dancinbcs

It all depends on the breed and the lines. Most Border Collies are fine until 12-13 then suddenly turn into old dogs. Not sure about Rotties but Bullmastiffs apparently are considered old at 8-9. The little breeds that tend to live well into their mid-late teens usually don't age until much later.

Liver shunts are very rare in many breeds and puppies sometimes do not develop any symptoms till well after they leave the breeder. I have only heard of three in my breed in nearly 30 years and two of these had no symptoms until several months of age. It is not something that can be tested for or anticipated by breeders who have never had a case and many would never even know such a condition exists. No one can absolutely guarantee any puppy will stay healthy forever but ethical breeders will usually refund the purchase price of the puppy if it is found to have a fatal congenital defect at some time. They should not be expected to pay any expenses beyond the original purchase price for something they could not have predicted. The breeder in this case needs to realise that anyone can breed a sick dog at any time. I wonder though if the owners went in guns blazing and "blamed" the breeder and put them offside. BTW, I think it is totally unrealistic to expect anyone to take on a sick puppy and spend $1000s on surgery that may not even work. If the owners have the money and want to try to save this dog, fine, otherwise it should be managed for as long as it is comfortable before being pts.

I can't see how it would make any difference. They are both Vitamin C and many breeders use one or the other for medium/large breeds to keep the ligaments tight. Personally I use Calcium Ascorbate powder because it is kinder to the stomach than even Ester C and easier to work out a dose.

It is pretty normal for a maiden bitch that has a caesar, to not accept the puppies for a few days or even up to week. This is one of the tough parts of breeding where the breeder needs to be there constantly with mum and babies until she accepts the puppies. Your friend will need to take time off work or organise someone else to to be there until things settle down. In the mean time she needs to hold the bitch down (muzzle if necessary) and allow the puppies to feed. The breeder will also need to toilet the babies if the bitch won't do it.

Japanese Spitz. I have been looking at them for about 15-20 years and now I am suddenly down to just one Border Collie, the next one might just be a JS, sooner rather than later.

Any member of the public can attend but it will be really crowded. If you want to be able to sit down you need to take a folding chair and try to find a spot to put it. This is one show I would not take un-entered dogs to due to the lack of space. Regular shows are not a problem but this one is huge and just walking around the grounds, dodging people, dogs and crates can be a bit challenging. All the stalls take up a lot of the areas normally used for exhibitors to set up so that compounds the space problem. The breed entries are: Friday 1354 Saturday 1640 Sunday 1822 For more info see here Spring Fair 2011

Was she a show breeder or just a breeder? A much larger percentage of the dog show world than the general population are gay. I can't imagine any showy being homophobic or they wouldn't last long at dog shows. So glad you found the right puppy and the right breeder for you.

Weeping eyes in Border Collies are completely abnormal, especially one weeping eye. If it was both it could be from an allergy but one eye weeping means something wrong with that eye. Could be a blocked tear duct, extra eyelashes or something else serious. A veterinary opthalmologist would be better to see than the vet because the vets don't have all the fancy equipment needed to look at the eye properly.

Pit Bulls are only banned from being bred and sold, not owned and then only in some states, so there are still plenty around. Stupidly the bans only affect supposed pure breds, not the even more dangerous crossbreds and as APBT are not an officially recogised breed in Aust, how can anyone declare a dog purebred? As far as I'm concerned if looks like a Pit Bull/Amstaff and does not have ANKC papers and a matching microchip to prove it is a purebred Amstaff or SBT, it should be deemed to be a Pit Bull. Before the legislation came in almost the only breed seen in my area were Pit Bulls and crosses of them. There are a few little crossbred terrier types, SWFs and the odd pure bred of other breeds, especially SBTs but by far most dogs seen on or offlead around where I live, were Pitbull/Amstaff types or crosses of these breeds. Every group of young louts seem to have several with them wherever they went. Thankfully the numbers seem to be decreasing gradually as the ban takes effect over a generation but it is still not safe to walk dogs around my suburb. The most human aggressive dog I have ever seen was a Pit Bull, the most damage I have seen done to a dogs or horses have also been by Pit Bulls, so I make no apology for having no sympathy towards the breed. In all these cases the breed was confirmed by the owners. We used have a Bull Terrier live next door many years ago but I haven't seen one, other than at shows, in years. There just aren't the numbers of them and they tend to be owned by enthusiasts of the breed who keep them safely contained, not yobbos who are attracted to the true fighting breeds. With lower numbers, more placid temperaments with people and more responsible owners you would not expect them to figure highly in attack statistics.

