Mystiqview

I find these series of books pretty good about $15 each: Ron Edwards

Do a search on google. There are some good diagrams on how to do round plait. There is a good series of yellow books around available from leather craft supply places that will show you a number of different plaiting styles. If you can do a 3 plait, you can do any number of strands. The process is essentially the same. Once you can do four. a six or 8 is then easy. The key is keeping the tension up and even. I have a nail on the end of a toilet roll holder I use to pin (or use a bulldog clip with a string thru it over the nail) one end on. I can sit anywhere then and plait. here: found a link: Ron Edwards Books

I know of a few people still who will not microchip their puppies up here in Qld. I enquired about a two litters of pups for a friend from two breeders. (arrrggh to a certain website) Sounded out the breeder so to speak. One said they do not have to microchip. The other said they cannot microchip the puppies until 8 weeks therefore were not doing it. WTF!!!! IF they were reputable, they would have kept up with the ammendment in the legislation and may have read the front of dog world where there was a whole one page section written on the second or third page about the change to the microchip laws. Both claimed to be registered breeders. One at least said the pup would be sold on limit register until it was 12 months of age, then transferred???? What? I did not enquire further. nah naaa.. wrong answer. It makes me mad too when breeders fail to tell new puppy buyers the basic answers and general knowledge they SHOULD be telling puppy buyers regarding the breed. I have had the new puppy buyers ring me for puppies and I have had to go through the whole speel. Extra mad when they have also enquired with breeders who should know better and give them the information. You know basic stuff. Main vs Limit register, Health stuff and the like.

NOT Samford.

Ooh I think there's one for sale on the classies! ETA: It's the old version. I think I'll hold out for the 2009 revised edition. Check out Amazon.com for the new edition. I purchased one just before Christmas and it cost (including postage and x-rate) $40AUD. AND it took only 5 days to get here from the USA. Thanks Ellz! Check out www.dogwise.com They can be cheaper than Amazon.

PF: Look at Ebay and Dogwise (they're based in the US) I have picked up some damn good breeding books and other "text" stuff on there at good prices. I will have to check what I have at home. One I have is called "breeding better dogs". its a little book, but gets you to look at the good/bad points on your dog and the bitch and then to draw a stick figure representative of the dog. Very basic, but it is an easy read to get you started thinking. It also goes into the basics of phenotype and genotype breedings, and starts you off researching cousins, aunts, uncles and to research what they are/were like and any progeny they have thrown. I have much more detailed texts that you have to wade through as well. Some picked up from Dogwise (new book store specialising in dog books) that cover genetics etc. Others I have found interesting titles and chapters on Ebay.

Whippets, Try getting the Kangaroo thong from the tannery in Melbourne. I do know they have an online shop. I do not know if they have a physical. There are some good yellow books on showing you how. You can buy skeins in 10, 20 and 50 metre hanks/rolls. The only thing to remember when plaiting (I do my own) is the lighter the thong, it will get dirty looking very quickly. All colours will darken with age and use. I use venetian cord in my thicker leads for added strength and plait around it. For thin leads, I may leave it out. Round plait uses about 2 x the finished length. So if you want a 1metre lead, you need to cut your strands twice the length. Flat plait uses 3x the finished length.

