dancinbcs

Males are usually not fertile until 5-6 months but I do know of two 4 month old males that managed to mate with their own mothers. They were both Belgian Shepherds, but I still wouldn't be taking any chances with your puppy. He may as well start getting used to the fact that he cannot run with your girl when she is in season now. He may not suit her as a mate when he matures and even if her does they will not be breeding every season. If you own entire males and females, separating them during seasons, goes with the territory. Try crating them next to each other.

I had a dog nearly die from the KC part of the C5 vaccine and have never used it since. Over the years I have had several dogs get KC but no one was ever as ill as the dog that reacted to the vaccine. This dog also picked up KC a few months after being vaccinated. My vet only uses C3 on her own dogs and doesn't recommend the C5 for show dogs because they build constant immunity from being in contact with lots of other dogs. The only time I have used the nasal spray one was a couple of years ago when I was going on a road trip with the dogs and they hadn't been to many shows in the preceeding year. The vet recommended the nasal vaccine to boost their immunity and cover them in case I needed to leave them in a kennel for a day along the way. Basically though as the others have said, your dog, your decision. If the vet isn't happy to abide by your decision find another vet. Ignore the vet nurse who has no doubt been trained to upsell services. I know some wonderful vet nurses but even at my vets there are a few nurses who think they know it all and need to be firmly put in their place.

What a sad world it has become that kids can't even take their dog for a walk. When I was a kid I walked my entire male dog all over the district. There weren't any DA dogs around then and it it was quite safe. Now I never walk my dogs in my local area, almost all the dogs around here are fighting breeds or crosses of them and many are not safely contained.

A holiday house with a fenced yard is wonderful but pretty hard to find. Toiletting dogs on lead does make for a lot more work than at home but I would never go off and leave my dogs in a strange yard. Nothing short of concrete base and fully enclosed roof could be considered completely safe from escape if they panicked about being abandoned in a strange place. I suppose for breeds that cannot jump or climb a fenced yard could be deemed safe but I would never leave a BC in just a yard. I stayed in one beautifully fenced holiday house at Wagga and another in Bendigo. The Bendigo one had an acre, but one small section of fence was only hip height, so I still had to go outside with the dogs but at least they didn't have to be on lead to toilet and have a run around. In rural areas a fenced area would be lovely to let the dogs out to toilet, especially at night, without having to worry about roos. I stayed at a wonderful dog friendly cabin at Running Stream and the owners warned me not to let the dogs off lead after dark. They have an abundance of huge roos that come onto the property at night. In the morning when the roos retreat to the heavy bush my dogs got to have a big run with the owners dog all over the property but a small fenced yard off the cabin would have been great. For me the ideal is dogs allowed inside with a fenced yard. Failing that, dogs allowed inside is more important than a yard. If they aren't allowed inside I can manage by leaving them in the car, outside the door and preferably under cover.

If possible think of a name with a similar sound so he doesn't get confused. I know someone who got one of there puppies back as an adult and decided to show him. They hated the pet name "Spotty" that he had been called by the former owners so changed it to "Scotty".

You are not supposed to reward immediately after using positive punishment. You must wait at least 10 seconds before rewarding otherwise you turn the roar and banging into a reward marker, and the dog will learn to ignore the noise. Says who? I always reward immediately with a praise word, when I get the desired response and it has worked for all my dogs over many years.

I know it's a lot, and I certainly would have aborted had she come in earlier, but each pup will be desexed, chipped, vacced and started on heartworm prevention prior to leaving us. All adopters sign a contract that states the dog must be returned to us in the event that the person can no longer care for it, so ultimately we take responsibility for them for the duration of their life. I believe that their lives are as precious to them as ours are to us, and could never consider culling. We are in a regional area where the average block of land is about 160-1000 acres, so the chances of them finding good responsible homes are better than average. They will have a home here with us until the perfect person comes along. And they always do eventually! Mum is in pretty good condition all things considered, as I believe other people were feeding her when they realized the owner wasn't, she's now parvac'd, wormed and flea treated, so I think she'll cope alright with the rigours of motherhood. Us women are tough. :D Fair enough if you are sure you will be able to find enough homes for them. I suppose in a rural area BC crosses would be fairly popular. The most heartbreaking thing I found working for a shelter, were the people who invested so much time and money into rearing unwanted litters from strays only to find that they couldn't find homes for them. When they couldn't find homes they would surrender them to the shelter but we had 10 times as many surrendered as we were able to home, so most medium to large breed litters were pts the day they came in. At that time they were mostly Cattle Dog, GSD or Bully breed crosses and hardly anyone ever wanted those types of puppies. We had no problem finding homes for small breed puppies but they rarely came in.

