SmoothieGirl

Depending upon cost considerations, how about using a Pet Service to come in and give puppy his lunch feeds. I have done this with two dogs now, well still with one of them. I found a lovely couple that run a pet minding and walking business local to me. They come in, play with the dog/s for about 20-30 mins and then feed puppy his lunch. I cut it out at 3 months of age, so its been a four week expense for each dog, but I feel better that pup has a break in a long day without me and it also balances out their blood sugar levels when they are still so little.

Happy Birthday Sally. You have grown from a gorgeous puppy (love those pics) into a lovely doggy.

Happy Birthday Sally. You have grown from a gorgeous puppy (love those pics) into a lovely doggy.

I am currently involved in something of a discussion with a few friends in regards to the influence of breeders on puppy buyer's future behavior. I personally think most puppy buyers remain quite loyal to the breeders recommendation especially regarding feeding etc, but I am interested in other peoples thoughts Feel free to list your poll response as what you have done, or what you have known your puppy buyers to do. Thanks!

(My poll didn't seem to work, but these were the options I had )

"How loyal were you to the breeder's suggestion on diet?"

Very Loyal (kept puppy on breeder diet for entire lifespan/plan to)

Somewhat Loyal (generally kept puppy on breeder's diet, but with some modifications/additions to suggested diet)

Hardly Loyal (changed diet almost right away/open to and took diet suggestions from vets, pet retailers, other advertising)

I'm guess I'm 'somewhat loyal'.

I always match the breeders diet to the letter for the first two weeks. Then, I'll move my pups onto my dry food of choice over the space of another week. I'll adjust their other diet bits and pieces to exclude anything I think is a waste of time and move them to meat and meaty bones if they weren't previous getting enough. So far, three pups and three breeders have been feeding fresh meat and dry food, so the fresh meat stays with my choice of dry.

Have picked up the use of Calcium Syrup from a breeder, so much easier and more palatable that calcium powder.

Never really had a huge change to make though.

Call me crazy, but I bought a Dalmatian specifically for dog obedience and agility. My previous dog was an incredibly athletic and intelligent ACD and I wanted a quite different dog so as not to compare them. A challenge!

And, whilst to compete at the highest levels of retrieving I could have bought a (more suited) working line Lab, I chose to get a working line ESS.

I love the personality traits of these dogs, not to mention their looks. They are dogs that I enjoy living with, first and foremost. How dull the world would be if we all liked the same things!

And no, I don't complain when we are beaten by Border Collies in obedience and agility. But nor do their owners complain when we beat them

You crazy person you

I now have two smooth Collies and my bitch has been successful in low level obed (CCD), will be successful in herding (has two non competitive titles already) and is about to start consistent agility training which we may or may not have success with. Her drive for obed is low, for agility I'd say med and herding med-high.

Here's the thing, if you want a companion dog that is easy to live with and will also give you a reasonable amount of joy and success in competition, a high drive dog may not be your thing. Watching the dogs in the obed trials that I attended last year, very few of the high level dogs exhibited high drive, but many many of them did great work and appeared to be enjoying the connection they had with their handlers.

I chose Collies because they are on the quieter end of the working dog scale, very intelligent and less work that my previous dog - a Dobe. I'm super happy with my choice and I'm sure there are many people out there with very very successful dogs that don't fit the 'high drive, high success' mold.

I don't complain when the BC's win either, but they aren't the dog for me, so I don't have a right to really do I.

Last one...happy puppy pen/yard building.

Oh, one tip, make sure that the gate to any pen is secure and not able to be squeezed through, I use chain and clips, but still one day this week I came home and had two dogs inside - the little of the two luckily held on long enough despite not being fully house trained yet.

And another...

And a few ideas about outdoor fixings and supports. The wire sides will bend if you try and fold them around either a brick, paver or piece of wood - but you will need a hammer to manipulate it into shape.

Towards the rest of the yard...

Nope I don't have a huge yard, but a large courtyard, hence my dogs get A LOT of dog sport activities and training to keep their minds and bodies busy when I'm home.

View of outdoor pen...

Close up...

The clips I use to make a door. You may need more clips for a puppy that isn't as soft as a Collie.

Ok puppy people, here are the photos of my puppy pen and yard made with Bunnings wire compost bins, cable ties, a couple of clips and some plastic stakes (because I hate steel star pickets).

My puppy pen in the lounge uses six sides instead of four to allow Ren a little more room. He sleeps in his crate in my room at night though.

As demonstrated by doggy model - Ren.

Forget formal puppy pens (expensive), get yourself to Bunnings and look for the wire compost bins. They are about $26 for four sides. I've bought about 10 packs in the last two years. I currently have my back yard divided in half with them, part for Ren when I'm out and it still gives Bronte access to grass to toilet

You can then put them together with the springs - they do take some getting on or alternatively use cable ties - and use small carabeena (nope can't spell them) clips to create a gate.

