Tansy

LOL just noticed that there are currently 2 votes for 'n/a' to the question of have you ever sold dog show prizes. Surely it is a yes or no question?

The misc 'stuff' type prizes go in a spare cupboard here. Some of it I have re-gifted to unsuspecting relatives (only if I think it is something they would like!), and every year I give some of it to my breed club for raffles or show prizes. When the cupboard is full I then have a garage sale or attend a car boot sale and sell it. Food prizes I use if it is what I feed anyway, otherwise I have given away to other exhibitors, local shelter, or if it is a decent size bag of decent food I have sold via the classifieds here. Guess I am a bit ruthless. I have some beautiful trophies that are from breed clubs that are engraved etc, and I treasure those. My first ever class in group prize was some plastic tubs, and I still use these, and are probably the most practical prize I have ever had.

If the puppy buyer has not actually signed the contract, or signed something that says they have read and understood the Ts & Cs, the breeder really doesn't have a leg to stand on. It's not sufficient to put Ts & Cs on the website, as there is no way to prove that that buyer has read these, understood and accepted the terms. Just on the murmur issue, a murmur at 6 weeks is not necessarily an indicator that there is anything wrong with the puppy, this can be a so called 'innocent murmur', which really isn't a problem. Of course, it could also be something more serious. If it was one of my puppies, I would offer the buyer to pull out of the deal, or wait it out and see if the murmur disappeared. In the meantime, I would be vet checking the puppy each week, and in my experience, if it is an innocent murmur it would be gone within a couple of weeks, in which case I would then offer the puppy for sale. Mind you, I don't take deposits (just more trouble than they are worth!), so it would just be advising the buyers that they really shouldn't feel obligated to wait and see if the murmur went.

So, there is a show I'd like to enter, but I missed the closing date. I've been sick, and the days just got away from me (not the show secs problem of course). I normally try and be good and get my entries in on time. Sometimes if I'm running a bit late I might only post the day before entries are due knowing that it may get there the next day (the day they are due), but may take two days, so getting there a day late. I figure that's not too bad, as I've heard horror stories of people trying to enter shows just a couple of days before they are on LOL. I've been on a Club committee, and I know we used to get as many as half our entries after the closing date. When do you think it is pushing your luck just a bit too much to get a late entry in?

Fabulous! Thank you.

I know there are a few pretty suit vendors on Facebook, but I never pay enough attention. Can anyone help me out with some names of suit vendors? Thanks.

As others have mentioned, Dogs NSW was closed for about 3 weeks over Xmas/NY. The only thing that would concern me is that if it was me, I would have spoken you through the situation, i.e. explained that I had submitted the registrations to Dogs NSW, was waiting on the paperwork to return, assured you I would mail the papers to you when I received them, and when you got them they would be signed over to you, what you would need to do to lodge the change of ownership etc. No need to panic at this stage, but I think I would be checking with the breeder. Not in an agressive way, maybe just send them an email update on the puppy with some pictures and at the end just ask "I was wondering if you have received the registration papers back from Dogs NSW yet?"

Details please!!

Interested in people's feedback on how they price puppies with faults. I do get that they all have 'faults', but I'm specifically talking things like incorrect bites and hernias. I have a pup in a current litter (7 weeks old) that is a popular colour/gender - I could sell pups of this colour/gender ten times over. This pup has a hernia AND is overshot. I haven't actually allocated this pup to anyone at this stage (I generally don't allocate any pups until I have chosen for myself). I also have some pups of the opposite gender and less desirable colour (not less desirable in the standard, less desirable to the puppy buying public) - good bites and no hernias. The enquiries for these pups are pretty slow. Normally, I charge a puppy price smack bang on breed average, and I normally charge the same regardless of gender/colour. My question is, should I charge less for the 'desirable' colour/gender pup because of it's faults, even though I'm sure people will pay full price for this pup, purely because of the colour/gender? Ironically, looking around at the other pups currently available in the breed, I may need to lower my price on the lovely littermates. It just seems a little wrong to charge more for a 'faulty' puppy than for the lovely littermates!

ARGH!!! Don't tell me that :D Day 17, he is pretty keen, she just goes flat on her back. She will flirt a bit with the other girls, so maybe, maybe it's STILL too early. Didn't bother with the prog test, as I thought I would just trust his instincts, now I'm kicking myself. I really want to put her to this dog (you know, one of those culminations of a couple of generations to get to this point), and he doesn't even have any sons out there as he has produced a large amount of bitch puppies (not normally something I'd be complaining about.....).

Thanks for the replies all. They have been separated when I'm not around (which isn't very often), so I'm pretty confident he hasn't managed a quickie when I wasn't watching! I've never had a girl not stand, so I really didn't feel comfortable doing a forced mating, but just thought I'd ask in case this was something I just hadn't come across before. I wasn't even bothered by how many days she was until this older breeder suggested I needed to force the mating, and it started to get me thinking I was missing her. She's only a young bitch and it's not the worst thing in the world if she did miss. He is seeming a bit keener on her today, but not crazy, wild eyed, stud dog keener, so I think there could be a couple of days yet to go. I'm crating one or both at the moment, and we will see what the next few days bring.