NSW has no minimum age for males but if they need to be hip scored then obviously this needs to be done after 12 months and before the dog is used. Historically, dogs were first used around 9-10 months. It is only in recent years that breeders seem to delay a first mating, leading to lots more problems with stud dogs needing more intervention to achieve matings. The new regulations do not mention grandparent to grandprogeny as being prohibited.

Did anyone add in the increased mortgage for a suitable dog property with more room or the costs of a dog friendly car and/or trailer. ;)

Same for Border Collies. Show potential or pet puppies, regardless of bloodlines, colour or register are $800 - $1000 from the top show or performance breeders in the country who do all relevant health testing. Up to $3000 for poor quality unregisterable colours, with parents who are not fully health tested, from those trying to make out there is something special about colour.

Start puppy pre-school as soon as possible. I don't like the idea of them being held at vet surgeries because this is the most dangerous place for infection but most others are held indoors away from areas the older dogs in. The one I use is in a purpose built building at the kennels of the trainer. The benefits of early training and socialisation in a safe environment, far outweigh the risk of infections. Edited to add: Puppies learn much faster between 8 and 12 weeks than they do later and you have the advantage of no bad habits having already being formed before training starts. If you are not training the right way you are inadvertantly training the wrong way and then it all has to be undone.

I would go with a girl if you are getting an adult. She will probably still end up being the boss as the girls usually are in Borders but there shouldn't really be any conflict between a dog and bitch. If you were getting a puppy a male with the right temperament could work because you would have the advantage of raising the new puppy from scratch, letting your dog teach him the rules and you know exactly what has and hasn't happened to him during his life. A rescue dog is always a gamble when you don't know the history. Memories of past events can trigger unexpected behaviours so you need to be much more careful. Maybe also consider a bitch from a breeder who hasn't made the grade as a show dog or has had a litter before being moved on to a lifetime home. These dogs need homes too and you have the advantage of them being trained, socialised and you know the history.

I think she might be confused with cats. Puppies need to scoialise with other dogs ie. the litter and mother between 6 and 8 weeks to learn how to be dogs but from 8-12 weeks they bond best with people.

Get off your High horse, she is asking for advice and to me sounds like she is taking it. After several people including me told her to not let the puppy toilet in the crate, she then said she preferred to do it her way. That doesn't sound like taking advice. I have all the patience in the world for someone that asks a question and when they get multiple responses saying "no you are doing wrong", takes the advice on board and admits they got it wrong. Constantly trying to defend why they are doing it wrong puts me offside immediately, especially when it means a puppy is suffering. Anyone who would even contemplate leaving a baby puppy in an unattended building all night has only their own interests at heart, not the puppy's. The whole tone of the posts seem to be that the puppy is just too much trouble and she seems to think that puppy can be raised like a far less demanding cat. A puppy is hard work and if you are not prepared to put in that work, get an adult dog or a cat and don't stuff up a puppy so it ends up being unwanted by anyone. Most dogs end up in shelters because because whoever raised them as puppies got it wrong. Staffy's are the most dumped breed in the country at present so if the OP is not up to huge amount of work in raising this one it would be better off elsewhere asap.

Go to some shows and talk to some breeders. Find one you like and be prepared to go along and learn from them. They may then offer you a puppy if they see that you have a genuine interest in the breed. You need to really like them as you will need them to mentor you with showing and future breeding. Don't rule out a co-ownership with the right person. Many breeders leave main register dogs in co-own until they get to know you better to ensure the puppy isn't onsold without their knowlegde and to keep some control over what they are bred to. If they want litters back, etc, then you need to look more closely at the arrangement but if they are happy for the puppy to be yours with just their final approval needed about breeding then it should be fine.

