Christina

They say poodles are smart but sometimes they can be dumb. My sister gave me an old answering machine. I plugged it in & it had the message pre recorded in a mans voice with an american accent. As it boomed out in my kitchen the 5 dogs started barking & looking for the man. In fits of giggles I switched it off, put it on the floor & sat next to it. I got all the dogs to come sit in a circle to show them & switched it back on. They flew around the house barking & looking for the man again. Dorks.

Sometimes they have similar on www.dealsdirect.com.au for same price or less. They are more solid. I got some for $60. I would get the ones with the 4 pole things in each corner that you can take out to dismantle. You can then join up 2 or 3 crates to make a nice long crate for them if you need to. I do this for my pups when they are tiny & for kittens.

So sorry this was not better news. You are kind to go ahead with the operation & it sounds as though the outcome will be successful. Maybe you could ask that the breeder refunds your money when the next litter is sold instead of giving you another puppy. If you explain that this will go towards the cost of the operation it may make them more inclined to help. Most breeders would have the puppy euthanised or advise you to as it is a big amount of money & not quite the same as say $1000. I hope everything turns out well for your puppy. This is real bad luck more than anyones fault. I breed toy poodles & would desex both parents & not breed the lines again unless I could trace back offspring a long way & try & find where this occurred, which is not easy if there is no definite test. Hope we hear some good news back from you in a few months & you post some beautiful photos.

The breeder has reacted as I would expect & is probably worried sick. Keep me informed & worrying because it is the dogs first breeding & they have kept 2 would be normal response & its an awful shock if the lines were thought to be healthy & sound. You have no definite diagnosis yet, the heart murmur is a symptom of what you are not sure of yet. Give the breeder a chance to react more when you have more results. Right now you are in a panic naturally. Not all heart murmurs are serious. I had a dog live to 16 with a low grade heart murmur & no medication was ever needed. As it has only just been detected it may even be due to a virus etc. Keep us posted & fingers crossed for a good outcome. You will be playing the worst scenario in your mind. & it may not be so.

Kind of takes much of the fun & pleasure of owning a dog trying to over analyse & assume what every single thing & action means. Some of it may be wrong too. Your dogs are not a problem so just enjoy them. I have one dog that scratches outside my bedroom door to get me up & go out at an unearthly hour most mornings. Not being very well I solved the problem last night by letting her sleep on my bed. They are not so complex really.

to have its voice lowered - which is little more than a tonsils op - I have just had a tonsils op day 7 & its agony, kills. So hope its not like that or ouch poor dogs. Think I may have changed my mind or very, very last desperate decision.

It would depend on how close a friend she is. If she is a close friend I would offer to help take the pups to training, socialise etc so that at least there would be some chance of them being manageable & behaving by the time the babies arrived. If she is not a close friend I would head for the hills & start getting distant now because she is a nutter Oh what can you do sometime people can manage & do it suprisingly well & there is not much you can do about it all anyway.

Little puppy teeth will be uncomfortable for her now so all is normal. The teats do go a bit lumpy when feeding stops, just like ours do when we stop breastfeeding our babies, so it hurts just a bit & she may let them feed a little just to relieve them when they get too sore & lumpy but it will be less & less. Cutting back her food will help but they will be fine in about 4 or 5 days. I won't get into the vaccine part but will let you know that there is a new vaccine that is a once only vaccine that must be given at week 10. It lasts 12 months. So if you keep puppies that long it is worth considering. I have used it & was happy with everything.

A 4 hour conversation & she had too much to drink What is there to discuss for 4 hours ? That tells me enough. Make up some excuse, lie, anything, say you may not be breeding anymore or you will never get any peace in the future either. You have made a mistake here so fix it whichever way you have to.

Monique had her 1st litter last June age 4. Previous heats were normal & 4 to 6 monthly in sync with the other 2 girls, as is often the way. This time she came in 10 days later, swelled somewhat but not the usual, flagged a tiny bit & the boys only showed any interest for a day, then she went off. My question is Is she likely to have a full on season soon again or will this be it for another 4 to 6 months ? Variable I guess but shared experience of similar appreciated as I like to try & plan time, litters, events etc. Like that always works out

I don't understand all this crating bit. I never even saw a dog crate until a few years ago & while I admit they have their uses, especially with my toy breed as 4 week old puppies are absolutely so tiny I have say that every pup we have ever had at around 8 weeks plus just lived loose in the house & stayed inside when we went out. Obviously we shifted things that were unsafe & switched plugs off & moved wires & chewables that we noticed but generally we put them off the carpet, like in the kitchen & that was it, no crates, no pens. It is a bit different having say just 2 dogs & having 5 dogs. With 5 pack mentality can start from just play unexpectedly so supervision with a young pup coming in is needed. Even with friendly dogs that are not usually aggressive it can just flare in seconds so I would never leave a young pup alone with the adults for the first few months.

