espinay2

There is an article in Pat Hastings book 'Another piece of the puzzle:Puppy Development' on raising a single puppy litter. Lots of other good articles in the book too including an article on the 'rule of 7's' etc another article on Singletons that may or may not help: http://breedingbetterdogs.com/pdfFiles/articles/litter_size_and_singleton.pdf

I go to Melbourne to Monash. The drive is a pain but I have found them worth it. I haven't used the others to compare though.

Step one. Stool sample to vet to check for things like guardia, coccidia (did the breeder have birds or poultry?) or worms. I would not assault his system with chemicals such as wormers till you check if he needs them. If youwant to add something now I would be adding probiotics. I would use one like protexin or one from the fridge section of the chemist or health food store as they are stronger than yoghurt and provide not so much dairy (most dairy free)

Double post

Would depend on the reason she had to have a c-section?

Yes, you do put the genes in pairs - one from each parent. If you know both, you put both. If you don't know if there is a recessive hiding there (such as if one parent is heterozygous for the gene so you dont know if the pup inherited the recessive or the dominant or if the parent itself could have been either heterozygous or homozygous for the dominant), you would put a question mark or list both as an 'or' I guess. For example (using 'made up' recessives and dominants - 'M' being the dominant and 'm' being the recessive) Parent A = MM Parent B = Mm or MM (which will look the same phenotypically) Offspring may be either Mm or MM. Only way you would then know if the pup was Mm is if mated to either Mm or mm it produces mm pups. (as MM mated to mm will only produce Mm which will look like the MM parent - but you will know for sure at least that it is carrying the recessive!) Easier if you have mm to write it down as what you see is what you get rather than working out your possibilities based on what you know of other dogs in the pedigree and their offspring

I did post a link for you that might help ;) Edited to add....here:

It is only his first session so don't worry too much :) . If he is a pup that sits back and assesses things before jumping into the fray that can be a good thing. I wouldn't worry too much about 'motivating' him to play with the other dogs. When he wants to he will, I am sure. Given a few more sessions I think you will find he is having a fine time if you let him go at his own pace.

Breeders use lots of different things and all will have different opinions. Perhaps pop into the health part of the forum and do some reading there. In the end though the basic premise is the same no matter what you feed. The amount of calories eaten need to be lower than the amount used. Increasing exercise can therefore help as well as well as looking to diet.

'acceptable weight' means that when the dog is a healthy weight for its individual structure, then it falls within that weight range. A smaller dog might better fit at the lower end of the scale, while a larger one may be at the top. They still, however, have to be a healthy weight for them. A smaller dog that is overweight, but still within the acceptable weight for the breed is still overweight just as a larger dog that is too skinny is still too skinny even if it just comes within the acceptable weight range. You should be able to feel their ribs under a light cover. Like running your fingers over the back of your hand below the knuckles. If you cant do that (you need to feel through the coat to the skin to do it) then they do need to lose some weight. There is a Cavalier Club in NSW. Perhaps they can provide advice and put you in touch with breeders closer to you who can help you learn about grooming a Cav etc? Here is the link: http://www.cavaliersnsw.com/

It is possible that your dog may only need to do 30 days quaratine on return if rules are as they are now (basically a 4 week kennel stay) - though it can vary depending on paperwork and testing etc before you bring her back. This is about average for many Cat 4 countries though. Being crate trained can help a dog cope with the flights. Cost may be a consideration too - it is not cheap and realistically, many simply can't afford it. As mentioned though, only you know your dog and what is best for it - rehoming now, or taking her and deciding once over there when/if you come to return to Aus if she is still with you at that point in time (rehome overseas, bring her back to Aus, or even euthanase depending on her health and your assessment of her ability to be rehomed and/or handle the journey back - this last is not an option anyone would want to consider, but it is still always going to be an option) I will say though - having a dog in Europe might be fun if that ends up being your decision. You can take them so many places! I loved it when in France that we could take the dogs in restaurants, could take them to tourist attractions and have them in hotels. So much easier than it is here! I do agre though that if you decide rehoming now is the best option, do it sooner rather than later. It is not a good thing to be trying to do at last minute and doing it early will mean you can monitor the new home for a while.

