Mystiqview

Cannot agree more. If the lump was on you, you would have had it tested. Difference is.. Medicare. $700 is a lot of money, it is also provides a resounding good piece of mind of knowing WHAT it is.

I saw a video of a border collie/huntaway in NZ with only two legs. It was a feel good segment at the end of the news. He lost them through accidents on the farm. He had one front and the opposite rear remaining. He could still go up into the hills and round up sheep.

I would say they were a bit heavy handed with their brushes etc. Some dogs have more sensitive skin than others. However if you have been pleased with the service there before by the other groomers then I would say they were heavy handed this time. Depending on the brushes etc they used to strip the coat, some have blades on them to cut the hair. Even Coat Kings, rakes, furminators and even slicker brushes if you are brushing too much too hard in one area can cut the skin. You keep scraping one area with something, of course you are going to make that area more sensitive and possibly cause irritation and break the surface. I would take him back and show the manager of the grooming salon. They need to be aware of the situation at minimum. If the groomers have done this to your dog, they will have more than likely done it to another with their rough handling.

Property: I live on acerage out at Samford - only half hour north-west of Brisbane CBD. I have about 1/2 acre fenced off for the dogs. I have four border collies and with the acerage, I do not need to go for walks outside the property boundary nor take them to an off lead park. The ticks are coming from their fenced area. They are either kenneled at night or inside with us (depending on their level of dirtyness). I have three clam shells running under three golden cane palm trees for them to paddle and cool down during summer. Our place used to be a dairy, so most trees were originally blown off the property. We have since planted groves of trees in the paddocks for the horses. There are about 6 orange trees in the dog fenced area. Down the front there are mock oranges planted as a hedge on the outside of the fence bordering the council "footpath" or "nature strip". We were fine for about 17 years. despite the general surrounding locale being well known for a bad tick area, we were relatively tick free. Until about 4 years ago. Since then I think our planted trees have grown somewhat as we have an increase in possums and bandicoots. When we first moved here, we used to see kangaroos through the paddocks, but think our area is now too built up for them to move freely. I do not know if it helps or not, but we keep the grass cut short in the dog run areas. I have found the ticks worse if we allow the grass to get too long. In summer, it is nearly a weekly mowing program as we have all improved pasture from when our place was operating as a dairy. If they go to the dam for a swim they are immediately thrown in the hydrobath afterwards and given a tick bath. Tick locations: Most of the ticks I pull off daily are on the face -including around the eyes, under the elbows. Some are on the body around the shoulder area. Some are inside the back legs on the inner thigh. I have found some on the front legs and also in the sensitive sunken tendon areas on the legs. For years the vets here have been stating in the weekly bulletin that they are getting X number of tick admittances a day. They have also stated repeatedly "Not to rely on tick preparations" even back in the days where we used to through the dogs through the cattle dip after treating the cattle. I was using proban until it was taken off the market. I have also used without success Advantix, Frontline Plus, Frontline Original, Kiltix, Maldacin (tick wash) and now am currently using Preventic tick collars with a weekly/fortnightly bath in Fidos tick shampoo - again to hopefully kill any ticks I may have missed. Still without great success. I am finding though that while the ticks are attached and I am pulling up to 6 ticks a day of each dog, they are sickly looking. I would still NEVER rely on these products 100% and hope that given I have long hair dogs, the tick collar may buy me a few more hours in case I missed a tick during the twice daily checks. I have had dogs including a 12 week puppy at the vets in a very sickly way. One dog who did not show big signs of tick paralysis, only a slight (still serious) change of gait took 6 months after two days at the vet to fully recover her fitness. Fortunately I have not lost a dog to a tick yet, however I do know the stress and pain you go through while the dog is there. I have always lived in a high tick area, so the daily checks for me have always been a routine. We have also found here in recent years that there is no OFF tick season. We were getting them right through winter. The last three weeks have been particularly bad for ticks. Most tick preparations should not be used on puppies under 12 weeks. What I have done is put fidos tick shampoo into a spray bottle and sprayed the pups twice a day.

