Sandra777

Corvus - I'd have to wonder if it is possible to set up a puppy pen and eliminate all bedding for her for a while. Sounds mean but this is a Sheltie not a Chinese Crested ;) Just a puppy pen on tiles or vinyl with either newspaper or astro turf and a clear area with nothing except floor and which I would expect her to make her bed area toys, water bowl etc. Shani can then be inside instead of locked out all the time, but not able to mess the house/other dog's beds. She could be out of the puppy pen on an umbilical lead for short periods of time and hopefully will start to break the connection between soft surfaces and toileting. I have had dogs which have been surface aware and will only eliminate on grass and others which are space aware and will only eliminate outside but don't care what the surface is. I have no idea if this is learned or inbuilt but if it's learnt hopefully Shani can at least be taught to be surface aware and avoid bedding, beds etc.

Sounds like a way of keeping newbies from entering ;)

A Stafford is a "fighting dog" (well was, over 150 years ago!) so should definitely have tight skin on the head and neck to avoid this becoming a liability in a fight. Dogs with excessive wrinkles and those with folds of skin are generally not well considered by breed specialist judges or all rounder judges with good knowledge of the breed. As a breeder I find them to be very foreign and unpleasant to look at. Some people like their dog to have a "squishy face" and IMO this is fine because it's your dog and you should love it, but it doesn't make it right for a Stafford. The breed is meant to be a 50/50 blend of Bulldog and terrier but it is not the Bulldog as we know it today, but a leggier, much more active animal. Being nature things not mix half and half like they do in cooking, so there are variations in the breed. READ the breed standard, this will give you a reasonably good idea of the size of dog which is wanted. 16 inches is the maximum height 'desired' but many are much taller. A 16 inch tall male, fully grown and in good condition, is meant to weigh 38 pounds. In reality most show dogs of this height weigh around 40-42 pounds these days because most judges expect to see dogs with larger heads than was normal when these heights and weights were set down. Almost without exception the "thickset" dogs are massively over the desired weight and this means they are not balanced in the eyes of most Stafford-enthusiasts. Doesn't make them any less loveable to their owners of course! Just as a guide, the Cocker Spaniel is meant to be around the same height (to the shoulder) as a Stafford and only weighs a little less. Many people like "big boofy" Staffords. As a pet owner people can like whatever they like, but these aren't correct Staffords from a show point of view. The last thing to consider about the ones which are thickset is the strain on the shoulders and stifles. Most of these dogs have bones set at the wrong angles (for the breed AND for what nature intended) to allow their bigger than normal ribcages to fit in. Making bones move to whole new exciting positions isn't good for the long term health of the dog. Well if you want a pet dog then this and health are the two things you should concern yourself with first second third and fourth!

Good, but it's not "junk" - it's natural stuff puppies like to explore. If there's genuine rubbish in your yard definitely remove it - leaves, grass, twigs won't do him any harm as long as you don't use bad chemical sprays Sounds pretty normal. Vomiting grass isn't abnormal at all. If dogs have a slight tummy upset they'll frequently make themselves vomit and often use grass as an irritant to help the process. Quite normal. Great, use the toys as a distraction when he starts to play with the pebbles, instead of "punishing" him by saying no no no no all the time give him something better and more fun to do than playing with rocks

Totally normal puppy behaviour. He doesn't have hands so he can't explore the world through touch as a human baby would - and surely you know how much stuff ends up in human baby's mouth even though they do have hands! Why not just leave him alone to explore his environment? Check and double check that there isn't anything actually harmful then just leave him be. At 9.5 weeks I can absolutely assure you that he does not know it's wrong Well, think of it this way. If you'd found something you really enjoyed, which gave you mental stimulation and interest and someone kept telling you not to do it - wouldn't you keep doing it but get out of the way when that person appeared? What made him sick - what exactly did he vomit up and how "sick" was he. Sorry, it's actually normal dog behaviour to eat/chew things then vomit if it doesn't agree with them. They have evolved to have a heck of a lot stronger stomach than we have and a much faster and more efficient "eject" mode :p If he SWALLOWS the pebble he won't choke. He may possibly end up with other problems but he will not choke once he has swallowed something. How large are the pebbles and how big an area are you concerned about? Personally I think if you stopped making such a big fuss about everything he picked up and provided him with allowed toys instead he'd stop doing it - picking things up gets your attention and good or bad it's all the same to the dog. If he gets the habit of eating stones then you would need to train him out of this as it's obviously not a good idea, but at his age I'm pretty sure it would just be an accident if he swallowed one and he certainly doesn't sound like he is in the habit of gulping them down. Perhaps fence off the area so you can stop worrying about it until he grows out of this phase.

