SmokeyR67

I love the whole teenage cliqueiness of this site, it makes me feel so young again.

Maddy, I totally understand your situation, while there's nothing more heartbreaking than bringing a pup into your life and finding out they have health issues, theres no way you could just return them to the breeder - a responsible owner takes care of their pup no matter what I've just written a small novel about my experience, but deleted it as it was way too long, so long story short, the GSD club contract at the time said that if the dog had a congenital issue, you could return the dog for a full refund (just like you'd do with a faulty toaster ) I was lucky, there was obviously no question of giving up my boy, the breeder was actually a trainer at the club, and I let them know what was going on as a courtesy - the next week they refunded the money, and helped out (non financially, i.e. dog sitting) while my boy recovered from a hip replacement. In your case, I think the breeder should give you your money back to help with the vet costs you have or will incur. I know that some will argue that you still have the pup and he's a great pet, and that's true, but you wanted a dog with his boy bits in the correct position for conformation, the breeder selected the dog knowing that, and even though it's no-ones fault, surely the kennel should just refund your money not because they "provided a faulty product" but because it's the right thing to do. I hope you and your boy develop a strong bond, I can understand being disappointed, but it's not his fault, not your fault and to be honest not having dangly bits might actually be a good thing in the long term:) Shane

I could tell that you weren't, you called a liar a "liar", instead of a "solid member of the business community who was led into this unfortunate situation because of an addiction to prescription pain killers"

Sorry for hacking your post, but I had to do it:)

Maddy, sorry to hear about your lads issues. It was a very long time ago, perhaps 25 years, but I bought a pup who developed hip dysplasia at a very young age, and as part of the contract ( I hate using this sort of terminology, it makes a pup seem like a commodity) the breeder was obliged to either take the dog back and replace him with another pup, or refund the purchase price. That was in the standard GSD club paperwork, is there anything like that in the paperwork you signed? Shane

Maddy, Thanks for the quick and dirty psychological assessment, fantastic, now can I have a script for 3 dozen valium, a gross of 5mg oxycontin and hey, a bit of doxycycline wouldn't do my malaria any harm,,,

I'm always upset about Smokey, but that's just me:) My method of reducing flea issues involves walking out of the house for a few days,putting the dogs into a kennel, spraying the yard with a pyrethrum based product, flea bombing the house , coming home and putting anything soft and fluffy in the washing machine (if your a dog, cat, possum or baby in a bunny suit stand well back) and vacuuming the carpet to within and inch of it's life. Before the dogs come home they get a bath with a very mild insecticide ( I had a kennel bath my dog many years ago, they used a sheep dip , after losing a number of feet of intestine, she eventually lost her life), when they're dry some sort of spot on flea treatment, and then I wrap them in glad wrap before they can meet another "flea free" dog.

I take offence at that - I'm too weird for ANY morning! (and sorry about my dangling bait, I'll tuck it back into my y fronts)

I understand breeders who want their pups to go to a good home, and I respect them for doing everything they can to ensure that this happens. Sometimes it can seem a bit excessive,but I'd much rather see breeders screening owners than seeing unscrupulous people buying pups with no other motive than breeding for profit. As far as the cost of pups these days - my last 2 GSD's cost me $800 each, 12 years later I wouldn't blink if the same pups from the same breeder cost me 2k each. Why? Vets certainly don't get paid 150% of of what they used to, nor do their staff, and there's more than enough honest breeders (99.99%) to ensure that they aren't profiteering. My theory is that (a) councils are charging a hell of a lot more just for rates, let alone dog registration for your average desexed couch potato, so tha'ts big hit for a breeder, and (b) the push for pet insurance has allowed the vet med companies to push up the cost of their products. An average visit to the Vet may only cost say 25% more for their services than it did 10 years ago, but any meds will cost 200% more (before anyone claims I'm exaggerating, I am pulling those numbers out of my jaxie). If my theory is correct, the costs to keep a bitch healthy during pregnancy, and then a litter of pups from birth to 8 + weeks have skyrocketed, so we can't expect the breeder to absorb those costs. Anyhow, I just went on an off topic rant, so to get back to the point Not that long ago, most pups where "sold" for 1 cent in the trading post. Everyone with a bitch was a potential breeder, everyone with a dog stood a good chance of finding a cardboard box full of pups on their doorstep with a note about "your dog did this, you look after them". It wasn't unheard of for a litter of pups to be put in a sugar bag and thrown in a river We've evolved, we don't want that sort of thing to happen, we want to prosecute puppy farmers, and we want to minimise genetic health problems - responsible breeders recognise that they have a responsibility as the first link of that chain and they take it seriously, health screening their potential breeding stock and only allowing the best examples to mate. They screen prospective owners almost as rigorously as they do their breeding dogs, and rightfully so, after all, we don't want to get back to the situation of last century where every second lab had hip issues, and every second GSD was bred for temperament, not good temperament, just a bad attitude and big teeth. I know that as someone looking for a pup the screening by a breeder seems like the third degree, but honestly, breeders are just nice people who love their dogs and want to see the best for their progeny. I hope that made sense, I've done a few too many nightshifts to know if I'm coherant or not:) Shane

Please, don't feel bothered by little ol me, I'm just a harmless realist that would hate to think that someone less experienced who's dog has (GASP) fleas and needs advice finds this forum and discovers that not only is their pup a pariah, but they're a despicable human for allowing such an abhorrent infestation to occur!

