greentea

Oh gees! Yes yes I realise I am at fault for not researching properly... The little gremlim eats so much, maybe he will grow too tall and won't make a showie after all and then I'll have him clipped ha ha! We are hoping to get him a brother or sister in the next few months, have been discussing the different breed options etc. My partner wants a British Bulldog while I'd like another toy breed. Either way... It is sure to be a smooth coat!! I keep trying to post photos on here to show you our sweet little guy but it isn't working. I will try and shrink the pictures down a little.

Thank you so much, that would be great if you could do that. I feel pretty stupid right now. I should have done my research better. I thought it would be like having a poodle- just a drive to the parlour and then your puppy comes out lovely!

Hello experienced puppy owners! I need some advice about training. There are training schools in Sydney where you can take your dog for about a week and they board them there and train them for you. Has anyone ever done this? Would a 3 month pup be traumatised being away from me like that? I am scared it will scar him for life and he would become a different dog- temperament wise... I am a hopeless trainer as is my partner, I just can't discipline him everytime he looks at me with his cute little face I melt! My partner heard of this Hanrob place I think it is called, where they train your dog to sit come stay heel etc etc and I though it might be a good idea. Any thoughts?? EDIT: This idea has been scrapped, it wasn't on the adgenda was just a suggestion I thought I'd put it out here for comments. He is going to puppy school by the way. So no more pm's please!

I have a health issue that prevents me from being able to do it. Unfortunately our breeder is a 4 hour plane ride away! I had assumed that for a large enough sum of money, someone would be interested! I guess it is a bit like those Mastercard ads- $$you can't buy everything$$ I think I will keep trying. I have contacted pretty much every breeder in NSW I am even willing to fly to Melbourne but no further. Will try other rough coat breeds, there must be someone somewhere that knows how to hand-strip and does it professionally right? Failing that, I will have to clip him and forget about shows, it is my fault I was wrong to assume a grooming salon could handle it!

Hello everyone, I am desperately looking for some advice. My 12 week pup Henry, a Griffon Bruxellois, needs to have his coat hand-stripped. I am unable to do this, and (in my ignorance) had assumed when I bought him, that I would be able to pay someone to do it for me. Turns out, no-one experienced in stripping rough coats is interested. I feel almost like I am making 'indecent proposals' when I talk to other Griffon people about grooming my boy for a rather generous fee. No-one is interested! I have phoned a number of grooming salons but no-one hand-strips the coat. If I have his fur clipped, I will ruin his coat and can never show him. Apparently they have to be done about 3-4 times a year. Each hair has to be plucked out so that the new rough coat comes through and it takes ages to do so I guess that is why I can't seem to find anyone... Someone suggested I try calling breeders of other rough coat dogs, like Schnauzers. Can anyone suggest anyone- or anywhere- I can take him to? Any advice/info whatsoever would be grrrrrrreatly appreciated. Carrie.

Thanks so much Steve, I will definitely check out those sites this evening when I get home. I don't have any children anf my little gremlin means the world to me thats why I am so stressed about all the conflicting info out there. It ios hard to know what is right. I will go to the butcher and get him to mince some top quality steak for me that way it will be high quality. It is no good just giving the meat without the bones as well right? So I am going to have to read up on the bones stuff. he is such a tiny little fellow I will have to pick the right type and size bones... This Wednesday I am taking him for a second opinion on the knee and heart issue. Fingers crossed.

Steve, what types of raw food exactly should I feed him? At the moment I still have him on the diet the breeder raised him on- Eukanuba and cooked lamb mince. The vet told me if I gave him raw meat he would get an infection caused by the bacteria... Is that wrong? I don;t want to make him sick. Please tell me exactly what to buy him and I will go out and get it. It is so hard to know what's right when there is so much info out there about what to and what not to feed puppies- it is all so confusing! I have been giving him the puppy/kitten milk with Thiamine and Taurine and he seems to love that, is this the wrong thing to give him? I'm so confused! He is such an active little guy, jumping and running all the time and his knee seems to work just as well as the other knee. I am having trouble getting a vet reccomendation from other Griffon people in Sydney because there are so few breeders, none respond to my emails. I think I need to find a vet who is used to seeing show dogs and will not tell me off about his docked tail and his being "in tact"!

Thanks again Poodlefan. Your little one who was diagnosed at 8 months- did you do any special exercises with him/her or did the muscle mass increase on its own with age? I wonder if maybe there are some little exercises I could do with him to help. I feel sick just thinking about something serious being wrong with my little guy!

Thanks PoodleFan... I am pretty stressed right now. Our little one has cost us a lot of money and the thought of having to spend thousands on surgery is quite frightening, not to mention painful for our baby. It seems weird that the vet we took him to found these things the day after he arrived with us, and it was only 2 weeks early that the breeder had him vaccinated and her vet found nothing wrong with him. I am hoping our vet was just off the mark. Maybe I should find a new vet...

Hello everyone, My 11 week old Griffon Bruxellois was examined by the vet who had A.) Never seen a GB before and B.)Questioned whether it was a new/designer breed. Luckily I had my new hardcover book about the breed in my bag and I showed the vet that he was a beautiful example of a genuine breed not a "designer dog". Upon examining my beautiful pup she said he had a heart murmur that "should probably sort itself out...hopefully" and "it appears his right knee is questionable. At 16 weeks if it is still this way then he will require surgery for a luxating patella." Of course I was horrified. Our breeder has never heard of Griffons getting heart murmurs or luxating patellas. Has anyone else? Was this just a vet who knows nothing of our breed getting carried away? If my baby does have a wonky knee can I still show him? Please help! Thanks.