sas

Goodness he's so thin for such a big dog. Thank you taking him.....it may end with sadness but you tried.

bahahahaha excellent LOL

Sorry to hear this has happened! Please take her to the Vets to ensure she's ok and to have any meds nececssary. Please also call your Council to report the inccident. I would further suggest you contact a Behaviourist to not only help the dog but also yourself (who is probably going to be on edge from now on) how to go forward with your girl.

AWESOME!!!

Short Step, I'm really sorry you're not understanding where I am coming from, in all honesty, I believe your passion for the cause is not alowing you to. I'm not interested in a conflict with you so I'll let it lie.

Oh no you are being very clear. You also would never be taken for defending breedrs do don't worry about that. We need to all be very careful to never give the impression that we would defend ANKC breeders. Was that Sarcasm at it's best? My next dog will be a Pedigree so I fully support Pedigree dogs but also know that some Pedigree Breeders don't do the right thing - that's not great revalation. It's not even important what I personaly feel about Pedigree's, my whole comment was about how I was comcerned that the general public would mis-interpet the hosts comments on Inbreeding and Health problems. Reading your previous posts in other threads it seems you are quite disheartened at the drop off of Breeders and worry for the future of Breeders - and I understand that, however I do believe you mis-interpreted due to this. Sarcasm at it's worse. You should try getting a dog instead of a pedigree (that is humor at it's worse). It really has reached a time, where it would be best for people to breed their own dogs. Then you do not have to worry about what "breeders" may be getting up to. Nor do you need to worry about giving the impression you would defend dog breeders. There is nothing more effective to elicit change than to lead by example. For example; instead of using the tired old rhetoric of yesterday, warning people to look for a breeder that has done hips on the parents. Be truely modern, explain that this does not adequately address or prevent dogs with HD and would not guide some away from buying a puppy with HD. Instead, you can show how you are an expert on dog breeding, inherited disease, the effects of inbreeding and where 'dog breeders' have gone wrong. You can show how to breed correctly for good hips. Show how you have done lateral breeding/pedigrees for HD for X number of generations. Show the scores of AVA, PENN and Cornell on every pup you have bred, parents and all of their siblings for as many generations as possible, give the % of affected and normal pups, over each generation with an average of hip scores broken down by the 10 AVA scoreing areas, highlighting any movement in scores over the generations towards improved structure. Have EBV done for the parents, grand parents and the litter. COI for the parents and the litter, compared to the breed average world wide and in Australia. Follow this with a document that explains in detail that any dog you breed can still get HD due to what all the 'bad' breeders behind you have done wrong in the pedigree of your dogs. Be a truly cutting edge dog breeder, show everyone how it is to be done correctly. But most important, take full responsibility for your own next dog and breed it yourself. Not sarcasm. It's obviously a very passionate subject for you, but still, you have mis-interpreted what I said. I'll try and be a little clearer: I was worried that the general public would think that if a Breeder said they didn't inbred dogs that they would be safe from health problems - therefore thinking that x-breeding is ok or your average BYB is ok. Wasn't actually anything against Breeders, however I stated I wasn't defending Breeders not to bash but to try and give a clear understanding what I was saying was not being I was a breeder myself trying to defend my practices. There are some wonderful breeders doing awesome things for their choosen breeds - but even this has nothing to do with what my initial comment was.

Oh no you are being very clear. You also would never be taken for defending breedrs do don't worry about that. We need to all be very careful to never give the impression that we would defend ANKC breeders. Was that Sarcasm at it's best? My next dog will be a Pedigree so I fully support Pedigree dogs but also know that some Pedigree Breeders don't do the right thing - that's not great revalation. It's not even important what I personaly feel about Pedigree's, my whole comment was about how I was comcerned that the general public would mis-interpet the hosts comments on Inbreeding and Health problems. Reading your previous posts in other threads it seems you are quite disheartened at the drop off of Breeders and worry for the future of Breeders - and I understand that, however I do believe you mis-interpreted due to this.

Great Danes do not need large yards. They are couch potatoes that don't require a great deal of exercise. They still require walks and mental stimulation though. They don't need a big back yard but you wouldn't to just have them in a very small area - even just for the reason you want them to be able to toilet without having to have previous toilet trips closely around them. In the US people keep them in Apartments, I'm not sure I agree with that but it seems to work well for them. My dogs only use the yard to toilet, I have to chuck them outside from time to time. Is a Great Dane for you? Click here Lastly, going from from 2 dogs to 3 dogs can change the dynamics quite a bit - are you ready? Congrats. Did he come from a Registered Breeder who Hip & Elbow Scores, Thyroid tests and Heart checks? Unsupervised at around 12 months probably (until critical growth is finished) - Dane youngsters are pretty fagile. You and your girlfriend will want to be on the same page before the puppy starts to ensure they puppy gets a consistent message with this and also training.

