leopuppy04

Congrats GL!!! RIP to the two little angels . Wow - sooo... does that mean I can call on you to help whelp mine in a few weeks (hopefully!) since you are such a pro!!? hahaha!

I have my fingers and toes crossed for you Leopuppy. What date would she be due if she was? I am not at home at the moment and I keep asking my mum - do you think she has put on any weight, is she hungry, extra cuddly - so tomorrow I will be able to see for myself, but will have to wait another 10 days to confirm She'll be due 14th December. It's b een a bit of a rollercoaster ride - she came into season 3 months late (although maybe she has now changed her mind and is a 8mth cycler)! Prog tested from day 4, at day 10 prog levels were 14, we were told to mate her in 2 days time. Another bitch to the same sire was also due to be mated on the same day. Off to the repro specialist we go, we do an AI, split the collection between both girls, there was plenty there so all should be ok. Prog my girl to make sure we have got her at the right time and her prog was at 65!! So hence why I'm worried that I missed. Took her to the male the next day 'just to see' and we got a natural mating also. So fingers crossed for both of us! Currently she's not showing any signs, dad says she's a bit flatter than normal, and she has been going on and off her food. Mammary is slightly enlarged but not significant, and she's no more fatter (I've been trying to get weight on her too which is a pain!).... but then it's her first litter and technically she's only 3.5wks... her mum didn't start showing until about 6-7wks! Who knows! haha!

Well hopefully I will be joining this thread. I find out tomorrow after our ultrasound. Never have I been so nervous before! Usually I've been pretty convinced the girl is pregnant, but this time, I'm not so sure and seeing as the girl doesn't live FT with me, I havent' been able to gage! Fingers crossed!

I just checked the site and what I ordered.. I think they actually sent me the wrong ones

Wheee!! Just got my order today :) http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=3259&ParentCat=449 Awesome stuff in it, the holee treat ball looks awesome! As do the crackle balls!! Tahli is going to go nuts for that! I ordered the wrong fantastic foam balls. I got medium thinking that it would be tennis ball size but I was wrong . Oh well! They'll still love it!

As in did I keep reordering or were you calling me over :laugh: Not me for re ordering. I only did one order last time ;-)

Hehe they must know about DOL and how we all enable one another! My order sus shipped on the site but unlike most of you I have not received an email saying it has been shipped or held back... And I had some things in there that was on back order too...

Oh dea Piper, I read your posts and you sound just like me. "she's pregnant"/ "no she's DEFINITELY NOT pregnant" are all going through my head whenever I have a litter :laugh: Hope you find more than 2! Best of luck to you all who are expecting litters. For those of you who have 'missed' even though you prog tested, had matings and got a successful sperm count etc... do you guys know why this happens? Is it just 'one of those things' or is there usually something else that may also play a part (just info for me :))

I'd steer clear of these. One small hole in the plastic and the squeak is dead. So much easily chewed plastic bits, so much opportunity to swallow plastic bits. Save your money! Oh mine has been fine and I really like it! but a loud squeak like a large cuz :) :laugh: Last night's conversation: Me: Oh, I put the Clean Run order in today Mr TSD: Good work! Me: I ended up getting 2 of the Kong Wobblers Mr TSD: And that was MY idea in the first place! You kept saying "but we only really need one" Me: Puppy is coming Wednesday Mr TSD: OK TSD - what page on clean run did you find Mr TSD please?! I'd like to order me one of those

RS - I think you really should be asking the question "How many did Ptolomy buy?!?!!?!" Hehehehe

Thanks so much for this info. I think from what you are saying the 'cheaper' version is what I want but yes, I do want one that I can swivel and move so I can bounce the flash off other areas etc. DWI!?! Can you please explain more? thanks guys

Alphabet - mayby try and contact Brandyark also. They have done a couple of imported semen litters, with good results. It may be worthwhile to have a chat?! The boy looks lovely - is he from the UK?! Thornapple? Good on you for considering too! I would like to look into importing semen down the line, but at the moment I financially can't make the decision. I think it's what our breed needs to encourage and introduce some new bloodlines :)

Hi guys, I have a 450D Canon that I have been using for the past 3-4 years now. I'm pretty keen to get an external flash as I find it will help with taking better quality indoor shots as well as just having an all round use. Never really looked into it before though so was wondering if I could get some advice on where to start and what sort of things I need to be looking at? I would like to update my body in the next year or two, so that would need to be kept in mind also. Any assistance would be much appreciated.

