sandgrubber

Not to mention that girls in whelp and nursing are given special considerations -- as must be. My dogs do not seem to expect equal treatment. I think this "all created equal" stuff is a human invention that we need not teach to our dogs.

I run a boarding kennel and don't like noise. I don't find an easy solution. Some things that help: - if some dog likes to bark at some other dog, park them far apart - make sure dogs aren't barking out of some distress (eg separation anxiety . . . sometimes pairing a barking dog with another dog they like stops the barking) - if you can identify a culprit/ringleader -- in consultation with the owner -- use a bark collar. I used to think this was a no-no in a boarding kennel, but I've found that most owners are happy to have you use the device once you explain how it works. I think it wrong to use one without asking the owner, however. - make sure everybody has a full stomach at meal time. Hungry dogs bark more. I feed my mob and let them out before sunrise as the worst barking is between sunrise and when they arefed/ let out. The best solution may simply be a good set of ear plugs.

I'm sure there are confrontational people who select for confrontational temperament and bring out the aggressive side of their dog's nature. But just as many who tire of their tough front and who view their dogs as outside all the human nastyness . . . someone to play with or someone who gives unconditional love. And in the boarding kennel I also get softies who allow their dogs to go feral and end up with much more aggression than they bargained for.

good advice above. Note that the vet bill will get much higher if you postpone treatment. If infection gets into the inner ear it can mean big trouble. I know someone who made that mistake and if I remember right they ended out with a three figure vet bill.

Well stated. I was going to say something similar . . . though I am not clear why, say, a four year old dog who has had rabies vaccine annually still requires a month of quarantine. I grew up in the US. Annual rabies vaccine was required (dogs have to wear rabies tags . . . not ID tags and council registration.). Record keeping is good. I would think that a regime in which breeders do some sort of verifiable annual vaccination might be an adequate substitute for quarantine. might add that other rabies free zones have similar restrictions, eg Hawaii. Also that our rabies free status puts Oz in a position of being able to export without quarantine to many places. I have a worried feeling that the Hansa virus might compromise Oz' position in the quarantine game.

lots of good advice above. May also be worth noting that puking for a dog isn't the same as puking for a human. Some are natural regurgitators . . . some bitches puke up food for their pups . . . if energy levels and other signs of health are ok, I wouldn't worry about a little vomit. It may just be part of a digestive system learning to deal with new things.

Eating grass is very common and there are a hundred theories about why dogs do it. Personally, I think it's part of being a dog and I'm not sure it means anything. I don't know much about Japanese Spitzes or "biscuit" marks, but doubt if the veggie thing is breed specific. My dogs like carrots, cabbage, broccoli, and a lot of other veggies. I don't know if it does them any good, hope it does. At least it seems to do no harm. They still eat grass, though.

out of curiosity, is keeping dog off the counter considered a dog sport my little devil doesn't get on the counter . . . she just takes knives and spatulas off of it and takes them into the garden for proper cleaning.

It could be argued that most dogs are pups for their whole lives. The evolution of Canis domesticus out of wild Canid stock seems to have involved neotony . . . that is prolongation of infantile characteristics into adult life . . . particularly with respect to behaviour.

Agreed, Corvus. My four girls lick one another's mouths back and forth with no clear hierarchy. They are a tightly bonded lot . . . when one whelps others get milk and will share in feeding the pups. Mouth and ear licking seems to be part of the bonding. Why? Whether or not something is scientific depends on the quality of the observations and questions asked, the rigour of the testing, the openness of the mind, the honesty applied to in attempting to falsify the hypothesis. Not to the pomposity of the language used. Fear of appearing to be anthropromorphising is likely to lead to pretentious words and closed minds.. . . and timid and boring research papers. We are animals, and it is to be expected that we will share many attributes with other animals. Affection is a reasonable word to use for bonding, and few would doubt that bonding of various sorts is found in mammals and birds. Granted, many people do try to map human emotions onto their dogs, often with bad outcomes. But I got no sense that this was happening in this thread. Sorry if I'm overreacting . . . but I spent many years teaching in the sciences, and few things get up my nose more than people trying to be scientific by using jargon and scientific sounding phrases . . . rather than by asking questions and gathering facts to try and answer those questions.

