Miss Danni

Very sad to read of your loss Noisy. Hugs to you and your family. Run free Kaisie.

We ultrasound at around 3-4 weeks to confirm pregnancy only. We usually count say 3 or 4 and that's enough, I'm happy with that info. Our vet has a very good, new, ultrasound machine and 2 very good operators. At around 8 weeks, we xray to get an accurate idea of numbers, because our imported girl has such big litters and I want to know whether to expect 10 or 13! :D

One of my boys came back to me at 10 months because his family transferred back to the UK and decided not to take him. They had investigated it, as they knew the quarantine requirements and had obtained a quote for transport. I think what happened really was two-fold: (1) I dont think they were moving back to the UK for work, despite what they said - I think that the family had broken up, and (2) they had a home to put him into here, and that went ok for 2 weeks, then the people that had taken him gave him back, only days before the family was due to fly out. It was then an emergency situation and we had no choice but to take him ourselves. We did offer to do all of the quarantine protocols and keep him until they found somewhere to live and, in fact, we guaranteed them not to re-home him for 30 days in case they wanted to have him sent over, but once we picked him up we never heard from them again. That was over 2 1/2 years ago. But let me say, it was meant to be that he came back. I never wanted to sell him in the first place. After he came back, we put him through all of the breed improvement schemes, he joined our show team, and last year sired a lovely litter for us. He belongs with me. Sometimes you really cant get to the truth of a matter and can only deal with it on face value.

GWP4Me, that is very sad to hear of such incompetence. And then to read the subsequent email where he is estimating the Penn Hip scores as being excellent when your pup actually does have a problem. It just makes you wonder. I hope that everything goes well for your pup and that you get the Penn Hip info back asap.

Clearly when I posted I was talking about puppies that have NO SYMPTOMS. It would appear from what Erny says that this vet decided to try to "upsell" from the original neuter surgery and create a problem that wasn't there. The other 2 examples I cited were also pups with NO SYMPTOMS and an upsell from a routine procedure. I happen to have a breed that has a reputation for HD, so we breeders are hearing more and more of these stories, often about the same vets, diagnosing HD often without bothering to take an xray, just create fear and anxiety in the owners and away you go. No owner wants to think that their pup will be in pain when there is something that can be done about it. Cleary there IS an issue with some vets and the AVA should bloody well take note. I have spoken to a vet about this when it came up with my brother's pup. He suggested that perhaps some vets will be feeling a loss of income from the change in vaccination protocol from yearly to 3 yearly and that targeting breeds known to suffer HD and offering this surgery may help to make up the balance! We have now added a clause to our Puppy Purchase Contract that if this surgery is suggested by a vet, that they must refer the pup back to us prior to making any decision. We will then pay for a second opinion from a knowledgable vet. Luckily we have never had to enact that clause, but we go over it with all of our buyers now because of how common this scenario is becoming. I make no apology for what I wrote before, like doctors and all other professionals - there are bad vets!!!! And some vets don't like purebreds or registered breeders. It's my job to help to protect the puppy that I bred, so I will continue to call this surgery as I see it.

Exactly ReadySetGo! Just criminal IMO.

I had a vet at Batemans Bay recommend this surgery to a puppy owner without even doing an Xray, diagnosis was on "the way he walked" What an incompetent moron. Luckily the puppy owner was my brother, who is no fool. He rang me to tell me what they had said but had already told the vet to go jump. When I saw the pup 2 weeks later, I saw a typical hocky GSD pup where all of the running bones had grown and put him all out of proportion. He is now a happy 18 month old with no hip issues and will be xrayed for his A and Z stamps very soon. I also know of another breeder who went through this crap with a puppy buyer, luckily they also sensibly declined the surgery. When the pup was 12 months, he was assessed under the GSDCA Hip Scheme and received a very low score that got him his A stamp. Just think what pain and suffering this puppy could have been put through unnecessarily, not to mention the $6000 bill for the puppy owners. Vets that recommend this surgery should be reported to the AVA and publicly shamed.

Why dont you try Robert Zammit? Or Rocky Ridge (ex Frozen Puppies)

I use the normal washing machine, we also have GSDs and lots of hair. After a dog load, I let the washing machine dry out and then I vaccuum it and the next load is people towels or sheets. Clothes get washed after that and everything goes into the drier. I dont have much of a problem with residual hair on clothes that way.

