ellz

I have 4 crates from Deals Direct and have no problems with them whatsoever. They are constantly being folded and unfolded because they were purchased as my show crates. They are light and strong. The only thing I have to do is to put trojan clips on the doors because my escapees can get out of MOST crates in existence today!

Mine get mince from a butcher who just happens to breed dog so chops his mince to suit his likes. Pretty much everything that is leftover, coarsely minced with some vegetables in it usually as well... Being in Tasmania, we are not legally supposed to feed offal but I'm sure people do feed human grade offal and just make sure their dogs are properly wormed against Hydatids. I don't. I'm not brave (or is that stupid) enough. Other meat I give is chicken (of course) rabbit (when I can get it cheaply), venison (occasionally), roo (occasionally - it gives a couple of mine the squits), free range pork and of course the crew often catch the odd possum as well. I'm fortunate to have a country butcher nearby and also a bambi breeder who sells meat for pets. Most of the time it is just the meatiest bones I can give. Dogs really don't need meat without the bones as much as they need raw MEATY bones! I'm in the process of trying to negotiate a second fridge and a freezer so if that happens, I'll be switching over to (I hope) a full-on BARF diet as against the 3/4 raw, 1/4 dry that I'm currently using.

The actual NAME for the condition is balanitis and it is very very common. It is simply an inflammation of the penis which causes a pus type discharge. Easily treated and although it often does recur, it isn't a life-threatening thing and rarely escalates into any serious. Usually the dog doing his normal "housecleaning" will take care of the problem but sometimes there may be something as minor as a stray bit of hair or a teensy bit of grass that irritates things so that the normal cleaning practices don't work. Flushing as you have done is one of the most effective treatments. If it doesn't go away or seems to get worse, then on VERY rare occasions an antibiotic might be needed, but that is very rare indeed.

Something that may influence the decision. Check with any prospective employer about what should happen if your animal passes away. One of my puppy people had pet insurance for his ACD puppy with Medibank Private. It was costing him around $30 per month. Sadly, due to genetic issues, his puppy had to be euthanased and he was unable to cancel the pet insurance so he has been locked into paying a policy for a dog that is no longer alive. AND the policy didn't pay anything out towards the health care of his puppy either. He has pretty much been paying for nothing. He is trying to negotiate a transfer of the policy to his new puppy but they aren't looking favourably at it at the present time. So read all the fine print before you sign up.

I have only used them once...maaaaany years ago (like about 23 years ago now ) and I STILL have vivid memories of the green, smelly puppies that arrived. Not meconium green, organic green. And it didn't do a darned thing for the bitch as far as I'm concerned.....each subsequent litter was delivered in the same manner without the benefit of the green overtones!

I tend to weigh up the risks of disease vs the risks of having an unsocialised dog and the socialisation wins hands down. Far more important to avoid having an emotionally crippled dog for the sake of a couple of weeks of isolation after a vaccination. I don't recommend any puppy go to places of high dog traffic unless they are held in arms but even that can be weighed up by assessing the actual place. For example a shopping mall that is cleaned daily would have slightly less risk than a dog park or a beach. Personally, once the two week window has passed after the first vaccination, I would say to get the puppy out and about WITHIN REASON and increase the exposure more with each subsequent vaccination. After all, many of us show baby puppies at 3 months of age and that is usually well before the final puppy shot and a dog show could be reasonably seen to be a hotbed of potential health issues.

My Stafford "poisonous plant" litter was conceived on a cricket pitch somewhere in country Victoria. As they tied, the smartarse dog owner yelled out "HOWZAT!" You gotta do what you gotta do when and where you can do it!

Thankfully that rule is only in Qld. The rest of Australia isn't quite as archaic now! :D

You may also find that they will simply post you the registration papers and that you will have to effect the transfer. You will know that this is the case if the registered owner shows up as being the same as the breeder. They will have signed the back of the transfer however. If this is the case, you complete your details and forward the registration papers to the CCCQ with the prescribed fee. The papers will be sent back to you showing you as the registered owner. I don't know how Qld works, but if you wish to show the dog in the breeders' name until the registration is transferred, you can ask the breeder to write a letter authorising you to sign entries on their behalf until the transfer is done. Or alternatively, they can send you some signed entry forms.