One suggestion would be to try and get a good breeder and maybe see about meeting them at some shows and ask to handle one of their dogs for them while at a show. You meet them at a show, and handle the dog for a few to see if you really want to get into it. Even if you handle one of their dogs in an Open Show and watch the breeder/exhibitor handle the dog for the Champ show. See if you like it first. Even if you do not get to handle a dog in the first few times, watch and learn. There are pluses and minuses to each sex. The lack of a season in a male is certainly a plus. A breeder is more likely to give you a male to show, as with a bitch, you may not get out there and just breed the bitch to anything. Not stopping you from doing the same with a male. You get a bitch from elsewhere and breed the two regardless. There are plenty of people who do this within the breeds anyway. You may find also the breeder will have the dog on a co-own agreement with you. This means you cannot breed the dog without their signature. This is easier done with a male. The prefix rules are assigned to a person and bitch must be registered to that person/prefix in order to breed. If the bitch is co-owned, the prefix must also be in co-own names. A co-owned dog can be used over a bitch, so long as both co-owners sign the mating certificate. Beware co-owns as well. You have to be sure that you and the breeder understand the terms of the co-own and will see through to the end with it. Get any conditions in writing! Many co-owns work and many don't either. If you have a co-own dog/bitch and you have a falling out with the breeder or they change their mind, you are stuck. You cannot breed that animal without the other party's signature. Even if you have done all the right things to the animal and breed (exhibited, health tested etc). Just because a male and female may be "handy" does not mean the two animals are a best match to each other. When you are starting off, I think personally it is better to go to an outside stud than to have a stud and try and get a bitch to breed to him. By going out, you have the choice of all available (within reason of course) studs to pick the one that best matches and compliments the bitch's strong and weak points. Edited: Grammar

KL, Sorry did not read the other thread you speak of. I was only going from the info contained within this thread. Yes, things happen for a reason. Good luck to the OP to find thier pooch soul mate.

So sorry to hear about your loss. May she run free. Years ago I had a sibe who was diagnosed with this terrible disease. Her blood platlets crashed to 60 over niight. She went on steroids for a while which seemed to stabilise her, before she crashed again. We only had two weeks before she was no longer with us. I know your pain. So sorry to hear of yours and groupfive's loss within such a short period of each other. Miko was only 3 when she died.

I have the advance 10 and 20 kg barrels here. I also bought a screw top container for the dog bone biscuits from the local produce. I think they used to be Chlorine containers, so make sure you wash them out very very well. I think they have been washed prior to sale, but I extra washed them. I buy my food in bulk, so I also have one of those old tin travelling chests/Blanket Box where I store the extra bags until I am ready for them.

GABBA, There are a couple of registers. Depends on which microchip company the vet used. There is Petsafe. That is the one all my guys were chipped with. As the others have said. It is a legal requirement now in Qld that all puppies are chipped prior to being sold to their new homes. Puppies must be chipped by 12 weeks. Previously before the stupid law saying we could not do it before 8 weeks. many pups were chipped at vaccination time at 6 weeks. I can understand toy and small dogs being chipped later. A 6 week border collie puppy when you think about it (and goes for any medium to large breed) is generally heavier than MOST adult cats. And they chip them right? I have chipped pups at 6 weeks and never had problems.

Where did a rescue pup come in? I did not see it mentioned by the OP?? I believe the question was about transport alternatives from Roma to SA. Dog Movers do a monthly service to Roma hooking into their Fortnightly Cairns run. Dog Movers Link Getting a pup from anywhere not local you run the risk of it not agreeing with your current household. You are heavily relying on information supplied by the breeder/current owner. Even getting a local pup and seeing it at the breeders is no guarantee that it will work out. Granted, the breeder is closer to take the pup back if need be. But there are a few breeders out there who will not do that and are happy for the person to rehome the dog. I have used Dog Movers and their sister company in NSW a number of times now and cannot fault their service. Top recommendation from me.

Trisven, Unfortunatelly there is no set "cure" to it. It depends greatly on what is causing your dog to be car sick. IE Stress, bad experience, just motion sickness. Another thing often forgotten with the invent of air conditioners in vehicles is not giving the dog enough fresh air. Windows wound up and the air conditioning on low. Nice and cool, but not a great deal of air flow through the interior of the vehicle. It is a common issue that comes up on DOL, with much the same responses given. I had a dog once that did not like car travel. The only car travel the pup at 12 weeks was given was the delivery from the breeder to me. The breeder's vet did house calls for vaccinations etc, so the pup never experienced a car until an hour drive by the breeder to meet me. This from a registered breeder as well. It took WEEKS doing the above method to get Kaila used to the car and be happy in to go into the car, let alone travel in it. Ginger tablets/biscuits, Rescue Remedy and a process of desensitising like I mentioned above are the ones that keep coming back. They work for some and not others. Maybe talk to your vet or a animal natrapath?

