dancinbcs

Everyone I know in Sydney uses Gary and Neil Barnsley at Greendale. I know of two breeders who took dogs weekly for years from the north eastern suburbs following major injuries and surgery. Unfortunately good dog chiros are very few and far between and are usually located in areas with lots of greyhounds and horses. People travel for hours to take their dogs to them. Give the physio a try but if that doesn't work you will just have to travel. The dog show people think nothing of an hour or two travel as they often travel a lot further than that just to go to a show.

Not sure about a Pap coat but I have always used a Mason Person bristle and nylon on my Border Collies. Each tuft of bristle has one nylon pin in it to penetrate the coat. The bristles then polish the hair and reduce any static. Oh, and the dogs looooove being brushed with it. I still use the original brush I bought in 1984 so while they are expensive you really get your money's worth out of them.

Definitely abnormal behaviour and needs to see the vet asap. If she was mine I would have been on the phone to the vet by Thursday. I recently had my 9 year old girl desexed and her only different behaviour was that she slept most of the first 48 hours. I brought her home as soon as she was out of the anaesthetic and she could walk normally then. She ate normally that night but was just tired and wanted to sleep more. Younger dogs usually recover even faster than this but at nine, I thought being extra tired was pretty normal for the first couple of days. She was given a pain killing injection after the op but nothing after that. After 48 hours I was flat out to stop her racing around like she normally does.

I am not sure what you mean by "out worked" I would love to come & watch your dog working one day. He sounds amazing since I probably know & admire most of the 20 or so working bred dogs he out worked. Where do you train? I doubt you would know the working farm dogs from Victoria 25 years ago. The trainer was a well known breeder of Working Kelpies who bred trained and sold working Kelpies all over the world. The other dogs that turned up were full time working dogs from farms, not dogs involved in training for trials. Many of them were next to useless as they were assessed on three sheep, a small mob, a large mob and in the yards. There was only one really good Kelpie among them and a smooth coat BC that had really strong eye on three sheep that would have been good for trials but it wouldn't do anything with the larger mobs or in the yards. My dog was 18 months old and had never seen sheep before but showed plenty of ability in all areas and the trainer was very impressed saying that he would make a great all round dog on a working sheep farm but wasn't really strong enough in eye to make a great trial dog. The other assorted Kelpies, and Kelpie/BC crosses showed very little aptitute at all given that they had all been raised with stock by farmers. They had no focus, wouldn't take direction, some ran from the sheep, others attacked them and the trainer was amazed that the fluffy "bench dog" was better than nearly all of them.

Some other options with the SBT if your sister would prefer to neuter him are for the breeder to take and freeze some semen from him before he is neutered or to use the suprelorin implant that works for 6 months at a time. That way he could be chemically castrated while you and your dog are living there and revert back to being entire later. Whatever you decide, seperate runs where they can be kept apart if necessary would be a good investment.

There are plenty of show bred Border Collies who can and do work. Some dogs do both, and sometimes there are working and show dogs from the same litter. I took my first BC to a sheepdog training day where the trainer looked down her nose at the "bench dog" who was later to be a BISS winner . By the end of the day my "bench dog" had out worked all but one of the 20 or so working bred BCs and Kelpies, there on the day and I as the handler knew nothing about sheep. The trainer commented he was one of the best all round working dogs she had seen in BCs and would be an asset to any sheep station. My first show bitch came from a country kennel that successfully showed their BCs and Kelpies but sold most of their puppies as working dogs, not pets. The majority of show lines are not sold to purely working homes anymore because the dogs are usually not treated as well as they are in show, performance or pet homes. I never want to see one of my precious babies living tied up to a 44 gallon drum kennel and never groomed. With any herding breeds some dogs will be better than others. Some dogs from working parents have no interest in working just as some of the show dogs won't work. For the specialised area of three sheep trialing then your odds are better with a puppy from successful trialing parents but there is still no guarantee. Three sheep trialing is very different to day to day farm work and some trial dogs are not much use on a farm. Some lines in the herding breeds have lost a lot of their instinct but there are many Borders, Cattle Dogs. Stumpies, Kelpies and Aussies from show lines that can and do still work.

