ann21

Haha that is an awesome shot! Thoroughly enjoyed the photos in this thread

Aw, here's to a full recovery!

Thought I might as well join this thread- might make the waiting easier! I am hoping for a Havanese puppy in about 18 months. Looks like I'll be in here for a while!

It's time for lunch It's time for dinner I want fruits I want what you have Let me go downstairs Help me on the bed I need to pee I want to go for a walk Amazingly enough I usually match the stare to what my dog wants most of the time :laugh:

I am so saddened to hear this. You have gone above and beyond for your dear girl. Hugs for you.

I agree. I think what is lacking here is education. Ideally if more people knew where puppies in pet shops came from, less would buy from them. The problem is we do not have an ethical alternative here (save from rescue), so if you are really serious about not supporting puppy mils and want a purebred, the next best thing would be to suss out a registered breeder overseas.

I am a Singaporean and I don't know if its been mentioned- but I would say 99% of the puppies here come from puppy farms, bybs or dogs imported from puppy mills in Australia. Dogs imported from Australia are charged with a premium and in general are perceived to be of a "better quality" than local ones. If I hadn't lived in Australia or discovered dol I might have bought into that. It's really next to impossible to get a pup from an ethical breeder here. First off, we do not have as many vet specialists to do genetic tests, hip scores etc, second, 80% of Singaporeans live in public government housing, and the rules only allow you to own one small (under 10kg) dog. Even with private housing the max no of dogs you can have is 3 I believe. And third, we are a long way off in our standards for dog welfare. The majority of families have both the mother and father working, and most of the time it is up to the maid to take care of the dog. Now I'm not saying there aren't good dog owners here, I consider myself a "good" dog owner and I've met others. We've also had alot of expats come in recent years and a number get dogs from registered breeders overseas. So while I think things are improving, we still have a long way to go.

Glad she is doing better k9angel here's hoping it keeps getting better from here

I second a play pen. You can put the crate in there with some toys, water bowl and a toileting area. It's definitely too long to be leaving a pup in the crate from 8am-6pm.

I agree. Sometimes the comments can read as very snarky, though the bulk of people are well meaning. Good on you Lasareina for sticking around.

I have a poodle cross and I had a stranger come up to me making some very snotty comments and jokes about my 'crapadoodle'. Really not the best way to get people onto purebreds. Sometimes its not the content but the delivery...

You started off by saying "cross breeding is responsible for the majority of dog attacks, we need to do something about it". Many people have come on here to argue against that, and if you took a look at Steve's article you would find statistics against your claim. I may have read this wrong but then you seem to go onto "well, we don't need crossbreeds anyway, so actual danger or not let's ban their breeding and get rid of them." I find this line of thinking dangerous and I do not agree with it. "Need" is a very subjective word: as long as there is demand (for pure and cross breeds), you can argue a "need" for it. Like I said before, if we went along with your thinking who's to stop someone from saying "hey, actually, we don't need purebreds, look at all the dogs in shelter! As for your comment about "uneducated yet opiniated morons" A dog that is dangerous should never be mated full stop. I don't see how mating it with a different breed or the same breed would make any difference.

so very very true It isn't aimed at stopping cross breeding but the breeding of potentially dangerous and unstable dogs does need to be addressed. The only way to do that would be to stop breeding by any individual who thinks it's a cool idea and leave it to those who actually understand bit more about the animals in question. No it won't stop those who are determined just like marijuana growers, but deter the majority. Shouldn't the overall aim then to be discourage irresponsible breeding (rather than targeting it through banning cross breeding)? In my mind those are two separate issues. Responsible breeding can be done through health/temperament testing, pure or cross bred (though obviously the forum is for promoting pure breeds). There are irresponsible breeders for pure and cross breeds, so if you only target cross breeds you are missing half the equation. An effective restriction on breeding will have most crossbreeding stamped out leaving only the few ethical crossbreeders. Which I personally think is a good idea, why do we need random cross breeds there are thousands of breeds you'd be hard pressed not to find one to fit almost every purpose. As for the purebred registered dodgy breeder, the approved governing bodies would have to step up and start investigating complaints and acting on those found guilty, Vets would have access to the breeder details and governing body via the microchip and could also advise breeders what they have found cause some just loose contact with puppy buyers. And Vets could also report the incident to the governing body, who will keep track of these incidents and complaints and investigate properly. Another issue I thought of during typing is the price of a purebred. Yes we are justified in our price due to our council restrictions and litter outlay, testing ect. But most can't afford an up front cost like that which is why they buy the $50 pup on the notice board. But this could be helped by discounts to vets, councils, feed suppliers. to make rearing a litter cheaper, Payment plans with breeders. but it also comes down to the upfrount price is usually a fraction of what the dog will cost over it's life. I think this is a tricky issue. Righgtly or wrongly, as long as there is demand for them, crossbreeds will exist. You might feel that they are not necessary given all the pure breeds, another person might feel why breed dogs at all when there are so many dogs in the pound. I just don't think there is strong enough justification for a law to be passed banning cross breeding.

