ozwildflower

May I ask, why do you breed? Sure. I breed because I love/enjoy it and because I'm good at raising great pups with the help of my gorgeous girls. I have friends who are groomers and do the shows - I support them and they support me. It has been this way for a long time and works well. I would never breed without health testing and knowing the pedigree and would never use an inferior or untested sire. I have one dog that, after getting him 6 years ago, I found that there was Addisons in the line so never used him. I had him neutered and he is a great friend and companion. I have a lot of satisfaction from the happiness that people have from pups that have been bred here and the fact the all pups have become lovely adults.

I don't have litters often - 2 in the last 4 1/2 years - and I don't show. I certainly don't run a business and, when I do have a litter, I breed using advice from one who is much more experienced that I can ever hope to be. I have standard poodles but I am not a groomer, which is really why I don't show - also I'm not a spring chicken anymore for running around a ring. I do answer most emails and go to a lot of trouble to help friends place pups in good homes. I don't answer emails that are obviously from agents or 'big buyers'. I have had someone wait a year for one of my pups, but that was their choice and I had offered to help them get another pup from another breeder. I am so scared of being responsible for a pup ending up mistreated, in a puppy farm or being part of the 'doodle' world, that I spend hours making sure pups are placed well, If I got paid by the hour I would be a wealthy woman indeed. Definitely for the love of the breed.

Congrats. Glad all is well with mum and bubs and you.

I have a girl the same as Missymoe - bleeds solidly throughout. She is obvious when she is ready for mating, she is non-stop flagging. I'm also lucky (in a way) that I have a neutered male who is very good at letting me know when she is ready.

I emailed the 'contact' and got this reply..... 'Yes, hundreds of fake and incorrect breeder listings, Plus ads for Viagra, painkillers and steroids, plus a heap of porn videos have been loaded onto my hobby site about dogs. My site has been hacked, I am deleting data now, and reverting to an older version of the database. My apologies for any distress caused, I assure you, mine is no less than yours right now. Sincerely Nici B...... ' Poor thing, thinks me.

You still may be AmandaJ - I found my full name put to somebody else's profile (nothing to do with me at all) and stuff I have written on my dogzonline website given to somebody I have never heard of. I've emailed and complained - be interesting to see if they actually do anything about it or even reply.

That's scary..couldn't be more wrong. Somebody needs to be shown the door - and/or fix this ASAP. Don't get how they could lift stuff from web sites then get it so wrong

My litters go to the vet on their 3rd day - get de-claws removed and a good check-up.

Great ideas given - I must pass those on to a few people I know that have gutsy eaters. I am curious though - how old is the pup? I am just coming out the other side with a pup who was inhaling everything, including chicken necks so that I stopped feeding them. Turned out she was doing a MASSIVE teething thing and didn't have enough teeth to chew properly but wanted the food. I've never had a pup before who did nearly all the teeth in one go - I'm pleased that her new teeth are all coming through okay- hard to keep an eye on the bite when there are no teeth to look at.

I agree with everybody else, though my largest litter has been 8. Now, don't forget to let us know when all the pups are safely delivered and you've had a rest I'm sure everything will be just fine.

What an awful thing to have happen - I feel like crying with you. Seems to me you are doing everything anyone could possibly expect or want and even more, as this was not your fault. Amazing the vets didn't pick up on it earlier. Please don't think I am putting blame anywhere, because I'm really not. I was told to always remove the wishbone from carcass's before giving them to even the adult dogs. I boil the wishbones up for stock.

I agree with bridie, no need to justify, it's just very hard not to. I have said, before now, you would pay nearly as much in a pet shop for an pup with no papers, no history, no known health tests on parents and no back-up after their 3 day 'cooling off' period. I have also had people who think it is okay to barter for a pup. People like this are not the sort of people any of us would want to sell I pup to, IMHO.

