Miranda

The back teeth usually come through first so you probably haven't noticed, usually all the adult teeth are through by six months of age. The majority of dogs (large dogs anyway, I have no experience with small ones) go through teething with little or no problems.

Skipy this is a public forum and I am perfectly entitled to offer an opinion if I wish to do so, the fact that you choose to find it offensive because it's not what you wanted to hear is unfortunate. I do not write posts to offend, I write posts to try to help the dogs involved, but if these posts happen to offend the humans then so be it. It is my opinion that what you are planning to do is complicated and unnecessary and may cause problems for your bitch when she is older and that is why I posted, the fact that you may or may not have been offended wasn't a consideration. I would suggest that you discuss these matters with a reproductive vet, you really need someone qualified to advise you.

Why on earth do you want to do this? Are you truly thinking about the health and happiness of your dog or is there some other obscure reasoning behind it? If you leave the ovaries there is a chance of them becoming cystic or cancerous in mature life, it happens in humans and can happen in dogs too, in fact cystic ovaries aren't uncommon in older bitches. Don't just think about now, think of how she may suffer in later years if she has to have a second operation when surgery is riskier and recovery time much longer. This whole idea seems pretty selfish to me.

The older dog is simply putting the puppy in his place and telling him who's in charge. Young puppies can sometimes drive older dogs mad and they'll only tolerate so much. Does your older dog have somewhere to go to get away from the puppy, if he doesn't you really need to provide him with a place of his own where he can get some peace. As you have two males you may possibly have problems when the puppy gets older, I'm not saying you will, but there's a possibility so keep an eye on their body language. Goldens are usually fairly amiable dogs so everything will probably be fine, but it's something you need to be aware of if you have two dogs of the same sex. ETA I read that you have been taking your puppy to the park, you didn't say how old he is, but if he hasn't yet had his second vaccination I would be keeping him away from places frequented by lots of unknown dogs and I wouldn't be taking your older boy to parks either just in case he brings something home. It's better to be safe than sorry.

We go to Monash Vet Clinic and I trust them implicitly. They are experienced repro vets and Ray Ferguson is an HD specialist. Many of the breeders/show people I know go to Monash and I really cannot recommend them highly enough.

My butcher doesn't use colouring or preservatives in his human minces and he also does an excellent chicken pets mince made from minced chicken frames, unfortunately he puts food dye in this which is why I won't use it. He reckons people won't buy it if he doesn't colour it.

I never buy my meat from supermarkets

Human grade mince does not contain colours and preservatives, but a lot of pets mince does. Food colour is often added to pets mince to make it look attractive and to make it appear to contain muscle meat when frequently it just contains rubbish. I have never fed pets mince, be very careful where you buy it from as some of it is very poor quality. Sorry, but I can't help you with the two brands you mentioned.

Yes you are expecting far too much of him, excessive exercise and roadwork at this age is potentially harmful to growing joints and ligaments. Drive your puppy down to get the Sunday papers and take him for a little walk around the shops, this will provide socialisation which is all the puppy needs at this age, running around in the backyard is quite enough exercise at this tender age. I wouldn't be doing any 4 km walks until your dog is at least 1 year of age.

You will have a better idea when the adult teeth come through, in my experience mouths nearly always close a little as the dog matures, in my breed up until about 8/9 months of age.

In my breed once the jaw goes undershot it stays undershot and can even get worse, 1/8 inch under is a fair margin. I don't know what breed you have and I know that some breeds have mouths that go through a lot of changes before maturity, perhaps if you mention the breed some of the breeders on DOL may be able to give their opinion. I'm actually surprised that no one noticed that this puppy had a bad mouth, I watch my puppies' mouths very carefully and any mouth that looks a bit iffy is sold as a pet. ETA that I've just noticed your last post, an overshot mouth can correct itself as the puppy grows, you'll just have to hope for the best.

I have no experience of keeping dogs in apartments, but I know that lots of people do it and it's very common overseas. Providing the balcony is secure, I can't see a problem, I doubt that the table and the BBQ will worry the dog, but remember that puppies are compulsive chewers. If your dog has access to the inside be very careful that he can't get into anything that may harm him, any electrical equipment should be kept well out of his way and if you have carpet you can't expect the puppy not to soil it. Any dog may cry when it's left alone regardless of whether it's inside or outside, that's something else you would have to consider. With apartments being in such close proximity I would imagine that your neighbours may complain if your puppy cries and barks all the time when you're not home.

