cowanbree

We had one screen in NZ recently and I discussed it at the tea table the next day with the normal pet owner who has one dog type. They all expressed horror at the way the dogs were kept but when I said to one of them who had recently brought a cute fluffy puppy from the pet shop, how do you feel about buying from pet shops now, she had no idea what I was talking about. Her puppy had been sourced from a “lovely” breeder. The doco failed to make the connection clear to Joe Average Public between buying that cute puppy and the fact that they are putting money in puppy mills pockets and condemning a dog to a life of hell. Personally I would love to start with pictures of a cute puppy in a loving home and track it back to show how the parents are living

Depends on the breeder. In most cases I know of the breeder would use the dog for free but any outside studs would be shared. It would be usual for the breeder to pay for the health testing if it wasn't otherwise going to be done. I think a very small price to pay for a quality dog the breeder might otherwise keep themselves.

My sheltie Kellie had it. It was a very bad case and took her over a week before she could walk unaided but she did recover to a reasonable quality of life. She was always a bit unsteady on her feet and she kept her head tilt but never had another incidence. I do however have a friend also with an older sheltie and her old boy had 3-4 episodes over the last years of his life.

My biggest costs are the vet bills. You get lulled into a false sense of security when they are young but as they get older a few things start to happen that might need a pill here or a powder there and next thing your vet bill costs more than groceries each week. Honestly my tea routine takes me ages and I have different pill bottles everywhere. I do love my oldies but they are not cheap.

I have traveled behind cattle trucks with horses bound for slaughter a couple of times. They were not restrained and I was so distressed watching them that I have never forgotten it. Our local slaughter yard has been done for cruelty a couple of times and I don’t think it is a humane death for any companion animal. At least freezing works are heavily regulated, places that kill horses tend to be smaller outfits and not of the same standard. I have been raised in the horse industry and I am not against feeding horse, if I knew it was humanely killed but a lot of it isn’t.

Depends on the dogs. I have a sex lunatic who howls and causes fights and won’t eat the entire time the bitch is in season. As a result either he goes on a holiday or the bitch is kept entirely separate up the front of the house and toileted in a separate yard. It is not an enjoyable period and I try to have as few entire girls as possible

By 7 mths I would be expecting them to hold 8hrs but 10 might be pushing it. Must say I envy the sleeping habits of some people. I seldom sleep more than 6hrs but really do need 7-8hrs

My aussie and shelties are kept in separate pens. I know my aussie would never intentionally hurt the shelties but accidents happen and the weight difference can make it a very serious accident. My aussie Quest accidentally knocked one of my shelties over and broke his hip simply because of the weight difference. It really is about being sensible, aussie are hoons and don’t always watch where they are going.

I breed shelties and have 2 aussies shepherds. As mature dogs they get on well if you are sensible. I would never leave them home alone together or do things of great excitement such as play ball as the 20kg difference in size can cause issues. As puppies though it is a lot of work. The aussies mean no harm but are quite rough and need constant supervision.

Thanks everyone PF: I have tried soap free, detergent free, fragrance free but have to admit I haven’t tried goats milk soap. Where would you get something like that?

I feel as if I have tried every shampoo around even ones recommended by the skin specialist but they have all caused him to react including just a vinegar wash which does terrible things to his coat anyhow. The latest disaster is a product recommended by 2 groomers as something they use on their worst skin dogs and have never had a reaction, a wool mix one called Bee which is specially formulated for sensitive skin. It has caused a very bad reaction which 5 days in is only just starting to get a little better. I do try not to bath him, it has been 7mths since his last bath but he is a house dog and has to be bathed every now and again. Other than when he is bathed he doesn't have any skin issues.

Yes but it is a couple of days every time I bath him so I thought it might be worth the purchase as the socks keep coming off and getting wet.

I am looking for some boots for a sheltie’s rear feet that will stop him scratching and creating huge sores. He is on meds which will stop it in 2/3 days but he has a very bad reaction every time I bath him and if I could stop him scratching it would improve his recovery time. I was thinking I would need them reasonably open and able to breathe and lightweight Can anyone recommend a type and place I can purchase them online from please?

Bitch wise my limit would be 4yrs for a first litter and 12mths is the earliest you could use a dog as they can’t be hip/elbow scored prior to that

To be honest I don’t really understand why dogs are expected to be good with children. If a young child got in a paddock and was kicked by a horse, who is in the wrong? The parent for not supervising their children. But let that same child wander up to a dog and get bitten and suddenly the dog is in the wrong? I would think that unless raised with children a lot of dogs could easily be startled by a child and react badly. Personally mine find them very scary and aren’t overly child friendly which isn’t a huge issue in my life.