Thanks Lisa Thanks from me too. Interesting what folk say about the pics. For my pre-order puppy-parents-in-waiting I send a weekly update by email with photos and, when they get a bit bigger, some video on YouTube. For the puppy owners to be that come when the pups are a born or a few weeks old I send them the catch-up copies. They get the usual puppy packs as stated when they get their pup. Everyone always seems happy and I haven't had a complaint.

I wonder what we did wrong LizT. Anyway, my dogs seem to love the Royal Canin and do well on it - though my latest addition pup only likes the adult and won't look at the puppy food. I'm biting my nails as to whether to get just one puppy bag of Advance even though I swore off it

And you actually received your Advance puppy pack? I gave up after both myself and my food supplier tried over 18 months and 2 litters. Advance lost me all together of it and after years of feeding Advance I switched over to Royal Canin. I make up my own puppy packs also.

I have a ton of security on my computer and don't use a personal email for puppy enquiries..so I tried a reply to that email to see what came back.. here was the answer I got. "I'm much interested in buying , I work offshore presently and I don't have my cell #. So I can send someone to check on them for me. The price is not a problem. Get back to me with your located address and your cell # so the person can check on you today. Let me know asap." I replied that I don't sell puppies unless I meet the actual prospective new family member/owner. As if I'm going to hand out my address and phone number - a bit scarey though, I'm sure there are some gullible people who just might.

I actually agree with you becks. Seems a lot of people are so used to texting friends and family they have forgotten how to communicate text in a 'normal' way. I've had some terrible initial emails and some of them have turned out to be the wonderful families for my pups and people who always keep in touch at birthdays etc. One reply usually sorts out whether it is worth persuing any further.

I believe that finding an experienced mentor in one's chosen breed, before venturing into breeding, is really important. I have 2 people who have far, far more experience than I can hope to get in my lifetime and I rely on them for advice. This was not a sudden process - it grew over a few years - and I am very grateful to them for trusting me enough to give me all the help that they have. Maybe that is the first thing - you have to show an experienced, ethical breeder that you are trustworthy and willing to listen and follow advice. It is a sign of the times that most folk who show/breed are feeling wary of people coming along saying they want to breed, however, having said that, I've been somewhat taken aback, at shows, by the reaction from many towards the public asking questions. I think anyone with any knowledge needs to educate at every opportunity. Good Luck!

Blimey what with no nuts and gaining 8kg a whippet sounds like it would do really well in the ring after the implant!! Sounds like its all a bit hit and miss with the testicles and temperament. Might not be worth the risk seeing as ive only just got him back in the ring after 6months off with an injury. Toooo funny - the mind boggles.

My dog definitly lost normal testicles as did my friends dog and it took a lot longer to wear off than told initially. Also, I do know of one proven stud dog who still didn't have fertile sperm back after 3 years, even though his testes appeared normal.

This is getting crazy and scary. Let's open the doors to all the unregulated puppy farmers out there and make sure that those of us trying very hard to do the right thing....can't. Where is the thinking???

Most pups don't like to soil their own nest - so it's just a matter of using this to advantage to start toilet training. My pups have a 'toileting' newspaper area from when they start moving around and mum stops cleaning them up. As soon as they are old enough to go outside I get up and let them out as soon as they wake up and they toilet outside. I usually give lots of praise when they respond to the word 'toilet' by doing it. Hope that makes sense - been a looooooong day. :-)

Yes, Bilbo, just what I was about to add. I've been lucky enough for that not to happen, but friends that did have that occur got a letter from the vet to say the bitch was healthy (she was) and the pups were registered with no problem.

Are you also saying that you have had only one reply from emails you have sent? What is going on out there? People wanting a fortune to supply what they are ethically bound to supply anyway and others not bothering to reply to queries? Seems some of the bad press we pedigree breeders are getting is warrented. What an awful shame.

YIKES...so very wrong. Everything that everyone else has said..plus. If this so-called self-styled 'breeder' is registered, I would also be reporting them to the relevant state Canine authority, as letting a pup go this young is a no-no.