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This is right on the money. My own education from buying from pet shops to actively seeking ethical breeders or rescue organisations was a long 15+ year process, mostly because I was uneducated about what a 'ethical breeder' is. I don't think most people know what an ethical breeder or a registered breeder are (not that being one means being the other). My cousin is a good example. She told me recently "I know pet shops are bad, but the one in Highpoint is ok because a friend told me they get their pups from registered breeders."

Hi all, Can anyone recommend a good kennel in the Eltham area for our German Shepherd and Bernese Mountain Dog? We are looking to leave them there for 10 days in late July. Thanks in advance.

i should probably confirm with the breeder what age she recommends desexing. I can't remember whether she said just before or just after her first heat. the desexing at 6 months was recommended by our vet.

thanks for the replies everyone. it seems like the consensus is leave her in the pen for a while longer. this is what i was leaning towards, although the wife feels sorry for her so wants to leave her out with the shepherd. her pen is big enough so she can walk around a little and have her poop and pee area far away enough from her doghouse and bed. she's a happy bouncy pup, so she doesn't seem to be psychologically affected by it (we're probably the ones who are!) so, i think the plan for now is to keep her in there. she'll be getting desexed at 6 months anyway, which means she'll need to be in there for about 2 weeks anyway. then maybe wait til she's around 7 or 8 months.

Hi, We have a 5 month old female Bernese Mountain Dog. When we are at work, we leave her in her pen which is approximately 2m x 5m. We do this because we also have a 40 kg male German Shepherd, and we didn't want to leave her with him unsupervised while she was so young. Now that she's getting bigger (about 23kgs)we're wondering whether we can leave her out with him while unsupervised. They are great with each other, but they do play quite a bit. I wouldn't call their play "rough", but there are the occasional bumps, and sometimes he'll put his paw over her shoulder, especially when they play tug of war (I guess he does this for leverage?). They tend to play in the morning, then sleep during the day, then play again in the afternoon. We have left her in her pen just in case unsupervised play does structural damage to her joints. He's never been aggressive to her or any other dog, so I'm not worried at all about that (though I guess you can't entirely dismiss the possibility). We feel sorry for her because she is in a small pen all day. What do you think? Should we leave her outside? Are her joints strong enough? Or should we err on the side of caution and leave her in her pen until she's older? Thanks in advance.

good timing for this post, as we need some advice. my gsd is crate trained (and that's pretty much how he got toilet trained). but in the last month or so, he has just been sleeping on his cushions minus crate in the lounge room (with no problem), though once in a while I let him sleep in the crate. the reason is, we will be getting a bernese puppy in a few weeks and i would like to crate train her using the gsd's crate, but her own cushions. our house is too small for two big crates. do you think this is fine? or will the gsd get confused because another dog is sleeping in his crate? thanks in advance.

my old ridgeback x bullmastiff (RIP) would have been in danger had this been proposed several years ago. like everyone has said, this is just a broad brush reaction to the (tragic) Ayen Chol (RIP) incident. Fortunately, or unfortunately, this 'initiative' will probably fizzle when the newsworthiness of the issue also fizzles - and when the government realises how difficult and EXPENSIVE it actually would be to identify 'pit bulls' by appearance street by street. This money is better spent on pet education initiatives of some sort.

You certainly can The list is below, but looking at it we could do with a green salad or maybe another quiche or similar? ok, i'll ask the wife to make greek salad or other green salad.

can i bring helmut (GSD)? I haven't been in a year. what do i need to bring?

they've met once and see to like each other, although i can see that there is potential for rough play. the dobie is the more timid one and stopped when the rottie was getting a bit too excited. however, it's a dilemna because the breeder says they look like they would be good for each other as they are both soft-natured. but he has been with his rescuer's pack (of older dogs) so i'm scared he may injure himself trying to get to the rottie if separated.

