ellz

You can enter your dog in whichever class you want to, even if it is a "backwards" step in the schedule. In the case of your question, yes you could enter your dog in puppy class again if it is still inside the age criteria. Likewise if you show your puppy in puppy at some shows before it is 9 months old, you can still show it in Minor at others. We have this happen from time to time here in Tassie when a show on the Saturday might offer Minor Puppy, but the show on the Sunday doesn't so you have to enter Puppy instead. Then the following week, the next club might offer Minor again. And when my Stafford puppies go up into puppy in May, I'll be showing one in Minor (when I can) and the other in Puppy and alternate them so that they both have a chance at a fringie in the younger class. Oh and if you show your dog in Open, State Bred or Aust Bred but it is still under 3, you can still show it in Intermediate as well. And you can even show a puppy in Open one week and then put it back into Puppy at the next show if you want to. As long as you abide by the age criteria, there is no rule stating that you HAVE to stay in the same class every show.

Be careful of anything containing alcohol, it can be VERY drying!

Well, if they're not willing to help ensure their pup's safety in the future, I personally wouldn't be giving them anything. Are they naive enough to think that a puppy is going to think "gee, I did that and it hurt me last time, I'm not going to try that again?"

One of my past dogs HATED kids in hoodies and baseball caps with almost equal passion. We were at the Hobart Royal and a young boy with Downs Syndrome wearing a hoodie AND a baseball cap walked up to my dog and started talking to him. Instead of freaking out and practically falling off the table like he normally would have, my dog lay himself down on the table with his face pressed right up to the boy and they had some kind of a conversation, interspersed with cuddles and gentle kisses from both parties. The grin on the boys' face was legendary and the wagging tail on the dog was such that I have never seen before. I think he knew that there was something different about the person wearing that hoodie and cap and he responded accordingly. And likewise, when I lost my baby in 2006, my Stafford bitch wouldn't leave me alone. If I sat down, she either sat right up close to me or ON me, or she would sit quietly at my feet, staring into my eyes with a very sad, soft expression on her face. After I came home from hospital, she spent many hours laying along my back with her head on my neck. She absolutely point blank refused to leave my side, even to eat and go outside to the toilet. They really do know.

First litter, the big test will be what happens if/when I mate her again.

I was always told if an ultrasound showed X puppies, to double it and that would be closer to the number. I also only ever do u/s (and not all the time) to confirm, not count. So much can alter the results...timing, skill of operator, quality of machinery just to name a few. My most recent experience with u/s showed a definite pregnancy at quite early on and he counted 6 puppies. She gave birth to 9 but two of the puppies were in double sacs so it is possible she may have reabsorbed a couple as well. We also had her xrayed. The xray also showed 6 puppies together with a lot of fluid and what they said at the time was probably faecal mass. Upon opening her up for the c-section, they realised that her uterus was all twisted in, around and under itself so a count was almost impossible.

So do I, but by the same token, I won't "label" a bitch as a "bad mother" until she has been given every opportunity. If there is every sign that she is not successful, or if I get "that feeling" (as I'm sure many breeders do) that the bitch isn't going to change....then a decision is made.

When I lived in suburbia I played muscial dogs like most other people do. One in, one out. Crates if I can't be there to directly supervise. Doors and walls between if and wherever possible. However on rare occasions, a boy would be a howler and not being able to see the object of his affection made him even noisier so on those occasions, they were crated safely next to each other so that he can see and smell her and this helped the noise considerably but did sometimes make musical dogs a tad more hairy. I had an oops in suburbia when my Stafford bitch went through a CLOSED laundry window to let herself out to the dog. And of course, I had my recent oops out here in the country which was entirely my fault for not paying attention when I got home from a show one afternoon and letting myself get distracted. Up until that time, I was using my outdoor pen and the shed which has been partially converted with panels and shadecloth to keep them separated and so that the bitch could empty but not leave too much scent to drive the dog bananas and had managed to avoid an accident for almost 2 years.

