Gayle.

One would hope it's a very long time. The Australian Shepherd Club of America don't recognise the miniature. toy or "North American" as being part of, or related to the breed. And the ASCA is the one I'd be putting my money on.

Some of the nicest little dogs I have ever met are Chihuahuas owned by DOLer Pet Piggy, I think she has 3 of them and it's been a while since I saw them but they struck me as the sweetest, funniest little munchkins. On the other hand, the most vicious dog I ever encountered was a chi.

There are free dogs, my most recent addition was free, although I like to think of her as priceless. But free pedigree dogs aren't given to just anyone, you have to prove your worth. I did by the fact that the breeder and I have acquaintances in the breed in common, I already owned 3 dogs of the same breed and I am actively involved with clubs etc. I didn't know she was free when I enquires about her though, I fully expected to pay $500-1000 for her.

See this is part of what's pissing me off! She said she would dearly like a Standard Poodle but they would be too big!! ;) If she said she was getting one from a shelter I would care as much but she is going to a "Goldendoodle" breeder. Maybe she is planning to get one from a standard poodle and a teacup golden retriever. If she's going to a goldendoodle breeder, anything's possible and anyone who buys from such a person will believe anything they're told.

There are about 3 GRxPoodles in mine and Isaaks obedience class, and they all look totally different. One is pretty much the ugliest dog I have ever seen with a hideous coat that looks like a pot scrubber, the others are nothing to write home about. One looks more poodly, the other looks more retriever like but they all look like mutts.

When you think about it, a Golden Doodle sounds like something a bloke might get from sleeping with a high class hooker. An expensive sexually transmitted disease.

Oooooh a Golden Doodle! They're available in quite sizeable quantity in Kings Cross, I believe. If she looks hard enough she can probably find other metals as well. Copper doodle, iron doodle, brass doodle.

She can probably buy a Golden Noodle at the Noodle Box. Seriously, can't they see how ridicuolous that sounds? Who would want a dog called a Goldenoodle?

This is a similar story to that of my most recent addition, Shae. As a baby puppy she was sold to someone said all the right words, but in time, the owners got bored with the dog, couldn't be bothered exercising her, got tired of training her and left her in their backyard day and night, neglected and lonely. She did the only thing she knew how.....tried to attract attention the only way she knew how, by barking, howling, digging and destroying anything she could. All she wanted was someone to pay attention to her and no one did, then one day they took her back to her breeders and told then the dog was a nuisance because she barked and howled and destroyed things. Her behaviour was so out of control the breeder thought he would have to have her euthanased, but he took her to a vet to be assessed and she was given to the vet nurse who took a liking to her. Four years later, he behaviour was normal, and she'd lived a nice life but then they went overseas and didn't take her with them so once again she found herself back at her breeders. We have her now. I can't understand how anyone could leave this exquisite little dog behind, she is an absolute darling and just wants someone to love her. So we are doing that for the rest of her life.

Frenchies aren't that rare and if you regularly read the For Sale ads here, you'll see that litters of 4-8 puppies aren't uncommon. I personally think some of the reasons given for justifying the high prices to be a bit.....well........odd, to say the least. Such as.....they are so expensive because of all the veterinary costs involved, they need surgical intervention to whelp etc. etc. If a litter of 6 is being sold for $3000 per pup, and the breeder is spending $18000 on vet fees, well they probably should be breeding with different dogs because those ones clearly are not healthy enough to breed from. It would be a lot more reasonable to say "Well, that's the going price, that's the price people expect to pay, so that's the price we charge".

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$3000 is not outrageous if someone is willing to pay the price. And someone did, so the price is "justified". If no one was willing to pay that much, the pup wouldn't be $3000 for long.

