Christina

Left to flounder, which of course you cannot do, I would guess that she would have started to swim but possibly not been able to get out. The shock of falling in would have stunned her & made her motionless temporarily. I let 2 of my poodles off leash at a beach once for the first time ever. They were a few years old & had not been near water before. They swam out to sea & wouldn't come when called so I had to swim out, fully clothed to get them. Maybe there are some dogs that can't but I doubt it, even cats can swim although they don't like too, mostly.

Your dog was feeling like crap, ill, in a strange environment with other animal smells around, being handled by strangers for procedures that may have been somewhat painful & not a pleasant experience. I don't think you can make an accurate assessment of him turning into an aggressive or excessively shy dog based on him being sick at the vets. He would not be wagging his tail, greeting everyone with joy & turning cartwheels under the conditions. Carry on as normal now he is home.

Very difficult question. You are relying on breeder honesty & knowledge of their lines when you ask the question. In my breed the concerns I have are luxating patella & epilepsy, the 2 common things that can't be tested for. All you can do is computer check as many in the lines as you can then breed your first litter ( may be productive or not ) & all being well always check back on them when they are adults, over a year. I do a courtesy call & ask if I am not still in contact with an owner or the litter mates & just say it is part of my breeding strategy to check all is well. Fortunately my breed only have small litters & many owners stay in contact if only at xmas. I guess the answer to what do you do is that if a problem occurs you have to decide if you feel it is a one off.Depends what problem crops up. If so & you breed another litter & it happens again you must desex.

It is also possible that the puppy suffered an injury & the tail was docked, which is allowed & legal if done by a vet if needed. Sounds totally dodgy though.

You have a very cute mongrel there. This dog could be everything & anything. The nervousness may come from his last environment, being in the pound & then coming to your place. The dog won't know if its coming or going, where it lives or who the boss is. How confusing for the poor dog. Nothing to do with Kelpie, if it even has any in it. Well done for saving him & I hope you find him the home he deserves.

Why not ask if vasectomy or tubal ligation is acceptable? Both procedures are available & they do desex the dog. It just done in a different way.

Awww that pic is so cute :)

Get your doctor to do a blood test to find out exactly how allergic you are to your dog & also if you are allergic to any of the more common ones they test for. The blood test covers dogs, cats, cows, horses, sheep, grasses,weeds, dust. I can't remember the rest. The results come back in about 5 days. You need to make very sure it is just the dog. Assume nothing with allergies. A few years ago I suddenly developed cat allergy, moderate, & had most unusual symptoms. No usual wheezing, runny eyes, nose, small rash etc I just got huge lumps & welts, some 4 inches long, from my neck to my waist at the front but nowhere else on my body then in the night I used to burn & sweat. Did have cats on the bed. Test last year showed it had gone down to mild so I still breed & show but limit how many inside at once. It can alter & come & go. Good luck.

the person is worried enough already & probably needlessly. There is absolutely no reason why this pup would be likely to die. It is progressing normally for its age, showing no signs of being ill & although not advisable to be removed from mum at 6 weeks old it is certainly at an age where it will cope if treated sensibly. Death is not looming over it.

Little breed puppies eat less than you would think. Yes she should be with her mum but 6 weeks old is viable & she should be ok. She sounds normal & happy with sleep, play & toilet. Change her diet gradually not all at once. I feed my little ones 4 small meals a day at this age & leave puppy dry down for them to munch on all the time. She won't over eat & will prefer the meat meals to the dry. Use a decent puppy brand. Mine love Hills but there are many brands to choose from. Home brand is not good enough. I would ditch the milk, my preference is mums milk or none. Canned puppy food is ok but if you switch to fresh meat & chicken mix some of the puppy dry in with it as a fresh only diet for a pup can be lacking. Moving home & leaving mum & litter mate is a big deal & may knock appetite for a day or so but she sounds fine & normal to me. Any diarrhea, straining, lethargy, bloated belly, not playing then start to worry but they do sleep a lot at this age too.

No idea in actual hours. My little ones are lively. They don't sleep long overnight, maybe 7 hours but they nap more in the day if I have the fire on & its warm otherwise its go, go & more go. My 10 year old wouldn't sleep 15 hours straight. I wonder if its bred related how much they sleep ?

So pleased all ended up ok. If the pups look normal don't worry about gestation times I had one girl have 3 litters all on day 58 & all perfectly well. :) at your husband, he sounds lovely. Dogs are not liked in their culture, my friend from there was talking about this a few weeks ago. Hope its plain sailing from now on sometimes they really scare us.

