SparkyTansy

What about giving breeders a call and advising them that you are interested in a mature bitch? They might not advertise and rely on people to contact them.

inez, if you are a breeder over 25 years, surely you would have seen this yourself? There is no guarantee for any puppy with potential to be shown, unless you have a crystal ball! as a breeder you can only do so much and the rest is a gamble... Two dogs with good hip scores might still produce a pup with HD A puppy might not have both testicals descend Feet, coat, pigment, ears, eyes can all change - nothing is a guarantee!

just finished bathing!! I'm stuffed, and I let Spartan inside while i was finishing James and Spartan got into the pantry, polished off the biscuits, and knocked my full vegemite jar onto the floor

That photo is beautiful valley!! I'll see how i am going and let you know - i have a busy work week next week.. grr I clipped spartan tonight. He was being sooooo good too. Bath tomorrow and for James too, then James clip, and Ari bath and nails :cool:

:cool: Mirawee!!!!!! Valley yes I am doing the royal I am the one responsible for the benching form this year so i'll need to get you to sign it before i send off my entry

Ner Ner RS - you saw how useless Ari was!! she is way too distracted to contemplate retrieving i think... and battling seasons etc is just a pain in the butt. honestly i wish i had more time!

I just don't think it's worth it to try and prove... as someone else said, beat them with your non-enhanced dog.

A group ride would have been awesome - i can't believe how many have shut down now I went riding with my MIL only a few years ago. She got off her horse to lead it cos it didn't want to go in the right direction, and she couldn't get back on!! Mirawee that "bitza" is just beautiful Mas I am sorry to hear about the ear infection - i am sure it will clear up soon. don't forget it still really is a season change so this time of year is tough on all of the poor allergy dogs (spartan is struggling at the moment to get on top of his ear infection). Valley contact the tracking club i think they sell harnesses directly. They have a website with contact details. I really want to try tracking with Ari but because i missed the tracking days cos she was in season, and now she is having a phantom and can't concentrate for more than a few seconds, i can't really give it a go. When her phantom is over I might start some practice with her so Valley maybe we should get together and givee it a go?then one of us can be a tracklayer.

P.S ;)

wish i had time and $$ to do riding lessons ;)

megan it isn't against the CC rules in WA - we have to register all live puppies but we don't have to give out the papers for them. The rule was only fairly recently changed over from the rule that stated you didn't have to register all puppies, so I think that the mindset of some breeders is the same. Techinically, the extra cost shouldn't come into it ifyou want limited registration because their puppies should be registered. What you need to do is tell the breeder that you are interested in dog sports and would require the paperwork in order to join as a full member so as to not hve to register their purebred puppy as an associate dog. If you find that this breeder appears ethical and fair in other ways, don't write them off, but do make your needs clear when it comes to getting the papers. Edited to add: because i didn't realise that the breed was an amstaff - i'd definitely ensure that the papers were provided in this case.

I actually cant see why the breeder wouldnt' want to supply the puppy with it's limited register papers unless they are not planning on paying to register it at all. In WA you must register all your puppies and yes in WA you don't need to give out the papers however I can't see why you wouldn't? the benefit of having these papers ravenau1 is that you can join DogsWest as a full member and you can do dog sports and competitions with your dog. If you don't have papers, you will have to join as an associate member and your dog will not have it's registered name listed. By having the papers it is also a confirmation to you that your pup is 100% purebred and you have that paper to prove it.

yep this certainly isn't a treat for the dogs that probably need boredom busting the most!! my three will get the treat out in a matter of minutes and it's over with... The only dog i know who didn't work out how to get the treat out was my sisters OES who really doesn't require distraction when left alone!!

There was an article on Catalyst a while back talking about this. Researchers had found that dogs with long noses and eyes on the sides of the head had focal regions of the retina arranged in a band across the back of the eye so responded to movement all the way across their field of vision whereas flat faced dogs with the eyes oriented more forwards had circular focal areas more like humans with the same poor peripheral vision so seemed to respond to things they could focus on in the centre of their field of vision like movement on a TV. The theory is that the long nosed dogs are better at hunting, because they can see prey clearly right across their field of vision, whereas the short nosed dogs, generally bred as companion animals, may be better at focussing on and reading human faces. You can find the transcript of the article here. This was a very interesting article for me to read. I attended a lecture not long ago which referred to the studies involved. It refers to not only skull structure but the study of the retina. What was not discovered until later is that some breeds (mostly retriever gundogs), not only have the longer retina band but a widened area in the centre of the band which enables them to have both good distance/movement vision but also see things in more detail, hence the reason why many gundogs are excellent hunters but also very human oriented.

SP HUGE congrats to you and Ziva - what a fabulous win!

BB correct me if i am wrong but I thought that the Cavalier didn't require trimming at all?(sry slightly off topic!) I enter under most internationals... however I know which countries i have a better chance with based on my dogs type... but i still find most internationals will give you a fair go and in most circumstances, they take different types into consideration and follow the ANKC standards.

