Starkehre

I was of the impression that TC AIs are still not commonly performed here in Australia as yet, and not many repro specialists doing them here yet also. Added, I would seriously consider having a TC AI done over a surgical AI if the statistics on birth rate were equal. I did not believe it was. I get that it also has to do with using frozen versus chilled semen also. Am I wrong on all these thought please? Interesting topic

I agree with MW. For 8 weeks he does not have massive open growth plates, which suggests to me he is going to be a medium breed. I would say he will end up approx Amstaff size. he looks as cute as a button

SK, I have been using them for years and love 'em I fit them similarly to the DDC, so there is little correct needed and used and it is always up high and tort. Love them for quick refreshing of nice heeling patterns if dog is getting lazy and falling out of drive. In saying that, I rarely apply any correct to the collar, but if I do, very little action is needed, and like I say it is exactly where I want it to be if needed. Even with a boofy Rotti head and wearing them firm up behind the ears, I never have to do any adjusting to get it on and off, just unclip the lead to separate the rings. I also have the regulat training collars (non-heavy futy with the plastic clips) and have never had one of them break. I have both styles in all sizes. would never be without them. The press stud comes ondone, but it really does not even need to be done up, unless your dog is removed from off the lead.

Agreed 100% with Huski. The majority of dogs will never heel the way that Dobe does by going to a typical obedience club. ... not knocking obedience clubs or even saying that I liked the way that dobe heels, but it certainly has the drive that it takes to get a focused heel. I have been training dogs for years and I still get frustrated with heeling. There is no easy fix, sorry. Keeping at club training will more than likely eventually give you the tools to have your dog walking on a loose lead alongside you with it's head for the most part up off the ground, but that "focus" is that extra magic that comes from training in drive.

I hope there is a big improvement once the bandage is off Huski. good luck

Dogs are very easy to teach how to run along side the bike and it heaps of fun and a really simple way to keep your dog with less strain than having to run yourself. :rolleyes: As others have said, you definitely would need to build up to distances over 2kms, but most young (over 12 months for STB), fit and healthy dogs can do 2-4kms at 10kmph on their ear, or they should be able to. I also use commands - "back" (left turn), "tight" (right turn), "steady" (slow down, you are going to pull me off the freakin bike), "wait" (pausing to let cars go past), "go" (speed up) The only downside you might find to this idea (and I hate to sound like a naysayer, as I love biking with my dogs) is that your OH will find that biking with the dog will slow him down to the point of him probably not liking the idea. I find approx 11-12kmph to be comfortable for long distances for a Rottweiler. And ET is averaged out at approx 10kmph. These are both really slow speeds for general biking and you might find your STBs comfortable long distance speed would be roughly the same but perhaps closer to 10kmph. But even if your OH gets bored with riding slow, you may have found a new fun thing for you and your dog to do alone ;) Have fun with it.

I too can recommend K9 Pro

Holy cr*p Huski, that is one serious bandage Daisy is sporting Healing thoughts coming her way from me ;) I am glad she is home and although not quite her self, in a better place and on her way to recovery.

Huski, I am so sorry to hear about Daisy's swollen paw. I hope she has a full and prompt recovery. I hope you are OK also. I know how attached you are to your gorgeous little girl

That's what I thought. Sounds like the puppy owners are clearly at fault. Thankfully they are happy to admit this. Very sad situation nevertheless. I certainly would not be selling her another puppy.

From what I gather, (and I could well be wrong, so this is sort of more checking than giving advice as such) when the bitch passes her immunity to diseases onto the puppies via her milk, this immunity does not last indefinitely in the puppy. Yes, strength and quality of immune system is different and is inherited and remains with the pup for it's life unless environmental issues come into play. If the first vaccination was given prior to the trans immunity (that is my own made up phrase, just so you know what I mean ) expiring then according to what I understand, this vaccination does not work, as in I do not believe immunity can be "topped up" so to speak. If there is immunity there, then it is there and vaccination over the top makes no difference. And that is why we follow up with a 2nd and sometimes 3rd vaccination (depending up on individual vacc protocol), to ensure the pup is covered once the initial immunity from the mum expires, in case that first vaccs was not given at the ideal time when it could be allowed to do it's job. So, if I am right about the above, I guess in the ideal world, we would all be titre testing prior to vaccs puppies, but that IMO is not overly realistic. If I am incorrect, someone please feel free to correct me So, if the above is correct and if I was the breeder, I would be looking at my vaccination protocol. Perhaps her first vaccs has been done too early?

Well done HUP. Hope that is a big weight off your shoulders.

You are welcome... no biggie, all good. Just let me know.

HUP, If you like, PM me your bsb and acc numbers and I will loan you the money for a couple of weeks. No strings attached. I have no doubts you will pay it back.

Was it mine Rebanne Timing would about right. I just to hope that I can make it now... we are going on hols the next day, hence why I am only entering the one day.

I think it is a lovely gesture and will most likely be received very positively by all. However, I would recommend you do a quick personal check on yourself to see if you are likely to be setting yourself up for disappointment if you do not get any responses from the other 3. Just remember that we are all different and although you would be thrilled receiving the gift for your pup and would no doubt contact the breeder to say so and thank them, if you do not get this response, can you cope with that? Now, I am certainly not at all suggesting you are like this, but there are some people that constantly give and give and spend their time being miserable and whinging to others when same is not reciprocated, as that is just the way they have to be. I am sure you are not like this. If the giving is purely out of the love of giving and not to judge responses or lack of, then go for it Expect nothing in return and if you get some lovely calls or emails then that is simply a lovely bonus.

I have entered my first 2 neuter shows, and I am super excited. Can't wait. My girl will be thrilled to be back in the ring again. Still hanging out for more to be held in Vic though

I think it is a really personal thing. Apart from there being enough money to fund the dogs and time to provide their basic needs and then some, I also think it comes down to the sanity of the owner. Some people can cope with, care for and enjoy a lot of dogs and that is fine. For me personally, I find that 3 seems to be my limit for coping and fulfilling my personal requirements as a dog owner. I am currently training and competing with all 3 of them in several different disciplines and I am just at the edge of my limit with that, I think I am also running a business, so there is only so much one person can take on. Let's face it, we all have different expectations on ourselves and our dogs and as long as we can live with what we are doing, then "all good" Many wonderful dog owners are not into training or competing in dog sports, therefore they may find that owning more dogs is fine for them. If I wasn't doing my dog sports (but I can't get my head around not training and competing ) then I could easily own more. But I do tend to enjoy my dogs more, the less I have. I have owned 5 dogs in the past, and everything ran smoothly and was fine, but for me, I didn't feel I could do enough quality training and competing in enough disciplines to maintain what I feel is right for me and my dogs, a bit overwhelming... but that is just me . It is not so bad when one dog is retired or semi retired and now that my OH is doing more training and will be trialling soon there may be a chance that we could possibly look at going up to 4 again in the next couple of years. But by then my older girl may have passed on anyway. I am at my happiest with only 2 dogs, but then of course another one comes along......

I mentioned a larger number of puppies as with both breeds being larger barrelled (generally good spring of rib and relatively deep chested) they often hide another quarter/third of the litter up inside the ribcage away from xray views. Very common. What are you doing to keep your bitch cool?

You need to calm down. Your bitch will not do well to be picking up on your anxiety. Also, going on what the vet has said, do not be surprised if there are 10 or more puppies. Make sure you have an "on call" vet available for any day, any time. You may well need them, particularly if your bitch goes into uterine inertia after having whelped a portion of the litter.

I am sorry, I know I am going to wish I did not say anything but..... you cannot teach your dogs to tolerate having their nails trimmed and you are breeding a litter of cross bred large breed puppies. Well, I am sincerely glad you have come here for advice because you are going to need it. Keep the dog away from the bitch and her puppies entirely. I would be sleeping alongside or certainly in the same room with your bitch and her "nesting" box for minimum the first 2 weeks with these sized breeds. Puppies suffocate very easily and quickly, particularly with maiden bitches, and get stood on and crushed under bitches elbows. I do hope all goes smoothly and that you choose to desex your bitch after she has weaned these pups.

I would suggest you wait at least another year. Althought your Silky is doing so very well and Kudos to you for this, what you need to remember is that he is likely to not always move in a positive direction. As he enters puberty and other stages of development he is likely to take the odd step backwards. This is normal. ;) House training is commonly a bit of issue at around 5-6 months of age. It all seems to be going fabbulously (which you expect your little man to be in the next couple of months) and the pup suddenly out of the blue seems to have forgotten everything. Usually this is short lived and can get back on track very quickly, but my advice would be to wait until your dog is at least a young adult before adding the 2nd addition. I always find 2 so very close to one another triples the work as they get into so much more mischief than one. There are exceptions to this, but you will not know which your cse would be until you are living it. Also all that extra work of separating them for training and just for developing a well balanced pup that is self reliant and not reliant on the other pup can be a lot more work than you reckon on. Very easy to fall into the rut of leaving them together for company which creates dogs that NEED one another to function. My advice is that if you and your wife are really happy with your little man and it certainly sounds like you are and why not, it is seems to be going great, then I say leave things just as they are. Another pup will not necessarily make it better. Dynamics will alter and everything will change. I am not saying it will be worse, but it will be different. Your existing pup will probably become selectively deaf to things he would normally do instantly when asked. And his focus will be spread with a new addition also. Of course you will do what you want to do, and that is absolutely your choice and I wish you the very best with whichever way you decide to go.

It is way more about the quality of the meetings with dogs, rather than quantity. I would prefer to spend quality time arranging a meeting with a known dog and set up a guaranteed positive situation and outcome, rather than trying to clock up 100 meetings with whomever. Set yourself up for a win. One negative meeting CAN ruin a pup. Not worth risking IMO, particular more so with some breeds, mine included. I did do puppy pre-school with my most recent pup. I chose to do this to provide me and my puppy with a controlled environment to assist in socialisation and neutralisation, which can be challenging to find. I spend a lot of time on the phone with the girl that ran the class and told her what my requirements were. She also came highly recommended. I was thrilled with everything she told me before I signed up. I have since recommended others to the same class. I was thrilled with the class and the instructor did not make me do what I did not want to do with my pup. I taught my pup to call off from all the pups there and the older dogs that were also there for greetings. I used the time to practise getting my puppy focused on me when all the others were trying to wrestle and bark at one another. As my pup already knew quite a few commands, I took the opportunity to proof these in this new environment. It worked very well and I would do it again in a flash. I started the first class when my puppy was 9 weeks of age. I did allow my pup to have short meetings with the other pups on a one on one basis and then called her back every time before play started. She was highly rewarded and it has resulted in me having an awesome dog that is not focused on other dogs but for the most part neutralised to other dogs, which is precisely what I want. She does have the skill to play well with our dogs and close friends' dogs when I allow it, but this is not something I want to do on a daily basis anyway. she is not at all reactive towards dogs and is a pleasurable pup to have. I wish you all the best with your SBT pup.

Dogs can have serious reactions to vaccinations - some can occur almost immediately and others can take up to a couple of months to manifest themselves. Sounds to me like your pup's reactions are not nasty reactions related to the vaccination. I am not a vet however. My gut feeling is that the blood in the faeces is the passing of dead worms from being wormed and the urine issue is coincidental, training developmental situation. Often dogs will get an upset tummy for a day or so post worming. This is normal. Your pup is at that age where they can suddenly seem like all their training has just gone out the window, including toilet training. This is common and you may need to go back to basics and reproof what you previously had. The different quantities and patterns of toileting more frequently is probably attributed to you altering the food... ie different sodium and bone content etc can cause this sort of thing. I am sorry that your vet was close minded regarding desexing queries. This is quite common in vets, particularly if you have not yet had the opportunity to build a long term report with them and mutual respect. I hope everything settle down again soon. I am not saying that there is definitely not something more serious medically going on, so by all means if you are concerned you should look into this more thoroughly. If you are not happy with your vet, may I suggest calling around and finding another one. In my experience the best way to find a vet that you are going to be comfortable with, other than making an appointment and trying them out, is to ring a few and chat with the vet nurses or receptionists. Explain what it is you like in a vet and the sort of service you are after. I find the nurses and receptionists generally very open, honest and helpful in this regard and can often direct you to which one of their vets that you may be most comfortable with according to your prerequisites.

That's wonderful news Rebanne, well done. Please let me know how and when you wish to be paid for the sash.