Sandra777

And I assume the owner of the sire has paid for all the DNA testing? So sorry for the situation you have found yourself in, and good on you for not just sweeping it under the rug as too hard, not important or whatever. Thank doG for DNA testing!

I've been to shows in Broken Hill, didn't even live in Australia at the time. The weird stuff dog show people do for holidays!!!

I don't cut it - I tear it, and only if mum doesn't seem inclined to. Usually I'll leave the pup in the box and hold the cord close to the stomach when mum starts really pulling on it, sometimes sneakily help tear it with a finger nail. After everything is cleaned up and finished I'll check the cords and any more than a cm or so long I will cut off then, otherwise my girls like to pull and worry at them. Never tied them off, never had a problem.

In addition to the above - what sort of bowl are you using. Is it a narrower type of bowl which is touching his face when he eats out of it? I have had a puppy, admittedly a much younger one, who wouldn't eat because the rim of the bowl touched her throat (didn't press on it, just touched it). Gave her the same food on a flat plate and she ate like there was no tomorrow. He may also have an actual problem eating out of certain shaped bowls, narrower bottomed ones can sometimes make life difficult for our mushed faced friends

Anything up to five or six for me, depending on whether it is a breed which generally free whelps or not (I'm guessing yes in your case ). Oldest bitch I have bred for the first time was closer to 6 than 5. First litter for you do not do two at once! It's very hard work raising one litter properly, add to that a lack of experience with every little thing being new and probably stress-inducing, do not do that to yourselves No.

Get a long line and don't let him off on the beach until he actual comes when you call him every time without fail regardless of the distraction. Yep - that may well mean he never gets off the long line in certain situations. The recall training needs to start in an enclosed space with no distractions and work up to the biggy (on the beach in his case). "Distraction" with another thing he can chase is no substitute for recall Obedience classes would be a place to start.

Born to Win Breed to Succeed is a good book too, if you can wade through the irrelevant American-ism's

To show entails weekends, when kids aren't in school. Are your kids interested in travelling to showgrounds where there is usually very little for them to do and it's usually either boiling hot or raiing, sitting around all day then going home? When they're older than just-started-school they may well get interested in handling and your will end up driving them around, but until then can you cope with cranky bored kids? Unless your partner is prepared to stay home with them at weekends while you wander off around the countryside, showing dogs is something the whole family needs to be interested in. Staffordshire Bull Terriers are one of the most exploited and over-bred breeds in the country, to breed properly is a work of years not months. Definitely consider starting with a dog for all the reasons given above. You will learn the ropes and work out if the whole thing is for you or not. If you end up with a very nice dog you may even get people with good bitches wanting to use him at stud, which might give you the possibility of being able to get second pick out of a litter you may otherwise have no access to. If the dog turns out only average that's OK, you've learned a lot, got your foot in the door and probably decided which breeder/s you want to consider for your next puppy. Buying a bitch you can show and breed from is not difficult if you are prepared to start with the first one you can buy on main register (just look at the adds on here) but you are unlikely to be successful in the ring with such a bitch and it's all to easy to decide the show ring is corrupt and just go off and start breeding with your pet quality bitch. Once you've bred a litter or two from a pet quality bitch you will find serious breeders (who are the ones you need to help you) will back even further away and be even less likely to offer you a good place to start - dog or bitch.

Dogmovers to Brisbane then fly. The lovely people on here recommended Dogmovers to me, and I found them to be excellant. Only problem is, do they go to Roma??

Did you even listen? SBT was NEVER mentioned "Staffordshire Terrier and their related breeds" was No 1. There is no such breed as the "Staffordshire Terrier".

My UK import was from the last litter of his sire, who was 14 when the pups were conceived. I wouldn't consider 9 to be old for a Whippet.

Nope... Number one breed was "Staffordshire Terriers and their related breeds" Number two was Australian Cattle Dogs/Kelpies Also on the list (about nine or ten) was "Labradors and Retrievers" Very high class piece of reporting from people who obviously had a strong grasp on their subject matter.

Humping in puppies is very rarely a sexual behaviour. What does the bitch do, accept it, get grumpy, encourage him. Many wouldn't approve but personally I'd be giving him a smack on the butt and a firm telling off. It is not acceptable behaviour and it's up to you to teach him better if the bitch won't. Or....arrange for him to meet a bossy bitch who will show him how rude and unacceptable this behaviour is in the dog world.

