oakway

I never feed the dogs bones that hard as they can break their teeth on them.

Don't forget some older breeders say un registered but actually mean limited. Always ask if the pup is main or limited registered.

Can't say I've ever had that problem and I have prog tested for several years now Moko81 I wouldn't discount her conceiving at this stage... Yes, people swear by testing, and I tried it to, but it just never worked for me. The testing times were the only times I never got a litter.

Exactly why I never test and rely on the dog and the bitch at all times. I know people that test and when the vet says today is the day, the dogs say no way. Often it may be a day or so later when they mate and produce litters.

Well wouldn't that be which way you interpret the standard. Many people breed to the standard and bring their dogs to shows and wonder why they are on the end of the line.

Perfectly ok. Re freeze or shove it back in the fridge.

Congratulations. Looks like you have caught the bug. We need more like you to catch the show bug.

What we need to do is to get councils to adheare to their own regulations with heavy fines.

We all know it's very hard to define a puppy farmer. Legislation can change from state to state and council to council, but until the regulations are enforced by those issuing them there is little one can do. It starts with the building code and then on upwards. For goodness sake boarding kennels are subject to regulations and if they wish to keep trading they abide by those regulations or close down or are closed down. Until this applies to puppy farmers too we will get no where. As I said if the puppy farmers have to comply with regulations or face the consequences, puppy farming will continue. The last thing these type of people want is to have is their hand in their pockets. The RSPCA will not be able to close down these people they only start up again somewhere else as they have done previously.

You are right about that. There is already enough rule and regulation to sink the puppy farmers, it's simply not policed. Correct. If the council employed dog savvy people they would soon be closed down. "Some" of the people that do inspections may know no better themselves. How many times do you hear people say about "some" council or other employees ....why would you send that idiot to do the job they wouldn't know any better in the first place. Because I have.

NO, I won't sign a thing. Because when they have finished with them I just see them starting on us. I want to get rid of Puppy Farmers as much as the next one but not at the risk of my involvement in dogs. It does not need the RSPCA to do this, it can be done at a local council level by regulations and inspections. If the industry was more heavily regulated as to where and how the dogs may be kept, most Puppy Farmers would die out as they would not put the money into the conditions the dogs should be kept in. If Puppy Farmers had to put their hands deep into their pockets to provide sanitary (sewer ed or septic) well kept kennel blocks and staff to maintain the dogs in a clean environment they could be looking at a million dollar project. JMHO

Wouldn't this be like carting coal to Newcastle. The Irish are known Terrier people and we export from them. Their are excellent Staffordshire Bull Terrier kennels in England. The puppies that are exported from England to Australia also do quarantine and cope well.

Well your not going to get any sympathy from me. When dog people congregate with other dog people either at training or shows or other area's where dogs congregate you can expect something to wrong. Be it a lead breaks or dog breaks from an off lead exercise or some other situation you do your best to handle the situation with dignity. Not go racing off to a lawyer. Firstly contact the owner politely and discuss the matter of the vet bills. Secondly, politely contact the club with any concerns that you have. Give some time for them to reply to you. You may find that the person is more than willing to pay any vet fees. You don't know, the club may have already spoken to the other party. If you want to get yourself disliked keep going the way you are. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Yes, your over reacting. What about the person that ownes this dog ?.....have you ever thought that they are so embarrased and shocked over the incident that just might just want to run away and hide. Not the right thing to do of course, infact very wrong. How do you know the dog has not already been put down. This was an accident in a controlled situation that got out of controll, at least wait and see what happens first. If you get no satisfaction then go to a Lawyer. JMHO

Good coat supplement makes them shine.

Woolworth's soled them in Queensland but do not in Tasmania. Maybe try the pet food butchers.

I never feed anything dried, smoked, cured on the bone or anything that falls into that category even remotely, it's just not worth the risk.

Of all the products I find Delete the best and believe you me I have been through most of them.

Or me either.

Send the dog in with some body else and stay out of the road altogether.