Always fed adult dogs twice a day, so personal preference I reckon. As to when to switch to one meal if that's your choice - depends on the breed. A toy breed might be OK at 6 months but I would wonder about energy issues with the little ones, a bigger breed definitely not until they've finished growing which could be anything up to 18 months old. What did the breeder's puppy pack recommend?

In that case if you are happy for her to always be allowed to sit on the beanbag (and I mean until she is old and grey and dribbly and smelly ) I would just ignore it when she does. If you praise her for it, she may start to think this is behaviour you want rather than behaviour you 'tolerate'. You want her to go to her bed when asked and should praise her for this, she can sit on the beanbag if no one else is doing so, but make sure she will get off on command too... As a general rule human beanbags are more comfortable than dog beds, and dogs aren't silly

It actually doesn't matter what word you use - as long as you use it consistently. I would tend to use down or off because that comes out more naturally... "drop" isn't the word most people use when they want something/one to get off something. Consistentency is the key, whatever suits you is fine. I'd watch out for her sitting on "your" bean bag, it'll soon become hers! If you use the bean bag a lot I'd tend to get the dog her own bed and then when someone is actually sitting in the beanbag you can send the dog to "her bed", otherwise she will have no where to go and this could cause confusion for her.

Any particular reason he hasn't been on a large breed puppy formula prior to this. I don't use dry food all that much so don't know the ins and outs of it, but I always thought you started them off on it, not switched them later. If you want to find the sizes and not getting any help - just go into the feed store and have a good poke and prod at the bags :D

Can't comment on whether large breed puppy is bigger in size or not, but it IS different in formulation - it is meant for the different growth needs of large breed puppies, not the bigger mouth size, it isn't suitable for small breed puppies. Go to any decent pet supply shop and they (should!) be able to show you the different sizes of dry food. If you add mince, sardines, grated cheese etc this could help the problem too

ANY bones are fine provided the dog can consume them in one sitting (for a puppy, call it 30-45 minutes). The only exception won't affect you even when you're girl's all grown up - dogs with powerful jaws can destroy consume canon bones in this time frame and IMO these sorts of bones are no good for any dog. As a starting point - chicken wings are great - they have a variety of bone density and are a slightly more "interesting" shape than a neck. Small lamb offcuts, a pork bone, beef soup bones aren't necessarily great (generally too hard) but veal would be and ribs - beef, pork or mutton would be fine too. All these things would require you to trim off a lot of the fat, and with chicken wings pull off some of the skin too. A chicken back, or buy a carcase and rip it into pieces. Introduce one sort of meat at a time especially with one so young and small. Pork disagrees with a some dogs, and some breeds have a tendency to be sensitive of beef, so slowly and cautiously in all things, and observe what changes to her diet do to her. For a little dog like that I would buy all food from a butcher or supermarket - won't cost much and will avoid the very faint possibility of getting something dodgy from a "pet food only" source. Avoid anything with preservatives!

I'm assuming you mean "yearly injections" with proheart, for heartworm, not "yearly injections" as in vaccinations? If you get a monthly pour on for heartworm then, no you don't need to use the annual proheart injection. Read up on line so you know which product you want, the implications of each, what else you may need to use when using certain products. Some breeds can't use certain products. I have used both Advantage and Frontline and saw no particular difference between them. Tick control is more of an issue to me than fleas so am going collars, pills and dips this year instead (depending on the dog) Two currently have had the proheart injection but I won't be repeating that, still to decide what I'm going to do about that but probably daily/weekly rather than monthly. Intestinal worming isn't a biggy here - only done after a fecal count shows they actually need it or when a bitch has pups.

hope that's pet mince with bone in not "meat mince". Glad you've got back to the breeder, just don't get stressed out about it. The food is there, it's fresh, a healthy dog will eat when it's hungry.

