Aetherglow

Tarja did a great one recently in front of first-time puppy visitors - came hobbling over on three legs, holding her front leg in front of her. We all immediately leaped up to find out what was wrong and she plonked her paw in my hand, covered in fresh, wet poop.

They still wanted a puppy, even after that little demonstation!

I've heard that cost for a grooming visit as well - I assume that's to use actual bathing facilities, and there was a mobile dog wash trailer there last week when I was there.

We were looking at getting a frenchie,english bulldog or boston terrier for the low energy side of it and being able to be left inside.

Bostons and frenchies are cool little dudes. Clowns and totally boss in their attitude.

As puppies I'd probably crate or confined to a room until they learn not to chew everything.

Very low grooming maintenance but he would need to be aware of the vetinary side and certainly get pet health insurance. They don't cope well with really low and high temps so options of keeping them warm and cool (like the room confined to being aircon or leaving the ducted on)

If he's worried about pup being lonely, get a pair. They'll keep each other company for the time he's gone and the puppy stage will be much easier.

Getting a pair of puppies is actually much harder work, as in order to ensure the puppies don't become focussed on each other to the exclusion of other dogs and humans they have to have lots of seperate, individual attention - in other words, twice the work and time of one puppy. Definitely not recommended in this situation!

My thought was a corgi, as well. Maybe a Bulldog? A cocker spaniel might be too high energy, but a carefully selected one may suit. There would be a lot of sand tracking, though!

I know I've said it elsewhere, but congratulations, Sankari! Lots of Lappies :-)

Seeing as it's so quiet in here, I thought I'd add a photo of the boys at two weeks. I feel for all those photographers who take photos of small children :D

Oh my gosh, 6 live babies!

Go Reba! She's already shown she's strong. Fingers crossed!

I hope it works out for you all. Some girls are perfectly fine when they have puppies to look after and don't miss home at all. The first girl used to think visiting her breeder and getting to play with the other dogs was like holiday camp!

Haha - my family's old boxer was a tongue kiss in the mouth type as well! Unfortunately for her, she was a dark brindle with a black face, and people used to do a wide circle around her in fear when we were out walking. She missed out on so many opportunities

I have twice had a bitch go back to her breeder for a litter. The first time was our family dog many years ago, and we took her a couple of days before the puppies were expected, but she ended up whelping that evening. the breeder sent her back at four weeks which was as far as I could tell their normal policy as they weaned all litters at this age. I doubt that this would be standard practice these days, even if the pups are weaned keeping the mother with them for social development would be better for at least a couple more weeks if she's still happy. As a sequel, the bitch was in emergency vet care with pyometra a day after coming home, so it was a bit of a disaster - not that I think the breeder would necessarily have spotted that she was sick before she came home - we didn't realise she was more than just a bit tired out and adjusting to the big change until we saw her nearly collapse. Had she stayed at the breeder's she would have been seperated from her pups anyway due to medical necessity.

With my current girl's breeder we went to the x-ray together and my girl went home with the breeder, and whelped that night - again, several days earlier than expected. She came home to me at about 5 weeks, which was earlier than planned, as she had weaned the pups and was fretting so much that the breeder asked me to collect her early. It worked well for the pups as my girl's mother had whelped a litter a few days after her, so they had their grandmother and the breeder's other dogs to socialise with as well as the other litter. I was only able to visit a couple of times, and while my girl had had plenty of visits with the breeder and her other dogs before then and knew them well she still just wanted to be home.

So it sort of depends on the bitch and the circumstances, but going from these experiences it's probably best to get the girl settled in at least a week before due date!

Good luck! Fingers crossed here.

Go little bub! Fingers crossed, and yes, watching the thread!

Sorry to hear that two didn't make it, but 8 puppies is still awesome! Congratulations.

That's excellent news! I hope things continue to go well for her and you. It must still be very worrying, though.

Thanks Poocow! Tarja spent a very long, hot day in first stage, but ultimately decided that she wanted to wait for the cool change and had her babies this morning. Five black and tan boys, all good sizes and less than 50g between biggest and smallest, all doing very well. Tarja was very tired by the time she delivered number 5, but is recovering well.

So far so good. Keeping lots of fingers and toes crossed for you and your girl!

Tarja has had her temperature drop overnight, so hopefully we'll have news here soon :)

That's awful news, SLF. I hope your girl pulls through.

I used to know someone who gave her dog actual black tea cold every day. She had apparently done it with every dog she ever owned and believed it was good for their coats. I have never heard of this one before or since.

BBL, they're such cute bubbas! I'm very fond of bulldogs.

Congratulations Indigirl on Iggies number 2 - that's a lot of babies :-)

Tarja's x-ray showed 5 good sized babies. The next trick is to keep her cool and as comfortable as possible for the next few days of hot weather.

Good to hear they're all doing well, BBL. Congratulations!

Poor Chloe is really struggling to get comfortable tonight. I'm really feeling sorry for her, she just wants to get some sleep. I think she might be a bit over if and there's still almost 2 weeks to go!

Our poor girls! Not too long for either of them, but it's just going to get worse for a little while.

Yay! Baby Iggies! Congratulations, and good luck with the second litter.

Tarja is rather over being pregnant, and she still technically got two weeks to go. I suspect she's going to whelp earlier than that by a day or two, though. I have stuff for the whelping and puppies arriving from all over the place, and I'm trying my hand at a little light carpentry and building a whelping box which should be ready in a day or two, giving her a week and a half to settle into it.

A late addition for the January list - I have my first litter of Finnish Lapphunds due on the 20th of January. Very excited, and rather nervous! This is a second litter for my girl, and she's a big round ball of happiness at nearly 6 weeks :)

I hope everyone feels better now that that it has been revealed who the "special" one of the group really was! It was nice to meet everyone and see some really truly awesome dogs! And yeah, your tights were pretty recogniseable, LMS!

I've heard the peeing on your dog one before, many times....sadly. Something to do with showing your dog your lack of respect for them...as in..."You think you're such a big dog? I pee on you to see how much I think you're a big dog". And other derivatives of that 'concept'.

I have had a couple of male dogs which I have temporarily looked after which did try peeing on my girl, both when she was a baby pup and as an adult. They didn't get away with it, or not when I saw it, anyway! I assume it was part of an attempt to find their place in a strange situation. I may be completely wrong in my interpretation, though, and in any case I wouldn't assume that even if my interpretation of dog/dog behaviour was correct that it would work between human and dog.

Poor dog :-( Visual identification of a dog's breed is fraught with difficulty. Rangers use a checklist of points for visual identification when a dog is formally assessed, which your ranger obviously didn't do with this dog.

True in other states but not in NSW, just FYI :)

There is no definition here for what is considered to be a pit bull, and how to identify one. The wording is simply if an authorised officer 'is of the opinion that' the dog is a restricted breed they can issue a notice. The dog then goes on to a breed assessment (which also does not follow any guidelines, it's just whatever the breed assessor says). This allows authorised officers discretion on how gung-ho they want to be with the BSL thing.

Nice to know that NSW haven't gone the same route. I worry every time I see my neighbour's staffy crossbreed, which I know is not registered and is often out and roaming, because he would be a dead dog if caught. I wish my neighbour were more careful of his dogs as well, but this dog is seriously the sweetest, most harmless old gentleman you could ever hope to meet. I hope one day Victorian politicians see some sort of sense :-(