DogsAndTheMob

I've loved Ibizan Hounds, ever since I saw one, 30 or more years ago, in perfect Sphinx posture during the Down Stay in obedience competition. Unfortunately, commonsense says "No" -- I don't have time or resources to cope with a sight-hound (plus) that can soar over 5 foot fences. Speaking of soaring over fences, google "Ibizan Hound jumping" for some pictures of sheer beauty.

The potential impact of this law worries me. I'm no economist, but I think simple economic theory states that supply always increases to meet demand. If the law makes it difficult for responsible breeders to supply would-be pet owners, will suppliers from less regulated countries try to make a profit from the market? If so, will Australia's quarantine protections withstand attack in the international courts? Or will free-trade agreements trump quarantine law? Read this link: http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2011/01/06/avoiding-buying-illegally-imported-pet-dogs.aspx "A much-needed crackdown on U.S. businesses like puppy mills that breed pets purely for profit and without regard for the health and well-being of the animals, is having an unintended consequence. Another often unscrupulous business, the importation of puppies from countries with fewer breeding restrictions, is stepping in to answer U.S. consumer demand for purebred and cross-bred puppies." And from this link: https://globalhealthvet.com/2014/10/31/dog-imports-into-the-united-states/ The sale of puppies is a big market in countries like the US, and that has driven some people to establish intensive puppy breeding operations (puppy mills) to quickly supply the increasing demand in specific dog breeds. Doing this in countries with limited regulation regarding small animals allows this industry to escape some of the oversight that exists in the US in regards to pet health and welfare. In the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regulates importations of dogs and cats and these animals should not be imported from rabies-endemic countries until one month after they receive their rabies vaccination (given at 3 months of age). This puts the animals at a minimum of 4 months of age until they can be shipped to the US. Unfortunately, puppies younger than 3 months can be sold at a much higher price (sometimes thousands of dollars per dog) and some importers have falsified the dogs’ documents to state that they are 4 month old in order to comply with import requirements, when in fact they are much younger.

Not a dog story, but... A visitor looked at my parents' Jersey house cow and a group of Fresian calves, and asked, "Is she their mother?" Umm... They're different breeds, and cows don't have litters.

Could it be caused by a toy? My hyper-allergic cat developed bald spots at both corners of her mouth after I bought her a slinky-type toy made from fleece. She looked like The Joker. The toy went into the bin, and she has had no recurrences of bald spots on her face.

I owned a Siberian Husky for 13 wonderful and fraught years. She was everything I wanted: very people-friendly and dog-friendly, albeit quite dominant, and fascinating to own - her behaviour and even her facial expressions were very different from my other dogs. An obedience judge asked me why I got a "feral" husky, but I found her generally easy to train and she did well in Novice obedience competition - I just had to find the right motivator. Despite this, I decided not to get another husky; her prey drive needed careful management and she totally lacked the instinct to stay with the pack that my border collies and german shepherds display. This meant that I rarely let her run free in the paddock and I couldn't take my eye off her when I did. I felt that this impacted on her quality of life - and so, no more huskies for me.

I was delighted to discover that the Animal Referral and Emergency Centre now has an after-hours emergency clinic in East Maitland NSW. This means that I'm now looking for a good vet in Maitland or East Maitland, where I can take my dogs for routine care. Any recommendations?

This is from the catalogue of Sydney All Breeds DTC's 1963 4th annual obedience trial: 23 breeds - 115 dogs competing. German shepherds 45, cocker spaniels 7, labradors 12, poodles 9, Pekingese 1, dobermanns 7, Maltese 2, bullmastiff1, Norwegian buhund 1, miniature schnauzer 1, corgi 5, Airedale1, golden retriever 4, Australian cattle dog 2, Samoyed 2, kelpie 4, boxer2, Bassett hound 1, Australian terrier 2, scotch collie 3, Dalmatian 2, pug 1, border collie 1. The Catalogue is annotated. The winners in the two novice rings were a Pekingese and a labrador retriever. The winners in the two open rings were a Pembroke corgi and a dobermann. The winner in the UD ring was a german shepherd.The first four place getters in each ring received sashes. In addition, each first place winner received a trophy to the value of £5/5d. There were also 34 donated special trophies, including highest Airedale score, best lady handler score, highest member score, highest non-member score, highest toy score and best puppy under 12 months.