Here are my 2010 hopefuls. Ellz Through The Looking Glass (aka Bad Alice). Ellz Can't Fight The Moonlight x Casabey Gaze On Me Ellz Forever Now (aka Roger). Westrova Stoic Ironbark x Preitor Midnight Reign Ellz Flame Trees (aka Flame). Westrova Stoic Ironbark x Preitor Midnight Reign

Exactly. Foot placement will come with experience. It's more learning the commands and that you want them to stand still. My old Stafford Reginald was one of the best free baiting, self-stacking dogs that I have had the good fortune to handle. He'd walk into his stack and I just had to look at any foot that was out of place and move my head ever so slightly for him to shuffle it back into place. He'd also bait off a wriggling finger which was handy. Teaching them to catch bait is a good trick too. If a dog is built correctly, when they move forwards and upwards to catch the bait, they will automatically drop themselves into place. Editing to add: And Reg was funny with shop windows and mirrors too. We used to live in the centre of Hobart city when he was a youngster and I'd use the black windows of the old Myer shop to train him. Whenever he saw a black window, he'd set himself up and admire himself in the window! And he used to go running up the stairs of our old house in the city (an 1835 convict-built townhouse) and into the front bedroom to set himself up in the wardrobe mirror there. He was so vain. You have to know Staffords to really appreciate his antics! :D :D

My horses are purebred, registered Arabians. My indoor cats are purebred, registered Devon Rexes. My barn cats are moggies who would rather BE outdoors. My dogs are all purebred and registered with the exception of Scrugg the "rescued" crossbred. Wouldn't have it any other way. I'm a snob.

My scenario is not so impossible. As I've stated, in the past, I've arranged for puppies to be collected a day before the flight and boarded overnight at the transporter's kennels so as to be ABLE to make an impossible flight time, when I've not been in a position to get there myself. And it wasn't so long ago that I didn't have a drivers licence so most of my transactions had to be at the least pick-up from my home at MY expense. There ARE ways around these things. They might take more organising and they might cost a lot more money but it CAN be done. Thank you to those who have appreciated what I have said. I'm not an ogre, no matter how people would like to present me. But I DO care about my dogs and would do anything in my power to ensure their safety even if it means inconveniencing myself with timing, transport or financially.

My family had dogs of various shapes and sizes from long before I was born. As a baby, my constant companion was a Smooth Fox Terrier named "Skippy". He used to lay at the bottom of my bouncinette and I would push off him with my feet to bounce myself apparently! When I left home, I purchased a Mini Poodle which I gave to my first MIL when I moved in with my then boyfriend but subsequently first husband. In 1986 we purchased our first American Cocker and started exhibiting and breeding. In 1996, the marriage ended and after some time spent in the USA working as an assistant to a professional show dog handler, I registered my own prefix and met my second husband. 1997 saw the arrival of our first Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Between children, house moves, moving interstate and a whole lot of other excitement, I have stayed breeding and exhibiting dogs. I'm not as "gung-ho" as I used to be but I'll keep showing and breeding until the fire in the belly disappears completely.

I'd heard from various places that worming with the tablet was more effective than either of the two puppy liquid wormers so I decided to give it a try. I wasn't at all happy with the results. The Staffords were by far one of the wormiest litters I have ever seen, yet the protocol for their mother prior to their birth wasn't altered from what I have always done and she still remains worm free (confirmed by faecal smear). As the only difference was not using the Troy worm liquid, that's the only thing I can put it down to.

I had always started worming at 2 weeks. This time, I waited until 3 weeks and hit them with worm tablets. I'm going back to starting at 2 weeks with a liquid.