And I hope that they realise that if their dog has fleas, it's normal, it's easily treatable and theres no need to feel like they've done something wrong. I've seen a young Woman brought to tears because she had the audacity to ask a group at a dog park how to treat her rescue dogs fleas. She and her dog where treated like lepers so naturally I'm going to argue the point that fleas aren't a huge issue! You may think I'm being obstreperous, and to be honest I 'm not concerned if you do, but as a result of that incident I will maintain that dogs have fleas, it's more normal than abnormal, and a dog owner shouldn't be ashamed to seek advice on the matter.

Thanks Guys, You've given me some great ideas! I have to admit to being a bit of a paranoid dog owner, so I only use toys that either indestructable or very easily passable, but I really love your sand pit idea Roova, I'll just have to make sure the neighbours cats relearn that they're not welcome in my yard, unless they knock on the door and ask nicely if they can come in and play I'm planning a bit of an "obstacle course" in the backyard (just made from pvc pipe, plywood cheap poly tarp) and now there's gunna be a sand pit too. (just a very simple maze, with a small bridge, that sort of thing) Thistle, thanks for the remote control car idea, a man and his dog can never have enough toys, so a new R/C car will be great fun for us both:) I might have to go for and R/C tank, not for any dog related reason, just because I'd love one. I've never been able to get pups involved with kongs Papillion, I fill them with all the tastiest goodies, but from what you've said, I'm probably making the mistake of filling them up at meal time, so they aren't that motivated to get stuck about a Kong. No pun intended (well, yes it is intended) you've given me great food for thought.

Diva, you've proven my point once again. We dog owners can be VERY offended if anyone dares to suggest that our dogs might have even 1 flea on their body. We get very defensive about the topic of fleas, but we shouldn't - every animal has issues with parasites, responsible owners like yourself do such a good job of managing the issue that you can't find a flea on your dogs - that's bloody great, but we shouldn't make people feel ashamed if (Oh my GOD!) there pup has a few fleas. It's natural, normal and very treatable, as you can attest to. It takes a little bit of management, and a bit of advice from an experienced owner goes a LOOOOOONG way to helping out someone just starting out. Anyhow, for my next sermon, my topic will be "why does my dog smell like cow pats"

And now your one of us Scrappy, one of the evolved cavemen. There is no escape. Welcome to the clan:)

Shaving your kids isn't harsh, why when I where a lad we used to shave each other and use the hair as a blanket! Bet you pence to the pound that your dogs do have fleas, it's just that your environment (as stated) mitigates their impact (and please don't take offence Diva, your last statement "a bit of good management" is a natural thing for an owner to say, and kind of proves my point about the way we treat the odd flea as an affront to our honor as keeper of the hounds:) ) I say, we can't live life flea free,but we can manage the issue and be proud that we do!

I'd love to have a proper cat as a pet, but my polar bear might eat it:)

p.s. I've foung that boiling a big pot of water (15 litres) with a few big hand fulls of rosemary, letting it cool and giving the dog a bath in it does wonders for mitigating fleas, but to do the job properly you need to sterilize their bedding, flea bomb the house and shave your children and pets before re entering you abode.

Well, Powerlegs, it's just from a combination of experience, logic, and a keen sense of human nature. We all love to believe that we, and by extension, our pets are the perfect examples of cleanliness and hygiene, and there's no way our precious pooches could possibly have fleas! It's just that they do. If your perfect pup has ever been in contact with another pup, odds are that they share the odd flea or two, If they've chased a cat or a possum or just done the things that a healthy dog does, they have fleas. It's nothing to be ashamed of, responsible dog owners (like those who frequent these forums) do the right thing, groom their dogs and use treatments when required. ( I hope that you rotate your flea treatments, we wouldn't want the little buggers to build up an immunity!) Just accept the fact that we and our pets are hosts to parasites, We can minimise them, mitigate their damage, but unless we all live in individual little dettol soaked bubbles, we can't eradicate them.

Barb, Thanks for the link, thats the first time I have ever said "Honey, come and look at this flirt pole" and not been slapped:)

You like cats? It's been nice talking to you Barb, but I think I have to leave you now:) (Just quietly, I like cats too, on a one to one basis - don't let anyone else know that or I'll have to hand in my Man card )

Tassie, my Dad used to say I must bathe in bacon fat, just because dogs seemed to be attracted to me, they honestly used to follow me home from school (I was never allowed to keep them, luckily I usually knew where they lived, so we played and then I walked them home). I think I'm probably very similar to a lot of people on here who love dogs and somehow dogs know that we love them - it might be our attitude, our body language, pheromones or just our bacon scented perfume, but they know we love them, no matter how big and scary they try to be. I've theorised that dog lovers have evolved on a different line that those poor unfortunates who are scared of dogs We, the superior humans have a genetic memory of our co operation with wild dogs, we used them to help in the hunt, they got a bit of a free feed and a warm place to lay down. We collaborated and thrived, cat lovers just got eaten:)

Hi Melzawelza, Yeah, I think I'll try and just get a wee little bitch first of all, but only if everyone else promises to let me borrow their pups so I can fulfill my bacon grease bath death by puppy fantasy! (that sounds very sick when written, but in reality it's just a 50 year old man wanting to cuddle puppies - hang on that's not sounding so good either, lets just say I love puppies, in a clean wholesome manly way!)

Thanks Sheena, I'll be very careful with the liver bits. Do you think dried beef or chicken would be ok?

Thanks Sheena, I only use fingernail size bits, but I can be a bit too generous when the pups working well:)

Nope, I'm a realist, every dog has fleas. A well groomed and cared for dog won't be infested,may not have eggs,or may not have adult fleas, but if your dog has a life, meets other animals, it's got fleas. Thats just life as a hairy mammal:)