Rebanne

Strangely, quite a few novice dog owners manage to pull it off. I was one of them. me too :D

Good luck with it all. :) I have started semen window shopping and don't even own an entire bitch at the moment but that won't stop me. Don't let it stop you. If you have access to a nice bitch to use it on no reason why you can't just get the semen. Just make sure all arrangements are in writing.

Why do you think that pedigree dogs are not pets? My pedigree dogs are my pets first and foremost. I like knowing what I am getting.

I heard of this years and years ago for pigs but never thought of it for dogs, not that I have ever really need it but yes, next time I travel with the dogs I will be packing the raspberry cordial as well. :D

it's getting easier and easier :D

Plenty of greyhounds in pounds but I'd never bring one home. Not with the cat.

It has taken my boy over 12 months to pee on the tiny bit of grass out the front of my daughters townhouse. Usually it's a walk to the nearest park. Luckily my bitch is happy to pee on the concrete out the back or out the grass out the front. No way is the boy peeing out the back :D

also you could try getting lengths of wood, maybe 6 inches high and make a big box on top of the gravel, add soil and seeds and water, then you have a area of grass for your girl.

you can get different heights I believe. It can get hot in the sun.

trip to Bunnings and get some fake grass for her, even rake up an area of the stones and sow some seed

I find lots of people want greyhounds, greyhound rescue NSW homed 80 this year FOTH placed like 125 dogs last year There seems to be a demand for greyhounds and no trouble finding people who want to take one in. really, I was talking about pups not older ex racing greyhounds. GSN and GAP Vic also homed plenty of dogs. It is very hard to get a racebred pup that doesn't have something wrong with it or was from an oops litter unless you are preapred to pay a good price.

There is no refund of entry fees if a show is cancelled due to extreme weather. That is also in the schedule.

I am finding this very interesting!

is it easy to test for LUA? Dogs are either born LUA (low uric acid) or not. Until the pointer backcross many years ago, all dallies were high uric acid and this leads to stones. The only boys I could use would have to be descendents of the backcross project. As far as I know (happy to be corrected) all offspring from a LUA dog will be LUA. (That's what I get out of this study anyway, from a quick skim read http://www.thedca.org/LUA/InheritanceHUA1938Trimble.pdf ) That will make life easier then.

is it easy to test for LUA?

you could get approx 3 different lots of semen from 3 different dogs for the price of importing one dog. It's why I think a bitch would be best. There are risks either way.

you would find it easier, breed wise, to have a bitch. Then the whole world is open to you to import semen. Plenty of people have multiple bitches, I have in the past, had 2 GSD and one cross breed all living together in perfect harmony. You are aware of potenial problems and that puts you one step in front.

:laugh: well you well might be and other breeders might not be bothered by it, just try again

There is no right or wrong way to approach a breeder, except for the one liners, but I always answered those as well. If you don't get a reply then follow it up in a couple of weeks. Breeders are people too and have work and personal life to attend too. I work night shift, email me in the middle of a stint of nights and yes I'll reply some days later ( if I don't forget! ). Don't ask them to ring you, ask for a time you can ring them. You might only have to pay for a couple of phone calls. A breeder of a popular breed might have a couple, or more, a day. It all adds up, especially if it's a mobile. I must admit the one thing that gets up my nose is being told that you (generic you) are the perfect home. I'll make up my own mind about that thank you very much :D

No...I did not realise there were 3. I only knew of the Perth club. I looked up the breed on the Dogzonline home page. There is a 14 month old available to the right home. http://www.dogzonline.com.au/breeds/community/bernese-mountain-dog.asp

I see there are 3 breed clubs for Bernese, have you tried joining one or all of them?

The ony way you will come home with a pet shop puppy is if you go in and buy one. Depending on the breed it may take longer then 2 years. What breeds are you interested in? Did you follow up your emails with phone calls?

It's up to the individual club. I always make up my own mind, I don't wait for a club to do it for me. I just consider the entry fees a donation if I decide not to go to a show. For whatever reason.

in my breed you could easily wait 2 years or more to get a pup. There are very few people out there who want one. And even fewer that are suitable. So it certainly doesn't make breeding more very attractive. I had a school principal try and tell me that greyhounds were non shedding, she had read it on the net so it must be true. Didn't want to believe me when I told her that was not true, in fact she outright didn't believe me and challenged me on it. She was a high school principle, she knew much better then me, that was her whole attitude. Didn't want to listen to me at all. No hope of educating her.

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