I went along to the first one and it was very good Highly recommend it!

ncarter - i dont know much about toy dogs but the best thing to do is to look at what people use in your breed in the ring, to get the best idea. But at the end of the day, it's always going to come down to what works best for your dog and looks the best. I had to try several different types of leads at different ages with my weimaraner girl... I've never seen leads with metal parts and angles! I'm intrigued

Just wondering how many of you that were given a wrong diagnosis, and went for a second opinion advised/complained to the original vet practice?

My fave pair of show shoes look a bit like those sketchers ILDD, except I got them from Kmart I think! two years on still going strong and i can throw them in the wash if i need to Best twenty bucks i ever spent!

This is called soliciting appointments and is seriously AGAINST the rules!!!! That would NOT be a good thing for her to do at all!!! I am a licensed judge in several fields, so am very aware of the rules pertaining to the soliciting of appointments]. I have also served as a committee member of a group club and as a president of a breed specific club and any judge who did what you proposed would have her profilie go in the bin and would stand the possibility of being reported to their kennel club. Sorry to sound harsh, but I would not want that to happen to your friend. Didn't know that, sorry no worries! So putting your profile out on the internet - stating breeds and specialist breeds... not the quite the same thing or still frowned upon?

it's a frustrating process to get UK judges approved in Australia... which is probably why not so many are invited. I'd suggest (if it's a breed specific appointment she is after) sending her profile to breed clubs who would be in charge of appointing judges.

Weimaraners and Weimaraner Longhairs can be interbred. You can have LH and SH in the same litter. They are registered as either weimaraner or weimaraner longhair and are shown separately... The reason they are allowed to be interbred is because of the very few LH there are in Australia. The ratio is still very small and yet they are trying to change this. Hopefully they won't be successful.... With the Intermixing selection, not sure 100% but I remember reading that there were some unusual problems in the US with weims when they tried to breed out the LH completely. LH are a disqualifying fault in the US and not shown.

That setters are stupid - especially the red ones

Just a bit on the Wei we had. We took her on as 13 month old dog. Her previous owner had her titled in obedience! She settled in like a Gem. Never a problem. Not particularly needy. Very easy to train - but then she had been trained from the word go and needed very little to make her fit into our life. She was an outside dog. Although we do have a slab on ground house and she was always only a matter of a couple of metres from us just outside the kitchen door. Always close, but not under foot. BUT - being sighthound, her recall was a bit less than I was (and am) used to with say Poodles or Dobes. As a guard dog - totally useless. But she did do her job of keeping the birds away from our windows. She was also an escape artist. Fortunately, being on a rural residential property, the electric fence fixed that. She was also dumb. She would get out through the fence and not be able to work out how to get back in again. Idiot. Fortunately, our neighbour on that side would call us and help put her back on HER side of the fence. Pre-electric fence days, that is. She did like to dig a cool bed in the garden to settle into when we were out. This had to be out the front where she waited quietly for us. The full brick kennel was just not good enough. But not much other damage. After re-homing dogs as well as bringing them up from pups, I'm totally taken with re-homing them. Our last one (Kaisie the Dobe) was quite a challenge as she did not have the level of training the Wei did - but it has its own rewards. Anyone seeing her with me these would have no idea she was a re-home job at FOUR years of age. She is more "velcro dog" than the Wei ever was. My first dog ever was a pure bred Poodle, totally neglected, with bad canker in the ears. It took her less than a week to win over my dog averse father. ;) There are many, many advantages to taking home an adult dog as opposed to going through the puppy thing. :D As Monah said, Weis are NOT sighthounds... they are high prey drive dogs who were originally bred as blood trackers who would also bring down large game. They were later toned down in order to become a useful breed for smaller game, and hence became useful as a gun dog. They are still used in Germany today to track larger game. Germans will not allow ANY weimaraner to go to a home that does not plan to work their dog in hunting disciplines. The weimaraner breed is NOT dumb. They are an incredibly versatile breed, and the fact is, the breed needs to not only be independent to achieve their job, but they also need to have high intelligence in order to do it. This is one of the reasons why a Weimaraner is not a breed for everyone. As I have said in my previous post, they were bred by the germans to be the constant companion, hunting and protection - rarely kenneled, they lived inside with their family. Their absolute desire to be with their people is paramount, and that is why it is not the breed for everyone, and not everyone understands their needs. They not only require direction in order to be a good companion, but they require good leadership. Weimaraners have a reputation for being high strung, dumb and/or stubborn. Those who describe the breed that way lack understanding for the breed or met one who has lacked the leadership they require in order to be a good companion. Forgive me for trying to stand up for a wonderful breed who still retains its instinct to do what it was bred for. It's funny how the breeds bred to do a job in an independent manner are often given the label of dumb... setters, for example... instinctively RANGE out in order to locate and point game... recall, and listening to direction? well not so good is it? They aren't dumb, they are wired to do a job they were bred to do. The same could be said for sighthounds and scenthounds... And yet all these breeds are owned by thousands of people as everyday companions... because they understand the breed, and they make allowances for that breed. If you understand the breed and make allowances for it, it can be a good companion.