Miranda

Hmmm I see that the first ingredient is rice and the third ingredient is corn gluten meal, that's a fair amount of cereal, one of my dogs is very intolerant of any food containing corn, he develops loose poo and loses condition. Personally I'd be trying a different food such as Nutro Lamb and Rice, Eagle Pack Holistic or Royal Canin. I wouldn't call diarrhoea in any dog 'normal'.

Doesn't sound right to me, if a dog has runny or pancake like poo it isn't digesting its food properly and will be missing out on vital nutrients. What are you feeding the pup? Sometimes cheap dry food or canned food can cause loose poo. Giving pups cows milk will also cause diarrhoea in some dogs.

I should also mention that I once had a dog diagnosed with HD at 5 months of age and he lived to be 13 1/2 and this was in 1979 when veterinary science was absolutely nothing to what it is now. So all is not lost :p

Joint Guard is good and I have also heard good reports about Cosequin, I haven't heard of Cortaflex. Apparently chondroitin sulphate is better absorbed so you should check that the sulphate is the form of chondroitin used in whatever supplement you choose. Some people swear by Sasha's Blend, but it has quite a strong smell and taste and some dogs refuse it. Cartrophen injections and acupuncture are another two treatments that you can look into. I certainly wouldn't be rushing into a hip replacement, quite ofter HD can be successfully managed by non-surgical means and there is no reason why your dog cannot live a long and relatively pain free life. Your dog will of course develop arthritis as he grows older, but this can be treated with medication. There are many people on DOL who have dogs with this condition and I'm sure that you'll get lots of help and many suggestions to help your dog cope with this disease. Try not to worry too much :p

I'm sorry to hear that your dog has HD, did the vet say how bad it was or do you have a score?

When I am actively showing a dog it is dried with a hair dryer once and sometimes twice weekly and it doesn't affect the skin or hair at all, just make sure that you use a good quality shampoo and conditioner and don't have the hair dryer too hot. Also if you live in a warm humid climate it is important to ensure that dogs with undercoat are dried completely, right down to the skin otherwise you may have trouble with fungal infections if your dog is in any way susceptible to these conditions.

I can groom and could probably start my own grooming business here, but there is no way that I would want to groom other people's dogs on a regular basis. Personally I think washing and grooming dogs is very hard work for only average returns especially when you consider some of the dogs (and people) you have to deal with and the actual physical labour involved. I applaud those of you who do it and I'm sure that most of you enjoy the work, but although I'm happy to groom and sculpt my own dogs I have no desire to do it as a profession.

Wow he's starting early then :D There are advantages though, I've always found that the pushy, full of themselves type dogs make the best show dogs, they usually have that 'hey look at me ain't I the greatest' attitude.

How old is he Tunsa?

Unfortunately there's nothing you can do, dogs sort out their own pack structure. This puppy may be a particularly strong dominant dog and if the older dogs end up conceding their position to him you'll just have to accept it. As he matures and his sex hormones kick in he will become more cocky and less submissive and then you may have a couple of altercations if one of the older dogs decide he's getting too big for his boots. As I said they'll sort it out, you'll just have to hope that it's a bloodless coup

Yes I agree, bringing any new dog into the family can cause a shifting of the pack order, I would say that your puppy is starting to mature and is starting to push the older established dogs for position. Usually the dogs will sort it out amongst themselves, but if you have a strong, dominant dog already and he wants to retain his position there may be a few problems. I find that in my breed if there's going to be trouble it's usually between dogs of the same sex and that bitches are the worst.

Slightly off topic, but I wouldn't attend a puppy school where the instructors are vet nurses. Vet nurses aren't dog trainers and the majority of vet nurses I have come across have only a basic understanding of dog behaviour. A good puppy school will hire the services of a qualified dog trainer or behaviourist, not leave it up to the nurses. The sort of training young puppies receive is very important, incorrect or ineffective training techniques applied to a baby can affect the puppy for life. As your puppy has what I would class as quite a serious problem I would definitely NOT be leaving this dog in the hands of a couple of vet nurses. If I were you I would enlist the help of a qualified dog trainer/behaviourist such as K9 Force or Erny, both of whom can be contacted via this forum. BTW I am not criticising vet nurses, there are some excellent vet nurses around, but they are not qualified dog trainers and IMO leaving a young puppy with a biting problem in a busy surgery for a day could be an accident waiting to happen. I certainly wouldn't do it. ETA that I've just noticed that you're in Queensland, if you contact Erny or K9 Force I'm sure they'll be able to recommend someone in Brisbane.

Thanks Steve, much appreciated Is it also ok to vary the length of time that they have to wait for the food, maybe 1 minute on night, 30 secs another night and just do the 3 minute waits a couple of times a week? It's getting mighty cool standing out in the yard these evenings Thanks muchly for your help.

