SilverHaze

The Sibe club didn't have a stand this year - the usual story, not enough people etc. We were showing though, and brought a few more with us, so that they could lay outside our gazebo and interact with the public. We went and visited with the mally stand this arvo and showed people the difference between the two! The stalls this year were very poor. I noticed very little products - most stalls were actually pet shops, product distributors, etc Only one dog food stand (not counting treat stalls etc). Certainly not something i would pay to go see - which is such a disapointment. Greedy organisers have ruined a fantastic event!

Would love suggestions also for vets in Melbourne for imported frozen semen. We have used Monash, and do not wish to go there again. Suggestions for other vets would be much appreciated (by PM is fine).

Because simply there shouldn't be a difference between show and working lines, let alone then creating a pet line!!!! a "pet line" ? It doesn't happen very often but I am speechless. Actually I am dumbfounded to think that this is even being suggested, as the future of breeding dogs, let alone "better dogs". The pets that I have, are the very dogs that step into the ring, who return home again to the house and the couch and it's being suggested that we dumb them down, calm them down, take the edge of them and make them more suitable for everyone. Oh dear lord, it's time for me to walk away. Glad i wasn't the only one that was struck speechless by this!

Because simply there shouldn't be a difference between show and working lines, let alone then creating a pet line!!!!

Yes, if the breeder knew of a line of mild sibes, and some are. If someone had told you all about sibes before you bought, you may not have bought - or you may have been better prepared. Additonally, if you remove the drive, you will probably remove a few other things which make sibes unique. The drive and temperament has been developed over hundreds of years - if you remove that, what do you have? A different dog. The reason sibes are in the pound is because people bought them without knowing what they were getting, particularly in the way of fencing. Because they bought the cosmetics, not the personality, they were disappointed. Someone should have educated them. But pf only want the money, not the responsibility, so no one talked to them about the responsibilities involved. All dogs, all breeds, including cross breeds have positives and negatives. The art to being happy with your breed is to choose one which has more positives FOR YOU. And that will mean research. Dog's aren't disposable, people need to choose wisely, there are heaps of breeds out there all different, it is simply a matter of choosing, and doing to research. The majority of owners of sibes from registered breeders are happy with them. They accept the temperament, and work with it or around it. Although YOU see some problems, there are thousands of sibe owners who are totally happy with their dog. I don't think any breeder would consider changing the temperament of an entire breed for ONE disgruntled puppy farm purchaser of a sibe. As far as I am aware, all registered breeders of sibes sell as many as they breed. I find your posts terribly contradictary. On one hand, you expect all dogs to be tested in their traditional role. If sibes were tested, and only those who passed tests were used for breeding, it would be likely that the dogs would be even more prey driven, and likely to climb out more often, because only the high drive dogs which could place in sledding events would be used for breeding. You can't have it both ways. No one purchases a Siberian from us with any delusions about what they are purchasing. They go home with every horror storry imaginable stuck in their head. If they are taking a puppy home from us, it's because they have understood what a Siberian is, what it is bred for, and why they are the way they are. If they aren't happy with that, we suggest they look into a different breed. I will not change what the breed is because there are irresponsible byb's and purchasers out there who don't think past a quick buck or a desire to have that good looking puppy with no thought to the conseqences. If you start selecting for undesirable (though perhaps in your mind more easy to live with traits) then you start to change the breed. You may not see it in the first or second generation, but i bet by the 5th you have a dog thats remarkably different from the original Siberian. All our dogs run well in harness - they also live happily in the house and in their packs - as they should, and as they were bred to do. So what that i can't expect it run off lead at the local unfenced dog park - i'll live. That said - our dogs are pretty mellow, we select for great temperaments, and our dogs all respond well to an environment with great leadership and discipline, which is what a Siberian thrives on. Thats not to say they can't be difficult bastards. We are there for our puppy buyers, to help them through the tough times with their dogs, so that they emerge out the other side with a great dog. Most of the siberians in the pounds are there because the breeders weren't there to help the owners out, with advise, training and a shoulder to laugh and cry on. And Jed your right - we never have a lack of people wanting to purchase pups

Duh - they are SLED DOGS - bred and built (mentally and physically) to RUN! If someone can't deal with that they shouldn't have a siberian - it's as simple as that.

I have a 2009 Rav4 V6 - love the amount of room in it, heaps of room for all the gear, plus dogs! And a good sized engine for when i'm towing the dog trailer as well!