As well as the interesting discussion, this blog shows some images of pugs in art and history. Queen Victoria's pug looks less extreme in head shape than the pugs in18th and 19th century paintings, so I wonder if there's an element of artistic licence in the paintings - which anticipated the pugs of today. I think the comments below the blog are worth reading, too. Pugs in history and interature

Steve, I agree that we need to address health issues related to breed type, but recessives are important too. I can (and do) choose not to purchase a dog of a breed with extreme conformation, or to look for less extreme examples of the breed. Being blind-sided by recessives - in my case, two German Shepherds with degenerative myelopathy - would be enough to turn me away from purebred dogs if I did not believe that the risks with crossbreeds were as bad or worse. I like the idea of fitness tests for brachycephalic dogs, and I think breeders and breed judges need to be trained to evaluate breed standards in the context of the dogs that were in the show ring at the time each standard was developed. There are plenty of old photos of champions in breed books and on the Internet. I applaud the efforts of the MDBA but we need to mainstream these efforts, in order to assure an adequate gene pool of healthy dogs for breed survival.

Once a dog does escape, it becomes very difficult to keep him in. I have areas with rural fencing, a verandah with 1.5 metre pool fencing, and runs with 2 metre mesh fencing - and a border collie who has scaled or jumped every fence. Most of the time, he doesn't bother to do so, being quite happy to watch the livestock through even the rural fencing, but we need to crate or tether him, on the few occasions when we are unable to have him inside or supervise him outside. I spent one Christmas raising a relative's 2 metre plus fence by another 40 cm because her German Shepherd had learned to scale it. When we lived in suburbia, we were forced to put cement footings beneath our fence after our Siberian Husky shifted boulders as big as her torso to get under the fence.

We've been talking about the future of purebred dogs in another thread, and public relations has been identified as an issue. I'm not very savvy about PR and social media, but here are some of my musings: I've been looking at breeders' websites recently, and I love those that showcase photos of their dogs in everyday activities. I like to see dogs running or resting amicably with other dogs. I like to see herding dogs herding and gundogs retrieving. Quite frankly, photos of dogs in show poses, swathed in ribbons, leave me cold. I hate statements that a breeder's puppies are suitable for every possible activity - even, on a website I looked at recently, for show, pet, obedience, tracking, agility, herding and shutzhund. Umm, I've competed successfully in herding, and the traits of a good herding dog are quite different from those that make a dog suitable for shutzhund. How can a breeder state that their puppies are suitable for a sport if they have never competed in that sport? It's like a breeder of agility dogs who never enters the show ring selling her puppies as show prospects. I like breeder websites that publish the actual health scores of their dogs. Not only does that help with breeder selection , it also helps convey a sense of the health status of the breed. Given the public (and veterinary) perception of purebred dogs as in-bred, I would like to see inbreeding co-efficients published with litter notifications. I've been impressed by: The Facebook page of the Swiss White Shepherd Dog Club of Australia - lovely dogs, lovely photos and information about breed fun days. The Website of Bluegrace Portuguese Water Dogs - lots of useful information and some great photos. Starkehre's thread on her puppies, which shows the time and effort a good breeder devotes to a litter. The Skyhaven Flat Coated Retriever website photo of Bushman Wind Me Up Watch Me Go with her Best Baby Puppy in Group ribbon in her mouth - it's absolutely gorgeous! Who do you think is "getting it right" and how else can we improve the profile af purebred dogs?

I believe that many ANKC breeders are doing a lot to address the problem of hereditary disease in purebred dogs, I've been looking through breeder websites because I'm planning to get another dog in the next few years, although I haven't yet decided on the breed. Most of the websites state that their dogs are health screened, and many include their dogs' hip and elbow scores as well as genetic profiles. (As feedback for breeders, I find "motherhood" statements about health-testing annoying; if the results are acceptable, publish them. If they are not, state that you have withdrawn the dog from your breeding program. If there is a good reason to breed from a dog despite a poor health report, outline the reason and the steps you are taking to manage the risk.) I think we need to consider: What incentives can be used to induce all ANKC breeeders to screen their dogs? How do we publicise the efforts that breeders are making? I agree with Llok that health testing needs to be linked in some way with Championship awards. Is a dog with a disabling or debilitating genetic disease truly worthy of the title of Champion? The methods decided upon need to be flexible enough to adapt rapidly to changes in each breed's health profile, but also have enough impact to influence breeders' decisions. There will always be those who defy pressure for improvement, so publicity is essential, not only to sway public opinion on purebred dogs and their breeders, but also to persuade purchasers that it is worth spending the extra dollars and effort required to get their puppies from breeders who health screen their dogs.

