Rascalmyshadow

As a long time professional groomer I would discourage anyone from starting up mobile grooming, too many risks and not many benefits. if you are really keen to become a groomer the best option is to find an experienced groomer to train and mentor you, I have seen way too many people do courses and come out with no idea how to actually handle the dogs which is a recipe for disaster.

We have 5 dogs, 4 female and 1 male, our pack prior to that was 3 male and 1 female, I’ve lived in a pack situation for over 20 years and only twice had serious issues between dogs, both times it was between a male and female. With the experiences I’ve had I’ve found it depends on personality more than gender, I personally will never again have more than one male at a time as the only problem I’ve encountered with more than one male (even desexed) is the competition marking territory including in the house. Edited to add: for us 3 is our magic number and the easiest to manage. It allows a single dog to be taken out on its own and the other 2 still have each other, I’ve never had the issue of one being left out.

She’s gone, I’m sorry I don’t have the mental energy to explain everything, she slowly went downhill over the weekend and I knew it was time to let her go. Her last pic, there was so much pain in her eyes, the sparkle completely gone.

I’m quite upset writing this but I thought I would do one last update. Today at 11:45 Katie will be given her wings, she’s had two rough nights and I knew yesterday it was time, the spark is gone from her eyes and all I can see now is a dog that is exhausted and ready to say goodbye. They are the most amazing species, she was let down by humans more than once, neglected for years, clearly in pain, yet still so trusting. I promised to do my best for her, I wish I could do more.

The size of mine was (I think) $160, that is fully framed and ready to hang, also includes a genuine certificate of authenticity.

I highly recommend this artist, I’ve had two portraits done, one of my Cassie (kelpie) and one of my husbands girl Abby (bearded collie) she will work with one or multiple photos and will make sure it’s perfect and you’re 100% happy before framing is done and payment is taken. She is lovely lady and can’t speak highly enough of her and her work. Pics don’t do them justice.

For anyone following Katie’s story, we have found out she is 13 1/2, her original owner is deceased so she has been fed but received no other care for the past 5 years, she has clearly been mistreated along with neglected as we’re seeing a few things indicating a fear response but over all she’s a happy girl. We have her on two supplements as well as Meloxicam and we are adding in some more pain relief this afternoon (once the vets have dispensed it) she now has a bed fit for a queen and has become part of our pack. We have her booked in, in 4 weeks along with Rascal to both go in together for their dentals.

Woohoo Katie has been given the all clear, heart sounds good and bloods were all normal, we’ve started her on Meloxicam to help with the arthritis (will also be looking into the other suggestions) and she’s booked to go in a few weeks to have a dental along with Rascal!!! The vets believe her heavy panting is pain related so hoping that will settle once her pain is under control.edited to add sorry for the sideways photos have no idea why they’re coming out like that.

Thank you for all the suggestions, and the nice comments about my daughter we have started Katie on supplements to help with her arthritis, she is off for her vet visit this afternoon (along with Rascal) so hoping she checks out ok and doesn’t have anything too serious going on, will update once we’re home.

Katie today!!!

I don’t get on here very often these days but I thought I would put up a post about a beautiful old girl we have just taken in, I just want to highlight to others to step in and be pro active when you see abuse and neglect. On Thur night my nearly 15 year old daughter was out in town with her boyfriend enjoying a local twilight market when they noticed a severely neglected very old dog wandering the streets, instead of turning a blind eye my daughter decided we needed to help, she managed to follow the dog to its yard, find out who it belonged to and report it to the rspca, she then rang and begged me to help get the dog somehow as it was being kept in appalling conditions, I decided to offer the owner a sum of money to hand the dog over and they willingly obliged. Katie is her name and she’s (apparently) 15 years old, the poor girl was so matted she was struggling to move, the smell of stale urine and faeces was so strong I was gagging the entire 5 min drive it took to get her home, she has a lot of arthritis, her eyesight is failing, her hearing isn’t great and she had been left to sleep on cold concrete with no shelter, her coat constantly wet as all the knots were like sponges. I am angered and sickened at how someone could treat such a beautiful old girl with such little care, amazingly in only 3 days of being clean and comfortable she has gone from looking depressed and ready to give up to being happy and I can see a sparkle in her old eyes and the most amazing smiling face. Katie has clearly had a hard life for a long time but she is still so forgiving and loving, she doesn’t want for much just a soft bed, good food and a little attention. I am so proud of my daughter for being persistent and unlike all the adults around and there were many, she chose to help, she chose to be this girls voice, she didn’t walk on as if it was someone else’s problem. We really didn’t need another dog however we will all make sacrifices to make sure she is kept comfortable and when the time comes she will die with dignity knowing she is loved and part of the family.

A good breeder should offer you a partial refund if you chose to keep the dog and a full refund if you give it back, as long as you’re vet puts it in writing. I’ve been through this twice, first with an Airedale puppy, had a hereditary defect and had to be euthanised at 5 months old, breeder refunded us all our money as we had a letter from a specialist, the second was a 10 month old Samoyed from interstate, as soon as I got him home I knew something was wrong with his hips/back legs, took into the vet I worked, they knocked him out to do X-rays, he had hip dysplasia so bad the vet advised me not to wake him up and to euthanise on the spot, contacted the breeder, she spun some bull#%*t story and didn’t want to know about it, we lost money on the purchase price, the flight fees, and the vet bills, was a hard lesson to learn.

