Starkehre

There are many pros and cons surrounding owning multiple dogs. There is a lot more to it than just the breed, but that would be a considering factor also. I would say owner's experience, commitment, time, their set up and management skills are huge criteria also. If a seminar is being held outlining information regarding multiple dog ownership, my guess would be that there would be a broad package of information provided, including pros and cons and so there should be. Are you certain these owners are not just concerned about the negative information they heard, rather it truly being all totally negative? Perhaps they are sharing their concerns because maybe you or anyone else didn't offer them any information regarding the possible down sides of owning multiple dogs.

As for slippery floor surfaces, we have a tiled area in our house where the dogs spend most of their inside time. We have all but covered the entire area with rubber backed mats from Bunnings, especially near the doorways to outside. And in the main centre space we have a huge rug. do whatever it takes to avoid slipping... and games on the mats only :)

He is just beautiful. Ensure stairs are full, as in go gaps through the back between each step, nowhere for legs to go through. If they are gapped steps, have them filled. Your leash idea is excellent and I would continue this until you feel confident that he must walk slowly up and down them. Ensure the stairs are blocked off at the top an bottom so he cannot negotiate them without you. Best of luck :)

The unknown.

I believe I have been knocked over twice now by your dream dog. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: And I love it. LOL... yeh, but you don't count SC You are just way too much fun to not knock over and kiss to death

My dream dog is a Rottweiler :D A Rotti that is... Loyal and devoted without being needy Willing to work with utmost commitment whenever I want, without bouncing off the walls the rest of the time Interested in surroundings, without being hypervigilant and reactive Happy and playful, yet not over exuberant Confident, yet calm at the same time Protective, but only towards a genuine perceived threat Friendly towards people without knocking them over Friendly towards other dogs without choosing them over me Trainable without needing to be worked to be settled Always ready to learn new things and excels/shows promise in Herding, Obedience, Agility, Tracking and Conformation (specialty and all breeds showing) Content with a cuddle in bed, without hogging the bed A pleasure to take anywhere, good company and well behaved My best friend Well constructed, healthy and attractive ---------- I consider myself to be another that is extremely lucky to have my very own dream dog. She is my beautiful "Seven" 17 months old, and I just adore her. She is everything I could ever want in a dog and more. :)

A fence scaler will continue to endeavour scaling any height until he injures himself. Upping the height is only upping the anti and setting a more challenging task for him to give a whirl. In affect, you are (though not intentionally) training him to scale higher fences as the act is self rewarding. It will only stop him when he does damage to himself. He will not simply decide that it is too high and stop trying. He must have a roofed enclosure to secure him safely. He sounds like too much work for the average home looking to adopt a pleasurable pet. Very sad situation. Best wishes.

Haylz, kudos to you for having the passion and motivation to become a breeder with all the best intentions. You have been offered lots of wonderful advice. And you are so right, the more you learn, the more you realise you don't know and still have to learn. I will tell you my personal story just to add some more food for thought. I have been involved in my breed for around 20 years. I always wanted to breed, but didn't start taking that passion seriously until a little over 10 years ago when my life became more suited. Around that time I decided to purchase my foundation bitch. I had been being mentored already for several years, had showed dogs a little bit and had been training and competing in several dog sports and felt the time was right, though always felt a little unsure if I was worthy of being a breeder yet. I became a registered breeder. I was very lucky to be given the opportunity to own a wonderful bitch. She was very successful in the show ring and working disciplines, even leased her back to the breeder for her first litter earlier on. At 5 she got IMT and nearly died (another story)... 5 years later, 3 dogs later I am now starting again with another hopeful foundation bitch. I still have not bred my first litter. It is not easy getting the right foundation, even for someone that has known the breed and been involved in the breed for quite a few years. I could have bred with the dogs I had, but my personal ethics would not allow me to. I would rather not breed. Sometimes dogs just don't turn out for one reason or another and sometimes you won't know until they are mature. Not breeding said dogs are some of the hard decisions breeders have to make. Having a yard full of failed foundations is also a consideration and a good reason to start with one dog at a time. At some point you may have to decide if you are going to rehome a healthy failed foundations because of space. Or will you be prepared to shelf breeding if it comes to this? So much to consider. You may be very lucky and your first foundation may work out. But being prepared if it doesn't is a good idea.

