Lowenhart

Nice to hear! Good luck with the babies

Angel Eyes is a useful tool, when used with a holistic approach. Good food (no colours, no allergens) Good water (no plastic bowls, clean/fresh) Good coat husbandry (quality shampoo to clean it up, followed by quality conditioner to protect it) Making sure that the dog has healthy teeth (staining increases during teething, and if the dog has problems with gums, teeth and sometimes ears). I've used angel eyes successfully on a dog with tear staining. He had a clear ACES eye exam, he just spontaneously started staining without a change in food. A course of angel eyes got it under control and he was given probiotics when the angel eyes was done. His eyes stayed white after the angel eyes was stopped. I've also cleaned up dogs without angel eyes - a dog came to stay with a totally red face started to grow through pure white by just being kept on good quality food, washed and dried properly and kept on rain water. Some dogs need a little push to get the yeast under control and then the "normal" non-drug methods work.

Parents can give an indication but one of the features of "hybrid vigor" is that the offspring grows bigger than it's parents. In true hybrids like Ligers/Tigons, the offspring heavily outweighs the biggest of the parents species. So whilst you can have 2 small sized examples of a breeds, the offspring of a cross will likely out grow them both. In breeding 2 of the same breed together, you can get diversity in size. Usually this is traceable with sizable ancestors. A kind of "throw back".

I had a bitch with bloody discharge for 8 weeks. I got her put on antibiotics at that stage. She was fine and produced 2 more litters. It was another 5 years until she got pyometra.

I give my dogs grapes very occasionally. Half of one will not cause harm, I will give 1 or 2 and they are fine.

The chiro may have done some soft tissue damage to the support tendon or ligament for the patella. At this stage I would treat you dog like it has had soft tissue damage. Restricted exercise, anti-inflammatories (if possible) and heat/cold treatment. Once movable, the knee will continue to be more mobile HOWEVER getting the soft tissue healed and back doing its job will stabilise the joint and minimise the symptoms you are seeing now. I have a strong dislike of any chiro or manipulator who plays with patellas. It's not a proper joint, it's a piece of bone held in by a groove and soft tissue. Not something that needs cracking back into place. I'm sorry this happened to your girl, GoldenGirl85. Let the chiro know they injured your dog.

Steamy and Dreamy :D

I do not own or breed historically docked breeds. I do however believe in the right of CHOICE, and that it is not a cruel practice. Some links for you: http://www.cdb.org/index.htm http://www.cdb.org/countries/sweden.htm

Your boy has loads of growing left to do and he needs his hormones to keep it all in check. I would recommend leaving it as long as you can, 18 months sounds good. But I do suggest you keep up training and manners as you will have one big strong guy testing his boundries in no time at all. I have heard of testicular cancer in 9 years plus entire males. He should be fine until 18 months.

LOTG - There are some really tricky Lowchen bitches. I know, I have a couple... If you can get in touch with the breeder of Lola's sire, she'll know a hell of a lot of the history in Lola's pedigree. Sorry she s being such a bugger. As her 2 of her sisters have pups on the ground (to males that live with them) I'd be wondering if you were just unlucky. Either that, or you need a male around 24/7 to get her knocked up. Hugs.

Patellas can be checked by a general vet and as part of the puppies health check prior to sale. Some breeders can offer letters provided by their vets to prove the results. I always recommend puppy buyers take the puppy to a vet of their choice for a good health check within a couple of days of purchase. Unfortnately I do not know enough about Silkies and their breeders to recommend anyone.

There are plenty of breeds that don't find homes easily - Fox Hounds, Afghan Hounds, Saluki, Pharaoh Hounds, Ibizan Hounds etc. Basically most of the Hound group. If you have those sorts of breeds, you set yourself up to kiss all the $$ you know you will lose just to get your next generation on the ground (whilst praying the litter size is small). Just add the extra costs of yearly "breeder" registration, ontop of the ever increasing canine control fees (breeders prefix, membership, registration) on dogs that will at times be given away, or that you will hold and advertise for 10 months. One more nail in the coffin. This sort of legislation makes it EASIER for large scale farmers. They register multiple breeder numbers and just register to the quotas on each. It's an extra cost which means they just pump out a few extra pups to cover the situation. Small scale breeders who actually have the time to spend with pups to raise them properly will just find another hurdle in their way. Dogs as pets will be only able to be sourced from the huge farmers and accidentals that end up at the pound because the owners found out about fines/registration/fees after they are born.

Can I just add at 7 months, I would not expect a puppy to be an angel. Add the upheaval of the move, this dog could be acting out. It sounds like she is not putting any work in at an important time in the dogs life. She's got to engage with the dog or find someone who can.

