Inevitablue

Its so hard to give you advice without knowing your personality. OK, you might have never had a dog before but you might have bucket loads of common sense and take to dog ownership like a duck to water. You might go and get a softer breed which then you find your too active for. I'd jump in the car and go to a couple of local dog parks in your area and just observe the dogs, look at what personalities appeal to you. Then when you know what your attracted to - a bold dog or a soft one, or one which is super switched on then head to a dog show and get chatting. I have cattle dogs, which most people would say no way for a first timer, but if you are active, like smart dogs and are happy to put in some training they might suit you to a tee. Just like with any breed research who you want to buy your dog from.

I'd be happy with a pup, just do the home work with the genetics side of it, then really put the effort into creating good, positive experiences for the maturing pup. Even if you get an adult dog behaving nicely, put it under enough pressure and it will revert to its genetic component. So why not cover both bases, know what your dealing with genetically, then educate the pup about the world in a smart way.

Yep, I believe they certainly do. Just like they inherit body shape, head shape ect they also inherit brain wiring. Doesn't mean the dogs are carbon copy in personality, just like there are small changes in body type ect there will be changes in the brain wiring. Never too drastic, like you can't breed 2 little dogs and get a giant puppy. Hence why purebreds are more predictable, you know what genes are likely to be expressed. The thing about brain configuration, unlike the rest of the body, is that it is plastic - it has the ability to change. Hence why socialisation (good or bad) can change behaviour patterns away from the genetic structure of the brain.

Go to Rivers, they have great shoes with good tread and are stylish enough to wear with a skirt. Usually plenty of colours and styles to choose from.

Cropped from a dodgy phone photo...but still cute

Great photo Nevafollo...... :p Here is my boy winning Junior in Show

Well, I thought they could be trusted with beds Then, I thought they'd grown up and no longer needed to gut every bed..... But even without the cover they can still be used :laugh:

Just pick a good one...not like the vet today who trod on a newborn puppies head. Bitch having trouble giving birth, at vet for oxy shots and monitoring. Puppies on floor on a dog bed between feeding and bitch delivering. Vet actually walks across the dog bed and steps on a puppy. Tried to push the puppy under a blanket with his foot to hide his mistake. Breeder is like 'OMG you just stepped on a puppy', he is like 'oh yeah, I know'. Blood coming out of nose and mouth, and he says 'puppies are like rubber, it will bounce back'. So with laboured breathing and still bleeding from the mouth and nose he tells the breeder to 'take it home and see how it goes'. Needless to say it died before she could get it to another vet. 'But oh, here is your bill for the consult and oxy shots......'

Once the pulp cap fell off, the dental specialist told me to not worry about it and just let the nerve die. So on his advice I did just that. Removing the whole canine wasn't an option I wanted to take.

None, and this was a cattle dog that picked up dirty tennis balls etc. I had the pulp cap put on within 36hrs of it breaking to try and save the nerve, and he did have a course of antibiotics. The tooth ended up as a snapped canine, no pain and the nerve just shriveled up and died. EDIT: lol, I should add that he then snapped his lower jaw and had 2 front teeth, the broken canine and 3 molars and the broken jaw removed, but that was about 18 months later. Someone threw his ball up a flight of landscaped stairs and he tripped and went face first into the edge of the stair...

My previous dog had a pulp cap put on a broken canine by a dental specialist. About 10 years ago that cost $500. It fell off 2 weeks later..... The nerve then just dried out and died. After a few weeks he was perfectly fine, I just gave him pain killers until the nerve died.

I find anything further out west is cheaper...car servicing, vets etc. There are some great vets a bit further out. Denistone is a lovely small clinic without huge overheads. Animal Tracks near Homebush is another. The price doesn't dictate the quality of the care, I'd say price is more determined by geographic location and the size of the clinic. Bigger, more equipped hospitals are better for complicated surgeries, emergencies and the like. Thus they may be overpriced for routine surgery.

and throw in a couple of broken, jagged teeth and suddenly the damage is far greater.

I was simply pointing out that you said you never buy commercial treats. I wonder what the VIP Chunkers would look like dehydrated? That's the comparison your making, a dehydrated treat to a hydrated one. Edit: buying a dehydrator and making your own treats can be considered home made if your using base ingredients.

I'd classify the VIP Chunkers as completely processed and commercial. Frying them up doesnt make them 'home made'. It's a great idea though.