I don't recall that the OP has said that Jetpets, Dogtainers or anybody else were involved. All that has been mentioned is the AIRLINE. IF one of the animal transport companies were involved then there MIGHT be some recourse, although if the transport was airport to airport then there is still little comeback. Who is crying woe me apart from the OP? I'm saying that if it had BEEN me, then I would expect backlash and I would deserve it. I can't see that deserves your little parting shot. There is responsibility to be taken all round. The only parties without any portion of "blame" are the puppy purchasers and the puppy itself and that is a simple fact whether you like it or not.

No insinuation from me whatsoever. I am STATING that the OP is partly responsible for the death of the puppy. Tough if you (or anybody else) doesn't like it. I would expect the same sort of backlash from others if it had been me posting that one of my puppies had died because I had sent it on a plane during the hottest part of the day and I would deserve it completely and whilst I wouldn't like it, I would have to take it on the chin. The airline has no duty of care whatsoever. They are paid to send freight and they do not freight animals willingly. Why do you think they are increasing their costs all the time, introducing breed bans and not freighting animals at all on weekends...it certainly isn't to encourage the shipping of animals. Animals are not shipped as "livestock" they are shipped as either "same day" or "next day" FREIGHT. It wouldn't matter whether it was a puppy or a container of crayfish, the onus is on the person shipping the consignment to make a booking at a suitable time of day for the individual consignment and in the case of a live animal that is NOT in the middle of the day in a hot state in an Australian summer. The loss of the puppy is regrettable and I do feel for the puppy, the owner AND the OP, but the OP has learned their lesson the hard way at the expense of the puppy. That is the saddest thing of all. This is not the first time an animal's life has been lost and it won't be the last but there ARE measures that can be taken to ensure that a puppy arrives at its destination in a healthy condition and some of the practices named in this thread will certainly do that, whilst others would not.

I start stacking my babies very young. Not physically forcing them into shape but just encouraging them to stand still by themselves and be four square and allow themselves to be touched all over and have their feet and head and tails touched and fiddled with. This doesn't make them sour, it just helps them to avoid the "silly wriggles" that most puppies get into if they aren't accustomed to being asked to stand still. I also find that by doing this it helps with grooming, nail clipping and vaccinations, worming etc. To me it is just part of the "normal" handling of a very young puppy. Editing to add an example: This is a puppy which is 3 weeks and 6 days old. I'm doing the "holding" and taking the photo as well. You can see how calm and relaxed he is.

It will be interesting to watch what Par Avion do in a week or so when I send a puppy to Flinders Island. I have to drive to Launceston to send him off (about 2 hours drive from here) but it is only costing $33 for the freight so I can't complain too much.

My Stafford puppies started gumming on their first crushed necks at about 4.5 weeks of age. They'd actually stolen a whole one from Koda and showed their appreciation of that by sucking it to smithereens so I gave them some of their own. By 6 weeks they were eating them in the blink of an eye!

I put a smile on two lovely little girl's faces today! :D They thought they were meeting a friend of mummy's at the park to have a play date. Little did they know that their play date was their brand new puppy! I don't know who was more excited, the parents, the children or the puppy. It was certainly a sight to behold and more than one of us got a little teary at the excitement! :D

Don't want to scare you but it could also be an avulsion fracture. Basically, the ligaments holding the kneecap in place pull away from the bone and take some bone flakes with them. IF that is it, you could be up for some rather large $$$$$ to repair it. It is very common in smaller breeds of dog. I hope it is something simple and easy to repair. Whatever it is will probably require at the very least crate rest for a few weeks to avoid aggravating the problem.

I know how you feel. Have had a couple of emails like that in the past week and the delight in watching one of my puppy people drive away with the BIGGEST sh*t-eating grin on his face. I commented that if he kept smiling like that he'd get arrested because people would think he was up to no good!

Anecdotal, but very much lauded internationally. http://clubs.akc.org/astc/health/astchlth/folic/ For example, Staffords are very prone to cleft palates. I've only had ONE cleft and that was before I started the folate and that litter also contained my only set of Stafford undescended testes as well which could of course be coincidental but you never know. And likewise, my only set of undescended testes in American Cockers in 24 years was in a litter that I didn't own the bitch prior to the litter being whelped so she didn't get folate at all. Her subsequent litters haven't had the problem.