sheena

If it were my pup, the first thing I would be doing would be to take out Health Insurance for her. If you could not afford to buy a good pup from a proper breeder that does all the health tests, & you obviously have no Contract of Sale for her...the pedigree & health of her parents are unknown as they are probably also unregistered, & untested, then you probably wont be able to afford all the vet expenses in the future. Important that you get her insured BEFORE she gets diagnosed with some condition as they will not cover her for pre-existing conditions. Please don't take my comments as being nasty, it is only offered as a bit of advise. Twenty years ago we bought 2 BC pups from a BYB. Back then we didn't know any better & certainly didn't have the benefit of the internet & forums such as this to gather information from. We certainly loved those two dogs & they lived till they were 13 years old.....but I swear...we paid out so much in vet bills that I am sure our two pups paid for the extensions to the vet hospital.

If you are not getting papers for her, then it would be a bit risky if you ever, in her lifetime, needed to take her through Victoria, due to their legislation on some dogs Also, at what age do you intend to get her desexed as some on here could give you some good advise on what age would be best suitable. Of course, you would want to get her done before she had any chance of coming on heat & getting preg.

I think you have not met any chickens! :) You got that right pers! :laugh: Throw a dead mouse in our chook pen and see the girls go mad! They LOVE dead mice, and will chase each other around, each trying to get a bit :laugh: We feed our girls leftover meat all the time, they love it and they need the protein :) No way would I fancy having a black out in my chook pen.....I don't think there would be much left of me, by the next day :laugh:

Why don't you just contact the breeder & ask them what DNA tests have been done on the parents, then if they have been tested & they are clear then you will be able to sleep better. Did you sight the ANKC Mains register papers of the parents & is your pup coming with ANKC Limited Registration papers ????? Did you get a receipt & sign a purchase contract, as advised ??? A lot of good advice was given to you before you got the pup, lets hope some of it stuck :) If the breeder has dogs that have not been DNA tested then they should never have bred a litter in the first place.

I live on a farm & I know your frustration. There is a guy some 3 kilometers from us who "breeds" bull x things. I think he & his neighbour may be into the dog fighting business...we know they are into growing & manufacturing drugs & occasionally the police raid them, take them away then let them go We have been visited by their dogs as they are so massive they break their chains or chew through their ropes & go wandering. However, there is a school of thought around here that you don't warn the owners about shooting their dogs, you just do it & the dog disappears. A neighbour learnt the hard way, he warned the blokes about their dogs chasing his stock. They did nothing about it, so he shot one of the dogs then the owner belted him over the head with a piece of 4 x 2 & almost killed him I feel sorry for the dogs, but what do you do, to protect your own dogs, livestock & children. Gosh, I hope after attempting to murder your neighbour that bloke finally got locked up? Nope ....cause the neighbour had things to hide as well, though not dog related Oh the joys of living in the bush...a shame, but you soon learn to keep to yourself. Not like it was 30 years ago when we first moved here & everybody got to know everyone & mostly we got on. I think "the bush" is becoming more & more attractive for these ferel types to come & set up camp. After all, they have thousands of acres of bush to do their thing in. Police helicopters are the norm, but strangly no-one seems to get locked up for long. Then again, it is probably safer than living in Western Sydney, going by what you see on the news.

I live on a farm & I know your frustration. There is a guy some 3 kilometers from us who "breeds" bull x things. I think he & his neighbour may be into the dog fighting business...we know they are into growing & manufacturing drugs & occasionally the police raid them, take them away then let them go We have been visited by their dogs as they are so massive they break their chains or chew through their ropes & go wandering. However, there is a school of thought around here that you don't warn the owners about shooting their dogs, you just do it & the dog disappears. A neighbour learnt the hard way, he warned the blokes about their dogs chasing his stock. They did nothing about it, so he shot one of the dogs then the owner belted him over the head with a piece of 4 x 2 & almost killed him I feel sorry for the dogs, but what do you do, to protect your own dogs, livestock & children.

Is this used like one would use Livamol, to improve coat colours ??

I think I might have found one

I am really enjoying Sandra Davis's Dancing DVD's, but only have disc one & disc three. A friend lent them to me & her 2nd one no longer plays So I am missing disc two....I think it is called "Getting the Rhythm" Does anybody know if this is available from an Australian site or is OS's the only way of buying it. Even better if someone could come up with a 2nd hand one.

I'm just watching the Sandra Davis DVD's for the second time & all I can say is WOW....I think I will give up now, she makes it look so easy :laugh: Unfortunately I only have Disc 1 & 3, Getting Started & Getting Applause. I think she is an ex dance teacher, so I suppose that helps, but I think she is great. I started watching some Richard Curtis DVD's but found him a "bit hard to take" Not sure if I am real keen on the way he teaches his dogs heeling, with his hand in their collar like he does. Anyone else watched any Sandra Davis DVD's ?????

