Salukifan

What breed is Marley and what do you feed him?

I can't argue with SOME of Sandgrubber's assertions. SOME breeds have become exaggerated and their health has suffered as a result. On the other hand, it should be possible to produce a sound working dog that doesn't have a head like a smashed crab. Somewhere in all of this there is some middle ground. But its readily apparent that Sandgrubber has no interest in finding it. I don't bang on about the evils of force fetching and e-collar training on working retriever forums because: A. I know bugger all about training such dogs B. It's clear there are a lot of passionate people who won't welcome an interloper with no real experience of the hobby telling em how it should be. Pull your head in Sandgrubber. You are entitled to your opinion but your method of expressing it is offensive. Not all show dogs are exaggerated unhealthy disaster areas. It might be a good starting point to acknowledge it

I'd be stressing to these people that this is a very popular breed and good breeders don't have pups available NOW. Send them the link that was posted about buying a pup. The last large breed gundog pup I know of that was bought from a pet shop required a double hip replacement. Never ceases to amaze me that people expect to be able to buy pups on demand. They'd probably wait longer for delivery of a popular brand and model of new car.

I think part of the problem is that when you clip a double coated breed the top coat and undercoat become the same length. What the breeder said about removing insulation is true. It also makes the dog liable to sunburn. If it's going to be a major drama to keep a full coated dog in your living circumstances, I'd honestly recommend you choose another breed. Or in this case, source a lighter coated dog from working lines. You still have to check the skin on shorter coated dogs for ticks. If you get into the habit of parting the hair while you groom the dog daily, two problems are solved at once. Interestingly, I've had fewer issues with grass seeds on my longer coated dogs than some folk have with their short coated ones. A longer coat traps the seeds and PROVIDED you groom regularly, I think they have less chance to grow into and penetrate the skin.

If it weren't for the Whippet/sighthound show cluster in Sydney, this is one set of shows i'd love to do. Friends from Canberra will be there. :)

Different vaccine suppliers have different vaccination regimes for their products. There certainly is one regime that requires 3 jabs.

Something like a women's shotgun hunting or clay target shooting vest might be the go Here is one example. It will have a padded shoulder but they are made to be walked in. ETA: found a pic They do tend to have them in slightly less 'commando' style patterns and colours for women. Anything made to hold shotgun shells will have cavernous front pockets. :) You'd probably have to order one from 0/S unless you have working gundog/shooting contacts who can steer you towards a supplier.

I've never met a more self possessed breed than the Peke. They don't worry about all that trying to dominate you nonsense. They know they're superior :laugh:

If they come back clear, I'd be wondering about the need. You'd think there would be an elevated white cell count if infection was present.

Probably the dog park at Weston Park in Yarralumla. So glad she is safe and well. I'll update my Facebook status - so good to have a happy ending. :)

You can look wider than Canada and find such incidents.

I think I bugged you about ETTs when I was breed tyre kicking at one stage but no, Whippets are a relatively new addition to the tribe with the oldest Whippet resident now 3.5 years old. Just going through the process of getting a kennel prefix at the moment. Big Ted, the poodle that started it all is now 14.5 but still spry and still very much boss of the Whippets. :) I recall in Bo Bengston's (US based judge and Whippet breeder for those who haven't heard of him) critique of the Sydney speciality last year that he was surprised to learn that nearly all dogs exhibted were owner handled and he had only praise for the standard of handling. So clearly being an owner handler doesn't have to mean second rate handling but it must be tough sometimes to compete against the seasonsed (and usually very talented) pro handlers over your way. Do you still have Quarter Horses? I seem to recall you did???

Gee I hope so and if that's the case then :happydance:

Welcome back Abilene. You had English Toy Terriers here didn't you? Or Manchesters?? Do you think the fact that Australians largely show their own dogs contributes to a more relaxed atmosphere here. I get the impression, given the cost of exhibiting and titling dogs over there that there really can be sheep stations riding on results???

