Talisker

I am going to repeat this, as it does explain why there are 2 different prices and may explain why 90% of the breeders you contacted say they no longer breed. Berners in OFA (orthopedic foundation for animals) Reported 16 out of 100 scored have Hip dysplaisa (2 out of 10) a crippling disease of the hip joints. Reported 30 out of 100 scored have Elbow dysplasia (3 out of 10) a crippling disease of the elbow joint. Meaning that appx 50 dogs out of 100 dogs do not pass health testing and have a crippling disease of the joints ( some dog will have both ED and HD). So when you pick up a pup and take it home, you will have around a 50% chance it will be affected by either HD or ED. That is why any dogs that passes health testing is then suddenly breeding quality, because there are only going to be around 50% of the dogs that will pass health testing. (Edited to add, OFA is voluntary reporting, they state that as many as 50% of the people with affected dogs do not report. They state it is safe to almost double the reported affected rates for any breed. So this means that the affected rate in Berners could be almost twice as bad as the above rates) I will repeat this again too, What does the contract say she is going to do if your dog has HD or ED since it has a 50% chance of being afffected? Will she then pay for the testing? Will she then refund your purchase price? Are you prepared to own and care for a dog with at least a 50% chance of having hip dysplasia or elbow dysplasia? I couldn't tell you for sure what other Australian breeders of Bernese are finding with their HD & ED testing but I wouldn't agree that the above statistics would be true of Bernese in Australia. I wonder if OFA considers anything beyond 0.0. hips "affected" - which technically they are as they are not perfect - yet they are not going to be a crippled dog either! I'd agree with considering anything above a 0.0. for ED affected - but there are only four scales for measuring ED as opposed to 53 each side for HD. A big difference! The breed average score for HD for Bernese in Australia was around 12 the last update I got from the AVA - which is well below the average for Golden Retrievers and Labradors. I certainly don't expect 50% of my puppies to be crippled! If they were - I'd be seriously re evaluating my breeding program

I can also tell you as a fact that ALL 23 breeders on Dogzonline are still breeding - whilst they might not have a litter at the moment they are still making plans Re - caesars - bernese are notorious for uterine inertia(both primary and secondary), often breeders choose to go with an elective caesarian rather than end up with an emergency caesar after the poor bitch has whelped half the litter. I've also heard that people will sign anything once they see the puppy - I prefer to send the contract by email in advance so that the PPO has a chance to read through the contract and any alterations can be made well before the time they collect the puppy. My terms male contract - purchaser pays 'pet' price for puppy, I pay ALL for health testing - bernese should have a clear eye certificate, be HD & ED scored and DNA tested for vWD. Probably around $700 worth of testing.

Bernese BOB - Vegamos Lady of the Midnight Sun (imp NOR) Ben & Holly Taylor RUBOB - CH Berntiers Love Me Long Time (imp SWD) Lindsay Thomson DCC - CH Branbern Micahs Pride - Shane Millard Res DCC - CH Swisskiss Southern Land - Kim Mitchell Puppy of Breed - Alpenhund Young Franklin ( I think!) Congratulations to all the winners - special congrats to beautiful Ginger - who has attended two shows in the last year for a royal BOB (2009) and RUBOB (2010)!

one last one - I need to learn to shrink the photos so I can fit them all in one post! My son helping socialise the babies!

More girls Leah & Alice

The girls Victoria (my teeny runty girl who's catching up!) & Esme

More pictures Jasper, Quil & Jacob

Well we survived to three weeks! After 2 1/2 weeks of nosebleeds things finally seem to be settling down Ruby ended up having an anaesthetic, xrays, nasal flush, endoscopy and nasal biopsy. Poor girl! The diagnosis is allergic rhinitis! Apparently I get to have a special bernese who likes to get hayfever and have blood noses No visible bleeds for 4 days now but I am still seeing an occasional blood spot on the floor. I'm crossing my fingers that she continues to improve and we don't have to go for a ct scan. Thank god for Pet Insurance!! Here are some pictures of the babies at 3 weeks - just prior to a toenail clip They've been names after characters from "Twilight" - they were Friday the 13th babies :D These two boys are Edward & Embry

