Starkehre

Drives me insane that people can't keep their dogs away from yours at the vets. Frankly, I don't consider from what you've described, that you have anything to worry about. Your dog defended herself and showed good bite inhibition. As for male dogs that would attack a female, I don't care what breed they are, that is unacceptable temperament. Yeh, I am really wild about this HW. So annoyed. I was holding both my reactive, fear aggressive, leash aggressive, anxious male (who was unwell) as well as my lovely bitch who was there to be weighed and give Jag moral support. The receptionist and vets had already commented several times about how beautiful, behaved they were. Down stays whilst waiting and sitting nicely at the counter. Jag was being an absolute gentlemen, minding his own business, very calm and relaxed. When I saw this loose dog coming out of the consult room, I remained calm. I slowed my breathing and completely relaxed... even surprised myself. I knew we were possibly in for an issue but there was absolutely nothing I could do that would not have escalated the situation. I just hoped someone would grab this dog. If I blocked, I would have had to move forward which would have changed the emotional charge. I couldn't move back cause I was against the counter. I just held my dogs fairly close but did not put any additional pressure on the leads. I was just waiting and hoping all would be fine. And it would have, had this dog not attacked as it was grabbed, but it had to be restrained because it was not calling off. Poor thing most likely also has some lead aggression. They were all sniffing, body language was good. Entirely the owners fault. My bitch didn't do anything except sniff the other dog. But she was there when the dog attacked and Jag did reacted back, not surprisingly. Yep, I doubt she has been emotionally scarred, but she is such an amazing bitch, I just want to make sure all my hard work and all her great genetics are still holding true :)

Thanks TTD. I have asked the professional about SBTs and he has directed me to where they may be some. Making some more inquiries now. Never hurts covering all bases :)

Thanks for your advice HW. I have already sought professional assistance and am planning to do precisely what you mention. You are absolutely correct, I totally agree and won't be engaging with pet owners that are not full versed in understanding their dog's temperament, what they are capable of and reading their dog's body language. Yep, fully aware of and experienced with SBT temperament. It could have been much worse. We are really very lucky. No holes. No real contact, just a few solid seconds of noise and carry on. Other dog came out of consult room, at large and beelined us making payment at the counter. Note, owners and SBT enthusiasts, I am in no way breedist, hell I own Rottweilers. I do not blame the dog at all. The dog did nothing that almost every Stafford I met wouldn't have done. He sniffed my dogs, all was fine until the second he was being pulled away, that was when attacked.

Hi guys, I am just wondering if anyone in Victoria owns a super neutral, calm Stafford, preferably a bitch (but either sex or both would be even better). Dark in color would be ideal, but I will jump at the chance and be super appreciative of any neutral SBTs available to me. I know, I am asking a lot right :D Unfortunately we were in a situation last night at our vet and I would like an opportunity to do some socialisation with one or some Staffords if anyone is able to offer this for me. I have an almost 4 year old Rottweiler bitch whom is non combative, non reactive, rarely plays with strange dogs and is very well socialised. She spends a lot of time in leash free areas where she is wonderful. On the several occasions where dogs have got in her face and barked or growled at her, she has always defused the situation, offers calming signals and won't engage. She happily moves in and around, up close and personal with any dogs, however I wouldn't describe her as 100% neutral as she does get excited initially when she meets a new dog. Usual Rottweiler upright stance. She finds males quite exciting. Once she has had the initial meet, she tends to wander off and lose interest almost immediately. I am heart broken. It is probably an over reaction on my behalf, but I recently lost my beautiful girl Dyzney, so I am already in a fragile place. I have put so much work into my young girl, Seven and she is such an awesome dog, I am just really hoping last night has not impacted her negatively. I would dearly love an opportunity to allow her to be in the company of a similar dog, wander around with for half an hour and just reassure her that last night's incident was a one off. If anyone can please help me, I would be hugely thankful. I am willing to pay for you for your time or offer product in lieu. I don't need a lot of your time, just a nice experience or two and we'll be on our way. I am from Mornington peninsula but am happy to travel. Thank you in advance

Again, you have validate my point about your negativity towards your contractual obligations being largely driven by financial reasons. Again and again your bitterness seems to be evolved around what you seem to believe is your breeder making money from you. If I was your breeder, I would be bitterly disappointed that you felt this way after I trusted you. I would be shocked you were not forthcoming with your thoughts and expressions of dismay that you were spreading around. I would be handing your money back and requesting my years of hard earned love, dedication and knowledge back. I pray my screening weeds out owners like you. Fickle and backstabbing.

Well said Steve. Added, almost every negative point that Panlu makes regarding her agreed breeders terms is related to money. Breeders terms are not for everyone, granted. But I find it distasteful and unfair to the breeder that a person happily takes up the offer and then bad mouths them later down the track. Panlu has no idea of the costs and work involved in raising a litter of puppies and clearly thinks the breeders is making a killing off her.