Sounds like the collar had him well trained :laugh:

Thanks everybody. I've been in touch with K9 force and am still trying to figure out what the best strategy is. I'll probably end up doing the correspondence thing. It amazes me that people will yank a dog around with a choke chain and think it's humane, but a bit of a tingle with an electronic gadget is viewed as cruel . . . or cheating.

Pond water is great!!! We don't understand this human thing about "clean" water. signed Monica, Jarrah, Molly and Rainey sorry there aren't any paw print smileys available.

I don't think this fight is worth fighting. KC vaccinations help occasionally and to a degree. Likewise flu vaccinations for people. I'm happy to take flu vaccine -- or I was when I was teaching and exposed to a lot of flu. Likewise, I'm happy to pay the price difference between C4 and C5 to hopefully buy a little protection(I run a boarding kennel and live in a kennel zone, so exposure is widespread). I think the fears about vaccines are exaggerated. . . as do the vets I respect. If someone insists on a C5, I'd go the C5. Most of the dogs who come to my kennel are C5'ved and owners report no problems. The only vaccine nightmare I've heard of from clients relates to a pup who nearly died of something akin to distemper from the distemper part of the C3 treatment . . . I allowed that pup to come in with a C1 (parvo only) and a note from a vet to cover my backside . . . but distemper is almost unheard of in Perth, so the risk was trivial). On the other hand, I've had pups get KC from the inhailed vaccine and much prefer the jab. If people want to ask questions about vaccines, I don't know why they focus on the KC part and not distemper What I REALLY worry about is parvo ... .

Hey guys, has no one studied basic physics? Radiation is everywhere. The sun irradiates us every day. The earth re-radiates the absorbed radiation as heat. Please be specific about what sort of radiation (frequency, wavelength, or whatever) and what magnitude . . . otherwise the whole thing collapses into mumbo jumbo with no scientific merit.

The 7:30 Report last night showed some sad photos of pets harmed by toxic foods, with limited discussion that seemed to implicate irradiation in the case of one food (Orijen?). I don't understand. If all imports get irradiated, why haven't we seen massive poisoning from Eukanuba, ProPlan, Science Diet, etc.? All of these must be getting the same treatment.

I find it a bit sad that there's nothing local. Do people think there's any hope of training up someone . . . eg, taking advantage of k9 force expertise? but getting a group together? btw, I was first impressed by e-collar training on a forum for Chesapeake Bay Retrievers. High drive dog, much more alpha tendency than Labbies. Poorly suited to WA because their coats are very thick and they are water nuts . . . not to mention being a bit hard for the average Joe to handle. . . so I settled for Labbies. On the Chessie forum, someone was talking about being able to halt a Chess mid-retrieve and get it to respond to a recall. Others confirmed the experience. That is impressive.

I breed Labs. A pup I bred went deaf. He went through obedience training without having anyone notice the problem. Just picked up on the ques. You may not need any particular support other than a trainer who uses hand signals as well as voice. Depends on what you're after for results. The big problem with deaf dogs is that they 'loose contact' when they don't see you . . . so off line may be a problem. It may be helpful to find a 'hearing ear' companion to provide your deaf pup with canine guidance in situations where auditory information is important.

