Alkhe

One of the arguments used by anti "designer dogs" is that designer dogs like "cavoodles" and "spoodles" etc. are bred in puppy farms. If a puppy farm is registered or if a puppy is sold through a pet shop i.e. domestic animal business they must be microchipped. Does anyone have any actual data or stats that support this theory The 'theory' that they're bred in puppy farms? The problem is that there's no universally accepted version of what a 'puppy farm' is. Some establishments that I would consider puppy farms are actually registered businesses that are licensed to do what they do - thus, they're not illegal. Being legal in my opinion doesn't make them okay, or something that I would ever consider supporting by buying a dog from them. Nobody advertises that they're a puppy farm, that would be marketing suicide. But a lot of registered establishments that are perfectly legal domestic animal businesses that microchip their pups and operate all above board, but are what I would consider puppy farms. A lot of similar establishment aren't registered though. I'd never support either kind, regardless of how legal and officially legitimate they are. I'm not going to name establishments on here, but there are a number of "kennels" with nice sounding names like heatherview palace or blah blah fields, that type of thing, that you can order puppies from online. They're not going to put pictures of animals kept in cages and continually bred from. They have pictures that look like stock, getty images type photos of puppies running through fields etc. Lots of crosses like cavoodles, spoodle etc, are bred by "backyard breeders" - you find them through ads in the paper, and someone's bred their pet or decided to start breeding dogs. Those aren't what I would consider puppy farms, but they're equally not something that I want to support. Have a google, it won't take you long to find some pretty shocking things.

If you've got her for 4 days, you can at least feed her something decent for that time. I fostered a very underweight greyhound last year, and got lots of condition on him by feeding him this: boil up a whole packet of rice in a big pot, grate some carrots and zucchinis into it, and when it's cooked, stir a couple of eggs through it. Let it cool and then put it into a bunch of tupperware containers - it will last you at least a week, probably 2. Give the dog a bowl in the morning, with some chicken, and maybe a sardine mushed through it. Add the meat to the bowl before giving it to the dog, and mush it all around so the meat juice etc goes through the rice mix. You can do that yourself, and give the tupperware containers to your sister to take away with her, and at least you've given her enough to last a week. As everyone else said, get her to a vet - you can do this yourself in the mean time though, and it won't cost a lot.

My approach would be to calmly and rationally explain why you think purebred is the way to go, and outline all the options for her. You have to outline the options and choices though - just telling someone to do x or they're stupid if they do x, is a surefire way for them to go right ahead and do x. I started my site (in my sig) for this reason, to provide easy to understand info for the average non-doggy person, and have written a bit about where dogs come from and how to make an informed decision: http://www.maggiesfarm.info/buying-a-dog/ I don't want to be seen to be promoting it unnecessarily but I actually do think it's pretty relevant for this thread. :) ETA - price for grooming depends on the size of the dog and varies hugely depending on where you are, it seems. I live in the inner suburbs of Melbourne and the cheapest groom I've had for my 4kg toy poodle has been $50. I've paid up to $90, and now do it myself. A larger dog, (by which I mean larger than 4kg!) could easily cost you double that, and 8 weeks is really the longest you could leave it between grooms. To do it yourself you really need to get some decent clippers, which will set you back at least $80 on ebay. If you're serious about it though, expect to pay much more than that, at least a couple of hundred.

Yeah, I'm really glad I don't have to make decisions like this. My initial reaction is no, I wouldn't, though perhaps that's unfair. The dog may well be looked after much better than many dogs aroudn the world who are confined to the backyard and basically forgotten about. However, if I were a FIFO worker, I wouldn't get a dog, because I don't think that I would be able to look after it in the way that works best for me, and I consider works best for my dog (eg, time spent together, lifestyle, etc). Also, it would make going to work and leaving the dog even more excruciating than leaving for work is every day anyway! It would definitely depend on how long the stints away are, though. If it's month on, month off.. or a few months on, month off.. I wouldn't do it. If I were a breeder, I'd be extremely upset that something as significant as that wasn't disclosed to me. And if I were approaching a breeder, I'd make sure it was one of the firs things I mentioned.

Before I started posting on dog forums, I would never have known that snobbery toward purebred owners even existed. I accept that some rescues may have facebook pages and fans etc that promote messages like every purebred means the death of a shelter dog, but I don’t think this is as widespread as those facebooks would have you believe. But to be honest, I think discussions like this can degenerate into a bit of a straw man – it feels like a division is being created and reinforced where it doesn’t necessarily exist, or exist to the degree that it appears. It’s the same as people talking about The Left and The Right and some huge conspiracy, when really.. we’re all just people. People who think or act a different way to you doesn’t imply that they’re a coordinated group of people acting in concert against you. I have a purebred, and grew up with purebreds by accident, and also then some BYBs – none were more or less loved or cared about by virtue of their breeding or source. I do get annoyed sometimes when I see people with crossbred pups but it’s usually when the owners are clueless and you can just see trouble down the road with the breeds they’ve got, without really thinking about it. They’re the kind of dthoughtless spur of the moment decisions that are problematic. And that’s not to say that people don’t make mindless decisions to get x kind of purebred either, or that some breeders couldn’t give a rat’s where their dogs end up.

