Sandra777

So sorry for your loss.

Good news! Hope things get moved along for you.

Nope, not essential at all. If you have the means of providing the same education there's absolutely no point in them. "Puppy Preschools" are a very modern invention :)

Contact the canine control in the state where the pup was bred and they will be able to advise you. Probably won't be able to give you detail because of privacy issues but can let you know where to start.

Not sure of the weight of a Bulldog his age or their food requirements so seek advice from someone who knows the breed but I would give one of mine (Staffords) 2 wings at one meal and their normal food at the other two (trying ot do the maths - 19 weeks is not quite five months?? Mine are on two full meals and a chewing-something for lunch at this age). First time you give him a wing hold on to it by one end and let him chew it a bit, some chew, some try to swallow them whole. If he's a chewer that's great (and you can't judge by what he does with non-food items such as toys!) just let him have it and watch what he does. If he's a gulper then bash it with a hammer or something heavy to flatten it a bit and let him have another go. Mine get this sort of stuff at 5 weeks so learn how to eat it right from the start. A Bulldog may have more trouble chewing than a Stafford and has a bigger mouth so might decide to swallow it whole, in which case ditch the wings and try chicken carcasses or turkey wings instead. Even if he does swallow without chewing as much as you'd like once it's in his stomach it won't do any harm so don't panic :) Some like to swallow and throw up then have another feed, lovely creatures!

Firstly - consult his breeder. They should be the first port of call for all these issues. The hives after vaccination suggests to me he may have issues with future vaccinations - was it quite severe so the vet went directly for a steroid injection rather than something like an antihistamine tablet? Some dogs react to vaccinations and these probably shouldn't be vaccinated any more than absolutely essential - titre testing is the way to go with these guys. It could also be that the vaccination and the reaction were completely unrelated, unfortunately you can't always be 100% sure of the cause of an allergic reaction. I would avoid using anything on him except plain water and a mild shampoo. It might be a good idea to dump the beef for a while and see if his skin improves - if it doesn't dump the chicken. It used to be that beef was the usual suspect if a dog had a bit of a food issue, sadly now chicken seems to be becoming a more common problem Anal glands? What does he get to eat that is actually solid? Biscuits and mince won't help the natural emptying of anal glands in a dog with (PERHAPS) a slight problem in this area. Swapping the mince with something he had to chew might help - chicken wings or half a body might be a suitable size or him? The bone residue will probably help emptying the glands naturally The lumps are absolutely normal, they are the 'bulbs' which engorge and effect a tie when a dog is mating. Discharge in a pup this age is fairly normal, just keep an eye on out in case it gets worse.

Ok, what about Nancy's situation, that she describes here on a thread discussing her response to Jamie's letter. (Side note - follow Kim's posts for more progressive, compassionate sheltering information). Read that whole thread if you can, there's so much interesting discussion that may cause people to consider other's situations a little more open mindedly: Was Nancy's situation worthy enough? Or does she also deserve abuse based on the condition of the dog she was surrendering and the fact that she wrote she was moving on the intake form? Does she deserve compassion or a blog post calling her by name going viral condemning her in hateful, vitriolic language? Also, no kill shelters are very often closed admission. Not many will take an elderly dog with a low chance of rehoming. Those that do almost always have extensive wait lists. Just because there was a No Kill shelter there doesn't mean it was an option for Cocoa's owner. No. IMO taking this dog to the nearest vet and having it PTS would have been the ethical option. Or if this was impossible, taking it to the shelter and begging them to PTS while she was there may have been a possibility.

5+ years ago they had a list of what each breed was worth - taken from online trader sites (such as gumtree, in NZ the big one is Trademe) No idea if they've improved that "system" or not. You could try saying Oberon is a slow hairy Greyhound - slow Greyhounds aren't "commercially" worth anything :laugh:

I will never understand people who think a pound or shelter is a place to leave a dog (or cat) like putting your unwanted stuff in a Vinnie's dump bin. Last resort to me would be to have my dogs PTS - never ever "drop them off at the pound".

