RuralPug

I attended by train today to avoid parking issues - I had studied the train timetables and gate times and was prepared to cool my heels outside the gates for a while, but lo! the gates were open when my shuttletrain from Southern Cross arrived at the showgrounds station before 9am. I was at the dog pavilion a few minutes later. Heaps of time, and my breed started at 10 today. One word of warning - if you do arrive by train, don't expect to use your exhibitor's entry ticket to enter from the station. They are told to send all exhibitors through the exhibitor's gate and it's a long walk around. But if you are older (like me) and laden with gear (like me) and if you sigh dramatically and say, "Oh dear. Very well. Please point me in the direction of the dog exhibitor's gate", then perhaps they will take pity on you (like they did me :D ) and let you through. Thank you, officials!!!

Trying to answer the question as if I was just looking for a pet companion, then colour/pattern wouldn't matter a whit to me in a cross breed, and would only need to be an acceptable one in a purebred. But if was was looking for more than a companion, colour/markings may well be of more importance to me - maybe I wanted a terrier type to hunt with I would probably look for a lot of white so I could easily find them down the rabbit hole, maybe I would need a dog that had a white tail tip for various reasons of visibility, maybe I wanted a herding dog with a coat that would either stand out from, or blend in with, the stock. And in the show ring and breeding world, colour and marking must have some weight, and if, as you said "all else being equal" then yes, it would make a lot of difference.

The Drop was a real sticking point for my Pug. He was really really stubborn about that, and he would only drop reluctantly and wouldn't stay dropped for long. For a while I wondered if looking up at me from a drop was hurting his neck or something, but since he looked at me when he was relaxing at home in the same position, I guessed not. In the end I reinforced the drop at every single meal - we used TOT anyway, so I just got him to stay longer and longer in the drop before releasing him to eat. Now when he breaks from the drop - he doesn't actually get up, but commando crawls closer to his food dish if he thinks I won't notice and freezes with an innocent look if he catches me watching....norty boy!!! Might not help your Frenchie if she is not as food motivated as my Pug though!

Woolies home brand mackerel in mackerel oil, never in tomato sauce (salt content too high for my liking) - when you can get it. I tend to grab 1/2 dozen cans when I see it and then raid all the Woolies for 1/2 dozen each store as it is out of stock quite often. I don't feed tuna to the dogs at all. I used to get home brand sardines from Coles or Woolies (either in soy oil or springwater, but never tomato) which both come from the same cannery in Thailand, but then I discovered Aldi sardines, which used to come from a cannery in the Phillipines, but lately has Thailand so that's probably from the same cannery now too. Still I'm sticking with the Aldi one because the packaging is so much easier to use and recycles better too!

Yes, it is weird the fetishes they can get. As a child, I had a cocker spaniel who had a passion for rubber bands - no idea where she found them, but was constantly passing them (mostly intact!) The same spaniel was retired from the showring and rehomed after she ate about 15 pounds of styrofoam (my brother's new record player has arrived packed in it) and didn't pass the styrofoam - it stayed harmlessly in her gut but her figure was ruined ! Still, I think that overall, cats tend to have even weirder food fetishes than dogs - they get addicted to the oddest things, e.g. polaroid photos being developed (showing my age here!) for example. Cat saliva does not improve the resulting photo, by the way. My current cat loves to chew up emery boards...

Maybe advertise in your local shopping centres? Put a classified ad in the local rag? The kind of people who generally need dog walkers are rarely the kind of people on DOL!!!:D

Some of those designs, the deep dish ones, I think would present problems for any flat face dog. I quite like Pav Lova's doughnut puppy feeder suggestion. To see if it will work, try feeding him in a large ring cake pan, if that lessens the mess then the puppy feeder (which has a sloping center) would be even better and worth the investment. If your hubby is handy, he could make a homemade trial version of that neater feeder by taking pvc pipe the same diameter as Archie's bowl and cutting a U-shape access wide enough for his head - you would then slip the shaped pipe into his bowl so that he has a rear surface to pin the food against. Good luck!

Same here. I can just see potential for confusion, not everone is going to remember to post where they are. We like individual show topics, or specify in which State they are held. Any reason why it can't be both ways? I mean that those posting results can post in an individual thread about that show or post in the weekend thread, or both if they like. Those reading have the choice then also. Personally I would look in the 'weekend' thread first. Though I certainly do agree please announce the state - it is not always obvious to numpties like me.

Merci, trying to rear two young puppies together if you are new to the breed and don't have someone full time at home wouldn't be easy. I would wait the full twelve months between if you intend to get a young pup. But if you are getting an older one to start with, then quite likely you could add another just a few months later, as puglvr has suggested. Almost all of the hereditary diseases in pugs are treatable (albeit with deep pockets) however PST or "shunt" (a type of malformation of the liver) and the extreme forms of HV (a malformation of the spine) can result in euthanasia being required at a heart-breakingly young age. Be aware also that puppies from puppy farms or really uncaring or ignorant BYB's may be in such poor condition that they can perish from non-inherited conditions such as parvo virus. So please do your research and support only ethical breeders, or if you are worried about your breeder-radar abilities, get an older dog via a breed or specialty rescue.