As a breeder, I would also be interested in knowing that she didn't make proper arrangements for a bitch in season so that I was forewarned if she should decide that she wanted another puppy from me in the future. The outcome of this would certainly be an indicator of any future possibilities for her in my eyes.

And how do you know that the Breeder of this bitch hasn't done all these things. In an ideal world people would be responsible and use their heads, we shouldn't have to legislate, draw up contracts or rip the organs out of baby pups to stop this. And in an ideal world, people would ensure that their in-season bitches were safely contained so that next-door's dog couldn't knock over the fence and get to them too. :D Or alternatively, people would have their companion animals desexed so as to prevent the above from occurring.

Double standards on the part of some vets unfortunately. They'll do it for rescue but many are reluctant to do it for Joe Q off the street unfortunately.

I think they can be needled to abort the pregnancy up to around the 42 day mark (on average a dog pregnancy is 59 - 63 days). There is also the option of removing the puppies and uterus all at once. Some vets won't do this due to the increased blood and risk of haemorrhage, but many vets would rather do this than have another litter of unneccessary puppies on the ground.

I'd be asking why she didn't take her to the vet and have her needled and if there is any reason why the bitch wasn't speyed in the first place. And yes, like Steve, it's not your business but if it were a dog I'd bred, I'd like you to make it mine! :D

Don't worry Elfin, I'm another cynic. Many people with breeds that are prone to eye staining give their dogs fish antibiotics (usually in the drinking water). Apparently it changes the PH levels or something. Personally, I don't think there is smoke without fire and eye discharge generally means that there is something else going on with the eye. I'd rather treat the cause and completely remove the symptoms......but that's just me! :D

Well if you ring the dog ranger, they will come and dispose of the body but the owner will probably not have much say in the disposal of it and they may have ideas of their own. Alternatively, you could give your vet a ring (unless you know which vet your neighbour uses) and see if they can hold the body until the owner is notified. But you'll probably still have to notify the ranger so that they can notify the neighbour unless you wish to do so yourself.

Yep, he's one of the lucky ones (and so are you! )!! I know when my Stafford puppies are teething (and they are now at 3.5 months of age) because they like to chew on anything that doesn't try to chew on them first. Rocks, bricks and wooden furniture are particular favourites!

How old is Charlie? If he is a young adult, he WILL most certainly have lost teeth, it's more that you haven't noticed the transition. Some dogs do it with the minimum of fuss, others look like a motheaten paling fence.

You'll find that if she is in a small class, that you will have to be pretty much "on" the whole time as it will go quickly. However, if she is in a large class, or sweepstakes or something like that most judges will tell you to "relax the others" whilst they go over each of them. It certainly isn't a bad thing to play with them in the ring, you just need to be mindful of the effect that your dog has on others in the ring at the time. I carry a soft toy in my pocket and if I have time, I'll play with my babies....but much of the time, they're more interested in the other dogs in the ring anyway.

In most parts of Australia there are no strict rules about food in the ring. It is mostly a case of etiquette. Good manners decrees that you do not stuff your dogs' face full of food when the judge is attempting to go over it. And of course, the judge doesn't want to get their fingers covered in recently consumed bait when they open the dogs' mouth. Common sense should be applied. Use the bait when it is going to achieve the maximum effect. By all means speak to Willow in the ring and to get her going, but also practice other more subtle, perhaps more sedate non-verbal cues that you can use for her as she gets older. But at 14 weeks, I can tell you that nobody is going to frown too much on you no matter what happens in the ring. Babies are best left to be babies, they have their entire lives to learn good behaviour and showmanship! I debuted a few babies this past weekend myself and they were really baaaaad in their first show.....and a lot better in their second. UNLESS the judge makes the mistake of speaking directly to them and then they either melt or go ballistic. This is my 3 month old baby going ballistic when the judge said she was a good girl.... But Flame had a HEAP of fun and really enjoyed herself so I have no doubt that she will be even better at her next show!

Other than that, she's on a double sided fleece matt (which I'm sure is synthetic), or on our lounge. Our floors at home are polished floor boards. Check the fleece mat....synthetics are a no-no for itchy dogs. And if your lounge is synthetic, it needs to be covered with something that isn't.