Good question KCs. The thing is a "breeder" or "kennel" is a bitch owner. Absolutely a breeder can own and use their stud if they wish. There is nothing technically wrong with that. However, it can be very limiting to their breeding program. There would not usually be any long term goals reached if a breeder owned say 1-3 bitches and just put the same sire over them once. Where can they go from there? If a breeder is breeding for the reasons that they should be, in most cases (and I get why on the odd occasion this may not be the case) they don't do repeat matings. What can one achieve with a repeat mating? One will get either better or worse from the 2nd mating (unlikely the same). If one gets better off spring, it degrades the first litter, if one produces worse, then it is very disappointing. Either way (except as I mentioned occasionally there are valid reasons to repeat litters) it doesn't achieve anything. The breeder can't then continue to use that male over those litters anyway. Plus, the likelihood of the breeders stud being the best possible match for the breeder's bitch, (unless they were able to purchase one or the other as an adult once the first one was already mature, is quite remote... let alone the stud being the best possible match for 2 or more owned bitches. Owning studs is limiting to a breeding program, unless breeder has room and permits to own loads of dogs. So, if a breeder has limited space and permits, one of the most practical ways to have a breeding program with goals that are reachable would be to start with their foundation bitch and research and source to use natural matings or fresh/frozen semen from only the very best males they can find to suit their bitches phenotype and genotype. Only run on or keep what they believe has show/breeding potential. Puppies that homed can be collected and/or put on terms if they wish to use them later on. It really does depend a lot on how big a set up and how many dogs a breeder has. If they can and do keep a significant amount of adults, it is more practical to keep and use their own studs sometimes, but like you say, they will have to outcross. That said, unless the males are leading fulfilling lives in between these occasional, sometimes it is better for them to be in loving homes doing fun things. They can still be used or collected.

Done. :)

You are very welcome :)

Can you explain bolded. I have never needed to cut any of my GSP's nails as they have always worn down on pavers, footpath etc but we have less of that now due to reno's and I've noticed that H's nails are much longer than usual. I've just bought some clippers and did a couple of tiny snips yesterday to get him used to it but I'm really worried about the quick seeing as they've never been cut. He's incredibly sensitive and I know if I hurt him I'll never get clippers near him again. His nails are black. The blood vessel/supply/quick grows as the nail grows. It is always slightly shorter than the nail length, but does continue to grow just as the nail does, it doesn't stop. Therefore when nails are allowed to grow, so does the blood vessel. If you want nails to be short you either have to cut/file small amounts often to encourage the vessel to retract in length by itself, which it will eventually (it will always grow slightly shorter than the nail) or cut the vessel which is very painful for the dog. We always try to avoid causing pain and cutting blood vessels, but if it occurs it is not the end of the world. This is why I prefer to always keep the nails short, avoiding having to retrain quicks. It can be a slow process. When nails are long it is not a simple process of just cutting them short and they are fixed. The damage has been done and it takes a significant amount of time and effort to get them short again... but definitely doable :) It takes a while to get the hang of clipping black nails if you haven't done it before, but just keep doing what you are doing, little bits at a time. I would do tiny bits daily. When they are getting short you will see how the nail make up changes, it looks different. It is darker and softer. Over time you will familiarise yourself with exactly how the nail looks when you are close to the quick. Taking teeny bits off once a month will not really achieve anything. The nail and quick grows faster than that in most cases. Take your time, be confident, make it enjoyable for your dog and get some assistance to hold him if he is wriggling too much. Good luck. :)

The sand paper works best and is not as hot as the stones. You can gets loads of uses before it wears down and needs to be replaced. Heat generated depends on speed (rpm), length of nail, duration of sanding contact and if sanding is being done on the one area repeatedly. Every dremel has different speed settings that are not relative to one another, so impossible for me to suggest a speed, but better to experiment on a lower setting at first and work your way up. If it is too low to file, turn it up a little bit at a time. I generally have sanding contact from approx. between 1 - 3 seconds depending on how short the nail is. When heat builds up it takes approx. 2 - 5 seconds to dissipate, once again depending on the nail length, dremel speed etc. So, as you get the nail shorter and shorter you dremel in more quick pulse bursts to alleviate heat build up. I suggest trying it on your own nail (hand and feet) to get an idea of how it feels first. Having a good understanding helps you do a better job. I made a couple of short videos a while ago for a friend. They are a bit daggy and crappy, but would give an idea for anyone wanting to see them.

I think a lot also depends on what an owner classifies as long nails and what they find acceptable. :D For example, I don't wait to check to see if their nails are wearing down enough or check to see if they NEED doing, because for me personally, that is too late. I dremel them every 10-14 days without fail and keep them super super short, do not actually allow for barely any growth at all... cause then it is a case of retraining quicks back which is messy and painful for the poor dogs... but just the way I do it :) Added, I love dremelling my dogs' nails. I take a lot of pride in the job I do and really get into it. They are well behaved and don't seem to mind it all... most of the time :D I am careful to try to ensure the nail does not get too hot and treat them throughout intermittently. I have my own nails done with a dremel so I know how it feels, so can empathise with the dogs if it gets hot or close. From time to time I do them for my friends' dogs also.

Hi Jules, we had a plumber come out and tap in from our existing water pipes behind the brick walls. He provided me with a hot/cold mixer tap for my hydro. It is positioned directly above my hydro and both are exactly where I wanted them to be. We also then had the electrician come out and fit an outdoor double powerpoint for it. We also have a makeshift cover for shelter and some spotlight for washing in the dark. Not perfect but certainly does the job. But I seriously believe the hot water had made the biggest difference and then the power. Would loathe to go back to carting water and running an extension through the window :laugh:

Congrats lelu. Very exciting times. A DOLer Jed (Boxer breeder and amazing lady) wrote a brilliant piece on raising Boxer pups a while ago. It is really fantastic and warrants a read. It relates to off switches etc. Hopefully Jed will pop in here and share it again, cause I am terrible at searching things, otherwise PM her and ask for it. :)

Same Pers, LOL.

Well done for asking the question. Yes, expecting too much. Of course you have all the very best intentions and are doing a terrific job. It is a long time to expect any young pup to hold on for, and using a doggy door consistently at that age when you are not home is a big ask. He isn't going to just suddenly grow out of fowling the house. Set him up for a win. Ensure that he cannot eliminate in the house when you can't be there to supervise him. Some good ideas have been suggested here. The crate covering the doggy door is wonderful, as long as it can be secured there and not be pushed away. Or leaving him in safe, warm area outdoors if possible. Keep in mind that every time he eliminates inside the house, you are inadvertently proofing this behaviour. So, it isn't just going to go away after a certain amount of time doing what you are doing. You are expecting too much, but not necessarily because of his age or how long it has been. You are in affect teaching to eliminate in the house by allowing it to occur. The act is rewarding in itself. Best of luck with him, he sounds just gorgeous. :)

... so true Nek. I can also recommend Glenn.

