sandgrubber

Might be worth putting a note up on the DOL rescue forum. I know there are a lot of people out there who love GSDs, and many of them are quite skilled at handling dogs.

Nature, like ourselves, is infinitely wise except when she is stupid. (some also say Mother Nature is a bitch). Sounds like the bottom line is don't count on the 3 yr routine for a brood bitch. Thanks, everyone, for info.

Labradors seldom loose their appetite and tend to live true to their reputation for eating almost anything they're fed. I find this is usually continuous through puppyhood. I don't remember ever having a puppy buyer call and ask "why isn't my pup eating" or reporting fussy eating problems.

I have heard rumors to the contrary for WA (eg, older bequeathed dogs being pts). I don't say the rumors are true. But would advise checking around. I would guess that each state RSPCA, and each shelter, is different, and lots of things change over time. I would agree that the best option is to find a family, cause most shelters are stressful.

Titres are far more likely to say you need a vaccination when you don't than to say you're safe when you're in danger. So there's nothing wrong with a club accepting titres. I also think they may be useful for pups between 14 weeks and 14 months when a parvo epidemic is going on, especially for breeds that are notoriously sensitive to parvo. My vets tell me that parvo mortality is unacceptably high in this age group because the puppy vaccines occasionally don't take. I've never got a clear answer as to why . . . mostly shrugged shoulders + "maternal antibodies". p.s. I'm not an expert on this, but just have a science background and have done a bit of reading and consulted a few vets.

Thanks, Mita, for posting the Norwegian guidelines. I think most of them are great . . . though because I work with a very common breed with no shortage of genetic diversity (Labradors), and quite a few obviously 'pet' quality pups coming through, I can't see any reason to include 50% of dogs in the breeding population. The p.s. about honest, cooperation, inclusion of science, etc. is especially valuable. Rules can only go so far, and often backfire. Right-headedness is a much better way to go.

I would ask a no-kill shelter. In anything but I no-kill shelter, I'd fear that the status of the dogs would be forgotten over time and they might get pts, or separated.

Longcoat . . . the Labrador standard says dogs should be agile. The ring will sort out the real clutzes, but isn't a great way to judge agility. (Agility, or agility modified for heavy-bodied dogs would be better). Likewise, a gun shy gundog can do fine in the conformation ring. That's why there is more than one kind of showing, and why many people look for dogs with both working and show credentials. My biggest gripe about the ring is that evaluations are too frequent and too superficial. Transparent, written evaluation against set criteria, as used in most professional evaluation systems, would be much better than a parade around the ring. Particularly for newbies, it's important to know why a given dog won and another dog didn't. . . . and to know where an objective expert thinks your dog shines and where his/her faults are. The other side of that gripe is time. An average of 5 minutes per dog is barely enough to evaluate physical conformation. How are you going to add serious looks at health, temperament, and working ability without making shows unbearably long. If I ran the circus, which will never happen, there would be an opportunity to get a dog evaluated every year, or every few years. You'd get a written evaluation and scores on different evaluation criteria. Evaluation would be against the standard, not against the other dogs in the ring in the day. You'd have to pay for it cause it would take a bit of time to do and the person doing it would have to be skilled. That would go into something like a portfolio, which could be made available to prospective puppy buyers or prospective users of stud service. Health could be included in this . . . or, better, tracked via some sort of open health registry system.

The AVA is now telling us that, once past 14 months, three years is often enough to vaccinate in most circumstances. We're also told that the antibody level may go down over time but memory (or T?) cells continue to provide protection after the antibody (and titre) levels go down. Does anyone know how all this relates to the maternal antibodies in the colostrum? Can a bitch produce maternal antibodies from memory cells? Or are we better off continuing annual vaccinations for brood bitches?

Viva barked at it. She thinks she scared it away.

Fortunately it was a leather sofa. Wiped up well. The towel went in a bucket. The bucket will go on the plants. I think a little taste was enough for the dog. Oh dear!!! Peeeeew!!! eerrmm- how on earth are you going to remove the smell??? Hope dog didn't drink too much - it probably will have some dire effect

Do pounds desex? I thought rescues desex, but most pounds just try to get the dogs to a home . . . preferably their own home . . . and if homing and rehoming fail . . . to place them with a rescue org.

Thanks for posting. great story.

New report on my Lab's DIY dietary supplement program . . . she has taken on the program cause I've got her on short rations to get some weight off. Two days ago 300 g of butter disappeared. I'm now keeping the bread, butter, etc well out of reach. This arvo I came in the house and what do I find spilled all over the sofa: a litre of Charlie carp. Apparently it smelled good but the taste was too strong. If you feed a Lab less, do not underestimate the lengths it will go to to try and make up for the calorie deficit.