What kind of bedding does she sleep on and does your house have synthetic carpet or furnishings? That can contribute to the itchies too.

I do agree there is some hereditary basis, but a lot of it does come down to the individual as well. I've had bitches who have been fantastic mothers that have given birth to bitches that are lousy mothers, and vice versa. I will give a bad mother the benefit of the doubt on one, maybe two occasions depending upon the circumstances. If it isn't a "text book" pregnancy and/or whelping and the bitch is lacking in the parental instinct department then I believe some leeway has to be given. Hormones/health can play a huge part in the temperament of any animal. But if a bitch has an easy time of it and does a lousy job, and does a lousy job on a subsequent occasion, then she is removed from the breeding program and her daughters are watched like hawks. It will be interesting to see what happens if/when I decide to breed from my American Cocker bitch again. She had the maternal instincts of a rubber ducky. She didn't labour successfully or show any signs whatsoever that she had read any of the whelping textbooks. Two puppies resulted from her breeding, one of which was euthanased. She had one puppy naturally after very little labour in the wee small hours of a Tuesday morning and then with no warning whatsoever popped out another puppy some 5 hours later. It was this puppy that was PTS at 3 weeks due to some form of retardation.....possibly due to the delayed birth. Once they were out, she fed them but that was about it and at 2 days I removed the weaker puppy from her and carried it in my bra, tube feeding it around the clock. I could have taken them BOTH from her and she wouldn't have cared. I pulled those puppies out from underneath her on more occasions than I care to remember. I'm still umming and aahing about re-breeding her, but I won't know if the above was an anomaly if I don't give her another go. I just need to be sure that I'm mentally, physically and financially ready for a repeat IF another disaster occurs. Interestingly, I bred the sire of this litter and his mother had whelping issues as well.....I wonder if they can be passed down through the males too???? And then on the other hand you have my Staffordshire Bull Terrier bitch who was OBVIOUSLY in whelp from the minute she came home from the stud dog (or so she was telling me at that stage anyway! ). Her belly grew on schedule, she had a day of morning sickness at around 13 days post mating. She was positively scanned at around 3 weeks, counting xray done about a week or so before she was due to give birth. She started to go into labour but not well enough for my liking so she had a c-section and gave birth to 9 puppies. All were healthy and strong. She fed them ALL until they were weaned. Didn't try to sit on them. Kept them impeccably clean to the point where at one stage I was getting a little worried that they weren't passing any waste....but it was just mum being a super-mum! She still loves the puppies that I kept (1 dog, 1 bitch) and spends time with them whenever she can just playing and teaching them how to be obnoxious! The vet feels that she should be given another try and that the delay in labouring was due to the jigsaw of puppies in the uterine horns. If she has a smaller litter next time, the whelping may be natural. If she has another equally as large litter next time, there will be no more litters!!! And it will be interesting to see what the offspring that have been retained from both bitches above do in the future as well.

There used to be a few, El Caballo Blanco was one, Harold Park was another, a couple of the vineyards had great areas, as did a couple of sporting venues but unfortunately many of them either closed down, or the lack of thought and care by dog exhibitors put paid to the arrangements. Typically, the actions of a few spoil things for the rest.

Overheating is nowhere near as dangerous to neonates as chilling is. Obviously you don't want them to overheat, because you don't want them to dehydrate, but if they chill, you are 100% more likely to lose them. This is my pen setup in daylight. As you can see, the dam has taken herself away from the puppies for some time out. It was September here then and not an overly warm September. This setup enables me to close it all in and make it cosier if necessary, or open it up to cool things down if the need occurs, as it did with my November 22 litter.

And I don't mean to upset you and I'm sorry if I did so. But what your boss has said is very true. Just don't be specific and leave your own dog out of it as much as you can. Give a warning about the dangers of strange dogs in general. Unfortunately it seems to be a sign of the times that people just don't educate their children any more about how to approach dogs. I had it drummed into me and I've drummed it into my children as well.