RuralPug

Great post Wobbly! This is where I really wish we had a "like" option on DOL forums.

The Catahoulas share a fair bit of ancestry with most of the Curs so I can see why you'd think that. :) It was definitely one of the regional varieties of Black Mouth Curs that I recall being lectured to about, but I can't remember if it was a Ladner or a Florida or a different type. Can't tell much from the feet in these pics, although the toes do look long and strong. Edited for typos.

Beautifully said and good foster carers like you are worth their weight in gold!!

I agree with you on the spitz he looks very Sibe X Kelpie - I can't see much, if any at all GSD. I have known that mix before and the kelpie temperament seems to very much dominate over the Sibe traits in the ones I have known. Every dog is different though, and we are only guessing. ETA - and now I've read the rest of the thread and seen the other pics :laugh: I'm just one of many suggesting Sibe it would seem!

Esky, I am so sorry that this is happening. I know how well-loved Penny, and all of your pack are. We should find out a definite answer to this, although it may be too late for Penny, it could help someone else another time.

Are these ones that have special splayed feet for treeing coons etc. in the Florida/Louisiana swamps? Not sure if these are the came curs, there are a heap of varieties. I was told (took with a grain of salt) that coonhounds and bloodhounds sank/got bogged so these were popular and were developed partly from the old Indian Leopard dogs (which themselves were a mixture of Axtec dogs with merle cattledogs brought in by early French colonists). They could guard and open cattle and track deer as well as hunt small game. No idea how much of that was true. It will be interesting to see how well they go in Australian conditions.

Thanks, guys. Friend has just moved from QLD to WA so is waiting for her car to arrive, then she will suss out the local vets there, get records transferred across and get the liver function test done and, if warranted, an x-ray or ultrasound for shunts. Meanwhile she is feeding raw per advice given directly to her by Dalmation person, I know it's not exactly the same, but shouldn't do too much damage in the week or so before she can organise the tests.

Geez I made a total idiot of myself didn't I? :rofl:

Um, Judy I think it is a rough coated Jack Russell not a rough coated collie? Rough day?

If it is fake grass can't you hang it on the line and hose it off? If too big for that then maybe Biozet dissolved in a bucket or buckets of water and scrubbed with a rubber broom then hosed off?

Thanks in advance for your help. I have a friend with a Pug who has just been diagnosed with Urate tones in the bladder (numpty me thought that only Dalmations got these ). This Pug has just had a liver test and I will have a copy of the results when they come through. I am thoroughly confused after doing a search on DOL for similar questions. When trying to alter a raw diet to cope with these stones, it seems that we will need to await the liver tests (including U/S to check for shunts etc) before deciding on diet approach - is this correct? Dr Dodds Liver Diet has been recommended but some recommend alterations depending on complex factors that my brain is too fuzzy to grasp at the moment. We want to provide excellent nutrition but (I am assuming) keep the purine intake low ( which purines are the baddest?) and try to keep an output urine Ph of neutral to slightly alkaline? Have I got that straight or might that change defending on the liver test results? We are accustomed to struvite stones and occassionally oxalate stones but urate stones in Pugs is new to me. Porto-systemic shunts are not unknown in the breed though, could these lead to urate stones? Does anyone have an actual recipe or diet components that worked well for their non- Dalmation in a similar situation? Will flooding each meal assist? Sorry, that is a LOT of questions.

Could it be a spider bite or something? And -um- did you mean UNidentifiable rash? :)

Taking him to shows not entered as Espinay suggested said and making the ring a fun place - and a place where he gets a high value treat when he lets a stranger touch or mouth him - is the way to go. Ask other exhibitors to play judge while he is in the pretend ring at lunchbreak or some other parts of the grounds while the show is on, others can train their babies or shy ones at the same time. :) If he is really jumpy when someone tries to see his teeth, just start with them touching his face gently. Treat. After he is comfortable with that, let them hold his jaw for a few seconds. Treat. Keep going in increments. Progress slowly to a full mouth check. A lot of this you can do at home with someone else as "judge" etc.

Maybe ask in one of the spaniel threads? I haven't found an Australian seller,but I guess if you imported one of the originals and then found similiar materials then a good seamstress could make more for you. Original UK product

I voted NT simply because there is almost zero legislation restricting dogs. Unfortunately, there is pretty much zero everything else in support of dogs unless you live smack in the middle of one of the two cities (no offense to all those brave Territorians DOLers who live there and love it!)