It's great to have input from a breeder, alpha bet. Maintaining genetic diversity is essential, and I have wondered how breeders cope with the reduced pool of dogs available for breeding. Even in the past when, I think, many breeders seemed to keep more dogs and were less constrained by limitations imposed on the number of litters bred from a bitch, breeders had trouble maintaining genetic diversity. I knew of breeders who recovered from unexpected set-backs such as the early death of a dog or its elimination from their breeding program for other reasons, by breeding to dogs they had sold as pets. Now, when most pet dogs are de-sexed early, how do breeders recover from such set-backs, particularly in breeds which have small numbers and smaller gene-pools? I agree with both comments, Redsonic and LisaCC. I should like to add, however, that breeding good quality dogs is challenging, and I can understand why breeders may not have the passion to spare for PR.

I think that the genetics of canine behaviour will be the next frontier in dog breed improvement. Many behavioural characteristics are likely to be genetically multi-factorial, but time and again I have observed behavioural quirks that are passed down the generations in certain strains of dogs. The ability to identify and, if desired, eliminate these quirks could transform dog breeding in the way that the identification and elimination of the genes responsible for health problems is already doing.

I agree, RuralPug, although there have always been "greeders". I work in performance monitoring and improvement. I applaud breed clubs for the work they have already done to promote breed improvement, but I think measurement is the next important step. One method might be the adoption and monitoring of a few, carefully selected, key performance indicators. For example, in breeds where genetically identifiable health defects are prevalent, breed clubs might set and measure a KPI that 100% of puppies bred by their members should have at least one parent genetically clear of the defect, and that an annually increasing percentage should have both parents clear. An annually decreasing median hip score for parents of litters bred by members might be another KPI. (I know that many organisations aim to decrease hip scores across the breed, but this is influenced by environmental variables, so parental hip scores are more controllable.) In terms of public profile, I think we all need to communicate more effectively with vets. I get tired of vets blaming every problem on "in-breeding", or assuming that any lameness or hind-quarter weakness is likely to be due to hip displasia -despite the parents' or even the dogs' own impeccable hip scores. Conversely, when my son took his puppy to the vet for the first time, he took the health-related documentation provided by the breeder with him. The vets were impressed, but had apparently never previously seen this quality of documentation. Perhaps breeders could provide puppy purchasers with a summary of the puppy's, the litter's and the parents' health profiles, to be passed on for the vet to keep in the puppy's files.

Firstly, thank you to all the dedicated dog breeders. At one time, I thought I would join you, but I don't think I'll ever have the time, money, energy or emotional stamina needed to do so. I attended my first dog show over 50 years ago, when I was three weeks old. (My mother - an RASKC registered breeder - got pneumonia after waiting in the rain before taking her collie into the ring.) I fear for the future of pedigree dogs in Australia: I fear that my grandchildren may be forced to buy pedigree puppies imported from a second-world country with lower standards of animal management than Australia's. Pedigree dog breeding has improved in many ways in recent decades. There are still problems, such as the issues around extreme type discussed in other threads, but I believe these to be outweighed by the following: Judging by discussion here, breeders are more knowledgable about genetics. They also have access to online resources and information such as My link Breeders routinely screen for deleterious genes and genetic defects. This is a huge advance. (I believe the failure of some - not all! - poodle breeders in the 1970s to address the (at that time) substantial problem of early blindness due to PRA and cataracts was one reason why the public became enthralled by the clever marketing of oodle cross-breeds. Breeding has generally improved conformation. Cow hocks and straight shoulders were commonplace in the show ring in the sixties. Now, I rarely see these defects even in cross-bred dogs in the street. Fewer breeders constantly kennel their dogs. Setting aside the welfare issues of constantly kennelling dogs, I used to wonder how breeders could judge their puppies' fitness to be sold as pets, if they never brought their dogs into the home or introduced them to children, old people etc. Judging by the experiences of my friends, by breeders' websites and by the discussions here, breeders are making greater efforts to ensure that their puppies go to suitable homes. I also now see little evidence of the attitude that the pet market is merely a "waste basket" for breeding failures, which was implied by the past use of terms like "pet-quality puppy". Unfortunately, I don't think the public is aware of the improvements in purebred dog breeding. So, how do we maintain the impetus of improvement in pedigree dog breeding, how do we address the aspects where there is room for improvement, and how do we ensure that the public is aware of these improvements, so that our grandchildren can buy healthy, behaviourally-sound puppies from Australian breeders?