What your saying is fair and makes sense but means absolutely nothing to someone just wanting a family pet, most average people don’t care if the dogs are champions or imports etc. they are just looking for a sound temperament, good health and often a particular colour in their chosen breed.

The next letter I would send would be saying your looking into taking legal action.

This exactly. I have never had an issue in the past as I introduce myself properly and give details about the home I can offer, I have only been turned down by multiple breeders of the same breed, all sent me one liners, ‘we don’t home to people with children’, was so unfriendly and rude I ended giving up and getting a x of the breed instead. Now however prices are so high I’m not comfortable approaching any breeder (except the one that bred our beardie) as I often see them put no time wasters or ask your husband, wife, partner first (how can you do that if you have no details including price) etc. in the past I’ve known I was likely to afford the dogs/pups I was interested in but now there’s so much variation, they could be anything from $1500 to $8000.

Anyone on here that’s a breeder can you please tell me what should someone looking for a pup/dog do, if breeders don’t like being asked how much their puppies/dogs are and for what ever reason don’t want to disclose the amount on their advertised litters/dogs but also don’t want their time wasted, how is anyone supposed to know if the pups/dogs are in their budget without causing an issue or making breeders angry?

Those are not family pets and I would expect to pay a high price for a trained working dog or a dog for breeding and showing. My younger daughter desperately wants another chihuahua but I’m not even game enough to make contact with any breeders as I know they don’t like being asked how much, and the likelihood is they will be more than we can afford, I also don’t want to waste anyone’s time.

Yes my time is worth something the pup I ended up keeping was payment enough, with the inflated price the only way for us to potentially own any more dogs is to breed from our own, something I would have never considered doing in the past, luckily I don’t really care if they’re pure or crosses as long as they’re healthy with good temperaments. oh and just as a side note, we didn’t intentionally breed from our girl but we made sure we didn’t everything right.

Dogsfevr incorrect, I didn’t have management issues, yes the carpet was a big expense however no different to an unexpected c-section. I ended up breaking even and got a free puppy to add to my pack so I’m the end actually saved myself about $5000.

I understand there’s a lot to go wrong and I’m no breeder, we were down $4000 the min they were born because Mum decide to whelp under our bed instead of in the whelping box next to the bed, $3000 worth of carpet (only a few years old) destroyed on top of having to pay to replace the flooring. One litter was hard enough and cost us a fortune because we did everything right and spared no expense, when I realised one of the puppies I sold had a congenital issue I took the pup back and refunded the buyer their money and then was the one to take her in to be euthanised, I was up through the night every night to sit with mum because she wouldn’t stay with them to feed during the night without me, I spent so much time cleaning up poop and pee because I wanted them reared inside with us, I was so exhausted I fell asleep in my car one day in the supermarket car park, I can understand the amount of time, effort and money that goes into produce quality dogs, my issue isn’t with breeders making money or covering their costs, it’s the fact that I watched prices become extremely inflated in a few weeks. How can a litter from a breeder be advertised for $2000 a pup and then only a few weeks later their next litter be $4500 per pup? Same breeders, same breed. Its really disheartening to think so many people can no longer afford to have a dog in their life. I never had any intention of breeding and our girl was desexed as soon as the vet gave her the all clear but seeing how the prices are now I’m glad she had the litter because it allowed me to add another dog to our pack when there’s no way my husband would ever agree to spend $5000 plus on a dog.

This is where the problem lies, puppy prices more than doubled over the course of a few weeks, I don’t care if you’re a registered breeder or not the expenses did not suddenly go up in that space of time. The litter we had (no they weren’t purebred and I won’t discuss it here as it’s a purebred forum) to ensure they went to good homes and we’re not flipped I advertised them at a high price then dropped it once I was sure they were good homes. Everyone of those puppy buyers has stayed in touch and all have been so happy to get a beautiful family dog that they could actually afford.

Find yourself a good dog Chiro, there’s a high possibility it’s a back injury not a leg injury and a standard vet is unlikely to of help if it’s a chiropractic issue.

Yes there can be extra costs potentially an extra few thousand $$$ however I still can’t see how it can add up to $6000-$8000 per puppy Oh and just to add, we kept one puppy, we gave one away to the owner of the fathers best friend and one ended up being euthanised due to congenital abnormalities so that left only 5 pups to sell.

I have to somewhat agree with the op, puppy prices are ridiculous at the moment, no family dog is worth paying $6000-$8000 for, that is straight up greed. We got our chi just as COVID started, payed $1800 a few weeks later prices had doubled and have been going up since. We had a litter of 8 pups just over 6 months ago, they are medium sized dogs, I put 24/7 into them, they were born in our bedroom and were raised inside along with our 5 adult dogs, they were fed a high quality diet, wormed, microchipped, vaccinated etc, Mum had her necessary ultrasounds etc,we spared no expense so I have a good idea of costs involved.