I would never leave a puppy outside when no one is home. Snake, spider & thieves, idiots coming in are the first concern. Large roaming dog jumping fence too. It happens. No matter how puppy proof you think it is there is always something that can happen. I had a poodle once who almost broke his leg the strangest way. He leaned up on the bar across the fence & his foot slipped & got stuck between the bar & the corrugated tin. Good job I was home & heard the shrieks. He could do something as simple as dig, find a big stone & choke on it. Your pup is only a baby & too young to be unsupervised with your other dog yet too. Inside in a puppy proof area is wiser when you are not around.

As long as the dog is operated on by a vet & given good pain relief & after care it is better than the alternatives like dumped in pound, put to sleep etc. I wouldn't do it merely because the dog got on my nerves, animal & dog noises don't bother me much, but if it was a problem for others & it got threatening then what other choices are there if training won't work ? It is nasty sounding & a horrid thought but maybe not so bad really as the last resort.

You may not have him doing it for much longer. One mistake with a venomous snake & he will go missing to die slowly in agony somewhere on your farm. Unless you discover him & are willing to pay several thousand dollars to save him ? There are better ways of rodent control than using cats although I guess they are considered cheap & disposable & easy to source as freebies. Desexing him & keeping him indoors with outdoor access in a safe enclosure is the caring way to be a cat owner.

Maybe try a home minding service. When he is back to his usual self try having them come in for just a day maybe & then maybe a weekend so he gets used to them & build up slowly before your next longer holiday. Otherwise its a holiday with the dogs or no holidays. He would be the same in any boarding kennel.

Have you phoned the WA canine association & asked ? Sometimes breeders are on their website but not all especially if they are not computer savvy. Your mum needs to go to the breeders home & visit as some breeders may not have much info on the net or show but still have fantastic dogs. Make sure she sights in writing the PRA & any other health test results, including patella checks before she parts with any money.

There is no reason why dew claws should get caught in carpet any more than the other nails so maybe use one of those dremel things & get them a bit shorter. Just remember to feel where they are before you start brushing his front legs. No point in the agony of removal now. The only reason I do have dew claws removed is because I have seen so many on hairy breeds that have grown into the leg & its horrid. Maybe get rid of that rug, easier than the nails.

My puppies leave home with a written vet check. It lists all the things that the vet has checked. Good idea for all vets to do this if they would & most new puppy owners don't really need to go straight to the vet if they are happy with all the boxes ticked they can wait the few weeks for 2nd vaccine due.

I see no purpose in cutting bits off healthy pups who are born as nature intended unless it is for a very good reason. Cosmetic does not qualify, neither does it may injure its tail. Tail is an extension of the spine. The dog knows its tail is there. If it keeps knocking things over or whacking people legs too bad. If it hurts its tail & it needs amputation because of this no problem. A clumsy dog may keep banging its head but you dont cut that off.

Have to say despite it being a business that all looks & sounds pretty good.

guessing you are not a breeder ? Dogs are only fertile roughly twice a year for a few weeks unlike cats who can become screaming horny banshees within a week of giving birth & continue to call most of the time My girls are seperated, they hate being in the same room I only ever did this once & every time a pup whinged or made a sound they wanted to get to each others pups. Normally friendly with the cats too they don't like any other animal being near until pups are about 3 to 4 weeks old then they relax about it.

Foodland also often have the turkey drumsticks. Most supermarkets have turkey mince too. Gawler River Cattle the butchers have great specials on the drumsticks when they get them but its really spasmodic. $1 a kilo last year when I bulk bought them.

& people wonder why I desex all my poodle puppies before they leave me. Mad world. Poodles are not allergy free & neither are Cornish & Devon Rex. I stopped breeding & showing my Cornish because I got so sick of the allergy free, don't shed hair thing. My cornish rex was the worst for shedding hair, more than my balinese. Poodles & Cavaliers are 2 beautiful breeds. Why do people want to mix & mess with them. They are perfect as they are.

Steamed chicken, no fat, & boiled rice only for 24 hours. Boil all their drinking water & then cool it. No improvement after 24 hours go to the vet. If they seem lethargic, dehydrated, vomit, have tummy pain you need to take them to the vet now. Don't give them anything to bind them like scourban or anything similar. It can work too well & constipate them which is just as bad.

I can understand you wanting mum to look nice I do my own & start bathing & clipping babies at 5 weeks old. I would not be impressed visiting pups if mum looked all daggy. For the first few weeks that's fine, you don't want to be messing too much & mum needs to smell like mum for the pups but by week 3 I expect my mums to not mind being taken away from babies for a bath & a daily brush & check of teats, rear end & ears. Agree not to send her out but would try & get the groomer in to your home. Poodles do get messy really quickly & woolly & not trimmed is not cute, its just looks uncared for. With some sense visitors are fine when you feel comfortable. Everyone has different ideas on this.