BlackJaq

Wow I would be way too embarrassed to show that dog to anyone if I was the owner..... Having battled weight gain issues with my own dog (Weimaraner) I understand that it can be hard to get weight on a dog (mine will drop weight like no tomorrow due to separation anxiety issues but this one looks like pain issues to me), but really, the underlying problem needs to be found and worked on. I think this dog does not only look like he has poor conformation and is too thin, but the way his hips are tilted remind me of a horse with pain in that region and I think somebody said before that he looked like he was in pain whilst walking. Not to mention making a dog this size jump out of the back of a car onto a hard surface is just stupid. My dog is not even allowed to jump off the bed/lounge, not to mention the back of the ute or a car. I also hope he is desexed :p

Wonder how long it will take them to get new dogs

Ok well checking on them every day should be possible (except maybe when I am away at horse shows etc), just wouldn't have time to do more than say hello or some days even just ride/walk/drive past their pasture. I simply do not have time for another pet dog and the only reason I was considering getting another dog (or dogs, if necessary) was because I could not otherwise think of a way to protect anything smaller than cattle from pigs and foxes. I simply do not have enough money to put up a predator/pig proof fence along our entire several km fence line... If the dogs would be able to cope with this situation then they sound like a good solution. How do they go with housing? Will they need their own shelter if there are no buildings in the pasture?

Ok, I was only going off what I have read so far. I am not sure if I would be bringing the sheep/goats in every night. Probably yes during lambing and such, but not other times? However, my property is not so huge that I can't actually check every paddock every day, it is about 600 acres. So you think that the dog would still want and need the human companionship on a regular basis? How does this translate to a regular farm situation? Will they leave their flock to come hang out with me while I am doing farm chores? Or do I need to go sit in the paddock with their flock for a few hours each day? Lol sorry, as I said, I have zero experience with LGDs. It seems a little impractical for me to go hang out in the sheep pasture several hours a day though, there probably won't be enough time for that. Coming inside at night with the other dogs would leave the flock unprotected at the most important time? I don't really think we get many ticks around here, I have never found one on any of my other animals. I would probably need to keep the dogs away from the house and sheds if I suspected people were coming out here to avoid them feeling the need to come back later with bait as has happened to some guard dogs in town :/

This kind of brings me to the question of how much does a Maremma cost? Sorry, I realize this is a sensitive issue but I have an OH who needs to be sold on the idea lol

I have finally emailed the lady I was put in touch with (it took me a while to get around to that, sorry) and now I am pretty excited to hear back. So far, I have only noticed pig activity in the autumn so I can only imagine that they travel around and this is where they like to spend their fall :p Then again, if there was lifestock or other sources of food (feeders, better pasture, whatever) they might decide to hang around more. Fortunately we do not generally get hikers wandering around the place since it is very secluded so I would probably post a sign (very prominently) on the front gate and anybody who enters unannounced would just be out of luck :p How likely are LGDs to eat food offered by trespassers? Would they eat a bait if it was offered to them? Can you possibly train them to only eat from their designated feeding station? It sounds kind of impossible to me, seeing how they would be completely unattended by people for long periods of time... How likely would a pack of Maremmas be to actually attack a person who was attempting to break into sheds or other buildings? Or would they only feel the need to attack if the person went for the lifestock? Or would they maybe not attack a person at all and just keep barking and posing? Also, is it actually a worthwhile expenditure to buy a bunch of dogs to guard a fairly small flock of only about 50 or so animals? How do they go with electric fencing in case we decided to do strip grazing? Do they just ignore it due to their heavy coat? I know my Weimaraner zapper herself a few times when she was little and will not cross a simple three strand electric fence now. If you close the gate and walk away she is STUCK :p Sorry, so many questions, I have pretty much ZERO LGD knowledge...

I think in a situation of such mass neglect the owner's feelings probably shouldn't be the highest priority but rather the animal's welfare If I had 100+ animals in horrendous condition on my property or possibly crammed into my house and was breeding puppies for money nobody would give a crap about my feelings. If on the other hand I had 100+ animals in horrendous condition on my property possibly crammed into my house and was letting them breed indiscriminately but NOt selling the puppies, instead leaving them to wallow in filth until they die then suddenly my feelings would be super important and nobody could make me give up all of them. Instead they would work with me and still let me keep a ridiculous amount of animals? Great! If I was a puppy farmer, I would know what to say now to keep most of my breeding animals at least

Yes but didn't the authorities set the number? Shouldn't they BE rational? I didn't watch that episode so am presuming she did not get to decide how many to keep herself?

Well my point was that she should not even be allowed to keep this many animals. She is obviously mentally ill and unable to run a shelter or cattery, so a small amount of pets should be all she is permitted to keep. Say 3 or 4 cats maybe. Any more than that and individual attention will be spread thin, add to that that she is potentially unstable and she really does not need more animals in her care!

Who needs 85 cats or dogs anyways? I mean.. Unless they breed them for meat, dairy, eggs or whatever, why does anybody need this many animals? It is impossibly to give each animal the amount of attention they deserve when there are so amny of them...

