Simply Grand

Too gorgeous!! They look very cozy :)

Yay Rooey, keep improving gorgeous girl :) to Jelly and the boyf!

Oh lord MUP, poor puppy I wonder if they asked if the breeder would take him back. Lorem, totally sympathise! I started a thread the other day about an acquaintance doing similar, with a Rotti x Mastiff pup. It's so frustrating when there are soooo many things you want to get across to them but you sound like a nagging crazy person if you say them all. Hopefully it does work out with your friends, I'm working on my acquaintance but I suspect her puppy may be needing a new home when he gets older.

Well done Miah! What a gorgeous and clever girl She obviously has a very proud mum :D

Happy birthday gorgeous Stan!!! Hope you've had a great day, suspect you are sleeping it off about now :)

Puppy is yet to be vaccinated... Owner is going away for a couple of nights next week and apparently Puppy is going into a kennel. He will be getting an 'apartment' rather than just a run as he deserves the best. My advice today: Puppy will need to be vaccinated and vac cert shown in order to be accepted at the kennel. They generally require vacs to be done at least 14 days before boarding so it may already be too late, super urgent to get to the vet!! Response: hmmm, ok, I just need to get up in time to get Puppy to the vet, haha. Oh and I guess the Shih can go to someone else's house instead of with puppy to boarding so that I don't have to pay for her vacs this week. This is one of those vents I mentioned, I'm still trying hard to be patient, for the sake of the dogs.

I certainly haven't been the only one to attempt to be helpful and respectful to CC, what a pity she can't see the value of DOL.

Oh yay, what a relief for her owner!

Oh how cool that you have a program for that espinay.

Sammy! Hope he doesn't have any ill effects.

Is an outcross breeding one to another who have no lines in common anywhere in the pedigree (or for many many generations)? Sorry to hijack your thread Don, just wanting to understand the terms.

gillbear, I hear you about the Shih Tzu, I hate to think of some family missing her, and I think now that Puppy has come along she won't be getting to much attention in this house She asked if I thought she should get the Shih desexed, I said DEFINITELY, or you are going to end up with puppies for sure. She mentioned that the little thing is so small she could probably only fit two puppies, I responded yes but if she mates with some big dog down the road she is likely to end up with a large litte of pups too big for her and she will die trying to birth them. Or if she's lucky, cost her $3,000 in vet bills for a Caesar. Problem for this little girl is I think money will be a barrier again to anything getting done Maybe she'll be surrendered, scanned and returned to a loving family :fingerscrossed:

Thanks for the responses everyone :) good idea about writing down tips for her. I might put some stuff together and say it's stuff I've been given over the years so I don't sound like a know-it-all. I feel like it's a delicate balancing act, as although she asked and listened I won't be surprised if other things in her life end up "getting in the way" of all the time she will need to spend with Puppy (that's not actually his name ;) ). I'm sure that money is also going to be an issue. I don't think she has any idea how much good enough quality food is going to cost, let alone medical stuff. I will talk to her again about early desexing if you guys do think it's a good idea. I did think it was probably a good idea, but being such large breeds obviously in the right hands it would be ideal to wait longer. I think the fact that it should be cheaper when he's younger and smaller will appeal to her. Purdie, unfortunately I don't think she really goes near books, let alone libraries I think trying to get her to go to training classes and possibly read one or two things online will be challenge enough. I'll update how things go, and may need to vent when I ge frustrated with my advice not being taken :laugh:

That's what I thought too Aussie, but maybe there are specifics? So is inbreeding only immediate relatives?

Are there matings other than linebreeding that are considered inbreeding? And actually, what is actually considered linebreeding?

Well, so glad I wasted time in several of your threads trying to be supportive of you when you got your back up about responses you got CC :D

*Long post alert* I know this girl, she's 21, on Centrelink and living in government housing - in and of itself, no problem. She's not what I'd call a mature 21 year old, quite into partying, out all hours, not great with budgeting, no real future plans, quite self-focused - again, no real drama for a 21 year old. Yesterday she said to me that someone had told her I know stuff about dogs and could she ask me some stuff, of course, great :) She has two dogs, the first one is a Shih Tzu cross she acquired because she found her wandering along the street and took her in. I don't know if an owner was searched for but I get the impression not. This little dog is very excitable, not particularly trained or trainable apparently, and prone to escaping the yard under gates and fences. Apparently she not desexed, although I'm not quite sure how she knows this. Second dog is a 10 week old Rottweiler x Mastiff. Puppy came from the "breeder". The girl went to see the puppies just to look at them, not to get one, but then this puppy "chose" her by running over and resting his head on her lap so it was meant to be. Puppy was offered to her for $300 without vaccinations or $450 with them. Girl decided to take puppy then and there for $300. Puppy was 5 weeks old at that time. Puppy is very much loved, he's her baby and when he escaped the yard the other day (the older dog showed him how) she was terrified and devastated. Luckily the neighbours found him and she cried with relief when she saw him safe. Puppy is now ten weeks old. The reason she wanted to talk to me was because she wondered whether she should get the puppy desexed, tomorrow. I suggested waiting until six months old, as although young puppies can be desexed, with large breeds especially they benefit from the hormones as they are growing. Ok, sounds good, what about vaccinations, could he get them done at this age? I asked if he has had any yet, no he hasn't. I said YES, straight the vet tomorrow, there are several fatal diseases he is now very vulnerable to. And he should be microchipped while you're at it. I did explain that unfortunately this "breeder" has done the wrong thing by both the puppy and her as the buyer, and has in fact acted illegally by selling a puppy at under 8 weeks old, who is not microchipped or vaccinated. While she was listening I threw in a quick mention that Puppy needs training, lots of it, and NOW! Puppy will grow to be 60kgs, she will not have any chance of physically controlling him so she NEEDS to learn how to control him mentally. I explained how my 21kg dog can pull me around if she wants too and I weigh a lot more than this girl. Well, puppy knows how to sit already, they're working on come, but friends and flatmate keep whistling to him and he runs to them instead. Puppy stays close though, he doesn't run off. Yes, I said, Puppy's a baby and he still wants to be with mum, when he hits about 16 weeks he may well decide the rest of the world is much more exciting! Now is a GREAT time to learn how to properly train Puppy, before he starts to challenge. There's heaps of training stuff on the internet, a great thing to search for is NILIF. How much does puppy school cost? she asked me. Oh, and he's very bitey, and flatmate encourages it him with rough play... and he still has accidents inside, she hasn't been smacking him for these, but should she? No, I said, it won't teach him what you want him to do, and personally I wouldn't want to get into a physical punishment type relationship with a Rotti x Mastiff. Puppy is very healthy, although his litter brother is blind. She is a bit worried about his hips as he grows up. Great, I said, you will definitely need to be aware of looking after his joints. No jumping on and off stuff, walks on lead should only be for 5 mins per month of his age, exercise should be off leash playing and training. Ok, she said, I haven't been walking him on leash, and don't like doing that anyway, dogs pull everywhere and it makes the walk not fun, I'll probably only do short walks on the leash until we get somewhere he can get off and run around As I tried not to cry, I said politely, you will need to be VERY careful with him around other people and animals, as one wrong move from him and he will be ordered to be put down, people will not be forgiving of this dog, you have taken on a huge responsibility. Yes, I know, she said. Sigh... With any luck, she'll take in some of what I said. Is there an emoticon for growing a lot of new grey hair in one conversation??