Personally I don't think this is a problem - your vet should trust you enough to be able to discuss what you see and make some educated guesses about what may help - know that specific drugs have no serious side effects and be willing to go 'try this and see what happens' - with close and constant feedback of course. Knowing what is wrong doesn't really help if there's no cure, or if the "cure" is worse than the illness (eg drugs which make the dog a zombie aren't necessarily going to make the dog feel any better, they just make your life easier) Very personal decision and don't let anyone ever beat you up for "not trying hard enough".

x2 You know your own dog best, you know when it's time to give them their wings. Hard decision when they have good days intermingled with the bad ones. (((Hugs)))

:laugh:

That sounds not unreasonable for freight, but definitely shop around. Best quote (for everything) for a 5kg puppy was $1800!!!!! When you arrive in NZ you will need to be able to prove Oberon has been your dog for quite some time or you will get hit for GST (15% of whatever value a customs officer chooses to put on him) You might get hit even if you can prove it, depends a lot if the custom officer concerned decides you have imported him for "economic reasons". Entire dog = money making machine for many of them

Second staffyluv, get a behaviourist to assess your dog, jumping on another dogs head is not uncommon for Staffords - they think it's fun. Correcting her for this sort of thing MAY cause you more issues if what she gets out of it is "don't greet dogs at all" - or that she will be corrected if she does get close to another dog. You MIGHT have unintentionally taught her other dogs are 'bad'. In the meantime don't put her in a position where she needs to be "corrected" - i.e. don't let her play with random other dogs. Choose a couple of dogs who cope with her style of greet and play and stick with them. Yes it will be an age thing, she is changing from a pup to a bolshi teenager.

LOTS!!! We always have a bird catcher in our familly. The one that excels in snakes doesn't care about birds tho

When we first moved to oz our girls got natures gift and nutro with egg and sardine once a week for 6 weeks until our furniture got here. no one died. lol

I have heard of probably 1/2 a dozen GSPs and seen one other - a who-knows-what cross. All lived perfectly normal lives and all presented as bitches.

The Runcorn one? - through the park and up a narrow rutted track?? If so, this is where the Stafford club lure racing used to be, know it well!

Dog beach at Palm Beach (about an hour from you) and The Spit a bit further north of there (can't remember the suburb name right now, have a look at the Gold Coast Council website perhaps?). Palm Beach is nuts except at "off peak" times though, never been to The Spit. Have a look on various council websites, they're usually pretty comprehensive, and ask people at your obedience classes.

x2

A-What does the breeder's diet sheet say and B-I don't use puppy food at all and my breed is only a bit smaller than a Border.

That isn't a poodle, it's too big. No lady it's not a poodle because it's a Portuguese Water Dog.

My dogs aren't "treated" for fleas as they don't have fleas. If we spot a flea we spray the environment (bedding is washed routinely but favourite sleeping spots, couches, car, carpet), bath the dogs and that's it. We don't have cats or strays in the yard though so this may well make a difference. My dogs are wormed when a fecal count says this is a good idea - twice in the past 3 years. Pups up to 6 months old are wormed routinely though as they do tend to eat things they probably shouldn't. Our dogs NEVER run loose in bushland though and have no access to anything more exciting than the odd bit of bat or galah poo :laugh: Heartworm is done monthly (6 weekly in winter) with bulk-buy ivermectin based product. For ticks we spray permoxin, which does kill fleas too admittedly, but only when the dogs are going to be running loose off the property (lure racing primarily) or when they are going to a known problem place.

The really hilarious part of your posts Lasareina? - you paid $1000 for a pair of unregistered pups of unknown heritage who could have been very closely related for all you knew. With Staffords, for $200-$300 more per pup you could have had registered pedigree pups from known impeccable genetic backgrounds. Good Staffords don't cost very much more than BYB crossbred ones - people need to do a LOT more research before they start barganin hunting!

Freezing for 10 days prior to feeding solves this problem. Human-grade food is NOT exempt from hydatids so better safe that sorry! ETA: Lasareina all-in-ones don't cover hydatids and honestly, I'd be having a close look at them, they're serious overkill for the vast majority of dogs and really not required.