LizT

Looks very much like I have seen Equine Repoduction Vets do. Surgical AI in horses is far too rich for many horse owners and AI is still not allowed in the Thoroughbred Industry. Mare in horse float, vet on tail gate, Ultra sound machine on 44 gallon drum to side of tailgate, well out of kicking range and away we go. Time and time again I have heard people comment on the higher sucess rate of fresh versus frozen?

We went through pretty much all of this with an 8 year old recently desexed male Cavalier last year who wanted to cock his leg on EVERYTHING. He was a rescue from a "Puppy Farm" and lived chained up in a chicken coupe with 20 other dogs. I had to house train him and with help and advice from DOLers it all worked out fine. But I had to put a belly band on him and watch him like a hawk when he was not in his crate for at least a month. Today he is a beautifully behaved boy, living with my elderly parents and always has impeccible manners when in the house.

OM doG, if my family read this I am in sooo much trouble. I've been an absolute bi7ch today!

Yes, he is a cutie. That's what I love about the DogsVic Calender, every month is just lovely!!!

You are so right Gretal you can pick a desexed Cavalier a mile away!

Hope all continues on the up and up for your girl and her little ones.

I don't have any problem with desexing as such. All the puppies I have breed were desexed and even though I had one owner ask if she could have her on MR and breed a litter, after explaining why I didn't want that for that particular girl, the pup was desexed at six months.

I'm 50 and beginning to go through menopause but just because it sucks and I might have some problems I'm not going to go out and have a hysterectomy without cause either! As a student of Naturopathy I learnt that in most cases it is best not to impede on what is a natural transision when it is not absolutely necessary. And despite having three children and breastfeeding for a combined total of 6 years, my childbearing years only utilised 10 (between age 29 to 39, late start and late finish) of the possible 30+ years I had. That is to say that if any of my dogs were in need of desexing for health reasons of course it would be done. I had a 13 year old male Lhaso Apso desexed becasue of an anal adenoma, he lived to 17 years of age.

Opened my January 2012 Gazette and what a pleasant surprise to have a Calender again! Gorgeous English Pointer on the cover and what a Lovely Calender Boy is the "October" lad, a really well composed photo, don't you think so Delcara? ;)

Can I just add that I and my family have owned entire females for 50 years plus and never had a problem relating to their reproductive system.(only the males were desexed to avoid unwanted puppies). Yes, I know that pyo is a risk, I'm just saying I have never had any problems.

Crystal was playing zoomies with Clover in the house when OH growled at them to stop, she (Crystal) hit the brakes, skidded and wacked her head against a wall unit. We have polished boards. End result was a concussed Cavalier. I took her to the vets and it took a few days for her to open her eyes in strong light properly but she was okay after a few days. She has also run out the door so fast she knocked the flyscreen door off its railing and hit fell over the top of Bonnie, fortunately Bonnie had just gone down a couple of stairs so it actually didn't hit her so much as cover her over as she went down the stairs! They are like kids at times!

Nice find but!!!! Anthropomorphic much. Once upon a time ..... and they all lived happily ever after. :D Clearly not! She went off with her own kind!!! Well I'm off to get a Peugot 255. :D

All this is true and there is also the possibility she is peeing when she hears you coming back in...Mum's coming Yah!!! Oh, I was so excited I peed myself!

I think pounds can have a detrimental effect on even a dog who wouldn't be fussed by a storm at home. It's all too unsettling at times. And then there's the barking....

Yep, I've seen it with kids too. At three year old kinder my son was a wriggle bum and wouldn't sit still at story time so what did the teacher do....sat him on her lap, he had the best seat in the house and could see all the pictures easily!!!! Do you think it made him sit quietly next story time?

I like the sound it makes, by the end of the day I will be over it tookatookatookatookatookatookatookatookatookatookatookatooka...took...took...took...thud

Probably wasn't Mastits so much as engorged breasts as this happens usually at about day 3-5 until the supply balances out. If you do express only take a small amount off to relieve as the more you express the more milk she will produce. It's supply and demand. All sounds good.

Yes, kitchen grade does. My OH used to work for a kitchen company and brought home bits and pieces. End result I have a lovely whelphing box. All the metal trim and edging can be bought at hardware suppliers.

Yes, a bigger birth weight and size and vigourous early gain doesn't necessarily equate to a larger animal when mature. We find with Emmie that I have to make sure she is given plenty of play time with her "siblings" (soft toys) animated with volunteer family members all too happy to play wrestles with Emmie. Early on they were there for her to cuddle up to and now she tries to wake them up by biting their ears. The other problem is ensuring that family members don't spend too much time holding her, sure it great for tactile stimulation but at 5 weeks she also needs time to run around and play when awake, so I'm constantly telling the family to "put that pup down" now! .

Also I believe when it comes to neurotic behaviour some owners are shocking "enablers" I meet a woman once with a small terrier when out walking my GSD. She quickly picked him up when she saw me and by way of explaiantion said "He's terrified of big dogs"!! "I wonder why?" was my reply. I've also meet owners who when there is a storm make such a big Whoha and fuss about it that the poor animal thinks OMG what's going to happen? Subsequently getting worse each time.

I was going to say "Bega bum" but thought I'd try to be polite.

The pup will gain what it will. Read the swimmer pup thread pinned in Breeders. Also when the pup is nursing just 'pop' her off and move her to the far corner of the whelping box, she will quickly crawl back to the teat to nurse. This is what we called "making her walk to the milk bar". Don't worry too much about weight gain, so long as pup is gaining consistently, a rule of thumb is about double in the first week to 10 days. The pup will burn more energy as she starts to move around the box. Just put her on her side to sleep if you find her on her tummy alot and flip her occassionally from side to side, to even her out. This will help stop her soft ribs from flattening out.

You can get some good Low Odour varnishes, just make sure you give the paintwork plenty of time to 'cure', so it lasts.

Not long now!