If I were you I'd wait until she's a little older before doing any major garden design, maybe just plant a few robust shrubs at the moment and fence them off individually, leave the more delicate plants until later.

Yep, that's exactly what I mean

Garden, what's a garden Really if you want to have a nice garden and you have a puppy the only way to achieve this is to fence it off. As bikle said dogs are attracted to potting mix and freshly turned earth and anything new in the garden warrants investigation when you're just a puppy As your puppy matures she will (probably) become less destructive, but for the first couple of years she will probably pursue a 'scorched earth' policy, I have never owned a puppy who would ignore a newly planted shrub You will probably be able to keep her away from the plants when you're there, but if she's left in the yard on her own for a while and gets a bit bored believe me the new plants will be her first port of call. The sprays and crystals that are sold in shops as dog deterrents only last a short time and produce mixed results, in other words they work better on some dogs than others, I have found that they work very well on cats, but not so well on dogs. You could give them a try, but I doubt that they'll be 100% successful in safeguarding the plants. I wish you more luck than I've had

Vets make an absolute fortune giving annual vaccinations and check ups, the exorbitant cost of these services would more than adequately compensate for any drop off in the sales of dog care products. I don't buy this argument at all I'm afraid.

One of my dogs is doing really well, after six weeks I can leave him off lead next to his food for three minutes, during this time I can go inside, wander out of sight in the yard, bring another dog out etc. and he won't touch the food until I say 'OK', I am really proud of him. However the other dog is starting to play up. I got him to the stage of sitting for three minutes and I could leave him off lead and go to the other end of the yard and he wouldn't touch the food until I returned and said 'OK'. Now he appears unwilling to sit and is actively avoiding having to do the TOT. He will run away and hide in the bushes, try to go inside and if I go up to him he rolls on his back and acts very submissive. I have started putting the lead on him and making him sit for the three minutes, he does it but doesn't look happy about it at all. Have I gone too far too soon? Do you think he's generally unhappy about the situation and that's why he's practicing avoidance or is he just trying it on? I once corrected him for lying down during the sit, I said "uh-uh" and lifted him up and made him sit, did I do the wrong thing? He's quite a submissive dog by nature, he'll go to pieces if I just raise my voice, but he's not timid or anything, just a normal, happy dog. Any suggestions from the experts, I'm at a bit of a loss about how to deal with this as he was doing so well at first and picked it up really quickly. Help!!!!

I'm afraid that I have no tolerance for this sort of behaviour. Any puppy that growls or, heaven forbid, bites when I want to take food or a toy from it gets growled at severely and also receives a good scruffing. I make absolutely certain that the pup knows that growling and/or biting is totally unacceptable and that repeating the behaviour isn't advisable. I have never had to do this twice. Really any aggressive behaviour in a very young puppy needs to be nipped in the bud immediately, I know that some dog trainers may not agree with my method (and I am not a dog trainer), but it works for me.

If the topical treatments aren't working try Permoxin. Your girl needs a cortisone shot and a short course of tablets, the cortisone will depress her immune system (not good I know, but when things get this bad you really have no other choice) and stop the itching and once the itching stops she'll stop scratching and her skin will heal. Make sure you treat all the animals in your yard, cats can often harbour fleas but show no symptoms at all. If you do have cats don't use Permoxin on them, try some Advantage.

jillandbray Steve is a registered breeder of beagles and has many years of experience with this breed, I'm sure she'll come back soon and reply to this thread, she knows just about everything there is to know about beagles

If this is a registered breeder she is contravening the code of ethics and I wouldn't buy a puppy from her. Alternatively if this person is an unregistered breeder she can do as she likes, whether what she does is in the puppy's best interests is debatable. I don't know what health testing needs to be done in beagles but if I were you I'd find out and ask this breeder if all her stock is tested prior to breeding. I would recommend that you find a reputable registered breeder who abides by the code of ethics and refuses to sell puppies under 8 weeks of age.

No reputable registered breeder will allow a puppy to go to its new home prior to 8 weeks of age, it is not in the best interests of the puppy's future wellbeing and for this reason it is against the ANKC code of ethics. The puppy will also take two weeks to develop immunity following the first vaccination, if you take him home immediately he will have no immunity whatsoever.

Try crating the bitch and allowing the dog to sit next to her, he will still whinge and carry on, but they are usually less frantic if they're close to the bitch and not completely separated. If this doesn't help it might be better to board the dog or the bitch until the bitch has finished her season.

At six weeks your puppy is too young to leave the litter and you may have problems with bite inhibition. You should also wait two weeks for the first vaccination to take effect. I wouldn't keep a puppy in a cardboard box, the puppy will chew it up and any spilled water or urine will soon soak through onto the floor underneath, your puppy may also whine because he cannot see you or anything that is going on around him. A wire crate is by far the best option, do a search for 'crates' or 'crate training', there are many threads on the subject.