RuralPug

Yeah, another vote that it is not emergency panic stations, wait until normal business hours and if the vet thinks it waranted they will do a fine needle aspirination to test for baddie cells. The FNA is not a complex procedure, no anaesthesia, basically like a blood test. Chances are very high it will not be a problem, but getting it checked early means that you have the best chance of fixing it on the off chance that it is, and it is also best for your peace of mind!

Sorry for stuffing the link and not coming back to fix it. Thank you raffikki, for coming to their rescue!

I located the synopsis of a study - this is aimed more at Danois than the OP - if you have an otherwise healthy dog or cat with a black coat that turns reddish brown it can be an indicator of a dietary lack of the amino acid Tyrosine. It is a brief synopsis, but they found the evidence so overwhelming that after only 5 months they could all clearly pick by eye which of the littermate Newfies or black labs was on which diet, just by the coat colour. Amazing what a little old amino acid can do! Here is the link to the synopsis paper red coat syndrome and diet.

Proof of ID card You can't blame DV for her stupid behavior nor her shoddy Dr. It is becoming compulsory to micropchip dogs at time of registration. Thanks Sway, but that raises a few more questions. (1) Will Dogs Vic accept the Proof of ID card as photo ID? I showed her that same link ages ago and she told me Optus would only accept Driver's licence or Australian Passport or a verified security photo ID from employer. (2) Microchip numbers at registration is excellent (voluntary has been happening for a while), what we also need is compulsory microchip numbers of sires and dams on the litter and service forms. Do you know if this is planned for the near future? I do hang my head in shame - of course it is not Vic Dogs fault if she gets her licence again, I was just venting. It's really Optus' fault!!! (sorry couldn't resist ). But I would feel much better if I could see something in writing from Dog Vics to say exactly what forms of photo ID they will accept... ETA So I have emailed the office to ask exactly which photo ID's are acceptable. Logically, at the very least, any government issued photo ID (eg the Dept of Justice one you linked to, Sway) should be acceptable. Then I should probably double check on that Optus thing...

Lovely fat cavvy slugs!! Not log before we hopefully see some lovely fat visla slugs too, fingers crossed. RJ, isn't the obvious enough for you? Tenties, not dog, not dog sperm, what on earth are you going to do with human sperm? Are we taking bets? Chooks? An alpaca? Galah? Boa constrictor? Hmmmmm - is it bigger than a PP40 crate? Wings? Fur? Scales? Hooves? We need more hints than just "it's not dog sperm!" Play fair!

Um, what about people who don't have photo ID??? I ask because a friend of mine, due to eyesight problems, years ago stopped driving and didn't bother to renew her license. Her passport is British, for some weird reason a lot of places won't accept that as photo ID. She found out recently that she has absolutely nothing that will be accepted as photo ID by Optus. Like me she has been a member of KCC, VCA, Dogs Vic for over 25 consecutive years. What happens to her when she goes to renew her membership? Dear lord, she is already talking about getting her driver's licence again (her doctor will write anything she asks him to ). As much as I love her, I don't want her on the road in charge of a vehicle again - this move by Dogs Vic will only increase her determination. Surely it would have been better to identify dogs (via microchip numbers) rather than people as a way to stop dodgy dealings?

If his thyroid tests out normal, it could be that he is baking in the sun which can turn black coats brown or he may have "red coat syndrome" where black dogs and cats turn a rusty brown shade due to a diet deficiency in an amino acid (tyrosine, from memory). This can be corrected by adding kelp to this diet.

Hmmmm I'm not explaining it very well. I don't think anyone here is saying that it WOULD be seen as a vote of no-confidence if defeated but that some people COULD see it that way and they would lobby for it to be defeated for that stupid reason. There are always those who have their own agendas and may attempt to twist it into a sort of de-facto no-confidence vote. Hopefully if this is attempted, someone else will speak up encouraging attendees to vote simply on the basis of whether they support the Patron being changed to Peter Hitchener or not.

Sorry I don't follow could you please explain, how this could be seen as a vote of no confidence in the MC ??? Julie, there are always idiots who don't vote on the pros or cons of the motion or proposal itself but who vehemently either decry or support it solely on the basis of who proposed it. It's called politics...and it's a disgrace IMHO but something we have to live with.

Nice to see this thread livening up a bit - I always check it out even though most of the time I have nothing to contribute... Hey Mick, with all your contacts in the reptile world, is there a forum or something where Heidi could post this large indoor vivarium? Not much good for a serious fancier I would have thought, unless a breeder wants it to resell to a pet person, but a bargain for a pet person wanting something bigger. I will have some news to share in the next few weeks.