Dogs can slip halters very easily and should always be used with a collar and second lead for this reason. A martingale collar is a better idea to avoid the dog slipping it's head out.

I would let them make their selection from the whole litter, then tell them if I am happy to let them have that puppy and show it. If it is going to be shown, both the owner and breeder have to be happy with the choice. Some people are good at showing but hopeless at picking puppies, so a lot of discussion is sometimes needed to come to an agreement. I assess a fair few litters and have selected show puppies for others from litters and always ask to make a choice with no input from the breeder. Once a puppy is selected the next question is "is this one available to the person I am choosing for?". If it isn't and none of the rest of the litter make the grade, then you look for another litter. If there are two likely prospects then the buyer may be happy to take whichever one the breeder isn't keeping. With pet people, I always match the puppy to the buyer but if there are two or three with similar temperaments, then first in gets to choose.

That type of behaviour is totally out of character for a BC male puppy. They usually give in straight away to any adult female of any breed. I have actually never seen a male BC of any age act agressively to a female. You need professional help now. Also contact the breeder asap and let them know you are having problems.

Hit the bench really hard and roar at the dog at the same time as if you are going to kill them for touching your stuff. Praise immediately they get down. Timing is everything. My dogs never try more than once to put a paw on a table or kitchen bench. They will stand on their back legs to look at what is up there and even lick the edge but I have never had one put a paw up again. They just know it is absolutley against the house rules.

Eleven is a huge litter for a Border Collie to raise and a lot of puppies to find homes for. Glad she got them all out ok and that you survived the whelping as well. Well done on coping with a difficult situation. Depending on the Mum's physical condition, I really think culling some might be a good idea. If the Mum is in peak conditon and you have homes lined up 11 is do-able but a lot of work. Even among purebred registered breeders, very large litters are sometimes culled down in breeds that are difficult to find the right homes for and accidental crossbred litters are usually culled down if not able to be aborted. It is all about being responsible and not adding to the numbers of unwanted dogs. I know you work in rescue and will make a decision based on your current situation but a lot in rescue don't realise that culling is still carried out sometimes by responsible breeders to keep the numbers down. Good luck, whatever you decide to do.

Was 8 the final tally or was she hiding a few more? Hope all went well till the end.

A stick will sometimes put dogs on the defensive. Better to carry a large automatic opening umbrella or a stockwhip. You want something to deter the dog with before it gets to your dog. I carry a short stockwhip and know how to crack it safely. My dogs are trained to stand next to me while I crack the whip but the noise is usually enough to deter most dogs from continuing to run at mine. If they keep coming a good whack across the face usually works. I usually don't walk anywhere near houses and make sure I walk in areas with a clear view in most directions. Have had far to many dogs attacked on walks over the years to ever risk walking anywhere near loose dogs again. It really has taken a lot of the joy out of owning dogs. As a child, I walked my dog for miles and only ever had trouble with the Scottie that lived round the corner. He was small enough to kick so could prevent him from latching on but other than that there were no dog agressive dogs around anywhere. Now almost everyone with a dog in my area has Staffies, Amstaffs and Pitbulls and crosses of these breeds and none of them are trained. Definitely not a safe area to walk a dog.

Don't forget to count in at least $100 - $150 per puppy for food to raise them. The mum will need at least 3 times her normal ration for a few weeks and once you start to wean, you will not believe how much food they can put away between 3 and 8 weeks. The puppies and mum need to wormed every two weeks.

Welcome back Erny. Good to see you on here again.

Nylon leads are only suitable for very small dogs or very well trained ones. They will cut your hands to pieces if the dog pulls suddenly. Even with well trained show dogs, handling nylon leads for extended periods of time, will rope burn your hands. I wouldn't recommend a check chain unless you have someone to show you how to use it properly. Most pet dog don't need one but medium/large show dogs are usually shown on them so they are trained on them as babies. I suggest an adjustale martingale collar in leather or fabric so it can tighten enough to stop the puppy slipping his head out but not tighten any more than that. It doesn't really matter if the part joining the martingale is chain or the same material as the collar. They all work the same way.

Dogs with a double coat shouldn't need PJs if they sleep inside in warm beds. If you put PJs or warm coats on them they won't grow their own normal dense undercoat nature gave them to keep warm. Breeds like Kelpies, Labradors, GSDs etc usually have no problem even in snow because the dense double coat is weatherproof. Only dogs with single short coats should need clothes to keep warm unless they are old or arhtritic.

