ellz

As above! Depends upon breeder situation. I had two litters here last year, one born 27th October, the next born 22nd November (different breeds). In the end there was only one puppy in the first litter so she was reared with the second litter, made it a lot easier to socialise her. She was pretty much bombproof when she left home! There are breeders out there who should never even have ONE litter!!

Does she have long hair around her anus? You may need to cut it short so that it doesn't tickle her.

Bad idea if the OP doesn't want to be clipping. Oops, missed that. I still think they are brilliant thou Given the breeds you've got now, I personally think you'd find an American Cocker INCREDIBLY frustrating to live with! They aren't always the brightest crayon in the pencil box! Editing to add: And since I've had them since 1986 (and bred Australia's first undocked All Breeds Best In Show winner).....I think I'm reasonably well-qualified enough to comment! In recent times, I've found them more and more frustrating.

Bad idea if the OP doesn't want to be clipping.

As I said in the other thread in Breeders. I'm just wondering if Dogs Vic should hang out the RSPCA banner and be done with it.

I feel for you. I had a dog stolen from my property in May and not a day goes by that I don't think of her. My children are upset, but in the way of children, they'll probably get over it before I do. In many ways, I wish I'd found her body, at least then I would have closure and not be wondering where she is and whether she is being treated well (or not). I still have her brother thank goodness and he is my constant companion but it doesn't make me miss her any less. I will probably never truly get over her loss. And if I'm honest with myself, the whole dog scene is a lot less attractive without her...she was supposed to be my future.

Am I the only one who is beginning to think that Dogs Vic should just hang out an RSPCA flag and be done with it?

Kaffy Magee, if you don't want to open and close the doors, then go for the cheap ebay ones!!!! *said very tongue in cheek of course because I know you actually do need to open and close the doors* The only use I have for my cheap trolley is for quick grooming jobs (the height is excellent and especially good now that my back is bad). Otherwise, I have one door (the worst one) literally wired shut and I have to continually (like every three days or so) fix the other door or it won't close and goodness knows what would happen if I tried to move it!! The floor fits badly and I have another sheet of plywood underneath the centre to brace it or with even the smallest dog, it buckles downwards and ends up underneath the frame. My Ozzie Scales trolley has been frequently used both at shows and at home for drying Staffords on and for trimming toenails, tails etc. I also use it for the Staffords at shows and it hasn't missed a beat yet! Here is a photo of it at a show with two Staffords on top and one inside!

All I can say is good luck. I truly hope things work out as well and easily as you think they will.

I doubt very much that the K9 Antics trolleys are from the same place as the other ones mentioned here. The one I purchased was from an ebay seller and whilst it is great because it is taller than most other trolleys it is really not much good otherwise.

Yes and I wouldn't bother. The one I purchased is sitting here in my loungeroom because if it is pushed anywhere, the doors fall off! Add to that, it isn't finished well and has heaps of sharp edges and raw metal to cause injury and the floor doesn't fit the rest of the trolley properly!! The best investment I made was in an Ossie Scales trolley, although I admit that the first trolley I ever purchased (when my now 18 year old was in the tum) is a heavy metal one that gives me a hernia to lift but is still going strong today.

Very few in the ring. Most people tend to show once or twice and give up because they realise quickly they're pushing uphill. Yes, you COULD have a pretty good dog with a different nose colour.......only not a blue one!

I haven't posted often but have continued to read. Keep your pecker up Jed! We've got puppy farmers to stalk!

It is not stated as a disqualifying fault and there are in fact no DQs stated at all for the Staffordshire Bull Terrier under the current standard, however, unlike other breeds which tend to allow some leeway in nose/eye rim colour, there is no wording to suggest that anything OTHER than black is acceptable. For example, this is the paragraph on Nose from my other breed, the American Cocker Spaniel: Nose: Of sufficient size to balance the muzzle and foreface, with well developed nostrils typical of a sporting dog. It is black in colour in the blacks, black and tans, and black and whites; in other colours it may be brown, liver or black, the darker the better. The colour of nose harmonises with the colour of the eye rim. But the Stafford is short and to the point: Short, deep though with broad skull. Very pronounced cheek muscles, distinct stop, short foreface, nose black. I repeat, it is GENETICALLY IMPOSSIBLE for a blue dog to have a black nose.

One of the "issues" about the blue colour, health aside is that genetically it cannot carry a black nose and the Stafford standard states for ALL colours "NOSE BLACK". If you are going to be a purist about reasons for breeding, breeding to the standard, breed excellence etc, then you cannot condone something which will not in any way, shape or form, fit the standard. This aside, I would think that in the RIGHT hands with proper health testing and sensible breeding practices, there should be no reason why any coloured Stafford (blue or otherwise) could not be equally as healthy as its counterparts. Unfortunately though, the breeding of blue seems to be largely in the hands of those who are in it for the wrong reasons and who have no idea (or perhaps sadly, no interest) of how to breed for health, temperament AND appearance.

So are you saying that blues are rare in non dilute to dilute matings? (genuine question). It is a recessive so both parents must carry the gene to produce it. So yes, it can be "rare" in a non dilute to dilute mating. However that is not what I'm necessarily referring to in the particular reply that you have quoted. My main inference in that response is that whether a blue be "intentional" from a blue to blue breeding or "accidental" from a breeding that MIGHT produce blue, the colour should not cost the purchaser any more than any other colour would cost them. Anybody who charges (for example) $900 for a "common" colour and MORE than $900 for a puppy from the same litter that is NOT a "common" colour is doing little more than capitalising on the colour and that IMO isn't acceptable.

the dogs wouldn't be significantly less healthy or of the typical poor quality that the vast majority of blue breeders are pumping out, if the breeders actually thought about their goals, knew what they were doing and considered the breeding beyond colour. I'd like to hazard a guess that many of the worst affected dogs are from dilute to dilute (ie blue to blue) matings. Ok, but who is to say that the OP purchased their puppy from one of "those" matings Is there not the chance that puppy might have been the only blue in the litter and from good quality (non dilute) parents? Surely they crop up from time to time..? In a fantasy land maybe. And ideally too a blue from ANY breeding wouldn't cost any more than any other colour.....but I rather suspect that it isn't the case.

It's not unethical to sell puppies at 12 weeks of age either. In some breeds, it is quite normal. I think probably what it is best to say is that provided a breeder is doing the right thing by their puppies by way of socialisation etc, it is perfectly permissible to place puppies at ANY age. The norm USED to be 8 weeks, but in my experience in recent years, the people who are keenest to shunt them out the door on the dot of 8 weeks of age are the ones who seem to like to collect the money but not the responsibility IYKWIM.

Personally, I would have to question the definition of puppy farmer before I would definitely label somebody as such. There are many breeders who appear to churn out a lot of litters, but to be honest, if you want to maintain a large breeding program, in some breeds this is necessary. Yes, there may be a wide gene pool, but when you have a wide gene pool, there is usually a lot of scum on the surface too. For my part, in the breed I have now, there are certainly a few breeders who I would avoid, but for the most part their dogs aren't what I would wish to include in my breeding program anyway so that is a good thing. A backyard breeder is another "definition" thing. But if they do right by their dogs (and puppy people), maintain a decent breeding program (in MY opinion because others would no doubt beg to differ), health test appropriately and do the right thing by me, I'd really have no reason NOT to use a dog owned by them if he was what was missing from my breeding program. And remember too that many of the larger, more established kennels in various breeds probably started out as "backyard breeders"!

Sorry Gayle, but that is your opinion and your opinion only. MANY breeders do not rehome until they are 12 weeks of age and I would defy anybody to say that they aren't ethical.

I have two sites with Host Chunk ($2 per month each for very good bandwidth + $11 for a domain name) and one with VentralIP (free domain + $4.95 per month) and am very satisfied with the hosting services. My sites I do myself. Mostly handcoded but if I can't be bothered with the coding, I use either Frontpage Express (the freebie version of Frontpage which was available with IE4 and doesn't add extra code to sites) or a new program I found recently called PageBreeze which is very similar to the Frontpage Express program. I do all of my own graphics etc with Corel Paint Shop Pro X1 (on my desktop) or Corel Paint Shop Pro X3 (on the laptop). Apart from the hosting, all it really costs me is time.

Papers aside, the breeders should also be doing health tests on the parents and providing proof. Vaccinating, worming and microchipping, while very commendable are often done by backyard breeders to establish "authenticity" as a breeder when they are anything but. Hips and elbow scores, eye tests, DNA testing etc, these are the tests that ethical breeders carry out on their breeding stock to ensure they aren't generating inheritable defects. Also, 12 weeks is a little old for a puppy to be going to it's new home. They should be pretty weel established with their new family and getting out and about and being socialised by that age. Crap, there are breeders more than capable of socialising pups and 12 weeks is not too old to be leaving home. I'm sure there are plenty of breeders capable, but what's the advantage of keeping a puppy destined to be a pet until 12 weeks of age? My puppies don't leave home until around 10 weeks of age, sometimes later. I often don't choose my keepers until that time. I also don't do my first vaccination until 8 weeks and chip at around the same time. And if I decide to run a couple of littermates on, then they aren't shown until 3 months and after that time I may sell one or all of what I have kept depending upon its progress.

You might find that the price difference isn't necessarily the papers themselves but perhaps the breeders' perceived difference in the quality of the puppy. For example a Main Registered puppy in some breeds going to a show home could be double that of a Limited Register puppy but the distinction is that sometimes a pet purchaser wants a Main Registered, show quality puppy as a companion only so the breeder charges them a Main Register, show puppy price. Not everybody does this however. For my part, I keep what I register on Main, the rest are on Limit no matter what the quality so it is more than possible that a companion purchaser could get a show quality puppy on Limited Registration for a much lesser price.

That's certainly news to me! Would be interested to find out where the person you are talking to got their info, but would suggest you don't pay too much heed to what they say because they're wrong.

There used to be a vet in Sandy Bay who did a lot of work with allergies and natural therapies. http://www.yellowpages.com.au/tas/sandy-ba...40-listing.html