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I wish I could ST, but mine is so old the name has worn off it and I've not seen another like it in any of the shops. It was a Turbo Dryer of some kind. Has a button on it that you can push to cool the airflow down as well.

Have you thought about a Groomers arm? Groomers sells them, not too dear either. Had one, hated it, sold it on.

Yep, I've got a ripper hand dryer that I take to shows. Have in the past done a show bath on an American Cocker at a country show and dried the complete dog with it too. Just need to grow a third hand or have somebody else hold it so that you can brush at the same time. I like Plush Puppy pin brushes and Porcupine brushes for drying. A soft slicker is useful too but used incorrectly can cause a lot of pain to the dog.

I've typed and deleted and typed and deleted so I'll just come out and say what I'm thinking and hope you take it the right way. It's all in the approach. If you emailed the breeder in the same manner as your original post, then they are probably taking it as an accusation and are perhaps a bit reluctant to resume correspondence with you. I don't mean this in a nasty way, but quite often people attack without meaning to, or in this case, without being aware of the facts (ie that roundworm is not an unusual thing) and it can be taken in a myriad of ways. I can't speak for the breeder because obviously, I'm not in their head and I have no idea what you said to them in your emails, but I speak as A breeder when I reply. The old saying "you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar" rings true and there are definitely ways to approach such a subject which would usually get more results.

I used to use the coffee table too but when dogs with tails came along, the coffee tables disappeared from the living area because we had too many coffee cup casualties. Isn't unheard of to see me sitting on the floor in front of the TV with an American Cocker laying on its side in front of me. But again, they knew that if I wanted them to lay down, it was brush time and time to lay still because they had already been taught that on the table from the first time they were groomed. Most just go to sleep. The most important thing with anything is to start as you mean to continue.

Well, many here won't agree with what I feed because I feed Great Barko or Uncle Albers which are manufactured by the Laucke Mills in South Australia. Others here recommend premium dry foods but I find that my crew do just fine on the aforementioned. I add fresh, raw meat to it. My pet mince comes from a butcher who is also a dog breeder and it is just the best stuff. Coarsely minced with plenty of chicken bone and skin in it as well as the usual beef, lamb and a small amount of pork. I also feed table scraps and vegetables and rice or pasta (and sometimes barley if I'm cooking it for my horses), depending upon what is going at the time. Not as rigid as BARF, but my dogs are well-covered, happy and healthy. I also feed raw bones at least once per week and add chicken frames, necks or wings for calcium and crunch. For a 9 month old puppy, I'd recommend at least 3 meals per day.

Question to your game plan, what happens if he doesn't eat after a day or 2 maybe more and the food goes stale, do you still feed it the same thing or throw it out? After you throw it out is it a new fresh serving of the same thing, and what happens if you go through it again? If it is dry food, it won't go stale if you are storing it properly. If it were a mixture of dry and wet, even if he WERE eating some of it, you'd be throwing out the leftovers anyway after a day or so so therefore it really is a moot point. No HEALTHY dog will WILLINGLY choose to starve. Believe me, after 22 years of breeding dogs, it has been my experience that even the fussiest eaters will start to eat when they get hungry enough. And also, the OP has already stated that the puppy will eat the dry food if he gets hungry enough. It could just be that the OP is putting more down than the puppy requires in one meal, provided they are feeding him more than one meal per day. They could also be confusing him by offering too much choice. Dogs have very simple tastebuds. The wonderful range of flavours and seasonings that are offered in dog foods are more to please OUR sensibilities, the dogs truly don't care. They're more into smell and texture. Why else would they knock back an expensive, lovingly chosen plate of designer doggy food in preference for a munch on roadkill or something just as toxic (to us)?

He's got you trained nicely. Personally, I think a touch of tough love may be in order before he rules you completely. He won't allow himself to starve. You've already seen that. Dogs don't need variety, their taste buds aren't that sophisticated. They eat to live, not live to eat. Decide upon a balanced diet, whether it be a good quality dry food or whatever else you feel you'd like to feed and stick to it. As previously mentioned. Put the food down at regular mealtimes. What he doesn't eat in 15 minutes is removed and nothing goes down again until next meal. Don't coddle him or you're making a rod for your own back. Chopping and changing isn't good either and can lead to diarrhoea.

