Lowenhart

I think the anonymous letter is great. I got a few weeks back due to one dog whinging incessantly for 2 and a half hours. I was mortified as I had just "popped out" and the dogs are normally very quiet. I wish I could have thanked the letter writer. Though I guess not everyone feels the same. I was just so glad that it didn't get as far as being reported to the council and I made sure that it didn't happen again! Letting the neighbour know that there is a problem is the best step. Sometime people forget that what happens in their yard can be heard beyond the confines of their fences.

I don't list the price to purchase a puppy on my website. Lucky I rarely ever have any for sale... I find listing prices tacky. It's a living breeding animal not a washing machine. Emailing to ask for a ballpark is fine, even the one liners. I have a standard text that basically says "Tell me about yourself, this breed may not be suitable", if they reply back with more info then they get a price for a dog suitable for their needs. In breeds like Afghan Hounds, the purchase price is insignificant to the amount of money you pay out to keep them looking like Afghans and I spell that out when mentioning the price. I generally charge at the lower end of the spectrum. I prefer to pick and choose the homes and not be held back by the selection who can afford the cost. I have however seen breeders who charge much more denigrade another breed solely on purchase price - they implied that selling a dog at less than the first breeders pet price meant the dogs were lesser quality than the first breeders pets. I kid you not. Some countries charge tax on the value of the dogs imported into their country. I had a stand up fight with officials in one country over this, with them claiming they got the price from "my website". The dog was a GIFT but they wanted to charge a large wad of money in taxes and held the dog to ransom. When listing a price you are assigning a monetary value to dogs that isn't as reliable as non-ANKC people think. I try to explain the "value" of my dogs as such - If you were to steal my imported Lowchen he would be worth very little, $300 or so, in resale value as you would need to steal ownership of his ANKC papers as otherwise he is just a little adorable fluffy dog. But his replacement value is around $12 000, that would be what it would cost to buy and transport something equivilant to him in pedigree here in Australia. But what is the dogs true monetary value? What I paid? What he could be resold for? What he costs to replace?

I prefer email initially and then will discuss via the phone. I do list my mobile on my website as it's my primary phone number and found it hard to discuss puppies or homing adult dogs whilst standing waiting for a train I work so with emails I can at least sit down and read them in my own timeframe. But if the website says "Phone Only" or "Email Only" you should try to follow which ever direction it states.

I charge more for show potential puppies. The price of my puppies has slowly increased over time, so they don't cost the same they did 5 years ago but what does? Yes all puppies cost the same to produce which is no where NEAR covered by sale price. I have invested years of my time to research, travel and import. When I sell a show potential puppy I am selling not just the puppy infront but the generations of selective breeding and the potential to go on to utilise the genetic material I have put together. There is VALUE in that and I make no qualms in charging more for it.

Puppy Farming and/or Milling is the large scale production of dogs for profit. These run as businesses, with large numbers of breeding females and significantly smaller numbers of males. These puppies are intended as pets sold through Petshops, websites and classified advertisements. Backyard Breeders are small scale breeders, who have a handful (or less) breeding dogs and produce puppies regularly but not as a business venture. They are not interested in producing show or performance dogs, and sell their puppies through local petshops, classified advertisements and in many cases by "Puppies 4 Sale" signs permanently erected outside their house.

Compulsory desexing won't stop people relinquishing their pets because it doesn't address: 1. Difficulty in finding accommodation that allows the keeping of dogs (think a marriage breakup, leaving an existing home due to abuse, change of work location mandating a move to another town/city), especially affordable accommodation. 2. Sale/Transfer of pets to impulse buyers who aren't aware of the full extent of their commitment or full and accurate disclosure (ie "Yes! Maremma's are just like Golden Retrievers but bigger" or "We don't have time to play with him..."(which means he is a chronic barker and digger who will need to be completely retrained) 3. The mass production on pets by licensed businesses I don't believe in compulsory desexing. For a few reasons: 1. Limits the ability to form new or resurrect existing breeds. What would have happened if compulsory desexing came in before the Tenterfield Terrier was acknowledged? And the development register was opened on Stumpy Tailed Cattle Dogs? Non-ANKC breeders and owners were needed in both instances. What will become of "Murray River Curly Coats", "Koolies" and "Smithfield Collies" or another type of dog that was developed in this country? 2. It forces breeders to hold on to more and more potential breeding stock lest it go to a non-show/breeding home. The ability to place potential breeding stock in non-showing home is utilised extensively in Europe and gives breeders the option to choose from a large number of dogs. This is most important in rare/unusual breeds were the gene pool is already small. 3. Dogs require hormones to develop physically. No one age can be deemed to be the ideal to desex for ALL breeds. 4. It is unenforceable. No one can know with 100% accuracy that a bitch has been speyed without opening her up. Not all dogs are registered with councils.

Have you tried rewarding the dog for putting it's head up. When the head goes up, mark it with a happy "Yes" and give food. When the head is down, give a light tug - as soon as the head is up say "Yes!". It is an art to run, look at the dog and slip it food but it does work

Not all elderly blind dogs get grumpy. I find the grumpiest dogs are those that are dealing with constant pain. They will strike out before something (or someone) knocks them, they growl when touched and have very low tolerance for anything. I know I get really grumpy when in constant pain. If I had a snapping dog I'd relook at their pain levels. Maybe have them relooked at by a vet, try some other remedies and maybe up the dosage of pain medication.

For the first couple of weeks, puppies are just blobs so there isn't much point people coming to visit them. I will allow people I have previously screened to see them at 5-7 weeks of age in a very controlled environment. After first vaccs I take my pups out and about to visit. If someone just wants to sticky beak, I don't let them come. While I have nothing to hide, I am an extremely busy person and I don't need strangers coming through all the time. They can meet me at a show if they want to check out the breed.

I'd try it on a longish leash first. So dog is looking elsewhere, call her name and give another command like "here". Tug her towards you and feed her. Then just let her look around and see the world and then do it again. Then get a much longer lead (flexi lead, rope tied to the leash) and do the same - let her wander, call, say "here" and tug the leash (if needed) to bring her to you. Feed (and praise) when she gets close enough. She has to know that coming when you say "here" is beneficial. To start off with only use that command when you are going to feed/praise her. When she's reacting well to it then you can start calling her in from zoomies or barking. Never punish her for coming back to you, even if she was misbehaving beforehand.

Whisper in a Pixies Ear Word of Faith Got it On Faith

They could be cold. Warm babies rarely cry.

Lowchen burp, a lot. If you ask them a question, 8/10 times the answer is a burp.

I just wanted to show you the colour of a "born blue" Afghan. :D You said earlier "A blue Afghan will invariably begin life looking like a black and "fade" as it grows." and in some instances there ARE black dogs that go blue around 12 months to 4 years, the greying gene at work! My darling old boy went blue, though he was jet black at birth. He ended up black again at the end. However there are "born blue" Afghans who are distinctly blue at birth. These "born blue" dogs point to a third allele responsible for the blue/grey in dogs (not counting merling). Yes, Afghan puppies are gorgeous, noisy hard work! I can only imagine what working at Calahorra would be like.

How about buying 2 more soft crates that sit folded up in the car? Then you just grab those ones and carry to where you want, set them up and at the end you fold them up and stow them back in the car for next time.

Blue Afghan pup, about a week old: You can see the telltale Blue/Brown cast to the coat. She was a dark blue but even when she came out of the sack she was obviously not black. All that white blazing also disappeared - still has a white toe or 2 but none of the facial blazing stayed. We had 3 Blues in this litter (from an Oyster Brindle dog to a Black bitch), all born with white facial markings that disappeared. Unfortunately I don't have any clear photos of them as young puppies.

You were not alone in moving back from the line at that show. I did the same thing, but looked up and saw him moving down the line and not running all the dogs as I had assumed. Quickly I jumped back in and thankfully my girl free stacks like a trooper - cos he was coming to us. It does pay to pay attention, but after 4 days of showing it is not unexpected to be a little out of it.

If you get a dog from Germany or the Netherlands, it can take 9 months or longer to get them ready to come over (rabies shots & titer tests then the pre-quarantine days). You may be charged a "boarding fee" for that time which will significantly increase the cost to import.

Actually blue Afghans are born blue. I've had a few and they are definitely NOT black at birth. BUT they are not genetically dd so have black noses, they do however tend to have paler eyes. The dna colour study in Afghans: http://homepage.usask.ca/~schmutz/Afghans.html

Done properly, it's only 30 days physically in Quarantine here in Australia but you have to rabies vacc, titre and then wait before you can bring the dogs back. http://www.daff.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_f...ion-package.pdf The regulations ^

http://dogsqueensland.org.au/News.aspx?id=217 The Honourable Justice Martin, when considering the evidence presented in the Supreme Court of Queensland yesterday, in the application brought by Ms Kylie Chivers in respect to her dog “Tango” against the Gold Coast City Council, decided that her American Staffordshire Terrier (commonly called an AmStaff) is in fact an American Pit Bull Terrier (APBT). Pedigreed, registered dogs owned and bred by Dogs Queensland members include AmStaffs and these dogs have many generations of recorded registered pedigree data and are bred specifically for improving type and temperament. These dogs are now far removed from what the community considers to be the typical Pit Bull. The Australian Government decided to restrict the importation of APBTs in 1956 as many had been bred to work and in some instances (particularly in the United States) that included fighting and it was believed that these dogs would therefore constitute a greater risk to people. This decision has been the subject of much criticism by dog enthusiasts over many years because it is generally believed that breeds should not be banned but the actions by small numbers of aggressive dogs should be penalised. In other words, ban the deed and not the breed. AmStaffs, whilst originating from a similar genetic background, were developed with an entirely different objective. That objective was to produce a well socialised sound dog suitable to urban living. Our responsible Dogs Queensland member / breeders have worked tirelessly over many years to achieve this objective working at all times within a clearly defined breed standard. The American Staffordshire Terrier breed is recognised internationally and this unexpected decision seems to be contrary to all of the evidence that Genetic Technologies Ltd (a well respected and highly regarded Human Forensic and Animal Genetics & Diagnostics firm) has collected. GTG maintains that “they are confident and can conclude that the breed signature for APBT is different to that of the AmStaff.” This decision has significant and far reaching implications for our responsible AmStaff member breeders and exactly how this decision will affect our members and their internationally recognised breed of pure bred, registered dog is still unclear. CCC (Q) t/as Dogs Queensland is seeking urgent talks with the relevant State Government Minister(s) to discuss the possible ramifications of this Supreme Court decision. We are confident that those talks will result in a positive and manageable outcome for our members and their pedigreed registered American Staffordshire Terrier dogs.

I have to agree. Havanese are not common in Australia, breeders have spent large sums of money importing a number of dogs to ensure the breed is well established here - it is not a dime-a-dozen, so pups won't be available right now for discount prices. All the Bichon type breeds are "non-shedding" and small - Bichon Frise, Maltese, Havanese and my breed Lowchen. There are breed differences (Bichon Frise and Lowchen tend to be more rough & ready than their Maltese & Havanese cousins) but all fit your starting point. There are other breeds that fit the small "non-shedding" tag too. And as Showdog pointed out, you will have ongoing grooming expenses for any non-shedding breed. This has to be factor in if money is tight.

Just to reiterate - importing a pup from the UK will cost you a MINIMUM of $4 000. Purchase Price + Vet Fees (for bloodtests, vaccinations, microchipping, export check) + Governement Handling Fees (on both sides) + Freight Costs (Crate & Flights) + Import Permit + Quarantine. Realisitically it can run to $7 000 or $8 000. Your best to start squirriling away to buy a locally bred dog.

I've owned some scented dogs - they've smelled kind of like a musky mandarin. It is strongest when they haven't been bathed and it has always been on a single spot on the skull.

I don't know what happened with the registration numbers, just that the dog was renamed before it went into the studbook. I am 99.99% sure you can't rename after they are entered in the studbook. I find the adding of non-breeder's kennel names perplexing, especially AFTER the dog is already registered. Oh well, each to their own