Caring for pee feathers is a real pain in long coated dogs if you're showing them because the urine will burn the hair and it will subsequently break off. I wash my males' pee feathers every day and spray them with Plush Puppy Seabreeze Oil and find that this works very well. The oil acts as a barrier between the urine and the hair. If you're showing your dog you will need to wash daily, once a week isn't often enough and you'll find that the feathering in this area will become coarse and sparse and you'll end up with a gap which doesn't look good. Seabreeze Oil isn't the only product available, if you do a search of the major grooming products you will find several alternatives.

I've only ever used hot, salty water, but I suppose you could do both, bathe it and then put a smear of Betadine on it. When I lived near Wagga, we had terrible grass seeds in late spring so all my experience is based on this. I used to check their feet everyday and on occasion I'd find three or four, but it didn't matter how carefully I looked they always got at least one every year. It's also a good idea to check under the elbows, I always found a couple there too and be careful he doesn't get one in his eye or ear. If the grass seed is in the foot they're not usually a huge problem and normally don't move very far, although they do cause the dog some discomfort they nearly always find their way out. However if you get a grass seed anywhere else be very careful as grass seeds can travel through tissue and I know of one dog that died when a grass seed entered its ear and travelled to the brain. Grass seeds are a real pain in the a**e, I sympathise :D

If you don't do anything chances are that it will find its way out on its own, the dog usually keeps licking it and this helps keep it open. Personally I wouldn't bandage it, bandaging will put pressure on it and simply cause the dog additional discomfort. Bathe it in hot, salty water and give it a squeeze, if you're lucky it will simply pop out at some stage. You'll know when the seed has come out because it leaves quite a large hole behind. With grass seeds prevention is better than cure, cut back the hair between between his toes and under his pads and check his feet on a daily basis and try keep him out of the badly seeded areas on the property.

IMO secure fencing is a necessity if you have a dog regardless of breed. Personally I wouldn't leave any dog loose inside the house while I was at work unless I'd had the dog for some years and knew that it could be trusted. I would never leave a puppy or young dog inside. If you're only away for a relatively short time you could possibly crate the dog, but if I were you I'd secure my yard and leave the dog outside or build a run.

you are not misinformed.... hard boiled & mashed...shells & all is the way to go. I'm afraid that you are both misinformed. Avidin is a glycoprotein found in egg whites which binds to biotin (one of the B vitamins, B7) making it unavailable to the body. However egg yolk is so rich in biotin that it compensates for the amount affected by the avidin. You would have to eat many raw eggs over many months before a biotin deficiency would become evident, to create an acute deficiency in a short period of time a human would have to consume 24 raw egg whites a day. Therefore a raw egg given a couple of times a week is not going to negatively affect your dog in any way whatsoever.

Wow mickatie what a fantastic job you've done, a great effort. Thank you for taking the time and trouble to put this together, I'm sure that lots of people are going to find it extremely useful. Three cheers for mickatie

I have black dogs and they find 20 degrees hot, I hate to think how they'd cope with the heat of N. Queensland. High humidity really knocks them around even if the temperature is only in the low twenties, so I imagine that your dog would be the same. Black attracts the heat much more than lighter colours, touch his back while he's in the sun and you will see what I mean. You are probably used to the heat and humidity up there and and don't really notice it, but I can assure you that if I flew up there from Melbourne I would definitely think it hot. Your 10 month old puppy is just reacting to the climate, even 25 degrees with 50 or 60% humidity is hard to take for a black dog.

LOL and I was imagining this big clumsy GR going into the laundry to do wees and poos in this huge litter tray and then kicking the litter all over the room I thought it was a little odd to say the least

Very interesting, but somewhat unsettling to hear that reg. breeders aren't doing the right thing. Thanks peibe for the information

That is one mighty strange request, methinks this person knows next to nothing about dogs and/or showing. ETA if I had a puppy buyer who requested something like this there is absolutely NO way that they'd be getting a puppy from me and I'm surprised that the breeder of your boy complied.

His eyes were shocking poor boy peibe I was just wondering when you can tell if a Shar Pei is going to develop entropian. Would the breeders have had any idea when they sold the puppy at (I presume) 8 weeks old? If not at what age do you begin to notice that a dog has a problem? Is it very widespread within the breed?

Shek I had a dog like this and he remained totally disinterested in food for his entire life. It was a real effort while he was being shown and I frequently resorted to force feeding him. He did get his title and did a bit of winning, but I would never bother trying to show a dog like that again, it was just too much of a hassle. I sincerely hope that Daegon isn't like this

You are feeding a diet high in carbohydrate, a dog's GI tract isn't designed to deal with large amounts of cereal and some dogs may react to it. I would ditch the Wheat Bix and the canned food and upgrade your dry to a more expensive brand with less fillers. I won't advise you what else to feed as I don't have Shar Pei and someone like peibe will be better able to advise you.