ellz

Still waiting. The change to labelling laws and ingredients etc has hit a lot of products very hard.

All I can say is that dog breeding, and indeed companion animal ownership will soon be a thing of the past. I and a few others expressed this opinion back when the tail docking debate was just beginning to gain momentum and we were all howled down as doomsayers. We can fight the good fight, but the reality is that it is only a matter of time. They say they are targetting the puppy farmers and disreputable breeders, but in the eyes of many Joe Q's, registered and reputable breeders might as well not even exist. We are all lumped in the same basket. And yes, call me a doomsayer, but the writing is on the wall IMO.

My take on that Bokezu is that the person is from a Non-English speaking background and they have made the mistake that many people make and refer to a particular breeder's lines or doggy family as a breed, simply because they don't know what else to call them. In this case, they've been looking on Jerojath's website, they like what they see, they think from what they've read that Jerojath's dogs/lifestyle/puppy rearing methods would suit them and they would like to ask Jerojath more questions with particular reference to the age of the puppy, flight etc etc. I honestly STILL don't see anything overly suspicious about the enquiry and believe me, with the breed I have, my radar tends to blip a little more prematurely than many others! ;)

Sounds perfectly legit to me and they ask "normal" questions that many/most breeders will have been asked at some time in their breeding careers. Yes, the word pup is spelled incorrectly but they could be from a non-English speaking background or maybe their spellcheck failed them? Sheesh, if we discriminated against everybody who spells badly, we wouldn't bother responding to half of the people who contact us and for that matter would ignore most DOLers! ;)

In Tasmania, by TCA rules you aren't allowed to even take a deposit until you have a puppy available for a person. It doesn't bother me though because I don't actually keep a "waiting list" per se. I have an expression of interest list. When I plan to do a breeding, I contact anybody whose number I have and find out if they are still interested. Then when a breeding is done, I start taking names and doing my weeding out. When I am sure a bitch is pregnant, I start liaising fortnightly with people to tell them what is going on. I notify them when the puppies are born and then once a litter is on the ground, I send out weekly "pupdates" to those still waiting or those who have been added to the list. At all times, people are clear that I choose first and that they will be advised as early as possible if there will not be a puppy for them for any reason. This is more pertinent in the case of a smaller litter where somebody always seems to have to (unfortunately) miss out. On the rare occasions that I do take a deposit, it will be because I am keeping a puppy or puppies for a longer period for a person/people and to reassure them that their puppy is still available for them, (and to also cover me in case they decide to back out and I need to advertise or whatever) and it is only ever a negligible amount anyway.

They mentioned something about ligament issue but honestly I don't think they are really even sure. How expensive is this arthroscopy? Could still be an avulsion fracture. Basically the ligaments tear away from the bone. Usually requires surgery to repair. Had this happen to a dog en route from Australia to the USA. She was fine when she went into the crate at Sydney. Fine when inspected upon entry to the USA. But lame when she arrived at the airport in Michigan. To this day we have no idea what she did to herself but it was a very expensive problem to repair.

Also get the vets to check for an avulsion fracture. These can be hard to see if the damage is only slight but also fit with what you have described. Quite common in small dogs and dogs with heavy muscle mass in their legs.

Individual dog personalities and supervision. Just because a dog is larger in body, doesn't necessarily mean it has a larger personality.

I think your best bet would probably be to download a general sales agreement and modify it to suit yourself. Then, if you have a Community Legal Assistance office near you, take it in for a lawyer to cast their eye over it to see if they think it is ok. Bear in mind though that most agreements will not hold weight in court and that they must be fair in consideration to all parties.

A Stafford is supposed to be a blend of bull and terrier. Try and visualise your dog as being the boxer of the terrier group and not the weightlifter. Sounds like you're wanting him to be the weightlifter which isn't correct at all. Personally, from what I can see, I wouldn't be wanting much more bulk on him, he looks to be quite balanced already and to bulk him up too much may cause injury.

From memory you would need to apply for export pedigrees from WA which completes the Aussie end of the papertrail and then just use those to register with the AKC. You can use pretty much any kennel name to register your litters in the USA provided the name you use hasn't already been registered by another party, which is possible, although not generally likely. A friend of mine just decided upon her kennel name, started using it like buggery and satisfied the AKC registration criteria which is pretty rigorous.

Consider yourself lucky it was the floor!! I've just been treated to a bellyful of horse shit and slime through my BED!!

A. Because she can and because to her, those odours are the equivalent of the most expensive, most highly sought after perfume that a human can buy! ;)

I forgot to mention too...... My own litter of puppies that were born in November were "clear by parentage" as are both parents, although the sire was DNA'd as well because he won a DNA test profile as a trophy so his owner decided to take advantage of it anyway. I included copies of his test results, as well as the results of my girl's parents in my puppy information folder. These days, there is absolutely NO reason why every Stafford produced cannot be sold with either their own individual test results or copies of their parents' test results and I would run very quickly from any breeder who could not produce them.