In all honesty though. I have known single parents with young children do much better with working/active dogs that single person or even a family with older children. Or someone who have their dog as an outside dog only for example. I think just because they have a young family does not automatically qualify them as unsuitable for a working or active dog. The best you can do is give them all the information of the good, bad and damn ugly and let them make an educated decision from there. At some point in time, they need to start doing their own research and start talking to breeders and get a feel for whether a particular breed is suitable to their lifestyle. I am sure Benshiva can give some good NSW breeders locally to them.

With every litter of puppies - there will be the introvert and the extravert. Regardless of breed. People tell you to "pick the first puppy that comes to you" - this is the extravert and will generally always be the first into everything. The best puppy often for newbies is the second or third puppy that comes to you. They have sat back that little bit and assessed that you are good to go to, where as the first puppy has gone "oh goodie - new shiny thing". The introvert can also be a good puppy - but bear in mind that these puppies can also take more work as they do not have the same initial confidence as their extroverted litter mates. Introduce the introverted puppy to the wrong stimuli during a fear period (all puppies have them) and you can make them fearful of that for life. The biggest mistake that many make is doing the show and tell as soon as they get their new puppy home. Let the puppy get used to the family and routine before taking it around to everyone and having big family bbq's. I have sold BC's to new families as a first dog - not everyone is an idiot or is unable to look after a border collie first up. Would I sell them the most unruly dog in the litter - NEVER. A good breeder will try to match the personality of their pups/lines/breeding to the family who is enquiring - not just sell them the first puppy they see. If a breeder has nothing suitable for the family, a good breeder would also say so in a nice way and possibly give suggestions of other good ethical breeders the person could try. Maybe also look at an older dog first up. Many breeders will run on two pups for 6 months - 12 months as possible show potentials and later decide that one pup just does not have that element they are looking for. Perfectly good pups and you have bypassed the teething, chewing and bad parts of puppy hood. These dogs should also have been given basic training and manners. I have also found that it is just as important to exercise the brain as much as exercising the body. A bored DOG is a destructive dog - it does not need to be a border collie/working dog be destructive. The brain can easily be exercised by tricks and obedience, rally-o etc.

If you are over North side of Brisbane, I am happy to show you. Like others have said, run your hands through the coat, forwards, backwards, sideways. Feel for any lump or bump. My husband finds it easier for him if he is not looking and just relying on his fingers to feel for a difference in the skin. I use both. If you have a partner, both you of check one after another for ticks. The number of times Dylan has checked the dogs straight after me and have found one straight after and vice versa and found another is common. If you have a nymph or an unfed adult, they can be quite small and can be easily missed first up. Also a lot of vet surgeries have a stuffed toy BC advertising frontline or similar and it asks you to find the 10 ticks (glass beads) through the coat. Good practice next time you are at your local vet. At the moment, my guys are getting checked twice daily by each of us. We are finding up to 6 ticks per dog per day at present. They are currently wearing Preventic Tick Collars getting changed every 4-6 weeks (packet says 2 month collar), so goes to show it is not working in my area. Every two weeks or less they are being washed in Fidos Free Itch Concentrate through my hydrobath. The label (again I am not confident on their timings) says "up to three days" I am hoping more to kill anything that may be on them rather than use it to deter them further. Although if it does deter them, bonus. Cannot stress enough. TWICE DAILY CHECKS. It is the BEST way to stop your dog ending up at the vet.

I plait leather and make plaited ones. They will not be as sturdy as a strap leather collar and lead, but still are strong. It really depends on what you are looking for. Just a couple of samples of my work.

Found the brass ones from this mob pretty good: http://www.pettags.com.au/ They stamp the details into the tag which I have found lasts much longer than any of those that engrave. Not as fancy as some of the other ones, but they last.

Such a broad statement like that can be so wrong. It can really depend on where you live and what you have around you. I know people who are in suburbia/town and have just as much problem as I do on acerage. Then for 17 years I was lucky. We never had a tick. In the last 5-6 years, they have been really bad here. Possums, flying foxes (bats), scrub turkeys, bandicoots, crows, magpies to name a few are all native hosts to paralysis ticks. All these also live in suburbia.

Geez your lucky to only find your first one. We have not stopped all year. even in Winter. In the last week, we have noticed a drastic increase in them. with approximately 6 being taken off each dog daily - with twice daily checks. I am up Samford Valley.