If it's not used it's excreted. Vitamin C is pretty difficult to OD on, give him a child's dose and if he reacts in any way stop immediately, but honestly it's really unlikely to do any harm. It may not help either

Wow, yep that's one big boy. Do they do a giant breed one? If it's not used it's excreted so IMO give him the amount recommended for a child, it won't hurt him even if it does nothing. Use the plainest pill you can find in the supermarket - doesn't need to be chocolate flavoured with plastic toy included

Most likely heartworm..........They get a puppy one and update at six months If that's the case, then if it were MY dog I'd be saying a big fat NO!! I'm not a believer in heartworm shots. I think the risks outweigh the supposed benefits. I'd rather take the responsibility for daily or monthly heartworming. I thought heartworms were tablets, not injections? There is the Proheart injection, can last 6 or 12 months depending on the one given. Not recommended by many on here. It "saves" the owner having to remember to give the dog a pill daily or monthly.

Brisbane to Melbourne. Will probably be Brisbane to Adelaide this year or next. These are specialist shows of course - an all breeds show? perhaps 2 hours one way, but we are spoiled for choice around here. ETA: Will no doubt do Brisbane - WA one day too...

Wow, mum's front is not good. I hope she got this way through an accident. He looks like he's knuckling over a bit, which can happen if they have a big growth spurt. He's quite a hefty lad isn't he? (Vague memory from some other thread). I would be looking at vitamin C and absolutely NOT increasing artifical calcium intake - in fact if you are feeding him puppy dry food I would stop and give him adult or giant breed puppy whichever you feel more comfortable with. I would also not feed him any meat which doesn't contain bone (eg ditch the roo mince and just give him the other ones you mentioned). I would be looking to slow his growth rate as much as possible. What exercise does he get - I would not be walking him on concrete paths or allowing him to run a lot on hard packed ground - soft sand, softer turf for me for a few weeks. Don't let the vet talk you into anything major, the heavier boned Staffords can do horrible things with their legs while they're growing. Crisovar - have a look at the outside of the pup's feet - the side toes don't touch the ground, genetic malformation in Staffords and I think Bostons have the problem too? (maybe it's French Bulldogs, maybe I'm totally wrong)

If you are not experienced enough to know whether it's a good idea or not, your not experienced enough to do it IMO. Keeping the pups together all the time is actually a very bad idea - they will bond very strongly with each other and have less need for human interaction, so will be more difficult to train (why should they care what you can offer when they can get what they need from each other?), and think ahead. What if one of the dogs dies young, the survivor may very well be so bereft it dies too, or if one needs to be hospitalised for even just a few days, the other one will be so unused to being alone it's likely to become a destructive screaming mess. Unless you have a lot of experience raising puppies one at a time is the way to go. As for cats, well that may depend on the breed slightly. Some breeds with a high prey drive might need to learn about cats from puppyhood, others will acceptone later (if introduced properly). I've never owned cats and dogs at the same time so can't really help with this, but I know millions of people worldwide have both so most of the time it must work

You could bring parvo home on your shoes or clothes, it does not need direct dog to dog contact to spread. If you are very concerned, carry the puppy (excused if you own a Saint or Dane ) and only allow people to pat her if they use a de-sanitiser first (not that any of those will kill the parvo virus) or ask them to please not touch as she isn't vaccinated. Honestly, how many people would take a doctor seriously if he said don't take your child out in public until it's had all it's shots?

Running randomly around a sports oval with a person who doesn't have a lot of dog experience, er - please don't! Well i hope i am smarter then to let a dog off the lead that hasnt been trained to recall...To run around the oval is something i would work towards. If it means only playing zoomies in the backyard and walking him on a lead for the first couple of years, well so be it. Millie - it's not about the recall it's about the way most Staffords react when confronted by other dogs who may not be as well trained as yours or which are down-right rude.

Running randomly around a sports oval with a person who doesn't have a lot of dog experience, er - please don't!

What type of look in a dog do you prefer? A breed like a Whippet sounds like it could be OK - except they need to be very well trained to be able to "run around at the oval" without fences - but if you hate the look of the Whippet but love the look of a Bulldog for example then it wouldn't help much to suggest one

Oh dear, I assume you haven't actually got the dog yet then :D

It says the dog was pulled through A fence by the neighbours dog, nowhere does it say he was in his own backyard when this happened.