Miranda

I don't have one, but I've heard they're excellent.

I've had two litters conceived by slip matings, one bitch had 10 and the other 13, one did have a CS, but that had nothing to do with the slip matings.

Before you do anything take your dog to a good canine chiropractor, I would recommend Barry Haywood in Cranbourne South, he is also a qualified vet but specialises in canine sports medicine.

I would suggest that before you do anything you take your dog to Karen Hedberg for a second opinion.

Thanks very much for the info, I'd never heard of this product and it sounds great

Arrange to meet the stud at the vets and have an AI done, it's pretty pointless trying for a natural mating again when there's a good chance it will be unsuccessful. At 14 days it's quite possible that she's still fertile and with an AI at least the semen will be placed in the vagina and not lost on the ground. ETA if the owner of the stud dog is an experienced breeder he/she may be able to do the AI, it's a relatively simple procedure. Ask.

If I'm out walking one of my dogs and I see a dog loose in a front yard I will also stop and request that the owners hold on to it and that's regardless of breed, it could be a Great Dane, a Stafford, a Chihuahua or a cross. As far as I'm concerned dogs shouldn't be loose in front yards unless they're behind secure fences.

If I were you I'd take him for a walk and give him a short training session as soon as you get up. As you say he's been confined in a crate for 8 hours and a walk will help to release some of his pent up energy. If he has a good recall and there's a park near you let him off for a run or if you're still teaching recall keep him on a long line. When you get back you can feed him and after that he should settle down. Make this your morning routine and you may find that the barking will stop.

Malaseb is fine to wash an entire dog as long as you don't use it on a regular basis. If your dog has any sort of fungal/bacterial infection it's one of most effective shampoos you can buy. It's also very good if your dog starts chewing itself in hot, humid weather, a wash in Malaseb can stop secondary infections if the dog's broken the shin anywhere. Diluted it's also an excellent ear cleaner.

Probably a stupid question, but are you sure it's blood? Staining on the hair around the vulva can look red and resemble blood. Have you actually touched it to check?

Densely coated or double coated breeds need to be dried properly, otherwise the coat next to the skin can remain moist and this will encourage fungal infections especially if the weather is warm and humid. Try using Malaseb and leaving it on for ten minutes then make sure that the dog is completely dry right down to the skin. Repeat four or five days later and then weekly and see if this helps.

A red tinge on a black coat is often caused by dead hair and you can strip a lot of it out with a fine toothed comb. It could also be the remains of his puppy fluff. Colour enhancing shampoos can help a little, but they won't hide the red tinge completely. UV rays will ruin a black coat so don't let him lie around in the sun too much and if you take him to the beach sun exposure combined with sea water is even worse.

I would never breed a litter to sell off as pets, for me the incentive just isn't there. A lot of effort goes into producing and rearing a litter, it's hard work, stressful, time consuming and sometimes heartbreaking and I wouldn't be prepared to do it if I wasn't going to keep a puppy. It's the thought that there might be something special in the litter that makes me want to breed, mating a bitch and then selling the whole litter as family pets doesn't interest me at all, I can't see the point of it. My breed generally produces between 8 and 12 puppies and usually only a few have true showing/breeding potential so the rest are sold as pets on limited register anyway and believe me finding suitable homes for a large coated breed that needs lots of exercise and training isn't easy. I'm certainly not having a go at those breeders who get satisfaction out of breeding healthy puppies for the pet market, but it just wouldn't work for me.

Is she only a puppy? I've found that most digging and chewing occurs in the first year or so and then they start to grow out of it. Also what is she crossed with, if she has kelpie or some other working breed in the mix she may need a job to do and training her in agility or flyball may help.

There isn't much you can do apart from ensuring that you leave nothing outside that you don't want chewed. It would be a good idea to give her things that she can chew, toys, old shoes or even bones if you're sure they won't fight over them. As to the socks, make sure you put them away and she won't find them Does she get plenty of exercise and mental stimulation when you're home? Taking her for a run in the morning and giving her a short training session will tire her out a bit and may make her more inclined to lie around during the day. Also don't compare her to your other dog, all dogs are different and from what I've heard of Staffords and their crosses Asha is probably the more normal of the two

I have nothing against close breedings, but a lot depends on the breeder and their knowledge of the lines. My foundation bitch was the result of a father/daughter mating and went on to be an excellent producer. As long as the breeder is experienced and consistently produces healthy dogs of good quality I wouldn't be concerned.