Sounds like a sprung toe to me. Find a good chiropractor or greyhound vet as it is a common greyhound injury.

Here's one. I have bolded the interesting text. Dr Bennett said people should worry less about a dog's breed and more about their overall behaviour background to decide if one is right for them. "We think that's what we should be breeding, those character traits, as opposed to specific dog breeds." "If we can test the parents, it could lead to a certificate of temperament that will show this dog has been friendly, safe with kids and easy to manage. Firstly you quote from the bloody Herald Sun Hardly a font of accurate and in-depth reportage. Who knows what context they pulled the quotes from. And it's interesting that the last few posts from you and others in this thread have been about NOT breeding from 'whacko' dogs. Which, I think is what the quotes are actually on about, i.e. even if a dog is perfect physically, if it has a poor temperament it should not be bred from. Also it is quite right that pet owners should be less concerned about what a dog looks like and more about how it fits in with their family. People getting the 'wrong' dog for them is why so many end up in shelters. You have to keep in mind that this is all about your average Joe Blow who wants a dog, not keen enthusiasts like DOLers. Reputable, dedicated breeders do not care what the average Joe Blow wants in a pet because they do not aim to breed pets. They breed to improve their breed and this includes appropriate temperament for that breed as well as health, soundness and type. They breed for themselves and if suitable buyers want that breed they are sold the puppies not required to continue the line. Breeding for the "pet market" is actually against the code of ethics so why would a study telling breeders how to breed "pets" be of any real interest to dedicated breeders. I can see the value in this being done with puppy farm dogs but it would be better if these where never bred anyway. Correct assessment of shelter dogs is very important but as these don't originate from good breeders it again is not relevant to them. If the aim of this study is to assess what correct temperament should be in different breeds and then compare it to rescue dogs, I could see it being highly relevant. If the average Joe Blow wants a dog with certain temperament/ behaviour, is not prepared to put in the hard work of correctly raising a puppy and doesn't care what breed it is, there are thousands of mature dogs in rescue to choose from. The raising of precious, well bred puppies should be left to those who carefully choose a breed and are prepared for the fact that a puppy is often what you make it by the way you raise it. Temperament testing of breeding stock is not something that I would oppose provided the study is backed by the ANKC with input from experienced breeders about what a correct temperament for a specific breed should be. Testing could be done at shows and dogs approved before breeding. What worries me with this study is that is backed by a private company and the government who do not understand purebred dogs. Also 200 dogs is far too small a sample to get any real idea of canine behaviour.

Not all dogs need or want to "play" with other dogs. I also recommend a professional trainer to assess her but you may have to accept that she doesn't want or need to interact with other dogs. As she has never been conditoned to play with other dogs, I would tend to work more on getting her to ignore them rather than interact with them, unless you can find another friendly Kelpie to try to help teach her some Kelpie games. Many top winning obedience dogs are trained to focus on their owners and completely ignore other dogs. Some dogs love other dogs and others are snobs and hate having other dogs in their face. This is not DA as they will gladly ignore the other dogs provided they stay out of their space. You can get both attitudes in the one litter. Some breeds just do better with their own kind and some of the herding breeds are very much this way. While individual dogs may be happy to interact with other breeds some just don't like them. Border Collies show a distinct preference for their own breed and I imagine this would apply to Kelpies to some extent too. The tendency of a working sheepdog to "eye" sheep when working means that they consider it the height of bad manners if another dog "eyes" them, and often react badly to it. The other breeds, of course, have no idea what they did to upset the BC or Kelpie, they thought they were just "looking" but it wasn't interpreted that way. I have also found that many Aussie Shepherds like to charge into one another when running, just for fun, but other breeds can take huge offence at being shoulder charged if they don't understand the game. If you can teach this puppy to simply ignore other dogs she will probably be quite happy and will be safe to have around other under control dogs. Some good advice here from woofenpup on focusing exercises but do try to find a good trainer who understands Kelpies.

