Christina

Always supervise when feeding wings or necks for the 1st 6 months. I used to feed my small dogs & cats raw wings & necks for their teeth but now only feed wings. I had an adult cat get a piece of neck bone stuck at 1am, it was horrendous & so scary, she was dribbling & going feral & ballistic. Getting ready to drive to emergency vet in the middle of the night when she dislodged it herself just before I put her in the carry cage. They can choke & get anything stuck, in theory so just watch at the baby stage.

This is standard with cat breeding & no one has a problem with it at all. Minor difference being that desexed cats can & are regularly shown. So it means that only kittens kept by breeder are entire, all others sold are desexed before they leave. It protects breeders lines from ending up where they don't want them to be & is for the welfare of the cat. Yes it is restrictive but if people were more trustworthy, honest & ethical it wouldn't need doing. Too late when they end up in breeding hell. I have also bought stud cats to own & agreed to the same conditions. The name thing is a bit silly & egotistical

Rough handling of animals often occurs in all animal related jobs. It is not usually done in front of the owner. You would have been just stunned. I have not returned to one vet as I do not like the way they handle the animals as though they are a piece of meat & they are rough in examination. Others are happy there, maybe I just got them on a couple of bad days, a couple too many for my liking. I have also told one vet, in the past, not to get hold of my cats by the scruff of the neck & drag them out of the carrier when I am there & they are quite willing to come out. Did not like that at all. Don't go back there. If he did this to your face & it upset you you will always worry about what he does when you are not there in the future. We each have differing standards of what is acceptable handling, obviously yours & this vets differ.

Registered breeder too but does not mean the boarding facilities aren't great, they may well be. I can't recommend but agree to have anyone walk in & visit at any time is disruptive & not good security either. I call by appointment only common sense not hiding anything.

Variable according to time,space, finance & ability & how many people in family to help. I manage 5 easy but not more than 8. In the city, average size 600 metre block, I walked mine almost daily in pairs, living rural, on more land, I don't regularly. Being a small breed but needing much grooming that's enough for me. Only had 2 dogs when I had a big breed. I still keep them in small groups, them being together only when I am supervising. Think it is stress for them all to be together all of the time especially with more than 1 entire male. They need some peace & space too. When it gets to numbers like 20 & more I don't know how each dog can get individual attention & being on 20 acres etc is not much help really as most of the time it is not safe or the kind of area one would let dogs roam on unsupervised. It is how the individual manages more than how many to a degree.

Unless it has changed Port Adelaide council allowed 5 dogs in their area. Written neighbours support & extra fee for each dog was applied. That is what I had there until I moved 7 years ago. No problems at all. Rural areas are very variable, some being fairly relaxed & others being strict where you would not expect it. Each council has its own rules. There is no unification. You have to phone & ask. Rental with dogs are hard to find. It is usually the houses that are not so good or in not the best areas that tend to be more flexible.

Not wise. The dog would not understand why or what he was being punished for. He would feel uncomfortable & would be at risk if left with it like this for long. Would achieve nothing towards solving the problem. The dogs needs a complete vet check to rule out the physical first. If it is psychological in origin for sure I would try putting a belly band on next time he is out & see what happens. Remove when out of sight of other dogs & give the toilet command & then put it back on when he has been. May get him out of the habit, if that's all it is. Or maybe not

Tummy pain may be nothing to do with her being in season, could just be wind, bit constipated or similar. Maybe put her on a lead & out of her comfort zone with the boy where she will not be as confident to play up. Room she doesn't normally go in, front garden etc. Maybe boy won't try as she is not ready. If he mounts & can't get in have her checked for a stricture. Couldn't believe that was what one of mine had, it was so puzzling.

Australia is not dog friendly compared to many countries but Adelaide does not have any bans on walking your dogs in public places. There are no dog free streets here. They must be on lead though. Most beaches allow dogs. Some may have a no off lead rule, some may have off lead at certain times only & some have no rules at all. There are quite a lot of fenced off dog parks. All the cafes I have been to have been fine to serve me sitting outside at a table with my dogs although this may be at the discretion of the owner ? City centre may have different rules, not sure as I don't go there with dogs.

Untrained dogs can go through hell at the groomers & all the qualifications in the world will not alter this. Poor dog. Waste of time having qualification really. Some people will do the courses & still be crap & others have a natural knack. I think training should be on the job. There is no exact right way in some areas. Unless its a breed/show specific style it is up to the owner & groomer & what is possible for styling. Cross breeds & pet dog styles are variable & some accepted methods of control are not what I would allow on my dogs. General handling & methods used for the other various aspects of grooming are down to the person who is doing it using some common sense & compassion. That can't be guaranteed by a course. Courses are good for refined skills of styling & breed specifics. Passed a course & got a certificate does not mean good.

Years ago my feral neighbour got a blue heeler pup from somewhere, pub I suspect. It ran riot & kept getting out so he tied it up. 6 months old & no training at all I felt sorry for it so asked if I could take it out & train for an hour a day. Not a cruel man to it as such, just stupid. He said yes. I had never had anything to do with working type breeds. This dog didn't even know its name. It made my poodles look like idiots. In 5 days he was walking on the lead, sit, stay, down, staying there off the lead & instant recall. It blew my mind. This feral/neglected/wild dog was so focused on my face & eager to please. Don't know if the breed are all like this. I got him off the guy not long after & found him a good home. Poodles are intelligent & easy to train but they are very silly puppies & it does take a few months maturity for it all to sink in. I find they are responsive & tend to just get it all at about 6 months old. The toys, not sure about the other sizes.

