The Spotted Devil

Nope. However you should not feed dog food to cats as there are several amino acids, eg taurine, that are destroyed in the cooking process and specifically added to cat food.

How lovely! One of my pups has just moved to London with his owners. Is living the life in fields, apartments and at the pub.

When the discharge changes colour from red to straw coloured they are SUPER ready to be mated.

My crazy working girls are all on the couch regardless BUT yes, they can go a "bit whacky" when they are in season. It's important to remember that they don't read the text books. With their early seasons, my girls were just sad and sensitive coming into season but would go crazy whilst they were in season! Em just kept going from strength to strength but her daughter goes a bit flat and usually has a bit of a false pregnancy. Generally my girls are ripe for mating around days 12-15....I progesterone test, have an entire male and they live indoors so I pick up the first signs very quickly. But! They are all different. I am hoping she was well confined when she was in season? Personally I love my dogs in the house 24/7 - I have a good set up with baby gates and pens for youngsters. My old ACD used to sleep outside my bedroom window when she wasn't allowed indoors (rental). She was VERY attached.

Well done to all the people involved including Dogs Vic PR.

I agree @Jed but there are ways to mitigate it. On numbers I need a permit for more than 2 dogs and I’m on 3/4 acre in the hills. It’s very strict here so it’s impossible for me to do anything with my lines long term. Most of my puppies and owners stay in close contact, we catch up for training, play dates, meals at the local pub or my house and sometimes the pups stay for a few days or even a month in one case. And the dogs just slot in together. Although mine would prefer it if the puppies could grow up a bit faster lol But I know I do things differently than a lot of people so you make a fair call for the majority.

Yep I’m going to read the e-book then discuss the ins and outs with my puppy people.

Zig is amazing with kids and adults and cats and horses and any female dog. Most male dogs hate his guts on sight so I’ve got to be careful. He’s entire and has always been a target even when doing his own thing. If I can step in he will ignore an attacking dog but if I can’t defend him he will deck the dog calmly and then ask if we can start working again. Phenomenal stuff. They are clowns but are WAY too smart for the average dog owner

He looks lovely and in great nick for his age! There are a couple of Dals doing agility but more doing obedience, tracking and lure coursing. Zig is 26kg and is very powerful. The trick is to make them think it’s their idea. I use food and tug in my training. He’s so funny - offers perfect heel position when I’ve trained the girls and not him. We’ve done obedience and the ET as well. This is him: http://thornfield.com.au/dog.asp?dog=93673

If you want to feed alternative to kibble you are better off feeding raw. You need to feed a balanced diet including raw meaty bones and a small amount of offal. What you are feeding now is an extremely Calcium deficient, Phosphorus dominant diet - but please don’t go just adding calcium to the mix. It’s not that simple. As a start you could read the book “Give a dog a bone” by Billinghurst. It’s based on BARF rather than raw feeding but it’s a good start for beginners. There are some good raw feeding Facebook groups too if you are interested.

Not specifically for Dalmatians but I feed all my dogs a probiotic (Blackmores PAWS) and 4-cyte for joints. He sounds lovely! You should post a photo My Ziggy is the only Agility Champion Dalmatian in Australia so he’s done very well for his breed and his breeder. And yes I’m super proud and love him to bits. He was a shit of a teenager though because I didn’t have the training skills I have now

Congratulations! My lad is 11.5 and he’s just run his last Agility Nationals. He looks fab and is quite the puppy still. I may do some Rally with him as he’s a bit bored I suspect! Smart dogs! I prefer to do off leash runs with him at the forest and the park rather than too many kms trotting on leash. They will trot forever but I prefer to let him exercise at his own pace - run, walk, sniff, pee I also feed several supplements, one of which is for his joints. Are you aware of the need to feed a low purine diet?

I would like to place a bitch or two on breeders terms but they would generally go to someone who has one of my pups already and that I have a great relationship with. I have one entire maiden bitch out of 3 dogs and plan on 2 litters with her as her Mama is spayed. I do a lot of dog sports so don’t want my girls out of action for too long. And depending on their circumstances I would breed 1 or 2 litters only and give them the option of spaying at any time thereafter. These agreements are not for the faint of heart. I have just had one pup (9 months old) fly back to the UK with his owner and I would strongly consider doing a bit of a genetic swap with his contacts and running a bitch on for him. Someone else has an entire male pup of mine (3 years old now) and I would sell her a bitch on breeders terms in an instant. That’s what comes of doing your homework with your puppy buyers.