REggie is adorable!

Highly recommend puppy bars!

Ok so I have one dog competing in UD and one that I'm *supposed* to be training to get ready... however I'm in a bit of a funk. I REALLY want to get back into it in full fledge but I'm finding my main motivation (going to weekly run throughs at club!) to work on our little 'gaps' in training is just not happening as Sundays are being increasinly difficult to attend. I trial most weekends (ah the joys of having a social life and competing in multiple events ;-)), and 2 x weeknights I have agility training at various clubs. To get to my main club (CDODC) on a Wednesday night for training at 6pm is near impossible as I live 40min away now (used to live 2mins away!) and it's too hard to get home, collect dogs and train. So 2 questions really: *Other than FOOs during daylight saving, does anyone know of any clubs in the SE suburbs that have weeknight run throughs as good as or better than what CDODC offer? Their classes are pretty awesome as it's individual 15-20min sections to have a run through/ work through some issues in a trial-like atmosphere. *If there are no recommendations - what do people do to train for the higher classes and how to you motivate yourself - NB: I am a shocker when it comes to carrying around equipment and it all becomes 'too hard'! But I am determined that I will get Leo's UD and I will finish what I started and train Kinta up for UD.... so I'm looking for inspiration! ETA - before anyone adds this: 1 - yes I train on my own all the time, but I find that you make real improvements when you have someone spotting YOUR mistakes or someone to motivate you to train. 2 - yes I have several training partners, however finding somewhere with enough light is near impossible... as we all work FT so are looking for places a/h! 3 - I am wanting to increase distraction training too!!! LOL!

Haha - I have a tent that i can use if necessary and I also have an offer for a place to stay but seeing as there are two of us travelling, I'll always prefer a cabin stay in winter - you never know what the weather might be like ;-)

Hi guys, am travelling to Geelong for the obedience trial later in the month - anyone got recommendations for some pet friendly accommmodation for the Saturday night and maybe the friday night?! 2 people :)

Hehe - you know my dogs but here is my reasoning: Leo and Kinta - 2.5 year age gap - L was my first dog so I wanted to properly train him first rather than having 2 puppies at once. At this particular time I felt I was more than ready and I always wanted to have 2 dogs competing in dog sports together for the reason that if one couldnt' do it the other could (ie: if one is sick/ injured I didn't have to miss out!). I also wanted them to have company for each other. Downsides is that I may run into trouble down the track and loose the two close together. Upsides, these two really have an inseperable bond and just LOVE each other so so so much! I find that this is common in my little pack too that the dogs closer in age seem to have a very close bone. Next came Tahlia who is almost a 4 year age gap between Kinta and a 6 year age gap between Leo. I would have preferred another year or two in this age bracket because I had originally planned to have 2 dogs (2 year age gap) then another 2 dogs (6 and 8 year gap between older dogs, 2 year gap between each other) as this will allow me to have to 'oldies' ready to retire from their chosen sports, and 2 up and comers ready to compete etc etc. However fate doesn't always work that way and the 'perfect' dog was ready a few years early, so who am I to say no! LOL! The benefits is that the two 'oldies' just LOVE playing with her and give her the time of day as opposed to saying 'we're too old for this!' however you can definitely see they still 'see' her as the baby of the family! LOL! It's not a bad age group and I'd happily repeat it. Because she came earlier than planned, the plan is now to have about a 4-6 year age gap between Tahli and the next dog. The downside is that it's hard to fit the training in but more-so it's becoming very expensive to train/ trial 3 dogs! LOL! Here are the confusing add ons: Zara who is 14mths older than Tahli and 2.5 years younger than Kinta. She lived with us for around 12mths and I found that again they all got along very well. The older two were 'trained' enough to teach her right from wrong, young enough to play with her and I really liked (and still do like) the balance between the dogs. If Tahli and Zara lived together I would say that a 14mth age gap for me is too close, and I find these two together hard work! They get along like a house on fire, but the playtime is constant, the lead each other into trouble, the level of arousal increases and being both entire girls, there is the *potential* for issues there (touch wood, they've been very good!). While the girls love each other, I think it's definitely better that they don't live permanently with each other! Som is 2 at the middle of June and is another that wasn't planned. She's only 1 mth younger than Tahli and she came here when she was about 10mths old. She gets along with ALL the dogs and I don't see her age as a concern or issue. However, it was a main deciding factor when deciding to keep her. Downsides is that it is making it significantly harder to complete all the training to get her up to scratch for training but the upside is that because I got her as an older pup, she slotted in well and the other issues of having 2 puppies close in age were irrelevant. So what's my ideal now? I think 2 years is possibly too close and I may not do it again. However I LOVE having 2 close in age, big gap then 2 close in age. So thoughts are my ideal is about a 2-3 year age gap then a 4-6 year age gap....

