sandgrubber

Call the manufacturer or the store you bought it from. Btw, you can buy a new one for $220 from whelpingsupplies.com.au That is assuming you have RTFM'd. These days you can usually find the f'ing manual online. Just google the manufacturer.

Deaf puppies often compensate remarkably well. It's common for deafness to go unrecognised until the dog is a year to two years old, and it clicks with the owner that the dog may be disobeying voice commands because it can't hear. Dogs pay a lot of attention to body language . . . deaf dogs often get sit, stay, etc. from inadvertent body language, and in general are quick to learn hand signals. The problems come when the dog is at distance and may not be looking your direction. Also, deaf dogs are in more danger of getting run over and MUST be kept away from roads. Not that any dog should be allowed to wander onto a road. You may not find you have to do anything special . . . other than not blaming the dog for not understanding voice commands and making double sure it doesn't wander. (Based on experience with placing a Lab pup whose deafness wasn't recognised until he was two, and talking to a lot of people and reading what I could find at the time in effort to help the owners. I ended out providing them with a second dog to serve as a 'hearing ear' for their first dog. A deaf dog will often learn to rely on another dog to make up for its own lack of hearing).

So, what's new. The RSPCA here puts you on a long, long wait list if you want to turn your dog over for rehoming. That's just a polite way of saying, 'go elsewhere, we're full to capacity'. If they are full to capacity, that may be the right thing to do.

Lacote has spent, literally, hundreds of thousands of dollars importing dogs from the US and elsewhere and has definite opinions of the type he admires. If you like that type and have the money, I would say, go ahead. Chocos are selling for $1500 standard in WA and I think in many other urban areas. They are not rare, but they do cost more to breed, as, at least in WA, it always means doing AI and stud fees are often higher. Lots of breeders are using the dogs from Lacote these days. I think it is legit for someone who has made a major investment improving the breed to charge a premium. There are a handful of people working hard to improve the quality of chocolate Labs in Australia . . . historically there have been a lot of chocos with health, temperament, and/or conformation problems. In the US, UK, and Canada, and to some extent, Canada, work on breeding excellent chocos is much advanced. Breeding for colour is fine so long as your are not breeding for colour at the cost of health, temperament or conformation. Black is the original and dominant colour for Labs. We have yellows only through a century of breeding for colour . . . and I'd say the standard of yellows is as good as that for blacks. I see nothing wrong with bringing the choco up to the same standard and using the fact that people are lining up to buy chocolate pups even at a premium price to pay for the extra cost of working with a colour where, at this point, high quality often requires use of a distant, often imported, dog. It will not be done without a few people spending big bucks importing quality dogs (and occasionally bitches).

+2 If you want to mininise aggression, work to get them to like one another . . . walking as a group is a good exercise. Separation often increases aggression. In boarding kennels I often find that dogs will fence fight in a most annoying way until I open the gate between two yards, and then they just ignore eachother or the aggression turns to play. + 1

I've been scratching my head as I read these posts, wondering if we've all been deceived by the so-called 'premium' dog food lines. I don't think we know enough to answer. The stories in this thread raise questions . . . .but it would be useful to know about all the dogs that were raised on cheap biscuits and scraps that didn't live to a ripe old age before coming to conclusions. I'd guess, on average, the long lived dogs discussed in this thread were born 20 or more years ago. At that time I'd guess there were a lot fewer options for dogfood, a lot less hype to buy the expensive stuff, and a lot fewer people pushing natural/wholistic diet for dogs. So the stories don't tell us much about which diet is healthier.

I've been told that dogs secrete something that smells a bit like corn chips between their toes . . . it apparently serves some sort of appeasement function in dog communication. My dog trainer/friend told me this . .. I think she learned it in NDTF classes. I wouldn't bother trying to wash it off . . . just stop smelling your dog's feet if you don't like the smell.

How tragic. Poor everyone. I agree on trying again with Petplan. If they are offering six weeks free insurance, but no coverage for the first three weeks, they're being pretty deceptive . .. and perhaps the pro-Petplan position taken by many on this forum should be reconsidered.

The 21 yr old scotty that used to live next door was fed supermarket food and table scraps throughout his life.

All my dogs are chipped and registered with an Australian microchip registry. What happens if I go to the USA? Can I get the chips scanned and enter the data on a North American microchip registry? For that matter, what happens if you import a dog into Oz? Does the European or US chip number get transferred to the Australian registry?

If you're friends with any local breeders, a lot of us keep a stash of Clavulox (or Amoxiclav). If you're in a dairy area, you might look for a large animal vet rather than the usual . . . they know LOTS about mastitis.

