raineth

I don't think a well thought out out-cross is any more risky than a Standard purebred breeding. I think judicious use of outcrossing could be beneficial. It is easy to think of individual cases that support any argument. For instance, by far the most unhealthy dog, with the least desirable temperament was my pedigree dog. My crossbred dog and my byb 'purebred' are both nicer in temperament and had/have better health. But I don't think it's really appropriate to extrapolate from this that all crosses and byb dogs are superior to pedigree dogs.

I think it's worth taking longevity into account. I have a Great Dane and she would accompany me on runs. We'd do 6 km easily and when we got home she'd do zoomies in the backyard. She is now 6 and she is really only happy doing about 3 km now, she is a senior dog now. Boxers also age more quickly than many other breeds so you would have to consider that even if they did enjoy doing a lot of running (not all dogs do) you might only have a few years of running with them before their ability significantly declines. This might not bother you, you might be happy to work around it, and that's fine :) If it does concern you, the. You may well be better off looking at a kelpie or one of the other breeds really bred to run and run and run.

Thanks so much CHA :-) She always amazes people at the park as she will always asks people if she can pat their dog. approaches from the side, gives them a few seconds and pat under the chin as opposed to the old stick your hand out in front and pat on the head :D Thanks Raineth :-) yes we do ! We do it at parks and my parents house as the yard is huge. I distract Ronin while Caitlin hides, say "find Caitin!" and off he goes. It is great fun Exceellent! It's such a goody. Del and my son were playing it in the house last night and Del kept checking he wasn't hiding in the mice cage :laugh:

Very nice! They have a really good relationship don't they :) Have you ever done hide'n'seek with Ronin and your daughter? It's a favourite in our house.

Because she can! You will now have to absolutely ensure she can't do it again. Often people do something that makes it a little bit harder, thinking it will be satisfactory. Then they find the dog has managed to jump this too. So again they make it a little bit harder, and still the dog manages to get out. So they make it a little bit harder again... And ultimately what they end up doing is training the dog to be an absolute ninja that can escape from an underwater cage with it's paws tied behind its back. So when you go to fix the problem, REALLY fix the problem! :)

Yes, there are a few giants I would own in a heart beat but I don't think I could do the life span. Now if all dogs would just live as long as us... Yep, the life-span is a drawback that's for sure. Del's gonna get to at least 14. We've discussed it and agreed upon it.

Oh yes! I have a dog crush on Leonbergers too The giant size isn't the problem for me. The question is, could I handle the hair???

And Maddy, you did a much better job of saying what I was trying to say!

Aren't the words "liver" and "chocolate" just two different words to describe the same colour? For instance in GSPs brown is referred to as Liver and with Labs brown is referred to as chocolate, but ultimately they are just two different names to refer to dark brown? You could be right, I'm not so sure what passes for "liver" these days... We had a "Liver" GSP and I too believe that she was in fact very close to the "Chocolate" of say a Labrador. Our Flatties were/are Chocolate, which is not an accepted colour. My first Flattie's Dam was Liver, there was much more Red in it, almost plum like. Now, I don't show my dogs, so its possible that judgement on this topic may have eased. I have certainly seen photos of "Liver Flatcoats" that appear to be chocolate not Liver. I know that in the past there were certainly those who viewed Chocolate Flatties as the equivalent of say "Silver Labs." But perhaps opinion has changed on this. Which is another interesting point. If the judges and breeders are now going to accept what is effectively a (gradual?) change in the colour, why insist on the colour in the first place? (And why get so shitty when I point out that my Flatties are in fact Chocolate Brown and not "Liver.") It's not just the issue of Breeding and/or Showing (although that is clearly what drives it.) I know of a case in which it was strongly rumoured that a Golden Flattie pup in a large litter, rather than being celebrated as a rare occurrence, was PTS. Chocolate is not a separate colour from liver. Liver (or chocolate or brown or whatever you want to call it) is a recessive that dilutes black to brown. A chocolate dog is a liver dog is a brown dog. If the dog has a brown/liver nose, it's bb. Liver can vary somewhat in shade but as it's genetically all the same thing. This dog is liver (called dun in greyhounds) And this dog is liver. It's no different from the normal shade variations in other colours, such as fawn. Oh interesting. I knew blue was a dilute of black, but I didn't know liver was as well.

Isn't ectopic pregnancy still possible when a tubal ligation has been done? So you would have to very careful the female isn't mated when she is in season.

Maybe he is insecure, and maybe she's rewarding the behaviour, or maybe she's not. Even if the behaviour is becoming more frequent, it's not necessarily because the owner is reinforcing it. This is why trainers and behaviourists should do functional analyses for problem behaviours. IMO a good functional analysis involves some experimentation if possible. I'm a pretty good guesser, but why guess when you can test? You can develop very specific and effective training plans if you know the function of a behaviour, and you don't need emotionally-laden words. Just objective observations. Yep, with humans you would never undertake a behavioural intervention without functional analysis.