I agree.

It isn't aimed at stopping cross breeding but the breeding of potentially dangerous and unstable dogs does need to be addressed. The only way to do that would be to stop breeding by any individual who thinks it's a cool idea and leave it to those who actually understand bit more about the animals in question. No it won't stop those who are determined just like marijuana growers, but deter the majority. Shouldn't the overall aim then to be discourage irresponsible breeding (rather than targeting it through banning cross breeding)? In my mind those are two separate issues. Responsible breeding can be done through health/temperament testing, pure or cross bred (though obviously the forum is for promoting pure breeds). There are irresponsible breeders for pure and cross breeds, so if you only target cross breeds you are missing half the equation.

Sigh I tried cutting my dog's nails today and cut one quick . Luckily there wasn't too much bleeding but its too much stress for me really so I've just ordered a dremel off Amazon. Here's hoping for an easier way to keep my dog's nails short!

Like I said before I disagree. I do not want hair on the floors and I would rather deal with brushing everyday (that's with a pin brush, a metal tooth comb, and a slicker) and grooming every 8 weeks. I am also about to enter a grooming course just so I can do all the groomimg myself. Wiping the bum and feet? Religiously every time after I take him out. Pees and poops for toilet training? Can't tell you how many messes I've cleaned up when in the toilet training stage and got a bit of it on my hand as a side (not to mention the 4am rushed trips to downstairs because I still wanted him to learn to go outside as well). So I get offended when people assume I am unable to deal with the 'mess' or am lazy. Just because I want a non shedding dog.

Jed I am overseas and all the vaccs here have Lepto and parainfluenza added, so no choice there. Thanks Erny for the information. I managed to find a vet who titres (yay!) but at $260 AUD thereabouts for parvo and distemper so I will researc more to see if its cheaper via the US route.

Lelu from the Dog Star website I would really recommend "after you get your puppy". It's a free PDF with alot of useful information by Dr Ian Dunbar.

Jean Dodds (vaccinatinon guru) recommends the booster one year after the puppy shots and then titre testing after that. I would get the booster or at least titre test the dog. Even with the lepto component? My dog is also sensitive to chicken and beef which is why I have been delaying the injection- what if I make him worse? But still thinking about it. I'd go for titre. My boy had 2 x puppy shots. I then realised that the timing of those shots wasn't optimal and even Dr Jean Dodds (whose advice and wisdom I trust a lot) recommended a booster at 12 months after the last puppy shot. Because of other health issues occurring in the meantime, I opted for a titre before I considered a booster vaccine. Results came in good. Another titre a couple of years on still shows vaccine levels satisfactory. As it is I believe we over-vaccinate but if a dog is unwell - skin issues or otherwise, I'm opposed to loading the immune system further by adding a whack of vaccine chemical to their system when in fact chances are it isn't necessary anyway. Thanks Erny. Titre is my preference too- I have been calling up vets but few have heard of it and none so far do it. Will keep searching...

This is the direct link: http://www.ava.gov.sg/AnimalsPetSector/ImportExportTransOfAnimalRelatedPrd/PetsPersonal/ Australia falls under cat A so no quarantine needed :). Edit to add feel free to PM me if you need any more info. I moved with my dog to Singapore about 8 months ago.

Is there less risk with cutting the quick with a dremmel? I use a normal nail clipper occasionally but I am very chicken about cutting too much and causing a bleed.

Jean Dodds (vaccinatinon guru) recommends the booster one year after the puppy shots and then titre testing after that. I would get the booster or at least titre test the dog. Even with the lepto component? My dog is also sensitive to chicken and beef which is why I have been delaying the injection- what if I make him worse? But still thinking about it.

Thanks for this. I have been weighing up whether or not to give an adult booster shot to my 1.5 yr old dog because all the vaccines here have the leptospirosis component and are a minimum c5. I am leaning towards not giving it since he had his three puppy shots while we were in Australia (no lepto given).

Then you need to do some more training with your dog. I take your point but I also think its not fair to expect every dog in the off leash park to be perfectly trained. If it is a huge park fair enough but to bring in toys or even food to a smaller space is not something I would do and expect other dogs to bugger off.