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Hi Ladies, any news on the Staffords?

Bugger Staffords, what about Hound results. :D

Sway needs to beat her minions more often.. they're tardy today.

hmmm, OK what about the hounds? I know my place.......

Hi Ladies, any news on the Staffords?

Not my original , stolen from http://www.flickr.com/photos/mkushin/2326672905/

But very appropriate for DOL I think.... :-)

We're getting our pup in 6 weeks, and while I'm home all day at the moment I may be returning to work soon.

I'm trying to figure out suitable accomidation for the puppy if he's at home on his own for say, up to 8 hours a day (although this is obviously a guess at the moment). Although our yard is fully fenced we've had problems with neighbouring dogs in the past, and living in the 'burbs we actually have a total of 5 adult dogs in adjoing yards. Therefore he won't be allowed outside on his own until he's mature, so the backyard is not an option.

We obviously wouldn't let him have the run of the house, and even if we could when he's older we have 2 cats so they'd need to be supervised together as well. They cause enough mayhem on their own lol.

Our best option at the moment is the garage - which is a double garage that we can clear out for him, and make quite cozy. But, does anyone have any better suggestions? I've heard a bit about dog runs, but I'm totally clueless as to how we'd make one and whether that would be a good idea considering where we live there's often unpredictable, extreme weather.

The best thing to do is to make your yard completely dog and puppy proof. Not just for your dog but for dogs trying to get in. I have quite a big front fence that is locked whenever I am not home. It is to keep other dogs and people out more than it is to keep my dogs in. I just don't buy the excuse of "my dog accidently got out" ( i know you didn't say this , just making point)

I have two SBT's and they are very important to us and thus they are protected not from themselves but outside things. A 3 foot fence would keep both in as they are not escape artists, however a 6 foot fence keeps eveything else out.

While the puppy is young put together a temp dog run using the mesh panels from Bunning, for 300 bucks you could build an awesome run that will last forever and be able to be moved , folded up etc etc etc.

It's pretty standard in Great Danes, Harlequins $2,500 and Merle Mantles around $1,200.

I think you'll find in a lot of breeds that certain colours and/or patterns are more popular and call for higher prices and it will continue to occur until people no longer pay Breeders that much money.

Sums the whole issue up succinctly and accurately.

Hi - this is a fantastic thread..

Some dumb questions from me...

1) Are there any 'must' do training classes for SBT's?

2) Are there any 'must' do socliasing activities

3) I work 9-5 weekdays. Are there any suggestions on what i could do to help manage the pup with this solo time?

Thanks in advance!

1/ Triangle of temptation (See top of Puppy thread) and Steve's article on Socialisation (search DOL)

2/ Read above article

3/ Get another one, two is not twice the work and we don't fell guilty if we get stuck away from home at times

hi thanks

I assume then that anyone who works 9-5 (which would be most people?) would therefore own 2 staffies then?

Most dogs sleep while their owners are at work, providing you spend time with them in the morning and afterwork you should be all good. The other thing to keep in mind is that I believe you shouldn't say hello or goodbye to your dogs when you leave/return so that these don't become ques for the dog to change its behaviour. As a rule I never say Goodbye to the dogs I just walk out the door , close the gate and go about my business.

9-5 is not a long time for a dog to be on their own IMO.

Hi - this is a fantastic thread..

Some dumb questions from me...

1) Are there any 'must' do training classes for SBT's?

2) Are there any 'must' do socliasing activities

3) I work 9-5 weekdays. Are there any suggestions on what i could do to help manage the pup with this solo time?

Thanks in advance!

1/ Triangle of temptation (See top of Puppy thread) and Steve's article on Socialisation (search DOL)

2/ Read above article

3/ Get another one, two is not twice the work and we don't fell guilty if we get stuck away from home at times

The four things I follow are

1/ Triangle of temptation

2/ Steve from K9 Force - Socialisation strategy

3/ Crate Training

4/ Dog is outside when I am at work and inside when we are home. No dog door, they learn to stand at the door when they want to go out. My reasoning for this is I control whether the dog is in or out.