Congratulations and good luck with your babies Sheree I can't wait to see pics of them! Maggie Mae - your babies are HUGE!! I have one at 1.020 kg and the rest are all between 800 - 900 gms except for teeny Victoria who is at 620gms (but gaining a little more everyday) Ruby is STILL having blood noses - she's off to the vet again on Tuesday - we can't hold out until the puppies are older to find out exactly what is going on :p Apart from her blood noses - she's great! Bright, happy, eating and drinking well now - hopefully I can get some answers and stop the blood noses for the poor girl..... I hope everyone else's mums and bubs are great - I will take some photos tomorrow and load them up :o

Ellie - I'm so sorry you lost your little girl - losing babies is so heartbreaking, even when we've only known them a few days Suki's mum - congratulations on your first litter! 4 healthy babies - Yay!! I hope you get some sleep today My first litter was 13 freewhelped babies - not much sleep in our household for weeks!!! An Update from me - we've had a really stressful time, I'm a majpr control freak so have been a bit worried about how this would go as I'm on clinical placement at the moment and my wonderful hubby is on 2 year old child and puppy duty! I felt like everything was going along nicely - Ruby's milk has come in and she's a great mum. Yesterday morning she had a nosebleed. She was fine when hubby did the 4 am feed. We took her off to the vet for check up and blood tests and the end result is I have a mum on IV fluids! Thank god I'm a vet nurse(training to be a human nurse) and was able to put up the IV and maintain the fluids at home so Rubes can stay with her babies. We're still not really sure what is going on, but she is eating and drinking well this morning and we changed antibiotics last night so fingers crossed all will be smooth sailing from here! Her IV will come down this morning - the babies are off having their dewclaws removed and Rubes is sleeping. I have 4 more days of clinical placement to get through, hopefully everything keeps improving!! I honestly don't know if it is the cortisone she was given the morning of the caesar - or just one of those wierd things that happen when you breed. Any thoughts or suggestions would be very welcome! SHe'll eat chicken and drink diluted puppy milk ( I mix in egg as well) and I've made her some chicken soup today. She won't eat any dry food (I've tried advance and Royal canin) and the only other thing I can get her to eat is whiskas casserole (eww!). I'll get some liver today and a few different tasty things at the butcher for her. I'll post some pictures hopefully tomorrow

Any news? I hope all is going well! Unfortunately things didn't go well, we ended up with an emergency c-section at 10 this morning after not being able to get onto my vet late last night, it is a 2 hour drive down. Anyway there were 2 very big healthy boys, the other 2 puppies were partly reabsorbed and not much left of them (I suppose they were the girls!) Had mum desexed at the same time, she's still very dopey & not happy having the puppies.She has lots of milk & they are feeding well, both around 440 gms & eating well. Thanks for your concerns. :cool: Jan. Congratulations on your 2 healthy babies Maggies Mum I'm glad that after a stressful labour you have healthy babies and a healthy mum. Ruby had her babies this morning (scheduled c-section) - we have 5 little boys and 4 little girls, we have one baby at 440gms and the rest are between 500 - 580gms. Ruby is being good (so far!!) and is happy to lay down and feed them although we don't have much milk yet She's happy to wash them and likes to check on them in their little box so fingers crossed that she is a great mum! If all goes according to plan Parkeyre two babies are coming to SA - you'll have to have cuddles at a show! I'll upload some pictures soon xx

I"m so sorry to hear about your bitch oakeydoak1. I hope that you can get to the bottom of what is going on with your girl ;) My Ruby has been troublesome - this is our third attempt with her, I took her to Monash Vet for a TCI and we have a good sized litter on board (if the 8kg and 20cm she has gained are anything to go by!) She had a prewhelp checkup today and is booked in for a caesar on Friday the 13th!!! Hope the date doesn't jinx me!

Congratulations. I would love a berner one day. Can we have fatty boomba photos when she's wide and whale like? Of course! She's huge already - has gained 4 kg and 10 cm on her waistline. Her Grandma's first litter (my introduction to breeding!) was a free whelped litter of 13(all survived)! Rubes is from a litter of 9 - hopefully she doesn't have any more than that! Her daddy lives in SA Parkeyre ;)

Can I play too? Bernese Mountain Dogs due 14th August This is Ruby's first litter - we've tried twice before - third time lucky!