For non-breeders like me (yes I did think briefly about it then discarded the idea for a number of reasons), to better the breed *could* mean trialling, showing, dabbling in other dog activities, getting out and about with the dogs and talking to people who ask about them. In the case of my breed, it's about making people aware they exist and that they are a different breed to border collies. If I am out in public with a number of Australian Shepherds, doing activities to show off my Australian Shepherds abilities, or simply walking with well-behaved, well-groomed, fit and friendly dogs.....I think that is acting in a manner which is a credit to the breed and is also for the betterment of the breed. True story......a very long time ago when my children were little, a dog show was advertised in the local paper as an upcoming event and because we loved dogs, I took the kids along to see it. I now know that it was an all-breeds championship show, at the time I didn't really have any idea, we just went to look at the dogs. We stopped to look at some Samoyeds and the people who owned them invited the kids over to pat them, and they were so lovely and friendly to us, that we all went away with an impression of beautiful dogs owned by lovely people. And that impression has remained today. Rightly or wrongly, I always associate Samoyeds with friendly owners because of that one encounter, and those people were acting for the betterment of the breed. Had they been snappy and told my kids off for coming to close, I would definitely have left with a very different impression of Samoyeds.

A phrase that's heard a lot in the dog world, but what exactly does it mean? And is it limited to breeders only? I tend to think not, but I'm interested in others interpretations of the words.

When it all comes down to it, if the puppies are priced higher than anyone will pay, then no one will buy them. I was shocked when I first learnt what small bull breeds sell for (and the price has increased by 35% or more in the past 4 years) and I couldn't believe anyone would pay that for a pup. I certainly wouldn't, I wouldn't pay that price for any dog, but that's just me. Lots of people will and some will pay more and so the price goes up and up and up.

Good luck at Sale. They have a great course around the lake. Rug up with layers of clothes though. To start off it is VERY cold. M It wasn't too bad when I did the ET with Benson in 09, but I believe the year before was freezing. 09 was damp, but the drizzle stopped just after the ET got underway and didn't start again until just after the presentations. I had been warned to take gloves and a warm hat as well as a thick jacket but I didn't need them.

They can charge whatever they like as far as I'm concerned. As a buyer, it's up to me to decide whether or not I will pay the price.

A British Bulldog breeder was recently charged with criminal offences for doing exactly what happened to you. Did you take it up with the police? I would.

Awwww, he's adorable!

If you preferred phone calls, why did you advertise an email address? Valid question.......I prefer emails and for that reason, if I were advertising anything I would never include my phone number.