Things you really 'NEED' for a puppy

Somewhere warm for the pup to sleep - Carboard box and a cheap blanket $3

Puppy Collar - $10 (max)

Lead - length of rope - $3 from bunnings

Puppy toy - plastic drink bottle with pebbles in side -Free

Spending time with your pup - free

Secure yard - Cost depends

Food - $25 a month

Vet bills - could be anything but realistically $200 per year. ($4 per week)

This really sums it up.

There are plenty of people in this world who have loads of cash and still can't look after a dog.

Dogs are actually a cheap addition to the family. nearly all the crap pet stores sell is superfluous to having a well adjusted dog.

Just my view

Roo

SearchJane, where do you get the camel from?

I think I will try it with my Shihtzu.

Clyde you sure you want to know......

PPs I do not know, but i see roo has answered for me,thanks roo

I have no idea how it works either but was curious hence the copy and paste google findings.

Listerine has a blend of essential oils in an alcohol base. That combination could have an antifungal effect.

It contains eucalyptus and menthol, both soothing agents.

fresh from the internet

http://www.earthclinic.com/Pets/dog_mange_cure.html

it is published in the internet so must be true

Back in the early 1900s, the makers of Listerine actually advertised that their product could fight dandruff.

It hasn't been advertised as a dandruff cure in years, but there are still people who swear by the stuff.

The original formula (yellow) is the one that supposedly works best as a dandruff cure. Not sure how it works on Mange though.

Now for the feeding. It is very important to feed your puppy the correct and BALANCED diet. The only way to do this is to feed a super premium pet food designed for puppys (eg. Advance, Eukanuba, Pro Plan, Royal Canin, Hills Science, Eagle Pack). If an owner chooses to make there own diet based on meat and supplements or anything else (eg carrots, wheatbix) then you can bet your bottom dollar it will NOT be correctly balanced.

I disagree with you, there are plenty of people on this forum who feed diets based on meat and bones and their dogs and puppies are perfectly healthy. Feeding a commercial diet is certainly not the only way to feed, dogs have a carnivore's digestive system and a lot of dry foods contain far too many cereals and fillers which is why some dogs produce high volumes of faecal matter when eating them, they just cannot digest the excess carbohydrates. Also if you're going to feed a commercial food some puppies may do better on the adult version of the food as the puppy varieties can be too rich in protein and nutrients and cause rapid growth.

I feed a combination of super premium dry food, meat, offal, raw eggs, fish, yoghurt, bones and leftovers. Dogs are scavengers and don't need every meal to be balanced, as long as they receive all necessary vitamins and minerals over a week or so they'll be fine. I have nothing against those that choose to feed a commercial diet as long as their dog does well on it, but to suggest that commercial dog foods are the ONLY way to feed your dog a correct and balanced diet just isn't true.

My apologies to the OP for going OT.

Great post :p

Now for the feeding. It is very important to feed your puppy the correct and BALANCED diet. The only way to do this is to feed a super premium pet food designed for puppys (eg. Advance, Eukanuba, Pro Plan, Royal Canin, Hills Science, Eagle Pack). If an owner chooses to make there own diet based on meat and supplements or anything else (eg carrots, wheatbix) then you can bet your bottom dollar it will NOT be correctly balanced.

Good Luck

OT again but I would love to see the actual research (not opinion) in to what constitutes a balanced diet for dogs. (this is not a jab at Chuxstr) but there is enough debate on a what a balanced diet is for humans and I am guessing the amount of research done with dogs would be a tiny fraction of that done for humans.

Also anyone is not a little wary of commerical driven research needs to get their heads out of the clouds.

At the end of the day, if your dog is looking healthy then you are probably feeding the correct food.

a pointer perhaps

I am no expert, but you do need to contact the breeder just out of courtesy. It is very important that they are aware of things like this.

Even if they are unable to do anything it is still good for them to know.

When one of mine got a minor case of mange. I immediately let the breeder know. Not for any other reason except to let her know.

Your joking arent ya, that is almost laughable.

Nope Im not joking Ive been on here for a while and Ive never read anything that makes me think PPS tells lies she comes across as a decent sort of person to me.I dunno why it is if anyone posts anything negative about a pitbull there nearly always called names and insulted.

