blacklabrador

I rehomed a Crestie a couple of years ago. She was going blind with cataracts and was not coping with the big labs around her because she couldn't see to get out of their way. She was only 7 so PTS was not an option. She ended up living my with neighbours who have some other little dogs. They are brilliant and she is now almost completely blind. Every time they move something in the house or yard they take her to it and show her the new position so she remembers to walk around it. They click their fingers to help her negotiate her toileting at night (she is entirely blind at night) and just love her to bits. They do a far better job with her than I ever could have done! It gives me hope that there are awesome people out there who will dedicate their life to an oldie.

There is no way you'd get the pressure you need from gravity from a bucket. Like a previous poster suggested - you can get attachments to fit your garden hose to your laundry or kitchen tap so you can run continuous warm water at a reasonable pressure to wherever it is that you need.

No - it's the Fashion Police that you call for those kinds of tragedies.

After an hour at the dog park my dogs are begging to go home so I can save them from themselves. There is only so much madness a dog can take! Danois... gotta love the lawyer in you girl.

Get Electrodry in to clean the carpets and ask for their pet neutralising service. They put special stuff on the carpets and it gets rid of all the pet odours - works a treat!

If you like gundogs then go the Pointer. I'm biased but I've come over to the dark side since I've owned Stoopid.

After watching my bitch repeatedly accept a pup who was clearly brain damaged (very odd posture), was growing colder by the moment and was on the way out I don't really trust maternal instinct 100%. She kept trying to get this pup to feed when it clearly was too weak and within an hour of dying. IT seemed to know it was dying and kept crawling away from the warmth of the other pups and the heat lamp. But see that's the difference, the puppy knew something was wrong, and by observing the puppy, you in turn could see that something was amiss and for me, that would have been enough of a cue to act. If a puppy is clearly brain damaged, then it would get its wings. And again, that's Mother Nature talking. Mothers have been known to be wrong, or we wouldn't lose puppies that we had worked hard to save. But all things being equal, if there were enough signs from the puppy, then that too is enough to make a decision. I would never bother even attempting to tube feed a puppy such as you have mentioned. It is an exercise doomed for failure. But again, that would be "my line in the sand". In the case of my puppy, she was fighting hard. She was doing her best to suckle, assisted by her mother. She was warm. She was pretty much doing everything she should have been by way of behaviour for a very young whelp (growling, defacting and urinating etc etc) and for the first 3 weeks really didn't look much different to her littermate, just smaller. It was only at 3 weeks when I pulled the pin and gave her her wings that it was apparent that she had, as the vet said, hit the wall. Yep I knew in my heart but held out hope that she'd be okay. I think two days of no sleep meant that I wasn't thinking clearly. I kept remembering that she'd passed a vet check only hours before and watching her mother try to get her to feed. I did bottle feed her but her suck was uncoordinated and weak. She died 11 hours after birth which was the best thing to happen. I think experience tells you when it's time to let go. This was my first litter and I just wanted every precioius puppy to live. Even as an experienced breeder, Ellz I think it would be terribly difficult to nuture a pup for 3 weeks and then have to PTS. I don't think the tube feeding argument is as black and white as some made out.

They ended up with a little black brindle boy. He's very cute. He's already been over for socialisation with my crew.

Awesome! This is exactly what I need to get back into it. I'm feeling better and am up for picking up the camera again.

After watching my bitch repeatedly accept a pup who was clearly brain damaged (very odd posture), was growing colder by the moment and was on the way out I don't really trust maternal instinct 100%. She kept trying to get this pup to feed when it clearly was too weak and within an hour of dying. IT seemed to know it was dying and kept crawling away from the warmth of the other pups and the heat lamp.

Me too. She is my pick (like I have a clue )

Most of what is advertised on DOL is complete litters of blue pups.

Muttaburra it does to some extent and there are certainly breeders out there breeding whole litters of chocolate and paying no attention to conformation. I haven't seen them overcharging to such a ridiculous extent though! It looks like some Stafford breeders are charging 3 times the reasonable price for a blue.

What can someone expect to pay for a Stafford pup from an ethical breeder? I was thinking that $1000 would be about expected but have I estimated too low?

I have a family member who has asked for my help with buying a Stafford pup. I am trying to persuade them towards a pup from a registered breeder and I went through the DOL pages looking for pups available locally. WTF is with all the blue puppies being sold for $1800 - $3000? :D It's really difficult to convince people that registered pups are the way to go when there are idiots out there with ridiculous prices on puppies just because they are a particular colour. I am disgusted.

Thinking of you and Steve. Get better soon Grover.

And Poppy who stole her eyes from a Cocker Spaniel.

Oh Dashy... he's so beautiful

Awww little Fonzie playin with the big kids!!

:D Bub they are a very handsome couple!

Inappropriate and nasty. How is that contributing to the thread? kthxbye OK so thinly veiled nastiness. Fairly predictable though.

Inappropriate and nasty. How is that contributing to the thread?

I've been so extremely slack. I have been unwell and haven't picked up my camera since we got home from overseas a month ago. We might put the tree up tonight so I'll charge up the batteries and get some pics. Loving some of the pics in here! Well done.

Probably the most ethical thing to do here Blackdog is to email Troy and talk to him about it. It may perpetuate an false rumour to discuss it on here without first checking it out with the person who runs it.

Yes there are big price wars on at the moment. I am about to sign up with Bioceuticals as a nurse and will get it for another 35% off.