Kudos to you CM for taking on advice. I know you have his best interests at heart and will do everything you can to get on top of his recent undesirable behaviours. Carter looks a beautiful boy, you are so lucky to have each other. Thank you for sharing the wonderful photos. You haven't done anything wrong, socialising dogs when young is never a guarantee for how they will be later on. There are so many more things you can do with him other than off leash dog parks. You can walk him on lead, take him swimming, visiting friends, running alongside the push bike, agility, herding, tracking, sledding, weight pull, carting, obedience... endless different activities available for Rottweilers to keep their minds and bodies active and fulfilled. Sadly I gave up dog parks a few years ago. Though my dogs were extremely well behaved. It only takes someone elses dog to do the wrong thing and still the Rotti gets blamed. I stopped going because of other peoples' perceptions. Your situation is different, but just highlighting that even when our Rottweilers behave impeccably and mixes well with other dogs, if another dog attacks your Rotti, the Rotti will often be blamed, even when it doesn't even retaliate. It seems that many dogs do not like Rottis and owners will tell you that their dog has been attacked by one and therefore has every reason to attack yours also. And be advised that a lot of people frequenting dog parks are not overly dog savvy, do not understand dog behaviours and do not read situations well... though they seem to think the are all dog whisperers. It really is just not worth all the headaches. Owning our breed, as magnificent as they are and as rewarding as it is, we have to be extra vigilant regarding their behaviour as we are already starting off on a lot of the public's wrong foot before they have even met our dogs - guilty before proven innocent. I really don't intend to sound negative, but it is the truth and something that all us responsible Rottweiler owners work hard on every day. Good luck with Carter and let us know how you get on. :)

Carter is just reaching maturity. This could be his adult temperament? Difficult to say why it has started. Could be a myriad of reasons. Pugs are unusual looking and make unusual noises... if he hasn't experienced them before. The initial incident may have been because of this, and then a bit of a chase (which is likely to have been self rewarding) and this could be the start of the pattern. Then of course another Pug, then another small dog... purely speculation, which really may have no bearing at all, but just to explain one possible reason. The only way of really gaining any understanding is to seek quality professional assistance.

I can highly recommend Steve Courtney from K9 Pro

I am sorry you are experiencing some issues with Carter. This must be very disappointing and concerning for you. Please stop taking him to dog parks. He is reactive and has now exhibited this behaviour several times. Once was once too many times. To keep going back to parks is just not very sensible and asking for trouble. Carter is not suitable for this situation at this time. Maybe again with training and time, but if not, don't push it. He can live a very full life without attending off leash dog parks. Our breed already has a bad reputation. Please do not risk any further upsets. His actions have already upset at least one owner, probably three. I know you love Carter. Please engage the assistance of a behaviourist to help you get on top of this serious problem. I wish you all the very best with him.

We are a 4 dog home, have been 5, all Rottis. They all run together, inside and out, no kennels, runs or yards. No problems. Mixture of entires and neuters, no issue there either. IMO success is largely owing to owner management/commitment/time/leadership skills. Our yard is small. We take our dogs out often - swimming, training, herding, agility, long trialling/showing trips, drives (we drive, not them LOL) running etc. They have a great life and are healthy, well rounded dogs. That said, we work from home with flexible hrs, so can put in a lot of time with them. Also my husband shares the dogs and we both enjoy our dog sports and shows together, so that helps. I am a big advocate for altering whom I take and where. I mix it up, never necessarily take all dogs out together. It is important to me that they are comfortable with being left at home, either alone or with one other or whatever. I won't let them dictate not being left behind and set things up this way on purpose. I would never feel guilty about it. it is an important training session leaving a dog alone at home when others are being taken out and all part of learning to be confident and comfortable in their own company. I have also done neuter class showing with my older bitch. Go for it I say. Very enjoyable, you will have a ball.

Why? You have experience in large, powerful guarding breeds that are sharp as a knifes edge? You have experience in protection and dominant dogs? You have the power to choke off or slam down your own dog when it decides to have a go at you? No. Few people in Australia do. These romantic notions of nawwww I wanna breed the banned breeds BS sometimes makes me glad we DON'T have these dogs in the country. We're incapable of controlling the watered down stuff we have let alone strong breeds like this. BSL is crap yes, but 1) idiots keep breeding pound fodder and 2) people keep buying these dogs and then crying when they get seized. Yes it's the dog that suffers but we can't get the whole dog management thing through our thick heads in this country at all. We are miles behind a lot of western countries in training and management I think work on education before beating the same BSL is bad drum. +1