Council can sometimes suffer from Savemybuttitis, an insidious infection common in all levels of government. If there is not an actual ruling that something is allowed, it is disallowed automatically. You would think that anyone with half a brain would welcome an expert in a breed just in case they were listing the dog incorrectly as a cross breed when the owners were doing a frantic search for their Ceylonese Couch Dog or whatever. Unless of course someone's ego maintains that if he/she has pronounced it a mixed breed, then so shall it stay forevermore... If you have a contact who is resident in that council's area, ask them to enquire of their local councillor who may be able to organise permission for you or you could just contact the council CEO direct and ask.

Congratulations!!! Milah is such a beautiful name! Waiting patiently for pics...:) EF typos

When you are used to your breed you can read expressions that others can't. I will never forget a family BBQ at our place some years ago, the dogs were watching us eat and my BIL looked at them (at the time 5 Pugs and one Mastiff) and commented "Gawd. They all look like they've won Tatts and lost the ticket!" Cracked me up at the time :laugh:

I would be contacting a few of the rescues near you and say that you are wanting an alarm dog that is good with kids and other pets; that is a dog that will raise the alarm when anyone comes and therefore scare off any prowlers with noise. Good rescues have their dogs in care with fosters who know exactly what characteristics they have so you would be getting a known quantity, as opposed to a dog from a shelter or a puppy who will take at least half a year to grow into whatever personality they will develop. You will probably find that once the alarm dog starts, your existing staffy will join in. Given that your existing staffy gets a fair bit of daily exercise (on property rather than on road is neither here nor there) you might find that one of the tradtional working breeds would be a good match - many kelpies for instance are auotmatic alarm dogs. Try contacting AWDRI (google for website) they have branches in most states and I would be very surprised if they didn't have something suitable for your needs.

I've never heard "don't feed meat without bone" before. I suppose it depends how much meat is on the bone. It is certainly correct to ensure that the phosphorous/calcium ratio is desirable for the growth rate or need, but too much bone without meat etc. can lead to constipation and even compaction in the gut. Most "bone" feeds readily available to urban dwellers are more bone than meat as they are byproducts and the meat has been largely removed, so I would worry that that statement could be too easily misunderstood. In nature the bone in any one meal (say a rabbit) would be maximum about 15%. I find it better to think of a "carcase" diet, where the predator in nature consumes most of the carcase, including organs, gut contents, tendons, soft bone, marrow and even some skin and hair. Canid species will usually also consume opportunistic feeds of fish, insects and some fruits/vegetables. Grasses are usually semi-digested in a prey animals stomach which is why we put veges through the food processor or blender first to allow the dog's gut to access them. For those of us without easy access to entire fresh carcasses we do need to ensure diet components are added so that the "missing bits" of carcase are replaced or substituted.

I thought merlo was a south american variety of coffee bean? Maybe the BC's are coffee coloured merles?:laugh:

Puppies need more protein and fat than adults, if you like I will PM you a diet sheet for pug babies which is half premuim puppy kibble, half BARF. I feed all my pugs chicken necks as a regular part of their diet but after a couple of times rescuing them from choking, now I just take the meat cleaver to the necks and chop them into three or four pieces when I am bagging them up for the freezer, they can inhale these without problems. I have chook carcasses on hand for the larger rescues, occasionally I will take the meat cleaver to those and feed them to the pugs too, but I just cannot bring myself to offer chicken wings - I have a nightmare of them poking their eyes with the joint while chomping...probably unfounded I know, but...

What part of Vic are you in? Quite posibly someone can suggest a good one closer to you.

No downside at all, there is very little surgery risk with a male. Even show stud dogs should be neutered by about age 8 in my opinion and now that ANKC has enabled exhibition of neuters there really is no reason to keep show/breeding dogs and bitches entire after they have passed optimum breeding age (which will differ from individual to individual) and they should be done by late middle age I believe before they reach the high surgery risk of old age.

I can't see why you would assume that this guy is homeless? The media article clearly says that he was temporarily on that site for a construction job. I think it great that he had dogs with him! Huge RVs with built in dog accomodation are common on the show scene in the US - the sort of dog trailers we have here are not permitted in quite a few states I am told, thus the Winnebagos etc.