I will also add that you can breed flashy x flashy and get perfectly fine puppies, and then breed non flashy to non flashy and still get mismarks. I have a 6wk old litter and bred a non flashy to moderate flashy. I got a mismark - how did that happen - don't know, don't really care... the pup is healthy and make a great pet... what is important is that you are breeding for the betterment and the health of the breed. Interpret that how you will :)

Hi PW. I'm motivated purely by my love of dogs. I work with problem dogs all day and I work in a shelter. I believe that someone has a right to purchase a dog that has been well bred, raised and cared for. I want to be able to breed an example of my breed which I perceive as 'right' but also has been raised properly. With behavioural and socialisation intent in mind. I think there are not enough GOOD breeders out there, and rather than complaining about the 'bad' breeders, I want to show them what a 'good' breeder does and why that is better, because once they've spoken with me/ seen my dogs, they'll understand :)

true, but I think it's wrong to assume when you *work* with me that I am in it for the profit. What irks me also is that if I was to sell a 'mature' dog or an older puppy that people want a discount. If for whatever reason I was moving a dog on from my home, you would be getting a house trained, fully obedience trained, well socialised puppy.... that's far more than what you get with an 8wks old pup. JMO. taht doesn't irate me as much, but what irks me is that peoples first assumption (from those that should know better!) is that everyone breeds for 'money' F-11 - how could I forget! And eye tests! Have to get my bubbies eye tested too ;)

Yup - I'm having one of those days! My most HATED comment when people ask about my puppies (currently 4 weeks old): Person: "How are the pups going" Me "Really good... they're getting big now!" P: (asks a few more questions about them eg: have they all got homes etc etc) "how much do you sell them for again" Me: "$1200, plus a $200 deposit which is refunded once the dog is desexed. P: "How many pups did she have?" M: 5 P: "Oh that's a nice little profit!" M: "Hardly!" Then I get a strange look as if to say but why not? I've done the calculations in my head! Ugh - seriously, this is my most HATED conversation. Lets do the maths shall we.... I've had to pay for the stud fee, plus 2 AI's because we couldn't get a natural, plus a Cesar, coz that's just my luck. Add in countless sleepless nights before and after the birth and in the first weeks. Plus the feeding of the pups, caring for the mum, all the CLEANING all the time you spend on the phone quizzing and talking to potential buyers which in a NORMAL job that would be paid work. All the socialisation and ensuring that the puppies get sufficient handling and dog to dog social. Plus writing up all the puppy packs, follow ups once the puppies leave home, plus the stress of sick puppies, more sleepless nights while you nurse that puppy back to health. Even if you DO make some money, all of that goes back into the dogs, the care, future litters that don't go so well, the up keep and the health testing of your breeding stock. Yeah.... I make money to go on a holiday!!! And what makes me most mad of all.... these friggen people work at an animal welfare agency, meaning they should KNOW the difference about responsible breeding a BYB!!!!!! Ok rant over!

I was there too and I was thoroughly disappointed that they weren't going to run it. I mean why make us hang around for 2 hrs when most of us have a long drive home at the end of a long day if you aren't going to run the class. Very disappointing, but in the end I am after all just glad they ran the class!

WOW - underfoot your 13 must be huge! :laugh: