DogsAndTheMob

Yes, she could be a purebred GSD. The ANKC GSD breed standard states “Unobtrusive small white markings on chest as well as very light colour on insides of legs permissible, but not desirable.” Your puppy’s white marking stands out only because she is black. If she was black and tan, you mightn’t even know the marking was there.

Deafness in white-factored dogs is caused by a lack of pigment cells (melanocytes) in the inner ear - specifically the stria vascularis. Black patches on the ears probably increase the chance that there are pigment cells in the inner ear. However, there seem to be other genetic factors in play, and I’ve known a few border collies with white ears (and owned one), none of which have been deaf. This form of deafness isn’t thought to worsen with age, and by the time the puppies are old enough to take home, you should be able to identify any that are deaf in both ears from their response to sounds. BAER testing would identify puppies that are deaf in one ear. Puppies that are deaf in one ear cope very well and , according to some research, twenty to thirty percent of dalmations are deaf in one ear. (Failure to hear commands may partly explain their reputation for stubbornness.) From what I’ve read, blindness is usually associated with the double-Merle genotype, rather than the piebald gene which these puppies probably show (as mum looks to be black and white, not Merle.) I’ve never heard of vision problems in white-factored border collies. If “Dad” might be a border collie or border collie cross, and particularly if he might be related to the mother, I’d be more concerned about three known nasty genetic diseases in the breed. The big advantage of getting a well-bred border collie is that the parents should have been DNA tested and at least one should not be a carrier for each disease. (Both parents need to be carriers for puppies to be affected.) In this case, where dad is unknown and mum (I’m guessing?) hasn’t been DNA tested, there is a risk that the puppies could be affected.

The Mitchell library has two paintings of kangaroo dogs on display. They are well worth seeing if you’re interested in the history of Dogs. There are also several other paintings with dogs in them, including one with a splendid tri-colour border collie. As well as the paintings, the library has a catalogue of the digital images, which you can use to zoom in to examine details. Here is one of the kangaroo dogs: http://digital.sl.nsw.gov.au/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?embedded=true&toolbar=false&dps_pid=IE9482784&_ga=2.263282319.261166646.1554492719-1292079201.1554492719

Unfortunately, it’s not possible for me to determine the precise composition and protein sources of the various foods, and I’m finding it difficult to compare them. I’m putting together a spreadsheet summarising the information provided by manufacturers of various dog foods, which I’ll post in the next few weeks.

Thanks sandgrubber; that’s very interesting. In particular, I was interested to read that DCM without taurine deficiency has also been diagnosed in dogs fed on grain-free dog foods.

I’m not sure what study you’re referring to, Kayla. In the study I quoted: 40 dogs were considered for inclusion; 16 were excluded due to inadequate imaging for DCM diagnosis (7 dogs) , no evidence of DCM (8 dogs) or normal taurine (1 dog). The remaining 24 dogs met the study criteria for Dilated Cardiomyopathy at baseline. The 24 dogs were fed 9 brands of dog food in 13 varieties, as summarised in table 2. As indicated by the second last column in table 2, all dog food brands and varieties were grain-free (G). However, the text contradicts this, saying 12 of 13 diets were grain free. Quoting directly from the study: “Twenty-three of 24 dogs had significant improvement in their echocardiographic parameters and normalization of taurine concentrations following diet change and taurine supplementation. Nine of 11 dogs diagnosed with congestive heart failure (CHF) had resolution of their congestion at follow-up with five no longer requiring diuretic therapy and four tolerating diuretic dose reduction by >50%.” “Twenty-one of 24 dogs were switched to a new diet following a diagnosis of taurine deficiency and DCM. For 3 dogs follow-up data including diet information was not available. No dog was switched to a diet that was reported in the baseline diet histories for the group. Seventeen of 21 switched to a grain-inclusive diet while 4 switched to a different grain-free diet. Only one dog was found to have a persistently low whole blood taurine concentration, despite diet change and supplementation. Of interest, this dog was switched to a unique but still grain-free variety of food with legumes within the top 5 ingredients and with a complete and balanced claim substantiated by the formulation method rather than feeding trials”

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0209112&fbclid=IwAR1S26D_WMmdBlI4-aNgIyte5nxBT26ZIo4FpIhTP9CeCnSMz87Lb0qrzKI This study investigated 24 golden retrievers with taurine deficiency and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). All 24 dogs had been fed a grain free commercial dog food and in 22 cases the food had legumes in the top five ingredients. Twenty three of the dogs experienced reversal of their taurine deficiency and DCM when they were switched to another (non grain-free) dog food. One dog, which was switched to another grain-free food, did not show improvement. This is the most compelling evidence I’ve yet seen on this topic. It seems as if golden retrievers are particularly at risk, presumably because of some genetic impairment of their ability to manufacture taurine. However, Golden Retrievers may be more likely to be screened for heart problems than some other breeds in the US, because the breeders’ code of ethics for golden retrievers requires it. My dogs aren’t golden retrievers, but I’m not going to gamble their health on the probability that they’re not at risk; I don’t think enough is known about the problem. I’ve decided to switch them from their grain-free food to foods that don’t have legumes as a top ingredient. (Plant based proteins such as those from legumes don’t have taurine in them.) I’m struggling to find foods that I’m happy with, because quite a few of the foods with grain also have legumes as a top ingredient - presumably to increase the protein content. I’m not sure whether a high protein food with plant-based proteins is preferable to a lower protein food without. I think I’ll select several foods that meet my criteria, and then mix and swap foods, in order to increase the variety in their diet. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0209112&fbclid=IwAR1S26D_WMmdBlI4-aNgIyte5nxBT26ZIo4FpIhTP9CeCnSMz87Lb0qrzKI

Yet another perspective on this study - this time claiming benefits for fresh and raw foods: https://phys.org/news/2018-08-fresh-raw-diets-dogs-health.html#nRlv

I hope so, too. From what I've read, the Guide Dog associations stringently screen clients as well as dogs. Aside from the humanitarian considerations, they have a lot of money invested in the dogs, and reputation invested in their programs.

That's true, RuralPug. It's also possible that some parents choose not to have pets because they're worried about their child's health, and are therefore more likely to observe and report allergic symptoms - although similar results were found in a questionnaire based study and a birth-cohort study based on clinical diagnosis. Here's the link to the journal article: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0208472

https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2018-12-20/pets-allergies-asthma-dogs-cats-immune-system-microbes/10630174 Excerpt from the news story by Belinda Smith: A Swedish study found the more pets in a household in early life, the less likely a child will go on to develop conditions like asthma, eczema and hay fever. For instance, kids aged 7-9 years that shared a house with four pets when they were a baby were half as likely to have a recent allergy compared to their pet-free counterparts: 17 per cent compared to 33 per cent respectively.

https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-26/autism-assistance-dogs-helping-change-lives-of-children/10612064 Excerpt from the news story by Brianna Shepherd: "He would just sort of loosen from my grip and bolt off without telling me." But not anymore. A year ago Blake was matched with Poppy, a black Labrador specially trained by Guide Dogs WA for children with autism and their families. When out of the home he can be tethered to the dog, which is trained to sit down when the tether is pulled, preventing him from running away.

Honestly - I wouldn’t. There’s so much that could go wrong very quickly and a single bad experience might leave your dog with issues that linger for life. Before your pup arrives, drop in to a few training classes to find one with small class sizes, careful management of dog-to-dog interactions and kind, effective training methods. Consider a puppy pre-school - if you can find one that manages interactions between puppies without allowing a free-for-all. Play lots of training games with your puppy, so that you become the most interesting person around. There are plenty of websites and web-based classes with good ideas - Susan Garrett and Denise Fenzi are two names to google. Take him out for picnics and walks in the park (but not off-leash dog parks!). If families come up and say hello to the cute puppy, that’s good; otherwise, teach him to relax and focus on your games. If you meet some canine kindred spirits and can set up play dates, that’s good. If not, he’ll meet other dogs at training class. He needs to be happy and calm around other dogs and people, but ideally not obsessed with playing with them. Many dogs won’t appreciate a large, bouncy puppy approaching, and a staffie is likely to get the blame for any altercation, no matter what the facts are.

Is it possible that you have an extremely intuitive and loving dog who is reacting to your anxiety?

What a lovely youngster! Did he have a bath so he was beautifully clean for the vet? Baths tend to make their coats puff out, which can make them look heavier than they would if the coat was lying flat. A simple prescription: lots of hugs and cuddles, so you get a sense of his normal shape and how it changes day to day - then feed him a little less if he’s getting chubbier, and more if he’s getting lean or going through a growth spurt.

Am I correct in thinking you have a Labrador? Here’s a delightful item on Lab anatomy: https://www.salabclub.com.au/lab-anatomy More seriously, labradors seem to vary a lot in body type, so it may be useful to talk to people in your nearest Labrador Retriever Club - and to your breeder of course. You may also find it informative to go to some conformation shows and have a look at pups of around the same age. (In NSW, at least, there are lots of labradors entered.) The Dogsonline Event Diary is starting to display the 2019 events. https://www.dogzonline.com.au/event-diary/list.asp?state=SA&type=CH

The housing is appalling. No breeder should need to be told those conditions are unacceptable or given time to rectify them. I’ve been involved in the “dog world” all my life (my mother was given her first show dog in 1947, and won best of breed at the Sydney Royal in the 1950s) and conditions like that have never been acceptable. They’re not good conditions for improving the breed or producing well socialised puppies, either. I’m not sure how anybody could keep track of the virtues and faults of so many dogs at any one time, much less know their pedigrees in depth.

Thanks Kayla - that’s good to know. Here’s another article on the study, with a somewhat different interpretation: https://aces.illinois.edu/news/fresh-and-raw-diets-dogs-may-have-health-benefits-study-says It’s interesting to note that the study was sponsored by the manufacturers of three of the four foods, including the raw food, which appears to have been pulled from the market. I’m also intrigued to see that kale is the second ingredient. Kale reportedly has low digestibility for humans and ruminants, so I’m not sure how digestible it would be for dogs.

I’m not an advocate of raw feeding, but I’m sceptical about the interpretation of this study. I’ve taken the time to read the abstract (although I’m not prepared to pay to read the full research study, sorry), and I’ve looked at the ingredients lists and fat/protein/carbs ratios for the dry food and the raw food. The compositions of these foods are very different, and there is no evidence to indicate that the differences found are due to the different processing methods rather than differences in composition. Also, the sample size is very small (8 dogs; 7 days of activity monitoring per food; 5 days of faecal output monitoring per food; 1 day of blood sampling per food) and the range of measures might indicate a “fishing expedition” - to put it simply, if you measure enough things, you are likely to find statistical differences, purely by chance.

I think the news report is misleading. The research report published in Canine Genetics and Epidemiology indicates that the longevity of 139 non-chocolate labs was compared with that of 34 chocolate labs. This is vastly different from a study of 33,000 dogs, or even the 2,074 dogs for whom “disorder and mortality data” was extracted! https://cgejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40575-018-0064-x

I wouldn’t be concerned, unless the breeder observed the dogs and specifically identified something problematic in body language or behaviour. Over her 13 year life, my husky lived with border collies, German shepherds and a miniature poodle, without any problems. She also visited my mother and played happily with her German Shepherd and border collies. I didn’t usually leave more than two dogs together unattended, and we separated the miniature poodle from the larger dogs when we went out, but that’s my usual practice, not something I did because I had concerns.

Safety is a consideration for the purchaser as well. Many years ago, I went to an isolated property to look at a pony for my daughter, and was unnerved by the seller’s reaction when I said I wouldn’t buy the pony. I drove away, and the seller followed me at speed to the property’s front gate. Now, I’d be wary about meeting a seller anywhere, unless I had good reason to believe they were genuine.

There may be times throughout Molly’s life when it’s not safe for her to have free run of the house and yard - if tradesmen are working there, for example, so one option would be to invest in a large outdoor run and kennel, which would serve as a safe place for Molly in the future. Another option would be to buy a baby-gate, and use it to to shut off a safe room such as the bathroom or laundry. The latter is not my preferred option in terms of toilet/house training, but she may be okay for a couple of hours if she’s toiletted just before you leave her, and you’re prepared to clean up any accidents without recriminations. I’ve never used indoor toiletting products for my dogs, but that may be worth considering. Whatever safe place you select for Molly, make a big effort to ensure that she’s accustomed to relaxing in there, and select some toys and food dispensers to entertain her. Yes, puppies will push play-pens around, and I’ve also had one jump up and get a paw caught between the tops of two panels. Luckily, I was in the next room and extricated her before any harm was done.

These are some of the ideas I’ve found effective: A large run (approx 20 metres by 5 metres) made from 1.8 metre chain wire and 2.4 metre star pickets, with an electric wire on the inside. When we moved to the country, I had no experience building fences, but my teenage children and I were able to build that run for a few hundred dollars and it lasted 15 years. Most of the time my dogs are inside with us, but the run was a safe place for the my German Shepherd and Husky when nobody was home. More recently, I’ve used pool fencing around the verandah. When I purchased a puppy a couple of years ago, I took a panel out of the pool fencing and installed a commercial run half on the cement and half on the grass, where the puppy would be safe when we weren’t home. When I was helping a relative whose dogs were digging under her fence, I loosely fastened star pickets to the bottom of the fence, parallel to the ground, so that their edges bumped against the dogs’ noses when they tried to squeeze under the fence. I have used star pickets in the same way to keep goats in their paddocks, and as an alternative way to stop goats squeezing under fences (for long fence lines) I have used heavy fire-fighting hose (10cm diameter). I spend a lot of time recall training my young dogs, walking them on a long leash and calling them back to me for treats. This was so effective at conditioning my husky’s recall that, on one occasion, when a flock of birds burst from the long grass just in front of her, I called her and she turned to me out of habit before she could set off in pursuit. ( I learnt my lesson, however, and I was more careful about keeping her on leash after that.) Huskies are notoriously unreliable off-lead, but I didn’t want my husky to miss out on companionship or exercise, so I’d take her with me when I was working around the farm, but I’d walk her on a long cord and tether her when I needed both hands for a task - taking care that she couldn’t get tangled or hang herself by jumping a fence. A caution about electric fencing: If it is installed, be wary about leaving it switched off. One of my dogs was injured when the wire of an electric fence tangled around her leg. If the fence had been switched on, she would have avoided it. I would also worry about installing it on the outside of the main fence, in case the dog pushed under the main fence, touched the electric fence and was trapped there, getting shocked.

After all this time I can’t remember how long it was - between six and twelve months, I think. With Sammy, the precipitating factor was when she wore her hind claws down to the quick; Back then, GSD sized booties weren’t available. She still had some hindquarters mobility and enjoyed bark on command and shell games in lieu of more active training, and the DM wasn’t causing her pain, but I worried that the damage to her claws would hurt. Missy had lost most of her hindquarter strength but was still very strong in her forequarters when I gave her her wings; we helped her walk using a towel under her stomach to support her. For her, the precipitating factor was when a passer-by leant over the fence and persisted in talking to my other dog even though I asked her to go away. Missy dragged herself down the path and the passer-by reported us to the RSPCA. Thank goodness I was able to demonstrate that we’d been actively canvassing vets for treatment. However, I felt that I could no longer protect Missy from harm.