Alyosha

The current photo is less than a week old, not three or four weeks.

Thanks. :D Am still grinning. Litter brother Alyosha Alektos (Tali) was Borzoi baby puppy dog, over his two brothers... go Longclaw and Tali! And today, at the ACT Ladies I know a few results: BIS: Mini Poodle RU: Akita Baby: Shiba Inu Minor: Afghan Sorry - left after that, tired puppies in tow! Group 4 BIG: Deerhound (Open) RU: Norwegian Elkhound (Intermediate) Baby: Borzoi (Alyosha Alexander... YAY!!) :D Minor: Afghan Puppy: Beagle Junior: Ummm.. missed that one sorry! Aust Bred: missed that too...

If she's frustrated by the diet and restriction, try adding low cal fillers to her food so she is a bit more settled. I'm not a doggy diet expert (having hounds we are normally putting weight on! ) but I think steamed mushy carrots or pumpkin can be useful. Someone who has dealt with crash diets may be able to confirm.

There's also German Spitz, Keeshond and Samoyeds if you like the look of the Lapphund. The spitz family have some lovely members. Although I'm a bit partial to Lappies... In gundogs there are the various spaniels. Field Spaniels are lovely, and I adore Clumbers. Welsh Springers are lesser known but gorgeous too. Or Setters - Gordon, English or Irish.

Beardies - I'm far from expert, not sure how many beardie folks we have on here though. I adore them. Happy go lucky dogs. Lovely with families. With the barking, as far as I know wouldn't be significantly different to many herding breeds, could also be an individual thing.

Bearded Collie.

I haven't yet grasped why this pup was left until she was "severely underweight" and coughing before a vet visit. And even then taken only for desexing, not in relation to her failing health. I understand that earlier detection may not have made a difference, but seems very strange. Many breeders offer a replacement dog or puppy yes. Not all, as breeders are all individuals and respond differently to different situations. I can also imagine that many people are also hesitant to recommend expensive surgery that may not be successful - that's your choice to make as the dog's owner and no-one else should be expected to advise you other than the attending vet. A breeder can only take all reasonable steps to ensure a healthy pup is sold, and the clearance of two vets seems quite reasonable. It doesn't appear that this breeder has tried to deceive in any way at all, they sound very up front and honest. You paid for a healthy dog and the breeder took every reasonable step possible to provide that. When it became apparent that wasn't the case, they have offered full replacement - which they are not legally obliged to do anyway. I'm not sure what else you expect? Did you want them to pay for the surgery? Have you discussed with your vet whether surgery is in the dog's best interest welfare-wise? I hope so, as we need to sometimes make decisions with our heads and not our hearts. Edit to add - Rebanne, as far as I know it can't be tested for, but only selectively bred out when it appears. I'm no expert though! It is thought to be a polygenic condition.

The cool champions are fine on the Deerhound coats Alyosha and I will be trialling the HyperKwl one this week end. I soaked it this morning and left it hanging (before reading about the thready stuff so will see when it dries) I will probably be carrying both kinds around for awhile - If you are around EP or CH come around for a 'dress up' Meea edited for spellunk Thank Meaa, but we'll be in Canberra. So long as the rain holds off it should be cool this weekend at least! I might end up looking at mats instead I think, to bypass the effects on coat. Now to figure a way to stop puppies eating them...

If the coat is faded from sun and or nutrition it will probably look like that until it sheds and regrows. There are theories out there that animals with sufficient trace levels of copper in their diet will not fade, even in the sun. Hand in hand with that is the theory that the darker the animal, the higher the copper requirement. Studies on humans have shown that black haired people require up to six times the trace copper of fair haired. This has been translated into changing supplementation levels in some types of animals with great success.

In whch state?

