dancinbcs

You can limit register any colour. It is only the main register that is restricted to the listed colours.

Many of my breeder friends and I have been happily using Gary and now Neil as well, for chiro work on our dogs for well over 20 years. Can highly recommend them.

We did it from Sydney in May 2009, my Mum and I with two dogs. 4500 kms over 16 days. Our first night was Wagga, then Bendigo, Ballarat, Melbourne 2 nights, Apollo Bay, Warrnambool 2 nights, then on to SA, Mt Gambier, Keith, Adelaide, Morook 2 nights, Mildura, Deliliquin, then Yass via Batlow and Home via Canberra. I had a friend in Ballarat mind the dogs for a couple of hours so we could see Sovereign Hill. We stayed in everything from dog friendly houses with yards (only 2) to guesthouses, cabins, caravans and with friends. A few nights we just had to motel it and leave the dogs in the car. Will see if I can find my list of places and let you know. There are some lovely dog friendly places along the way but they are expensive and need to be booked a long way in advance. Most of the ones I liked the look of were booked out months in advance. We went in off peak time and chose not to book any more than a day ahead so we didn't need to keep to a schedule. My dogs were in their crates secured into the back of the station wagon and I had padlocks for their crates. Don't know how you will get on with a sedan. The dogs are not allowed out of the car in the National park that runs all along the south and west part of the GOR. We walked them elsewhere then left them in the carparks in the locked crates with the car locked and the tailgate up, while we went to all the lookouts. You can't see anything much from the road so have to park and walk to each lookout along the way. Be prepared for A LOT of walking but not with the dogs. You may be better to try to hire or borrow a dog trailer but towing it will be a bit of challenge on the east side of the GOR. That is the the most winding bit of road I think I have ever been on.

I never train any dog for more than 10-15 min at a time so changing dogs and classes is not a problem. I used to train up to four (at different levels) on the one night just joining onto the end of the class line when they where doing something interesting, then dropping out of class the minute that dog started to lose interest. You just have to make sure you don't disrupt the class. The further I progressed the less I used classes anyway, prefering to have some private lessons with a top trainer than train my dogs at the dog club on my own with the other dogs around to act as a distraction. I really only joined the classes for the stay exercises. If you want a really good heeling dog the worst thing you can do is join in endless heeling drills in a class. Your dog will never be required to heel among other dogs in a trial and it just causes them to lose concentration and learn to lag. Short intense training sessions are much more effective in producing a reliable trial dog, than hour long classes.

I usually have a theme so choose the names. Most owners haven't got a clue when it comes to choosing registered names so I usually don't allow that option. I think Qld is the only state that allows the puppies to registered into the new owners name. The others require the breeder to register the litter and give the signed papers to the buyer so they have the option of transfering them, at their expense if they wish to. There is more room for unscupulous breeders to rip people off if the litter isn't registered before they go. I prefer that buyers get their papers at the time they collect the puppy so there can be no doubt that they have a registered puppy. Registering them after they are sold also brings up the problem of only having part of the litter sold. Buyers shouldn't have to wait for papers until you sell the entire litter and if they are going to be showing they need the papers by the time the puppy is 8 weeks to get them entered in shows at 3 months.

Are you thinking about the BC nationals next year? No, not for a dog show, even if it is a National. :p I have never been to Tassie because I can't afford it, I don't really enjoy air travel and am even less likely to get on a boat. I was just curious and if I was contemplating it, would rather fly with dogs, than leave them that long unattended on the boat, though I enjoy air travel even less when I take a dog. I don't like the fact that you cannot check on them for such a long time when you are in some of the roughest seas in the world. Bass Strait is not likely to be calm waters. The dogs would probably be fine, but I would be a mess worrying about them. If I ever do manage to get to Tassie I will fly in and it will be as a tourist to see all the beautiful state has to offer, not for a dog show.