I have to say that many people around my area seem to have a major case of breed bias as well. I was sitting out the front of Maccas with a friend and her two dogs the other day, one an older (and old looking) GSD cross and one a young mixed breed bully, not sure what exactly, but tall and lanky. Anyways, so eventually this group of ladies stopped at the door near us and I wasn't really noticing them much at all, until one of them asked if it was ok to go past. Apparently the GSD x looked "mean" and they were afraid to go past... I have to say the dog was not very large, only about as big as a cattle dog maybe. They were not concerned with the bully but he didn't look like the stock pictures of pits that they generally like to put next to "dog attack" articles in the paper... I've also experienced VERY different reactions when out walking dogs, depending on the dog I was walking. My Wei always gets lots of positive reactions and everybody wants to touch her and people will stick out their flippers to pat her on the head as we walk past without asking, even though she is definately NOT interested in strangers touching her and she would be the least likely one I personally would try to touch if I didn't know her. My Coolie girl used to get some comments because she looked different, but geerally people were pretty neutral. The Coolie boy before that was very tall and all white except for a merle patch on his face and his eyes were golden. He had a lot of people scared and I'm not sure why? The worst reactions I get are generally staffies and staffy looking dogs. I now have an older pup from the pound who looks like some kind of bulldog x, definately not the British type, maybe American or Aussie, but only short, lower than my knee and very wide/heavyset dog. That one gets ots of positive feedback, too for some reason? I think some of the reactions are caused by how the dog looks but a lot of it is probably trained on from a young age by the media. I remember vaguely feeling that GSDs were dangerous when I was little, but never had issues with the ones owned by my grandmother and uncles so I guess I didn't connect the ones I knew to the "dangerous" ones on the tv...

Tell you what, my father's side of the family has owned nothing but GSDs as far back as I can rememeber and all of those dogs lived well into their teens. The oldest I remember died when I was very young at the ripe old age of 17, so in most people's book that dog was waaay beyond his use by date.... Even now I know a lady with a grumpy old Great Dane bitch who is 14 years old.... If your dog is well and not looking like he is about to drop or in terrible pain then I see no reason why he shouldn't be able to have many more years in front of him

I don't know if you've actually read the article but it was mentioned that usually, when he passes out, people do not go near him and the word "overdose" was used to explain what might be causing him to "seizure" and pass out..... Maybe read it again and then see if you can come up with the reason why I thought it was drugs and not epilepsy...

I realize these people have issues but how is impulse buying cats and dogs and lizards from a PETSHOP ok if you are an "animal lover"?

slightly different in Germany with Weims. they are still very strict about who they sell puppies to. The breed wardens of the club chooses the mating, and homes of the pups not the breeder, and you must have a gun licence and be a hunter and wiling to work your dog just to be eligible to own one. Yes I was born and grew up in Germany and have spoken with several German breeders but things are now a little different and it is possible to have pet Weims and culling rather than selling as pets is not prevalent anymore as far as I know :) I do wish I'd gotten my licence before I left home now and am not allowed one here since I am not a citizen. Finding help training gundogs is much easier in Germany as well but this is all OT :p lol

I agree that culling at birth would be better than dumping on rescue when dogs can't be sold. Numbers needing rescue are pretty much unmanagable now no need to add more

I think it has been said before by some people but I think it is important to rememeber that a "good temperament" in some breeds, in accordance with the breed standard, is not always a "good" temperament in a pet dog! Not all correct dogs are suitable pets or at least not in the hands of the average pet home...

Oh noes, spoiler alert! :p

My dog also tried humping around that age but she did it during her heat and only humped other dogs. During each heat she still has a day or two where she feels extra "excited" and humps other dogs... She is now getting fixed and if it is all hormonal then I guess she won't be doing it again. And she always reacted promptly when told to cut it out, although if the other dog simply walked away she'd sometimes keep humping the air for a bit... Neddless to say it's a fairly entertaining picture but not ok on people at all.

In NSW it will be on at 3 pm :)