hello, I am going to rescue an 18 week old male dobermann cross bullmastiff, and I am thinking about getting an 8 month old rottweiler female as a companion for him. The big dilemna is whether they should run together while I am at work during the working day, or whether they should be separated until their bones fully mature. In my yard, there is a big run, and a smaller run. They are separated by a 5ft fence and there are small gaps between the wood in the fence so they can see each other a little. On the one hand, separating them seems to defeat the purpose of getting another dog as a companion during work hours as they would not have full contact with each other. Though they would be together when I get home, and for the weekends. On the other hand, I have been told that having two unsupervised puppies run together could be detrimental to the development of their joints esepcially as their growth plates have not fully formed. Should they be separated while I am at work? They met each other for the first time today and seem to like each other. Also, note that my first priority is the dobermann x puppy. That is, if these two were not meant to be together, I will still adopt the dobie pup (subject to a yard check, which should be ok). Advice please! Thanks.

sorry to hear about your ridgeback. my ridgey is having some neck trouble too these days (is it pick on ridgebacks month or something? ) anyway, my 13.5yo rough collie has been slowing down the last couple of years with arthritis and cartrophen didn't seem to help her much. i started giving her seaflex late last year and that did put a little bit more spring in her steps (seh isn't running around like a 2yo, but the improvement is noticeable). it's a marine concentrate and there's supposed to be no chemical preservatives. keep in mind though, that i started feeding her a raw food made by pet love here in melb (recommended by a doler) at about the same time, so it could be one or the other or both that caused this improvement. good luck with your ridgeback!

thanks everyone for your responses. fingers crossed she's ok after two weeks.

yes this was a regular vet. hm, never heard of a canine chiropractor before. can you recommend one in the eastern suburbs of melbourne?

hi, my 4yo ridgeback x was taken to the vet about a week ago because she had neck pains (she was yelping when she moved it). the vet gave her tablets for about 5 days that seemed to work, but the pain came back when the tablets ran out, now she is on a two week program of the pills. the vet said to wait and see what happens, but if the pain comes back after the two weeks then she will need a ct scan as they can't determine what's causing the pain. just wondering how much ct scans cost? the vet quoted $1600, and depending on the prognosis, i may have to spend about $5000. is that pricey? can you recommend vets who charge more reasonable prices? i'm not sure what caused the pains. two possibilities are: 1. she gets super excited when she sees other dogs on her walks and her running all over the place may have placed strain on her neck over the years. 2. she had a dermoid sinus removed when she was 1yo. could this be somehow linked to the neck pain? the sinus itself doesn't seem to have come back. thanks in advance for any advice.

so i just ask for "pet mince" from the butcher? i'm just a little suspicious about butchers because the couple of times i bought "doggy bags" from the local butcher, she had diarrhea (though she had no problems with their marrow bones). I cheat. I buy it from a guy at supply place and he is the one that deals with the butchers. So, I dont know exactly what to ask them sorry. I buy things like organs from the butcher though. They charge about 50c for them. Where do you live roughly? Someone might be able to point you in the direction of a good place to buy. I live in templestowe (north-eastern suburb of melbourne). it would be great if someone could recommend a good butcher for raw foods. otherwise, poodlefan's suggestion of human grade mince sounds good - though that might get expensive since I also have a ridgeback x to feed. but anything for them!

so i just ask for "pet mince" from the butcher? i'm just a little suspicious about butchers because the couple of times i bought "doggy bags" from the local butcher, she had diarrhea (though she had no problems with their marrow bones).

just wondering what people think of raw pet foods you get from the supermarket such as bush's, 4 legs, and vital. they say they have fresh meat (listed as their first ingredient), but also have "selected grains and cereals", which i thought was bad for dogs. they also seem to be about the same price if not more expensive than barf, which i feed my dogs now. (am i wrongly equating price with quality?) i feed my 13.5 yo rough collie barf but i'm not sure she likes it. she takes so long to eat it, and i even have to put a little soy sauce sometimes as that seems to encourage her a bit. i also put her seaflex sticks in there as she wolfs that down. thanks in advance.

I've used Troy fly repellant for years and they always do the trick. good luck!