If there does end up being a fine and your sister is old enough to pay it (even from pocket money), then she should be the one responsible. There is never any excuse good enough for leaving a door or gate open and allowing a dog to escape. In this case it was a small friendly dog but she still put it at risk of being run over or attacked if the dogs it ran up to happened to respond badly. I have heard of many similar cases but they all involved bigger dogs rushing out and seriously attacking smaller ones being walked past on lead or the dog rushes out and is killed on the road. It is irresponsible behaviour of the worst kind and should not happen. There is far more chance of a dog attacking a another passing the house it lives in and guards, than there is of it attacking another dog in the park. No dog should be put in this position. I no longer walk my dogs in the street at all due to dogs rushing out of driveways to attack. I have never had a friendly dog rush at mine, only aggressive ones. They have always been in full attack mode before they reached me and are rarely little dogs. I don't worry about little dogs because mine are larger and my dogs don't fight but anything closer to the size of mine or larger would certainly be kicked if they got close enough. To prevent this I carry a stock whip in the park and crack it if any dog even looks like approaching. If they keep coming they get hit with the whip. I will not have any more dogs attacked by strange off lead dogs ever again if I can possibly prevent it. Oh, and teaching dogs to not cross roads without permission is useful if they do happen to get out (even though they shouldn't) or slip their lead and go wandering up the street BUT the training will be forgotten once they decide to chase something. They wont even notice the road is there if they are in chase mode. If you have a breed that doesn't really chase it is a great idea but with a herding breed like mine it does have limitations.

How long are the dogs left in the pens or cars for the crossing when you can't get to them?

All good advice on happy vet visits. Also ask the vet if he can put an otoscope very gently in the puppy's ear while giving him treats, when he doesn't have a sore ear and once you have desensitised him over a few months. Don't be too concerned at this stage as an otoscope can hurt a lot in an inflamed ear. I once had a dog grab the otoscope out of the vets hand and spat it on the floor. I was holding his head with the lead round his muzzle because he was a dog that was not fussed on having strangers poke him. He was being very calm and tolerent when the vet suddenly hurt his ear, he reacted so fast that neither of us got any warning. He didn't aim for the vet but for the object that was causing the pain, and got rid of it. Some dogs will always react more to someone other than the owner causing them pain and some need to be muzzled as a precaution to protect the vet or whoever is treating them. I remember a friend's very nice natured GSD reacting very differently to different people touching a grass seed abcess on his side. The owner didn't think the lump was sore because she got no reaction when she touched or squeezed it. I felt it and got growled at, so she took him to the vet. The dog tried to eat the vet when he examined it. It was in fact a very painful abcess that had to have surgery to remove the offending grass seed.

Yep they are out and about. We met a brown in the park this morning on the edge of metro Sydney. First time I have seen one there next to the picnic tables. Luckily it had a clear plastic cup on its head and that made me notice it but one of my dogs got to within less than a metre of it before I noticed it and called her back. Too close for comfort.

It just keeps getting worse. According the 9 News, pets in Condamine had to be put down before their owners where evacuated as no pets were evacuated from that town. Where the hell are the RSPCA and why aren't they saying a word about this? Surely they could charter some choppers to take the animals out when they have a day or in some cases, several days warning, before towns are inundated.

Good on the second vet for being so caring. I would be giving them a plug on here. I know she looks sad now but will feel a whole lot better tomorrow.

Dogs also only perspire through their paws so walking on a hot surface stops the perspiration from evaporating and cooling the dog. Definitely don't walk a dog on a hot pavement.

Glad you went to the vet for ABs. That many hotspots are a worry and while 99% of dogs do have them heal with no problem, I have a friend who lost her girl, literally overnight to a hotspot. She found a hotspot on the dog who and was very quiet, so obviously not feeling the best. She couldn't find a vet open anywhere near her at night so headed for the vet first thing in the morning. The dog died within an hour of arriving at the vets, from blood poisoning because the bacteria had gotten into her bloodstream. It is the only case I have ever heard of but ABs the night before would probably have saved her. Hotspots are usually a minor ailment but they are still a bacterial infection and can be very serious.

This would be a good thread to pin for future reference.

Animal Referral Hospital Veterinary Surgeons - Homebush, NSW (02) 9758 8666 Address 250 Parramatta Rd, Homebush NSW 2140, Australia Our vets refer all non-clients here after hours.

