JulesP

I've let some people I know in Montrose know about the doggies.

One happy border collie after toy destruction!

Take it! I've done it twice now. No regrets. You never know if that special pup will come around again. Ok if you are about it go off on a 6 month holiday that might be a bit tricky! Actually I would cancel the holiday! I kind of view it as fate when stuff like this happens and I tend to just go for it.

What about a blood test? Most vets take out the ovaries as well when they desex, therefore I would have thought that hormone levels would be different.

I've successfully stopped 2 bitches from roaming by having them de-sexed. Advice both times was that it wouldn't work but it did. Yesterday my little girl with a brilliant recall basically flipped me the finger and tried to nick off. Sure enough she is coming into season.

Great news

Dry dog food is well dry. Fiber needs to be added to prevent constipation. Beet pulp is a gentle form of insoluble fiber.

Sending healing vibes for Mindy. Hugs for you.

I don't use NRM, the dogs tend to take it to heart too much. Even trying to repeat an exercise without praise tends to cause angst. I just use different levels of praise.

My advice would buy one that is built locally. Easier if something goes wrong with it. I have a BARF one. It is ok. My main whinge is it takes ages to heat the water. But when the thermostat broke I didn't get very good service from them. Quite disappointing seeing they aren't cheap. I would probably not one without the heater next time and get hot water plumbed in.

That is great news Hope she continues to recover.

I am so sorry to read this news. He was the most beautiful dog. RIP Webster.

And the first 3 responses are from Border Collie owners :rofl:

One year I was training in obedience, agility and herding at the same time. I would have herding on a Saturday, obedience on a Sunday and agility on Monday. That did my head in a bit, the dogs coped better with it And I was training a couple of dogs. And instructing! It didn't seem to have a negative impact on the dogs. Poppy was the one that did all 3 and she just wants to work, work, work. I let working on the house slide a bit. These days I prefer to go walking in different spots so I suffered more burnout then the dogs.

Pets from petshops aren't cheaper usually. When I was looking for a Birman or ragdoll they were about $550 from a breeder and selling for $995 in the local petshop. My friend also paid $990 for a oodle from a petshop.

You can't blame yourself.

Healing vibes for Mindy.

Your dog is incredibly thin and your diet was very weird from memory. Any vet that didn't question what you were feeding would not be doing their job.

Big hugs to you and fingers crossed for Mindy.

I've never been pressured by any vet to feed a commercial diet in 20+ years of dog ownership. Even with Amber, who needs a special diet, the vets looked up a homemade diet for me. Vaccinating has been the same. We have discussed the options and I've decided what is to happen.

I just think that the average person doesn't understand. You need to tell them the whys. They just think how nice it would be to have pups, great experience for the kids, cool if we make some cash. I had about 4 people in my last puppy class express interest in breeding with their dogs. I happily told them my experience of breeding (c-section, nearly lost dog etc) which did help remove the rose coloured glasses.

Too harsh. Sounds like the person thinks a bitch needs to have a litter prior to desexing. This is a reasonably common view. Not a convo to have on email imo. The person now probably thinks registered breeders are nutcases and will buy from a petshop or puppy farm as it is easier to get their pet from them.

Agree with this. My vet has been great with making sure they have stocks of Hills for me. It isn't like we are feeding this food just for the hell of it. I checked the online place I know that sells Hills Prescription and they didn't have the B/d and not sure that they ship to NT but maybe you can give them a call. http://www.vetproductsdirect.com.au

In this case I would suggest one of the private trainers. Fairly sure Cosmolo and Erny run puppy classes. Linda Vaughan might be worth calling too http://www.abfabdogs.com/

Were is George?