Good luck on this one. My dogs are so good. I can feed them all in the same room. They will all sit, wait & eat their own & may try to get the slow eaters food last but move away the minute I say leave it. They will all sit nicely in a line & wait for a treat & be polite. Give them a bone, pigs ear or chicken wing & some how with one or another the fight is always on. Have to seperate.

Noahs Crossing at Lewiston do them. Subject was discussed at the last breeders seminar they had. No idea of price. Phone & ask 8524 2260.

or I can't decide, it does seem ridiculous. Made me think of this joke One day, a mailman was greeted by a boy and a dog. The mailman said to the boy, "Does your dog bite?" "No," replied the boy. Just then, the dog bit the mailman. "Hey, "he yelled. "I thought your dog doesn't bite!" "He doesn't," replied the boy, "but that's not my dog."

Many remarks/posts on lack of crate training. Crate training is not the way to go for some people & we did actually used to manage puppies & raise them to civilised & toilet trained adult hood without a crate. The programme was poor in many respects but leaving the GSP in the bathroom was not so bad. Safer than loose in the house & some pups get crated in a very small area & their owners just sleep through & too bad for puppy. The concept that pups will not soil their own bed is not always true. The advice to leave puppy warm, safe & comfortable & ignore howling/crying was correct. All too easy to give in & take it into your own bed, me guilty of it sometimes too but its wrong really.

So stupid I had to turn it off. Poodles easy maintenance, just leave natural & pop it in for a clip every 6 to 8 weeks. Lovely while it shrieks as knots that have built up for all that time get dealt with Allergy free, of course The ridiculous shopping for the cavalier/ poodle mongrel The GSP let loose chasing the guinea pig Call me if you need me in the night, hello she has got a healthy puppy, was just too stupid. Couldn't watch any more.

Angie has great table manners. When I put food or a drink on the table & say get down she jumps off the table I can't stop her no matter what, the kitchen table is her favourite resting place. All the dogs crowd around & look at me with those eyes that say please feed me I am starved when I am about to eat. I just say move, no & off they go. Not far though & are on the lookout for any tiny dropped piece. I sometimes give them scraps when finished, like fat off the meat but if there aren't any I just show my hands & say all gone. They get it & wander off. I put them in another room if I am feeding guests.

Eclampsia is not to be messed about with. It can come on suddenly & kill quickly. Usually starts later than 10 days when the nursing pups deplete the mum but if the lady was giving calcium to the pregnant mum before the birth this may have upset her natural calcium production. Who knows. She should take the vets advice or get a second opinion from another vet to check the facts. I would not be guessing on this. Better to feed the pups than risk losing the mum.

How on earth are breeders supposed to eliminate this problem if common opinion is that it is ok to breed with a grade 1 ? Unless the dog has had its patellas checked recently & then was seen to injure itself & taken straight to the vet & had them checked on the spot there is no way of knowing this is not genetic. There are plenty of dogs to breed from without this fault so why do it ?

Bitch is not standing as she is not ready. Could he have already mated her when you weren't there ? Or do you seperate them when going out ? Not advisable to hold her & force. Stressful & scary for her & may put her off for the future & may be uncomfortable for him too. He also may not want to mate her. There would not be puppies if timing is wrong anyway. If she was ready he would be persistent & keep trying even if useless. Prog test is worth doing. I used to have a bitch who would not let the stud near her until at least day 19 then she was fine. Not the usual way but it is possible.

I don't interpret Dogs SA as restricting trade by saying in their code of ethics that members cannot sell to pet shops. I interpret it as saying that members must abide by the code or they won't be members. They are not saying it is illegal in the country. They are just saying we don't want our members doing this. If you join any group & go against what they stand for they are entitled to tell you to withdraw. Taking it to the law is the only recourse & most people won't bother. Sounds like some states caved in to awkward members to save any possible further trouble, their rule may have been upheld in court with the right legal help.

That was a great enquiry. Gave you all the reasons to say No. At least they didn't lie & say I want a little girl for my widowed mother for company but it must have main registered papers or I will feel ripped off paying so much. Yeah Sad thing is that they will get a puppy from someone. At least you tried to explain. ETA It is the code of ethics in SA that we cannot sell to pet shops. Totally agree but some just do it anyway.

You do need to check as advised in other posts. Another thing to do is leave the house as though you are going out. Park your car in the next street or a short distance away & quietly walk back & listen. Dogs can hear your car coming & know the sound of your engine so they need to think you are gone. You won't know if your dogs are barking or not unless you do some kind of checks.

Straight to the vet. They should be able to ascertain if they are old or new injuries. The kennel should have called their own vet in & contacted you when they became aware of the injuries. Which should have been on the first day for something like this. Do the kennel flea bath them on entry & going home ? Find out. They may have tethered the dog in the bath & caused this. Or when drying. Get a vet report & take photos of the injury before it is treated.

Society has changed so much. When I was a child in the UK in the 50's & 60's dogs were allowed in most shops but it was common for owners to tie the dog outside for a couple of minutes while they popped in the shop. They didn't get stolen or bite people, I wonder why ? If children charged up to the dog like little brats & the dog growled the child got told off & maybe a little smack. Maybe some dogs did bite but it was not frequent event & in the media & I never knew anyone who got bitten. Now its not safe to leave your dog in the car for a few minutes while you pop in the shop in case someone steals your dog or your car & dogs are not allowed anywhere much really. Stupid mother, stupid owner & dead dog. Sad times.