Jetpoint GSP

I really wanted the rabbit squeaker too but it was one thing on my order that was out of stock :-(

Me too, just come up as hitting Australia today. Way too excited, pity we also have to wait to x-mas to play with them!

We can get ours from pretty much any of the stores in town, they just order them in for us and we get the 20kg breeder bags at the breeder price. When we pick one up we get them to order another one for 2 weeks time and that way we always have one available when we need it. But you do have to ask them to specifically order them in for you.

Jane is excellent, she's OS at the moment but it seems she is still contactable and may be able to help.

My maiden bitch was the same. As soon as she had her 'den' rigged up she stopped trying to move the pups.

Springers and Brittany's are gundogs, they need lots of training, 'jobs' to do and definitely have prey drive. That's what they're meant to do. If you don't then they will take themselves hunting if not fenced in properly and like most gundogs, if not trained and given daily attention they get destructive fairly quickly...

Sad isn't it really when 'show quality' takes precedence over function...when working dogs couldn't do a full days work if their lives depended on it, makes me very sad to see the way some breeds are going.

They don't x-ray. They don't need to. If a dog can jump a 2.2 metre wall at 10 years old, you don't need an x-ray." Breeders should select for performance. If a dog shows poor health he should not be used. I know it goes against everything that is said these days but strangely - makes a lot of sense....

Jane is excellent, I haven't used her for aggression issues more for training/obedience training tuition but she is excellent and put her finger right on what I needed. I think she is wonderful and will be able to give you the answers you need. I am also near Toowoomba and she travelled to see me.

Thanks Teebs, my girls are certainly on the higher end of the spectrum in terms of drive and exercise needs but I knew that when I picked them as puppies! It looks like I've got two options to investigate at present so that's better than nothing!

Teebs - absolutely not. GSPs are people dogs and require large amounts of exercise more than once daily. They can't just be left home alone and they don't cope with kennels fir the same reasons. They ate high drive and high maintenance but are worth it in every way! The girls come first so if they don't have a sitter one of us must stay home. Woof and Hoof that would be great!

:-( no one?

Ok so OH and I wouldn't mind going away for a night here and there on the odd weekend. I absolutely will not Kennel my girls, I won't even have them in another breeder's kennels, they need their space and room to run and play all day. I know they are safe here in our yard. We are looking for a knowledgeable dog person to look after my 2 girls just overnight on the odd occaision. The hard part is that most dog people have their own dogs and I don't want other dogs here. I need a really good reliable person who we would like to meet beforehand and have meet the girls on a few occasions too. Basically we're looking for any recommendations for experienced and knowledgeable dog people that we could contact to meet and see if they might be able to come and mind the dogs if we needed to go away. So if anyone knows anyone I would love to hear from you!

Personally i've never used a kennel for my dogs - ever - and I probably won't. I would much rather have my girls at home in their own environment where I know they are safe and comfortable and with someone responsible looking after them. IF I was looking for a kennel this is what i'd be looking for. - willing to feed the food I provide - I will not have my girls on a different diet simply for someone else's convenience, i'm not paying for convenience i'm paying for for my dogs to be looked after well. The ability for my girls to be given bones every second day that I provide for them. - absolutely no contact with other dogs, my girls together and not in contact through a fence or anything. They wouldn't have this at home and I would hate them to be barked at all day long through the fence by someone else's dog. Not to mention fleas!!! - My girls have never had a flea on them in their life. I have had friends who have boarded at well recommended kennels whose dogs have had flea problems after coming home. - large exercise yard with some swimming area. - large yard attached to their shelter/kennel area with some shade as well. My girls are large active dogs and spend a lot of the day running and playing with each other. - play time with a person both morning and evening. My dogs are people dogs and don't like to be left on their own without people around. - the ability to bring their own clean bedding so it's more like home for them. - A vet on call at all times for any veterinary attention needed. - A clean, tidy professional appearing premises, house and yard. So you can see why I don't board my girls as I think it's quite a lot to ask for a 'kennel' and these services just aren't available, even if they were I would still be hesitant as i'd much rather them in their own home where they can be around people all the time. Plus I also have horses that need looking after so it's easier for me to have someone at my house looking after all of them than dogs in one place and trying to get someone to do horses as well.