This thread seems to have gone to pet shop puppies now however these people were not selling via pet shops. They were advertising & selling on the internet. Just like many registered breeders do & on this site too. The stupid part is that all these new laws that are in the making are not going to stop puppy farms at all. They are going to make it very hard for small registered hobby breeders who raise their dogs as part of their families. The large businesses that are registered with their council for permission to keep mega numbers of dogs & pay rates to their council for this & are registered businesses for tax purposes, the puppy factories are the ones that will thrive & be allowed. As long as they keep to basic recommendations for animal welfare, which may be a regulation sized concrete pen with heat & cooling etc this could be the future of dog breeding. New laws proposed are not going to stop scum like these.

The problem is that either he doesn't understand that you really want him to stop or he doesn't give a damn that you do. Whether this may be a problem for the dog I don't know but it is your dog & you want this stopped. Maybe making mention of it is genuinely not clear enough, remarks do go over peoples heads sometimes. Have a serious talk with him about this & make it clear that you expect him to respect your wishes.

Christina - what programme on channel seven was this on? Today Tonight? RSPCA Animal Rescue at 7.30pm

Watched this tragic saga tonight. Speechless & made me but the part that I don't get is the consequence. The $35,000 fine probably only covered the expense of them dealing with 250 dogs, which did increase to over 400 with pups being born, while the dogs were in care but to still allow them to keep 3 dogs after a 3 year ban I think it was Why let these callous inhuman scum ever own any dog again ?

Going against the majority here but I feel so sorry for your dogs. I can understand if they are long coated & the grooming doesn't get done quite as often or they don't get a walk as much as losing sleep with a baby can make you get behind a little temporarily but overall one baby & 2 dogs is not a lot a lot to cope with after the first few weeks as long as no one is sick. There is nothing you can do really except give them the extra attention when you have time & hope that things will improve & that they do not suffer too much. Basically if you want to live :laugh: say nothing & do not have another baby soon. Some people just cope & others don't do so well. New mums are variable. No way of knowing until it happens.

Mums are wormed just before a mating & pups at 2,4 & 6 weeks. I have never seen any worms at all in either pups or mums over many years of breeding.

New puppy check. The vet said she is nervous I will give her a cuddle first. :) Great 1st impression. When I moved here I tried a few, there is no local being rural. One had a dirty surgery, another handled roughly. Can't remember the others in detail. Word of mouth can be good, or not, as it often but not always relies on the persons personal experience & how many people you actually ask. This can be variable according to what went wrong & was it really that vets fault or would it have happened anywhere. We do tend to think of them as gods & they are not. My vet has a lot of breeder clients & some staff are breeders too. Basically I am happy until anything goes wrong & then I ask was it reasonable really. Handling my animals with confidence but not like they are a piece of meat, a clean surgery, polite & happy staff is a good indication, answering any questions clearly & any obvious signs of compassion & kindness are all good.

It can also devalue it. I took some foreign notes to the bank to exchange & some had some writing on, in pencil, & they refused to exchange them.

Katy at 5 days, then at 7 weeks, at 9 months & last on her 1st birthday.

True it was just a snippet. I do sincerely hope it was a joke. One does hear all sorts of stupid things if lingering at a pet shop window with live animals in there which is why I go past quickly. No I would not have been any more impressed or had a different attitude if they were well dressed business women. Unkindness, cruelty, stupidity etc come in all types of people regardless of their appearance or status in life. The only factor being sometimes the young don't know any better. Older I expect it because I am unrealistic I guess. hortfurball If serious what would be the point ? I can't change that. I would be too upset & angry to give a little helpful advice. May have got abused too. If I saw someone dumping a puppy for this reason then I wouldn't care about being abused but prefer not in this instance.

at the shopping centre today. Passing the pet shop there were 2 young mums with babies in pushchairs. Late teens, early 20's age group. One said to the other Oh look. Why don't you get rid of that pup at home that shits all the time & go & get one of those in there. I managed to carry on & walk past. Wonder what happens when their children need potty training or are less than perfect ? Do they want to get rid of them too. What a horrible, stupid & callous attitude. Their children will also grow up & learn to have this view of pet ownership too.

I also used the Angel Eyes with great success on a white poodle I used to own. After a vet check & tear duct flush. It is approved for use here in Australia. I saw a huge difference in less than a week To keep putting stuff around the eyes & messing can make it worse & more annoying for the dog sometimes & is often useless. For the dried bits gently try & scrape it away from the skin a little bit & cut off with small scissors facing the points across so they don't go in your dogs eye if it moves.

Its a fine line between firming up & blockage/compaction. Maybe vet said continue as antibiotics can cause diarrhea too while they are destroying the bacteria. I would be worried too. The vet is the expert obviously but maybe it would be wise to seek a 2nd opinion on this one.