I have got no idea why the litter I had did not do well on the puppy formula. It seemed they had a sensitivity to Lamb. First time it ever happened. As soon as they were taken off the lamb, they were fine.

I understand the point regarding to paralysis ticks, dam water etc as I have all the same here. I live on acerage. I have a large dam, and when it has been dry for awhile it does get manky and smelly. I just hose them off and let them drip dry or throw then in the hydrobath. I also live in very high paralysis tick area. I also have grass seads (in particular wild oats) My dogs are checked twice daily or ticks. It is just something you have to do. A good pin brush is good for getting a lot of seeds out. Likewise a good slicker brush. I have three plastic clam shells where the dogs can keep cool during the summer months. I have found this is good. It is filled with dam water as are solely on tanks. I don't clip. I have been a groomer and I have noticed on a lot of BC's the coats do not grow back the same. They are coarser, wiry in texture. I have also found and had said from customers who have had their BC's clipped they felt their dogs were not cooler after a clip than when they were before the clip. I have done the "lifestyle" clip on customers. Basically it runs along the nipple line as previously described. When the dog stands, you cannot tell that the dog has been clipped. I have had my thick coated black and white bcs out there in the middle of the day sunbaking in the middle of summer. If they were THAT effected by the heat/sun etc, they would not be out there sunbaking. Look at investing in a hydrobath. Even a 2nd hand one. I have found a regular bath does help coat condition and even now after buying a $3500 Savel one, by the time I wash my dogs (I have four)a total of 140 times (or each dog 35 times), I have made my money back (Based on mobile contractor washing my dogs at $25 per dog. You can pick up a good second hand one from anywhere from $500 to $1500.

I have not found a dropping of quality on BH. I did have one issue with the lamb based puppy formula where it did not agree with one litter of pups. When I put them onto another chicken based formula the squirts cleared up. Aside from this one issue, I have not had a problem with BH. I feed the chicken/rice and have never had a problem. Edit: I did notice when I first changed from another premium brand to BH years ago I did have a coat drop and they did look a little scruffy, but it soon picked up after being on it a month or so later. In saying this, this could happen if you changed from any one brand to another its not something negative towards blackhawk

I have seen some of the stuff on the natural as well. Too much mumbo jumbo airy fairy for me. I am with the others. Give me some credible scientific evidence that they work, I will consider them. I don't want antidotal evidence of "I have used it and never found a tick". Especially when you live in a high paralysis tick area where even the more proven methods are not failsafe. The best product on the market was proban until it was discontinued. If they were as good as they claim, the other drug companies and vets would be promoting and selling them like no tomorrow.

I have found Comfortis is the best there is. Make sure the dog has something to eat when you give the tablet. Known side effect is vomiting. Especially if given with no food. Capstar is also good for killing fleas within the first 24 hours. No matter what product you do use. You also have to treat the environment. Flea bomb, wash bedding, treat outside areas etc. The eggs can lay dormant for ages in floor board and carpet and hatch when ideal conditions happen.