You could always advertise on Gumtree or somewhere - be wary of weirdos though wanting to know the address of your (uninhabited) house in Melbourne... And if all else fails - remember that Bendigo is not the end of the world away from Melbourne. If you have to leave husband and dogs in Melbourne and just return home on weekends - well it is only 12 weeks, after all. Many families have endured much worse. And who knows? In your first few weeks in Bendigo you may find someone who knows someone who would really like temporary boarders in the shape of a couple and their dogs...

Friend on a US breed board was chuckling over her smart pug. Friend doesn't get to sit down on the couch often, but when it's DVD movie time she does and that is lap snuggling time. Normally pug sits on her lap and rat terrier snuggles next to her hubby. So the other day she sits down to watch a movie and the rat terrier jumps up and settles on her lap. Pug is disgruntled, room is made for her too, but nope, she won't come. Pug finds a tennis ball, takes it to the top of the recliner next to the couch and drops it so that it rolls past the couch. Rat terrier, who is ball obessed, jumps off lap and races after it. Quick as a flash, the Pug is on my friends lap, snug and very smug!

Shall I add to the confusion? You are all correct. According to dictionary.com a purebred (noun) is a purebred animal, especially one of registered pedigree. BUT if you use purebred as an adjective then it means of or pertaining to an animal, all of whose ancestors derive over many generations from a recognized breed. So if you say "purebred Chihuahua" then it doesn't have to be pedigreed to make that a correct statement. However if you say "This Chihuahua is a purebred" then it does have to be pedigreed to make that statement accurate. English is a funny language at times. My own opinion is that the pedigree papers are only as good as the breeder behind them, the ANKC bodies trust in whatever paperwork the breeders send them. DNA tests are really the only 100% proof of ancestry. My thought is is that if this pups parent's haven't been health screened then you should wait for one from the breeders you have applied to...sorry, but just being cute is not the best reason to buy a pup coming from unscreened parents, pedigreed or otherwise.

It's not an emergency thing, don't worry too much, but do get it checked out at the vet's on Saturday. Ask them to do a FNA (fine needle aspiration) which just means they take a tiny sample of blood from the lump (right there on the exam table, not a big proceedure) and then check the sample for cancerous cells or "mast" cells. Pugs are quite prone to MCT (mast cell tumours) but if detected early they can be removed usually without problem. Most lumps tend to be just fatty tissue and not MCT, but it always pays to have an aspiration done.

When working out how much to feed a dieting adult pug, I always decide what I want their correct weight to be, which will depend on their height and body shape. Let's say her ideal weight is 8 1/2 kilos, then divide by 100 to get meal size of 85 grams (assuming you feed twice daily). That would be about 3 tablespoons twice a day. Then when she gets to her ideal weight add another tablespoon. You might want to replace one or two meals a week with raw chicken necks or chicken wings so she's getting some more digestible bone. And the circling - tee hee - you have a marching pug! I bet she does this sometimes carrying a toy, too! I have had one too and know of others. It is an attention getting thing and she will probably eventually grow out of it, although it may take a few years....

:rofl: :rofl:

I wouldn't expect them to stay that way...it's probably temporary, the ears are only just beginning to become erect and for some reason the ligaments are strengthening sort of upside down and I would guess that the ear shape means the weighty tops flop backwards rather than forwards due to some weird ligament section not growing as fast as it should ( that's the best I can explain it). They will probably come erect in time with a little top flap (forward) in the long run. Sort of like papillon ears maybe with a little sheltie type fold? All bets are off again when the adult teeth start to come in though! You can really see weird ears then in many breeds!

I think that people who pay $2500 or $4000 for a fashion colour or other single trait in a common breed (dog, cat or pigeon) which has been bred for without regard to all the things that you and I care about such as good health, soundness and good temperament are doing so because (a) they want it as a trophy "look how much I can afford to spend" or (b) as an "investment" - they believe that their $4000 can produce $40000 worth of offspring or (sadly) © they are just dupes who didn't bother to research first. You can't fix stupid. Remember the llama (or was it alpaca) bubble when they first came to this country? People were getting together as syndicates to spend ludicrous amounts $275,000 etc for a single breeding stud or female, and then reselling them for even more - until the bubble burst, and a lot of eager investors lost a lot of money. Fashions come and go - I agree that it is sad to watch the animals suffer uneccessarily though. Years ago I was chatting to a greengrocer as he unpacked a new supply of fruit. I asked him why some bananas from the box went into one display at a lower price than the rest? He said "Some people will always buy the more expensive ones, thinking that they must be better quality. I give them the choice." In my opinion, Blind Freddy could have seen they were identical bananas, so I scoffed, but I hung around, and sure enough, some people, after checking both displays, choose the more expensive ones. I really really still don't understand why some people do that... All we can do is educate as much as possible, I guess. You really can't fix stupid.

