Miss Danni

Dont travel your pup in the front seat. In an accident, the passenger airbag will kill your puppy. For the same reason, children under 7 cannot travel in the front passenger seat. Take less family to pick up the pup - you need to be able to focus on what the breeder tells you - and arrange for a crate or car harness, depending on the size of the pup. Your family members can sit with the pup in the backseat and everyone will be safe and much happier.

Rottshowgirl, LSC GSDs are pretty common. The LC gene is recessive and both parents have to carry it, and there are only a few stud dogs that dont carry the LC gene and therefore never produce a LC puppy. It is only from 1st January 2012 that LSC have been recognised as a seperate variety and can now be shown and bred with, just like the SC. This National will be the first to offer LSC classes. Really looking forward to it. :D

I am really very sorry to read this. RIP Dante

Got to World 4 Pets at Vineyard. Their bones and mince are fresh and well priced.

Port Stephens Pet Barn stock them or can order them in for you. Don Day from Showaquipment also carries them and you can get them off him when he is at Hillsborough for a show.

When we unfortunately have to sell one of our older pups, they go for no less than our current puppy price. If I have done their hips and elbows, they will go for even more. I think I know the breeder you are talking about and $1500 is a very good price for one of their juniors, especially with on-going support and back-up. I'd snap her up :)

Our very first long awaited foal was also a disaster. No eyes at all, but lovely eye lashes over the sockets, only one nostril and the jaw was disconnected from the skull. Lovely pretty dished head, tiny ears and she got up and tried to suckle from her poor mum. She went to God and I did lots of research on what could have caused it. The vets were flumoxed and had no clue. But they didn't feel it was genetic. I did a repeat mating and held my breath for 11 months, hoping against hope that it wasn't genetic but some horrid thing that had happened at a crucial stage of embryonic development. Then one night I was watching 4 Corners on the ABC and they did a story on selenium poisoning in fish ..... and BANG, there it was. Same symptoms. I rang my vet and he did some research and found a paper from the US that had looked at selenium poisoning in horses, a very small sample though, and that also kind of tallied with my baby. Selenium is an unusual suspect because Aussie soils are quite selenium depleted, so the feed companies add selenium, so it might have been a simple case of a "bad" lot of feed with too much selenium in it at exactly the wrong time for my baby, but I'll never know for sure. And the repeat mating .... 100% normal and she has just turned 13

I had a man ring me the other day about my puppy. As I had people with me, I asked him to complete my Puppy Enquiry Form and I'd get back to him. His form made it quite clear that the puppy would be an outside dog and one of many. He also lives in FNQ. Now this puppy is a real mummy's boy, loves his family, is an inside dog and HATES the heat. He has screamed blue murder since he was only 2 weeks old if he gets too hot and that might be at 20 degrees! :laugh: So I thanked the man for his enquiry and explained that I did not think that my puppy was suitable for him, and why. I get an email back from him today saying "no worries, I have bought a puppy from someone that is not a loony" I could not stop laughing, made my day

Get caryl to do it!

Gotta love a Falcon! Hope you love it like I have loved all of mine over the years

Folate here too. And once pups are born, Mum gets Protexin and pups get it after about 5 days old. Have used Fenugreek when needed.

I also have a litter that is 18 days old. Most of the pups are happy with the box temp being about 25 degrees, but I am attempting to keep them a bit cooler than that. One of the boys grizzles at 23 degrees and screams at 25 degrees! He's too cool for his own good. The whelping room gets the afternoon sun, so it relatively cool until around 2pm. In the morning before I go to work, I put down frozen HWBs under a sheet and the ice bricks if I need a bit more cool space. Yesterday I put a wet towel down when I went home at lunchtime and then turned on the AC. AC turned off when I got home from work and just had the fan on overnight with the window open. Pups are very happy with this arrangement, tested it out before I went back to work.

I thought that Dr Dunbar's last tour was his last ever in Australia. Starting to sound like John Farnham and his "farewell" tours!

Like Echo said, puppies can vary depending on the time of day and what has already been going on. If you are the third lot of visitors that morning, the pups may just be exhausted and a bit "over it" - they cant be "on" all of the time. Is there also the possiblility that the pups had been vaccinated that day or the day before? That has made some of our pups very quiet in the past and may explain the crying when being picked up. What worries me far more than the pups is the mother. Her reaction is not normal sounding for a GSD bitch with a young litter. I would be concerned at either her temperament or her health. If your friend likes the litter, the father and the breeder, then she should schedule another visit (not at lunchtime, either early or late) to see the pups. Otherwise, she should keep looking. There are plenty of us around!