I can take some pics of my set up if you want some ideas.

You line up at obed club to hand in your member card while you're deafened by your dog who is standing in front of you barking consistently 'hurray the hell up, we are here to work not stand around all day'.

Oh yeah, let's not talk about the squealing I get when I pull into the yard at herding training - give me strength.

Interesting that work ethic has popped up as its what I thought about on the first page of the post.

I would say that Bronte is on the lower end of drive when it comes to obedience, but med-high (for a Collie) when it comes to herding. But either way, and for all disciplines I personally consider that she has a strong work ethic. She will try her little heart out over and over, for very extended periods of time when required. Most Collies will just quit when it gets too hard or they have had enough. She may be displaying low drive at the time, but she will just keep at it if I ask her to, with little encouragement.

Hmm, need to ponder that for a while.

I am so in love with Tess, I wish you were in Vic so we could have a puppy play date. I think I'm well and truly addicted to the Working and Herding breeds now. Apart from more smoothies, I would seriously consider the Cardigan Corgi, ACDs as options. With a dash of Rotti and Std Poodle too.

But first, more Collies!!! Well eventually.

I answered this on the basis that owning a stud dog does not make you a breeder, rather owning whelping bitches does. Mind you, I'm not sure that I have interpreted this as the survey had intended.

I have a pup that is likely to be shown with an option for him to be bred with later on. Its unlikely that I will ever own a breeding bitch, but you never know, I am being sucked ever deeper into the Collie world, so that may change. Never say never. However if I was ever to breed it would be on a super super small scale as I would seriously struggle with homing the pups.

Two today and she has had many ups and downs over the last 24 months. At least now her skin is managable with ongoing treatment and despite this, last year she managed three titles, two herding and one obedience.

She is Nauglamir Bronte N Gold CCD PT, otherwise known as Bronte, Bronte Boo, Miss B and Bubble Dog (because she is regularly health challenged).

Here she is with her new best buddy, Ren, taken just a couple of days ago.

Happy Birthday my very special girl, you are sweetness on four legs.

My dog, puppy and cat are all insured on a budget plan. The company seem ok service wise, although I hear they had some initial teething problems, but I have never experienced this. My dog has skin conditions excluded because she started to experience them (badly) before I insured her, other than that I they provide pretty good coverage.

I'm on the budget plan as its fairly broad coverage as it is and if anything costs more than that I can afford it, but they do have plans that cover more costs if you would prefer to spread your risk.

Well worth doing, when Bronte came down with KC she also suffered mild peumonia and her breathing rate and temp were both elevated. I took her straight to the emergency vet at 1am and she spent the night in there under observation receiving treatment.

I personally like the public liability coverage too.

Edit - Just to add - Steve makes a very very good point - insure in the first year and as soon as you can. If I had insured Bronte when she first came home she would have been covered for her skin condition. Unfortunately I didn't, then the skin condition reared its ugly head and I insured her probably at about age 1. Consequently I have spent thouands on her treatment and will have to continue to spend about a $1k a year just on her maintenance drugs. Now I'm lucky I have a great job, but still if I had of insured earlier I could also have gone on holiday a couple of times over. Oh yeah and she had complications from her desexing too - that also cost a bit. If only, if only, if only....don't be the one to be saying 'if only'.

I just love Hoover, he sleeps with such abandonment.

If I can figure out how to down load a pic from my Blackberry to my PC, I have a weird one of Ren in his crate the other night.

Its been that long already - wow - happy birthday Miss Emmy!

Happy Birthday Badger, such a pretty boy and a very special name too. Its one of my faves.

My Dobe was always so good when I was sick. She would stick by me and not even demand a walk, she always knew when I wasn't well, which was excellent because I used to get a lot of migraines when I was younger.

Bronte mopes when I'm sick because she doesn't get a bouncy reaction from me, but she's such a well behaved girl she copes pretty well.

NESTING

Thanks for the lovely comments everyone, I think both of my kids are pretty special

jrm88 - I'm planning to be at Kepala in April, pending the show, obed and herding schedule, but if we are and you guys make it too our pups can play together.

I CANT WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hehe I will be there ! I love that kepala is on a sunday so no chance of me working!!

Whereabouts in melb are you smoothiegirl??

I'm in Spotswood, where are you?

Ooooh :D Other side of city! Im in narre warren. Was hoping we could organise a playdate if you were close haha

Guess it'll have to be April Kepala then. We've got a busy March with Collie events and herding anyway, so no real free weekends for a while. Although I might look into booking a run at Kepala on Labour Day for puppies and quiet dogs if you are interested.