kja

No, the breeder is having the vet do the vac...the breeder is the one who told me what was happening and what she was going to do. The puppies are scheduled for their vet checks and all of that. I'm sorry if I'm not explaining things very clearly! The breeder is LALAPANZI Kate Nicholls and I found her on the Canine Association site after the Ridgie Association here in WA pointed me toward that site for contact details. I've been to see the pups and meet with her for two long visits. When I asked her "why" she said: 1) it's cheaper, 2) distemper is almost unheard of in Australia, 3) she thinks more than parvo is probably overkill and she thinks it's unnecessary. She did say it wasn't the norm but that it was in keeping with her desire to raise the puppies/dogs more naturally without sacrificing their health and well-being.

Looks like you've gotten some good replies! The 30D is a capable camera and it's just a matter of practicing. Surprisingly, reading the manual is actually beneficial, unlike so many manuals we get with stuff - it's worth your time. As others have said, if you are getting images that are too dark in P mode, up your ISO - the 30D is happy at really high ISOs so you should be good to go. You can up that ISO in P, M, Av and Tv modes so you can choose how much other stuff you want to fiddle around with. I hate P mode myself as I feel it can be tricked too often. I'd rather suggest to start in aperture or shutter priority - use aperture if you want to control depth of field (how much of the image looks crisp) or shutter if you want to freeze action. It looks like your shutter is way too high...especially with the laying down dogs! For the running dogs, the suggestion on learning how to pan is a great one. And when you read your manual you'll come across the different focus modes - there's one in there for shooting "sports" etc and it's worth checking out. In bright sunlight I bump my shutter way up (1/1000 and more) with my ISO at 100 and my aperture usually no smaller than F6.3 - I will go smaller if there's not really anything to worry about in the background (see my Doggie shot below which was at f9). No sense upping your ISO if you are using that high of a shutter speed imho. Again, fill flash is a great thing if your subject is in range! For overcast, you are most likely going to want to bump up the ISO and drop the shutter. You'll likely not need anything faster than 1/640 or so on the shutter, even for a moving dog, once you get the hang of focusing on a moving object! Learn how to read your meter - it's the little bars going from -2 on the left to +2 on the right. A zero value is going to work well in most instances, but sometimes you will want to head to the - or + ... experiment, it's digital! Set your review screen to have the histogram showing. Expose to the right (mostly) but don't blow the highlights. In post, if you have a dark dog, duplicating the layer and setting the dupe to screen mode works wonder on slightly underexposed pooches. If you want a shot for a card and have some control of the dog, have it sit stand or stretch out and you yourself get lower than the dog. Try getting sky in your shot. If you have a flash, use it for fill and expose for the sky to keep the blues (your meter will likely tell you things are underexposed (-) but that's ok coz your flash is going to add a bit of light to your subject. It's a bit of trial and error but totally worth the results. I would also open my aperture - you're trying to get the dog, not the background. An open aperture will let you get sharp doggie eyes but blur out the distracting background stuff. I love anything under F4 but not sure what your glass has...keep it as close to that as possible and see what you think of the results. This also lets in more light. I'm a big fan of using a wider lens and getting closer. Your long lens is probably a great choice for the more action type shots. Watch your focus point. Don't be afraid to move it off the centre square and always try to keep it on an eye for maximum effect. I'm not sure on the 30D but on my 20D and 40D I can move the focus lock to the * button on the back of the camera. This has tremendously improved my ability to grab quick focus on the move so might be something else to try. I'll try to get out with my dog tomorrow and take some shots - sometimes showing is easier than explaining! Here's one from the beach a few months ago - keeping the sky blue meant nudging the meter to the (-) side, something P or auto modes won't be able to do for you: ISO 100, 1/400, F9, Canon 20D with Canon 10-22 @ 10mm Not on dslrs, shutter lag isn't an issue. It is a huge issue on compact cameras, though. Someone above said practice, practice, practice - that's the absolute best first step...just add the suggestions you've received and what you learn from looking online and in your manual a bit at a time and it'll all come together! HTH

Thanks, Poodle. I do hope some vets weigh in as this whole initial non-C3 thing is a bit confusing. This is the breeder telling me this is what she is going to do, but it just doesn't seem to be the "norm" - now whether that is good or not, I just don't know. And we don't have a vet in town until next Wednesday but I'll call her then...oh wait, it's Boxing Day, darn...I'll have to go look at her schedule for the holidays, dummy that I am I was just there today to weigh my other Ridgie and didn't notice!

The net is an excellent resource - try to find a good group and not one with a lot of cat fights (and there are a lot, so keep an eye out!). I am on the Canon one and the amount of information is wonderful...Pentax probably has one, too. Any of the forums, no matter the brand, will have sections on image display and places to ask about composition, lighting, processing etc and that stuff transcends petty differences between makes. Understanding Exposure. A highly recommended book for anyone who needs to understand the basics. A good Photoshop/processing book - digital is different to film. The choices we used to have to make or used to let the camera make, are now controlled in a different step of the process. Scott Kelby has fabulous books. You do not have to be a "professional" or serious geek to need a book or two on processing your digital images! Despite what the ads say, to get the best from your camera it's not simply a matter of point and shoot while on the green box Something on composition. One of the best I've ever read is a niche book - built for the underwater photography market - but it's on composition and the suggestions apply to land as well. Jim Church's Essential Guide to Composition. It's easy to read and understand plus has some pretty pictures in it! I'm sure there are land composition books out there, too, but this is the one I go back to whether I'm shooting a baby, a dog, a fish or a bride & groom. Here's a list a friend of mine put together...he has a great gift in being able to see something special in a scene or image and his advice has always been spot on for me: General Photography books Photographic Composition-Tom Grill/Mark Scanlon A very thorough treatment of this sometimes hard to grasp concept. Highly recommend to everyone. I’d say a must have if you’d like to advance up a level. Learning to See Creatively-Bryan Peterson I think this book is out of print but can be found. Bought my copy from Amazon used. Another book for those wishing to take their photography to the next level. Bryan makes it much easier than you might think to start “Seeing Creatively” Macro Photography-Gilles Marten/Ronan Loaec The book explores macro photography in detail and has amazing macro shots. It really explains some of the techniques that will help improve your macro shots. This book is for advanced or those moving to advanced photography. Perception & Imaging-Richard Zakia Ok, no sugar coating it. This book is a bit out there with some hard to grasp concepts but also a mind expanding text if you want to take the time to study and understand. I was fascinated with the perception part especially. Learning how the mind deals with the images the eye is transferring to it. Pretty advanced text but worthwhile to read if you’re looking to move up into a rarely visited part of photography. HTH

