kelpiekaye

Im with you. It is a terrible way to loose a mate. I will never forget the experience. I often wonder about spot on treatment effectivness, I recently read an artical regarding pour-on drenches for cattle. In a study conducted it showed that the puor-on wasnt being absorbed unless cows licked the product of other cows pour ons work on the same method as spot on products.

I disagree. Dont rely on frontline. My first Kelpie BO was on frontline and we lost her to paralysis tick. Dont rely on anything to be 100%. I dont live in a tick area anymore but if I visit I use proban for a few days before, during and after visit and I check for ticks several times a day.

There is also a spray you can make up yourself with Rose geranuim oil/citronella and water. You will have google 'natural remedies to deter ticks'. Also dabbing ticks with meths works. There is also tick twisters that remove ticks and their mouth bits. You can get them from some pet shops or online at vetstop.

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I once had a sticker that said "THE MORE I KNOW MAN THE MORE I LOVE MY DOG"

There will be a lot of other DOLers that know more about teaching a dog to bark on commandthan I do but I think you need to teach them the "be quiet "first then ask them to speak, at the slightest noise you reward them. I taught my Kelpie to speak on command and its very handy when Im trying to move some stubborn stock. She is not a barker normal times. German Sheperds are a very vocal breed as a general rule so you shoudnt have too much trouble.

Sure Shot Like the Shot Bro. Yep I'm a kiwi bro.

The last thing I thought of my Beagle was that he was dumb, I would say too clever for his own good at times.

Someone learning to play bagpipes even makes me howl Lived next door to a bagpipe teacher when I was a kid. My ETTs howled when music had mouthorgans being played.

Yep had Beagle that did exactly that everytime I came home from somewhere if I didnt take him.

My current choice of breed is the Australian Kelpie. I first had contact with Kelpies in NZ while competing in dog agility with GSD Juste. A fellow competitor from Auckland had a Black Kelpie called Drum who was one of the top agility dogs in NZ. I was always impressed by everything about Drum. One day he gave me a go at running his dog. It was awesome. I promised myself the next dog I would get would be a kelpie and have never regreted the choice. I still love GSDs and lean towards working breeds for their intellegience, energy and loyalty.

Yes I think we become immune to our own dogs smell. I live on a dairy farm and though I cant smell it anymore I know my house smells of cow stuff. I notice it when Ive had a holiday away and come back.

I agree with the others, dont use bait. Rats and mice some times move baits around too. I once had bait in a bait station and I think it was swallows that threw baits out on to the ground. My Rotty picked up the bait, lucky I was there and got him to drop it. Just not worth the risk.

I feel that doggy smell has more to do with diet and health. My girl Ruby stinks but thats the cow poo shes been working in this morning. GSDs do loose a lot hair when they are moulting...

Kavik, I had a GSD who had skin problems and she stunk. I put her on Lamb & Rice for about six weeks and she came good. She was fed Nutro Lamb & Rice the rest of her life and we never had any problems. You may have already tried this solution but if you havnt its worth a try.

You never know, you may have given him food for thought and he may see the error of his ways.

Plastic snakes, cds, nylon fishing line.................none of these work. Ive tried when they decided to live on rafters on front balcony. Used to be able to get something called hotfoot that you smeared or painted on surfaces they roosted.

Oh my god! What happened to this thread?

Visit this site www.avru.org/vetpet Its unlikely that your dog will get bitten but it does happen. I would spray the the little blighters... One of my staff was bitten by red back last week, she was of work the rest of the week and it was extremely painfull.

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I had a simular situation once when I had a head on car accident on the way to work. Both of my dogs were in the car with me but thats another story. My kelpie Bo was 1year old and full of beans. I was very lucky my boss at the orchard I worked on looked after her for about a month until I was well and able enough to take her to a local dog freindly beach where I could just let her go and run herself out. Maybe the farmer that gave her to you could look after your kelpie for a while or maybe foster somewhere suitable. Good Luck. You are not a bad owner and what ever you do will be for the right reasons.

True, I;ve llived rural nearly all my life. My rotty used to catch and eat possums that came in to eat my rose bushes at night. All I would find in the morning was a lot of fur and the possums claws, also a part of its gut he didnt like. This was in NZ where there are 7 possums for every Kiwi and they are not protected. It was a very balanced meal for him.

I don't think mental problems would have anything to do with early desexing. May have something to do with been put under anaesthesia so young, Im only guessing though

Its probably the best diet they could be on. Id cut back on their rations and see how they go,but I dont like fat dogs and I know how yuck I feel if I put on too much weight.

I can see their point very clearly. The vast majority of dogs sold are not, or should not be bred from. Most of them going through shelters and pounds are mutts, and an incorrect growth rate on them won't matter much (it's not like you know what they'll grow up to look like), and is in fact much less of a worry than the very high chance of them having a litter of more mutts. And any breeds in danger of ending up as breeding fodder in puppy farms.......poodles, maltese, pugs, shih-tzu, bichons etc, are probably best desexed before being sold unless the breeder is 110% certain of the puppies future. I can completely understand early desexing in these cases and it's a matter of weighing up the chances of the dog being bred from in the future (high), vs the chances of the dog having some spey-related growth or health issues later in life (low). It would be interesting to know the statistics of problems with dogs desexed at 8weeks or before. I have seen first hand the results with a dog my parents got of a breeder and without their knowledge the dog was neutered before they got him. He was small for his breed and had mental problems all his life, how much of that was due to being neutered so young I dont know. Prehaps the RSPCA should charge people for desexing and give them a certificate to redeem. I know I would never have a dog desex at 8 weekks or before.