In addition to the above, which I won't bother repeating be wary of chopping and changing her diet because you'll teach her that if she doesn't eat one thing you'll give her something else - probably something tastier! - and so teach her to be a fussy eater. She's a very small puppy so probably doesn't need to eat very much food, so don't be surprised if she only eats a little bit at a time, she only has a small tummy! What did the breeder's puppy info pack say about feeding?

As a novice breeder I would be totally guided by the breeder of the bitch (and I mean totally) assuming they are reputable breeders Ask them their thought processes as it relates to your specific bitch because then it will have much more meaning than all the hypothetical cases in the world Lovely - but is it typical of her breed? Avoid the generic-show-dog-movement syndrome because once you start down that path you are lost, breeds move differently because they are made differently. Her markings are totally irrelevant unless it is a breed where specific markings are part of the breed standard Should have been at the start of the list, not the end. But again, is her temperament typical and standard for her breed? An aloof Afghan is expected, an aloof Amstaff would be abnormal and suspect. I would look for a stud dog that has the correct amount of "stockiness" and be bred to throw this trait Never over-compensate, nature doesn't work like that. Temperament is paramount Sorry, but a colour preference in a breed where no such colour preference exists in the standard is just wrong IMO. The bit about the allergies is good though A breeder can't be influenced by colour at all when choosing a stud dog (talking of acceptable colours only) it's the buyers who have this freedom. Exception - where colours affect the dog in negative ways - merle gene for example. Plus as far back into the pedigree as possible if DNA tests aren't available and/or for simple dominant/recessive problems. (example - 0:0 HD score from a pedigree of all way over the breed average is meaningless) CH may or may not mean much, depends on the breed. GR CH usually means the dog is good quality itself. Neither means the dog is worth breeding from - it could have a terrible temperament/bad allergies/every known recessive gene for disease under the sun/absolutely nothing like it's pedigree (fluke bred, forget it) It will take you many years to get a really good understanding of the whole process, watch and learn and try not form too many opinions. First step is to decide for yourself what is important to you. This will change over time but you have to start somewhere. Don't be afraid or ashamed of admitting you've learned more and changed your mind. The day we stop learning is the day we should give up living (let alone creating new life!) Temperament and health should be equal at the top of that list IMO, but after that - what is most important to you about your breed. If you play the dumb novice for as long as possible some people will tell you the most outrageous lies and you will get a great feel for who's opinion is actually worth having. Don't necessarily listen to the person that talks the most (or advertises the most) - judge deeds and not words How well do you cope with disappointment? How well do you cope with overwhealming joy and utter dispair? Enjoy all your dogs for what they are but be able to differentiate between great companions and great breeding dogs. Buy the book "born to win breed to succeed".

If you want her cremated I would imagine the vet would be able to take her away for you so the people could collect her from the vets. Or perhaps you could deliver her to the vets when you want to a little later. Not meaning to upset you but AFAIK most cremation places don't collect daily so they need to be 'stored'. I had a similar situation nearly a year ago but took her to the vet and the vet came out to the car, she loved the car so was happy there. He left me alone for a little while then came took her away as she was being cremated too.

Yes, most vets will do this. Just ask.

I would doubt it would have any negative effect in this case because if the breeder is concerned enough about their pups to go to the "bother" of desexing them before they leave then chances are they're extremely concerned about socialisation, training etc. ASK the breeder what they do to socialise the puppies and compare this to what you would have done. Pups left sitting in a kennel during this time might have a few issues, but I would be surprised if this was the case here. Opening a whole different can of worms - medium sized breed and early desexing is something you may want to research.