I agree 100% and on top of that PPS is a top shelf person. I know her personally and she is currently looking after one of my dogs . I have nothing but the up most respect for her. she knows a thing or two about a few things relating to dogs. You would probably benefit by active reading rather than getting defensive.

I am not saying I agree, just that I believe the general public want APBT banned in my experience and I tend to ask a lot of people about it.

Show me a politician who will agree to change a ban on a breed that ANKC doesn't recognised and take the misinformed risk that the dog will rip a child apart. I would say there would be very few willing to take that issue on.

Again I am not saying it is correct, just an observation of the world.

However if you were to ask "the general public" if they thought it was right that the innocent should receive the same punishment as the guilty then you would get a totally different answer - which is the absolute basis of BSL.

Show me a politican who is immune to public opinion... It's a matter of educating the public (even if 'just' the dog owning part of the public) to see that we are ALL affected, we are ALL at risk. I don't imagine that the "little old ladies" with their Pekingese were expecting to be the object of such a vicious backlash in the UK, but they were. Public opinion is the key, and presenting the argument as being about keeping people safe is the way of winning public opinion.

Surprisingly many people are intelligent enough to understand that the media exaggerates to sell papers and politicans over react to make themselves look liek they're doing something.

I would guess many GSD enthusiasts believed the ban on their breed would never be overturned either.

This is what I was implying, unless you educate the public and present a common arguement nothing is going to change for particular breeds. And from what I have seen most APBT owners are too busy arguing among themselves. Once you tackle 'the man' then you can discuss the minor differences.

My post is APBT specific

But BSL is not just APBT specific. Don't worry they will come after Staffy's and Amstaff's soon enough, maybe then you will be concerned?

Where did I say I wasn't concerned!

Roo have you seen the BSL in QLD? there are at least a dozen ANKC breed affected.

My post is APBT specific

What I eventually see happening ( especially in Australia ) is the move towards no ANKC/ KC papers, with matching microchip = pit bull

People continue to disregard the current legislation and it's only going to get tougher, eventually there will be no where to hide.

[/quote

I would suggest that if you were to ask 20 random people in the middle of George Street Sydney (for those outside of Sydney it is main street of Sydney) if they agree with BSL and detailed the exact legislation with no slant you would probably get over 15 people saying they agree with it. -

I am not saying I agree, just that I believe the general public want APBT banned in my experience and I tend to ask a lot of people about it.

My point is unless the owners and those interested in the APBT can get together on a common platform, the APBT will continue to be banned in at least some part of Australia well after I have left this world.

Show me a politician who will agree to change a ban on a breed that ANKC doesn't recognised and take the misinformed risk that the dog will rip a child apart. I would say there would be very few willing to take that issue on.

Again I am not saying it is correct, just an observation of the world.

So does that piece a legislation aim to cover those dogs not registered with papers?

In other words if you had an American Staffordshire Terrier with papers then that is ok (unless the actual breed is banned)?

I can't help thinking the legislation is aimed at dogs of questionable parentage as oppose to registered pure bred dogs with papers? Just missing the "unless dog is a registered approved breed" bit.

Similar to here AST is allowed but a APBT is not

Or am I a bit simple? (eta "I")

Oh and nice Stafford PPS

No puppy needs to be forced to the floor and left screaming until it submits in that position.

I don't know how anyone could think that such man handling of a baby puppy can be in any way positive and to use the excuse of the pup or adult needing to be excamined by a vet is a cop out.

My pups stand quietly on the vets table from the very first vacc and microchip, you can check teeth, eyes, ears, take temperature and check over every inch of them without them causing any kind of fuss.

It's the same with the adults, this comes from having a firm but kind hand with them and daily hands on.

We've done some things at the vets with my dogs that leave the vets amazed at their patience and acceptance, where normally they would be forced to sedate

As PPS says!

Anyone forces one of my dogs to the floor, that last thing they need to worry about is my dogs reaction.

Both of my dogs would stand patiently while at vets this is acheived by gentle handling.