Are you a breeder? I would defy you to say that I am not a TRUE animal lover and I most certainly HAVE sold puppies to pet homes overseas. In some cases there are breeds that are not popular or available overseas. In other cases, there are health problems in an overpopulated breed or bloodline that people do not wish to deal with. Or in the case of my friend in Japan who purchased a PET puppy from me, she knows of EVERY breeder with that breed in Japan and due to their ethics (or lack thereof) she would prefer not to deal with them so opted to purchase a puppy from me instead. Blanket statements such as you have made, whilst certainly your opinion are inflammatory and very short-sighted IMO.

Moselle, you are of course entitled to your own opinion but you're MORE than welcome to come and give me a backhander. But don't expect to not get one back!!! There are MANY reasons why a person doesn't want to purchase a puppy in their own country and you are making some pretty widesweeping statements here.

I had an enquiry recently for an adult dog that I am selling. The email was from an obviously "foreign" name who said they were located in Melbourne, but as I don't necessarily discriminate against these purchasers, I sent out my standard "fishing" email to find out more information and to lay out my specific terms up front. ie, condition of sale being that dog is sold on a "Not For Export" agreement. The reply came back that the person was THEN located in Melbourne but was actually from a kennel in India and that my dog would be exported. At least they were up front but I chose not to sell to them. On the flipside, I recently sold my last American Cocker puppy to a wonderful pet home in Japan. I met this person through another friend who was a Uni lecturer at a large Tokyo University and she has had Cockers all her life but didn't want to purchase one from the USA (due to quarantine restrictions) and didn't want to buy locally because she didn't like the ethics of the local breeders. Shio has been in touch every few days with photos and updates. Alice has now been desexed and is doing beautifully with her new language. And Shio is not just a purchaser, but a friend. I hurt my back quite badly a couple of weeks ago and the moment Shio heard about it, she put some special Japanese heatpads and back warmers into the post for me because she said she doubted there was anything as effective here. Definitely the right kind of home for one of my babies! :D

Well, all I can say is that I saw what I saw. Mr Ellz saw it at the same time. When we saw it, we had at that stage had NO idea that there had been a supposed sighting on Bruny, reported in the Mercury. We saw it at 3pm, I rang the Taskforce at about 3.17pm and they returned my call shortly thereafter. It was only after that that we read the Mercury and saw the story so it wasn't a case of sensationalism or trying to go one better. We TRULY believe that we saw a fox. We went online a bit afterwards and searched for info on foxes and based upon those photos and what I recall seeing, I'm even more positive. Whether anything comes of it, I have no idea but I have done my duty and reported it. To be honest, I had always poo-pooed the whole fox and taskforce subject so nobody is more surprised than me that I have possibly seen one now. But I do live in a rural area and I AM surrounded by sheep and other small mammals and birds and it is a very fox-friendly environment so I guess it isn't that surprising after all. The guy who rang from the taskforce (I think his name was Steve) asked me some questions and had me describe what I saw. At first he was quite guarded but when I described the shape and colour and markings of the animals ears (which I saw clearly from behind, probably only around 10 metres or so away initially) he got pretty excited. I explained that I am a dog and horse breeder and that watching animals is what I do best and I think I was able to articulate to him well enough the shape, size, colour and movement so that he got a very clear picture of what we saw. I still keep asking myself if it is possible that I was seeing things, but the most salient point comes back to me and that is that bunnies and hares (which my first thought was) don't actually RUN, they hop and that when it turned 3/4 on to us and looked back, it's face was the most un-bunnylike, un domestic doglike and un-catlike thing I have ever seen in my life! So....as I said to Steve (?) part of me hopes that I am right and that I'm not seeing things, but most of me hopes that I'm wrong because the last thing I want is foxes on my doorstep.

I've exported dogs to many places and have no problems with any of their homes. But in all honesty, the reality is that it is just as easy to place a dog in a bad home locally as it is to place one overseas (or interstate) and in either case there is often stuff-all you can do to rectify the situation if something does go wrong. After a while, you do develop somewhat of a sixth sense when it comes to homes. If your radar is blipping for any reason, then follow your gut instinct. At worst, you've lost out on a good home, at best, you've avoided a potentially bad situation. On the subject of brokers....it can be hellishly difficult to identify them sometimes. Most have been around for a while and know what to do and say and some even go to the trouble of having family members do their dirty work for them so as too fool suspicious breeders.

Also removes most of the fat from the chicken.

Changing her diet at this time could result in a puppy with diarrhoea or worse and you don't want to add that to the other issues surely?

choice_brandy, don't disregard Rappie's advice...she is a vet too.

I told him I could accept CC payments but I still haven't heard anything back!

Oh and FWIW, we didn't know about the Bruny Island sighting until not long ago....Mr Ellz is literally just reading the newspaper now.