Salukifan

Sorry, but you've lost me there. Why shouldn't pedigree dogs be for everyone?

Or did they? And what were they popular for? if the answer is "they were non-shedding" then that's wrong for a start. Most of them shed. One of the reasons they've been taken beyond F1 crosses is to try to stabilise coat type.

Hills K/D is the one for kidney disease. i question the verdict of "crap" for the prescription range. Royal Canin make one but they don't import it to Australia i have a dog here on K/D.

I hate to say it but this isn't sounding great

I think it's great that you are weighing up breeds Asher but I really dont' find these "either or..?" kinds of threads all that useful for prospective owners. Reason? Both breeds have their attractions and their fans. But both breeds are different. How would I approach this? Specify the criteria you are looking for in a dog up front. Then evaluate the breeds against these. Think about the sort of life style you want to live with a dog. Do you want a dog that can be an active exercise companion? I'd go Boxer there. If not, the BM will probably be a less demanding dog. Do you want a pup that's probably going to be easier to grow sound? Again, Boxer. A Bull Mastiff is a BIG pup. Keeping it from over exercising and feeding it correctly will take some effort - more so than a Boxer I'd argue. Do you want a dog that's going to live a long life? Research longevity. Neither tend to be long lived breeds. There are probably similar breeds that live longer. How easy do you want it to be to take a dog on holidays in a car? Boxer wins there. Do you want a dog to which you attach a whole list of memories and expectations. Or do you want to start with a fresh breed. Things like levels of protectiveness, easy of handling for younger members of the family all need to be factored in. I could probably list a few breeds you havent' considered that you could add to your considerations BUT the deciding factor for me would be the quality of the breeder you can find to sell you a pup. Good breeders are worth their weight in gold and can be expected to offer a lot of support while you raise your pup. Don't underestimate that factor in your considerations. I love Bullmastiffs... but I'm not the one who has to live with the dog you choose. So take your time and spend time with both or other breeds before you decide.

1. Establish that you actually bought from a registered breeder who was a financial member at the time the litter was supposedly registered. Your Canine Control can tell you this. 2. If the answer to the first question is "yes", I'd send one polite email to the breeder, wait a fortnight and then contact your State Canine Control. 2. If the answer to the first question is "no", I'd be contacting your state Fair Trade mob and heading for the small claims court to get your money back.

Are you talking about kennel lines or breed gene pools? The oldest breed of pedigreed dog in the world is one of the healthiest. That suggests to me that there is nothing inherently wrong with the system.of recording ancestry and only breeding to dogs of known ancestry.. but as more with how people operate WITHIN it. Some breeding practices have to go.. and some of the old ones need to be returned IMO. And the number one practice that needs to be returned and hard is culling. By that I don't mean killing puppies but I do mean looking hard at the dogs you have and removing from your breeding dogs any dog that isn't right up to scratch. Of course the practice of rehoming dogs is one that sees breeders howled down as "callous". Damned if you do, and most definitely damned if you don't. What makes a BYB in my view? A person who is prepared to breeding anything they own with testicles or a uterus. Way too easy simply to use what you have rather than look outside and over protectiveness of kennel lines fuels it in droves.

You might find the seed around the house somewhere. Mine tend to take their loot to a quiet place and then figure out what to do with it. A nice meal of fibre might help move things along...' And yes, bloody Whippets - both thieves and gutses!! :

Its the senile delinquent in my house who's the pee artist. He's desexed.

Where is the crate? I have it next to my bed for the few few weeks.

In which case I would want their kennel license revoked, not a bankruptcy declaration.

you do get good colours with the rubber back :laugh: With Petnetwork, you can get great colours in both! I have found the rubber backed stuff disintegrtates after a while. If grip isn't an issue, I'd be inclined to go with green backed.