Oh Lord I am so sorry, but this typo absolutely cracked me up :rofl: I am the worst one for typos. why are mine just random and not really clever like this one!! Even He Who Weilds the Spanners laughed - he says he want a Cool Champion Cooking Vest for BBQ duties!!!

:rofl: He is a bit food-oriented!!! The trick will be to put him where ever you want to brush him, dangle a treat just out of reach and wait for him to work out that he needs to be still (relatively!!!) for a whole five seconds before he gets the treat....once he has worked that out, you make that 6 seconds for the next treat and then 8, 10 etc. Once you have him still for 30 secs you can start touching him with the brush etc while he is still until he learns to stay still in spite of the brush in order to get the treat. If you are doing this two or even three times a day for 5 minutes or so each time, he should start to figure it out pretty quickly. Once you've got him good at staying calm to be brushed, then use the same method to get him used to having his ears inspected, feet lifted and inspected, nose roll touched etc. All a little bit at a time. He has a bit to learn but with your patience and persistence he'll get there soon enough!

The Furminator is a wonderful tool. Rubber curry combs from horse supply stores are good too, especially for inbetween Furminations. Training a sweetie pie like Archie to stay still while being brushed will involve treats....:D

Talk to the people at Ballarat Dog Obedience Club Inc. to see if you would be a good fit there. Best thing is to just roll up (dogless first time maybe) on any Sunday morning at the Victoria Park grounds (near the stockmarket end). They also have a website you can wade through bdoc. Then you could do the same for the Bendigo Obedience Dog Club (sorry I don't know when/where they meet) and choose the club that you feels best suits your needs.

Well, here is what the State Govt., i.e. DPI have recently put up on their website: DPI on restricted breeds vic as at 7 September 2011 Absolutely no mention of SBTs or pit bull types, the only restricted breeds are the previous ones, and Amstaffs with pedigrees cannot be declared a restricted breed dog. So what are these LGAs on about?

It certainly seems to be the thin edge of the wedge...is there a financial motive? Do councils get to charge higher registration fees for "dangerous dogs" or "restricted" breeds?

This is where DogsVic ought to earn their membership money...I wonder what the chances are? They do not have a brilliant track record so far...

Not going to froth at the mouth, mate, I feel your pain. My way is to try to approach the owners first too, but that many incidents is just too many. Maybe you should approach council, just in general terms? If that doesn't work, maybe a rant to the Ballarat Courier about how council is not educating owners enough, or fining heavily enough in repeated cases etc? I've seen myself that some areas of Ballarat are getting very very slack in repsonsible ownership. The local obedience club runs courses, most of the local vets runs puppy schools, so learning how to be a responsible owner is not all that difficult. Several times I've seen dogs roaming the streets in danger of getting run over or causing an accident - in those cases I always try to catch the dog and take it to Gilles Street. If I can't catch it I will notify the ranger on duty.

Gee I've been there and I don't even know the street name! From memory it is not far from the centre of the township. My method is to drive to the main access road of the town involved and then follow a dog trailer - usually works.

I agree that the dog on the left looks like a Briard - but could be a spaniel/poodle cross as they can have coats like that, too. The other dog seems much finer boned - if the Briard lookalike is a Briard (and the bone in the forelegs looks solid enough) then the other looks somewhat like a european style Belgian Shepherd or possibly a GSD cross of some sort. I am not familiar with all the FCI shepherding breeds, possibly he is a purebred something or other, but most likely that picture is just a stock advertising picture - BAYER are well aware that crossbreeds need product too!

Rozzie is right (no suprise there!:D ) I think Black Dog still make the one you mean, called a "balance lead" but they say on their website that you can only get it in a bundle with a balance harness. The double ended leash that Black Dog now make is supposedly better for the puposes you have stated (although personally I can't see much difference in design). There are plenty of online stockists for their products. Both their "balance lead" and their "double ended lead" are flat, not round, but would otherwise suit. Top Dogs online also have a simliar product in webbing that they call the Euro lead. ETA oooh I type too slowly!! Great find, ness!!

OOOOOOO! Where is the DROOL smiley??? Definitely I will be making a trip to my local Target...fingers crossed I can get some!

So sad Tenties, when you have high hopes and they don't measure up in some small way. There isn't the room to keep them all, but you wouldn't be the responsible breeder you are if you didn't shed a few tears each time the slightly older ones have to go.

Have seen these or similiar in pet stores, they looked flimsy to me but may have been cheap copies of a good one (mind you they were significantly more expensive than the above deal.) But just looking at the dimensions, would a grey be comfy in either? You really need to take a couch or something for them to be comfy, I suppose!!!

This does happen quite a bit. The best Coolie breeders, for instance. No way in the world would I consider them backyarders. However I would say that unless they are with a reputable registry (and there are others besides ANKC) it is extremely difficult for them to demonstrate their committment to improving the breed.

Oh no. RIP Denise. My prayers for her family in this sad time.