I outcross a lot. In Lowchen I have imported 2 males who are not related to my own lines for at least 6-7 generations and these 2 are vaguely related around the 5th/6th generations. I do have a really nice bitch at the moment who is linebred to my own stuff, the first time I've done it (though others have linebred to my stuff) and her parents are 3/4 cousins. She is a solidification of what I like about my lines (though COI is 5.27%) and I'll use her to mix in some new stuff. Try to pick somethings I lost, and mix try to pick up what I'm missing. Always in my mind is my ideal specimen. So the aim is to get to that. Sometimes it is about just getting 1 or 2 things from a breeding, or to try and get back something I lost when trying to gain something else. Breeding is a gamble, you win some and you lose some. You can't gain a trait if it was never there. Simply doing an outcross, linebreeding or inbreeding won't change that.

There are no required health testing for registration. The majority of breeds are the same. Doesn't stop breeders from testing for things anyway. All toy/small breed pups (and their parents) should be tested for Patella Luxation. It's not breed specific, and can happen in almost all of the small breeds (and their crosses!).

Actually Oakway the originating registry doesn't care about your membership number, the dog is registered into a name and address. They don't recognise (or bother with) foreign membership numbers. dwilds I suggest you sign up soon and make the most of an almost full year of membership. You will need to be a member to register your import here, you will need their quarantine release paperwork, freight notes etc as well as the endorsed pedigree from the country of origin.

How many Great Danes are running through thick scrub? Fighting dogs were also cropped to prevent the opposition grabbing their ears but dog fighting is banned in this country so there is no basis to crop for prophylactic reasons. Gun dogs are still regularly used for their original purpose, and in some areas where docking has been banned for a number of years, working gun dogs have been given a loop hole to allow them to be docked. Of course hunting is being severely restricted too so it won't be long til that is banned as well.

It's more complicated then just linebreeding versus outcrossing. You have identified the traits you want, do they exist in the bitches lines? If no, then there is no reason to try and line breed to it. If yes, where is it and why is it there (where did that dog inherit it from). That might be what you would want to "linebreed" to. You have to try to find a stud that has those traits, who's pedigree has that trait otherwise you won't get what you are looking for. My dogs have low COI % in both my breeds. I outcross to lines that have what I need but aren't that dissimilar in style to my own dogs. When I can say "That dog is so reminicent of my dog X but has a better Y" then I tend to use it I breed similar phenotypes that are not neccessarily related and get quite good predictability in my litters. And I'm happy with the results.

Docking of tails for prophylactic or therapeutic reasons is NOT illegal. There is no prophylactic reasons for cropping ears. Ear cropping is banned by all ANKC member bodies, dogs can only compete in performance if they come in with legally cropped ears. Docked tails have NOT been banned by ANKC member boies. For me these have always been 2 very different procedures. Tails have been docked to protect the dogs from damage historically. [i do not have a previously docked/cropped breed]

Nothing wrong with peole supporting their own. DogsQLD is collecting money from their members (and extended ANKC member bodies) FOR their members. There is the premier's appeal here: http://www.thepremier.qld.gov.au/initiativ...very/index.aspx It doesn't discriminate between pure or non-pure owners, or dog owners and non-dog owners.

Don't let any dog you can't afford to lose out of your possession. You have to be prepared that a dog put out on breeders terms will be desexed without your consent, that it's owners could move without telling you or that they baulk at letting you have that litter. If this is the only dog you have to go on with, and losing it will mean the end to that "line", don't let it go.

Mogwai!!

For a small breed you might find Patter's set up better. I do something similar for the Lowchen. I have a bottom of a PP40 which I line with paper and stack with blankets/dry bed. In winter I put a heat pad in and put the top on to keep the heat in (tho not needed for Darwin) For the first couple of weeks mum and babes stay in there all snug and comfy. Once they start moving around, the pups start to explore the area I have penned off around the crate which I have lino on with paper. They soon learn to sleep in the box and play/toilet on the outside.

fiestylady, the list of SA breeders for Cavaliers are here Edited to add - Miniatura have Cavalier pups in SA link here

Can you tell the difference between a heavy sable and a seal? Perhaps in some breeds seal is infact a AyAt dog with heavy black sabling, while in other breeds it's an incomplete covering of K black over an AyA? dog. In both cases this is possible. If the mother really is ee (born without a single black hair) then it's possible she is AyA? as well, if she is just a clear Ay, then again it's possible - for both instances. So you might want to name your breed or post in that breeds thread to get an answer on what "seal" is in your breed. Do seal dogs have black offspring to fawn/sable/black&tan partners? If so, then it's incomplete covering of K black over the Ay. If not, then it's likely just a heavy sable.