Most dogs need to be raised with kids to make them safe with them. Many dogs just don't underatand what kids are if they are not raised with them and then there are the dogs that started out perfectly friendly until the rotten kids next door teased them. In this situation the dog is actually taught by the kids to hate them. How are they going to safely access this trait. Put the dog in a room with a child and wait to see if it bites? Does this mean that if you don't have kids all your dogs will fail the test?

With a breed like Border Collies and the right vet the chances of things going seriously wrong are minimal. With all dogs there are occasionally puppies that will not make it for various reasons and losing them is just part of being a breeder. Dogs have multiple progeny because nature allows for the fact that some won't survive. Wading through the buyers until you find the right match for your babies can be a pain but I have oly ever got one choice wrong. I went against my gut instinct because this family were well known to close friends. Luckily with my friend's help we managed to buy the puppy back at 5 months, but I learnt to go with my feelins not just by logic. The only other dog I have ever had returned was from the same litter and he was returned at 11 months when his owner's life fell apart. Other than that my babies have all had long happy lives with their families.

Unfortunately, some studies indicate that puppy temperament tests are notoriously unreliable in predicting a dogs’ future behaviour or personality. I agree that owners can influence their dog's behaviour. We know that how a dog behaves is a result of a combination of factors relating to its inherent temperament and the environment it lives in, as well as its past experience. Dogs within the same breed share common temperament traits but also differ by possessing individual behavioural characteristics some of which are heritable. These combine with experience to produce distinct personality traits, which then influence the tendency of each dog to react in specific but generally consistent ways to future stimuli. This is significant because it means that personality can be inferred from how an individual behaves in certain situations, and that this, by extension, tells us something about the dog’s underlying temperament. Although dog temperament is thought to be present from an early age and remains stable over time, it is unknown when temperament is fully developed in a young animal and therefore it is not known when the optimal time would be to assess temperament as a future predictor of behaviour. Therefore, the age when individual dogs are tested can influence the predictability of how that dog will behave in the future. We have chosen adult dogs for this study, to ensure their personality/temperament is fully developed. I have never had any problem assessing my puppies at 6-8 weeks for temperament. This is vital to match them to the right home. If I have puppies and buyers waiting it does not always mean that these buyers will be able to buy these puppies. Puppies are only sold into homes that suit the temperament of the puppy. My breed vary enormously in temperament, intelligence, attention span, activity and destruction level, so you need to find the exact home for each puppy unless you want them back with behavioural problems. In the right home they are the best breed in the world, in the wrong home they are an unmitigated disaster. Adult behaviour can also be changed by training. When I worked for the AWL one of the branches brought in a very pretty but neglected Border Collie bitch who would not have passed any temperament or behaviour test. She was completely oblivious the existence of humans and refused to intereact with them in any way. DOCS had removed several neglected children from a home and they had contacted the AWL to come and save the dog as well. As this was my breed the boss asked if I had any ideas and I offered to try training her every day in my lunch break. At the end of three weeks she was a completely normal, happy, responsive dog, still a little reserved with strangers, but some BCs are like that anyway. She went back to the branch who had no trouble placing her in a good home. I also believe that the requirement for a DNA sample will hamper this study. My dogs all have their DNA in a Uni research facility for health testing research and development but I would not be prepared to supply it for a "future, unknown study" especailly in Victoria at present. I do understand what you are trying to do with this study but it concerns me that the results could be used for the wrong reason.

I can see this type of study being valid if done on 6 week old puppies but not with adult dogs who have so many variables in their training that the results would not mean anything. The inherited temperament is obvious at a few weeks . After that the wrong owner can destroy a good dog and a the right owner can do much to improve a puppy that initially showed problems. Temperament testing in adult dogs is far more about training than it is about heritability.

