Jaxx'sBuddy

i was thinking about what your dogs do....and photograph them doing it, like the frisbee but just more of that type of thing. i would have them all together so people can see them getting on and sitting nicely you could also show shots of the property or the local area if that appropriate

i have had big dogs and now i have a small dog and i expect them all to behave the same way. i will never user dog parks becuause there are a lot of idiot owners out there regardless of the size of their dogs. it is a bit offensive some of the descriptors used in this post for small dogs and there are a lot of small dog owners on DOL that really do make sure their dogs behave well. now what is it people say?.......ban the deed not the breed

lol ty you are doing really well with your dogs and what i think is great is that you really look at what they are doing and ask lots of good questions that gets everyone thinking.

ok.... but I have a query here- if we distract dogs when we see they are about to snap or whatever- does this then mean that issues are unresolved? The message doesn't get thru to the other dog, and the relationship is still unsure? I was just thinking pup is being a pain, and a pain... dog gets fed up , and is about to let pup know. Observant owner sees what is happening-- steps in .. dogs separate, distracted. Does pup then see another opportunity to be a pain again and take it, seeing as how he was not disciplined the first time...? (thanks the gods yet again that she does not live in a city and have to cope with all these modern day problems!!) i understand what you are saying. for me its my dog is the priority and if i thought she was getting too annoyed i would distract her and move away from the pup and if the pup doesnt get it then that is for their owner to manage.

totally agree with this

excellent offer, i am sure the OP will appreciate it!!

i just want to say again that i know of dogs that vomit up and raw meat and bones. barf is not the answer for all dogs

This is a MAJOR factor that I try to impress on my puppy buyers - there is a particular dry food that vets LOVE to push (because they make a huge mark-up on it) which, IMO, is not good for medium to large puppies like Standard Poodles. It is problematical whether a breeder could enforce conditions as to diet etc and I certainly wouldn't be using the heavy-handed tactics this particular breeder is using, all we can do is try to steer puppy buyers in the right direction for their puppy. i totally agree PM. educate, explain and make sure the puppy buyer understands the ramifications of changing diet and what a good diet is for that breed. ets my vet doesnt even try this on me any more and he says that vets dont always know everything about nutrition and diet

Agreed! I had vets tell my puppy buyers to put Dane babies on puppy food, and to give calcium. ah yes, i forgot that some people may not be as knowledgeable as other, point taken. i do take very good care of my dog and have sought out lots of info on diet but i have a small dog and whilst diet is important it is nowhere near as important as a the diet for a giant breed puppy.

not only that but how on earth do they monitor what a dog is fed? seems to me that its not a good idea to ask for something that cant be enforced

IMO all a breeder can do is RECOMMEND a particular diet that they have found to be successful for them. They cannot guarantee that that is what an individual will do best on and they certainly have no LEGAL right to dictate to somebody what a dog should be fed after it has been sold on to another party. i agree. my dog has some slight allergies and the vet and i have had to work out what she does best on. now she is on mostly raw kangaroo meat with raw fish, canned sardines and mackeral and raw chicken frames. she is doing really well on this and i am sure her breeder would not have know that further down the track her diet would need changing (not that her breeder stipulated that i MUST feed her anything)

Well for starters I wouldn't let an online forum put you off a breeder purely based on points of difference wrt how breeders sell their pups / what they recommend to puppy buyers. Things like deposits, specific diets, veterinary checks depend much on the individual breeder and are in the range of normal They do not indicate whether a breeder is ethical or not and certainly are no reason to be warned off a breeder. So yes, what your breeders website proclaims is NORMAL. Best tip for buying from a breeder insterstate, spend the comparatively extra few dollars and fly out and meet the beeder and the puppies.e or failing that ask the breeder to explain why they do the things they way they do and make your decision from there. this is a good way to decide whether you want to use a particular breeder however you also need to know what other breeders of that breed do..research is really important

can i ask if you have researched breeders and have you talked to other boston breeders? is this breeder registered with the official state kennel club? does this breeder seem to be similar to other breeders or are they much different in their expectations? have they tested their dogs for the common genetic issues found in bostons?