I got my BC pup less than 10kg for $145 via dogtainers and Virgin Blue direct flight Perth to Brisbane. I had quotes using Qantas, dogtainers/Qantas and they were at least double. Qantas cube as well as weight animals. Virgin still do only do weight. If you can get it roaded to Brisbane, then transferred to a flight, it may work out cheaper. It cost me $350 to send a BC puppy from Brisbane to Charlaville using Qantas, as they were the only airline flying into regional Qld. It cost me $350 to fly TWO bc puppies Brisbane to Darwin using Virgin Blue.

Can you get her to travel some short distances with a dog that LOVES to travel. She may be stressed and if there is another dog who is hanging its head out the window, it may give her confidence too and not think the car is such a bad place. Do not make a fuss over her. Try and divert her from lying down and stressing. Also, when you are not going anywhere, play with her in the car. Do not start the car. Feed her in the car and make the car enviornment a happy place. Once she is comfortable with that, do the same but start the car. Don't drive anywhere. Once she is happy with that, drive down the driveway and back. Keep taking one small step at a time until you can drive without her stressing and getting motion sickness. Some dogs like humans just suffer motion sickness, other dogs find the car stressful. Their first car trip may be from leaving all that is familar to them to go to the new owners. They may have done a couple of vet trips while with the breeder, but they had mum and litter mates for support.

Look at Dogtainers. Unfortunately flying from Roma, they can only do Qantas being a regional area. They charge like a wounded bull. Road Transport to Brisbane using Dogsaremoving then Fly Adelaide?

Azaih. I prefer the look of NSW or Tassie papers. More subtle I suppose. Not the glaring red border. They could be worse though.. WA papers are rather ordinary.

In Queensland. We can register the pups straight into the new owners name. Whereas other states the pups are registered to the breeder and then are transferred to the new owner. If a litter is not all sold at 8 weeks when the pups go, it is fairly common practice by some to wait to register the whole litter once all the pups are sold. Other breeders will register the unsold pups into their name, then when the pup is sold, it will need to be transferred to the new owner's name. If the pup is sold interstate, the transfer papers can be sent to their CC governing body, not the CCCQ. If you have the (ugly) red CCCQ main papers and your name appears down the bottom, you do not need a second set of papers or send them to Dogs NSW to have them transferred to your name. All you need to do to exhibit the dog is be a finanacial member of your Canine Control. If you get a title on the dog, then you send them to Dogs NSW and they will be re-issued with the (nicer) blue NSW papers with the dog's new title on it. The papers do not need to be sent back to original registering state. ETA: Once the breeder sends the papers to CCCQ, it generally takes 10-14 working days to process by the CCCQ and then get back to breeder to check for accuracy. Then they forward them onto the new owner. That part can be quick or slow, depending on how slack the breeder is. IT is legally compulsary now to microchip pups here in Qld prior to sale. Originally it was not allowed to be done before 8 weeks, but an ammendment came in late last year allowing us to microchip earlier, providing the vet agrees it will not be detrimental to the pup.

I have had the secura-pen made from Bona Fida. Some of the older C-crate ones (I am not sure if they still do) were galvanised. So better if it is going to be left out in the weather. The secra-pen one I had> not a lot of difference from the C-crate one, except it was only Chrome coated. So if left out in the weather, would probably rust and the chrome coming off quicker. The Secra pen was $150 or there abouts compared to the double of the C-crate one. I have lifted both and they seem very similar in strength and weight. I do not know about the ebay ones. I got mine from a show van. I know also Petwise here in Qld, sell the Bona Fida ones.