I have only bred 12 litters in 26 years because I find the whole thing very stressful. I worry about the bitch during the delivery and then the hassle of finding the right homes. But when you do find the right homes and you look at what you have kept and know all your planning paid off, it is all worthwhile. Most of the true horror stories I have heard relate to incompetant vets and I would never attempt to breed without having a top notch breeders vet available 24/7. Having the average pet vet attend to a whelping bitch in distress is like asking the average GP to assist in a complicated human birth. They just don't have the experience and the consequence can be dead puppies and sometimes a dead bitch. Other vets just cannot be bothered with the hassle of being on call and doing emergency caesars when they are needed (usually middle of the night or on a public holiday). If you only breed from good whelping lines, the problems should be minimal but if things do go awry then a good vet will be the best friend you will ever have. I don't believe in breeding on from lines that do not usually have normal seasons, mate, whelp and mother easily and would never contemplate breeding any of the breeds where this is not the norm. Of course puppies can get stuck if they are in the wrong position and infections can occur but if you keep breeding ability at the top of your requirements then things should go right more often than they go wrong. My first BC bitch was from a kennel where the bitches whelped easily and were top mothers. She mated easily and delivered my first litter of 6 in less than 2 hours with no assistance. Her milk was a little slow to come in so I supplemented the puppies for a couple of days but after that it was just a matter of keep feeding the bitch and she took care of the babies until I started to wean them. That is what dog breeding should be like.

And maybe in addition do a study on the humans who make up the laws for humans who own dogs, and only allow the ones that pass the "sensible test" to reproduce. That would rule out all the current politicians.

I have a better idea. How about they do a study on humans and decide which ones are the most suitable dog owners. Then they could bring in a law to only allow the ones that pass the "dog friendly test" to reproduce. Makes more sense than what they are trying to do. The number one cause of dogs ending up in shelters is that the owners didn't bother to educate them. If they failed to educate their kids no one would be surprised when the kids grew up to be criminals and ended up in gaol. For some reason many people expect dogs to educate themselves and when they don't they dump them at a shelter and get another one hoping the next one will "grow up right". And so the cycle continues.

Hope you get a diagnosis soon. Have they considered this? Rhabdomyolysis also known as: (Exertional Myopathy, Tying-up, Monday Morning Disease) This acute exertional myopathy of racing Greyhounds and working dogs is characterized by muscle ischemia secondary to exercise or excitement. Avascularity and lactic acidosis cause muscular lysis, myoglobin release, and a nephropathy. Clinical signs include muscle pain and swelling 24-72 hr after racing. Severe cases are characterized by stiffness, hyperpnea, collapse, myoglobinemia, and acute renal failure. Urinalysis reveals myoglobinuria; serum potassium, phosphorus, and muscle enzymes are increased. Treatment includes supportive care such as IV fluids, bicarbonate, body cooling, rest, and muscle relaxants (eg, diazepam). Prognosis depends on severity. Jana didn't say the name but I'd say that this is what she was talking about when she said that you see it sometime in greyhounds a few days after a big race. He hasn't done anything out of the ordinary though to have brought it on. He actually hadn't been walked at all for a few days before hand as we had been really busy with the gift-wrapping stall and me working nights. He was probably last walked about 4-5 nights before Christmas Day. Jana said that for the next 2 days no news is good news so I'm working on the basis that I haven't heard more so there has been no change. Its very quiet in our house Great to hear that no he seems to have stabilised. Hope he continues to improve. He may not have needed to have been walked for Rhabdomyolysis to occur. If he got overexcited or ran around in the heat in the preceeding days it could have happened. As you were working he may have been up to something you don't know about. From what I know about it, sometimes it can affect the heart muscle. I remember many years ago a dog was lost to it after doing two major shows in a few days with a lot of travelling between. He was very successful at both shows and it was hot but not extreme heat. Running around a show ring is nothing like a race and nothing seemed amiss until a 24 hours after the second show. He collapsed and was rushed from his home in the country to a Uni Vet clinic but the drive took several hours. I quizzed my vet at the time about it (he was a greyhound vet) and found out that in greyhounds it usually affects the back and thigh muscles but there can be a rare complication of break down of the heart muscle. The vet said he had heard of it in several breeds (hounds, gundogs and working dogs) and from a variety of causes and that most dogs survive it if the heart is not badly damaged by it.

