Salukifan

The other thing I don't like about soft crates is they tend to get hot.

Ask your girl's breeder about whether a soft crate will be sufficient for her. Personally I don't think they are secure enough but some dogs are fine in them.

I think one reason people associate spaying with behavioural change it that it tends to coincide with the end of puppyhood. Provided you adjust your girl's diet for the fact she no longer requires food to grow and don't let her get fat, I expect you'll not notice much change at all. At least you won't have to deal with hormonal mood changes! :)

You've gone from using pee pads inside, to no pee pads. So one lesson was that "it's OK to pee inside".. and now you want outside only. So you've changed what he's supposed to do. Every time he pees inside now, reinforces that its OK to do it. Can you restrict his access to the house when you aren't home? I'm thinking only the room the dog door is in???

There'd be some pretty strong evidence to that effect, I'm sure. Personally, I'd like to see not just fines but permanent dog ownership bans so that idiots can't do it again.

Every time you change the goal posts, you derail what you're trying to teach. What ARE you trying to teach - outside only? How confident is he with the dog door?

I"m not sure your average puppy buyer would think $ was any less of a motive than "improving the breed". Its HOW they get to the end result that matters to me. Guide him towards that book. There's also one on puppy raising. If he wont' spend the money to buy some books, ask him what he thinks he's going to be spending to raise the litter. :cool: You know with the right guidance, he could end up on the "right" side of the breeder fence. :) I would tell him that he'll struggle to find a decent stud prospect for his girl if she's not ANKC Main Registered.. and older. If her breeder is willing, there is still time to upgrade her to Main.

Next person who wants to breed that you speak to? Suggest they buy and read Canine Reproduction and Whelping Great book, very informative. There is a second "Advanced" book also. Far more productive IMO than telling them a bunch of reasons they won't buy about why they shouldn't.

I'd rather the difference between what ANKC breeders can produce and the demand for pups be filled by pups raised in family homes than in puppy farms.

You know what? I honestly don't give a toss if people want to breed their pets. What I care about is that they do it responsibly. It's not the end of the world to breed dogs without pedigrees. To prevent people breeding dogs with genetic heatlh issues, without properly caring for the bitch and to failing to raise and rehome pups responsibly is where we should be putting the effort. A lot of puppy buyers do not buy the story that the only good dog is a pedigree one. Where we need to focus is directing them to good BREEDERS. A whole bunch of tutt tutting about breeding pets is pointless.

Does he have access outside during the day?

You've got the best advice on this you can get: Stay away from offleash dog parks and seek experienced professional help. Not some Cesar Milan wanna be or a franchise dog trainer but someone who knows and understands the dynamics of powerful protective breeds. I'll add one more piece of advice: Resist the urge to apportion 'blame' to the small dogs for your dog's reaction. You need to 'own' your own dog's behaviour first and foremost. I could as easily explain this behaviour as a your dog being dominant and perceiving aggressive responses from smaller dogs as challenges. But it would be pointless. The key issue to remember is the ONLY behaviour you can work to modify is that of you and your dog. What other dogs do doesn't help that process.

You best bet is probably his breeder if that isn't you. She'll know his potential and might be able to advertise him through her contacts. Your other option is to put some titles on the back end of his name - that could improve his attractiveness to some bitches' owners. Your last option is to grow a show coat on him (I assume he's a poodle) and get someone to show him for you.

You know what worries me most about these stories? People who believe them and assume their missing dogs have been stolen are less likely to look for them in the local area. That can't be a good thing.

Possibly the place they escaped from WAS their home... a week earlier. :cool:

And so they returned them right back to their front door?? Sorry but if you're worried about being found with dogs "too hot to handle" that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. You'd dump them anywhere you could. Seems to me that anyone thinking this through would conclude that this is hardly the behaviour of callous, experienced dog thieves. They don't have heartstrings to pull.

And yet the dogs were returned unharmed to their home?? How does that work??

I thought the Whippet Club of NSW's was quite informative. I gather quite a few breed clubs turned out to do meet and greets with the public at the big Dogs NSW Dogs On Show day :) The breed clubs are all volunteer based and its an additional undertaking by people doing the best they can. They can always use more help.

even without mention of an article mention such issues I would have suspected that was the case, however a reasonable percentage of owners / breeders must have managed to rear giant breeds on whatever they deemed an appropriate diet, or maybe the difference is that breeders were more inclined to cull pups or dogs that had 'issues' back then? Most giant breeds were probably kept by people who could give them at least a proportion of game or meat on the bone. The giants tended to be hunters or protectors of estates or livestock. They certainly weren't an "everyman's breed". And yes, culling and higher pup mortality were probably features of dog raising

I am curious to know how breeders got the ratios right prior to the advent of commercial food? Giant breeds like Great Danes have been around for many centuries and commercial dog food for less than two (and that was by no means a balanced product). Please note - I am genuinely curious to hear peoples opinions, I am not trying to suggest one way of feeding is better than another. Who's to say they always did? I was just reading an article that talks about canine bones dating from Tudor times. There is evidence to suggest that some of the dogs whose bones were discovered suffered from rickets - a classic disease that can be caused by a calcium/phosphorus imbalance.

Excuse the extremely obvious question but has the vet eliminated worm burden as a possible cause for the anaemia??

If you're in the Newcastle area and hearing these stories read this. In Brisbane? Read this In Orange? This one's for you Anyone detecting a theme emerging? There's more of these articles refuting the idea that large scale dog thefts are happening to supply dog fighting rings. Beating these stories up on social media does no one any good. I hope that people read these newspaper stories and note that this kind of hysteria makes it harder for people who've actually got missing dogs to locate them. As I said in the other thread. You should be taking precautions to secure your dog every day. Scaring the shite out of dog owners is hardly helping anyone. ETA: And Here's what Quaker's Hill police had to say on the Sydney issue

A no win situation for everyone involved.

My guess is a lot of the time, dogs got what we didn't want or need. But it seems that historically, cereal (often bread) has formed part of the domestic dog's diet ever since we've been harvesting it. Given that dogs and horses were often housed and worked in close proximity, its not surprising that many dogs got what horses got to some degree, with meat added.

And a lot of passion and division on the subject. All I can say on the issue is "test every assertion". There are myths and mythology about canine diets and bugger all research to support some claims made - on both sides of the commercial vs 'natural' diet argument.