shapeshifter

Thanks Aussie, I was trying my hardest not to waffle :D I know personally I'll be lucky to have saved up $1000 by the end of the year, I have been without a dog for over a year now and I'm slowly going insane but I know that although I might not regret getting that cheaper dog I know that I want to try my hardest to start with a pup that is the healthiest I can get, for that I can resist the urge to buy those $200 pups off gumtree LOL I am the exception to the rule though, I research things to death and beyond, I've been a member here for 13 years (is that possible!!!). I have friends that are dog groomers and breeders and they know nothing about DOL. I have many many other friends that know nothing about buying a dog besides going to the RSPCA or looking in the paper or seeing a sign in the supermarket.

I hate to say this as I really don't want it to be true but unfortunately I don't think that anything breeders do will have an enormous impact on the wider community. As most things in life the ultimate decision comes down to money and majority of people WILL NOT spend more than they have to and if that means buying from a puppy farm where they have glamorous websites touting how wonderful their dogs are and how 'everyone that buys one loves them and comes back again and again and so do their friends'. Very very few people want to be saving up for a year or so to afford a $1500-$2500 pet even if it does come with health checks, something can go wrong no matter where you buy from and they would see it as wasted money and then all the other money they will then have to pour into a pet. We all know the stories of the guy that picked up their purebred puppy from a market and it's been the most wonderful dog, so smart and is great with the kids, he bought it for $100, why on earth would the same guy then go and spend $1500 on a purebred from a breeder when 'they are rude and want to know how many times a day he does a shit'. Even people that are willing to pay the higher prices are often discouraged when they are researching and very few people will give them answers about anything and breeders are HIGHLY OFFENDED that they dare ask 'how much pups are'. What are the answers, I don't believe there are any to make people buy majority of the time from a breeder, after all puppy farms are breeders, the consumer doesn't think they are doing anything wrong and the law is behind them 100% since puppy farms know the laws and how to stay within them and work them to their advantage. Ultimately it comes down to money and instant gratification, they want to be seen as the most loving parent in the group 'oh look what they bought their kids, aren't they such great parents', and even for people that buy from rescue 'oh aren't they the kindest person, they SAVED that dog'. If you want to stop sticking your heads in the sand you need to have websites, you need to fill them with lovely things and lots and lots of photos that aren't just a dog in the distance, you need to be upfront with how much your dogs are and WHY you charge that much. If people see value for money which includes results of health testing for all of your dogs there in peoples faces they WILL start thinking that there might be something to buying from a breeder at higher prices. I can tell you that personally I have come across very few breeders websites of a few different breeds that spell it all out and I'm extremely impressed with what they say and show, I don't know what fellow breeders think, they could have 'bad lines' but I can tell you that I would go to them first than someone who had bad mouthed them and couldn't show me anything about their dogs.

That's the thing I've never seen a first hand report of this happening and I'm on a lot of forums of all types from coffee to horses. Oh I should mention though that I have a friend on facebook that had her front path painted with a strip of grey paint last week, she couldn't see anyone elses paths that had been done, neither she nor anyone else, including the police, have any idea what it could have been put there for. She is also the only one in the street that owns 'big' dogs, they are boxers so again not a breed that would be used for either fighters or baiting.

Nothing wrong with buying from overseas, I've bought a lot from overseas and have never had a problem :D Also they can get access to a lot of things we can't over here and for a lot less in price which means the end price is also a lot lower.

Mmmm well I got my OH to look at the product, he's an electronics engineer, owns his own business and designs products for a living. His opinion, the parts in total are worth, oh around $1.50 !!! What he actually said was "a monkey could put that together". It is no where near even a quarter of what they are selling it for.

Aren't they banned in Australia?

I've just read through your thread as it's been a long time since I've had a pup and I plan on getting one towards the end of the year. It's fantastic to see such a good end or at least great progress towards a good end

My OH found it on youtube ages ago but it's always a funny vid to see again :)

Probably because their person couldn't stop laughing to take a photograph, lucky they got this one

As you said in your very first post 'I don't want this to happen to any other beloved pet.' This hopefully will get the word across that dogs can not be left unsupervised and duty of care is something everyone needs to learn.

I should add that I still voted 'yes' even though I don't agree with the poll as it stands, with a bit of wording correction it would have been better accepted, in saying that though 92% of people voting have said yes so far.

Yep it's all safe but I don't agree with the poll. There should be regulations just not the ones proposed as they stand at present.

Brilliant :)

What colour is Dodger and what do you think he'd produce? Do whippets carry colour genes like horses do? This is Dodger now. He is a solid blue fawn. His mum is blue fawn and his dad is blue brindle. Whippet colour genetics is fascinating. Here's a really good website i have no idea what he'll produce. There is colour behind him but also a lot of solids. To a highly marked bitch? I'd expect some colour. Friend of mine recently did a solid fawn to coloured mating and got some solids (fawn and red brindle) and some brindle partis. Another got mostly solid brindles. That outcome marries up with what I'm reading, they can have solid and parti or solid and extreme white or solid and Irish marked but never all of the 'other than solid' together, if that makes sense.

Obviously temperament and confirmation like horses is of utmost importance but there is nothing wrong with loving colour and wanting it :D I'm reading through the link and then it's links, bit like appy genetics, a lot to get your head around :) Gorgeous white girl (I'm guessing).

I'd love something 'not normal' lol it would follow on from my horse loves, appaloosas, my gelding is a large loud coloured black and white near leopard and my mare is a bay roan with some spots but the way she's roaning is unusual :) Sounds like whippets are a little like them, the motto is 'never know what you are going to get' LOL

What colour is Dodger and what do you think he'd produce? Do whippets carry colour genes like horses do?

Is she the one you using next?

Now that's a muscly dog, amazing :) male or female?

I'm in love, the almost white whippet, I want one exactly the same :)

No but next weekend I can tell you what friends think of the one at Woodberry, they have their little dog in there for two weeks, she's never been in kennels before.

Oso that is exactly the temperament of the whippet we met a few weeks ago and it's also what we're after in a whippet, likes to learn is so important, we have a cat that visits us and OH tries to teach him about getting things out of boxes, he has a look and a sniff and looks at him as if you say 'you have to be kidding don't you!' LOL

I think so, my old dog hated my grandfather, she never snapped at anyone (children to the elderly) bar him in her whole 16 years and no he never did anything to her, she hated him from the first time she ever saw him. She also had a thing about Staffys, I like Staffys so it didn't come from me, she just took a dislike to them on sight and would go for them, shook my head at people that didn't believe me and thought I was a 'pitbull hater' when I said "it was my dog not yours" when I had to move from next to them at obedience. Oh I should add, my grandfather was an arse!

Thanks for the pricing information, that is about what I was thinking when it came to costs, was confused a little when I kept seeing all the cheaper versions though so thought I'd ask :)

*I do not need a Whippet, I do not need a Whippet!* Pity it's this year, hopefully you will repeat it! :p If it produces what I think it will, it may be a one of :laugh: It's going to be a combination of a bitch that you just can't insult and a dog who thinks he's pretty special too. They are both pretty high energy and drive and it's going to be interesting. Puppy buyers should be prepared to invest in a lot of cardboard boxes, dolls, toys and never thaw food on or in the sink :laugh: WreckitWhippet you have no idea how much that last line sounds like our house, I met my OH when my dog was 12 and up to the month she died at 16 (almost a year ago now) OH was still teaching her how to get things out of cardboard boxes and other sorts of tricks, we always made sure boxes were kept as many were destroyed