Glad to help :D

Saddleries will have it.

We ultrasound to merely check and confirm pregnancy. We xray to get a good picture of how many pups we have due. When your girl gives you litters of 11 and 13, it's handy to know if there is still one to come that might be in distress.

Der! A fool and his money are soon parted!

Too many to choose from! Lilli and her daughter Astrid Shay Duncan Half brothers in Germany, Fasko and Pakros

Hi Janene, welcome to DOL and the wonderful world of GSDs. Firstly, how long have you had your puppy home? How old is she? What lines is she from? It's great that you have her sleeping in a crate, they are worth their weight in gold. You might want to invest in an x-pen too, you can set it up in say, your kitchen, and put her in it when you need her out from underfoot or when you go back to work. They are much larger than her crate and will do her for a while. With the nipping, it sounds like she is a pretty drivey pup and you need to redirect her teeth. Make sure that you have plenty of toys for her and that when she starts to bite, you can tell her no and then give her a toy and play with her - even gentle tug of war (which you need to let her win more often than not). Yelling at her her for nipping will only escalate her excitement level and make things worse. You have to be calm, quiet and composed when you redirect her. At this stage, you will need to limit the interaction with your baby until the pup can be easily redirected (or starts to redirect herself, which is the goal), because your child's reaction will make things worse. Let them interact under very close supervision (like with your child on your lap) when the puppy is more tired and not in a nippy frame of mind. You do not want negative experiences between these 2. A few minutes a couple of times a day of simple obedience training will also help to tire her out and make her less likely to bite you. Teach her to sit and drop and walk nicely on lead, all of which you can start to teach in your kitchen, and you will have a tired puppy in no time! Go to this website http://www.dogstardaily.com/free-downloads and download After You Get Your Puppy. There is great information in Dr Dunbar's book that will assist you. Also, if you are having any issues, you need to speak to your breeder. They will also be able to assist you with strategies specific to your puppy. And dont forget, if you have only had her a few days, she will be lonely and a little miserable from losing mum and littermates and she will be looking for new playmates. Lay the groundwork now and you will have a wonderful family member for her lifetime. Oh and puppy pics are mandatory here. :D

We use Protexin on every litter. I've used it on puppies as young as about 5 days old. I use the gel that comes in a big syringe and both Mum and pups get it daily, or twice daily if there is any issue with a pup or I am supplementary feeding. I order it through our vet before the litter arrives and get them to keep a few on hand for me. Great stuff, wont be without it

I'm a member of my breed club, have been for 20 years. Spent many, many years as Publicity Officer and even when I wasn't, I attended Pet expos and any other promo opportunity for my breed. I am also a member of the SV in Germany, the peak body for GSDs worldwide. We go out of our way to try to get top pups into show homes and be welcoming for novices. We provide oodles of support for people that buy our pups, including the showies. We pay the membership for our puppy buyers to join our breed club. This gets them the quarterly magazines and hopefuly might help to interest some of them in getting more involved in the breed. I am the webmaster for a GSD club that I am not a member of, so that I can help with breed and club promotion. Probably lots more that I cant think of off the top of my head!

NewGSDOwner, you have certainly done your homework, well done! As you said, with all things being equal, there is no reason not to go for something that you prefer. Just be aware that the breeder may make the final decision on the right puppy for your circumstances, but if you get a choice, have fun! I have had contact with a number of Vegas progeny and they all seem to have lovely temperaments. I have also met Vegas's father, Yerom, in Germany and he is a lovely dog with a good work ethic. All you can do is pick the darkest puppy now and hope that he retains his pigment as he matures. But if not, ce le vie! I'm sure you'll continue to love him anyway. :D

Breed specialty

Here is the response from Bayer: Dear Kim, I am sorry to advise that the short answer to your question is "no" - Advocate does not have any registered claims for use on dogs/puppies for the treatment or prevention of Rat Lungworm (Angiostrongylus cantonensis). This is a very interesting enquiry because the recognition of this parasite as a possible cause of neurological disease in Australian dogs appears to have increased in profile during recent years. I am aware of some recent research conducted out of the University of Sydney towards development of a reliable diagnostic test. Please let me know if you have any other questions as I would be happy to assist if possible. Best Regards Warwick Smith BVSc MVPHMgt