Oh dear RIP little Bailey. So sad that anyone should have to go through this. Hugs to all your family

I agree with everything that Sol has written above. I know absolutely nothing about Staffies, only what has been discussed on DOL & there has been a fair amount of discussion lately particularly about blue Staffies & their associated health problems. So if it is a blue pup you are getting it may be a good idea to just search DOL forums to see what has been discussed. Regardless of colour or breed, the only bit of advise I can add, is to make sure you read the Purchase Contract (there should be one) & pay particular attention to the clause that states the breeder is willing to take the puppy back with a full refund if the pup turns out to be unhealthy. It is also very important to get a receipt for all monies paid for the pup. It is a very exciting time getting a new pup, so I hope your little one is lovely & healthy & brings you lots of joy :)

Thanks, I will try that. In the early days of shaping her to do tricks with the clicker, I would click then throw the food away from the object & she would run get the treat then go back to the position she was in that earnt the reward. Then I learnt that I was supposed to reward as close to the object as possible & have been doing that of late, but I think I will go back to my old method of shaping & see what she does, because I think that method...you call Hansel & Gretel, probably makes them think a little harder for themselves & should make her want to return to the heel position to earn another treat....why didn't I think of that :) The other method always seemed more like luring to me :)

My BC girl did this in the middle of an agility trial & it sure was scary. I thought she was having an asthma attack. I gave her a human antihistamine & it seemed to fix it. The agility field had been slashed & there were lots of grass seeds & thistles laying around blowing in the wind. It wasn't till I got home after the weekend & found the reference on DOL that I realised what it was, now I carry antihistamines with me to trials, but so-far havn't had to use them again.

The thing I would be worried about with leaving it on all day...is the dog overheating, especially on a hot, humid, stormy Summers day. I don't even like putting it on my girl when the weather is like that, even for a couple of hours so because most storms happen in Summer, I don't get to use it much.

But...... you may never need to use it again within the 12 months. We use it for the calves, but find we don't save anything by buying it bulk & having it go off. Better to just go to the vet & get the required amount when & if we need it. It's only cheap if you need it....if you don't need it, then it's a waste of money.

Lovely work Bedazzledx2....you might be able to help me with a problem I have with training heel. I hold my hand as you do, as a target & she will follow it well enough, but in training, as soon as I give her a treat, she thinks the exercise is over. She will go quite a distance before I treat & I am extending this duration, but she then thinks it is all over. Looking at your videos (other than the one above), the answer is probably staring me in the face.....is it that you don't treat in position, but you treat when you release. I was taught to treat "down the drain" ie while in heel position. Hope I havn't confused anyone & sorry Teela for barging in on your topic. :)

Hugs Owey, to you & your family. It is such a hard decision to make Please don't give up on border collies...they are great dogs & your next little pup will fill your families hearts with lots of joy. :)

I just posted on your FB page, but you didn't mention this. So more Congratulations are in order

This may be a little Off Topic, but it might also be relevent. A week ago I had a dreadful bout of gastro.....& no.....it had nothing to do with the type of kibble I eat :laugh: I caught it off my Mum who I was nursing back to health at the time. Anyway, to cut a long story short....After 24 hours of throwing up & diahrea (sp??), it took me 6 days till I did another poop. It may take your dog a few days to get his poops back to normal too. Just an idea :)

TeamSnag.....just wondering what the vet says & have you contacted Sherel direct at Black Hawk.

So True Lee :laugh: though I wish I had started when I was a bit younger. Catching up on all those lost years of not doing agility, sometimes takes it toll on me. Lucky I have a slow dog :laugh:

If you are new to trialing it is a good idea to go along to one & do some voluntary work, like lead stewarding. I found it helped to settle my nervous expectations a fair bit. You are there, working all day, getting to know & talk to the people, ask questions, take note of what the judges are saying in their briefings etc. I have been only trialing for a couple of years & still remember the panic & confusion over what I had to do, so I put together a page on my web site to try & cover most things you will need to know before you trial. I have left out one thing, though, & that is about getting your dog measured...must fix that If you are interested you can find the page here Trialing for the first time

Scourban is pretty instant. We give it to the calves when they have the scours & often only have to give it once, but it may be different with your puppy. How often did the vet recommend ?? Some plain yogurt with live cultures would be good for him IMO.

LOL I've never heard that expression before! I have Jovi's first trial in two weeks, I had entered one about a month or so ago but it got cancelled due to rain, so looking forward to this trial. Should be exciting, I am trying not to put any pressure at all and not go with any expectations but it's hard as she is extremely capable of kicking butt :p and she has had such an amazing start to flyball (only 4 comps with 4 firsts including a National) so she has spoilt me. I know I will be very proud of her regardless so just really want to go and have fun! Regarding collars, for some reason I run my boy naked but Jovi with a collar....I will probably eventually remove the collar as well on her I got one of those....my first ever agility trial & Bindi's first & we got a "Q" in Agility. It was like finding a gold nugget.....I was hooked from there on. Unfortunately the next two took a bit longer to get :laugh: