tesslc

That's why I didn't give any thought to her being sooky. It works out to be 18 weeks from her last season. I know some dogs do come into season more regularly, but given she was eight months before her first season I thought she would go longer, rather then shorter.

Good news guys - Took our girl in to get speyed this morning and turns on she's on heat! Accounts for her being aggressive! We didn't realise as she has had a little bit of ongoing discharge since the pups were born (which, when we took her to the vets again a couple of weeks ago, they said was normal). She we didn't pick up that she was bleeding. She has been sooky the last few days, but I put it down to her feeling sad because one of her pups has been rehomed. It's only been four months since her last heat. Hopefully that is what the problem is and once she comes home everything will settle down.

Thanks guys - I will look into options available in our area. My girl is going in to be spayed on Thursday and will have to be kept seperate from the other dogs for a few days. I figure it is a mix of hormones, her growing up, and having another dog in the house. The strange thing is it is her that starts the fights. She starts biting the boy's face, witout growling, but in an aggressive manner. The first few times, you could tell he was very reluctant to snap back at her, but this morning he was obviously over it, because he was a lot more agressive. They are completely seperate during the day, so it will just be a matter of keeping them seperate in the evenings until we get it sorted.

Hi all Some of you know I have two SBTs - male and female. They had pups 9 weeks ago and immediately after there were a couple of minor scraps when dad got between mum and the whelping room. I wasn't too concerned as I figured it was mums natural instinct. It stopped when the pups were old enough to be introduced to dad. Now they have had quite a few serious fights over food. Before they had pups they would eat out of each other's bowls. Now they dagger fighting when I am getting their food ready. We still have one pup he will be going to his new home in August. I don't know whether that us causing a problem or if it's the girl trying to assert dominance but she's ended up with 7 punctures in her face this morning. Obviously I will keep them separate while getting their food but I'm concerned this is going to escalate further. Any ideas.

Thanks guys - I have to say I am really proud of our girl. She has done so well, particularly because she is so young (actually one year today)! I am quite surprised that she still lets them feed - I've had those guys bite me and not let go and it HURTS! I don't envy her her job! Dad is great with them too and I'm glad mum lets him interact with them - she'll happily let them trail after him into another room (probably glad for a bit of a break). I was hoping being a mum would settle her down a bit, she's so hyperactive all the time, but it hasn't. In fact, I think it's made her worse, although that could be because she's not getting her daily walks. Thankfully, once the pups have been vaccinated, we can start walking her again. Hopefully she will calm down after that a little bit.

We've decided to keep them with mum until 8 weeks. As we are in a high risk Parvo area, our vet recommends vaccinating at 6 weeks, not waiting until 8 weeks, because it is too risky. Particularly at this time of year when parvo virus is becoming active and they are seeing more dogs coming in sick. The only reason we were going to rehome her at 6 weeks was because our breeder didn't have an issue with it, and subsequently, neither did our vet. We are keeping the other pup for a couple of months because my mother-in-law has a lady staying with her at the moment and she has a dog. There is no issue with us keeping her for longer, but my brother is keen to get their new family member. In saying this, they do want to do what's best for her, and are happy for us to hold onto her for longer. Our vet (who has years of experience breeding german shepards) was surprised that the pups were still feeding from mum now. I can see that this is a point of contention and I'm not going to get into an argument about whether forcibly weaning is in the pups best interests because, at the end of the day, I don't really see how I can without keeping her completely seperate, which isn't fair on anyone.

Wow really JessicaM - my girl has been playing with the pups since they were 3 1/2 weeks and they have been playing proper (I mean biting, chasing etc) with their dad for the last week as well. He's so gentle with them it is so cute! I am actually more worried about mum being too rough with them as she tries to play tug of war but I think she forgets how little they are!

Sorry persephone I must have mis-read your previous post I thought it said you support forceable weaning. My vet was also surprised that mum hadn't stopped feeding them at their age, so I figured maybe she was just doing too good of a job!

