old horse rugs I no longer use into dog beds. The 2 younger (male GSD and female rotty) are both destructive with beds, so they tend to get blankets that get ripped up and reused! I also have 3 crates, and they are usuallygiven the chance to settle onto beds inside, if they don't, I swap in and out of crates. Next on my list is a dog trailer, so I can easily take them all out to shows, etc together. At the moment I just take 2 and the 3rd one gets left inside in a crate if it's not a long day out. I've only had my rotty girl for a couple of weeks, but interestingly I'm not finding it that different to having 2 dogs (I just set firm boundaries when they're out as to how rough the playing is allowed to get). Nowhere near as much of a difference between having 1 dog and having 2.

Adults don't have that distinctive noise that children get. Often it's just a cough that won't go away. Would pay to have some tests done, and if it is whooping cough, it's treatable and you won't be spreading it around any further. A tickle in your chest sounds a lot like what I get when I get asthma. The tickle is due to the tightness of the airways when the air it trying to get through. I had asthma as a kid, didn't have it for years, then got it again this year after moving to a new area. It's improving now that it's not as cold in the mornings, but I still get it every now and then. ETA- is there a time of the day when the coughing is worse? Do you also get it when you're say at work? Either way, see your doctor and see what they can do for you.

Ok so correct me if I'm wrong, but an ad I heard on the radio seemed to imply that Country Alliance are the ones who want to continue practices such as live export and there was something else I didn't agree with. While I understand it does create jobs, surely there's a better way.

Oh wow, I just read through all of your updates of the whole 21 pages! I feel like I've just had lows, then great highs with you! If you're still worried about an allergy, can you have allergy testing done? Then you know if he's allergic to anything, and can act appropriately. He could have aspirated if he just happened to breath in at the wrong moment. Might be one of those things you never know. ETA- MM an epipen is a metred dose of adrenaline. It means if someone (or an animal) has an anaphylactic reaction, it basically works to open up airways for long enough to get emergency help. Anyone with a nut allergy would carry one, it basically just buys time until an ambulance can arrive.

I have a male German shepherd that is very laid back and will go to sleep anywhere (as long as he doesn't think he's missing out on a cuddle!). I'm a couple of hours away, but do go to Melbourne every couple of weeks depending on how much longer you will be doing the study for. Pity my female hates going to the vet (she's relatively laid back when there aren't other dogs, she just hates anywhere that looks like a vet surgery), tht would mean you could get 2 dogs to participate!

Anyone? Or is the only place around here any good WAG N TAILS?

Anyone else please?

Thanks for the reply, but who's fbc? Am I being a bit slow tonight? Thanks for that. Think I'll stear clear of correction based training. Wag-n-tails look ok, but as I work shift work, I need somewhere I don't have to go to each week (or it would be ideal if they had more than one training time).

I'm actually wondering if there are any all breed clubs to train at that are half decent. A friend who lives half an hour away goes to Sunbury, but I'd like to find somewhere a bit closer.

I moved to Bendigo at the start of the year and am wanting to find somewhere to train my girl. She is brilliant at obedience, and I'm sure if I found the right help, would be trialling in no time. My dilemna is where to take her for training nearby. Can anyone suggest somewhere nearby I could take her? I currently do a combination of food and toy rewards in training, but would love someone to help me train her completely in drive. Any suggestions very welcome (I don't mind a bit of a drive either, but not too far).

A fellow forum member off a horse forum is after information from anyone who has bought or rescued a dog from any puppy farms near Geelong for a feature article she is writing. She's asked me to put this on here in case someone here can help. Her work number is 5227 4124 if anyone here can help. Otherwise pm me your details and she'll contact you.

As well as finding the contact details, have you put in a formal complaint with the club? Don't let them fob you off, I've heard of this happening so that too much time passes to make a complaint. Then they have to do something about it.

If you buy it through artemis themselves (under K9 and Katz kitchen), they'll pay half the freight for you. I got it sent to Bendigo, cost me about $10-15 in postage to my post office (only as I don't get post here).

