RuralPug

Agree. Whole carcasses are a completely different kettle of fish than frames. I have the bad habit of saying "carcass" when I really mean frame. Feeding a whole carcass means they are getting EVERYTHING except the feathers or fur. But someone feeding nothing except frames would find their dog was in deep trouble, sooner or later.

First you need to work out WHY he barks at every little noise. Is it because he is in guardian mode and wants to alert you? Is it because he is bored to tears and wants to go and investigate/play? Is it because he is afraid and wants to be comforted? The answer to changing his behaviour is best determined by knowing which of these is the cause. One thing that is common in all cases DON'T shout at him for barking because to him it will seem as though you are joining in and that will reinforce it. Make sure that everyone in the household is aware of that. Is he purebred - if so, we might have some breeders here who can advise. If not, what type or cross is he do you think? Genetics does play a part in behaviour and it helps to get a sense of the type of behaviour that his ancestors may have been selected for.

Agree Steve. Gumtree is relying on seller honesty, which isn't protecting the buyer at all, really, only Gumtree! I am at a bit of a loss how to protect buyers from shonky breeders, let alone scammers - who we know steal breeders' details from online sites and use them in their scams. Breeder's membership numbers and other ID have even been stolen from DOL ads and used in scams on other sites. The very few buyers who know only to look at reputable sites where breeders are scanned and monitored (such as MDBA) are far outnumbered by those who don't know. Flame suit on - I have no objection to people buying from puppy farms - provided they are aware of exactly what it is they are supporting in doing so and those puppy farms are subjected to regular thorough welfare checks. If people want to spend thousands of dollars on a cross breed with no health testing of parents that is their choice. I hate designer names, that is one big scam. But people who pretend to provide quality puppies and don't but hide under what should be trustworthy registries, taint every member of that registry. This is really apparent with ANKC bodies, who for so very long have been slack in policing their members to protect their own name.

Mita, he is stunning! I love it when a breed gets adopted to a breed-knowledgable home or to one that is willing to take the time to learn about that breed! If you remember Billy, he is going strong with valbitz, doing his obedience classes (!) and being an excellent friend to fostered dogs! Funny, just the other day I ran into an old DOLer on FB - we were chatting about tibbies and I mentioned Billy and lo and behold a certain WA lady fessed up! She says she might come back to DOL for a visit! Apologies for the off-topic peoples! @Phyl. have you or Peter worked out how to upload photos here yet? I'm hanging out waiting to see your darling girl!

Except that drumsticks have way too much fat for my liking - unless they are the guaranteed lean ones which cost up to $7 a kilo! But I shop in a regional city and still only pay $1.50 kilo for frames, good quality frames from a chicken specialty butcher.

He is certainly trainable. Follow dogmad's instructions to the T, the more time you can put into the training when you first get him, the quicker he will learn. One caveat if you have visiting entire or very recently desexed bitches, he may forget his his manners and mark on those occasions, depends on the individual male. Still it just means that you need to recall where you stored those old bellybands if you are going to have a visiting girl..

@Ethangreatdane you have had some good responses so far, but not many have seen your post in this subforum. I have requested that it be moved as suggested by Krislin above, so that many more knowledgeable people can see it. 100% agree that the chicken wing tips might be perfect for a chihuahua pup, but your boy needs chicken carcasses NOT wing tips.

Definitely familiar with the "puppy shuffle" - it becomes second nature to breeders of toy-sized breeds, i might add! Fortunately, for pet owners, it is just a passing phase one that is literally grown out of! (apologies for the grammar, but new family member beats grammar every time!)

Thanks for that,ellz! I'm always happy to be set straight. Never too old to learn, in my book!

That is great news of the vet not finding any opportunistic infections yay! The challenge, as you know, is to keep it that way. At the risk of upsetting the cats, put a puppy pen or something around the litter trays so cats have to jump in to use them and puppy cannot access them as it is too risky to let her eat cat stools. If she is finding cat stools outdoors, you will need to either exercise her only in a run or on leash. I'm sure that with your vigilant care, she will recover quickly! And @persephone I beg to differ. She is a pretty girl now LOL, even at the awkward gangly stage!

Don't go away Phyl pleeeeeeease! People who get frustrated and upset over an issue can sometimes be a bit emotional and, let us admit, bombastic which can certainly be overwhelming, it does happen on all sorts of public communications media. We can sometimes attempt to educate with a shotgun rather than reasoning, as has been said. Apologies if you felt shotgunned.Welcome to our little DOL family - all families have the odd tiff LOL. We can't wait to watch photos and hear stories of your little girl as she grows up, and of all your other fur family too!

