LizT

The woman who taught me to groom when I was a youngster told me that she will tell a client that if the dog is heavily matted she will not also contribute to it's misery and discomfort by trying to dematt it. Sure a few matts can be easily broken and sliced up but in many instances it is better to wipe the slate clean and start again. This woman was a wizz at dematting without distress and when I sent her a disasterously heavily matted maltese X I adopted I was expecting a closely shaven dog and was plesantly surprised to find a few inches of hair still on the poor girl.

My friends two GAP greyhounds display this behaviour when there are rabbits about the garden!!

Oh yes Morgys all good. Thanks Back to the demanding old trout that she is. The battle is not over yet though. Stitches out next week. The only downfall now with having part of her jowl gone is that she does have some excess slobber The price you pay for a "nip and tuck". I think some aged Hollywood starlets have the same problem post plastic surgery/jowl lifts...bit of drooling. ;) Glad she's on the mend. Yes, you will have your work cut out for you taking those stiches out.

Yes a seven month old Pom is certainly old enough for adult formulation. Also the Puppy mix may be too rich a mix for an elderly dog and it could become fat on it.

krysal&coco it is highly likely that BOTH dam and sire are heart clear and that an ultrasound will confirm that. Particularly if she heart tests breeding stock annually as should be the case. It is more than likely to have come down from previous generations. All she can really do is continue to monitor both parents and offspring.

Mine had nothing left to drop at that stage! That was at the height of her "naked summer" look as her puppies were born in September.

Like things aren't crazy enough at Christmas time!

Unfortunately SwaY's list is acquired by a very hard working band of workers. Compiled from ols Show Catalogues and Gazzetts. So that may have been issued but not in any publication to date. There's probably heaps not listed yet, it will be interesting to see the numbers rise. I wasn't in there yet but have now been added, my Prefix is about two years old and first appeared in a Show Catalogue a year ago.

I put a pen around the whelping box and covered and pegged it with layers of empty doona covers, top and around, all except the front which I left exposed. Cozy. Worked nicely and kept the drafts out.

I had my girl Prog tested in the morning, her temp had dropped slightly (was probably on the way down) the Vet rang me at 5.00 pm to tell me the Prog test result, which was also 2. So they are busy telling me the result and suggesting if she hasn't had it in two days to come in and have her tested again. I had much amusement in telling them she's had the pup a half hour earlier.

My girl last year lost all the long hairs and was left with a fine short coat, albeit in great condition, shiny and sleek, certainly not patchy or bald but not a Cav. The tail was completely short yet her ears remained which surprised me as she doesn't have great ear feathering, fine and like a floppy eared Papilion. This was with 6 pups, 5 after day 3. Although, it must be said has a magnificent tail and front ruff?? I'd say it took her a good six months to grow back. Now this years mum has been moulting alot on her body this week and the pup is 9 days old. She is getting daily Royal Jelly so I will wait to see how long it takes to grow back and how much she looses. What diffrence if any. I also wonder how much one pup compares to a full litter?? Propably much the same in terms of hormones.

Nawwww...I'm definitely gunna have to get me a wholecolour some day soon.

I think the change of "territory" and the re-establishment and ownership of it has to play some part too. (i.e. house shift)

On occassion young Clover will be lying on the bed sleeping with the rest of us...when suddenly we get a low growl. "Hark...there's an intruderin our room"...the growl becomes more threatening..."Off with you, she says..I mean business..I'll bite you!" We turn on the light to see her growling at her own reflection in a mirror!

Mr. Schu looks like a "real" dog! He's lovely. English Pointers were my Childhood Friends. We didn't have a dog when I was very little and the people next door had a Gundog confined to a enclosure made of corrugated Iron and she had a kennel, and a Prickly Pear for shelter and a water dish. But she also had five year old me, courtesy of a delapidated fence! When she had pups they kept a male and as the people were my parents landlord I got away with my little visits. I think that's where my love of dogs started.

My precious little love is 9 days old and looks like a Zhu Zhu Hamster!

It's no different here. I check our local pound website every few days, just to see if I recognise any of the inmates and multiple Staffies feature on every page, every single time. Hmmm...I wonder if this will change with all the variations of "Staffys" out there due to BYB and with alot of them being "mixed", will numbers reduce due to Victorias' (and other states will probably follow) new Phobia driven dog laws??? Could there actually be an upside?

He loves it and she can put it away and refil it herself next year if she wants. Think he's going to be a bit sad when Christamas is over, like most 'kids'. Here's Louis waiting for his treat.

Ahhem....we do the best we can! ;)

Same here dancinbc. When I suggested an X-ray to determine my singletons size my Vet said there was no need as an X-ray isn't a good indication of size. A junior vet scanned her at 28 days, found one pup. Asked me to come back two days later and let the Senior vet, who was away and is very proficient with scanning (and I think therein lies the secret - expertise is essential in that field) he only found one and the day we had her prog tested they gave me a free scan to check on the pup (s) still only one. But it was awesome watching her tiny heart beat. She was born that afternoon. I think some vets just aren't very good at it.

I got a little way into the 2nd half when she started talking about a puppy buyers enquiry who asked her about health testing of eyes, ran off some acronyms (letters) and asked about DNA testing and her reply was "I haven't got a clue what he's talking about!". Really sad.....but these are the people who breed the majority of the dogs out there. My sister lives in London and she says the pounds are overun with Staffys.

I decided against a hydrobath and opted for a stainless steel electric lift with an instant heat hot water sevice connected to it. Can't help.

I even have a Cavalier Breed book that recommends getting two at the same time! The Authors says it's just as easy having two as one. And many times I've read that a dog likes company and two puppies are a good idea. Pesonally I think it runs the risk of a very sad and damaged dog should the other one get sick or injured and pass away. I like spacing them myself.