I have been reducing mum's food and the pups are having a mixture of raw meet and dry food, although still soaked as they don't eat the dry stuff (they chew it but pretty much the whole lot just falls out of their mouths). Each day I am letting it soak less and they seem to be coping with that. Haven't given them any bones but I will try that too. They are in their room during the day while we are at work and at night. Mum is outside during the day and sleeps with us at night. The only time they are together is when we are home and let them all out into the house for a couple of hours. I feel bad keeping mum outside as she is used to being in with us, and I want the puppies to be with us as well, particularly since they are really demanding human attention, chasing us and jumping on our laps for cuddles and pats. I thought I might try the shirt trick and see if that stops her. Its not so bad when she's just inside with us, coz they have to chase her around for a drink, but she has on occasion laid down and given them a proper feed and that's what I'm worried about.

I spoke to my vet this morning - firstly she said we need to get them off mum even if it means seperating them. we are in a high parvo area and they recommend vaccinating at 6 weeks or as close to (not 6-8 like most places). She did say 10 days was safest for the vaccination to work, but provided she wasn't going outside and there dog is fully vaccinated, the risk would be minimal. Interestingly, she supports the theory raised by Steve, that it has been shown to be better for pups to learn their socialising in their new environment, and it isn't likely to be harmful to her to go early. She did say it would be a rough for new nights for all involved (puppy in the new home, the boy we are holding onto and mum) but that would be the case whenever they go. We are going to discuss in more depth when I take them in for their shots on Monday, provided they are completely weaned by then.

Thanks for the links guys I will have a read tonight. Photos at 5 weeks - all tuckered out after 'building' a fort when I wasn't looking. The other photo is at 4 weeks play fighting.

Wow - so many issues to address. Hopefully I will get them all in the one post. Both pups are going to family members (my brother, who has an SBT as well) and my mother-in-law, so I am comfortable that both will have them de-sexed when they are old enough. I spoke to my vet about that and they said if we are confident both will bring them back fo de-sexing at a later date, that would be better as there are risks with de-sexing at a young age. I haven't spoken to the vet about re-homing, only our breeder. She said that you would usually wait until 8 weeks but given its going to my brother, it would be ok. I will speak to the vet on Monday and go with their advice on re-homing. I also wasn't aware that there is pretty much no point vaccinating whilst pups are still feeding from mum, so it looks like she won't be able to leave for a little longer anyhow. In saying that - any tips on weaning would still be very helpful. She fed them properly this morning (ie lay down and let them attach for a good ten minutes or so) and that's the first time in a couple of days she's done so. I'm not sure whether I should be discouraging her or letting them do their thing.

They aren't in the whelping box anymore (they're in a room to themselves) but spend most of the time out with us when we're home (and our two dogs who predominantly live inside) I've been leaving mum outside as much as possible and she's not in the room at night or when we're at work but they chase her around when she's in the house with them and have a drink every time they get the chance.

Thanks Simply Grand. I've been sitting with them while they eat so I'm confident she's getting a decent amount of food. Hopefully she'll be fine. I haven't been giving them puppy milk - should I start??

Hi all As some of you know we have an SBT litter - two puppies who are five weeks and three days old. We are in the process of weaning them - they are eating three meals a day but still want mum whenever she is inside and still enough for them to have a drink. I figure this is natural but the girl is going to her new home next week after she has her first needle (before anyone comments about it being good early it's my brother and our breeder thinks it will be fine). So I'm worried about how much they are actually reliant on mums milk as opposed to solids. I don't see how I can keep them completely separate from mum for the next week. Any ideas??

Hi all A quick update - all is well we have been giving them solids for a week now but the last two days they have really taken to them and are looking for solids more than milk from mum. My only problem is this - our boy (who is now allowed in the room) had a tick on him today, which I stupidly pulled off him and accidentally dropped and lost on the floor in the puppy room. We don't have paralysis ticks here, only brown cattle ticks and they are few and far between. This is the first tick I've seen on our dogs for about 6 mths. But I'm worried it might find its way onto one of the pups. I am planning on checking them morning and night but I'm worried it might make them sick?? Any ideas??