She's lovely Selkie! And the sheen on that coat shows how well you care for her!

rossebooth I knew it wasn't on purpose, I enjoyed the laugh No apology needed! Thank you for sharing! Now we are waiting to see pictures of your beautiful Maremma!

Love it!

Are we getting a bit here perhaps? I'm as guilty as anyone I will be first to admit, but is this the right thread for what this discussion has become? In fact, is this the right website even? LOL

Is your Standard black, @Selkie? How exciting! I have seen many black giants in Australia, and a few black minis but I've not yet seen a black standard. Photos pleeeeeeeze?

Welcome rosebooth! Would absolutely love to see a picture of your Maremma!! And thank you so much, I know you didn't do it on purpose, but you gave me a lovely giggle with your mention of your uncle living in the outhouse with your Maremma, because where I grew up "outhouse" meant an outside unplumbed toilet and that would have been a tight squeeze! Your English is better than many born in this country, I might add, but that image made me laugh - it has made my day! Thank you!

No worries it is always good on a public forum like this to give cautions like that. I was really just interested in pointing out that it wasn't in response to Phyl's ad. And yay for little Cody to go to a tibbie-wise home!!! I'm not sure that I understand why it seems ironic to you though @mita ? Can you enlighten me please - I am a bit thick headed today!

They can call them whatever they like as long as they don't call them purebred. The general public thinks that "hybrid breed" means purebred, probably because they don't know that hybrid literally means a crossbreeding has occurred (check the dictionary). Designer breed names are a marketing ploy designed to fool the public into thinking they have a purebred. I have absolutely no problem with crossbreeds as such. Most of my fosters are crossbreeds. But I do object strongly to designer names. i have no objection to "type" names as used for example by the hunting crossbreeders: e.g. bull arab type, staghound type as there is no pretence that they are are purebreeds, just a descriptive name. Edited to add; Check the guidelines on this forum, it is against the rules to use designer names here. Can understand a complete newbie not knowing that but @mingaling you've been around long enough to know better.

Phyl has said that the seller was inundated with calls so it was her ad that Phyl replied to not vice versa. So quite unlikely to be a puppy farmer as pup is 12 weeks already. Most likely being a situation where a buyer has realised that puppy is not best suited to them or a change in circumstances so they can no longer keep puppy. I know that we all would have expected such a seller to have returned the dog to the breeder first - but poodle cross breeders are quite unlikely to take the puppy back (if they can even be traced LOL) Just my opinion.

I forgot to say it is an absolute MUST to share photos of your baby girl with us!!!!

Congratulations! Baby puppies are very hard work but so worth it in the end! Just a heads up - poodle crosses are often very lively and smart dogs so you might want to think about doing some sort of obedience or dog sport in time to keep her happy so that you don't end up with a bored neurotic dog. Now you need to get busy and email any one who has not yet replied to you LOL to let them know you are withdrawing your application! Some of them might be busy arranging home checks in your area etc. before they reply.

Unlikely to have been triggered by anything the pup has eaten. It is basically an immune system stuff up. To start with, treatment is not going to cost an arm and a leg, you should know within two weeks if he is going to respond well. If he is one of the quite rare cases where chemo is required, then you may need to rethink or seek extra funding for his treatment, but usually the only complications are caused by secondary opportunistic infection - being extra vigilant with hygiene should avoid that. Take a deep breath - it is extremely unlikely to be the worst case, and you will know that within a couple of weeks of treatment starting.

Too early to tell if euth required. Scarring in itself will not be a problem re finding a pet home and the condition itself is not so debilitating as to cause extreme distress to the pup. The danger is possible secondary infection during treatment. Hopefully the parents will never be bred from again - this condition is hereditary. I assume that this is from a rescue litter raised and the dam has already been desexed and pup will be desexed before rehoming, if so, that solves that!

Your very first move should be a full health check with full bloods done, to see if there is a medical reason for the change in temperament. If no medical reason is found, there may have been an incident of some sort (unknown to you) that has triggered this change. The best way to reverse the change is to have a reputable (and there are a heap of shonky ones) behaviourist assess her and give you a behaviour adjustment plan. If you give your area, others here may be able to recommend a good behaviourist local to you. Another possibility, which you might need to consider if the above does not help, is that at 18 months she has reached an age where she is pushing the boundaries, so to speak. If you cannot reverse this behaviour you may need to consider the possibility that there is a genetic component working here. Needless to say, you shouldn't consider breeding from her until all of this has been sorted and a good temperament restored, just in case there is a genetic component at work here. And, I don't mean to carp but PLEASE learn the correct breed name. Only in the USA is Staffordshire Bull Terrier prefixed with the word "English". By the same token, here in Australia their version is prefixed with the word "American" but you would be considered quite gauche if you used that term there!