wuffles

I don't even know what we are arguing anymore. My point was I don't agree with euthanising pups because they COULD be deaf when the reality is they may be perfectly fine. My breeder didn't know if my girl would be deaf or not, but she gave her a chance, and I am very grateful that she did (she was from two normally marked parents).

But your dog has a huge amount of pigment and was never at any risk for deafness - its a different gene. White boxers dont have anywhere near that amount of colour. Sorry, plenty of Aussies with white ears have some degree of deafness. Technically yes, it is a slightly different gene but it essentially works the same way regarding pigment in the inner ear. Plenty of white boxers, including some posted in this thread, have way more skin pigment than my girl. O.K. I take your word for it I dont know much about Aussies but if a boxer had that much pigment I doubt the breeder would be concerned about deafness. When she was born she had NO pigment on her head at all. But she had colour on her body . But body colour has no relation to deafness or health issues... ear/eye/general face pigment does.

But your dog has a huge amount of pigment and was never at any risk for deafness - its a different gene. White boxers dont have anywhere near that amount of colour. Sorry, plenty of Aussies with white ears have some degree of deafness. Technically yes, it is a slightly different gene but it essentially works the same way regarding pigment in the inner ear. Plenty of white boxers, including some posted in this thread, have way more skin pigment than my girl. O.K. I take your word for it I dont know much about Aussies but if a boxer had that much pigment I doubt the breeder would be concerned about deafness. When she was born she had NO pigment on her head at all.

But your dog has a huge amount of pigment and was never at any risk for deafness - its a different gene. White boxers dont have anywhere near that amount of colour. Sorry, plenty of Aussies with white ears have some degree of deafness. Technically yes, it is a slightly different gene but it essentially works the same way regarding pigment in the inner ear. Plenty of white boxers, including some posted in this thread, have way more skin pigment than my girl.

I would have thought this too, if I didn't have one of my dogs I would say that I am a reasonably good dog trainer, and I took him through the three levels at dog club which he passed first go each time. But by God it was a hard slog. He still doesn't have anything resembling a decent recall. In fact, yesterday he slipped out the door and took himself for a walk for 1km before we could catch him Getting him into a hydrobath is horrible, he's scared of the surface and needs to be lifted (he's 35kg). I teach classes and it's really hard to give everyone individual attention plus fit in the syllabus in one measly hour

It depends what "health issues" people want to accept. Despite her colour, my girl's conformation is excellent and so is her temperament. Those were the most important things to me, and all she needs is a bit of sunscreen so I am more than willing to deal with that.

I think there is a different between euthanising because they are white, and euthanising because they are deaf...

Sorry if this is getting too off topic as I obviously don't own a boxer. But for reference here is my dog as a wee pup compared to now. The visible pigment has come in over time. There would have been no way to tell as a baby whether she'd be deaf or not (except that she obviously responded to noises from a young age).

If she has perfect hearing it means that she has some pigment (colour) in her inner ears. Without that pigmentation, parts of the inner ear would be unable to function, and she would be deaf. Depending on the breed, the patterns of unpigmented areas can vary. In my breed (greyhound) you do get dogs that appear to be all white. But on close inspection most of the white ones have very faint pigment spots on the ear skin, and so deafness is rare in the breed. Other breeds have different distribution of pigments that result in a different variety of colours and so deafness can be much more common. Yes, I understand the mechanism. But I believe that most white boxers are not deaf and therefore do have some pigmentation.

Securing your dogs is not going to do much considering I believe this boy actually removed fence palings to coax dogs out of their yards (the case I know of was in Palmerston, but I guess Kaleen is just across the highway). I believe the accused is still in custody.

I have a dog (not a boxer) with a white head which includes white ears. She has perfect hearing. She competes and is very successful in obedience and agility, as well as being a wonderful ambassador for her breed. Thank God her breeder didn't get rid of her before she had a chance is all I can say.

On the plus side they are absolutely knackered tonight

Isn't it funny how they can ignore something for ages but one day they discover it has STUFFING inside it and they think they've hit the jackpot :laugh: They each had a walk this morning, then were left with a frozen kong each plus toys (I shove biscuits in those toys that I couldn't get out if I tried, but they're always empty when I come home) and a bottle and they still decided to make their own fun

It was a Hound House mat that's outlived the actual Hound House by 2 years, so it doesn't really matter :)

:eek: My dogs are 7 and 2, you'd think they'd be over destruction by now. But it seems no dog can resist the temptation of foam.

Yes. I have found that some bones are better than others for both my dogs. My older one vomits after most bones, so he gets mainly chicken wings and frames frozen which seem to be ok. My younger girl gets the runs, for her I have found lamb ribs with excess fat chopped off, or chicken, are the best. Try some different ones and see what happens :)

A bit off topic maybe but if you are nervous about trialling you could always try Rally Obedience... no judge's commands to listen to! Edit: There is a rally trial coming up next month in Tuggeranong if you want to come and watch. (Also I will follow this thread because we are currently trialling in Open and therefore teaching the UD exercises!)

Kind of true, except my dogs don't really like heavy rain. They squint and slink. They're happy to walk in showers though! With the recent wet weather here we only missed two morning walks in as many weeks, and I made sure I at least gave my young girl some indoor training instead.

If it's Aloveen, I've used it on both my dogs (both double coated) with no issues. TBH I just use Fido's varieties for both my dogs and neither of them get knotty. And I don't even use conditioner!

My little one does this as well. She also knows that pavement is better than grass for bouncin' things out. My older dog just licks.

Although he's realistically just sounding like a normal teen boy dog, I think some relationship building, along with exercise, will help :) Firstly, if you think he really needs off leash time, try going to one of the dog parks early in the morning (yes unfortunately it will be dark, bring a torch) when no-one else is there. On weekends it is rare to find people there before about 8am. If you have time on weekdays they are often free during the day, and if you go to one with more than one section (Yarralumla, Casey) they have two areas to choose from. Walk around, throw toys, play some tug, walk some more, practice some recalls, etc. If he is getting bored of training you need to liven it up for him! Intersperse commands with lots of play. I give a toy or tug as a reward, and my dog loves to play keepaway, so I chase her and pretend to try and get a hold of the item (some people would shake their fingers at me for doing this but I don't care). Spinning and hand touches are very rewarding for her so I do lots of those. I try to get her to do things as quickly as possible and reward by throwing food either in the air or along the ground for her to chase. I might reward a recall with a piece of food or I might reward it by running in the opposite direction making squeaky noises then falling to the ground and letting her lick my face... ok, sounds weird, but this all builds a strong relationship. Just keep in mind your dog's temperament, I can pretty much do anything as my dog is not dominant towards me, so just tone it down to suit your dog.

If all goes to plan we hope to be doing the CCD on the 21st of April . If I miss out then I will probably still pop down and see some trials so just might see you :). :thumbsup: It's good to do your first trial on home grounds. Settles the nerves a bit :)

Are you entering the Tuggeranong trials? I will be there with my girl competing in both obedience and rally. Come say hi - my dog has a white face - we're pretty recognisable :laugh:

Add meat, freeze. Easy!

They're lucky to last more than a few minutes at my place.