I'm sure I've read about ar least one experienced Aussie breeder doing Merle to Merle mating/s as long as neither are double merles. Wouldn't you then end up with the same situation as mentioned with Shelties, where any puppies that appear Merle should not be bred from (unless genetically tested as not double Merle) but any solid pups could still turn out fine? And re white puppies, we know there are cases of perfectly healthy mismarks with white heads so you may not need to pts any/all excessive white pups. Having said that, I can't imagine you would take the risk unless you had very very good reasons.

That's beautiful Di :) And true. Thank you for sharing it.

Yes, I thought it was weird too. The doll was a bit creepy. I really don't think my dogs would react to it as they would to a human child. Riley would warily move away from both the doll and an actual child I suspect. He wouldn't be aggressive towards them though. However, they obviously can't use a human toddler in the test.

Hmm, I don't know about the paws but puppies hiccuping is pretty normal! Quinn, my Aussie Shepherd did it all the time as a puppy but she grew out of it :)

CC, do consider what Cosmolo has said, she is a highly regarded trainer. It sounds as though Orion and puddy get along well most of the time, it's just when Orion is eating that you have this issue? How did the cat react to Orion's snap? If it is only an issue with food, especially high value food, and the cat backed off I'd be inclined to accept it as part of their relationship and manage them as suggested. My poor old cat is a big sook so he is mostly kept separately from the dogs. They are not aggressive towards him but they get waaaay to excited and rough trying to play with him and he never stands up to them (not that that's really relevant to your situation :laugh: ) Between my three dogs there are a few different resource guarding dynamics. With their normal food the biggest dog, who is the youngest, is generally the 'boss' of things, she is happy to share with the middle dog but he looks at her for permission before he approaches - they each have their own bowls but are fed next to each other and sometimes swap around a bit. The smallest (oldest) dog won't eat normal, low value food when the big one is near because she will tell him off just coz she can, so he is fed in a separate spot. When it comes to certain things, rawhide chews, bones and certain toys, the littlest one stands up to the biggest one though and if lest unattended I think it could escalate into a full blown fight and the little one could be seriously hurt. Therefore they only have access to those particular things when I am there to keep them far enough away from each other that they stay focussed on their own thing. They have basically sorted out these dynamics themselves, and things have changed with each new addition. I feel like this is natural behaviour for them based on what they value and how they see each other. I see my role as overseeing and managing them all so they are all safe and happy. By the way, they are each individually happy to have me touch them, touch their food, remove things from them etc etc if I need to, and if the do start to scuffle they will stop when I growl at them so in that respect I think they are appropriately trained and don't have a resource guarding problem per se. So anyway that's my rather long winded two cents worth :)

We had cats called Puss and Kitty growing up. I also named my rabbit Bun... Oh and I named my mum's goldfish Blackie (he was black), Whitie (orange with white patches) and the rest were all "Orangie" - they lived in a pond in the garden and you really couldnt tell which Orangie was which Fortunately my own pets as an adult managed to escape the obvious names trend, I moved on to people names.

It's so hard to know with dogs as they can't tell us what's going on with them! Something may have happened to scare him or put him on the defensive and you may never know what it was. Also, as they grow up their hormones and even their brains change and all those things affect how they behave. All the experiences they have also shape them, and we as owners can't control all of that all the time. Good idea to take him to the vet to rule out any hormone problems, and also any pain or illness. You are definitely not the first and won't be the last to have this problem but the answer is usually unique to each dog and each situation. The best thing you can do is meet with a recommended behaviorist or trainer. They can actually see you and your dogs in the situation and get the best understanding of what's happening and how to improve things. Many many DOLers have had great results and no doubt you can too.

Yep, I meant where did the diary footage come from, sorry didn't make that clear. The stuff said in the diary is appalling. If true, it's hideous and even more so given that she's a vet. I am interested to know where the footage of the diary came from though, as mentioned you wouldn't show that to a prospective property buyer. And with all due respect Nic.B, plenty of inaccurate or biased stories end up on the news, and especially ACA.