My last litter was in December, it was a c-section so born at the vets but they spent the first week in my bedroom. After they were out of immediate danger I moved them to the spare room where they stayed until 4 weeks. It is only at that stage that I start to mix them with the rest of the household, prior to that they only had brief strictly supervised visits from a couple at a time. They have a wooden whelping box with a pen surrounding it, the room is heated, they have heating pads in the bed and are raised on drybed. The bitch has another bed in the pen and after the first couple of days usually sleeps in that.

My dogs don’t have a lot of exposure to children and as a result I wouldn’t 100% trust them if a child lunged at them wanting to pat them so I am very firm towards any children even contemplating it. A firm no, don’t approach strange dogs has stopped even the youngest child without issue. I don’t encourage them to pat them although if they ask nicely I will sit the dogs and allow it. As a dog owner I am expected to have my dog under control so I don’t think it is asking too much for a parent to have their children under control.

As long as they haven’t had contact with the judge I don’t have an issue with it. However when they arrange the judge, have lunch with the judge and the go on to win BIG it looks very bad. I have even seen one instance where the judge was staying with the person they put up. In our breed club even though we are very small we manage to have a non showing person do all contact with the judge and pick them up and deliver them to the show so committee members can show so I don’t see why all breeds can’t do the same.

I work fulltime so time alone is an unavoidable reality. As babies I either come home at lunch time or get someone to visit so would be 4-5hrs max and as adults maximum would be 10hrs. I don’t leave mine alone overnight, ever.

They are bullying you and you have been far too nice and accommodating to them so it escalates. Personally I would take the council regulations over and show them that dogs are allowed to bark, be nice and friendly about it but firm. Get your facts right first, either get one of your friendly neighbors to keep a bark dairy or do what I did and get a voice activated tape recorder. Say you are always interested if there is an issue but no other neighbor has a problem and you believe the current level of noise is normal and acceptable. I have experienced this and once I pointed out to my neighbor that I spend hours each day listening to her chainsaws and never complained she was far more reasonable

Congrats Hesa, how very exciting for you. Look forward to pictures

As I live in a reasonably isolated area unless I use my own dogs I always send my bitch away. You do have to place an enormous amount of trust in the people you are sending the dog to, after all they have my baby and above all else I am trusting that she will be well cared for. If I don’t know and trust them I wouldn’t use their dog no matter how gorgeous. That said, I have never had an issue. My dogs have always been well cared for and there has never been any huge issues. I try to send them up about 2-3 days prior to mating and they are sent home as soon as they are mated. I have never been charged board or airport pick up fees. Most breeders would always have mutliple males on the property and I have never doubted for a minute that the correct dog was used. Mind you I only deal with breeders I know and trust

I think it is easy to forget that vets are human and have good and bad days. It is a fine line that they tread between overreacting and spending a lot of money when it isn’t necessary and not doing the relevant tests and losing the dog. I recently had a dog that was off his food. 5 days out of 7 he would eat fine with no issues then he wouldn’t eat for 2 days. Not seriously ill but just not quite right. Throw in a couple of episodes of vomiting that quickly cleared up and most vets would diagnose it as a gastro type bug. This went on for about 6 weeks, several visits with bloods done twice. I knew my dog wasn’t right and was getting quite frustrated so I got a second opinion, they also thought a gastro. Another severe bout of vomiting and I went back to my own vet and said do something, now. Turns out he had a partial bowel obstruction. It took 3 operations to fix it and then due to mispositioning while under long anesthetics his throat was burnt by the stomach acid. He will never eat normally again. I don’t blame the vet, he did make a mistake but the dog wouldn’t be alive if he didn’t listen to me and operate when he did and do the great job that he did. Mind you it is easier to say that when the dog concerned is sitting at my feet alive. What I wouldn’t forgive is a vet that doesn’t care and can’t admit to and learn from his mistakes. Sorry goes a long way in my books

I must admit I find it funny that people think less than 16 is cold, that is a barmly summer day here. At the moment it is about -2 to -5 overnight with frosts and it would be lucky to be a high of 5 during the day and no coats. They do have a warm kennel though and the oldies are inside

I don’t really understand how some vets are so expensive. Cowan spent over 2 weeks at the local vet, was on a drip for 90% of that time, had plasma and 4 operations, 3 of them very long and serious. The total bill for all that time would have been under $3,000. We then had to go to a specialist for 1 night and a minor operation taking about an hour and that cost $2,500. I realize you are paying for the expertise of the specialists but that is a dramatic difference. I personally wouldn't have said he got any better care at the specialists