The Ark

Bulahdelah is only about an hour north of the Terrace on the Pacific Highway, Jess. Just about in your backyard.

Oberon is beautiful, pixie_meg! Good luck for your first show. How old is he now?

Jess he is AMAZING! What a beautiful head he has! :D Yes try for Bulahdelah, and definitely do something to get to the Morisset ones - we'd love to see you there.

Done and done ...You're a champ! And i'm Glad youse had a good time! Do you have any photos of your Aurea floating around? She would be big and beautiful now... Aurea is huge and lovely. She's now about 15 months old and I'm hoping she will title this month. Here is a lovely picture of her, taken a couple of months ago..... okay, here's a proper one... oops I'd better get some more recent ones as this is about 5 months old. :D and in return - some Leo photos??

Wow! We screened puppy buyers for our very first litter, sold on desexing contracts and were in touch with one particular buyer weekly from before our bitch was mated. She came up to meet the pups when they were 6 weeks old and got to meet all of them, including the one that would probably be hers (and ended up being hers). I have heard from her once since she took him home at 9 weeks - and she has not responded to any contact attempts since, including my requests for confirmation that he has indeed been desexed as per our contract. A desexing contract means stuff all in the long run! I am devastated because short of running police checks I don't know what else I could have done to ensure that this puppy went to a good home. Maybe he has a good home, and maybe he has been desexed - but maybe not, and it is now out of my hands.

:D a neo baby i need to get myself back into the ring! I'd even get to sit in awe of your baby being in your ring! haha, definately a motivator! Where are you located? There is also show training at raymond terrace.....but I would reccomend hills over it. Jess who???? Yes you need to get yourself back to a show ring very soon! It was nice to run into you the other day - we miss our giant pug... Ah I know, I so do miss it. We are going to have to relearn everything all over again! Mr Leo has filled out so much the past couple of months and is looking mighty handsome if I don't say so myself. Waiting on the new gazette, (because i'm assuming I would have missed all the possible ones at of the latest even though I told you i'd enter haha) and im going to tell my bosses to start giving me atleast one or two sats off a month, which is a start! How was port the other weekend?? Port was great - we all had a wonderful weekend. And if you PM me your email address again I'll send you the gazette straight away.

:D a neo baby i need to get myself back into the ring! I'd even get to sit in awe of your baby being in your ring! haha, definately a motivator! Where are you located? There is also show training at raymond terrace.....but I would reccomend hills over it. Jess who???? Yes you need to get yourself back to a show ring very soon! It was nice to run into you the other day - we miss our giant pug...

Having put up with a fabric lounge for the past 10 years and having inside dogs with short, shedding coats (eg. greyhound) we have just ordered a new leather modular suite. Can't wait!!!!!!!! We ordered it in a colour called "Putty" - which is basically the colour of dirt! The only thing I wanted but couldn't get was removable seat cushions so I could vacuum under them - this one has fixed cushions so all we'll be able to do is stick the vacuum nozzle down between them.

Yep we got one too! At that size it might be a bit big for the min pins - but hey, I could fit a lot in it!

In the total absence of any other ideas you could try Dogmaster Trainers at Currumbin Waters QLD http://www.dogmaster.com.au/. I don't know that they sell Multivet, but they have a lot of brands and I know they do service some of them. And their service is prompt & friendly.

(Sneaks into thread uninvited....) Great videos, guys! Lovely to see all those gorgeous dogs having such a great time. And Miss Ava is looking exceptionally mature and beautiful now. (Sneaks back out.....)

This was going to be my suggestion too! Having met some beautiful Havs over the past 12 months and seeing them with children I couldn't think of a better small, fluffy dog! And not sure that pets are always $2,000? Are your friends aware that all of these breeds have ongoing, regular grooming requirements? I'm sure you've already told them that. And if they insist on that particular "cross" then, as many others have said, please rescue! It's funny that people think a particular breed might not have the best temperament, but are then happy to accept a crossbred that is still 50% that breed, believing that the 50% of the other breed automatically "wipes out" any negative traits. It's not about breed - it's about the dog, the way it's raised, it's own experiences. A maltese x shihtz raised by an unsocialised mum is possibly not going to give you the best start if you want a good temperament in a puppy. Good on you, fiveplusone, for stepping up and helping your friend make a responsible decision.

