sandgrubber

I was talking to a guy who is trying to make it as a Labrador breeder the other day. He said he left what he thought was a dead pup with the mother overnight and came back in the morning to find all pups alive and suckling.

Has anyone ever seen any estimates of how much councils spend on dog issues? I mean including pounds, rangers, pooh bag provision and cleanup. I doubt dog registrations cover the cost, especially in places where the minority of dogs are registered.

The Group 3 classification that gets ne is that American cocker spaniels ARE considered gun dogs. Sure, old time clockers were used as gun dogs, but I doubt that anyone uses the derived breed for hunting. I'd love to hear about it if I'm wrong. When I see those little guys trotting around the ring with their hair brushed out so it sweeps the ground, I can't help thinking what a mess of burrs they'd become if anyone took them into the field.

She got a lot of publicity....US National Public Radio carried the story on the morning news today. Their take was that its just the beginning of the battle between brick and mortar stores and e-marketing.

Why are oldies succeptable and not young children? Given the way puppies serve as kid magnets, you'd think that kids would get Campylobacter infections on a regular basis.

A couple years back I was looking into the safety of using glyphosate. Found the actual trial results. They fed a bunch of beagles straight glyphosate at absurd doses over several weeks and got no immediate effect and some possible organic (kidney?) problems from long term high dose exposure. There are people who seem to enjoy making mountains of molehills...and probably some mountains that have been made into molehills for wont of attention. Glad your boy is ok.

I'd suggest re-posting this in the Breeder's Forum for best chance of feedback from people who have encountered similar.

I don't doubt that such things happen. But how often do we hear about the more common event, that the dog just stood by when the owner did him or her self in?

As I understand the Philippines, there's a serious problem with excessive wealth of the few, extreme poverty of the many, and dogs being used to keep the poor from stealing from the rich. The county I lived in in California had a couple of problematic imported Belgian Malinois. These were police dogs, imported from Europe as trained adults. They escaped containment and killed a few dogs. As I remember, both dogs were PTS after killing other animals. It would be interesting to know if the dog in question was an imported guard dog owned by a rich family. I don't think it's a breed specific problem, but I think there may be a few irresponsible breeders out there putting dogs with unstable temperament, or selling dogs as guardians who have not been properly trained. Given popular distaste for the modern show standard GSD combined with desire to adopt the 'new' alternative has put the Malinois in a position to suffer from people capitalizing on inappropriate breeding/training of guard dogs.

I am no expert on Borzoi, but know that many breeds make claims for long-standing breed standards, eg, Pekingese claiming to date back to some Chinese standard written thousands of years back. These usually don't stand up to critical review. Google fails to turn up the 1650 standard. The most detailed description of Borzoi history I could find says:"It is sometimes said that the first Borzoi standard was written in 1650, but this is more of a description of the breed than what modern day dog fanciers would consider a Breed Standard. " It would be interesting to see a translation of the 1650 "standard".

Long ago I worked for a biochemist whose cats were named Estrogen and Androgen...shorten to Ester and Andy.P.s. both were neutered.

Was a Pointer called Major the world's first pedigree dog? Historians uncover the earliest attempt to define a canine breed standard Major was described by John Henry Walsh in an 1865 edition of The Field It is believed to have been the first attempt to define a dog breed standard Walsh was aiming to end disagreements over the judging at dog shows Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2288465/Was-Pointer-called-Major-worlds-modern-dog-Historians-uncover-attempt-define-dog-breed-standard-based-physical-form.html#ixzz2Mis0hoX3

I once bred a bbEe bitch to a dog who was had been genetically tested for color and came out as BbEe. In a litter of 10 there were no pups that were bbEe or bbee. I calculated the odds of this at 1:1000 and contacted a different company, who agreed to do an independent test. When retested, the dog came out as BBEe. I don't remember what companies they were. Point is, sometimes genetic tests give wrong results. No one seems to be monitoring them, so lapses in quality control are possible. Reporting to OFA and CHIC are a good idea and do provide some protection. But it could cause a lot of problems if a popular sire got reported as CLEAR for a recessive condition when he was, in fact, a carrier. We don't know how often this has happened.

I've moved to the US from Oz. I find that in the USA as compared to Oz, vet costs here are higher, dry dog food prices cheaper, raw food prices are MUCH HIGHER, and puppy prices MUCH MUCH cheaper. Go figure. I can't make sense of it.

If you want to improve the site for your breed, they seem to be open to improvements. See:http://www.comparecanines.com/home/discuss

There is if you want it to grow and develop properly Or if you want to show her. Of course you can simply lie and say she's entire.

Fun site but not to be used uncritically. For example it implies that Labradors are 'slow to put on weight' I'd say it was right in 9 out of ten for breeds I know and checked (where right is defined as 'agreeing with me').

Exactly. I think it's a real problem to be breeding dogs that have very low thresholds to aggression. Raineth are you talking Breed Specific or dogs in general??? Please elaborate. If you are talking breed specific are you aware of the Breeds exact purpose and what they were bred for.(and before anyone jumps up and says the Bullmastiff was only breed to pin and hold their prey then I suggest you research the breed carefully) If you are talking dogs in general then once again please elaborate. I do not condone any action that these dogs have performed but I think people need to be aware of what they are saying before they say it. Any dog can have aggression. ANY DOG(not breed) CAN HAVE ENOUGH AGGRESSION TO SERIOUSLY HARM A PERSON. Some dogs would have to be pushed to rediculous extremes to attack a person. Others will 'go' if someone pushes the wrong button. These things are not breed specific, but do have breed tendencies. There are legit reasons to breed dogs that will attack. What good is a guard dog without teeth? Or a guard dog that offers its tummy to strangers? As I see it, the problem here was not the dogs, it was the fence and the owners lack of adequate precautions. If you live in city or suburbs or are likely to have people walking by your property, and have 50 kg dogs with guarding tendencies that are easily triggered, you MUST have fencing that is beyond sabotage. You should have double gates, too. And if you fail to install adequate precautions, you should be criminally liable, as well as vulnerable to large civil lawsuits.

I have cared for many special needs in an ordinary boarding kennel. We were usually able to serve special needs without a lot of special charges because the staff was experienced and our relationship with local vets was extremely good. A few pointers. 1. Your going to do much better getting experienced, attentive care in a low season (Ie, not Easter Holiday, which is VERY hectic for most kennels).2. Some vets offer boarding. Their kennels are often quite confining, without a lot of room for exercise or recreation. If they don't have 24 hour service, dogs may be left overnight with no one on premises. But they are in a position to professionally monitor problems.3. Have a good talk with the owners. Make sure that the staff who will be on duty are not casuals without a lot of experience. Look for experienced dog people with a good arrangement with nearby vets. Make us someone goes through the kennel at least three times a day, and is willing to agree to do specific checks or treatments on your dog when they go through the kennel.

Personally I don't think breeding aggressive tendencies out of specific breeds for "the general public" is the solution at all. Some breeds aren't suitable for ownership by "the general public" and breeders should man up and take responsibility for placing pups in suitable homes instead of being ruled by the all-mighty dollar and selling to anyone. And part of the blame needs to land squarely at the feet of people who think they have the right to own whatever dog they want regardless of their ability to control and care for it properly. If the general public is generally ignorant, your placement of blame will logically lead to BSL, to protect people from their...and their neighbors....ignorance.

Oh for God's sake .... Firstly, to state that a dog is savage, aggressive or any other similar terms ignores the fact that this is a dog who has stood many times for total strangers to approach and open its mouth to inspect, then for them to move to the rear and touch his testicles. Aggression can be a contextual state. If there was agitation by an intruder for example. if that attempted intrusion resulted in a gate latch being disabled and then dogs get out , then they could be in a different state even compared to discovering an unlatched gate with no owner/pack leader around. To see such dogs playing together and with strangers dogs in a yard and at shows, doesn't mean there will not be a situation such as this tragedy. there may be other situations where that aggression saves the owner and family from such an intrusion. this needs a balanced discussion, not reaction that is even more removed from the incident than the newspaper reports. I agree. I think many top show dogs (and ppedigree pet dogs) in breeds with guarding or fighting in their breed histories could potentially end up in the same situation. I. Don't think BSL is the solution, but some measures to breed out aggressive tendencies in dogs for the general public, and regulate ownership for dogs with lethal potential is needed. Hard to do, given how badly governments do with dogs. But it would be good to have greater pressure for selection for temperament, and transparency about dogs whose temperament requires skilled handlers and good fencing.

There's a 12 yr old Boston who comes to the same dog park as I do. She had to have BOTH eyes out last year. It's a big 13 acre fenced dog park...members only...so dogs are well behaved. This old girl walks all around the park off lead, slowly, and you hardly even notice her handicap. Her owner says it sounds like an awful operation, but really, it isn't that bad for a dog. After all, it's pretty common for eyes to pop out on pugs and other bug-eyed breeds. The surgery is minimally invasive. Hope it turns out to be nothing, but the case you're worrying about isn't that bad.

Yes its extremely dangerous. Not to the person having the vaccine, they are ok, but dangerous to the australian population as a whole if production of this vaccine is increased. In order to produce this vaccine, animals have to be kept infected in Australian labs. Killed virus vaccines can be imported. I can't see any danger in doing so.

One way . .. . if you give the dog an anti-inflammatory or other painkiller and it becomes much more lively or acts happier, you know it's in pain.

I'll bet it was one soft hearted, muddle headed person who made the decision . . . .not the ASPCA as an institution.