All you have to do is be distracted and have the dog manage to access the baby. There is a documented history of this breed removing babies from their cribs. There has be one such incident here in Australia in recent years. As Espinay says, this is only with neonates and seems to involve the dog not recognising such a tiny baby as 'human' in the first important weeks of the child being home. It's prey drive in action sadly.

Tablets are the only method by which antibiotics can be given. Why not injections??

Sociable + low prey drive? Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. I think anything shorter faced on a country property may have issues with grass and seeds. I was going to suggest a Whippet until you said low prey drive.

If only. That poor family.

Not to mention transferring this behaviour onto bees or wasps.

Mortein.. seriously. Sometimes these kinds of behaviours can become an obsession. I'd suggest you do your level best to stop the trigger for this behaviour. Kill flies as soon as you can and provide another outlet for her energy - a quick game or 5 minutes of training. Any distraction to break the habit would be good.

Some very sound advice in there. And the Australian purebred breeding community is a fraction of the size of the American one. Everyone pretty much DOES know everyone. ;)

I recall a few years ago here the progress of a Canberra foster carer with a young ABPT bitch. After several months, and a lot of work, it was clear that this was one of the breed hard wired for aggression with a low trigger. After much careful thought the youngster was PTS and in my view that was the only responsible course of action to take. No, they are not all like that and I'd venture to suggest that its pretty uncommon but I'd hate for any person (be they APBT owner or not) to assume that because they know the cuddly marshmallow variety that they are all like that. Indeed, assuming that you can 'handle' a dog because you have that breed has brought quite a few trainers unstuck over the years. 'evaluate the dog in front of you' is the usual mantra and as dog owners, we need to put aside our prejudices (be they negative OR positive) and do the same. We breed to narrow the range of characteristics in a particular breed and to improve the likelihood of others but we don't eliminate variety. I think a few folk have learned that lesson the hard way. The real tragedy of BSL is that it stops owners of affected pups from allowing them to socialise and experience much dog to dog behaviour - if the owner is obeying the law. That's pretty much the case everywhere but here now but I have to say we don't see a lot of Pits coming through the gates at dog training - mores the pity (no pun intended). BSL also stops more people from meeting the type of pitbull that owners here are defending.

People act like this is new.. frankly with the exception of certain working dogs, its been the custom for millenia to share living and sleeping space with dogs. Australia, IMO is probably one of the least dog friendly cultures amongst those who keep pet dogs.

Don't despair. Your dog isn't broken and the issues you confront now can be worked on with the assistance of a decent, knowledgeable trainer. I'll confess to being gobsmacked that ANY trainer could suggest unknown dogs in a public dog park as a method of teaching your dog "his place". That is just plain dangerous and it certainly isn't going to help you sort out the issue at home with your younger dog. Rest assured that dogs don't spend their days plotting to overthrow us (that's what cats do LOL). I think the idea of unwanted dog behaviour as "dominance" and the idea that we should be constantly on the alert for signs of 'dominance' are frankly, a total crock. Yes, dominant dogs exist but we don't generally create such issues by allowing them to walk through doors infront of us etc. Dogs don't get on the couch because they think they're the boss.. they do it because its comfortable. If they get off when we tell them to and don't stop US from getting on it, where's the 'dominance'??? Dogs pull on the lead because we let them. They jump on us because they're excited and we need to teach them that it's not acceptable. Its that simple. These are owner created problems and probably some of the easiest to resolve. What dogs need are boundaries, routine and leadership. That can be done partly by training, partly by insisting and enforcing certain behaviours and certainly by rewarding behaviours that you want. I think regular obedience training is a really good idea but I think that an in home visit from a decent dog trainer (not your current one) is the best way to go to sort out the pack issues at home. Sounds to me like you've got a pretty full on adolescent and you need to call in the canine equivalent of Super Nanny to help get things back on track. I suspect you'll be pleasantly surprised at how easily that will be achieved once you have some good help.

I am in Canberra and have linked this to my FB page. Hope she's found safe, well, and soon!!