Hope you get a diagnosis soon. Have they considered this? Rhabdomyolysis also known as: (Exertional Myopathy, Tying-up, Monday Morning Disease) This acute exertional myopathy of racing Greyhounds and working dogs is characterized by muscle ischemia secondary to exercise or excitement. Avascularity and lactic acidosis cause muscular lysis, myoglobin release, and a nephropathy. Clinical signs include muscle pain and swelling 24-72 hr after racing. Severe cases are characterized by stiffness, hyperpnea, collapse, myoglobinemia, and acute renal failure. Urinalysis reveals myoglobinuria; serum potassium, phosphorus, and muscle enzymes are increased. Treatment includes supportive care such as IV fluids, bicarbonate, body cooling, rest, and muscle relaxants (eg, diazepam). Prognosis depends on severity.

You will know when it is time but don't expect your OH to agree with you. Many men find making this final decision impossible so we the stronger sex, have to make the decision without them. He is not trying to be difficult to make things hard on you but in my experience men seem to have a much harder time coming to terms with the need to give a pet it's wings. The waiting is the hardest part so just try to enjoy your last days with her.

I have been at my vet for 9 years, i know i can ring up first thing tomorrow and get an appointment, they know me and will fit me, or anyone else that urgently needed to see them, in. I know that if there was a problem, i could ring their a/h number and be met at the vet in 5 mins, or they can come over here. I have dog aggressive dogs, the thought of sitting in a waiting room for god only knows how many hours makes me sick, so many dickheads who think it is ok to let their dogs play with others... at the vets at all places! even the most laid back dog can act different at the vet, or be sick and not feeling well.. My vet is a small place and I know that 99% of the time when I go in, the only other animals i will run into is the dog leaving before it is my turn to be seen, and the dog arriving as i leave. I would never to to a vet that didnt require an appointment. I also like knowing what vet I am going to, i have nothing against any of them, but out of each of the 3, one is better at somethings than others, and Atlas loves LOVES LOVES one vet over most, but will only let the female cut his nails :D so i like to mix and match! My vets will see me any time I need them 24/7 but except for vaccinations it is never by appointment because the allocated appointments book up so fast. To see one of my preferred vets by appointment I need to book more than a week in advance. There are usually 2 to 3 vets consulting at any time and I rarely take my dogs into the waiting room, prefering to keep them outside in the car with me until they call me in. I do love the reaction of the average pet owner though in this waiting room if they happen to walk in when the wildlife specialist is on. Lots of bags full of squirming reptiles and occasionally koalas sure makes them do a double take.

I must be the only one who prefers walk-ins. My vet used to have walk-ins except for litter vaccinations which were by appointment and they made sure they stuck to these appointment times. They have now changed to appointments and it is very difficult to know a week in advance that you will need to see a vet. Because they are breeder's vets and do so many emergency caesars, having an appointment often makes very little difference to waiting times anyway. They may be on time or the wait could be 90 minutes. Except for routine vaccines that I am happy to make an appointment for, I always end up having to wait to see the vet between appointments if something is wrong. Luckily the dogs I have now are pretty healthy and rarely see the vet but when they get older I can see it being a problem. Apart from routine vaccines most other ailments like gastro, injuries, etc require a vet the same day and if you need prog testing done on a breeding bitch they have to be done on the days required not in 5 days time when you can get an appointment. I think it is important to have a flexible system with some appointments for routine stuff but still allow for plenty of walk-ins. With dogs being pts I have never made an appointment in advance to have this done. I always make the decision that when it is time, it is time, make a decision, ring the vet to say I am coming in and have the dog pts the same day. I couldn't think of anything worse than knowing I was going to be having a dog pts on a particular day and make the dog suffer until I could get an appointment.