So how much to you give? Did the Derm. give you your dose? I read it is 1000mg of fish oil per 10kg of dog weight. What about the EPO? Same dosage? I'm going to ask the derm. about them when we get in, but just as usual I can't help but to do my own research before hand. Not sure on the dosage rate of either, my boy only weighs 34Kg and he gets 5 of each per day, I could be wrong but I think the dosage for the EPO may be at a higher rate ie more capsules per body weight but 5 per day is what we are on at the moment. I found a combination of Evening primrose oil, linseed oil and fish oil capsule. I gave him one to see if he liked it, and he scoffed it down :D So think I will start on 2 day and see how he goes and cut it back to one after a month or so. Thanks for you info everyone Good on you. The Linseed I use is oil. Never measured the dose ever. I just tip it on. Maybe glug for the Italian Greyhounds and glug, glug for the Whippets.

In the kitchen in whelping box with a C Crate around to provide protection. A cover for the pen and heating provided.

I think this article written by Mogens explains how the immune system works in plain terms without all that confusing language. B j From the desk of Mogens Eliasen, for immediate release This article may be reprinted without further permission When brought in its entirety, including the bio the end. August 25, 2004 The Immune System how it works and how you support it The Immune System of our dogs' bodies is extremely complex, and very far from easy to fully comprehend, even for the best educated scientists - nobody actually does! However, when you understand at least the main principles of the way it functions, you can make significantly better decisions in the overall health care for your dog. The following guide is no attempt to be scientifically "correct", but it will serve you as a valid reference model for making some of the crucial decisions you cannot leave for your vet to make. "Law and order" for the body The Immune System is a common denominator for a lot of processes that all work together for the purpose of keeping the body well functioning, by spotting troublemakers, fighting them, destroying them, and disposing of the remains of them. It plays a role for the body that is similar to what Police does in our society. Although all cells in the body are genetically programmed to work nicely together, they are better at doing this when their performance actually gets controlled and, in the case of foreign invaders that do not respect the rules, the body's many organs truly appreciate help getting them eliminated, so they can continue their important work for the body. There are many organs that contribute specific processes to this: the liver, the kidneys, the bone marrow, the vascular system, the lymph system, the hypothalamus, the thyroid just to mention a few. All of those are "the back office" and the "volunteers" . The "police officers" on active duty are the white blood cells. They carry weapons and can kill invaders and lawbreakers, and they are on constant patrol. As long as everything is fine and no criminals "on the streets", the body functions well, and the "police officers" do their regular patrols in peace, without being noticed much. But when a foreign bandit arrives in the form of a virus, a bacterium, or another parasite that does not respect the body's laws and the genetic code for co-operation among all cells in the body, then the alarm bells sound! How an immune response works First thing for the Immune System to do when a problem is discovered is to find out what exactly the problem is and who causes it. The alarm will, in the first place, only be a "911 call" from a troubled organ or part of the body. The first thing will normally be that the body sends extra blood to the spot (more police) and increases the temperature of the area (which makes all chemistry go faster). Then an investigation is done. The "police" on the "crime scene" will make notes about what the problems are and who is causing them. This is then reported back to "the office" and a plan of serious action is then made, based on the collected information. There is some time involved in this. The body needs to know what to do all possible forces to deploy are set in preparedness for assault, and the body" gears up" for warfare. When the plans are ready and confirmed by "head office", the execution takes place. All the necessary forces are mobilized and directed to the troubled spot but sometimes this will now be the entire body (virus infections often travel so fast in the body that they are "all over the place" before anyone figures out what is going on.). The deployed forces will include -"Extra armed forces" (lots of white blood cells to fight the invaders) -Elevated temperature (helps move things faster) -Increased production of organs that provide antibodies to neutralize the poisons left by the invaders -Increased activity of the liver to destroy the remains of the killed invaders and their junk and poisonous waste products after neutralization -Increased activity of the kidneys to dispose of the waste products from the liver -Increased productivity of the blood system and the lymph system to bring things quickly from one spot to another. The time it takes to win this battle will vary. It depends a lot on how much head- time the infection got before the defence was effective and had all "weapons" coordinated in the battle. It also depends on what kind of experience the forces have with this kind of invasion. It further depends on how much support the "combat forces" can get from the body, in the form of chemical and biological supplies needed ("ammunition" ). And it certainly also depends on the level of training the forces have obtained prior to this. Obtaining auto-immunity Let's assume that the body was successful fighting the disease, so life goes on. One of the strongest assets the Immune System has is it ability to learn. Now, first time a certain disease arrives, it might take the body some time to get