This is normal behaviour, the puppy is simply exploring his environment, he doesn't have hands so he uses his mouth. You will find that he'll grow out of it.

From your description they sound like the small sebaceous cysts I find on my dogs from time to time. I pop them and squeeze them out and they disappear. Sometimes I put a drop of Betadine on them if I've got it handy. However if you're worried or unsure check with your vet.

My dogs are black and long coated and hate the heat, they prefer to be inside on hot days and they sleep inside at night. I hate the heat too and once it reaches 26 degrees in the house I put the aircon on, if it's one of those hot suffocating nights the aircon stays on all night.

I gather that as you're planning to take a course you know very little about grooming? To be frank I don't think you should be setting yourself up in a grooming salon when you know next to nothing about it. Pet owners expect that when they take their dog to a grooming salon it is going to washed and groomed by a professional who knows what they're doing. I really don't think that it's ethical to offer a service to the public when you have absolutely no experience and probably don't know much more than they do. If I were you I'd do a good course and then work in someone else's salon for a year or two before starting out on your own, then you'll know whether it suits you because grooming dogs is hard, sometimes unpleasant work. Until you have established yourself and have a regular clientele you'll be grooming all and sundry and some dogs are a complete mess, matted to the skin, covered in sores, unable to defecate properly because the hair around the anus is matted with faeces, sometimes they're even flyblown and the sores are full of maggots. Some of the dogs will be very hard to handle and will bite so dog handling skills are also necessary. I groom my own dogs, but there's no way I'd groom other peoples.

What don't you like about vet bed Lyndsay? Personally I wouldn't use anything else, I think it's wonderful. I put newpaper underneath and the puppies stay dry and warm, it's easily washed and dries quickly. I love it!

Our breed club has two pet owners on committee, neither of them show or do anything with their dogs other than keep them as companions. We put on a members fun day every year which includes a bbq lunch, games, grooming, handling classes, beginners agility and a members competition which any dog may enter. We also conduct two field training days which all dogs are welcome to attend, an obedience trial, an open show, a champ show and this year we are holding a 'winter walk' for members, a walk followed by a get together at a dog friendly cafe. Pet owners are always made welcome by everyone in the club and we do in fact have a 'breeder joined' scheme in place which encourages every breeder to join up their puppy buyers for one year including those who purchase puppies on limited register. Just about every breeder in Australia takes advantage of this scheme which ensures that new owners receive the club's newletters and are aware of the activities available. However we find that the majority of pet owners show very little interest and few renew their membership after the first year regardless of how much effort we make to welcome them and involve them in the club. There are no BYB in our breed so all pets are registered, but we do very occasionally have a member with a rescue dog and the owner certainly isn't stigmatised just because his or her dog's pedigree is unknown. None of my breed are ever found in pet shops, but it is a fact that every animal purchased from a pet shop ensures that more puppies will be produced to replace them and that anyone who purchases from a pet shop is helping to keep puppy farmers in business and thus directly contributing to the exploitation and suffering of hundreds of dogs. As for the rest of this unbelievably offensive thread as far as I'm concerned all puppy farmers are the scum of the earth regardless of how hard they try to legitimise themselves and sanitise their operations, as someone else very succinctly stated I'd rather eat my own vomit than have anything to do with them. As for the ridiculous comment that registered breeders should make their dogs available for breeding well quite frankly I'd rather euthanase all my dogs and give up breeding all together. Puppy farmer+animal welfare..............what a load of unadulterated crap!

I agree with Erny, there is no need to take a dog with CC to a vet unless it develops a secondary bacterial infection. If your dog has a nasal discharge, is very lethargic or off its food a visit to a vet may be necessary, but the vast majority of dogs recover in less then a week with no veterinary intervention.

I think it will depend on whether the degeneration is progressive, is it cerebellar dysfunction or cerebellar abiotrophy? I think CA is progressive, but I'm not sure about the other one, I think it may be non-progressive. Your vet would be the best person to ask.

My dogs love to 'hunt' possums, they would much prefer to be left loose in the yard all night, but I confine them inside because their little whinges and barks might annoy the neighbours. Cat owners should have the same consideration.