Hi there My parents recently lost their old girl, but before she passed, she had incontinence issues. They used the raised beds (the ones with the hessien sacks on them) but replaced the hessien with shade cloth. Its a cheap option and is easier to hose off in the morning. The only problem with this would be if your boy sleeps inside, it wouldn't actually hold the liquid (it would leak onto the floor). Wasn't a problem for my parents as they are in Darwin and the dog slept outside, so they would just hose off the veranda and the bed at the same time. She was also on meds - I'm unsure how much it cost them, but she had to have hers every second day at the end.

Our girl is already spending a lot more time out of the room - we have to sit in the room with her to feed whenever we are home. Thankfully she is still happy to sleep in there at night but I don't think it will be too much longer and she'll want to give that away too. Which means wake up calls for me Our breeder is going to give me some tips on what they do as well. Just re exercise - we haven't started walking our girl again but I was going to take her out this afternoon - should I leave it for now? I don't want her milk production to dip!

A quick update - we have teeth! Little front ones. The puppies are gnawing on fingers now, and last night the girl was starting to play with mum, which is very cute! Both of them are trying to walk and are able to take a couple of steps before their legs give out! They are both well over 1kg in weight and still feeding a lot from mum, which is lucky. They are both loving pats and cuddles too, and we are introducing more people to them so that they are well-scoialised from the start. On our breeders' advice, we have introduced our boy to them on a couple of occasions (without mum in the room). He has a little sniff but isn't too enthusiastic about them. Mum has seen him sitting at the door and is no longer aggressive towards him, so it won't be too long now and he should be ok to be around them - supervised of course. Both of them are developing spots all over - so no pure white SBT here! All very cute - and will post some more photos soon. Any tips of weaning will be great!

Thanks for the advice re deafness - both have pigment on their ears but obviously we will keep an eye out and raise it with our vet at their 6 wk checkup. Morse is a cool name! I like it.

And some more

Some updated pictures. I apologise if the images aren't that clear - I'm resizing from my iphone which I've never tried before. I should say that calm is not a word to describe me last week. I don't think I could ever be a breeder. This has been soooo stressful! Thankfully I have had lots of help from all of you, my breeder and vet!

We're fairly sure it's because they are hot. We are up north so it's 30 degrees plus in the day and although we have the aircon on in the room it was set at 29. Turned it down and they seem much happier.

So our puppies are nearly a week old and are putting on a lot of weight. They have both pretty well tripled their birth weight and feed every chance they get. Both of them cry a lot, although more so the boy, which was a little concerning but it's usually when mums not in the box so they are probably just looking for her.

Hi all Unfortunately we had to euthanise the brindle girl yesterday - she went from having a very full belly to not feeding at all within a couple of hours. I think she must have had a cleft palate as well, but too small for the vet to pick up. Not sure why she went downhill so fast, but it was very obvious that she wasn't going to pull through without tube feeding and that's not something I was prepared to put her (or us) through. On the plus side, both the little whities are gaining weight like crazy - they have already doubled and then some their birth weight. The dam is doing well, although at night she does bring the pups onto my mattress, so I am operating on very little sleep out of fear I might roll on them. During the day she is fine, leaves them in the whelpin box, checks on them regularly and spends a lot of time in there with them, but after 10:00pm everything changes. I think she wants to be with me (she usually sleeps on our bed) and the puppies at the same time. Re their colours - our boy is predominately white with a couple of black patches. As a pup, he was almost pure white but developed quite a bit of pigmentation as he got older so that may happen with the white girl. We will be getting the dam spayed as soon as, so no worries re her breeding again. My understanding is that cleft palate is quite common in SBT nad my breeder is aware (and have had to deal with pups of their own having it). Anyway, all is going reasonably well. The dam is back to her usual self and pops in and out to play with our boy. More photos to come as the pups grow. :D