You're probably not far off the mark there considering they let a puppy leave the nest at 7 weeks in the first place.

Because personally, I don't like loading a developing puppy up with too many systemic products. I much prefer to treat worms and fleas as separate matters in a youngster.

I recommend fortnightly until 12 weeks, monthly until 6 months and then every 3 months after that for life. The only variation to this would be if you are using a monthly treatment for fleas/worms combined. And I personally wouldn't recommend these until at least 6 months of age anyway.

Just keep on with a good quality all wormer and practice impeccable personal hygiene yourself and you'll be just fine. The worms you are seeing are the ones that have been anaesthetised by whatever allwormer the breeder was using. You just need to keep dosing regularly (and disposing of droppings meticulously too) and provided there is no further infection from an outside source, there should be no future issues with them.

Not necessarily. Roundworm can be picked up from eating the faeces of an infected dog or from the soil and can live in the dog for quite some time. Worming a dog with most commercial wormers will only kill worms in the intestinal tract, it won't kill larvae which can be present in the liver and or lungs. What you might be seeing are worms from second or third stage larvae so it is important to keep on with a good quality all wormer and have faecal testing done if you're concerned that they don't seem to be disappearing.

Whiteners can be used on any coloured dog. They will help to brighten any light colour and provided they are rinsed properly, they can help shine on darker coloured dogs as well.

I would also be teaching him to lay down to be brushed and dried. Makes it a lot easier to get to the underneath bits that are more difficult to reach when they're standing up and it also feels a lot more stable for the dog and is therefore less stressful and more enjoyable for you both.

Animal House are based in Qld. I use their product on my Lowchen. Quite like the whitening shampoo but not that fond of their conditioner so I use my own "blend". On my American Cockers, I use either Plush Puppy or Laser Lites.

Our local market sells fish heads for $2 bag so I'll usually pick up a bag and then the dogs and cats fight over the contents!

That IS good to know. I personally have used the Woofbix (and Coles YLC and Woolies Chicken and Rice) dry food when I have run out of food on a weekend and Big W, Coles or Woolies are the only shops available. I live in the country so running out of food from time to time is inevitable, especially if my fresh meat supplier is running late or whatever. I've found these to be perfectly adequate foods and I have in fact added them to my puppy information booklet. It is really good to be able to recommend readily available and budget-friendly foods to families who aren't necessarily in a position to purchase bulk from a feed supplier.

You seriously expect me to believe a staffy 'just' stopped doing something......... you sure Daisy ain't broken? I agree! Or perhaps the question should be.....what else did she start doing instead of pulling the washing off the line?

May I pretty please swap my Staffords for yours? Mine LOVE the water! To the point where I have one that continually sits in my horse troughs in ALL weather and another who gets his head stuck in the tyres of my round yard because he would prefer to drink out of those than from a water bucket!

I personally wouldn't. And in fact, even though Tasmania is considered to be heartworm free, I'm considering beginning heartworm treatments on my dogs for a couple of reasons. Firstly because I will more than likely start travelling to shows on the mainland again within the next 12 months and secondly because with the way our seasons are changing it seems quite possible that the mozzie may become more of a problem here in Tassie in future summers.

I can think of worse things than Balsam that he could smell of! :D On a side note, did you know that many Afghans from older lines actually smell like sandalwood? Absolutely true and not a word of a fib!!

I think lamb flaps are usually the thick pad of meat and fat that are found on either side of the ribs. Though in pet meat, they are often left complete. EXCELLENT source of fat for skinny dogs and great chewing material for mouthy puppies too!

Try to avoid vets who totally remove the gland when they "fix" a cherry eye. When they do this, they remove the lubrication source for the eye and the end result is invariably a condition called dry eye. This is very painful and can ultimately cause blindness through ulceration and pigment growing over the eye in an attempt for the eye to protect itself. A cherry eye might be unsightly but given a choice between cherry eye and dry eye, cherry eye is the better of the two. Some dogs will never require more than the gland being "popped" back in. Some dogs need it to be tacked into place. Puppies are particularly prone to cherry eye during teething and rough play. Some breeds are more prone than others but any breed can suffer from it. It isn't necessarily hereditary.