If you are using any tick collar. It is pretty much useless if your dog is going swimming every day. Like wise with any top spot. If the dog is going to be spending a considerable time wet or swimming, I think personally you would be wasting your money as any benefit you would have by putting on a tick collar or top spot would be washed away when swimming. Best course of action there is twice daily checks. You can bath in the likes of permoxin or Fidos Free Itch Concentrate shampoo every few days as these products claim to last up to three days. Again, if swimming, any benefit you have by using them would be washed off. I use the preventic collar. On the back of the box: "Do not use any other pesticide whilst collar is being worn" and "Remove collar before washing or swimming, once replaced protection may take 24 hours to re-establish" If anything since having to resort to tick collars is I have found where the ticks used to be be found around the front part of the body, they are now being found inside the thighs and around the eyes/mouth of the dogs. I live in high paralysis tick area, and we can pull anything off up to about 6 ticks a day of my dogs. I have found Advantix used to cause sores on the application area. Bayer tried to tell me it was not the product but hot spots. However I stopped using the product, the sores went away. I think it was akin to the oily product sitting on top of the skin and moisture/water getting under neath and then causing a wet sore. I was recently using Advantix on a pup here... Still had ticks. best advise is just check them frequently. The old rule of thumb is "Do not use two green labels" This covers Kiltix, Permoxin, Malaban, Maldacin and the now not available Proban tablet Scalibor MSDS: "Effects on Aquatic Organisms: As is common with many pyrethoids, Deltamethrin has a high toxicity to fish and crustaceans under laboratory conditions. In laboratory trials, the LC 50 for fish was 1 - 10 micrograms/ L.The collar should therefore be removed before swimming, bathing or shampooing the dog to avoid any impacts on aquatic organisms" Scalibor product leaflet: " The SCALIBOR collar is a sustained release control product. It exerts best effect for hte control of the named ticks 2-3 weeks after application. The collar should therefore be applied 2-3 weeks before the dog is likely to be exposed to infestation" "The use of SCALIBOR collar may not prevent tick attachment, as ticks are not killed immediately. In paralysis tick area, daily searching of the entire body of the dog and the removal of any ticks is required with particular attention around the ears" (My comment: NOT JUST THE EARS!!) "The effect of swimming, bathing or shampooing on efficiency has not been established. The collar should be removed before swimming, bathing or shampooing the dog because the active substance is harmful to fish and other aquatic organisms"

I have had nothing but trouble getting a correct certificate from them. I think I am up to V5 now and it is still wrong.

Sonny BC, I don't know the reason she died other than she had a massive growth in her about the size of a football. The vet thought it was either an enflamed liver/kidney or another form of growth. Apart from the collapse she used to have bouts of incontinence as she got around 6 years of age. The only way mum picked it up was she was doing a lot of bowing type stretches and mum took her to the vet. After and ultrasound and xray - we found the growth. She was put on pain meds and we were told she about about 24-48 hours. To look at her you would not know she was so sick. We did not do a PM in favour of bringing her home and burying her in her favourite sleep hole. I don't think the EIC caused her to die, although I did not think it helped. By this stage though, we did control the amount and severity of episodes. I stopped competing with her when she was 2 years old and she just became the house lounge lizzard on retirement.

When you say "pedigree" are you meaning only ANKC pedigreed? Or all the working pedigreed BCs as well? Vicki - I have heard it bandied around that XYZ pedigree is responsible for this and that and it is only a ANKC pedigree issue. However from my friend with working sheep dogs, it is obviously not just a ANKC pedigree issue. That was all my point. Certainly not a dig at any pedigree or show vs working dog.

It has been many years since I have had a dog with EIC (Exercise Induced Collapse)/BCC. (gee. just worked out it is now 10 years ago). Sadly my Jemma died when she was just 8 years old Back then, it was not well known in BC's. They had just found the condition in Labs in Canada. I have nothing down from her, and while I have kept abreast of some of the new research - I am not fully up to date. In Jemma, the attacks started about 18 months of age and continued until she died. Although Once I learnt the signs, I could in most cases prevent an attack, or at least limit the severity/length of time of an attack I have found not always exercise triggered an episode. Jemma LOVED to please and also do tricks - if she got worked up or excited, she could bring on an attack. I also found once an attack happened, the next one could be quick to follow. YOU need to allow time (dependant on each dog) for the "toxin" in the muscles to exit the system ( I will use "toxin" in this case as a descriptive only). I also found exercising in or through water reduced episodes. Only exercise in the coolest part of the day if possible near water If an attack happens - immediately get the dog to lie in a water or keep water flowing over the stomach area to cool the dog down. Remove any toys or stimulus. Keep the dog calm Keep your dog lean - if the dog is fat/carrying excess weight get the weight off. Jemma LOVED her food and if she was more than "working dog" thin, this increased the chances of an attack Learn the signs - Mine was Jemma's tongue would start to go a very dark red/purple colour - if this happens - cool the dog down and keep them calm. Always carry a bucket and water with you in the car - now you can buy those collapsible silicon ones that fold flat. I cannot tell you how many times that saved me. Realise now that there will be activities (EG: possibly dog park) that you will no longer be able to do. Your dog now has a medical condition - so you will need to modify your activities/sports/games etc to allow for this. I first learnt about it from a working sheep dog trailer (this is back in 2003). He had a working BC (not related to pedigree BC's at all)who was a short coat who suffered EIC. When he trialed, he would keep two 20L buckets of water at the gate. IF the sheep were overally difficult - he would withdraw the dog. If the dog showed signs of an impending attack he would withdraw from the run and dunk her in the buckets. I know of other working sheep dogs who have the condition, so before some go off on pedigrees - it is not just a pedigree dog related issue. Clipping a BC does not help the heat/heat stress. The coat is a double insulator and will act both ways to keep the dog warm and also cool them. I live in a super high paralysis tick area as well (currently we are pulling up to 6 off a day). I do not clip my dogs. They are on tick preventative as well as twice daily physical checks. I also run three clam shells of water in my yard for them to dig and cool themselves down if needed. Clipping the coat changes the texture and function of the coat.