I follow my vet's advice (all of them agree, more or less). I now do close to 8 weeks, 12 weeks, and 14 months. After that I go to 3 years. The 14 mo jab MAY be good for life, or for well over 3 years. The AVA's recommendation is to be conservative and do 3 years: there may be reasons a vet will alter the schedule. Who knows, may turn out that some batch is bad or some strain of Parvo may get past some vaccines. So the basic rule is follow the vet's advice. I have had a bad time with kennel cough vac. I had a litter of 10 vaccinated and all of them got kennel cough from the vaccine; and the next litter of pups all got it too. So I'm not enthusiastic about C5, though I may decide to use it on a whim from time to time. Mostly I just do C3's. Many vets aren't that enthusiastic about KC vaccine if you can get them to talk to you frankly. That's an interesting point sandgrubber. Can I ask what your vaccination schedule for puppies to adult dogs is please.

I honestly thought MDBA Pacers had something to do with racing, and have deliberately ignored posts about it. I don't know if others have done the same, but there may be an image problem arising from the name good to know it is there. www.mdbapacers.org.au

Reasoning by analogy has strong emotive, but little rational power. For people who care about cruelty to animals, it seems to me that the options are to start a new organisation or reform the existing organisation. I'd also say that many of us contributed to the corruption of the RSPCA by apathy in years past. Bashing provides no constructive alternative.

To the contrary, I find that the more vets know about titre testing, the more they are against it. The problem is that titre goes up when the dog is mounting a defense against the pathogen. So high titre may mean the dog has been exposed to parvo and his immune system is up and running, or he was recently vaccinated. There seems to be much variation in how long it takes for the titre measurements to come down. Low titre is hard to interpret: It may mean no immunity, or it may mean that the immunity rests in more subtle memory-based immune responses that mean the dog is fully capable of fighting the disease, but does not have active antibodies. Many excellent vets find Dr Dobbs unconvincing. p.s. Do you know of any GP who recommends titre testing kids for measles, mumps, rubella and polio? The biology is much the same.

bottom line. To loose weight FEED LESS. And with a Labbie, make sure he/she isn't making up for reduced Joules by scarfing something on the side. My girl who's on a diet stole 300g of butter from the counter yesterday.

Good on you. Good luck. You'll probably be surprised at how fast they bounce back and move on to trying to keep them from exercising. My vet says simple walking is fine a few days after for girls, immediately for boys. The official word is usually 10 days, but that includes a large amount of caution.

As a breeder, I rarely part with an older dog without shedding a tear. But if you keep keeping a puppy, you end out with too many dogs, and some of them would be happier being in a one or two dog family and getting lots of attention. I think it's a good idea to make sure you can do a 'try out' . . . and return the dog after a week or two if you and the adopted dog don't work out. In my experience, adoptions work well and the trial period is merely a safety valve for both the breeder and the adopter. If the try-out option is available, I think a lot of people would be happier with adopting an older dog than a young pup.

According to a local RSPCA basher, the RSPCA have been known to take a major (not millions, but big sum) donation in a will where the person specified it was a bequest to ensure that her dogs were cared for when she died. The RSPCA had the dogs pts. I don't know if it's true, but could be. Bigger picture. If the RSPCA is corrupt, it's much more constructive to either start a new anti-cruelty org, or work for reform of the RSPCA. Bashing the RSPCA isn't helping. There is a lot of cruelty to animals in this old world, and some sort of organisation is needed to fight it . . . and pick up the poor battered pieces. And there are lots of animal lovers willing to contribute toward such a cause.

They are controversial, and best used with help of a qualified trainer . . .but in my experience prong collars get amazing results. Instant compliance. After a week or two, you can go back to a regular flat collar and you get no tugging. They look like instruments of torture, but if you put one on yourself you'll find they give a firm correction, but don't hurt. (Hard to buy in Oz. I brought one from the USA and got help from an NDTF certified trainer in learning to use it).

Depends on what you feed. I can feed a Labrador for around $1/day if I go to the $1/kg biscuits (a mixture of several good quality biscuits, so may be some puppy, some big dog, some small dog) from the seconds pile at the local biscuit factory and feed chicken carcasses, horse carrots, and a bit of left over this and that and some garden veggies. If you need flea treatment, add another $1/day. Heartwork chewies are relatively cheap, and I get my worming tablets by the hundred (at around $2/ea). So the base cost will ring in under $3/day. BUT, add some veterinary bills, say for cruciate surgery or fixing up a car accident (knock on wood), and you end out with $5 to $10 a day on top of the base costs. Btw. In my experience, some breeds (eg GSP's) eat a lot more than Labradors (without getting . .. not fair, say my Labbies). No one should take in a dog if they're not in a position to pay, either for insurance, or for an occasional large vet bill.

I was surprised in the dogs 101 discussion to read that the breed standard for the Fauve says they should be without dewclaws (from birth). Didn't know dogs were ever born without dewclaws. Are there other breeds that don't have them in the front?