Congratulate my dog for eliminating a member of a pest species that drives native birds out of habitat and move on. Ditto for rats and mice - they're fulfililng a function they've performed for millenia. We don't live in a Disney movie and dogs are predatory pack animals. As responsible owners, it is our job to ensure that our dogs don't present a danger to people, pets or native species but no amount of vigilance will control a dog's drives when you are not there. That is way safe confinement and an acceptance that dogs WILL kill small animals should be part of dog ownership. If you have a dog aggressive dog, then the bar for responsible containment goes even higher. Never get how people can throw their hands up in horror when a dog kills a chook or a guinea pig - they're carnivores for Pete's sake. : Separation is the only way to guarantee the smaller pets' safety. Ditto for tree changers who are aghast when their roaming pet dog ends up shot dead by a farmer. Get real. As for the media? They'll print want sells. "Responsible journalism" is an oxymoron these days.

What it WILL do is raise insurance premiums for kennels and consequently kennel fees for boarding. When kennels become financially unviable and close or you can't find a place to board your dog that doesn't cost a kidney, hark back to this story. No dog should die due to kennel owner neglience (assuming there actually was any) but the only winners out of all of this will be the lawyers.

Me for one... BUT to some degree it might be dependent on how widely spread the condition was in the litter. That's the challenge of recessive genes - you have no way of knowing how widely they've been passed on.

Short answer - you don't. From the research I've done, cryptorchidism is recessive and not a simple recessive either. Therefore it needs to be on both sides of the mating for it to occur. Sisters of affected pups are just as big a risk of producing it as their brothers. There was also mention of a some research that linked late descending testes with an increased risk of siring cryptorchid pups. Therefore, the "wait and hope" approach is not wise if you're choosing future breeding dogs. And I would NOT want to use a dog that had one drop late. My view, formed by hard experience, is that if a pup does not have two fully descended testes at 8 weeks, you should find them a good pet home. It's heartbreaking so see promising pups removed from your gene pool but not as heartbreaking as a litter with every male pup a cryptorchid and that has happened in Whippets as an example. I would not breed from a bitch from such a litter. I've heard them drop as late as 5-6 months and the oldest I've heard of is 18 months - I would definitely not want such a dog siring a litter for me. As for using a sire that had produced it? It takes two to tango for this to be an issue. I'd be wary but I'd certainly not write the dog off.

Peperone now own Petnetwork Murve!

I think the Show Off is an excellent product for removing wee and grass stains when you can't shampoo.

Pet Network :)

I've never really been a fan of the "you have to change a dog's food over slowly" line of thinking. This is an animal that can eat poo and decomposing meat and be none the worse off for it mostly. I'd bin the Supercoat (I think its rubbish food) and go with the better quality foods immediately. Unless the foster has a sensitive tummy, she'll do fine and Ziggy will be all the better for no access to the high grain SC.

Great Rugs would be my recommendation. I've got several very well fitted crate and pen covers from them. :)

I can't tell you how glad I am that you haven't followed that suggestion. To hear that advice from a vet I find nothing short of horrifying. Formalin is incredibly toxic if ingested (eg. by your dog licking its paws), can be absorbed through the skin to cause internal organ damage, it also corrosive to skin and frankly won't do you a lot of good either. And its been suggested for DAILY application If that's the standard of advice your vet is giving, can i politely suggest you find another vet? Perhaps one who might consider that soft pads are not the only reason a dog might show signs of tenderness on hard or uneven ground??

Yep, too early to assume they won't descend but you're not out of the woods either. I won't take home a pup as a show prospect without "two in the bag". What breed? Testicle issues are more common in some breeds than others.

Would wider baby gates help? The problem with saying something after he's toileted is that he's already done it - the horse has bolted. This is what I mean by "if you can't watch him, crate him". It wont be forever but every time it happens, it reinforces the behaviour. So you have to make so that he can never make a mistake. If you are absolutely vigilent about this for just a couple of weeks, the worst will be over. I think the idea of setting up a pen around the door door is a good one. Access to the wider house will be a privilege he will have to earn I"m afraid.

The difficulty you have is that you don't have forever to sort this out. As Sandra has said, its time to make positive steps to remove any capacity for mistakes. By around five months, you really need to have it sorted. That doesn't leave long. Time to eliminate ANY chance for him to do it where you don't want it. If that means crating him when he cannot be carefully supervised, then that's what you need to do until mistakes are no longer an issue.