Is there anyone with experience using them on coated breeds whose coat doesn't lie flat? I'd love to try some of these but as my breed backcurls all along the topline I can't see how they wouldn't flatten and damp the coat down. Especially on the short models which would leave the croup dry and puffy in comparison... The under chest straps are hard too with our very deep chests and heavy fringing... Are there many that don't go under the chest? Maybe I'll have to stick to wet sheets hanging over the pens and crates!

Baby in Group 4 at Cooma today - Borzoi Way to go Longclaw!!! What a great intro to showing, you should be hooked now... :D

Fantastic work Wazzat!! Will be great for those of us with aspirations to bring out rarer sighthounds... They normally come from smaller countries and are often named without prefix.

Funnily enough, I've never received anything from Dogs NSW in a window envelope... They normally come in A5 manilla ones. I do like it with the dog's name at the top - it is the most important bit after all!

Do you need the chain on there? I get our martingales with stainless steel or brass fittings, but they're all fabric. From "Ring Around The Collar".

Pet Network sell them too: http://www.petnetwork.com.au/cgi-bin/shopping.pl?page=chains.htm&cart_id=879272

People looking for cheap pups from breeds that carry screw tails should research hemivertebrae, google is a good starting point - as well as images of xrays of wedges and hemis, and only then make a decision about whether the discount price is really worth it. Spinal issues bred on willy nilly and xrays foresaken in the face of making a quick buck can lead to major health and welfare problems in a short space of time. Heartbreaking and extremely costly. Funny how people don't hesitate to invest in a car based on ongoing costs and performance, but have trouble seeing that same investment in a dog. I would think a pet is even more worthy of careful investment due to the vast emotional value vested in it as well.

Schwarzbear have you tried Divetelac? It has a sweet flavour and can be very good for tempting determined fusspots. When I used to hand raise a lot of wildlife babies it was always accepted by those that didn't want anything else.

Adding Livamol or seaweed meal to the diet will often assist long term with bleaching. Excessive bleaching can be a sign of copper deficiency.

At Holbrook today runner up in group 4 was the Afghan... Is Keshwar around??

I had 2 little ones in our last (very large) litter. One never looked back after a slow start at birth. The other weakened quickly when mum had slow milk supply. He started to drop off the nipple and not suckle so vigorously rapidly. The others never showed the same signs. The thing to watch is that smaller pups don't have the reserves of bigger, plumper ones. So if a little pup has just one or two feeds where they get bumped off the boob a bit their energy levels can drop faster than expected. It becomes a vicious cycle and the weaker they are the less the suck, etc etc. It isn't necessarily a health problem, just an increasing cycle of weak feeding after a minor setback they aren't physically equipped for. Any little pup I have that starts to drop off the nipple without having a full belly I top up for a few feeds, then watch again. Usually that is all they need. My little one? At four months now he is smaller than his biggest brothers, but within normal range, and heavier than his sisters. :D

We did the same Rebanne, just jumped in as newbies a few years ago. In any hobby there are those who take it very, very seriously. Then there are those who are having a great day out, catching up and meeting people and hanging out with their dogs. People who are interested should stick with it for a little while. If everyone who got bucked off a horse never went back not many people would ride either!

It is pretty standard. They are not a cheap breed to keep or breed. High costs involved in producing pups and low litter numbers, coupled with high demand... You get what you pay for. You buy cheap you get cheap. You would more than likely find Frenchie breeders still not making money from the deal, trying to cover costs. With them being a breed that can be expensive to keep, if the price is too much for these buyers then the upkeep may well be as well. They may need to factor that into their choice of breed.

I would think a whippet in a unit would be better as a pair of whippets in a unit, if left alone for long periods. Many whippets don't do solitary well. ;) Otherwise whippets are lovely apartment pets. Most sighthounds are more suited to apartment lfe than many breeds, even the big ones. A small grey may be more settled as an only dog in any setting that is alone for longer periods.

No shame on anyne. She was prosecuted by the RSPCA who have no authority to investigate or prosecute fraud matters. If any fraud was referred to the police it will be dealt with seperately.