I have been warned off whole fish because of its high mecury levels. Not sure if that is correct or not. I think I with feed them two eegs a week and 1-2 tins of sardines a week. Do people get them in oil or water? It depends on the fish, larger and older fish are of a much higher risk, but sardines are young fish and doesn't have that high level of mercury. You can find lots of info about it on google, here's one page about it, but there are many more: http://www.fda.gov/food/foodsafety/product...y/ucm115644.htm i also give raw pilchers and tommy ruffs for the same reason, they are young

If they're puppy canines don't even worry about it, they'll be gone shortly just keep an eye on her adult ones coming through. Unless she is very unusual it's not an ''open wound'', it's an indentation, the skin is closed. Not really a big deal as long as she is happy chewing on things. You would be surprised by the huge number of dogs who go their whole lives with their adult canines driving in to their upper gums, converging canines are a problem in a LOT of breeds. doh!!! i didnt read the 4 and a half months...not long and the tooth will be gone as sandra said the only thing is the other dog that i was talking about had the same thing, not an open wound but a piece of food got stuck in the hole and she had an infection cause it was in there for a while

i am not sure this would happen i agree, my old dog needed cortisone or pts i chose cortisone and she got quite a few more as pain free as possible years

yep mine isnt the sharpest tool in the shed but she is very sweet

just another thought, if you stick the pill down the side of her throat then it is really easy to get it down. my dogs just eat what i give them especially if i make them work for it and that includes pills. i make out the pill is the treat

i knew of another pup with a similar problem and needed to have the tooth taken out. also you might need to keep an eye on the hole to make sure no food gets stuck there as it could cause an infection.

good to know after 5 days the poo is ok to compost txs

i really agree with this. if i was going to breed i would need to know i was breeding the best i had so maybe my dog/bitch might not be good enough. i think a thick skin would help because i would ask experienced breeders what they thought. i suppose thats why people have said getting a title because thats one way of determining what you have.

my first thought would be to have a really good relationship with a really good vet then a mentor in the same breed

just remember that if you have wormed your dogs the dog poo will have the worming chemical in it and this will kill the compost worms

+1 Orbit has only ever had his puppy vaccines and minimal flea treatments etc and is on a raw diet. Yet he's still very allergic. Yes, he gets cortisone and other immune drugs, but only because they are the only thing that bring him relief. To say this is an absolute 'no no'?! How can you say this about a drug which provides comfort and quality of life for an animal? The RAW vs Kibble will always be an ongoing argument, but I think the subject is like religion - do your own research and make your own decision, but don't preach to other people. Not all dogs will do well on raw. Those who improved on raw were not 'cured' of their allergy, but merely relieved of their symptoms when the culprit allergen was no longer being fed in the dry food, eg a grain, storage mites etc. I know of one particular dog who was fed a raw diet all her life, only puppy vacc'd, never given oral treatments/chemicals/drugs, yet died at 2yo from cancer. My own family Golden Retriever was fed supermarket dry most of her life, had cortisone for flea allergy dermatitis here and there, vaccinated at times yet lived till till she was 16yo and was only pts because of joint disease. Dogs are all different - like people. Their digestive systems function the same but are not all the same, as with their bodies. If one dog thrives being fed a raw diet, then that's great, but I don't think it's fair to tell people something what they're doing is 'not the best' for their dog. x2 I've done it all with an allergy prone dog and really you have to do what's best for your individual dog, what you can afford financially and what you have the time for. Have you tried to get to the underlying problem? did you actually find out what was causing the allergies in the first place? I must say that I am often disturbed when people say that they can only afford minimal financial care for a dog and don't have the time that a dog requires. In that case, maybe goldfish would be a cheaper option. I do appreciate it that not everyone is made of money but if people cannot afford even minimal veterinary care then I think they should not consider owning a dog/cat/horse.... how rude

i think it is really normal. she could have bit and damaged the pup and that would have been a bit too aggressive for my liking. i honestly think she was doing her job as an older dog telling off a pup in the right way. she was saying to the pup "ok i have let you play for a while and i told you to calm down before and you didnt so now i have to tell you off a bit stronger so you get the message, now leave me alone" i suppose if the puppy didnt leave her alone and you let the puppy continue to harass her and she felt that you werent controling the situation then she may get more aggressive. i usually make sure that if puppies (or older dogs) are a bit too stoopid to get the doggy language that i step in and take my dog away from them as i dont want her to be frustrated and potentially aggressive