Tassie

Good that you're open to taking different information on board. It's good that you're seeing improvement on the reactivity front .. but it's worth bearing in mind that if the dog does react, you're being given information that the challenge presented was more than she was capable of dealing with at this stage of her improvement, so a better response IMHO would be something like "turn & go" .. showing her that you understood what she was telling you, and you've got her back and will protect her from challenges she can't handle. The problem with using a major aversive is that it comes with possible fallout .. there is a risk that your dog might "blame" other dogs for the discomfort/unpleasantness. You might find some interesting work on reactive dogs if you check out Glasgow Dog Trainer .. he has some excellent Youtube videos.

That's tough .. but I guess good to know what's going on. Definitely worth trying the solar lights. Ned is lucky to have you in his corner.

@Roova Just had to add ... Recallers rocks!!!!

From what I've seen, Cavaliers are probably the most easy going, but also highly trainable and smart ... several I know do obedience, tracking and agility among other things. From what I've seen good breeders are doing their very best to breed sound, healthy, long living dogs. A friend has Border Terriers .. show and pet, and has bred. Hers are lovely little dogs, but they are terriers .. so a bit independent and sometimes a bit inclined to be a little snarky, even with a lot of work. She lives small acreage, and two of hers decided to go walkabout for a few hours the other week, causing considerable alarm .. fortunately they were found before they came to any harm.

Aaaargh! And I notice the other colours people have mentioned have all been solid colours, not merles. That's a whole new barrel of potential trouble .. especially in the hands of the clueless or the moneygrubbers, who are not like to be doing full DNA profiles (if they're even possible) to rule out double merles.

This is such a hard time for you, Pomeranian liver .... so sorry. But I'm so glad that you have the help and support of her breeder ... that is really good to hear. I did see that other post on the old thread, and I guess vaccine reaction is a possibility. Your breeder's vet might be more willing than your own vet to investigate the possibility. ETA On pup's vacc certificate it will say which vaccine was given. so C3, C5, or C7 .. and which brand. If you know that it might help.

That's worrying for you. A few thoughts ... what vaccinations has she had, and when. What about worming? It might be interesting to put the dates down and also dates when you've noticed these odd behaviours. If she were mine, I'd be asking her breeder if there have been any similar things that the breeder's aware of in litter mates, or in other dogs in her lines. Is the pup still showing this behaviour, or is I something that has passed now?

That's really the only upside (if you can call it that) to this sort of sad situation ... that we can spoil them rotten. The only other comfort I can find, and I think it's already been mentioned, is that the dogs don't know what we know ... they're living for the moment (and the Schmackos .)

Without the papers for either of the dog or bitch, it's even more vital to get thorough health testing done on the dogs you are proposing to breed, otherwise, you cannot be said to have done everything to prevent possible future health problems in puppies, since you don't know the identity or the health status of the lines behind your adults. Hip and elbow scoring x rays usually requires a GA. Obviously we cannot stop you if you are determined to go ahead .. but please do not expect much approval.

Best advice I can give is "go with the flow" ... when they want to play, play, and when they're sleeping peacefully .. admire them (and envy them). It's a bit hard when you have a younger dog who has been used to playing made Border Collie games with the older one. Hard to explain that the older one really doesn't want to play today. At the same time, keep teaching the old one new things within his/her capability. And there are quite a lot of useful exercise and massage techniques which can help keep the senior active and comfortable. Thinking of the getting up on the bed thing ... if she's not already on joint supplements I would put her on them, and make sure she's not in pain. My old BC agility girl was showing signs from 13 or so of early stage kidney disease, but as well as RoseHip Canine Vital, she had a kidney sparing herbal arthritis pain relief powder from our holistic vet which helped to keep her apparently comfortable till her death from lymphoma at 15 and a quarter.

I'm not sure of the answer to that ... but I would suggest using the Help forum at the bottom of the list of forums and posting a question there for Troy, the forum owner. That way you'll know the answer is correct.

Thia!! Or if only one crated, then it stays in Leroy's crate, shut in if necessary.

Good for you for getting onto this quickly. Agree with the others .. definitely one where a good "eyes on the behaviour" trainer will be beneficial. I just checked a reputable trainer's directory and could only find one in your general area. I have no personal knowledge of this trainer so I can't really make a recommendation, but there is 'proper' training there, not just a franchise, so might be worth making contact. qualified dog trainer working in Tweed Shire In the meantime, I would be investing in management .. a large exercise pen that puppy can't get out of, but would keep puppy and kids safe. I would also be getting a largish wire crate, which you could put in the ex pen and use it for puppy meals, and for safety. (If you do a search for crate training you should get some ideas on how to start ... but the basic principle is that the best treats come in the crate .. things like chicken wings .. really special stuff. As far as getting things from the puppy in the meantime, obviously as you're doing, that's an adult only thing. If you use super high value preferably chewable) treats, you can throw a couple off to the side of where the forbidden object is, and keep throwing them to the dog while you safely retrieve the 'treasure. I'd be playing this one when pup has something safe too ... throw treats, pick up object when safe, throw more treats, then put object back. Point of this is that the pup learns that you taking something is not always the end of the world. It's worth working on this, in case you need to get something that could be dangerous to the pup .. like string. If pup has a history of getting treats thrown for her, she may become less antsy .. but that's a may. My cue for this game with my Border Collie youngster is "swap"

Sorry it didn't work out for you, but like others .... full of admiration for your analysis of the situation. Sounds like he's in a good foster home, and hopefully his good match for him family is out there waiting for him. Your assessment will certainly be uyseful to the rescue and the foster dad I'd say.