My experiences have been very mixed. I started out looking for a small bull breed and emailed breeders or two different breeds. I sent off around 15 emails over a few days and got one response. I specifically chose breeders who had email addresses either on their websites or on their listing. At the time I didn't know about DOL and was finding breeders by Google, then checking to see if the website/listing was reasonably up to date. The one response I got was an invitation to call, which I did the following day. She talked about her breed and I talked about my desire to own her breed then she told me the price and after I picked myself up off the floor she told me the terms under which she sells her puppies. I enquired politely about what health tests she carried out....."None. Waste of money!" she proudly proclaimed (and yes she is a registered breeder, still breeding). Basically she was a puppy farmer with a pyramid puppy breeding scheme going. All puppies were sold on a breeders contract, all came back to her to be bred from. No health testing but she sure charged a lot for the puppies. Not satisfactory at all, but I'd had no other responses so discussed matters with my husband and he told me he didn't want one anyway and could we please get a normal looking dog. So we researched, talked, looked at breed books, websites and read lots and lots of stuff and finally decided on an Australian Shepherd....medium sized dog, moderate coat, high intelligence, "normal" looking according to my husband. First breeder I emailed, I got a response within a half hour with a number to call. The following day we headed to her place and spent the afternoon with her, her husband and some of her dogs and the three puppies she had for sale. The following weekend we went back and collected our puppy. I kept in touch with her for a while and sent pics, then correspondence dropped off but she recently added me as a Facebook friend so she can keep up with us there. Second time I wanted a puppy of the same breed it was easy, I was active in some dog activities, had joined the state breed club, joined a breed email list. I pretty much decided what colour, markings and gender I wanted and took my pick. That breeder then also sent the next puppy to me in a co-ownership deal and we email regularly and I'm going to stay with her in SA next month when I take both dogs of her breeding over there for some shows. I have found with Australian Shepherd breeders I get responses each time, no matter what it's about.......puppies, health issues, chit chat, events and activities etc. Last week I powered up my old computer and went through emails from 4 years ago and found the one I'd sent to 15 breeders. It was reasonably short, friendly, asked about the breed in general, described our circumstances briefly and enquired about the possibility of puppies in the future. I also offered to phone them at a time convenient to them, then thanked them for their time. I honestly could not see anything wrong with what I wrote and to this day I can't understand the lack of response. Oh well, I have completely lost interest in those breeds now. In hindsight, I wish my first question was "How much?" because had I known that, I would not have bothered any more breeders. The going price at the time was more than I was prepared to spend on a dog. I could have saved myself a whole lot of effort and emotional energy if I'd known the cost of those little bull breeds up front. About buying a puppy from a registered breeder.....well, I have pedigree cats so never really thought beyond going anywhere but a registered breeder. While I can understand some peoples desire to keep in close contact with the breeder of their dog, I don't have a problem with not doing that, I wanted a puppy not a lifetime commitment to a friendship. The fact that I AM friends with one breeder is nice, it's not essential to my enjoyment of the breed though. I can understand people not wanting to buy from a registered breeder and going the petshop/byb route, especially if they've had a similar experience to me. If you find a really nice breeder, it's a great experience but it can be extremely demoralising if you don't. A lot of people wouldn't bother going further than one or two non-reponses or one rude response, they'd just go where they can get decent service and to someone who cares that they want to buy a puppy. I have had pet shop puppies and they were loved and cared for as much as my pedigree dogs. And I was equally as proud of them. There are always flipsides though. I talked my son into getting an ex-show dog from a registered breeder rather than getting a rescue as he wanted a purebred but wasn't having any luck with the rescue organisations. He got a totally gorgeous orange belton English Setter who we all fell in love with. The dog was 18 months old. He was put to sleep in November 2010, aged 3 1/2 years. My son will never buy another pedigree dog again, that one broke his heart. My most recent experience with a breeder has been very good. Same breed I already own but an adult rescue. My initial email was responded to the following day with a request for my phone number. We talked for a couple of hours, the following day we talked again to arrange flights, then a week later the dog arrived in Melbourne from Perth. A very easy, friendly transaction although no money changed hands as they were looking for the best home possible for the dog and thought ours was it.

Love the Giant bikes! Mine is a hybrid, I bought it to do the ET with Benson a couple of years ago, at the same time my husband bought a cheap Kmart bike so he could ride with us on weekends. Last Christmas I replaced his cheap bike with a Giant Cypress, he absolutely loves it and says it's like switching from an old truck to a Rolls Royce. Whitka, Dusty and I are doing the Sale ET this year.

My girls have started herding the chooks for me, they are amazing.....they just seem to get it that they have to be quiet and calm and they round up the escapees and put them back in the run for me. Benson, on the other hand, charges at them barking, ears flapping, tongue hanging out looking like a big idiot, the chooks run and squawk and he chases them and it's self rewarding behaviour. Which is why he never gets near the chooks.

Seeing as dogs have to be 2 years of age before competing in an endurance trial, I'd be working towards that age. She's a herding dog, not built for speed but for long days of work with the stock (well that was the original purpose, not sure if that's still the case), so she'd be well suited to trail riding once she's fit enough. Just build her up and keep the speeds moderate.......10-20 kmph and aim for softer surfaces rather than hard (dirt tracks rather than concrete paths).

Neutering removes not only testicles and the ability to pro-create but it also removes the bodies ability to create sex hormones and effectively neutralises the gender. It's more than just taking away the ability to breed. Neutering a male dog takes away some male characteristics.....in my breed it takes away the big ruff of hair around the neck, neutered males just don't grow it. It also takes away other dogs ability to recognise it as a male. They just recognise it as a dog. A vasectomy keeps all that intact, it just blocks the path of the sperm. A eunuch is not only sterile, they also don't have a lot of male characteristics........they have less muscle development, smoother, less hairy skin, higher voices and less masculine movement and strength.