I think it's worth considering what would happen if you were stranded away from your home and pets. This happened to me during the June 2007 storms. I now ensure my pets have access to at least three days worth of water in an unspillable container, and I feed the dogs before we go out. I keep an eye on the BOM website and, whenever possible, either my husband or I stays at home if a weather watch is declared. Also consider whether your pet is at risk from flash-flooding. Several of my friends lost pocket pets during those storms, and another friend's dog was saved by a neighbour who pulled it over the fence. If it had been crated or caged, it would have died.

This story from the NZ Herald shows another parent's very different attitude to owning a pet... but be warned, the subject matter (childhood cancer) is very distressing. Charlie the cat I don't condone allowing cats to roam, but I think the story is worth reading, despite this.

A few years ago, my GSD had an abscess on the neck. Exploratory surgery found a splinter of wood from a chewed stick, which was lodged dangerously close to a major artery. My mother's BC had an abscess halfway up her leg, from a grass-seed that entered between her toes and travelled up the leg. I can't remember the exact costs of these surgeries, but they were in the order of several hundred dollars each. When you consider the labour costs for a vet and an assistant, the cost of anaesthetics and other materials, plus ancillary costs, this does not seem unreasonable. They should give you an itemised account, if requested.

Do you have another dog or a cat that might be subvocalising or giving him the 'evil eye'? I've seen dogs and cars do this, to keep the 'competition' away from a person or a place that they regard as a resource to be guarded. The bedroom is definitely a prime resource, so I would not be surprised if a pet anticipated bedtime by keeping another pet out of the house.

An ABC item on the proposal to heritage list Swiss yodelling started me pondering. I believe that dogs as a species should be heritage listed, for many reasons, including their roles in various civilisations, and the fact that they were one of the earliest human "creations". Which dog breeds do you think should be heritage listed, and why?

One of my dogs broke her toe when she jumped through a closed window on New Year's day. She also cut through a small artery, and we rushed her to the vet, who stopped the bleeding and bandaged the foot. By the time I realised the toe was broken (out of alignment with the other toes), it was too late to do anything. I wish we'd known about the injury soon enough to treat it, as she sometimes licked it as if it was causing pain.

Thanks you all for the information, and a big thank you for all the encouragement.. Mackiemad, although Jenny has a very light undercoat for a GSD, it has increased substantially in recent months. I read somewhere that this happens in response to poorer circulation in older dogs... In any case, I will groom her more thoroughly... Persephone, I find that she tolerates a shedding blade better than a slicker, and it seems quite good at removing the old hair. I used triocil rather than betadine to clean the skin. I thought the ingredients were the same but I've just checked the active ingredient, and it's not. Thanks for the information about humidity. With rain forecast for tomorrow, it's a timely warning. I'm glad to have confirmation of my thoughts about food, CHA and showdog. I'm very unhappy about changes I've noticed in the ingredients lists of most dog goods, from meat based with some grain to grain-based with some meat. I also remember seeing a comment about high glycaemic index foods as a risk factor for skin problems in dogs.

A few weeks ago my 10 yo German Shepherd developed a hotspot. I cleansed the area and put on an Elizabethan collar and the vet gave her a course of antibiotics. A couple of new lesions developed, even though she was not allowed to lick the area, and I treated these with Curash - a hint I found on this forum. Her skin is now unbroken but I'm worried about a couple of pink spots, so back to the vet, I think. My question is, why? I've never had a dog with a hotspot before, even though most of my dogs have had heavier coats than she has. She's never had a hotspot before and, as I said, she is ten years old. She doesn't have fleas and the weather has been mild, so why now? I would be grateful for any insights. I'm starting her on a raw diet, but what else can I do to prevent recurrences?