Well he's not eating it now, so what exactly do you think you can do about it? Save yourself the stress and just don't give him the meal he's not eating anyway. In a couple of weeks come back to it and see what he thinks. Maybe he's fully grown now - fully grown doesn't happen at a certain age! The only alternative is to force feed him which is not somewhere you want to go You're lucky - you have a dog which doesn't eat just because there's food there, don't fuss with him and turn it into a big deal or you could turn him in to a fussy eater.

I feed all my dogs twice a day so I'm biased, and wouldn't feed a dog once a day one. But if he's not eating one meal a day it won't hurt him not eat it for a week or so. They go through some very weird phases as they grow up, he might be in a lull with his growth (may well be nearly full grown if he's a little dog) so he's just not interested in food. Just feed him a bit more at night time (but not straight after exercise) and see how he goes.

All the best to Mokha :D

Nope

It's not really a matter of "nutritious" but what suits YOUR dogs, which is hard to know until you try it. ETA: all dry food has the analysis on the bag, so you can see for yourself the fat & protein etc levels, ingredients etc. You need to do some research to figure out a) what all the jargon means and b) what levels of fat & protein etc your dogs need. Bonny, Supercoat, Uncle Albers, Coprice, Big W Woofbix, Coles 'own brand' are all very affordable and they all have their supporters and detractors. Every single "premium" brand is the same - some hate it some love it. All dogs are different and this doesn't help either. See if you can find a place which sells different brands in small bags (some pet shops break up a 20kg sack of the cheaper foods into small plastic bags for samples) and try them out. See which ones agree with your dogs and which ones don't. Make sure you know what "flavour" you've got because some dogs can eat some and not others. I would think that with two dogs so very different in temperament (activity level), coat and general conformation as well as age & development it would be better to consider each of them separately rather than trying to find something to feed them both. Maybe you will find something to suit both but better to start out thinking you won't. I would suggest you use mince (pet grade with bone in) and/or chicken wings/necks, lamb flaps or brisket, canned or fresh fish (once or twice a week) and raw eggs (including shell, once or twice a week) instead of wet food. It actually works out cheaper because you feed much less and it could be the wet food causing their problems. Feeding them high quality (I assume human-consumption?) mince is actually not as good as feeding them a high quality PET mince which includes bone. The natural food of dogs is not "meat" but meat and bone. If you want to get everyone to agree on what's best it will never happen. Ask people who own your two breeds and you *might* get an idea of where to start, but even then I doubt you'll get anything more than even more confused

I would be asking the bitch's breeder about the issue. Allergies often have a genetic component but it might not manifest in the same way - so perhaps an ancestor was allergic to lamb but your bitch is allergic to chicken... You need some researched facts. Also what ELSE did she have when she had the 2 chicken necks? Had she had chicken necks before? If they were big necks they might have had a lot of fat on them - a lot of dogs don't tolerate fat well, especially if they're more used to dry food. Lots of factors. As for food - if she tolerates red meat how about a month of boiled rice with ordinary mince meat? Not a complete diet, but won't do any harm for a month.

At what point does Ted start to show he is uncomfortable? On the drive to the vets (if it's not a route you regularly take), when you pull in the carpark, when you get out of the car, at the entrance, etc. Figure out where he's happy and where he's not and start at THAT point making the whole thing pleasant. Hopefully he'll avoid having to actually go to the vet until he's a bit more settled. Get lots of good treats, toys or whatever floats his boat, take him to the point in the whole experience that he's comfortable with and play, treat, cuddle whatever he likes. On the first few occasions go no further. After a while, take him one step closer to the bit he doesn't like (door to the clinic, door to the exam room, whatever) and more treats, games, cuddles, training, whatever. Each session only needs to last a minute or two each time. If he's comfortable in the waiting room ask if the vet could come out and give him treats etc there so once you start the transition to him being comfortable in the exam room you have the added bonus of a "person in there that gives me treats" (and we all know what Staffs think of people, especially ones with treats ) Google desensitation (sp!) and make a plan. It may be that you can only make him comfortable at the vet's but this is better than nothing. My mad crew charge in like a bunch of sugar crazed ten year olds at a theme park and mob the vet like he's the best person in the world.......