I also might have to pull out.. will let you guys know asap.

I'm very curious to read about these inaccuracies. Jumabaar's post clearly articulates the understanding I have always had, too, and not just from forums and word of mouth..

I am so, so so sorry to hear this tragic news :hug: There are really no words. You did absolutely everything you could and she's not in any pain anymore. I'm so sorry Lisey

:laugh: I love this thread! I always tell my partner to heel and wait, too

I love stories like this, where fate steps in so perfectly! He's gorgeous, well done and congratulations :thumbsup:

:laugh: what an awesome little dog! I love how she jumped over the jumps too!

What about making other family members do all feeding and interaction, including affection (when this is able to happen), rather than the mother? So that every positive thing the dog gets comes from another family member, and the mother ignore the dog completely. My view would be that the dog could then develop trust and affection toward other family members and stop associating the mother as a valuable 'resource', so to speak?

I got a brooch from mine, with a little chihuahua on it :D And I have been led to believe that some things from the internet haven't arrived yet. My little one is also a mama though, and my OH apparently ordered her something from the internet too, bless...

You mention macadamia nuts are a no no, what about other types of nuts, more specifically almonds and walnuts, joey sometimes gets a couple here and there lol My understanding is that macadamias are particularly toxic, but the exact thing that causes problems is unknown. Some dogs can be allergic to other types of nuts, but they're not a blanket no-no like macadamias. Eg, some dogs are allergic to peanuts and can have anaphylactic reactions to them just like humans, but other dogs are absolutely fine. (My dog loves a bit of peanut butter here and there!) I guess you could steer on the safe side and avoid nuts altogether, but really, that's a decision everyone has to make for themselves. I wouldn't rush to the vet if I found that my dog had eaten some nuts (unless they were macadamias) but I wouldn't give them to her, either. Hope that helps!

Meh, I'm sure it's fine. I wouldn't give her heaps, but most things are ok in moderation. Just don't give her chocolate, raising or macadamias

Hm, there are some worrying things there, but I'm not really sure what to think. People will read what they read - that's a problem with the internet broadly, it gives everyone an equal position on the soap box, and if you're not on the ball, it can be hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. I'm not sure that there's an insidious group of 'dog blogs' out there, though - there are just people all over the place writing about all sorts of things. That article makes it sound like there's a cohesive group of people writing blogs as a guerrilla kind of anti-purebred thing, and I don't think that's really the case. It seems like a bit of a straw man to me. I personally started my own website as a means of writing about what I think are important things (related to dogs), that there's lots of conflicting information on. In some ways it just adds to the buzz that blogs create, but if it provides something to think about to even one person, then I'm happy.

Wow, perfect timing! Gorgeous little pup

Oh wow, those are beautiful. I just bought house and have been thinking about buying some art, but having found so many things of the years that I either couldn't afford, or wouldn't have been able to acutally hang up.. finally I can start! I love the simplicity of lino cuts, they're so.. "clean" looking without being acutally simple at all!

Wow, they are absolutely stunning, and look very good next to each other :) Sounds like a match made in heaven for all of you!

I use Vet N Pet Direct: http://www.vetnpetdirect.com.au They often have discount coupons and sales on their most popular items (which are always Advantage and that range etc), and ship SO quickly. I always get mine either the next working day, or the one after that

:cheer: :cheer: Jenna looks like she's wearing eyeliner in that pic too :D

Hm, the most sensible comment there seems to be one of the last ones, to the effect that it was was a Pitbull/Rottweiler/some other "usual suspect" it would've been mentioned..

It's looking good at this stage! List of people and dogs pip1981- Dakota nancylady-Sid snout girl: Bert, Sally and Bruce (and an OH) snout girls friend: Shakaur and Soka (and an OH) smoothiegirl - Bronte & Ren Alkhe - Maggie, maybe Mimi (and OH) List of food pip1981- marinated chicken wings and soft drink to share (and all the BBQ/eating necessities) nancylady- salad sandwiches and lemon & raspberry tarts snout girl: something vegetarian for the BBQ and a salad snout girl friend: sausages and salad smoothiegirl - thinking, thinking, thinking...I'll come back to you on that one. Alkhe - another one tbc...

Just thought I'd let people know - the books I ordered from bookdepository.co.uk on 30 April arrived today :) That's 9 days, or 6-7 working days. Pretty happy with that

The other place to try might be etsy.com ?