We cannot sell pups "unregistered" or without pedigree papers. They MUST be resgistered (either main or limit, vaccinated and micochipped and come with breed info etc. For Dogs Qld to do anything, you have to PROVE the Dogs Qld member is selling pups unregistered or unpapered. In QLD also, if we dispose or sell an animal - we must also initiate a transfer or a lease/co-own arrangement. Some breeders leave the dog in their name as they are wanting return litters/studs later on which again we are not able to do. Other states do allow a breeder to leave a dog in the breeder's name, however QLD does not. In QLD - it is also legislation that ANY person who sells a dog/cat MUST microchip the animal prior to disposal or sale. (whether that be a puppy or adult dog) as per the Animal Management Act 2008 (revised 2009). Many council bylaws will also state that the breeder must also regularly vaccinate and worm their animals. A number of BYB sell their pups before 6 weeks to get away from microchipping, vaccinating and sometimes even worming the pups. There are many who advertise on Gumtree and the likes who have pedigree dogs (bought maybe on main or limit register) who breed them in a BYB situation. They are not registered with Dogs QLD. In Moreton Bay Regional Council for instance - ALL breeders (Registered Dogs Qld breeders and BYB) MUST be registered with the council to breed even one litter. So for some who are advertising - they are only registered with the council or some are even "registered" with the likes of PIAA (Pet Industry Association Australia) a so called "industry" body - however again not really Registered. I have seen registered breeders advertise occasionally on Petlink etc unregistered dogs. I know of one QLD SE registered breeder who has ANKC dogs as well as working dogs and breeds both. The working dogs are not registered with Dogs QLD. I even saw them advertise one such litter at one time on DOL.

I recently rang a camping area here in qld. It would seem that anything that has "bull" in the breed is a Pitbull. Friends have a mini bull terrier who plays with my BC. It is not allowed as it is a "pit bull" The media has a lot to answer for when it comes to breed stereo types and traits.

I have bought the breed database a number of times from Dogs Qld. Another breeder also recently bought a breed database last year I think. It depends I think on how many years/records it contains. We have generally bought the database every two-three years and it has costed anywhere between $200 - $300. It comes in an excel spreadsheet. You do not get breeder's name or owner's name. If you use breedmate, you will need to edit the spreadsheet to remove titles from all animals and put them in their own columns and save the file as a CSV file. You also need to then structure it in the default colums of breed mate (so if there are gaps or personal added columns, these get ignored. Then also create separate CSV files for Dogs, Sires and Dams and import into breedmate separately. If you import into breedmate as it is, it will stuff up the formatting and You get: Dogs Num Dogs Name Sex Date of Birth Reg Date Colour Sire Number Sire Name Colour Dam Number Dame Name Colour 2100258569 RIVERMAID TINTARA RED M 30/07/2007 22/10/2007 Red, White 2100110958 ROSELANI TALISKER O SKYE Black & White 2100089781 BOMACKAY SIMPLY RED Red, White

Can you organise with the council for a time where you may board your dog elsewhere say for a few days to a week - even have it minded maybe by kennels or a verified minding agency who can vouch your dog was in their care. Work in with your council officer. If she rings and complains about your dog barking, get council to say is "this" the dog barking. If necessary - be prepared for woman to "inspect" your place. If your dog is not there and she can be proven wrong at the same time as saying the dog is barking..... It may be enough temporarily.