Professional help asap would be best and continue to run them seperately until then. Other than that, some things that work for me. I've never had bitch fights but have had males fight and the one exercise I found most effective in diffusing the situation was long down stays, side by side. To start with I actually muzzled the aggresor who was the younger more submissive dog. He was attacking the older dog out of fear and making him do drop stays next to the older dog, made him realise he had nothing to fear. It also puts you in charge and stops any posturing, teaching both dogs to relax in each others presence. With my breed I have also always fed everyone together in their designated positions, about a metre apart, with the plates always put down in the same order. No dog is allowed to approach another dog's plate and they all stay in place until released. Even dogs I don't run together and visiting dogs are included in this ritual and I find it keeps everyone calm about food and keeps me in charge of resources. It works fine with BCs but don't know if it would work with bigger dogs that have the potential to fight seriously. Most fights with BCs are mainly noise and slobber, with only the occasional puncture or more serious wound.

There are 7 puppies in the litter. So the whole area would be 2.4m x 2.4m. Do you think that would be too small? Depends on the age of the puppies. At three weeks it is probably big enough but by 6-7 week they will need a lot more area then that. I usually fence off nearly half my suburban yard for a litter to play in.

Prefixes get rejected because they are the same or similar to someone else's and that is why so many are composite words. So many normal words, place names, etc are already taken. Also the name cannot be anything that can be considered offensive. Keeping the prefix as short as possible makes naming puppies much easier. We used to only be able to have 24 characters and spaces in a dogs name, including the prefix and the space after it. This has now been increased to 30 characters and spaces but it is still really frustrating to think of a great puppy name and find it won't fit, so the more characters you have to play with the better. My prefix is 10 letters but if I had my time over again I would have made it just the first 6 letters, because there have been several names I couldn't use over the years. The more puppies you breed, the harder it gets to come up with unique names that fit in with your prefix. Having 14 or 15 characters in the prefix doesn't leave much room for names after it. And one last tip. Don't make a prefix gender specific. I heard about someone that once registered "Princess" as their prefix, never considering that they would have male puppies to name as well as female.

I was also going to say feeding times. Adult dogs need to eliminate within an hour after eating and then again 9-12 hours later. So they need time outside after their dinner to relieve themselves then will need to go again 9-12 hours later, so if you feed late afternoon or early evening you are setting them up to fail. Try feeding one hour before you bed them down and give them plenty of time to toilet before bed. Also, you mention paper training but have they actually been trained to go outside on grass. You need to actively train puppies to toilet on grass from as young as possible, with lots of praise for getting it right. I usually start at about 3-4 weeks so they are almost trained by 8 weeks. They need to know that they should only toilet outdoors and teaching that grass is where to go, is the easiest way to make this connection. Paper training actually teaches them to go indoors. I too would separating them into different trailer bays (or preferably completely different sleeping areas) so they sleep and don't play. With siblings they should actually be separated as much as possible and just be allowed play times so they get to develop individual personalities and don't become too dependant on one another.

I wonder if there's something more in that brand that creates the potential for "bright yellow" staining. If I posted you some up from here (that I use), would you be willing to test it for me and tell me if there was any staining? Yeah, sure. Will pm you.

Glad they are making some effort now but how will they know if they have them all without the residents there to secure their pets. I'm sure many of the pets will be so terrified that they will not be able to catch them without the owner present. Surely it would have made more sense to have taken them out with the owners. Not to mention the stress they caused to these people having them leave without their pets.

Gosh! I've never known this to occur before. I don't have a white dog but he has got a white patch on his chest and even a full body rinse hasn't turned that yellow. I've used it on my own skin as well, without any discolouration issues. Anyone else have this experience? It will be handy for me to know so that I can inform people. How much of the tea to how much water did you use, Dancinbcs? And what brand, if you don't mind me asking? I used Blooms brand and put about 3 rounded teaspoons in a teapot with about 500mls of water. Once cooled, I used it to spray on the itchy spots and it turned the white hair instantly bright yellow, but the colour did fade a bit as it dried out to a dull yellow. The itchiest area was right down his white chest and front legs, so it was not a good look at all. It didn't stain the skin, just the hair. Oh, I tried it on me as well, and it does reduce itchiness and doesn't stain human skin.

The little dog's life is no more valuable than that of a big dog but you pointed out that you would not let your dogs take the place of a person who's life was in danger. A little dog does not take the place of a person, a big dog does, weight and space wise.

Can Lab puppies climb? If not the 30' would probably be tall enough. Some of my BCs can climb the 36' ones but Borders are notorious climbers.