I had a dog who i found playing catch with a tiger snake. The snake got away when i distracted her, and i rushed her to our great vet down the road, where we checked her head to toe, but couldn't find anything. Decided to play the watch and wait game instead of treating with antivenine. Anyways, post the 72 hour mark, all was fine, so we were relieved. A while later we find a big scab on the top of her head, peeled the scab away to find two tiny little pinpricks! Looks like the snake just grazed her. The wound would not heal till we ended up treating it with some powerful burns cream. That bitch was damn lucky!

When i bought a couple of tuffy toys for my horror head chewer, i asked the designer if they had thought about doing dog beds, as i was impressed at the quality of the toys (and yes they are still alive). She told me no, as there was someone else doing a perfectly good "tuff beds". She then directed me to their site - where i saw this big poofy bed - filled with bean bag beans Can you imagine!!!!!!! Left me shaking my head, thats for sure!

Dare i say it - i failed the first time, and i was right peeved about it as well. To pass the exam you past get more than 50% in each section of the exam. I think i got two questions wrong in the whole thing, yet one of the questions i got wrong (and i got it wrong because it was badly written) was in a section that only had 2 questions!!!!!!!!!! I resat that "section" which was dead easy and passed, but it was a waste of time and resources. The exam was poorly written and laid out (well at least at the time i did it was, that was a few years ago). I wrote a big long letter when i returned the extra test i had to do with lots of feed back. I doubt it was read though! And thats my dirty little secret out

Another great one is Wayne Fleming. And he caught me out on my debut attempt at handling a weim today as well - of all the stewards to be stewarding, of course it had to be him, the one who would laugh the hardest! I was handling a baby puppy who eventually made her very first full turn around the ring today - yay! OK so i might have been a bit loud with my encouragement - but the steward didn't tell me off

Ron is Brilliant! Haven't seen him around in a while though?

My young feral male jumps on me (rarely other people - only those he loves), pulls my arm out of my socket, and doesn't have a recall - Oh wait, he's a Siberian - sounds perfectly normal to me lol

lol - Pete was the show manager as well. Surname escapes me at the moment, but Peter manages alot of shows, and he rocks!

Could someone give me the contact details to order eagle pack puppy packs, and could you also let me know what you get in them? Last time we had a litter we were told we couldn't get eagle pack puppy packs, so made up our own, and since then have been advised that while they do a puppy pack it doesn't contain any food??? Is this right?

Quite possibly all your hearing then is the ligaments moving over the joints. Take him to a good chiro for a check up just to be sure

Are you only hearing them, or are you seeing the joints pop?

Nope - my latest lot - which were the new chews, didn't have any stickers. I was kinda peeved at that. I have a few left over from old packets, but not many.

i'm guessing the beef tallow is a replacement for the chicken fat used in most foods? what is the difference, and are there any known issues with beef tallow?

Yup - no lower than the eagle pack fish one. I've gotten some samples of the eagle pack natural formula to try - while it does contain some chicken, it's not one of the main ingredients, so it could be alright. At least this will tell me if i have to avoid all chicken, or just high levels of it. I've had someone recommend evo, which does do a non chicken with high fat/protein, but i'm not sure about protein levels that high. Plus having to buy it from pets paradise at such an exorbitant price doesn't get me excited either.

Sounds great except for the low fat/protein ratio

Yup, I'm leaning towards the eagle pack fishy dry, with lots of extras added to get the fat and protein levels up. Why can't makers of dry food understand that just because you can't tolerate chicken doesn't mean you don't need higher fat and protein levels!!! This is going to be an interesting journey - time to pick the brains of the sledding people O/S for ideas methinks!

Does anybody know of any dry foods that make a performance level food without chicken. I've got a dog who i'm currently working through a process of elimination to determine what may not be agreeing with him. I "think"it may be chicken - which is an issue as the two performance foods i have at the moment are eagle pack power and artemis osopure power, and they both have chicken as their first ingredient. So now i'm just trying to work out if there any good dry foods at the higher performance level that don't have chicken in them - so far i'm not having much luck. If it does turn out that chicken is the problem, then i may have to use a dry food with lower protein/fat levels and supplement to get the results i need. But i thought i'd ask if anyone else knew of something available in australia that would be suitable.

Woofpurnay in Narre South should have one. They xrayed a bitch a couple of months ago for us as well.

Dr Barry Haywood - Cranbourne South