Good stud dogs do not attempt to mount a bitch unless she is spot on and sometimes for them this can be as much as 48 hours after the prog tests say they are ready. If the next test shows she has ovulated it may be wise to get an AI done for everyone's piece of mind. It removes the stress and often gives "learners" a bit of idea of what is required and they manage on their own within a few hours of having the AI done. Most young studs work it out for themselves but some need a bit of help to get them going. If you get an AI done then keep trying for a natural mating for several days. Above all don't stress or try to force the dog or you may end up with a dud stud dog. Sometimes letting him see the bitch through a fence works to tease them into action so that when you let them together he will get on with it. Also if the bitch is just standing, putting her on a lead and running her around the yard so that he can chase her sometimes does the trick. Also don't try for a mating in the heat of the day. Keep in mind that not every season is normal in every bitch. If the dog knows something is not quite right he may not want to mate her. This happens with even the most experienced stud dogs. The time she is right for mating can vary from a few hours to several days. I had one years ago to my experienced stud who would not mate her at 4pm. A try at 11pm was successful but by the next morning he wanted nothing more to do with her. She had one puppy so I offered a repeat mating. The next season the dog happily mated her three days in a row and she 6 puppies. I assume that she had fluctuating hormone levels with that first mating and the dog knew it. The second attempt was a textbook season, matings and whelping.

Sorry Tuscamada, but this post gave me the impression that you were only looking to rehome her because she turned out to be a carrier. If she is being rehomed because you think she has already contributed enough to the breed then have her speyed before she goes. If you have already promised the buyer an entire bitch that they can breed from, then you may not have that option. Most breeders I know keep their retired bitches but the few who do rehome them always spey them first.

Still not something that a "prospective" breeder should be taking on initially and most CERTAINLY not considering that the "prospective" breeder could cause Tuscamada untold issues if they aren't playing fair. And given the current climate, the past "Greyshaft" case and many other factors....in my eyes, placing it safe is the wisest course of action. I have been involved with the develpoment of DNA tests in my breed for over 15 years and also happen to be a close friend of the breeder involved in the Greyshaft case so know far more about DNA testing than most breeders. The breeder in the Greyshaft case won the court case eventually because at the time there was no DNA test available and she had no way of knowing the problem might exist. She was just very unlucky to sell a puppy to the most unreasonable person on the planet. Since then we have had a DNA test developed for TNS to make sure this never happens to another breeder. CEA is very rarely fatal, and is no big deal. The majority of affected dogs do not even have any sight defects but a very small proportion do. The Collie and Sheltie breeders are still breeding with affected dogs and doing carrier/carrier matings because they simply do not have enough clinically or DNA normal dogs to do otherwise. BCs have the highest DNA testing rate and for CEA approx 20% of the breed are carriers worldwide. Eliminating 20% of the gene pool would be ridiculous but we are lucky enough to be in a position to have the numbers that allow us to always breed with one parent DNA normal to avoid having any more affected puppies. I believe the Aussies probably have a similar percentage of carriers to the BCs. The Collies and Shelties are many years and generations away from being in this position. There is no problem with any prospective breeder taking on a "carrier" provided the fact that the dog is a carrier and what this entails is declared in writing. For me the bigger question here is why would the OP be getting rid of an otherwise lovely bitch just because she is a CEA carrier?

There is nothing wrong with breeding from a CEA carrier. So long as she is only bred to DNA normal partners her puppies will never be affected. It doesn't matter if you end up with 20 generations of carriers so long as there are no affected puppies and the DNA test is being used for the purpose it was intended. The development of DNA tests was designed to allow more dogs to be bred from not less thus expanding the gene pool , not reducing it. Removing carriers leads to a reduction in the gene pool and allows other disease genes to become more concentrated in the breed. This leads to more genetic problems that there are no tests available for. Once an autosomal recessive condition like CEA is able to be detected by DNA testing it is no longer a problem for the breed. It becomes one of the few things that can be absolutley controlled. Puppies from a Carrier/Normal mating do not need to be puppy eye tested as they won't be affected and they do not need to be DNA tested if they are going to be desexed pets because it doesn't matter if they are carriers or not. They will be perfectly healthy dogs. The only offspring of a carrier that need to be DNA tested are the ones that you are going to breed on from. They have 50/50 chance of also being a carrier and if they are carriers they can just be bred to normals. The best puppy should be chosen to go on with regardless of it's CEA DNA status. The only advantage to breeding from all DNA normals is a financial one in that you don't need to test the next generation. This should be the last consideration in breeding quality puppies.