I think all dogs need some type of structured training, but if the owner is knowledgeable and confident that could be achieved well without attending classes. If a dog is "trained" at home though, it obviously needs to have socialisation through other avenues. Definitely don't plug on through a class if it is boring to you - there's no way you're going to be sending any good vibes down the lead to your poor dog. We've found that the sessions at club training can be a bit too long, especially for pups, so you need to be comfortable enough to take your dog out for a rest when it needs one. That's one inconsistency we've come across - our instructors tell us that dogs only need 5-10 minutes of formal training a day and to keep it short, sharp and interesting ............ and then we do 45 minute sessions on a Sunday.

Very sensible approach, and exactly how I would expect a responsible, ethical and sensible breeder to reply to such an email! I agree. And Lowenhart could be right - it might be someone checking up on breeders. With all of the hideous puppy farms/backyard breeders around these days I think more puppy buyers should be asking breeders these questions (granted, of course, in a much more polite manner) and we should be encouraging them to ask. This email wasn't top class enquiry material but I agree that polite replies can only help the reputation of registered breeders.

I was going to ask about these repellers, so glad I found this thread. We had a 5ft black snake in the back yard the other night, and one of our neighbours had a dog bitten last week (he's okay). The min pins had this one surrounded and luckily it was a black as all it wanted to do was get out of there. We tried to find it but think it must have kept moving through (we hope so anyway!). One of the local reptile catchers said that the next 6 weeks or so is the most likely time for snake encounters around here as it is mating time, and the males are on the lookout for love.

Did anyone watch this week's episode of The Dog Whisperer? I think it was a fantastic episode, and showed how Cesar works in more recent times. I didn't see anything there that could possibly have been interpreted as cruel, and he used people around him (including the owners) as well as one of the calmer dogs at one house to help a dog that freaked out and jumped a fence every time his owner coughed. In working with one yappy little dog he also repeated several times that it is better if a dog offers a submissive position than if it is placed into one by a human (ie. better to wait and allow the dog to offer it than to jump in and alpha-roll it). I think Cesar has refined and modified his methods along the way, as any good trainer will if they see a better way of doing things. My Natural Horsemanship instructor has done this over the 7 years I've known her, and will freely admit to changing her methods when she can clearly see that something else will work better, rather than digging her heels in and saying "this is how we've always done it!" just on principle. I have a lot of respect for someone who is flexible and sensible enough to learn and grow, and I think Cesar falls into that category (dons flame suit and backs away from thread now....... )

Good thinking, poodlefan! Those bins aren't pleasant to be around even in cooler weather.

Good luck, SB!

I love Cesar - watch every week and went to see him live in Sydney last year. I think I'm smart enough to realise that I can't necessarily do everything that he does, and have been watching long enough to see that he doesn't ALWAYS claim "problem" dogs are dominant. He recognises fear and other causes of instability and has different methods for dealing with those issues. I also think he has done an immense amount of good for pitbulls and other misunderstood breeds.

We also asked what dogs they have owned previously, and whether they had rehomed/sold/given away/returned any dogs in the past and if so, the reason for this.

The report I saw this morning stated it was a staffy, and the husband had to rush home from work when his wife and her "male dance-club partner" were attacked by the woman's dog. Male dance-club partner????? That seemed a bizarre detail to add.... Maybe the poor dog didn't like their dancing - seriously, maybe it was trying to protect her? (ETA: This was from the Daily Telegraph website)

Isn't 75% a pass mark in most instances?????? :D

Not that I know of, when they took her back to see if it took they found that she had breast cancer, so she had that cut out and then was desexed. There's another thing that boggles me.. Is there such thing as breast cancer in dogs? Or was the vet just getting money out of them? Yes, of course there is such a thing as breast cancer in dogs. Mammary tumours are not uncommon in older, entire females.

Glad things worked out for you Gayle!

I'd try checking your classifieds and ringing some goat breeders in your area to try to get fresh stuff. You could buy a few bottles and freeze it until required - it freezes well.