I'm having recall problems with a small pack of Labradors who would enter the gates of hell if there was a dead rotting rabbit corpse on the other side. Not to mention ducking the fence of a neighbour who doesn't like dogs and has a rabbit warren in his yard. I'm not a training nut. I don't care if they sit properly at my left side . . . I'm not doing obedience competition. . . I just want them to be safe and not cause problems by going into the wrong places or bothering the wrong animal, eg, Mr Tiger Snake. Bottom line: I need a method that will work under high distraction for multiple dogs at distance, and being an impatient sort, I don't want to spend years of regular training to get a result. Months is ok if I see progress from the start. If it costs a few bucks, it costs a few bucks. Better than having a big vet bill or a major heartache cause the dogs took off in the wrong direction. After some study, I conclude that e-collar is probably the method of choice. Does anyone know of a trainer in Perth metro area that would be helpful? Or might the distance education route be equally satisfactory?

Do you have the numbers from X-rays? Mild ED commonly translates to a score of 2 . . . which isn't pretty on the Xray but often shows no clinical signs (ie, no limping), especially if the dog is kept lean. In any case, keep the dog on the underweight side and encourage muscle development that will compensate for joint weakness -- swimming is great. Excercise on soft sand is also good. Stay away from running on hard surfaces, jumping, and exercise that is likely to involve twisting at a running pace -- eg, fetch.

I'm a Lab breeder. I don't have problems with overly mouthy/biting pups of my own, but do get a few calls from puppy buyers about pups that like to bite. Labs are mouthy dogs. They play with other Labs for hours in mouth-mouth games . . . I've never been able to figure out the rules of the game, but they love it. The pups I raise do this with the older dogs and everybody is happy. I think it likely that a pup on its own will try to fulfill this mouth-contact drive with people . . . with bad effect. This thread will be a great resource for people who have the same problem as you . . .thanks for putting it out there . . . and thanks to everyone who has contributed. edited after reading thread further.. .

PLEASE ADD LOCATIONAL INFORMATION TO YOUR QUESTION. (ie, Where the hell are you?) I don't think you want information about supplies in Perth

I don't know if there's any link, but I've had similar problems with two Labradors in Perth SOR. Severe itchyness as well. The bald spots appear where they scratch (either by chewing or scratching with hind feet). I think there's something particularly nasty in the saliva of the fleas we've got this year or something. I hope I can get a handle on it by giving flea treatment more frequently, but Murphy previals: My bulk order (jeez that stuff is expensive when you've got a lot of dogs) has gotten delayed by Xmas postal mess. Aloe vera (fresh from the plant) seems to ease the itching. Prednisolone seems to help, but it's not something you want to use regularly or long term.

I go through a 20 kg bag of carrots in about a fortnight . . . between myself and four Labradors. I chop the carrots coarsely. Take the better ones out for cooking. Highly recommended as a food for weight reduction . . . the dogs don't seem to get a lot out of them .. . . but they enjoy the chew.

Hard question. I wish we had something definitive to go on, but it all seems to be opinions based on small sets of observations taken from one person's perspective. I've gotten good/excellent hip/elbow scores on the last several Lab pups I've raised. These are the concepts I use. 1. exercise isn't bad, and straight, as opposed to twisting, jumping, or jarring motions, build up muscle, which will tend to build a balanced frame for bone growth. Soft sand and/or water are great because they make the pup do a lot of pushing while cushioning impact. Ball chasing can be dangerous because it tends to lead to twisting. 2. never force the pup to do anything, and never rev up its enthusiasm for chase, play, etc. to a high pitch where it will let its drive overcome its natural caution 3. build up distance with walks. Mine will go a few kilometers at six months, at a slowish walk, on lead. At nine weeks you don't want to do walks at all . . . by 14 weeks you might start little ones. Self-paced exercise is best for the first four months or so. 4. if a pup's bones are so fragile that it can't endure normal puppy play, we are doing something very wrong as breeders. As a breeder I decided to avoid the kid gloves approach and take anything that couldn't stand normal puppy play out of breeding. I don't know what the shaking behaviour you're describing is. I don't recall seeing such a thing. I look forward to seeing how others answer. I would recommend putting the question into the health section, however, as I suspect a lot of people who might have useful answers don't read the puppy problems section.