Thanks, Nekhbet. My breeder has said she is NOT doing the C3 but is only doing one solely for parvo. What should I do?

Yup, that's what it was, Hepatitis...now I remember what she said. So she's NOT giving the C3...she's giving some other parvo one. So should I insist on the C3 or the C5 instead? I think, from the notes I've tried to take, that we deal with the C5 at 12 weeks? I also see a note about C7 at 12 weeks and again at 16 weeks. I really appreciate the ideas here...there's so much information and I'm trying to make the best decisions for our new girl instead of simply blindly doing what we did for the first two (though that did work!) We live remote enough that there are quite a few areas that are seemingly dog-free - I walk at various times each day throughout the week and there's one area I love that I've never seen another dog on in the past 12 months. This was the only place I was thinking of, but want to make sure she's likely to be OK first! I'm not sure what the last line is...I should wait another week after getting her C5/C7 at 12 weeks before taking her in "public"? And, dumb question, is it ok to take her to more public areas if she doesn't walk? Like if I carry her to the shops or if we take her to the beach for a swim but carry her to deep water and back?

Thanks - that's great on the cutting the dry by half or so...gives me a ballpark to work with. Yes, Darling Husband knows that he's hurting her...at least he knows it intellectually. Unfortunately, food is love and fat is love in his psyche and we are working on it. This is a deep seated issue and one that won't be resolved overnight, unfortunately. But we are working on it! Yup, supplements - check! We're working closely with Murdoch in Perth on all of her health problems (she's got allergies as well, poor thing)!

We've thought about this but I'm just not sure it's a viable option for our family. We are remote and meat etc is expensive and some things are not easily available. We've been talking to our breeder about this as she is raising this litter on an all natural diet and we've come to the conclusion that going the commercial route will work again for us - but we are still considering and searching, nothing's set in stone or forever! I guess I'm not understanding how everyone is figuring out how much dry dog food is the minimum to provide complete daily nutrition. I get substituting veggies and the like to keep bulk and reduce calories, but I don't want to reduce the dry so much that she isn't getting what she needs.

Sorry, I forgot that I do also give her green beans (she hates carrot so far)...I'm just not sure how much dry food she needs to have to actually meet her daily requirements. I don't want to reduce her dry food below that point. Her dry food should meet her requirements but I thought that the scraps etc that she also gets need to be balanced by reducing the amount of dry food intake so long as it doesn't drop below the nutritional requirement amount... So maybe I just have the one question: how much dry food does she need to meet this requirement?

We're almost ready to bring our new Ridgie home (30th December) but it's been quite a while since we've done this and I have some questions! 1) the breeder will give her the first parvo shot at six weeks. Breeder says she's not doing the "trio" but doing some singular parvo shot - I can't remember what she called it and I may have that trio thing wrong. She said something about the one she's doing not being for measles and distemper as distemper is a non-issue anyway? Any insights on this? 2) we understand that the pup will need further shots before being able to go everywhere. I never can remember the whole sequence or time line so could someone point me in the right direction? Also, we live in a remote area by the sea. We have a great beach with excellent areas for dogs at low tide. There are very few dogs walked in this area at any time. Is it dangerous for us to take the new puppy to this area of low tide sand flat right away? Both of the dogs (ours and a friends) that she will be with have their shots etc and I'm thinking the ocean may destroy any nasties each time the tide comes in? 3) how much exercise, outside of just puppy playing, should we be looking at each day and how do we increase it? I've read things like five minutes walk per week old until they are ten months...but have no idea how close this is.

Our 5+ year old Ridgie is fat. We know it and have been working on it for a while. The biggest hurdle we have is that DH can't not overfeed her. She's currently on diet doggie biscuits and we had her on the right path...then I went on holidays. I weighed her today and she's up .6 kg ... again. We seem to be losing and regaining the same kilo over and over! I know my hubby too well and he will NOT stop with the treats, though I am very hopeful that he will continue to reduce them. This is just what it is. I also like to give her some chicken necks or wings or a marrow bone once or twice a week, but I don't think that's a big deal as I keep the amounts small - she's not a huge fan of the raw chicken but likes one or two wings or necks now and again. We are also doing more exercise each day, but slowly building that up as she has had serious joint problems ever since she was a baby so each time she has a hiatus, we have to start over. OK, so now that I'm done whinging, here's my questions...when DH feeds her during the day with scraps, how much should I further reduce her dry food AND how much dry food do I need to give her to meet her nutritional requirements? I've read the bags but I'm still confused.