If the vet is prepared to work with you and Sasha, there would very few times she might need to be left at the vets. Always be prepared for it if necessary but in most cases, if you ask, good vets will let you stay with your dog provided you don't get in anyone's way. I have hardly ever left a dog at a vet's and never overnight. If they need surgery I make an appointed time, check before we leave in case they have to postpone it and the take the dog out and wait while they do the surgery. I wait with the dog until it has woken and the vet gives the OK to take them home. I then stay with them to monitor them for the rest of the day.

The chiropractor would be a good start but not if it will freak her out too much. They need to be able to prod and poke to find what is wrong. Other than that I would be seeing the vet. You know your own dog and if you think something is wrong, it is. From what you describe it sounds most likely to be her back but could also be a neurological problem. Have you tried touching her face again? If she whimpers or cries when you touch her head or face, it indicates head pain and is not something to be taken lightly. Unfortunately none of the causes are good news but a dog suffering pain in the head can become quite dangerous and unpredictable. I was bitten suddenly and quite badly by one of mine that turned out to have brain damage caused by meningitis and my girl I lost in June to cancer, suddenly yelped in pain when I touched her head, confirming our suspicions that she probably had a brain tumour as well as the chest tumours we found on x-ray. Even is Sasha has to be sedated first, I would be getting her thoroughly checked all over.

I am usually very tolerant and willing to offer advice but just get so sick of new puppy owners who do no research on how to raise and toilet train a puppy BEFORE a getting one. If you don't know at least the basics of how to raise a puppy, don't get one. The OP has admitted she has never raised a puppy before but has these stupid and cruel ideas about how to do it and will not take the advice offered by many experienced dog owners on here. Anyone treating a puppy badly makes me very angry. This puppy would be far better off returned to the breeder who should also be rapped over the knuckles for selling a puppy into this situation in the first place.

No You should never put a toilet area inside the crate. That defeats the whole purpose of using a crate for toilet training. You are making her soil her sleeping area and will cause her to be terribly stressed. If you want have an indoor toilet area, have it away from the crate and get up to take her to it. Otherwise put the crate in a small room and leave it open with the toilet area at the other end of that room. When she wakes she will need to toilet immediately. At this age she will be flat out to hang on for even a few minutes and making her do so could cause UTIs. Having said that I do not recommend teaching a dog that size to toilet indoors at all. It is alright for little toy breeds because they will never grow big enough to make a real mess and can be toiletted indoors like a cat for ever but you will not want a dog as big as a Staffy toiletting indoors as an adult and if you let it go inside at all it it much harder to teach it to go outdoors later.

You could always tell when we had Staffords in at the kennels, we had this sound all day every day... so glad Kaos is broken and doesnt do it good luck with it I am just stunned that anyone would choose a SBT as their first puppy to raise in an apartment. They are noisier than any breed on earth as babies. Not to mention it will be like having a wrecking ball in the apartment unless there is a huge amount of exercise and training provided as this puppy grows up.

I hated the ducted vacuum we had in one house. Much harder to pull the thick hose around than pushing a normal vacuum.

No stairs for oldies to have to negotiate to get out to the yard.

Male Border Collies can be divided into two groups. Those that adore puppies and are infinitely patient with them and those that "don't do puppies". There doesn't seem to be any middle ground with them. The bolder, more confident dogs seem to cope better with puppies than the softer dogs. I'm sure your boy will love the puppy in a couple of months but for now just make sure he can get away from her when he wants to. Also watch in case he decides to put her out of action by biting her elbow. If you notice her limping check the inside of the elbow for a puncture. It is a very much a BC trait to put a young dog out of action with this particular bite. I have never had a dog do it but know of several others that have applied this tactic. I have never heard of a an adult male doing anything worse to a puppy than the elbow bite or putting the puppy on it's back with a lot of noise but no actual bite, so supervise but don't worry too much.