Leema

I also use and recommend Noahs Crossing. :)

If your puppy is only 14 weeks old, I'd be inclined to raise her as an individual - as a healthy, confident, independent dog. You can invest all your time into socialising and training her and making her awesome! Then, perhaps in a year or two, you might feel ready to get another dog - but you should get this second dog for you, and not for Kirra. You're the one who will have to do all the training and work!

I have crated puppies successfully for 'all day' on occasions. I'm normally home and work from home, but occasionally, the dogs unfortunately get a day where they're crated for most of it. Sometimes these days do occur when I have a young puppy. I don't have toileting accidents in crates - puppies begin to learn about crates from 4 weeks old and never mess in them. I don't think I've ever had a dog or puppy toilet in a crate when I'm not home. That being said, I wouldn't like to crate my puppies all day every day. It does inhibit their movement and so also inhibits their muscle development. As others have suggested, a puppy pen would probably be your best bet. When I have puppies, I use my dining room and move all the stuff out of it (which makes the other rooms of the house a bit messy for a while) and use a puppy pen to keep the puppies in the dining room. I set it up with a crate at one end, and a toileting area at the other. You can read more about how I set up a puppy pen here: http://leemakennels.com/blog/puppies/long-term-confinement-area-for-puppies/

Hi piperspal, Try: Adelaide Veterinary Specialist & Referral Centre http://www.vetreferrals.com.au/ Best wishes for your boy and your decision making process. Very happy to help with transport if you need. You're also welcome to stay at mine, too, though we'd struggle to fit another dog into the household. We could try. :laugh:

Clover probably has about 90 minutes away from the puppies a day... She's not the best mum, and would happily spend all day outside, given the opportunity. (Not 90min all at once, 90 min over the course of the day.) So she's getting a good run each day. :) Especially as she's running with the other dogs. I can happily give her some eggs. :) Got chickens: Always got eggs! Clover's got a really good stomach and will take most foods happily with no consequence. :laugh:

Thanks for your reply. I rang a local vet (my reproductive vet is 1.5hours away, each way, sadly) who said that oxyctocin is only useful as a milk stimulant when the puppies are born, and just suggested I keep trying to bottle feed. Border terriers have a loose pelt, anyway, so 'the pinch test' isn't very accurate. They're toileting well, which suggests they're not dehydrated. Clover's not really drinking a lot, just a normal amount, but I have made the water bowl more accessible to her now (after your suggestion), to encourage her to drink... Can't hurt.

My border terrier bitch, Clover, had 6 puppies on Tuesday the 6th. I am growing concerned that she is not producing enough milk. The puppies often cry even while drinking, making me think that they're growing frustrated that nothing is coming out. I have always been told that puppies should double their birth weight in the first week, but these puppies are no where close to doing so. They were all born at 220g-200g and have put on 70g-30g each. They're a week old tomorrow. I have tried Wombaroo in a baby bottle, but they just won't suck on the bottle. If I put it in their mouth, they spit it out. They have no intention to grab it themselves. I have tried using a dropper of Wombaroo, which has been more successful, and a couple of the puppies are very receptive to this method. The smallest puppies, however, fight and scream with the whole process and simply refuse to take anything. Mum is on puppy food and fenugreek, and is also getting all the left over Wombaroo. :laugh: The good news is that the puppies all look plump, all wiggle, scream, twitch, and do everything healthy puppies do. There also isn't much discrepancy in their current weights, with the smallest being 240g and the largest being 270g. Any words of advice appreciated.

We welcomed 6 little border terriers into the world today - 3 boys, 3 girls. Mother and puppies all doing well. A very even litter, with all pups weighing 200-220g. However, this means mum was carrying 1.2kg of puppies, let along the weight of placentas and fluid... A lot of weight for a 6kg bitch!

I've been very happy with the 8 panel pens that I have got from Deals Direct. They unfortunately don't have the exact one I've purchased, but here's a six panel one with shorter sides to give you an example: http://www.dealsdirect.com.au/pet-enclosure-8-panels/ I believe I spent about $70 for 8 panels. I have also bought cheap pens from Cheap As Chips. They're much poor quality, but I actually haven't had it break yet... :laugh: I think I spent about $30 for 5 panels from Cheap As Chips.

My border terrier bitch, Clover, has been confirmed pregnant by ultrasound. Seemingly, SIX puppies! We are stoked. We had a disappointing (though not disastrous) singleton litter from Clover last year, and having six puppies is just a magnificent thought. Her due date is 10th of November. :)

Different breeds have different prices and I think is mostly due to their popularity. Some breeds average around $300-$600, while some breeds average $2000-$3000. In my breed, the average is $1000-$1500, and I sell my puppies within that average. I don't differentiate costs for 'show' vs 'pet', male vs female, colours, time of year, etc. To me, a puppy takes me the same amount of work, regardless of these factors, and so I see no reason to differentiate price. In fact, I find it a little suspect when breeders do differentiate price. If you are finding a huge price variation in the same breed, then it's probably the difference between ethical registered breeders and 'back yard' breeders.

Anyway to change what the main picture is on a dog? (The one that appears as a thumbnail in search results.)

The dog can be 'interested' in cats, but it can't want to kill them.

Shel from PetRescue posted this on FB today. I thought it was fitting: ‎

Overpopulation is not a problem. There is plenty of homes to go around, but shelters fail to use foster care networks, fail to train or rehabilitate animals, fail to market their animals to the public, and then blame others for killing pets. Shelters have a huge role in reducing shelter euthanasia, and they're currently accepting the status quo rather than utilizing proven strategies to reduce kill rates. Very few animals are owner surrendered in pounds. Many are impounded as strays, but shelters make limited efforts in reuniting these pets with their owners. Their owners may be to blame for their mistakes, but the shelters are to blame for the killing.

I think it's positive in that, once the public identifies shelters as problematic, then hopefully change will start. Whether it will 'just make you angry', I can't say. I don't know you and I haven't seen the program.

8:30pm tonight, SBS Insight will be asking: "Why are we killing so many dogs and cats?" This program, in my mind, will be revolutionary, in shifting the blame from 'the irresponsible public', onto shelters who are killing animals for trivial reasons while failing to market animals available for adoption in their care. I don't believe any program of this nature has aired in Australia before. For the SBS website's details: http://www.sbs.com.au/insight/episode/overview/501/The-Tail-End Rescued With Love's blog post regarding the program: http://www.rescuedwithlove.org/apps/blog/show/18985705-you-re-the-voice#.UFp8itE5S4Y.twitter News article on the Daily Liberal regarding the program: http://www.dailyliberal.com.au/story/355634/poor-animal-kill-statistics-aired-on-tv/?cs=112 Herald Sun article mentioning this upcoming program: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/shelter-animals-killed-for-convenience/story-fncynkc6-1226480386569

I fly at 8 weeks. I rather puppies be with their new families ASAP.

My border terrier had a retained testicle. We waited in hope, but ended up getting him desexed at about 14 months.

With Clover, it was some time until we bonded. Though the videos I have of training with her, we weren't really bonded. I was just going through the motions, and she was responding well. It wasn't until she was about 9 months old or so that I realised I was actually strongly bonded to her, and it just kind of snuck up on me. And I soon liked her more than my first dog that was still living with us at the time. With Myrtle, there was always 'something about her' (she is Clover's daughter and was born here). It may have been because she was a singleton, but I don't really think that was it. I think it was more HER than her circumstances. She has been an incredibly easy puppy. Very easy to toilet train, very nice to have around the house, just a lovely well behaved girl from the get-go. I was say I was bonded to her by about 12 weeks.

I have no idea, but awesome looking spider!

I have 3 permanents, and normally 1 foster dog as well. My limit is 7, just because it seems like a good number. :laugh: 7 does not include fosters or litters of puppies, though. Realistically, I will run into trouble if I have more than 4 dogs in my current suburban block.

I have an older kelpie x in care at the moment. Very lovely dog, though. :) http://www.petrescue.com.au/view/170728

Me too. Hope to hear results soon! :D