Breeding Dogs Today.

[Miss Danni]

I second the books by Myra, they are very handy and I use Myra's replacement milk formula for supplementing pups and they thrive on it

We once had a locum at our old vet that could not even successfully microchip a puppy. He had never owned an animal and was clearly frightened of our GSDs. That was pretty much the last straw for us after other issues with this vet, and we completely changed vets thereafter.

Edited August 9, 2013 by Miss Danni

[BlackJaq]

This is an interesting topic! We have a lot of BYBs and pig dog breeders who seem to use vet services for their dogs more than I would have thought (I might have been a little judgemental) as well as some pure bred breeders and my vet works lot with stock as well, so they have a lot of experience. I have never bred a litter, so I cannot say how good they are, but I am happy with their other services so far.

I have to mention we live pretty rural, things might be different in city practices.

Re hunting dog breeders. My eyes were opened a bit recently when I found out that there are some that are importing frozen semen from overseas (such as the US) and doing planned AI breedings to improve their lines - and using repro vets to assist them. Not just a case of throwing any dog together and letting them do their thing in some cases at least.

Yep, I only recently found out that the bull arab crowd actually have some serious dog people, I'd only ever experienced the red neck type who keeps a bunch of dogs chained up out back and feeds them once a week.

Just recently I have met a couple of guys who actually learnt how to properly train a dog to hunt and who are providing excellent nutrition, exercise regimes and of course vet care.... I felt pretty bad about my prejudiced views , but those kind of guys are still a minority where I live unfortuately

Edited August 9, 2013 by BlackJaq

[DesertDobes]

This is an interesting topic! We have a lot of BYBs and pig dog breeders who seem to use vet services for their dogs more than I would have thought (I might have been a little judgemental) as well as some pure bred breeders and my vet works lot with stock as well, so they have a lot of experience. I have never bred a litter, so I cannot say how good they are, but I am happy with their other services so far.

I have to mention we live pretty rural, things might be different in city practices.

Re hunting dog breeders. My eyes were opened a bit recently when I found out that there are some that are importing frozen semen from overseas (such as the US) and doing planned AI breedings to improve their lines - and using repro vets to assist them. Not just a case of throwing any dog together and letting them do their thing in some cases at least.

Yep, I only recently found out that the bull arab crowd actually have some serious dog people, I'd only ever experienced the red neck type who keeps a bunch of dogs chained up out back and feeds them once a week.

Just recently I have met a couple of guys who actually learnt how to properly train a dog to hunt and who are providing excellent nutrition, exercise regimes and of course vet care.... I felt pretty bad about my prejudiced views , but those kind of guys are still a minority where I live unfortuately

OT bu I looked up their breed organisation, was eye opening- they have a breed standard and a code of ethics

[LisaCC]

and some refused to actually touch some species, especially large animals as they were smelly, dirty, gross etc.

Maybe work experience at a country vet *before* starting the degree should be compulsory. For the most part they see a bit of everything (well, maybe not so many hamsters). Preg testing a cow would be a great reality check ;)

That is compulsory at my uni. The vet students have to do so much placement at a heap of specified places. Eg, 1 lot of placement at dairy, 1 lot at small animal vet (not 1 lot, they do heaps of these ones but yea..), 1 lot at large animal vet, 1 lot at a piggery, 1 lot at a specialists etc etc.

Also preg testing cows isn't that 'gross' I think it's pretty amazing :)

Edited August 9, 2013 by LisaCC