They have a 30 day money back guarantee, so nothing to loose really. I don't use them (or have anything to do with the company) but I figure if someone wanted to try it, it's not great loss with the money back thing and then you can decide for yoruself if the product works for 'your dog' or not. http://www.shootag.com.au/

BUT.....How many CAV breeders are doing the test for it? It's a $2,000 scan isn't it? You can't take someones word for it that everything is ok in the line.

But all pedigree dogs ARE inbred, not necessarily by current breeders but almost certainly by the early caretakers of the breeds , and that IS what caused a lot of the health problems. I'm not sure you really get what I'm saying. Say for example you take one dog and breed it to an unrelated dog then that isn't classed as inbreeding or even line breeding (that specific mating and on the inbreeding calculator wouldn't score very high at all). Humans are as inbred as animals if you're talking about the creation of animals. I totally get that the problems breeds have is because of of early inbreeding. What I am saying, is that I worried people may have mis-interpeted what he said....for example you're Joe Blow and you just learned that Inbreeding creates problems so you go to your Breeder and you say ok, I'll have a pup from you because you don't inbreed and then think you're safe. Just to be clear, I'm not defending Breeders at all, I have a dog with a whole host of problems, some of which could have been avoided in the genetics side of things.

That is just heartbreaking *hugs* I don't have children so I can't offer any advice, I think it's pretty hard for many kids to truely understand the concept of death. If your family believe in Heaven, can you go down that Route? I'm not sure what you think but saying they're gone to sleep and never will wake up might frighten a child about going to sleep?

Sorry to hear :D BUT Look on the positive, your problem in ethuasiam not the opposite!

You'd have to believe a soul actually existed in the first place - and that is a spiritual thing - a way 'some' people choose to live their lives. There is no 'proof' that souls exist and you can't prove it either. I don't think there's any harm in believing Souls exist though, if that is what makes you feel good about you and your relationship with your dog. Some people need a 'safety net' of belief, others don't. Comments like that make me feel a bit uncomfortable - there is no proof either way.

Pennant Hills Vet Clinic is great for the Giants and they own a Newfy themselves. I take my Danes there. http://www.pennanthillsvet.com.au/

It's really important to follow what your Breeder does, did they provide you with a feeding & care guide? Are you in Sydney?

What you're experiencing is normal - not fun mind you. It depends on how you want to handle this one, you could try the re-divert method by getting her to re-divert this behaviour to a toy and then praise her when she's interacting with the toy and not biting you. You could ask her for obedience instead of her biting at you i.e. "Sit" and then give her a treat - there's no reason you can't walk around with a small treat pouch or treats in your pocket. You could correct her - the level of correction a puppy needs is individual and lot's of people are worried about correcting a puppy and over-doing it. Are you going to puppy school?

I enjoyed it. I did wonder if people would mis-interpret what he said as it sounded like he was saying all Pedigrees were inbred and being inbred is what makes a Pedigree and therefore it's the inbreeding that causes all the health problems. In the end....dogs are what we made them.

Immune systems that work incorrectly are definately able to be passed on by the parents or from that line, it's well documented. You use the word 'low', however this may not be the right word, the immune system could have been over-active. Dogs fed on Pal and other super market brands all their life don't all end up with immune problems, in-fact many of them live very long healthy lines. Can you be more specific about environmental immune problems?

Bugger!!!! Fingers crossed next week!!!

Unfortunately it's very much trial and error. Anti-histimines can work but work different in dogs than they do in humans and you may have to try all different brand - have a chat to your Vet about their reccomendation and also dossage rates. If it's an evironmental allergy, rinsing your dog each day can help. Have you tried a barrier method such as a t-shirt that covers the belly and arm-pits?

My old girl was on it for some time and she did fine on it.

I don't think it is just Dobes, it can be any breed. My boy sounds similar to you. He had Severe Allergic Skin disease from 3 months of age (ran hot from the time we got him), so that's a blow to his immune system, a number of really bad skin issues through his life. He recently picked up a fungal infection most likely because of his crappy immune system and then whilst his immune system was having issues with that he developed Mange, he hasn't responded to the Anti-biotics and Mange dips so he's about to start the 6 week course of ivemectin. Some dogs are just born with immune systems that don't function correctly, if a Breeder knowingly breeds a dog with an immune system problem (or a line with the problem) well that's a pretty crappy thing to do and is just continuing the problem. I've had a foster Labrador who was 12 months old that was PTS as his body just could nto recover from Mange, the poor lad was in such a state and have sevre seperation anxiety which further created problems with the mange. All I can suggest is research research research - Any sign of skin problems can indicate immune system problems and I wouldn't be getting a dog from that line, speak to lot's of Dobe people, go to Dog shows and speak to people - this isn't a guarantee you'll be safe but at least you'll know you did your research. Same thing goes if you want to research your dogs line to see if there are any apparant problems - not many people will talk though - people keep things close to their chest and those who don't like the breeder may just make stuff up - it's hard to get the truth. Sorry you went through this :D

WOOHOOO!!!!!

Sorry to hear that sas Honestly, bloody trialling, don't know why we do it! Oh well eh!