This has been suggested as a way to regulate her cycle. The vet feels it may not work, but he has been wrong so far with how her body works. She's fooled him each time! I have just finished uni, live with my mum for another week, and she very strongly objects to there being a litter in the house. I also felt I should wait til I was financially more stable in case something should go wrong. I start my new job in Feb, so think I should be a little more secure and settled in my new job and house before bringing a litter into it. The plan was on her next season, but it's still too early. Her breeders have offered to whelp the litter, but will have 1 of their own at the same time. I have actually gone back and looked at her seasons just to be sure I got it right. She came in at 10-11 months old first time. After that, she was between 4-5 months between each but not sure regular. She had one closer to 4 months, then one just under 4 months, so I panicked that she might be getting too close. Now she is ridiculously all the time, but only since I started interfering with her. I wonder if she needs time to regulate her hormones and get back to normal for her. Anyway, will get a second opinion from another repro vet and go from there. Thanks everyone.

Thanks Aziah, great idea. I know she's very familiar with our breed too so will get in contact with her. Will see what she says, chances are this girl will be desexed soon, and I might see about getting another bitch down the line.

Nope, he never mentioned it. Said frequent seasons is something that seems to happen in our breed. Didn't suggest any other investigations, but a vaginal swab on her last one.

I guess not, but is seems to be since we've started trying to influence and manipulate her cycles that she's gotten really stuffed up. She had one season under 4 months before we started playing around with things. Now I'm wondering if she'll go back to normal, or if we've stuffed her up completely. Edited to make it clearer- She started about 4 1/2 to nearly 5 months, started to get longer, then had probably 2-3 that were closer together, one being 3 3/4 months between. I worried that she would get more and more frequent off this.

I have a 3yo GSD bitch. A little while ago I posted about her coming into season every 4 months, and was hoping to just stretch the gap out a bit. I decided to leave it for a while, but then when she started coming in more frequently (getting closer to 3 months), I decided to speak to a vet about it. I went to Monash vet as from what I've been told, they are pretty knowledgable about reproduction issues. His view was that she might not be fertile every season, and the best thing to do would be to try and stop her coming in so often, in the hope her next season she would be mated, and her body/uterus would have had a rest. So, anyway, he suggests first we try a monthly injection, due to the time in her cycle, it was our only option aside from another tablet which increase the risk of pyometra, so he didn't recommend it. Well, 2 weeks later she comes into season!!! At 2 3/4 months! So, following this season, we try an implant that was supposed to last 6 months. 1 month later she comes in again!!! This was about 2 months I think. That season only seemed to last about 2 weeks, and now, after a 2 week break, she appears to be in again. She has bright red discharge again, and a swollen vulva, all her typical signs. The last season, he did a vaginal swab to make sure it was vaginitis as she had clear/yellowish discharge before it went red. Nope, she was coming into season. So now I'm at a loss, is this likely to be a split season? The vet is stumped, as what we've been doing seems to be bringing her in more rather than less. He wants me to mate her, but I'm not in the position to for another couple of months as I start a new job in 2 weeks, and don't know if I could get time off for whelping, etc. Although chances are she probably would take 2-3 seasons to get in whelp as he feels her uterus may not be rested enough to be receptive to implantation every season she has. Just wondering if anyone has had experience with anything like this? And can give any suggestions? Or possibly a repro specialist vet who may have had experience with similar cases. At the moment, I am planning on seeing what happens with the current season, if it doesn't settle down and she comes straight back in again, she will be desexed, but as I got her as my foundation bitch, am really hoping not to have to do this until after she has 1-2 litters.

Or you can scam them back and stuff them around! There's a website about it, but can't remember what the address is. Basically you string them along, make them think you're going to send money until they give up on you (but they can get abusive just to liven things up!). It's been done to catch these scammers, and it also might slow them down on moving onto the next person who might not be so clued in to the scam.