So far so good. Most Border Collies whelp with no help other than observation. If she has cleaned the puppy and eaten the placenta, she will be fine. The only problems could be from a very large or mis-presented puppy or if she runs out of steam before delivering all the puppies. Good thing she picked day time to whelp in case you run into problems. BC puppies usually average 300g - 350g but can range from 200g to 500g, so if you get any bigger than that they could well be mastiff cross. If you do pts some of the litter, choose to keep the ones smaller ones as they will be easier to find homes for than bigger dogs.

If your dog is long coat and the other fosters have also been long coats, this could be the problem. Occasionally the smooth coated dogs freak them out if they are not used to socialising with them. I used to have a very submissive BC that would snap at smooth coated dogs if they got too close. They seemed to make him nervous. It happened with several smooth coats of different breeds but never a long coat. His usual tactic was to come from behind whichever other dog I had with me, make a snap and then retreat behind his kennel mate. With patience he did outgrow the problem but I have no idea how he would have coped with a smooth coat in his yard.

How much you will need to help with the whelping depends a lot on the breed of dog. Most average dog shape breeds whelp with little help apart from making sure they produce a puppy within than an hour after they start pushing and not leaving them more than two hours between puppies if it is a big litter. If they don't stick to these times, you need a vet. Brachy breeds, giant breeds and clumsy breeds need a lot more help with cleaning puppies, getting them breathing, clamping and cutting cords etc, so you probably need someone that knows what they are doing to help you. The whelping area needs to be warm, about 20-23 deg and even warmer for really smooth coated dogs. Puppies must be warm to digest the milk or they will die. For the first two weeks they cannot control their body temp so warmth is essential. If you don't have any special whelping mats like vetbed/drybed, deliver the litter on newspaper and keep removing and replacing wet paper. Once she is finished you can clean the box out and put in warmer bedding. If she needs a c-section, I suggest that you not revive the puppies. She won't miss what she hasn't seen and can recover and find a home faster. No matter how they are born, if it is a large litter, consider having all but 3 or 4 pts at birth unless they are a small breed that is going to be easy to find homes for. Raising a large litter will be very taxing on a bitch that is obviously not in very good condition to start with. Large crossbreed puppies cost a lot to raise and then often need to be pts because there are no homes for them. Heartbreaking and expensive for the good samaritans that tried to save them.

Sounds pretty normal to me for a JS. They are very vocal about strangers invading their territory but happy to welcome people they know. Try putting her on a lead and making her focus on you with some commands and treats once you have let the stranger in. That puts you in charge and lets her know that you are not worried about the stranger. Personally, I like having a dog that reacts like that to strangers coming to the house but always ensure that I can control them and calm them down once I have allowed the stranger in. It ensures that no one casing out places to come back and rob, will ever bother with a house with a dog like that. :D Over the years I have usually had one dog at a time act as the guard dog. Always the pack leader and as each one passes on the next one takes over guard duty.

They have a reputation for being stubborn, difficult to train and not very sociable with other dogs. I believe they also make good guard dogs. They were bred for fighting and used for meat in China so were never intended to be cuddly pets, even though they look like teddy bears. No doubt the temperaments have mellowed a bit over the years but they are definitely only a breed for those used to tough, strong willed dogs.

In this case, this is a good response. The girl didn't pay for the dog, so hasn't been ripped off financially. I'm sure she will still love it no matter if it is purebred or not. Maybe giving her a book on the breed will enlighten her to the fact that it is a crossbred without you having to point it out. This is an adult dog now in a better home, so no real harm done. When people buy puppies though, I cannot help saying something. I former idiotic work colleague asked me for help buying a puppy from a repuatable breeder. We found her a puppy from a wonderful breeder and she was delighted with it. Then she chose to ignore my protestations over her son buying a so called "spanador" from one of the biggest puppy farms in the country. She couldn't see what the problem was. I have also just commented on an old school classmate's FB page. She proudly diplayed the photos of the Bulldog puppy her adult son has just brought home. First it isn't a Bulldog and second it is mostly white with rather red looking skin and no eye rim pigment. Up to this point I chose to ignore the post. Then she posted that the puppy was 5 WEEKS old and still unsteady on it's legs. At that I let fly with the facts that it is a crossbred, legally cannot be sold in NSW before 8 weeks and that it should have been vaccinated and microchipped before sale. Also pointed out that it will be prone to sunburn/skin cancer and could be deaf and the fact that the "breeder" was highly disreputable. Why oh why can't people ask advice from dog savvy friends and family before buying a puppy ? If they know nothing about cars or horses most people ask the advise of those that do know about them before buying but for some reason they won't do it with dogs.

I always request minimal clipping before surgery and have never needed an e-collar. The clipped area becomes itchy as the hair grows back so the less they clip, the less irritation there is, the less the dog worries about it. Cortisone cream, alpha keri ointment or curash powder can help on the rash once it develops. Just don't put any of them on the actual stitches.