You can show a desexed dogs in Neuter classes and work towards earning a Neuter Champion title (provided the dog is on the main register). But you don't compete against entire dogs. Entire dogs must have two fully descended testicles (though as mentioned there is some leeway in 'baby puppy' class up until the time they reach 6 months of age). (A person who needs to desex because of undescended testicles could therefore enter baby puppy classes up till 6 months of age, then neuter classes from 6 months onwards after the dog is desexed)

It is a bit like the 'stuff on my cat' photos, but with a theme :laugh: What I want to know is if the dog gets to eat them afterwards ;)

I have to applaud you for being open about your plans. Like SSM it is probably not the path I would have taken, myself being very strong on the issue of health in a breed where, like you, I too am one of the only ones in this country who is health testing This has caused me frustration in the past too, having to put aside breeding plans (when others have suggested perhaps going ahead anyway) and start again. It can be a slow process at times and at times frustrating and along the way, like SSM, I have learnt about living with things that I would not want to pass on to a pet owner (having the personal belief that 'pet homes' are not another term for 'second best' and deserve the best dogs we can breed). Finding dogs that tick all my boxes has been a long and involved saga and yes at times I do wonder if I am being 'too picky' and at times have thrown my hands in the air in defeat. But in the end I know what I want and don't want to compromise on and know that quick gains may in fact set me back rather than move me forward towards my goals. Some times the slow path is the quickest one. I do like the pic of that parti pup above (though profess to not knowing much about Poms) and hope that you can continue the way you seem to have started, but noting what seems like a good start, like SSM I too am stumped by your choice of this bitch (based on what you have told us about her). Good luck with your program and may it be as successful as you hope it to be :) .

It may be possible too that they simply have different playing styles and of that is the case it may simply be somethnng you have to manage (eg separating for some play sessions so Krusty can have his zoomies ). I have found that when we have had other breeds with our pyrs that while the pyrs have the same style of play the other dogs - a Dalmatian in the first instance and a GSD currently - play differently and don't understand pyr play styles. The dally would get very frustrated Nd vocal that they were not playing her way and the GSD spends his time trying to block and herd them ! We say that the pyrs speak French while the GSD speaks German! ;)

P. S. I am on that breeders list ;)

Yes I knew about the one in Sydney. Us pyr folk are a small community and we get on top of these things fairly quickly. Was simply after any 'inside knowledge' on this case from rescuers in WA that may help us? Yes I am trying to contact the rescue directly as well.

Came across this listing for a Pyrenean Mountain Dog in WA: http://www.petrescue....au/view/111308 BFAR page has it listed 28 Jan 12, though the profile date is earlier. Anyone know anything about this dog - whether it has been rehomed etc? Their listing has her described as having 'the temperament of a Golden Retriever' Potential owners may be in for a surprise or two and I would hate to see her end up back in rescue as a result!!

When my stepson's cat 'Smokey' died, we bought him a 'smoke bush' for the garden. If there was something the dog loved to do or something that the dog 'was' something that works with that would be good. Even something to cheer her up a little - if the dog loved water, a day pass to a water theme park might be a way to have fun in the dogs memory. Vistaprint has a heap of stuff you can get photos put on - from mugs to T shirts etc if you dont think that would be 'too much' for her to bear.

Looking at the photos, a form of dwarfism is what immediately sprung to mind as a possibility for me too. I will be interested to see pictures of the puppy as it grows. Hopefully the OP will come back and post some? :)

A vet friend recently sent me this. Seems relevent to this thread so may be useful for some. Drugs_That_May_Or_May_Not_Be_Used_in_Pregnant_Dogs-1.pdf

You beat me to it. Health testing is all well and good, but really the value is in how you USE that information. Just doing health testing doesnt really prove anything. It is what you do with that information that counts.

Actually the Russian Fox Farm experiment is a good example of how if you choose primarily for one particular trait, other traits (good and/or bad) can go along for the ride and also be unwittingly selected for.

How about a long term view? Breed a parti coloured to the best solid colour you can get (result will be Ss (i,p or w)) so most will likely look solid but will carry a parti gene. Then take the best of the progeny to the best parti coloured or dog from a parti parent you can. Some will be parti and some solid. From there you can hopefully increase the quality of your parti's probably a lot faster than by using unsound or poor quality parti's to begin with. JMHO but I wouldnt be breeding with a dog with 3:3 patellas (not even for 'pet homes' - there is after all no such thing as 'just a pet' and pet owners deserve sound dogs too!). But since you have done it I would be making very sure you inform potential buyers that their pups may inherit the condition (be aware there have been legal cases where breeders have been sued and lost - and had to pay plenty of dollars - for not informing puppy buyers in situations like this)

A rare black maltese perhaps? :laugh: Maremma used to turn up here fairly frequently. I heard one girl telling a prospective buyer they were just like a fluffy white labrador!