Good on you Teebs for looking after him Some people just suck, poor puppy

We keep the other dogs away from the pups for the first 3 weeks, although when Mum is on a toilet break, they may get a quick sneak peek into the whelping box before that. At about 3 weeks, the pups join us at night in the TV room in a puppy pen. Adult dogs can come in a couple at a time, see the pups but not touch them, and they usually have a sniff and then go and lay down. When we are weaning pups, we have an adult male that is fabulous with the babies and he becomes their "nanny", looking after them when Mum is separated from them and later on, when they start their outside adventures. Because they see the pups all the time in the puppy pen, the adults get used to them and most of them aren't that interested when they are allowed to interact directly from about 6 weeks. We do have one bitch that isn't too fussed about getting mobbed, so she doesn't interact with the pups until we only have the ones left that we are keeping. Our pups are now 12 weeks and pretty much have the run of the house, the adult dogs are fine with them and let them get away with blue murder! I think that a gradual introduction to your adult dogs, bearing in mind that the happiness of your bitch is paramount, should work well with nice adult dogs. Good luck with your litter :D

Each time I register a litter, they are all on Limited except for the ones that I intend to keep. I dont actively look for buyers that will show my pups, so when I do the registrations, I just take account of what I want to keep and LR the rest. However, a few times now I have had people approach me for a puppy and express an interest in showing. In my current litter, I put 2 girls and 2 boys on MR and the rest on LR. But before the pups had even left home I had to transfer 1 extra boy and girl to MR. I placed a boy with another breeder that had had no luck getting her bitch in whelp, he's a lovely boy and no problem with me transferring him. I also had someone that I have known for 20 years tell me that he "may" show his girl (although I doubt that he really will, but I also know that he will put her through our Breed Improvement schemes), so another transfer from LR to MR. We are mentoring a new young couple with one of the boys, they have commenced show training and are very keen at this stage. We are also mentoring (and are now very good friends with) a new exhibitor in Victoria that has a girl from one of our previous litters, she recently got her breeder's prefix and will Breed Survey her girl later this year - together we are looking for the right stud dog for next year. She took a puppy from this latest litter to show too! I try very hard to remember how I got into the breed and breeding, from an Obedience background with a good (but not outstanding) bitch, that was encouraged to show, go through the breed improvement schemes and then breed, by experienced breeders that brought me "into the fold". When I find people that I think are serious about my breed and not talking about breeding just to "make some money since I paid so much for my dog" or "so the kids can see a litter born", I will try to "bring them into the fold", mentor them as I have been mentored for 25 odd years, encourage and guide them and hopefully, help them enjoy the show ring and insulate them from some of the nastiness in showing dogs. Sometimes you just have to take a risk on people if you want to ensure the future of your breed. And none of this precludes me from putting the other pet pups onto the LR. :D

Bartok, have a look at the GSDL website, www.gsdl.info to see if there are any older pups being advertised. Also contact the League and let them know that you are looking for an older pup, word gets around. There are a few older animals advertised here on DOL too. If you want any additional info, just PM me.

I did start the whelping on a bitch that belonged to a friend of mine when she herself went to hospital to have her son. But I knew the bitch a bit and she knew me, so there were no issues and the bitch was in her own home. The first 2 pups were born with me in attendance and then my friend (the husband/father) came back from hospital and whelped the rest of the litter in the very wee small hours of the next day. I still see "my first born son" quite regularly as he grew into a lovely show dog!

I would not use a service where my bitch or puppies left my home. However, I might use a service that provides assistance after my pups are born, so that I can get back to work or not have to travel home at lunchtime to feed and toilet everyone.

We went to Germany for our girl. ;)

Guys, is Luci back next week? Need to get my pups off to training asap! Thanks!

Dobesrock, I haven't read the whole 10 pages of this thread but I can see it went pear shaped by the last few comments. No one else lives your life and no one else can say what is right or wrong in your situation. Hugs to you and your family, we have been in the same situation as you with a bitch that intentionally killed the puppy of another of our bitches that she did not get on with. She went to doG too, I would not rehome her and possibly put someone else through that grief, I took responsibility for the life of my dog, much as I loved her, I could never trust her again. I hope that your kids can come to terms with it and you can all begin to think of the good times that you had with both dogs. Try not to hate Jazz for bringing this on you. RIP Jazz and Odie.

I've been to a couple of Dr Dunbar's seminars and they are always good value. He is a knowledgable and entertaining presenter.

i have never needed a Pink Slip for my dog trailer either. I do, however, for my horse float, so maybe it has to do with weight???

I've never had Peter use anything other than his hands. As MEH says, he is a muscle manipulator, not a chiro.

The bitch must be in your name at the time of the mating, ie the name(s) of the people listed on the kennel prefix. I have a bitch owned jointly with my husband but he is not on my kennel prefix. To breed her, he has to sign her over to me and when the pups are registered, I sign her back into both names.

Yes. You would need to have the bitch transferred into your name so that you can breed under your kennel prefix. This is usually done by a short lease and then the ownership reverts back to joint ownership at the expiry of the lease. Joint ownership can be a minefield that you need to be prepared for to go pearshaped. I would never be in co-ownership with a bitch that was absolutely critical to my breeding programme, just in case. Having said that, I have been in co-ownership situations for years with people that I trust and have never had an issue. Good luck whichever way you go.

I'll third Peter! We have been seeing him for over 10 years at his various locations, he is excellent!

We always seem to have more puppy enquiries for whatever sex we have the least of. So if we only have a few boys, we get innundated with enquiries for boys and hardly any girls, and vice versa. The same happens with coat length. If I have mainly long coats, people enquire about normal coats and if I have mainly normal coats, I get more enquiries about long coats. Can't win!