Thanks guys, I will bring up the smell again when I take her in to be fixed. While they are there they can make sure she is ok all around ;) I have had some confusing issues with smell before... She did not smell funny when she had a urinary tract infection, only had discharge and we went on antibiotics as soon as this was noticed. She then had some anal gland issues during one of her skinny periods with fairly obvious signs (dragging her bum on the ground, obviously the smell when the anal gland emptied randomly (we now call this "a**-plosion for obvious reasons lol :p ) and more than usual attention given to "that area" when she felt uncomfortable. However, I had never had a dog with anal gland issues before so I didn't catch on as quickly as you might have thought. When I took her to the vet about it a new/inexperienced vet at the clinic thought it might be another UTI since she had one before... So she went on antibiotics and I tried for about three days to collect some pee.. She was NOT cooperative about this at all :p Eventually I googled and basically saw the light/had an epiphany. Then took her in to have them checked/expressed and a different vet looked at her thta time, agreed anal glands were the culprit and quickly discovered that one was situated a little bit funky and due to some loss of fat in the area didn't express properly even though it was not a problem at normal weight. I have not had any anal gland issues for a while now but still feed a bit of psyllium husk with her dinner a couple of times a week as suggested by the vet and also make sure she gets some bones/chicken necks/whatever in her diet to help firm up her business lol During skinny episodes she does not seem to loose much muscle tone, just fat cover, mostly noticable across ribs, backbone and hips. She stays active and happy as per usual, no differenc ein behaviour really. Her coat and teeth are fine, too. It didn't really occur to me that it might be anxiety until I spoke to SparkyTansy int he We thread and she suggested it after I looked at the dates on the photos and realized this last one happened right around the time when I went to Dubbo Show with my horse and left her home with my OH for a couple of nights. The same thing happened last August when I went overseas for two weeks and she was kenneled at home with my other dog (who got a little fat if anything). This was also when she picked up her UTI and was a bit clingy for a while after that... I guess I'm a bit thick at times but this is my first Wei as well, so the learning curve is definately steep. The practical experience with the dog has definately taught me at least as much as reading about the breed and talking to breeders was definately enlightening as well (as I am sure it is with every breed). If I feel the need I agree, I may consider getting another Wei to try again or I may get another even without breedng, they are lovely dogs in the right circumstances (again I am sure the same goes for any other breed, but I love my Wei just that little bit more lol) I recently got an older (unknown breed) pup from a pound out west though after loosing my German Coolie girl to a snake bite last year, so I doubt I will be getting any more permanent dogs any time soon. Two are enough for me I think :) (Coolie and new pup have both been desexed, needless to say) Honestly I am glad I will not have the responsibility to try and find suitable homes for ten or more puppies. I think I said before, I would not recommend the breed to everyone and saying "no" to some people would cause them to find "other breeders" (namely the BYB's who have been mentioned before) and I would feel kind of guilty about driving them to it, even if it was in my dogs' best interest. Maybe avoiding the whole situation doesn't fix it but it sure makes it someone else's problem :p I don't know how other breeders can let their puppies go and not be overly obsessive about contacting every puppy owner every day and asking about the puppy. My very own dogs' puppies would feel to me like children I think, I might not be able to let any of them go I'll probably still look at showing her at a later date in neuter classes and I guess if she happened to do exceptionally well I might be a little sorry but not as sorry as if I'd lost her to complications. By the way I also thought 2 was pretty young still and did not intend to breed before she was at least three, what ages do others generally breed their maiden bitches at? Sorry for the novel but I figure I might as well make some more use of the thread now that it is here ^^

I rememeber speaking to a Weimaraner breeder in Germany who said dogs that were not gundog quality would be culled instead of being sold into pet homes not too long ago. I suppose the situation here is different since the temperament was the issue there, not the colour and I also think back then there may not have been any spay/neuter options readily available, so even if sold to a pet home, there was no way to ensure the faulty dog did not go on to reproduce either faulty purebreds or mixed breeds with possibly dangerous tendencies (mixing some breeds with conflicting temperaments is just asking for trouble as most of you already know).

The dog actually survived. And I can name a number of popular breeds off the top of my head where the breed standard calls for some kind of guarding disposition... Are those breeds or individual dogs who may have this disposition not allowed into public anymore now, in case their owner passes out and they think defending him is the right repsonse? I own a dog with protective/guarding tendencies myself and I am definately NOT a "street person". However, if I was unconscious I could obviously not tell my dog to "stand down" or whatever. A dog may not have been purchased for his guard tendencies but as a family pet but may still respond in this way so what is a perosn to do, other than always leave their dog at home or hope like hell they aren't going t pass out? I don't think there is a good or even realistic alternatve than using whatever is at hand but the person in the article should definately receive treatment for his habit if he indeed does have one, or maybe get some medical help if he is experiencing "seizures". Either way, taking this particular dog into public with him now that there have been several incidences is obviously unacceptable and if he refuses to recognize this then the dog should probably not be returned. I definately do not blame the dog though, or even the neighbourhood. Mostly the owner sinc ehe seems to ahve known that these situations were likely to occur.

One more :p

Thank You everyone :) I'm definately looking forward to enjoying her as a pet and sporting companion and not having to worry about her being on heat and attracted every loose dog in a several km radius to scratch on ym car dor anymore :p Seeing as this thread is already here now I might as well pepper it with some more funnies (and maybe keep it near the top for others with a similar question to read since it didn't degenerate as some others on this topic have in the past lol no offence anyone) Here is a conformation shot from yesterday, free standing lol Somebody said before that she was lacking in forechest and it's definately true. She is also somewhat oversized now. By around 2 cm I believe. Not sure how much she would be penalized for this. We have also further discussed the weight issues in the Weimaraner thread and it seems like the sudden drops in weight might actually be anxiety related. I did not really notice this before, but they seem to occur when I go away over night since I usually take her along whenever posisble. Afterwards it is very difficult to get the weight back on her but since she can and has reached a decent condition before these episodes, physical illness is unlikely. Here are the "skinny" and "normal" photos I posted in the Weim thread: Skinnies: Normals: