DogsAndTheMob

I’m not a breeder but I know breeders who have had unexpected difficulties placing puppies and I’ve noticed an big increase in dog sports people using social media to help breeder friends to find homes for their puppies. It’s not just an Australian trend. A North American breed forum I follow has switched from advising people to expect a two-year wait for a puppy of their very popular breed to saying “The puppy market is crashing and buyers now you have better options more readily available - Be picky”.

In UDX, you will also need pairs of UD-style scent discrimination articles for the seek back. A good starting point for teaching any of the scent-based exercises is to go for off-leash walks with your dog and toss a ball or toy into long grass or scrub for your dog to find. In the house, put your dog on a stay then stand where your dog can see you and toss the toy around a corner. Gradually build up the difficulty until you can leave your dog on a stay, walk to the other end of the house and leave the toy, then return to your dog and send him to find.

My dog has her UD title and I’m now training for UDX. I like to have three sets of UD articles for 3-trial weekends. They’ve proven sufficient for the few 4 -trial weekends in which I’ve competed. You will need to decide whether your metal articles will be unknurled or knurled. For UDX, you need five pairs of cloths. The cloths are rolled up and each pair is marked with elastic bands (e.g. hair ties) of the same colour, but different from the colours on the other pairs. The cloths must all be the same colour. I don’t think I’ve seen any colour but white. I’ll probably have 3 sets of UDX articles when I trial.

I agree, and the differences in purpose or “environment” can be quite subtle. A dog working Suffolk sheep may need different traits from one working merinos and dog working 3 sheep needs different traits from one working 300. The environments of lowland England and highland Scotland are different from each other and from (for example) western NSW. Given the problems of heat and burrs in much of Australia, I find it ironic that, for so many years, the UK Kennel Club breed standard allowed short coated border collies but the ANKC standard did not. I’m sure there are similar regional variations and variations in purpose affecting even the traditional retrieving work of labradors. I would expect the hobby hunter to have different requirements than those of the professional hunter or the competitive sportsman and I wonder if the size and behaviour of the game species would also affect the characteristics of a “perfect retriever”. I follow a US Golden Retriever group and I sometimes wonder what Lord Tweedmouth would have thought of the Golden Retrievers bred for competitive field work over there. Would he have been impressed by their drive and energy or would he have found them too edgy for a quiet afternoon of hunting?

This is an interesting opinion piece. https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0xvc5ZawtmCCkTimAgQ9EfpBWVNdERNCjcbGirSuE3YfxB1zZj6jxMASHPkyrJTs5l&id=100064451033652 From my own observations over the last 40+ years, the meaning of “breeding to type” seems to have changed. At one time, consistency of type was considered important at the level of a kennels. Different kennels had slight differences in type, all within standard, and it was often easy to identify the kennels from which a dog came, just by looking at the dog. Now, the term “breeding to type” means that all “good” dogs of a particular breed should be of uniform type. I’m not convinced that is best for purebred dogs.

A few years ago, I would have agreed with you but I’m not sure that’s true any longer. From what I’ve seen, and from my limited experience, vet charges have increased almost exponentially over the last few years, to the point where I’m now reluctantly considering insurance. In my area, few general practice vets treat veterinary emergencies. Most will refer you on to a specialist or emergency vet, whose initial consult fees are likely to exceed $500 and will escalate very quickly once diagnostic testing starts. In a non-emergency, it’s worth shopping around. A specialist vet quoted me $6000 to correct an entropion (eyelid rolled inwards) but my dog’s breeder referred me to her very experienced vet, who performed the surgery at a fraction of the cost. In an emergency, shopping around is not an option. In an emergency last year, my options were to euthanise or to pay a minimum of $12,000 for ICU and specialist care before disease treatment even started. My choice was simplified because the diagnosis was known and the likelihood of treatment prolonging the puppy’s life was very slim, so euthanasia was the obvious choice. However, I don’t know what I would have done if the choice had been less clear. On the other hand, my perspective may be skewed. For example, pet insurance statistics show lower average tick treatment costs than I would have expected, maybe because the average is reduced by those dogs who have had a tick removed without symptoms and are sent home after a consultation only: “According to PetSure claims data from the 2022 calendar year, the average claim cost relating to tick paralysis for dogs was $2,402 with the highest claim cost being $53,331.“

Somewhere (maybe on another thread), I saw the statistic that 0.4% of bulldogs have Excellent hips. I would be very interested to see what the bulldogs with excellent hips look like.

The Irish Kennel Club is taking a proactive approach to respiratory issues in some brachycephalic breeds. https://www.ikc.ie/important-notice-for-breeders-of-bulldogs-french-bulldogs-pugs/

Most of my dogs have either died at the vets or been euthanised at the vets and the other dogs have shown surprisingly few signs that they’ve noticed their absence. On the two occasions when dogs have died at home, my other dogs have been obviously distressed and reluctant to enter the room where they died. On one occasion, we actually switched bedrooms because the dog had died in our bedroom and we wanted the other dogs to sleep happily in the room with us. My cats, however, always missed even the cats with whom they had squabbled, calling for them for days.

I agree that most of the “oodles” I’ve met are delightful dogs. I also agree that some purebred dog aficionados are appallingly rude about “oodles”. I have two concerns. Firstly, I worry that many oodles are bred in puppy mills. To check whether this was a misconception, I googled oodles in Australia. The first breeder website that I opened had information on their 93 (!) breeding dogs and 16 potential breeding dogs, all born in 2019 or later. Hopefully, many of these dogs live in guardian homes, although even that means that many dogs and owners are stressed when the dogs are taken away for breeding. Secondly, I worry that the “oodle” purchasers may be misled about the (lack of) thought and care that has gone into breeding their puppy. With over a hundred dogs, how can the breeders make thoughtful breeding decisions and how much individual care does each puppy receive? I also worry that the people who provide guardian homes may be misled about their contractual obligations or the sadness and inconvenience that may result from their choice.

I highly recommend this group as a source of accurate information about Australian snakes. https://m.facebook.com/groups/1842921039241229/?ref=share They have various useful guides including one on snakes and pets and another on what to do if your pet may have been bitten. One interesting fact I learned from this site is that there is a large disparity in snake bite risk between men and women, simply because men are so much more likely to try to kill or otherwise interfere with snakes. .

In theory. In practice, I wonder how much inbreeding occurs in most profit-focused enterprises producing “designer crossbreeds”. Buying unrelated dogs for breeding would be a drain on profits. Those enterprises would make larger profits if they kept dogs from early litters and bred them to each other or to their parents. Just yesterday, I saw a post on another forum, asking for advice. The poster’s “designer crossbreed” dog had just been diagnosed with NCL5 (Golden Retriever variant), a fatal, neurological, genetic disease which occurs in Golden Retrievers. Responsible Golden Retriever breeders DNA test for NCL and the gene is rare enough that it’s likely that the affected dog was inbred to an NCL carrier. Unfortunately, because the dog was a crossbreed, nobody thought to check for NCL until after 6 months of scans, specialist vet visits and deteriorating health and behaviour.

It might be worthwhile to consider this online Fenzi course, which starts on the weekend. The instructor is knowledgeable about canine behavioural science, dog training and dog sports and has some very useful insights on managing our sensitive dogs for optimum performance in dog sports. However, it looks as if all the working spots have filled and only audit spots are available now. https://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com/index.php/courses/33389

It’s not as simple as that. I live equidistant from four towns, all at least 40 minutes drive away. After several bad experiences with vets, I now prioritise my confidence in the vets and whether they offer emergency care, both during office hours and after hours. Cost of vaccination is low down on my list of priorities. The shortage of vets means that even those who do provide emergency care will often refuse to see a new patient in an emergency. It’s a false economy to choose a vet for the cheapest vaccinations if they do not provide the best emergency care or if they refer all emergency cases to very expensive specialist centres. Last year, I bought a puppy… the runt from a litter with a. Dry good pedigree. She was a fussy eater but stopped eating entirely on a Thursday, a month after I brought her home. She was obviously unwell on the Friday morning so I took her to a highly recommended local vet who diagnosed congenital kidney disease and referred me on to a specialist centre a couple of hours away. The (non-specialist) Vet at the specialist centre told me that she wouldn’t be seen by a specialist until Monday at the earliest and quoted me a minimum of $6000 for in-hospital care over the weekend and another $6000 for diagnostic tests before any treatment commenced. The prognosis wasn’t good so I opted for euthanasia; I think she was close to death by the time they euthanised her. The two vet consults and euthanasia cost over $1200. If her condition had been treatable, who knows how much her care and treatment would have cost? I know that the costs of running a practice have skyrocketed, so a matching rise in vet fees is only to be expected. However, the choice of not treating a potentially treatable illness or of spending more than they can afford is an impossible quandary for many families. I’m sure it’s difficult for vets too, particularly in corporatised clinics where their own choices are limited.

I’m so happy I could help. Looking forward to seeing puppy photos.

Looking at the Dogs NSW website, I see that you check by entering kennel name or breeders number + email address or phone number. I imagine that a discrepancy might occur if the breeders used more than one phone number (e.g. home and mobile or husband’s and wife’s). There could also be clerical errors or delayed data entry at Dogs NSW. Ask the breeder if they can provide alternative contact details to check. If that doesn’t work, phone the Dogs NSW office.

From what I’ve read, that advice is based on studies of a few hundred dogs, which shouldn’t be unthinkingly extrapolated to the millions of dogs in Australia alone that are treated with isoxazoline. I give my own dogs an isoxazoline flea and tick treatment to avoid the risks of not treating them but I do so acknowledging that any veterinary treatment (or indeed anything we do!) incurs some risk. IMO, it’s unlikely that medication of any type has caused these aggressive incidents but all possibilities should be considered. This information produced by a company marketing an isoxazoline-based treatment in Europe provides a balanced consideration of the risks and explains why product information sheets for isoxazoline based treatments contain warnings about seizures: ”In September 2018, the FDA released an alert warning veterinarians and pet owners that animals receiving isoxazoline antiparasitics had been experiencing muscle tremors, ataxia, and seizures.10 During safety studies conducted during sarolaner drug approval, some 8-week-old beagles receiving 3 times and 5 times the upper end of the recommended dose (i.e., 12 mg/kg and 20 mg/kg, respectively) every 28 days for 10 doses exhibited seizures, tremors, and ataxia, which mostly resolved by the time the dogs reached 6 months of age, except for 1 dog with abnormal head coordination after dose 6, which led to the drug being approved only for dogs 6 months of age and older.1 In a field effectiveness study of 315 dogs, 1 dog exhibited lethargy, ataxia, elevated third eyelids, and inappetence 1 day after receiving sarolaner concurrently with ivermectin/pyrantel pamoate; these signs resolved within 24 hours.1 The prevalence of and potential risk factors for neurologic adverse effects are currently unknown, but the FDA maintains that isoxazolines are still safe for most animals.10,11 Additional research is needed to further characterize the nature and prevalence of these adverse neurologic events, and the FDA is asking manufacturers to revise their product labels to include potential neurologic side effects and cautioning veterinarians to use discretion when prescribing drugs in this class.10,11”

I hope that a full case history is collected in addition to the performance of a necropsy, so that both PTSD-like reactions and adverse events to medication are considered as causes. Not long ago, I saw published information in which an attack on a person was attributed to “PTSD” caused by a previous serious attack on the dog that attacked the person. I’m not convinced that correlation equals causation, but it has been stated that this Rottweiler was recently attacked by another dog. Something else that should be considered. There is evidence suggesting that isoxazoline in flea and tick medication can cause neurology symptoms, including seizures, in dogs. Is it possible that isoxazolines or other medications on rare occasions causes aggression, either associated with seizures or as a separate adverse event.?

This popped up in my FaceBook feed a few days ago. https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1122075 “Forensics & Understanding Severe Dog Aggression: Jim Crosby” I can’t attend, but I was interested enough to google the presenter, Jim Crosby, and found a few long podcast-style interviews with him. They were well worth listening to. He didn’t answer your question directly but did talk about developing a comprehensive dog attack assessment scale to evaluate, among other things, suitability for rehabilitation. This will be built around the Dunbar scale plus other factors including “persistence “ and “perseverance “… how hard the dog had to work to get to the victim and how long the dog persisted with the attack. He also said (paraphrasing) that aggression is a natural survival response in most species but the appropriateness of the scale of the aggression needs to be considered. Also of interest… The most frequent group of fatal attacks in the US are on women in their 30s in their own homes by dogs they own or are caring for. The next most frequent are on toddler boys. He said “big dogs cause big holes and little dogs cause little holes” but went on to say that dogs as small as papillons have killed people in the US. He was scathing about breed specific legislation, about the systems used by many shelters to assess suitability for rehoming (especially those using artificial hands in food dishes or child dolls) and about “trainers” who display their bite scars as badges of honour.

I’m so sorry you have had such unhappy experiences! I’m not a breeder and never have been but I have owned and adored 11 pedigree dogs (if my finger-count is correct )and I’ve been involved in dog sports for many years. I can’t agree with everything in your first post. Looking at your points sequentially… 1. Huh? Since when has a FaceBook presence been evidence of ethical behaviour? Anyone can set up a FaceBook account. 2. That sounds reasonable in theory, but I’m not sure how useful a contract is in practice. I don’t insist on a contract because I suspect the costs of enforcing it would be greater than any probable refund or compensation. When my 14 week old puppy died of congenital kidney disease, the breeder refunded the cost of the puppy, despite the lack of a contract. 3. Of course you should listen to what people say, with the caveat that not every complaint is founded in truth and common sense. 4. The appropriate response to a defect will vary. For example, the heritability of hip dysplasia has been estimated at between 20% and 80%, depending on breed and method of measurement. https://www.instituteofcaninebiology.org/blog/an-update-on-hip-dysplasia-in-dogs This means that up to 80% of cases are caused or substantially influenced by environmental factors or chance, or would not be diagnosed as hip dysplasia if a different diagnostic method was used. Should a breeder be asked to compensate for a defect that may have developed by chance or because the owner failed to appropriately balance the calcium:phosphorus ratio in the puppy’s diet? When one of my dogs scored poorly in the AVA/ORCHID hip scoring scheme, I did not ask for compensation. It’s also important to remember that many breeders producing the best dogs are hobbyists, making do on limited incomes, and any “profit” from their litters is spent breeding better dogs or proving the quality of their dogs. They simply don’t have the money to cover unlimited veterinary costs. When my puppy was diagnosed with congenital kidney disease, I was quoted $12,000 for Emergency weekend care and specialist veterinary examination BEFORE any treatment commenced. With no likelihood that the puppy would survive, I opted for euthanasia, but I certainly would not have presented the breeder with a $12,000+ bill and demanded payment. Nor did I ask the breeder to pay my actual costs of over $1000. When I purchase a puppy, I accept that it is a living thing that does not come off a production line providing identical items of identical quality. I do my best to ensure that the breeder is following best practices and breeding quality dogs. There is no more that I or the breeders can do. 5. Yes, breeders should refund deposits promptly if they are unable to provide a puppy as agreed. 6. Breeders should be able to show documentary evidence that they are ANKC (Dogs Australia) members and breeders, and that the parents of the litter have Main Register pedigree certificates as well as all health testing and scoring recommended for the breed. They should provide photos of the puppy’s parents and related dogs, and of the puppies if available. They should also be able to talk knowledgeably about the breed, their breeding program and how they raise their puppies. This discussion is also an opportunity for the purchaser to assess whether whether the breeder’s goals align with what they want. I prefer to see the parents (and ideally related dogs) before I commit to purchasing a puppy, particularly if I don’t know the pedigree well. If the breeder has concerns about bringing strangers into their home, perhaps the purchaser could meet up with them at a dog show or elsewhere. 7. I would not pay a deposit on a puppy that had not been born. Nor would I pay the full amount more than a week before the collection date. 8. Under normal circumstances, I would not expect to wait more than a couple of months for papers. In fact, on most occasions the breeder has provided the pedigree certificates when I collected the puppy. However, I have heard of delays occurring in Queensland as a result of problems with the mandatory DNA parentage testing.

In all fairness, I’m not sure that the health system will cover all treatment costs, at least in a timely fashion. Hospital funding cover will cover immediate, acute surgical repairs and outpatient care in public hospitals and Medicare should cover most out-of-hospital medical care. If she requires later reconstructive surgery, she may need to join a long waiting list for publicly funded surgery. If she has private health insurance (Medibank, HCF, NIB etc), she could “jump the queue” for reconstructive surgery but would probably need to pay a fairly substantial gap. However, I’m not a fan of the current trend for media-savvy and apparently relatively affluent people to appeal for financial support whenever they encounter adversity. Most people have a limited amount of discretionary funding that they can give to the less fortunate, and I think that money should be directed towards those in dire financial need.

This is horrifying.. a different type of breeder. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-64346415

This is a useful resource if you’re looking for snake IDs or other information about snakes: https://m.facebook.com/groups/1842921039241229/?ref=share

This is an old news story but I think it illustrates how complex and unexpected the causation of dog attacks can be. https://www.9news.com.au/world/drugged-up-staffie-kills-crack-addict-owner-in-front-of-bbc-film-crew/d4db461f-3dcb-450b-9cdc-d8388eb8568b

Reports that at least one of the dogs continued to attack the owner until shot by police makes this seem very different from the typical dog fight to me. I’ve witnessed several dog fights over the years and even separated the dogs in a few fights. I know that dogs are adrenaline-driven in those circumstances and may accidentally bite people trying to separate them, but the only dog I’ve ever seen redirect towards its owner had severe temperament problems. To the contrary, I’ve seen dogs turn, snarling, towards the people separating them, then immediately switch into appeasement behaviour when they saw that they had snarled at people, not the dog they were fighting. However, I don’t think Rottweilers or Rottweiler breeders generally should be held responsible and I wouldn’t rush to blame even the breeder of the dogs involved. There are so many other factors that may have led to this tragedy from simple lack of understanding of dog psychology to deliberate incitement of aggression (not necessarily by the owner).