Agreed. However that only works when you can clearly see at 10 weeks that the puppy is a poor specimen. In real life, many are potentially good specimens but may grow into poor specimens that shouldn't be bred from and you can't be sure until they are 12 months, or 15 months or 18 months or 3 years old. Puppies on limit register can be transferred to mains register later with the breeder's approval. Puppies sold desexed do avoid the problem of a poor specimen being bred from, or even a good specimen being abused by a bad pf or byb. I don't know how many people I've heard of who have bought a dog as a pet with no intention of breeding, but then have been swayed by an in-law or neighbour saying gee what a handsome dog you should breed it you would make a fortune... that is the problem that many breeders, especially in the "fashionable" breeds, face. And then they could easily end up selling, innocently, to puppy farmers. At least limit register means that you are not condoning that sort of irresponsible breeding. When you feel responsible for the puppies you bring into this world it is damn hard to let dogs go out on mains register.

Poor frogs! Out of your tap? Dunno what they could be... going by the size they would either be the Common Froglet or immature Southern Brown Tree Frogs. Both are plentiful out your neck of the woods. Would LOVE a pic next time you find one in your tea! ;) Well I wasted spent a bit of time looking at that frog link. We sure have plenty of the pobblebonks around and the geocrinia victorianas and also the leggy one Pseudophryne bibroni (if I have left the mowing a bit late these scramble out of the way amidst the mice and skinks). I can't find anything that looks like the little translucent froglets ( which I presume are just out of tadpole stage) that come through the elderly pipes into the kitchen. Haven't seen any since the drought broke though. BTW never had one come out when the water is flowing so never straight into the kettle, thank dog!! Shape wise they are much like the crineria signifera in the photo but the colour is quite translucent almost like dark honey with no spots or stripes and a slightly paler underside. Had cream eye-make-up if I'm remembering correctly. Oh and they jump! Not fun when you are chasing them around the kitchen with a colander and they always jump the other way...

More than once I have accidentally speared one on the garden fork. RIP froggy. I also get the little tiny brown ones (size of 5 cents) they come out of the kitchen tap...

Your parent's house, their rules, so if they permit your auntie to mistreat your dog, then you decamping with your boyfriend and dog is the only real solution. I agree with talking calmly to your parents first though. ET fix feral apostrophe.

It is an interesting question, and the obvious follow up would be and is that food readily available today? Scottish herding dogs in the late 1800's had a daily dish of porridge (usually wholegrain crushed baked oats soaked in unpasturised fresh milk) supplemented several times a week with a snared rabbit or wildfowl caught by the shepherd and fed whole, unskinned/unplucked, uncooked plus leavings and offal from home-slaughtered livestock, and thrived , working hard, on that diet. You should not, however, mistake the cereal by-products used in extruded dog kibble as the same type of cereal, nor should you mistake the hormone-stuffed, antibiotic-stuffed skin, bone, gristle, and a teensy amount of muscle from a factory raised meat chook (labelled as chicken on the ingredients list) as real meat. It is important to remove the baby before you toss out the bathwater, but please do toss the water - else toxic algae will grow in it and mosquitoes will breed...

I typed out a long, thoughtful detailed reply and lost it in cyberspace. Woe is me, I am upset. I should sue Hewlett Packard and Microsoft... IMO the brief answer to your question: Under what circumstance can you sue someone? - Whenever you can convince a legal team to present your grievance in court. The only things you have to "prove" is that you have suffered loss (physical damage/financial loss/emotional suffering) and that the entity you are suing is responsible for that loss and should compensate you. Legally, if someone eneters your yard and trips over your garden hose, they can sue you for damages. You have left a "hazard" in their path. If they fall over because your pooch is running joyously to greet them and they run in terror, they can sue you for damages. You have allowed your pet to appear out of control and trigger flight instinct - another public hazard. The US has become an extremely litigious society and I fear that the rest of the Western World may follow suit, but to date Australian law as interpreted by and large by our courts makes me believe that if you take due and reasonable care (in the placement of your garden hose and in the management of your pets) you won't be faced with huge penalties. Due and reasonable care includes having millions of dollars of Public Liability Insurance (most home insurance policies include that) just in case. It also includes taking further steps to prevent hazard if you have been given any reason to believe your pet could startle someone (doesn't have good recall for instance). If you have a dog that is, or appears, agressive, it would be prudent to take extra steps to prevent him/her becoming a higher-risk hazard.

Cuddlehound. Handsome one too!:D I see a lot of sheltie, enough that I suspect one parent may have even been purebred sheltie. The other parent was probably a muti-breed small fluffy of some description. I doubt that there's many Mittels running around entire adding to the cross bred dog population, else I would suggest that.