a defence organized well. But the records are being kept on file. Next time the same culprit shows up, no time is wasted on making plans for the counter-attack the old plans are simply pulled out instantly, and the mobilization of a full-fledged defence takes on a fraction of the time it took the first time. Most often, the invading disease doesn't even get a chance to disperse itself into the body it gets destroyed at the entrance, immediately it is recognised! This might all go so fast that the body does not even need to mobilize all the defences, such as elevated temperature and other symptoms of a disease being fought simply because the advanced defence now is so strong and so fast that it isn't necessary! When this happens, we will not notice that a disease attacked the dog the dog has developed auto-immunity to that particular disease and will never be bothered by it again. Measuring titers One of the ways an auto-immunity manifests itself is through the presence of titers. Titers are a form of "anti-bodies" . For each disease, the Immune System develops very specific titers, and they are generally kept on guard long after the disease is eliminated. Just to be sure. Titers are relatively easy to measure. You can get a blood sample drawn and have it analysed for titers for all the common diseases. If the titers are present, you can be sure that your dog has developed immunity against that particular disease and it can never attack the dog again. But the titers don't stay on guard forever. Typically, in some months, they get destroyed, and the body does not replenish them. Until another attack is detected, that is! But then, it goes very fast. New titers are produced again extremely quickly because all the production plans and resources are ready generally also so quickly that they will be deployed in the advanced defence before the body is getting alarmed. Again, the effect will be that body will not experience getting sick. The Immune System took care of that, based on the experience from the first successful battle with this disease. But this is an area where you might get fooled. When there are no titers present in the blood, we cannot measure that the Immune System is still prepared for a fast and effective response to an invasion of disease! This is, however, not the same as the dog not being protected! You just cannot measure the protection but it is still there. It does not take much to get the titers back in the blood. The slightest exposure to the disease will ring the alarm and start an instant production. All it takes is letting your dog walk in an area where another dog has walked that was recently vaccinated against that disease. Training the Immune System Just as well as the Immune System will learn to respond to one given disease, it will also learn from one disease to the next. For every time it has been challenged, it will improve its performance when fighting the next disease. In other words: Its ability, in general, to fight disease get better and better, the more it fights diseases! And the bad news: it will deteriorate to plain inefficiency and sloppiness if it never gets any chances to train. The consequence of this is obvious, but generally not understood: you do not protect your dog from disease by keeping it in a sterile environment. But you protect it by letting it get exposure to diseases, one at a time, so it can learn to fight diseases well. Hopefully, you will have lots of chances training it first on fairly harmless diseases. When you can do that, it will have a much greater chance of fighting effectively also when a dangerous disease arrives. Special rules for puppies Puppies can, by nature, not have much experience using their Immune System. You would expect them to be very vulnerable. But it is not as bad as you might think - the mother takes care of that! By sucking the mother milk, they get all the protection their mother has. The mother milk is full of antibodies and other "goodies" that will keep the puppy very well prepared in case of an infection! This passive protection from the mother milk is in fact so effective that Mother Nature does not bother calling the puppy's Immune System to action until it is 10-12 weeks old. Till then, it plays a very passive role, totally relying on the protection from the mother milk. But that's also the time when the puppy naturally will be weaned and start eating" real food". \ Beautifully coordinated, through 15 millions years of evolution. Supporting the Immune System Now you understand how the Immune System works, it is also very simple to see what you need to do in order to support it: -Feed nutritious food that contains all the ingredients that are needed for all the body's many processes; the only possible way of doing this is by feeding a natural diet. -Don't give the Immune System unnecessary challenges through poisoning with medication, chemicals, or foreign substances that will stress it instead of supporting it; -Train it well by giving it adequate challenges to develop its skills on, by exposing the dog to a natural environment that is not sterile. The only problem left is that some diseases are too dangerous to use for "training". For those, you would like to consider vaccination. But please check this article before you do that. Mogens Eliasen Mogens Eliasen holds a Ph.D. level degree in Chemistry from Århus University, Denmark and has 30+ years of experience working with dogs, dog owners, dog trainers, and holistic veterinarians as a coach, lecturer, and education system developer. He publishes a free newsletter "The Peeing Post" containing lots of tips and advice on dog problems of all kinds, particularly about training, behavioral problems, feeding, and health care. For more information about Mogens Eliasen, including links to other articles he has published, please send a short e-mail to contact@k9joy. com

I find Linseed oil/Flax seed oil (same thing) is excellent. I buy mine from Woolworth's in the health food section.

I give whole frames to 3 month old pups.