One of my pups is off to the UK in a few weeks with his owners. He’s 9 months old, VERY active but I crate trained the litter (and did a lot of desensitization to loud noises) and his owners have followed up. He is super cool and relaxed in his crate and I’m not concerned at all.

The thing that’s “wrong” is that... - vets have to be across multiple species - vets have to be GPs, surgeons, radiologists, neurologists, geneticists, urologists, oncologists, behaviourists, nutritionists....etc etc - their patients bite and scratch more than the average - vets aren’t subsidised by Medicare And....half the population bitches about what they charge. It’s like dog trainers and breeders. They’re supposed to do it out of the goodness of their hearts. (I do, by the way, but I have a “real” job to subsidise breeding and dog training). Sheesh.

I don’t agree that vets should know what most breeds look like. Not every vet is as dog obsessed as the rest of us. And they get next to NO education on that at Uni. I know what my breeds are like, their quirks and their likely health risks. And it’s my job to respectfully educate my vets. AND my puppy buyers so they can educate THEIR vets. If I hear one more time how ESS are prone to infected ears I’ll scream. But I don’t. I explain the difference between working and show lines and the nature of the light ear leather and less coat means there is no need for prophylactic ear cleaning or plucking.

I think the trick is to teach University students that even peer reviewed research should be approached with a critical eye. Question everything!

Same as a good GP and specialist. I’ve had my fair share of good and bad and by golly I work hard to hang on to the good!!!

It’s also up to us to respectfully educate our vets. We can’t expect them to be up to date with everything. And you need to remember that their Uni course involves multiple species and specialties when you compare with a GP. What practice doctor has to perform a hysterectomy on a female patient!!!! And yet for a vet it’s standard. Plus they see a fair bit of neglect and everyone whinges about the (non-subsidised by Medicare) bills. I see my relationship with my treating vets as a two way street. We openly discuss early desexing (strict no from me with the understanding that it works for some situations), raw weaned puppies (shock horror ), behaviour (well that’s MY thing and they know it), pedigree dogs, breeding, health testing, 3 yearly vaccination, impact of physical health on performance dogs, fitness training, core strengthening etc etc. In turn they have knowledge and skills where I don’t.

To answer your main question - mains register ANKC would be your best option. As to your interest in breeding I would say we all have to start somewhere. All of us have to breed our first litter. But. Be cautious of someone who will sell you anything on mains register with zero qualification. My puppy people don’t get the 3rd degree but I do need to understand their motivation, I need to meet them, get to know them and see their plans to train or to trial or to work their dogs (I breed working Springers). They also end up on a waiting list as breeding is not something I do often. If you can let us know what breed perhaps we can help so that you avoid the pitfalls of breeding with below average dogs.

Oh I can relate. My Dalmatian was the same as a youngster but I persisted and he’s now my “easy” agility dog. Kicks the girls butt AND what is funny is no one in agility circles remembers that he was EVER hard work

I feed Artemis. Very happy with it.

So here’s what I do.... 1. I do not sell puppies until I’ve met the owner or have a VERY strong recommendation from someone I trust. Local, interstate or otherwise. 2. On my website I ask my puppy people to honestly write about their experiences. 3. I have a closed Facebook group for puppy owners. Many are very private and don’t even like publishing to my personal FB page. 4. I breed only occasionally and people hang in there and wait because they see how open and honest I am from the get go. About my dogs, their strengths and weaknesses and challenges. 5. If I have a catch up with my puppy people I may invite a serious potential buyer along WITH their permission. 6. I am not going to give out the phone numbers of my puppy buyers. I have one or two that would probably be ok with that but I would obviously ask them first.

I would suggest that this be moved to General Discussion. Please @Troy Firstly, love that you’re asking the question! Secondly, as someone who does Retrieving with working Gundogs please, please, please no chasing balls unless it’s a controlled retrieve ie sit, throw the ball, ball stops, release to retrieve. It does terrible things to cruciates when dogs skid into moving retrieves repeatedly. That is a TREAT for my dogs but 90% are on controlled retrieves on dummies. Thirdly, moderation is the key! An on leash walk where nice, relaxed walking is reinforced, an off leash free run to sniff, a social outing where pup learns to interact calmly or ignore or lie quietly (eg cafe) and BUCKET loads of short (2-3 min) training sessions at home - recalls, sits, drops, shaping, core strengthening, body awareness, impulse control...the list goes on!