WeimMe

lol your dirty dogs looks so pleased with themselves! That's why I love having a grey girl - she doesn't show the dirt so much!

I would think that you would have a hard time finding a vet that would do that to an otherwise healthy dog. Would they not just abort the pups and spey?

I made one a while back using two old pillows covered in a giant denim pillowslip that I sewed. Very easy to make, and you can easily wash the cover and replace the pillows when necessary. If your dog is smaller, you could just use one pillow :)

That poor man

I use Comfortis on my dog - but only if I see a flea on her, so months go by with no dose. We are pretty lucky here and don't seem to have an ongoing problem with fleas, so I prefer not to put any more chemicals on my animals than necessary after my cat became very ill after being treaded with a spot on. My dog doesn't seem to have any reaction to the Comfortis, and it does keep them off her for about a month.

I wouldn't feed my girl pet mince (even if she didn't have pancreatitis!). They just mince up all the offcuts, which are usually mostly fat and I have my doubts about how fresh it might be. I bought some once and it smelled awful so I just threw it away. Maybe you could try some human grade kangaroo mince with some rice/sweet potato to bulk it up if you are trying to get your dog to slim down a bit. Has your vet given you any suggestions?

I think it's a combination of people having much shorter fuses, smaller yards, little tolerance for anyone or anything that annoys them and not having great relationships with their neighbours to start with. It's less likely that you would make a formal complaint about Joe and Sue next door's dog Sam - you'd probably just mention over the fence that he was barking a lot yesterday and the Joe and Sue would feel so guilty about it they'd make an effort to change that behaviour out of neighbourly respect, not fear of being fined. When it's just the dog that belongs to that yuppy couple next door, rather than speak to them because they don't know them and it would be awkward and possibly confrontational, it's easier to make a formal complaint and get the council involved. That said, I do think that keeping dogs indoors or in garages or whatever does make a difference in how much a dog barks at night. There's no way I could leave mine out every night as she would disturb the whole neighbourhood barking at possums and toads. As for barking during the day, I've never really understood the big deal. After all, it's perfectly OK to use powertools, those leaf blower things and have ear splittingly loud band practices from 7.00am to 7.00pm so why is a dog barking in that time so very terrible?

Beautiful photos Kirislin! My girl loves pears - especially the cores. Not that fussed on other fruit and veg really, but has a bit of a carb obsession - toast in particular. I remember reading somewhere that the reason that dogs should not eat grapes isn't because of the fruit itself, it's the sulfides that they use on them to help them keep better in the stores/transit. Sultanas and other dried fruit can be worse as they contain sulfides in higher levels. *edited because I can't spell "sulfides"!

My dog has chronic pancreatitis as well - she used to have mild attacks that caused her a lot of discomfort but so far have not been life threatening. My vet advised a low fat diet (he said no more than 5% fat - which has proven impossible to find). The lowest fat dog food that we could find is the Supercoat Light and Mature dry food - it has 7% fat which is even lower than the Hills one and since she's a big dog and gets through a lot of food, it is also easy on the wallet. I give her a little bit of human grade kangaroo mince as well and that does not seem to upset her stomach either. The kibble is not particularly appetising to her and she is usually VERY interested in food. There are days when she doesn't even eat it unless I put a little bit of low fat yoghurt or something on it. I imagine that it must be like eating a big bowl of All-Bran for every meal. When I want to give her a treat I use Schmakos Cheweez as they are relatively low in fat as well but she doesn't get these every day. I checked with our vet that this food was appropriate for her and got the OK and you should probably do the same when you decide on a diet for yours. Since we made the switch she has only had one episode (which I think was caused by a "kindly" neighbour throwing something from their BBQ over the fence) and has also lost a little bit of extra weight. We've been managing her condition for 2 years now.