Sorry to interject... I love Danes. What colours/patterns and why? I'll have to come back to this when I have some more time Stressy. But if you want to knock yourself out you can have a look here: http://www.chromadane.com/index.php/en/chromalinx/89-great-dane-specific-coat-color-info This one might more specifically answer your question :) http://www.chromadane.com/index.php/en/chromalinx/89-great-dane-specific-coat-color-info/129-problems-associated-with-harlequin-breeding

Yes, I've wondered about this with Danes. I was very surprised when I read how they cannot be bred together because it might produce colours that aren't in the standard. I really wonder why you cant have a "Boston" marked fawn. I understand about the merle to merle but some of the other colour combos, I wonder about the reasoning. Well the thing is you can breed harl to harl and come up with the same issues as breeding merle to merle. I am actually of the mind that merles should be able to be mains registered. Danes have some really nice colours and patterns, and they are the only breed that has harlequins so I can understand why people would want to keep them. But to my mind keeping to the standard colours does cause difficulties and can interfere with the best dogs being bred.

In Danes the colours and patterns outlined in the standard come at a price. You can see it clearly in the differences in quality of dogs with particular patterns. Because producing some of these patterns is complicated and restricts the choices of what dogs can be bred, a Dane of the wrong colour/pattern won't be able to be bred even though it might be superior in conformation, health or temperament. If you wanted to breed Danes of 'incompatible' colour/pattern to improve health or conformation you will then have the challenge of producing pups with colours/patterns that can't be shown anyway and can't be bred from. It means breeders have very hard decisions to make, and sometimes I do wonder whether the breed would be better off it allowed any patterns/colours as long as they weren't detrimental to the dog.

Same. I left a rissole on the bench the other day and then went out for a few hours and it didn't get eaten, so I would definitely be surprised if she ate kinetic sand.

Aren't the words "liver" and "chocolate" just two different words to describe the same colour? For instance in GSPs brown is referred to as Liver and with Labs brown is referred to as chocolate, but ultimately they are just two different names to refer to dark brown?

I think anything that has neglected the "horses for courses" aspect of breed selection is seriously flawed. If I wanted a big, dozey dog, I would not be happy with a border collie.

The seizure thing could just be a combination of them being a bit overly-vigilant and lacking in knowledge. I don't think any of this necessarily means they will be bad pet owners. I would just state that you would like the puppy checked by your vet because it is useful for these things to have a second opinion, and that they can take the pup themselves. Then depending on what that vet finds you will go from there. I'd also mention that you both want the same thing: whatever is best for pup. Sounds like they might be frightened off by the idea of having to return the pup.

Whatever; dogs bark, that is what they do, and is what we expect them to do. And to de-bark them is inhumane. I doubt that a dog's bark carries more because it is isolated. Measure it; it will be the same intensity. To suggest that it is somehow louder because the dog is not in suburbia is just emotional and simplistic crap. We humans have relied on dogs barking for thousands of years. To selectively sever the vocal chords of a couple of dogs in rural Oregon because they did what was expected of them is just horrible. I don't have a problem with the dogs owners having to cough up an amount of money to compensate their overly sensitive 'neighbours' (although I do think that $240,000 USD is a bit over the top) but I have a major problem with anyone on DOL that thinks that de-barking is appropriate in the circumstances described. De-barking is abhorrent, and I shudder to think that any of us think that it is OK. If you think that the sentence handed down is OK and appropriate, then you think that the de-barking is OK. ricey What is it that most concerns you about debarking? I mean Obviously there is post-operative pain; is that what you are referring to? I don't think the argument that just because barking is natural to dogs means that we should all just suck it up. Biting is also natural for dogs. Sometimes it's not about what's natural but what's desirable. I certainly wouldn't want to put up with incessant barking all day starting at 5 am in the morning. There are studies that show what that sort of noise does to people, and they don't find that it fills them with happiness and joy. As for litigation... well it doesn't sounds like they went down that path straight away. It says the barking had been going on for a decade, even with notices from the council.

Thanks Westiemum :) And heres a couple of picture of my two crazy kids from this morning for ya :D You cannot post a photo like this without any explanation! :laugh:

Raineth Boronia has a beaut little cart that she had made for her westie Penny. I looked into having one made for Mac but by the time I bought materials and paid someone to do it a second hand stroller was a much cheaper option for me. Oh yes I can imagine :) The one this lady uses looks like it might be designed for gardening, but I'm not entirely sure.

There is a lady around here who has one of her dogs sitting in a kind of little cart, while the younger one walks.

What sort of surfaces is he spending time on? Slippery flooring can make these problems a lot worse. I really you want something with grip and little bit of give. I would be changing him to a good quality large and giant breed Puppy food straight away.

There are so many factors that contribute to whether a study is done well, and what its contribution is to the topic. And actually none of that information has been made available to us. So it's just not possible to say that the study is pointless. And I am not saying that there should be more information given in this format. People who participate would be given some more information as part of informed consent, but ultimately the only way to assess the study is to read the finished report, after its all done. It's always good to remember that once upon a time people thought the world was flat, and that the sun revolved around the Earth... We need to examine the things we take for granted as common sense, as sometimes they're actually not right.

Why don't you ask her directly, she has left her contact details?