sandgrubber

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?

double posted ... please delete. My system is behaving badly with DOL forums. Won't let me edit as I post. The only way I can work with text is to put something up and then edit it with Quick Edit. Is anyone else having this problem. I think it started when I went to Mozilla 3.6.

My experience with hounds in general is that they are inclined to follow their noses everywhere . . . sometimes ending up far from home. Our neighbourhood basset when I was a kid always wandered off to the local elementary school when he got out, which was regularly. Is the Fauve a typical hound in this respect?

Extremist infiltration would explain a lot of things. Also suggests that the way to make the RSPCA more reasonable would be to get involved.

My vet says forget ten days . . .don't encourage heavy exercise, but walking is fine after a couple days provided your girl wants to go.

Mighty interesting, Amanda! Looks like the pet insurance business doesn't reflect anything about purebred dogs generally being riddled with health conditions. Insurance companies base their premiums on risk assessment. Insurance companies base their fees on what the market will bear. This is even more skewed in their favour with so few re-inurers. Australia does not appear to have an open market. What on earth does postcode have to do with anything. SG you are probably correct but it still sounds like stereotyping and price gouging to me. It is stereotyping and price gouging. That's a basic part of marketing.

The conformation show ring is not designed to be a temperament test. . . . one reason that I'm not a big fan of shows as a way to select the best dog. Many great dogs find shows boring and do not sparkle. The show-off attitude that makes dogs sparkle in the ring isn't always associated with temperament that makes a good companion or a good working dog. Breeders should consider more than show results. But I don't think judges should try to do temperament assessments . . . other than throwing out dogs who show aggression, etc. I agree with that to a large extent with some breeds, where the breeding of show dogs is affecting the breeds integrity when conformation has a priority above all else. You agree with what? Logical development of the PDE report would have breed standards changed in ways that pay more attention to health . .. . and have judges still use the written standard and still judge on conformation. Not, as stated, that judges fundamentally change their attitude and put less emphasis of physical traits. And . . . of course . . . breeders should consider other things than the parts of conformation that can easily be evaluated in a show ring in making breeding decisions, eg, favour bitches capable of free whelping. The RSPCA would like to see a fundamental change in the attitudes of show judges, with much less emphasis placed on physical traits.[/b] There is more to a dog's compliance with the breed standards than physical traits which I believe needs to be taken into account by the judges. A dog may have an excellent conformation, but if the other aspects that make up the breed standard for example temperament which is not desirable, the dog shouldn't be winning shows, which they often do.

Given how brilliantly local governments handle dogs, I wonder whether we should be moving hospitals to local control.

I agree with that to a large extent with some breeds, where the breeding of show dogs is affecting the breeds integrity when conformation has a priority above all else. You agree with what? Logical development of the PDE report would have breed standards changed in ways that pay more attention to health . .. . and have judges still use the written standard and still judge on conformation. Not, as stated, that judges fundamentally change their attitude and put less emphasis of physical traits. And . . . of course . . . breeders should consider other things than the parts of conformation that can easily be evaluated in a show ring in making breeding decisions, eg, favour bitches capable of free whelping.

What's this 'they' business. There are all sorts of cabbies . . . . some will refuse to pick up a drunk. And for someone from a non-dog tolerant culture, picking up a dog probably feels like it would to someone who hates snakes to pick up a person holding large python. Not to say I agree with the cabbie or he didn't deserve a fine. Just that some people end out learning the hard way. If it's a first offense made in ignorance, no big deal. For all we know the cabbie didn't know what a guide dog is, and thought the blind person was drunk. They will pick up a drunk from the pub with "i'm gonna be sick" tatoo'd on their forehead, which they do all over the back seat, but they refuse a dog as it may drop some hair A bit of dog hair on the seat is far easier than cleaning up a good chuck.............doesn't make sense, especially a guide dog which is someones eyes

I'm sure he or she probably learned a lesson. tolerance. Lots of cabbies are new immigrants and haven't yet learned the rules.

The public also don't know that a Golden Labrador is a Labbie X Goldie. I get lots of puppy buyers looking for golden Labradors and get bored with explaining. And it puts me off a bit that the Retriever breed section on the general forum seems to be golden retrievers, while the Labradors have their own section. It's not just Joe Public who gets the terms mixed up, and this sort of topic naming on a Pedigree dog forum doesn't help. Not to be a grouch or anything.

I took a marketing course a long time ago. Postcode is a good predictor of ability to pay. As for the breed list, most of them are expensive dogs to purchase if pedigree . . . and have some high maintenance/expensive vet bill factors . . . APBT -- I'd guess they're pretty robust and healthy on the whole, but hell, they're declared dangerous, so why not soak 'em for a few quid. Still baffled by the GR. Mighty interesting, Amanda! Looks like the pet insurance business doesn't reflect anything about purebred dogs generally being riddled with health conditions. Insurance companies base their premiums on risk assessment. Insurance companies base their fees on what the market will bear. This is even more skewed in their favour with so few re-inurers. Australia does not appear to have an open market. What on earth does postcode have to do with anything.

Inability or unwillingness. I am a pretty lax on rules/boundaries myself and will defend my right to be so. I don't care if the sofa gets ruined or the floor dirty. Consider it an opportunity to find out whether your BF and you have similar enough standards to continue the relationship . . . or perhaps you're better off in the 'just visiting' style of bf/gf relationship.