You and Breeze have both come such a long way Yin and you deserve your pride :) You two are such a terrific team I think there is little that beats pride in our dogs. It always oozes love, achievements and a broad understanding and appreciation of where they have been, where they are now and where they are headed. It's lovely to hear of owner's pride in their dogs

Same Pretty much my entire life (including business) evolves around the dogs. I like it this way and I don't think it is a problem. The only time I go out is to exercise, train, trial or show our dogs. I wouldn't have it any other way. And the older I get, the more set in this lifestyle I am becoming :laugh:

All good :)

Carprofen injections - my boy has them every six months (he has HD and his right hip is much worse than his left). We also see a canine chiropractor every 6 weeks - this alone has made a huge difference to the way Zig moves. I am looking at stem cell therapy for Zig. At the next round of x-rays, they will also harvest the fat from near his kidneys and then 'extract' the stem cells (or whatever they do). We will store them until we decide to use them. I never thought I would consider femoral head removal but I had a foster dog here and she came into care with a dislocated hip, that was left untreated - the only real option for her was to remove the femoral head. I was amazed at how quickly she recovered and how quickly she was up and around. I kept her weight right down, so it didn't put extra pressure on her good leg. I now keep Zig's weight on the lighter side, which helps. Good luck with your dog - it is hard to watch our pups in pain. Just to clarify SL, could Zig's injections be Cartrophen, Pentosan or Xydax? These are disease modifying osteoarthritis drugs and help preserve cartilage. Carprofen is the generic Rimadyl which is an NSAID.

OK, I do herding with my Rottweilers. And although Rottweilers are perhaps one of if not the oldest herding/droving breeding in the world, many would say herding for a Rottweiler is considered atypical as they are not commonly used as herding breeds in more recent times. I may be able to assist with your study :) I also did agility for many years with my Rottis, if that helps also.

Treasurelea is a Boxer prefix.

My goals with Seven this year was to get her ET title and have a litter of puppies. Unfortunately she resorbed her puppies, which was so disappointing at the time. I decided to self medicate :D and really go for it with our herding training and trialling and last weekend we exceeded what we ever dreamed of achieving this year. Seven gained 2 herding titles last weekend - HSBs and HSAd. This makes her the first Rotti in the country to hold both these titles and she is only 3 and a half. Her passes included several class wins, a judges encouragement award and she also took our High In Trial over two Types of Stock. We were over the moon She also gained 2 HSNs passes and 1 HSNd pass. We still have 2 more trials this year and opportunities to gain these titles as well. Here is a video of Seven's HSBs title run. We mucked up the direction of the sheep around the post, but corrected it and just lost points :) Photo courtesy of Karen Edwards, taken during our HSAd run 2016 will hopefully bring us some puppies, a Breed Survey which will give Seven her NRC(a) title and some more herding titles. We will also be trialling in Weight Pull and hopefully hit the Obedience ring.

For me, the worst things about my breed are: Their reputation. People that shouldn't be breeding, breeding Rottweilers that shouldn't be bred with. Some of the owners our breed attracts. On the other hand, the excellent examples of the breed in the right hands are hard to beat as far as versatility, amazing companionship, wonderful pet, quality working dog, devoted guardian. I find them extremely low maintenance and a very easy dog to raise and live with.

So Sorry Starkehre, I know how devastating it can be, but when the good times happen it makes the not so good fade x Thank you Wazzat

Sadly no puppies for us this time

This is a pic of our enrichment box, almost complete, just gotta pick up our plastic chain lengths. We'll be changing toys around, adding more heady plastic and steel kitchen utensils as the puppies mature :D

You'll be lucky to come out with change of 10k even without the price of the dog. Puppy slightly less. Exchange rate and weight of dog plays a huge part. If you count of 10k plus price of dog, you may be pleasantly surprised.

All the very best Wazzat :D

I strongly suggest you hold off castration for as long as you can, if not indefinitely. Rottweilers do not hold themselves in good stead for strong and healthy longevity without their sex hormones. Studies show osteosarcoma is more prevalent in castrated males than males left entire as are cruciate injuries. In fact the only cancer that is more prevalent in entire males over castrated males is testicular cancer, but these rates are lower than prostate cancer which again is more common in desexed males. Vasectomizing males is an excellent way for breeders to have some control over their puppy people. It will not in any way, shape or form alter the behaviour of your dog. He can and will still have all the same mating urges and abilities, however unsuccessfully manage to sire puppies. Undesired behaviours are training issues. If you want to experiment to see if you have any behavioural changes with desexing, try the Suprelorin implant. I doubt you will be satisfied with the result. but if you are you can then desex at around 2 years of age. I tried the Suprelorin implant in my male Rottweiler. Initially there were some behavioural improvements between 2-3 weeks, then the behaviour reverted back. The sudden drop of testosterone was enough to put him on the back foot for a short time, but the behaviour goes much deeper than the sex hormones. Keep in mind, any advantages you gain from vasectomizing over castration, you lose if you use the Suprelorin as well. Yes, the Suprelorin is temporary, but even whilst it is temporary the long bones are still not closing and you are still changing the finished construction of your dog be removing the hormones during this crucial time.

Ray, I am so sorry for your loss. sounds as though Greta was one amazing girl for sure. I believe you were very lucky to have had one another and I'm sure she knows how very much loved she was. xx

Thanks guys. Working on it now. Much appreciate your suggestions :)

These are called activity boxes or enrichment boxes and are awesome. Well done Tap. We are in the process of making ours. We're actually working on it right now. We're plugging off 2 of the bottom tubes so we can fill them with sand for stability. Unfortunately we have the same problem as you did, 3 way corner pieces don't seem to be readily available in Australia so makes it a bit trickier designing it and putting it together and also wastes some precious hanging space. But still excellent

Thanks matey. I'll give them a call :)

Hi all, as the topic title suggests, I am wondering if anybody knows of any reputable vets in and around Melbourne (prefer southern suburbs or Bayside area) that will and do vasectomize baby puppies. This is proving more difficult than I had anticipated.