RallyValley

Nerves are playing up a bit. Will be fine after she arrives safetly in Perth. Well done! Em's family sounds super talented.

Cough cough.......... Yes as Ptolomy mentioned I haven't been to training in ages! But I will be back into it once Zora has had her shots. I haven't been too slack though, Toby is fetching a dumbbell!

Yes and no. I am training towards Rally-O by working on my fluencies with Toby but I actually don't even have a set of signs atm because I lost a whole heap of mine. Thanks for all the excitement and well wishes guys.

Beautiful A puppy with toller bits ;) She is the whitest Toller I have ever seen ;) Maybe a mismark?

Everyone meet Zora She arrives tomorrow so more pics then.

Yes my brother has been gifted a bag of dog food (after I saw they feed pedigree). I would rather pay for the food his dog eats then let her eat rubbish. No lectures from me, I just have 'leftover' food all the time.

So sorry Jules P and Brock. I lost our boy Jack sudenly at 5 and I don't need to tell you how heartbreaking it is Give the girls a hug for me. So sorry for your loss.

It seems people would rather say 'that's too hard' and throw thier arms up I am a newbie to pedigree dogs but I would love to see people forming ideas, writing proposals to thier state bodies or whatever needs to be done. However I am also young and naieve in my optimism sometimes.

How does that work for other breeds though? For example Flat Coated and Chesapeake Bay Retrievers are both dual purpose dogs, they don't have 'native populations' that aren't registered or 'sporting strains' that aren't registered. How will this change anything for these breeds?

I wanted to address this separately. Good breeding practices and options should prevent problems and that is the goal in my mind for the future of dog breeding. I do not see the need to make changes only directly at one breed at at time and only that breed. They should be applied across all breeds. Prevention of future problems is vital before they reach crisis. While this may indeed help to save some breeds that have reached crisis point, the bigger idea is to prevent crisis from happening in any breed. An example of this in practice is how The Kennel Club has opened the stud book to all breeds, not just breeds in crisis. So no, this is not about treating a breed in crisis. This is about treating a whole system that is is crisis. By treating the system, you will then give the breeders the tools they need to keep their breeds vital into the future. They may have opened the stud book but show me one established breeder who is willing to use one of these 'new' dogs.

I just did some sums... there are 33,460 ANKC members. If each paid a $5 "Promotion Levy" that would give the ANKC a budjet of $167,300 per year for promotion. Surely that is enough to empoly someone and work on stratigies to promote purebreds, I am sure people would be happy to volunteer ideas/time/services too.

Yes but why should the ANKC or the like argue on the behalf of crossbreds/unregistered dogs? I agree with your sentiment and wish the media would choose that tact

I thinks more feasible (and arguably more desireable) to do it under the auspices of the ANKC than to create a separate advocacy organisation. Would that mean upping membership or donating for a dedicated, national media liason? It would be awesome (but unfeasble) if the ANKC had a national magazine like the AKC does.

I don't know if this is happening to anyone else but I am always feeling sad to see, read and hear such anti pure bred rubbish in the media and also from the uneducated general public. Is there anyway possible to start a group independant of the ANKC to promote purebred dogs? Several members here have mentioned they have media contacts or if they can debate the way they post (looking at you poodlefan) would make excellent radio/tv representatives. We need voices and examples out there contradicting the false facts and showing pedigree dogs in a better light. I would be willing to give around $50-$100 a year to support the group, I would also be willing to give time and anything else I might be possibly able to give. (I can make some nice charts comparing the COI of pedigree dogs to that of Royal Family members ;) ). I am sure that there would possibly be others who feel the same way. Is it feasable that something like this could exist?

Yes I have quite a bit to do but seem to just keep googling Brittany pups and watching youtube clips You will get a chance to meet her

She is landing at 12. Amypie I might take you up on that, no such thing as too many hands for a potentially feral Brittany pup ;)

Yeah I booked it off, I knew I might not get the time but I did It is this Sunday :D I should find out tomorrow which pup is mine.

Get dog roll, cut it up into little bits and freeze. Or lots of people use things like 4legs and Chunkers.

Cider was a nightmare - picked her up walked her around the airport for 30 minutes, put her in the crate in the car and within minutes - she was screaming her head off and had managed to roll the crate. So I pull over - and remove the crate from the back of the car and put it on the front seat which stopped the crate rolling again but it didn't stop the screaming. Hmm hindsight.....maybe I should have put her straight back on the plane and said return to sender Luckly I live within 15 mins of the airport

Hmmm on Sunday my parents have to go to some remote place to pick up an engine part for my dads chevy so I am to go pick up Zora alone... ... Do you think it's traumatic to put her in my PP50 straight after her flight? Might call my brother and hope he can do it.

It is possible to tell show potential I would think. Definately not stud quality as hip scores ect. But if you couldn't tell potential that young breeders would have to run on the whole litter to decide on thier next showdog. At 8 weeks a pup is supposed to be a miniature version of the dog it will mature into... then you close your eyes until it's mature and ignore all the ugly growth stages in between.

Well hopefully next time you can keep one yourself and try your hand at showing. Do you show your girl? Or retrieving/obedience any other sports ect? It can be a great way to meet people who would be interested in purchasing a future pup for showing purposes.

Quickest answer - Idiot: Your purebred dog is inbred Me: Hmm her COI is 10%... your cross bred dog could be more inbred, especially since you can't prove it's heritage. I know it won't work in relity but I like the theory :D

Thanks for answering some questions. I think I may have had you confused with someone else from a while ago who though health testing was having the vet say the dog was healthy. I recommend a book like Structure in Action by Pat Hastings to read and if you can get your hands on a copy 'reach for the Stars' by Mary Roslin Williams, if you haven't already. These will help with assesing where to head with your breeding program by identifying what the strong points of your bitch and choosing a sire to compliment her weaker points. Maybe then you can even think about keeping a pup from the next litter and start showing yourself.

Yes but why does someone deserve a potentially unregistered, un health tested, un thought out pup from a bitch who may or may not have good conformation to pass on to her pups. Even a pet runs and jumps and plays and pet buyers deserve dogs with good structure too, so that they won't get as many injuries. I only asked about the show ring because I am wondering from the OP if the 'breeder' would know correct conformation for a healthy dog, and I am curious to see.