So so sad

I think it depends on the dog and how strong their prey drive is. We have a Weimaraner and she was an adult when we brought home our chooks. I fully anticipated that there would be big trouble, and built a chook fortress so that she would not be able to get at them. Daisy has always been very interested in ducks and birds at the lake (we'd never dream of letting her at them), so I accepted that I'd have to work hard at making sure that if the chooks were out, the dog was in. All was going swimmingly for a few months, until a houseguest opened the door and let Daisy out in the backyard at a time when the chooks were out. I only realised what had happed about 20 minutes later and went outside with my heart in my mouth expecting carnage - only to find the chooks happily walking about and the dog ignoring them. I think that after all this time she had fortunately decided that the chooks were meant to be there amd were untouchable, just like the cats and being an older dog she was better able to resist temptation. I know that not everyone has such a happy ending though... I don't think that I would risk it with the piggies.

I fell in love with the Weim next door and that was that! I did do some research, and the breed ticked all the boxes for temperament and exercise, but at the time I don't think I fully understood the implications of some of their more negative attributes until I had one of my own. I think that if you have a dog in mind, talking to actual owners about some of the down sides to the temperament of the breed is a good idea.

I don't think they meant any disrespect. Someone unfamiliar with buying from a breeder (like me!) might not understand the breeder's reasons for wanting to make that arrangement and may not feel that it is a fair thing to ask. To the OP it may be the equivalent of buying a new car and being asked if the salesperson can borrow it sometimes. I'm not saying that it's the right attitude to have, just that they probably are not able to see the situation from the breeder's point of view.

Maybe switching to low fat kibble? My dog has to have a very low fat diet due to chronic pancreatitis and lost her excess weight over a period of a few months without having to change the amount that she ate or significantly increasing exercise once we made the switch. I'm sure that her general activity level helped as she is fairly active anyway, but the weight loss was effortless and she didn't seem any hungrier than she usually does. She can't eat anything else but the low fat kibble and sometimes a little bit of very lean meat.

I thought that might be the case - thanks so much for all your help. I've seen an ad for some pups that looks promising, but I'm a bit more cautious this time. We'll see how it goes, otherwise I think I'll probably put my name on a waiting list with a breeder I feel comfortable with.

I paid $300 for my Weim in 2000 - she's from registered parents but had no papers herself. As we lived in a small town at that time we were thrilled just to be able to find one as they were not a popular breed back then.

I've had one suddenly become "extremely busy" when I told them that I was very close the the suburb they advertised the pups as being located in. If they get defensive when you suggest you would like to see the pups in person, it's a scam. The particular person I dealt with wanted to transport the pups to me and I live about 10 minutes away!

Hi Rachiie Thanks for that info :) I'm looking at Pomeranians, Poodles and King Charles Cavalier Spaniels - companion dogs. I've never had a small dog before and think it will be nice to have a lap sized dog (although I'm sure my Weim would like to sit on my lap if she could!).

It's been a very long time since I bought a pup and the process seems much more involved this time around! Can someone tell me what membership to Dogs Queensland entails? Is this something that I should be looking for or is it not important? When a breeder refers to themselves as being registered, who are they registered with and is there a way of checking that someone is legit? I also have a question about the vet check that I see referred to so often. Does it just cover the absolute basics? One of the breeds I'm looking at often has heart issues and I'm wondering if something like that would be picked up in this test at all. Will I receive any paperwork stating that the puppy has been checked and found to be sound? Thanks so much and my appologies if I am asking something horribly obvious. I've never bought from a breeder before and it all seems very daunting to the uninitiated. Most of the information I've been able to find online seems to be written for Americans.

I agree - there are tonnes of scammers out there offering suspiciously low prices for popular breeds. Google "Puppy scams" and see what comes up - they are not very original with their wording and are very easy to detect. I've encountered two of them so far in my search for a new puppy. It definitely wasn't this fraught with frustration when I bought my first dog.

I'm very new to this forum, but my parents have a Doberman with a heart problem so I feel compelled to comment on the cost of the meds required to keep her alive. She has an enlarged heart, so her situation is a bit different to your dog. Ebony has been very ill for about 4 years and it costs in excess of $200 a month to keep her alive, not including the many trips to the vet that she requires. The Vet said that she would only live for a max of 5 weeks after she was diagnosed as she was very ill even then. It's been a huge financial burden to them and I don't really think that the dog has enjoyed a very good quality of life for much of this time, especially in the last 12 months. My parents adore her too much to make the difficult decision to let her go. It's a tough call to make when you have bonded with a puppy, but living with a chronically ill dog is costly both finanically and emotionally.