One of the things that makes 2 pups at the one time more of a commitment, especially in a breed that needs a lot of positive exposure to the outside world (socialisation) is that they really need to be taken out individually, so that each individual pup is learning ... not just relying on the other .. especially if they are littermates. Of course this is true to some extent when socialising any pup. Not so much a problem if there are at least 2 humans in the household able to do that.

Big Dog Raw Barf frozen patties also have a Sensitive Skin variety which might be worth a try.

FWIW, my almost 9.5 year old boy (obedience, rally, agility, used to be tracking) has always been on some form of preventative .. was Joint Guard, then Blackmores Osteocare chews (thanks @Jumabaar and has also had RHCV for probably 4 or 5 years. He also does some core work and other conditioning work (probably not as often as he should.) He was Xrayed - knees and hips - last year when we thought he had cruciate damage, but apparently didn't (knees were 'beautiful' and hips - 7 years on from original scoring xrays . same vet also fine .. no significant signs of arthritic change. ) He's also had regular 'mechanical maintenance' from our holistic vet, who uses a variety of modalities. So hard to know So what contribution if any the RHCV might be making. My old girl - retired from competitive agility just before her 13th birthday . much to her disgust.. had also been on RHCV for the same tiem .. and JOint Guard before that, as well as maintenance from our holistic vet. She showed no particular signs of arthritis right up to her death at 15.25. So I really have no idea what contribution the RHCV might have been making .. but it does seem that it's doing some good and certainly not doing harm. (Incidentally, I've rarely paid full price .. they're really good about their competitions and offers like 2 for 1.

A thought for you. Bear in mind that as an older dog, unless you've already had his sperm tested (probably by a repro specialist vet) you should probably get his sperm tested first. There's every chance that live healthy puppies would not result, if the quality of the sperm had deteriorated significantly.

Hope all went well with Bindi sheena ..... oh and definitely I know that sudden change of face when they're taken out the back. .

You're likely gong to have to wait for a good puppy. Have a look at the Golden Retriever breeders page on here . pull down the Dogzonline Pages tab up the top tp gp tp the breeders' page. Just having a quick look at Queensland was interesting .. but I notice there is one breeder with some nice looking dogs, who is planning a litter in mid 2018. The Golden Retriever Clubs in the different states usually have some suggestions or puppy listings. It helps if you can be specific when trying to contact breeders .. so to help you do that, make a list in advance ... things like ..... what would your plans be for the puppy .. e.g. show, performance, pet or all of the above. It's often good to be able to say briefly what makes you choose the breed, and your experience with them, as well as your home/family/work circumstances, and whether you have a mentor in the breed. Often breeders will have a detailed questionnaire for prospective puppy buyers to fill in. You should also be researching what genetic health concerns are in the breed, and whether there are tests available to help limit the likelihood of those problems arising..... e.g. hip X Rays, Elbow X rays (family histories are also useful information there), mature eye tests on the parents (e.g. for star cataract). Then you would expect the breeder to supply you with the results for the parents. Hope that helps a bit. (My second favourite breed .. had an aunt and uncle who bred some beautiful GRs many years ago.)

This was a quote from the article, well worth being spread more widely. In Tassie, dogs are not permitted within a specified distance (10 m I think) of a children's playground. Not that everyone follows that prescription either.

Such a sad situation for you. It does sound as though the breeder had genuinely been trying to do all that was possible to try to ensure pups had the best chance of having good hips and elbows. But as @Rebanne and @The Spotted Devil have said, it is still not possible to have guarantees with a problem which is multifactorial like HD. You had really bad luck in the THRs failing. I understand from the experience of a friend with her working sheep dog that the recuperation period from a THR is incredibly difficult for a young active dog, requiring very long period of little and then very restricted activity, and thorough rehabilitations where that is available. Apart from the cost, how very, very hard for you to have to make that decision to free your girl from a life of pain.

Before Delta was around, the Guide Dogs down here had a program where owners took trained pet dogs into facilities like nursing homes - especially the dementia units. I used to visit a couple of facilities with my 2 dogs at the time .. doing about 45 minutes each dog, cos yes it is tiring for the dog. I was working full time, so we used to go on Saturday mornings in that gap between morning tea and lunch. It was lovely to see the responses from some of the people .. they enjoyed petting the dogs and watching them do tricks .. and they would tell you about dogs they had owned or known in the past. I also did therapy visits at a palliative car unit, where not only clients but relatives would really enjoy the visits. Some funny stories though .. like the lady who would usually say when I went with the dog into the big lounge ..."I don't like dogs" My answer would always be "That's OK Doris, I won't bring the dog near you. Then every now and again, as I would be staying away from Doris, I would hear her say "Aren't you going to bring the dog for me to pat?".. and she would happily be petting the dog. As a handler, you quickly learn to just go with the flow.

Not a GSD person, but I would have thought $2000 - $3000 range was not unreasonable. Several of the GSD people I know of are bringing in new lines from overseas, and so their costs are even higher than normal, and they'd have to reflect that in their prices. And if you really mean working lines, then I would expect prices to be higher than 'ordinary' GSD lines (for want of a better word, because there are fewer breeders of working line GSDs as far as I know. For me when I look at getting a pure bred dog, the price is less relevant than things like the lines behind the dog, the results of parental and familial health screening, the care and enrichment given to the puppies and the rapport with and support from the breeder. Good luck with getting that from a BYB.

That describes my old agility girl. We had the opportunity to learn to work sheep on a farm when she was about 2 or 3. A very patient trainer, some well dogged sheep, and lots of walking round balancing, and she learnt to become a "handy little farm dog", able to do chores reasonably efficiently (though not up to the standard of the experts), and pretty useful in the yards. But she would never have made a 3 sheep trial dog .. definitely lacked a natural bubble, bless her.