I had heard of one ages ago. Do not know how efficient.. but it is certainly innovative. Grab a can of the stinkest impulse deoderant or similar. Grab the cat, spray it past the ear and across the nose, so the cat hears the hiss of the spray and then gets a smell of it. They do not like the hiss (understandable). Then spray the areas with the can. When the cat goes there, it remembers the hiss and won't go there. May be hard to grab the neighbour's cat. There was another I know about. Funny but not at the same time. A ex farmer wanted to borrow a battery electric fence to stop the neighbours cats from digging in his prize roses. He could not get one, but was offered the suggestion of using mouse traps tied down. He was told to set the trap, dig a little hole and set it upside down so when the cat walked on the garden and steped on the trap it would go off and scare it. The guy said he had heaps of traps from when he had the farm and would try it. A few weeks went by, and he was asked how he went. He replied "I only lost three traps". Puzzled, the other guy asked "how". "Well, I though stuff it, so I set the traps right side up." A few days went by and it seemed to work, the cats did not visit his prize roses. One day his neighbour was talking to him about her cat and how confused she was about her cat "missing skin off its nose". Not a recommended remedy for sure.. But I can just see it and if not for the danger of breaking feet the funny side.. Especialy as the farmer was one of these eccentric jovial types.

I socialise my pups early. Even before they get their first vaccination. It is very controlled and with people I know and trust. I have a number of other older dogs at home so that is not the big issue. Once they get their 6 week vaccination. They are taken for drives in a crate in the back of the enclosed ute with the mother. I normally have gone to the local coffee shop and sat on the tailgate drinking coffee while the pups watch the world go by safely from their crate in the back of the ute. People are not allowed to pat the puppies during this time while doing this, but they are getting socialised none the less. I have also taken my 8 week puppies to the markets held in the car park of a local train station. They are held on concrete and they are walked around in arms through the markets. There are not many markets these days around my area that accept dogs. Again general puplic are not allowed to pat the puppy. Again,they are socialised to sights and sounds and are fairly well protected. I DO NOT go too offlead parks or areas frequented by dogs and other high risk areas until after the second Vaccination at 12 weeks. Now, depending on which vet you talk to. Some say give the pup 48 hours and they are fine. Others say to wait two weeks. I give my puppies two vaccinations. C4 at 6 weeks and a C5 (up the nose) at 12 weeks. The vet I go to going on by the company who makes the vaccine says they do not need the third booster at 16 weeks. Yet some vets claim they need the booster. People encourage puppies to attend puppy school from the time they get their pups. Namely 8 weeks. Some are held in school grounds and others at a vet surgery. Some at private homes. While many of these organisations check Vacc certificates when you arrive. In the case of school grounds, there is the unknown quality of what has walked through earlier that day.. Dogs are not supposed to be on school grounds, but how do you know what was done out of hours?? Parvo kills, never going to deny that. But in reality, it is less of a killer to a bad socialised pup. It is of course different story if there is a parvo/KC outbreak in your area. Then of course common sense should prevail. More pets are euthenased or given up through behavioural issues than Parvo killing pups at birth. I am certainly do not advocate no vaccination. But common sense on socialisation vs no socialisation. It is always good when you get new pups to keep in touch with your local vets to find the status in your local area and where you may be travelling to. Parvo/Kennel Cough, ticks etc. late last year, we took a 9 week old pup with us on holidays for 10 days through NSW. We knew there was an outbreak through Orange, so we avoided going through that town. We stayed in caravan parks and kept her away from all other dogs and close to camp. The most she had to be admitted to the vet for was a grass seed in her ear from a visit to the local river, and later a visit to the chemist for some conjunctivitis ointment for weepy eye due to dust storms. We did vaccinate her early at 10 weeks in Yass as that was where she picked up the grass seed, so while in the vets, seemed a good idea.

Just on a side note here. For others who may be reading this thread. EIC is also present in other breeds. I lost one of my BC's last year. She was diagnosed at 18 months with EIC. At the time, I did some research and while most of the documentation I had found was on Labradores, it was also found in Border Collies, both working and show lines. I know of some working BC's and a number of show bred BC's that have EIC.

Miss Faith got her first 7 point CC and RUBOB on Sunday. She is my first homebred, so still have a smile from ear to ear. Twas a long drive home on Sunday going back to brisbane via Clifton/Ma Ma pass. I hope everyone got home ok. I had heard when we got to gatton there was a truck rollover on the Toowoomba Range as well. Not good. Rock slide/Truck rollover on the Cunninghams gap and another truck rollover on the Toowoomba range.

I am heading up sometime today. I am not showing tonight, but want to get a decent ring side spot for the weekend. Anyone else going up today?