From her FB page - July next year, Sydney (Shannon Malmberg is the orgniser - I will find her details), Brisbane at Camp Tailwaggers and I think one other state still to be decided. Camp Tailwaggers has the info on their website. She says on her FB page that she will be doing private consults whilst here too. There must be other DOLer's who know more about her visit than me

Its interesting you write that. My cattle dog bitch has never opened her mouth on sheep, and as she matures she is becoming very confident and proficient at turning the head of the sheep by shouldering them. Full body sideways contact turning the sheep anywhere from 90 degrees to a full 180. As a pup I tried lots of tugging, but it was all manufactured. Sure she engaged but she didn't tip over into that state of sheer excitement. She just isn't a mouthy dog, and like you pointed out kelpies ect haven't been bred to hold a grip. But she loves chasing things and she loves physical/stalking play. A fellow DOL'er put me onto the idea's of Denise Fenzi (who is coming out here next year for a series of seminars ) she believes in whatever turns that dog on. Denise has competed at the highest levels of both AKC obedience and IPO/Mondio ring. Some dog's like rough housing as their reward, some like to chase things, some like food, but its finding what that dog likes. To her the ultimate goal is when the dog goes into drive thru play, without intermediaries. I persisted with tugging but the whole time I was thinking 'why do I seem to be taking the hard road here. I can get the desired drive levels with a ball, or by rumbling with her' I like what she writes here OP, have a look on Denise's blog, there is so much interesting information, including breaking down physical play into different categories - stalk play, pushing away play, chase play. I like this video from Forrest Micke

Rub BBQ chicken over your hands so the Sammies think your Santa Clause LOL Silly, but I know people who've done it!!!!

When will they properly punish people for having dogs like this. The government is so quick to jail traffic offenders for behaviour that MAY endanger others, yet someone can own an animal that rips off a human ear and they will get what? a slap on the wrist. Start hitting the owners with six figure fines and jail time. I don't care how much they co operate with the police after the event. They owned animals which attacked unprovoked with the intention of causing serious injury.

Who paid you? Our clinic would love a kick back, my boss has never been paid for stocking Hills, Advance, RC OR Euk and our practice has been open for over 20 years, I think we are being ripped off! I'm just going by my experience here, and if this is not what happens in australia then my mistake, i am not from here. people can call it shelf maintenance or benefits, whatever you like and you know what, maybe I'm wrong, I am just a vet nurse, not a practice owner, but like I said, just going by personal experience. Maybe your talking about a rebate? For example, if the clinic sells x amount a quarter then they get a percentage back.

I think Guide Dogs QLD did a study, when they swapped to a raw diet. Don't think it was a published study but their vet bills reduced dramatically.

It's hard to find a decent study. Remember all the big dry food brands are owned by Colgate-Palmolive, Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Mars etc. Massive multinationals with near limitless funds. The margins in these foods are huge, the marketing departments have near endless dollars and, well studies can always be skewed. Compare to almost all of the commercial raw producers that were founded by single vets, the margins are much lower (actually using meat is more expensive than corn or meat meal) and the marketing very simple. There would be very little in the kitty for studies. Common sense as to the dogs evolution is their 'proof'. The fact that the companies whose main goal is profit give the only nutrition lectures to vet students doesn't sit well with me. Studies can be skewed to show a positive outcome, and shouldn't a scientist with no agenda be teaching our future vets?

What concerns me is that while everyone talks of structure and if the dog has the correct physical attributes to do the job then it must still be fit for purpose, yet subtle changes over generations is most likely occurring in brain configuration and wiring. In a perfect world all dogs would still be tested for their original purpose to maintain the gross thinking patterns of individual dogs within a breed. Impossible for some breed, but not all. I look at my chosen breed, ACD's, dingo was added to the mix, not to change structure but to change the behavioural tendencies of the dog. To change the way the dog worked. Hence a highly cognitive dog was produced. If it is correct that Bull Terrier was added then that is where the solid nerves of an ACD originated. If those mental capacities are not selected for then cognition and nerve might be lost. If a show champion is celebrated for its correct conformation yet has never had the behavioural patterns of it's brain tested then a dog with genetic/mutational changes in hard wiring could possibly be influencing the breed. Add up hundreds of these dogs and the breed could be changed. Reading the Working Breed Standard of the American ACD Club the behavioural and thinking patterns expected of the dogs is outlined in detail. As an example BC's - the difference in 'eye' between the show line and working line is quite marked. Yes,I know there is the argument that some dogs take awhile to 'switch on' to stock, including working line and it's unfair to judge the eye of a show line seeing stock for the first time. However, if the brain wiring is never tested then breeders cannot say that they are maintaining the original behavioural tendencies expected of the breed. I'd like to see the ANKC introduce another Champion title. Forget about adding another after the Supreme Ch, how about a Working Champion title for those breeds where ability can be tested - a dog which attains its conformation title and a specific performance title. Or a Reward of Merit title. There is nothing stopping show people from attempting working titles, except maybe time and interest, and they can continue to breed physically conformed show champions, but we should be celebrating dogs which are being selected for physical conformation and mental configuration.

Negative points for ball obsession..... harsh.

I'd stick with the Protexin. Years of positive feedback has to be a great assurance that it isn't gimmicky.