Yes, breeds are changing, as is the mix of breeds. I have Labbies. I think the breed is popular because Labbies are usually low aggression and good with people . . . easy dogs to live with. In the days when retrieving was more important and dogs were valued for retrieving, selection was for dogs with strong drive and good endurance. With more pups going as pets, the pressure to select for drive is off, and more laid-back temperament is often perferred. It's easy to find Labs who won't retrieve . . . and you occasionally find one who doesn't even like to swim. Sure, some of this comes from training . . . but you will also find it runs in certain lines . . . even when the breeder who has the stud dog does retrieving and values working dogs. Early in the century, I doubt that a dog who hated water would have much of a career as a stud . . . however good his conformation. . . . especially if he threw pups who disliked water. I'd be interested to hear the equivalent story from a SBT breeder. Staffies and Labs are more or less tied for numbers of pedigree registrations in Australia. Seems to me that the Australian staffie is much more of a larrikin and much less tough than the SBTs found in Europe and the US. I'd guess there has been breeding down of the fighting nature and bringing out the waggy comic aspects that make the SBT such an endearing breed.

Wondai. Wondia in which state? If it's in QLD , no help here. If it's Wondai WA, that's just down the street and I might have some way to help. PLEASE mention what state when posting on DOL. Lots of states have places with the same name.

in a decent world he would not have been put in this position. I think it's a bad sign of the times that a dog jumped a fence and killed another dog. It's totally off that the kid who tried to protect his dog is subsequently held up for questioning. J.H.Krist. If some farmer shot a dog that killed one of his sheep there'd be no question and the owner of the killer dog would be in some sort of a pickle. No one would be saying 'perhaps the farmer opened the gate and welcomed the dog in'. Who cares what breed. I don't.

I have it, but find it only allows me to feel guilty about forgetting the birthdays of people whose birthdays I'm happier to forget. The world doesn't need more facebook. I know I'm an bitchy of grooooouch. But I don't need or want superficial pats on the back. Grump. Grump. Growl. Grump.

Tears for the separation time and ouch for the dollars. Pets can cost a bundle . . but if you love 'em it's worth a bundle. I'm very glad in this respect to be leaving Oz rather than coming back in. I wouldn't be willing to put my friends through quarantine . . . much less pick up the tab for doing so.

The post was about a quarter cross, by definition, an F2 hybrid. It's fine with me if the Labradoodle ends out a breed. There are great things about Labs and great things about poodles. It's going to take more than F1 to end out with a stable variety/breed/whatever. I, personally, have no objection to the concept of a labradoodle or a spoodle. I object if inferior dogs are mated to inferior bitches in the hope that 'hybrid vigor' will take care of deficiencies in sire and dam. But I think new breeds should be allowed to evolved as suits the social circumstances of the day. Sure won't be done with F1 crossbreds though. And you have to define type before you can settle it. With the current "Labradoodle standard" you can have pretty much anything in terms of height and coat. At least one "Standard Labradoodle" shipped west was PTS aged under 5 from severe HD. Her owner was on here for a time.

Jeez. Would be nice if there were such a thing as a qualified 'behaviouralist'. Lots of us seem to have a silver bullet, but no way to assay the bullet to be sure it's really silver.

In defense . . . many of our breeds were cross breeds at one time. I get oodles of oodles in kennels. Some of them are LOVELY dogs -- and some are disasters. If the best of 'em could be settled into type would be a great breed. Have a chocolate standard poodle Labradoodle in at the moment who moves beautifully, has great bone, and has super skill relating to both people and other dogs. Not a gutser like many (most) Labradors. Not as aloof as some poodles. I don't think breed is a museum piece. DD's for profit with no attention to health, etc. is a problem. But there has to be a way for new breeds to emerge to suit the changing needs of changing times.

Another possibility is that she was mated early and it took. . . she is prego but not five days overdue. I agree with others about seeing the vet. But the situation may not be dire. + 1

I have an all girls pack of six Labs, one desexed, two pups, three brood bitches. They have never had a minor, much less a major skirmish. They seem to sort pecking order out by who pees on top of who's pee and who scratches the most furiously after marking. I'm not advocating anything. Just saying dogs are quite variable, even within a breed, and when you have to speyed girls of different breeds, lots of things could happen. I agree with others .. . advice from an experienced person would be good. Given that 'behaviourist' is something anyone can call themself, I'd say pick and choose and before calling the person out, sound them out as per the situation on hand.

If interested, I'll be glad to provide a reference for a Perth + South behaviourist who is pretty new and trying to build up a clientelle south and far south of the river. In my experience she's not the best sit-stay-heel person, but very good with dog on dog questions. Im in Bunbury.... I seperate them by about 3 meters but will do one inside the other out from now on.

I have nothing constructive to add, other than loads of sympathy. No helpful advice. My mother had a lovely dog whose 'Achilles heel' was arthritis of the paw. I do sometime worry that we place too much emphasis on hips and elbows and pay to little attention to the whole dog.

something about DOL software and my browser is not working. Sorry about the duplicate post.

My girls crunch roo tails like they were popcorn! I've fed loads of load bearing beef bones . . . they hand around for a long time and become 'toys' after the marrow has been cleaned out. I've never seen a tooth harmed. But the vets always comment on how clean and white my girls teeth are. Mostly we do chicken frames . . . clobbered with a meat clever for little guys or pups. I have Labbies . . .but will feed chooks, chrunched or not to many breeds. For me the biggest concern is fat content. Lamb flaps are often disgusting in this respect. It's so hard to keep some dogs lean. The last thing they need is an extra kilo of very fatty bone.