Our girl loves having her daughter around, she used to hate being home alone and we were lucky enough that the neighbours would come and say hi to her over the fence during the day if she was looking lonely. In saying that you need to put a lot of time into training seperately, spending time with them individually etc. so that they are both bonded to you, not each other. They play together all the time, they sleep together and because we've spent time training them individually we've found having two not too much of an issue really, having big active dogs it means that the food costs are double but we can afford it so that's ok. They are both very much happy with each other and we are happy that we have a great relationship with each dog as well. Ours are mother and daughter so we never had an issue with accepting each other.

Yep - we had a bit of a case of this with ours too. Mum had so much good rich milk that they gutsed themselves and ended up with diarrhoea - not fun!

excuse my ignorance but i'm intrigued, can you explain the dual-sired litter and how that works?

I have the Susan Garrett crate training DVD and I would recommend it very highly. Makes crate training a breeze and the dogs love it. I can't so much as barely get the crate set up now before they're both cramming themselves in! Worked beautifully on a pup and an older dog. Wouldn't attempt crate training without it!

I have recently gotten myself a copy and I can't recommend it highly enough. Both my girls had been in crates before but I was primarily using it for self control and motivation training and it works. Not to mention it has improved their opinion of their crates out of sight!! Our first session where she says you need to get to 'yer in yer out' was over in 10mins and even then i was stretching it out and proofing big time. I did it with my 12month old GSP and my 5year old and after we'd finished both girls and went to pack up the crates (we were outside) they both ran straight over to them wanting ot get back in. And THAT was only after their very first session!! I wish i'd done this when they were little pups (not that it seems to matter much as they've both got it hands down now!) and I can't wait to start my next pup off with it. I honestly cannot recommend this highly enough!!!

I agree with the others - crate training takes time but is really worthwhile, in the mean time your puppy needs a safe area to stay while you're out. I have recently acquired the Susan Garrett Crate Training DVD and I cannot recommend it highly enough, did wonders for the crate training of my pup and some retraining of my older girl.

My girls are outside when they're wearing them so they need to be waterproof. I have two favourites Weatherbeeta 'Landa' dog rugs and Eurohunter dog rugs (they have the clips that go under the belly) The weatherbeeta landa's are great and velcro on - my dogs can take them off however they soon worked out that taking your rug off when it's cold means they get cold! The eurohunter one's I couldn't see a dog getting off but we all know how clever some dogs can be!

I had Jane Harper out with my girls today. Different issues completely - more of a training session but the improvement we've had this afternoon alone is amazing I can't wait to see how we go as the coming days and weeks pass. She's absolutely wonderful with the dogs, my two girls loved her and she has a really good common sense approach, explains everything really well and the 'after sales' service is also great. I can't recommend her highly enough.

A big one!!! I have the biggest one I could find available which is about 110x110 and I was thanking Dog each and every day that I only had 7 pups and it was winter so everyone wanted to cuddle up!! It really wasn't big enough for my girl to lay down in and stretch out and if it was summer and she wanted to or we had more pups I think I would only have been able to use it for a very short time. Higher sides would definitely be needed as my pups were out basically as soon as they worked out they could do it mine were 30cm high. I loved my lift out door but in two pieces would be great if sides were higher. The only think I don't like about fibreglass boxes (especially in winter) is that they sit right on the floor. We had to put a piece of MDF on some bricks and then the box on top to get it up off the floor. Is there a way it could have something to keep it up off the floor? I know being bigger it would be heavier too so I agree that a plug would be useful. I wouldn't ever want a heated one, I'd rather be in control of that myself plus it would make cleaning an issue. I used pig rails until pups were big enough and I like them. Easy to put in and out would be good though as mine were hard to remove. Price range. I paid $500 for mine which I thought was good for a big box (well the biggest I could find anyway!)

GSP's are the ones for me! One day I MIGHT get another dane - maybe.. Have had danes, dally's, CKCS, Lab, Mini Poodles in the family before but I don't think I could ever see myself not having a GSP. People tell me I need to pick my 'old person' breed. Frankly if I ever get too old and frail to have a GSP I might rather be dead!

Underfoot - i'll say it again....puppy factory! Boy are you going to have your hands full with that lot!!