After some opinions on a bitch I was hoping to mate on this season. Bitch is a maiden and is on day 14, stud dog is a very experienced stud who is normally pretty good at picking their fertile periods. The dog and the bitch live together, and they haven't been separated. She is showing no signs whatsoever of wanting to be mated, or even coming close to being ready. She is not tarting with him, and not even tarting with my other bitches. He will go up to her and have a bit of a sniff, and I have caught him 'romancing' her a couple of times, but she shuts him down, and he gives up easily. I will get her prog tested, but can't do it until tomorrow (Monday), and it normally takes 48 hours to get a result (we are in a country area), so really, it is a bit useless. She'll be day 17 (Wednesday) when I get the results. I've been thinking that she is just one that is coming in late, but of course as the days tick by I'm starting to get a little more anxious. I was speaking to a long time breeder yesterday who suggested that I might need to hold the girl and force the situation. I always hold girls anyway, but more just to steady them and make sure they don't get a fright. Just wondering if anyone has come across this situation where you needed to be a bit more forceful with the mating? I've never had a girl who wasn't a tart, so it is a bit strange to me. This dog is not a fan of being collected, so I'd prefer not to have to resort to an AI.

Does the breeder show their dogs? Most 'show breeders' would have something on their website announcing their wins, mentioning their Champions etc. If some one doesn't show themselves, how are they going to pick you a 'show pup', and support you through the process. Yes, it can be very difficult, especially in popular breeds, to buy a pup on Main Register, but often those that are quick to sell pups on Main Register aren't selling pups that SHOULD be on Main Register, if you know what I mean. If you REALLY want a popular breed on Main register I would be getting out there to shows and meeting breeders local to you and getting your name out there (offer to hold dogs, lug equipment, whatever), and being prepared to wait for a lovely dog from a sucessful, local show breeder. Sometimes in a litter there isn't a single pup that is Main register quality, and normally breeders will keep the pick pup themselves, so you need to wait for their to be a decent pup for you.

I would only ever ask for the pup back in exchange for a refund if I really felt the condition was completely made up, or if it seemed in the best interest of the pup (i.e. the new owner wanted money back, but wasn't going to spend the money on the dogs health etc). My preference would always be for the puppy to stay with his new family. The flip side is if the new puppy buyers didn't want to keep the pup, then I would also take it back, refunding their money. In my current situation, if this was to occur, I would bring him home and see how the patellas were, and get him assessed by my vet. Based on my vets advise I would either get the operation, or keep him here until he is finished growing (my vet hasn't seen the pup since 8 weeks, but feels six months is too young to be racing into patella surgery, but perhaps he would change his mind once he saw the pup). Once the puppy was 'sound', either after an operation or not, I would sell the puppy with full disclosure of the condition - we have a lot of demand for older puppies/young adults. He is already desexed, and we can normally get full puppy price for a young desexed adult, but I would expect to sell him for less. From a purely financial point of view, I would likely end up more out of pocket taking the puppy back and paying for the op myself than I would by just refunding the money to the puppy buyer. I'd also be a bit sad that the home the puppy went to didn't think enough of him to want to keep him, even with his problems, but of course I can understand that the operation etc may be out of their budget.

Thanks everyone for your feedback - sounds like i am on the right track. I do really feel for the puppy owners, as I think it is a really sucky situation all round. They haven't made any demands on me, but just trying to work out what is a 'fair' thing to offer them. I have had a recommendation of another vet, who is about half way between us who would be good to get a second opinion from. Hopefully they will be willing to take the puppy there, as I can also understand that they may have reservations about taking the pup to my vet, worried he might 'side' with me (personally, I have a lot of trust in him to do the right thing for the dog, but they don't know him), but this other vet would be independent, and from what I hear, pulls no punches. As to the question of environment, the photos I have seen of the pup he is definitely not overweight, and I don't think over exercise would be an issue. When they first said he was limping I asked what floor surfaces they had and they said polished floors. I asked them to put rugs down etc so he wasn't slipping on the boards, but they said they didn't think it was an issue. That did annoy me a bit, but really, if his patellas are as bad as is being made out, I don't think it can just be the floors, just likely they have aggravated the situation. It is not an 'uncommon' problem in the breed, but not one I have had to deal with before. I have had one dog that I bought in from some one else that had quite loose patellas (could be manually manipulated in and out), but didn't require surgery, and I had him desexed. In the distant past I know I have on at least one occassion let my heart rule my head and done a mating that the conformation of the dogs was not as sound as it should have been. Of course, never had an issue with any of the pups from that mating, and now when I put much more focus on soundness I do!