cowanbree

Most breeders would eliminate a dog or bitch with a high hip score, even with no clinical manifestation, even if the bloodlines ran good hip scores. What you describe is much worse than a radiographic only case of moderate HD.I would not breed or use such a dog. If I did so it would only be a test litter, to be carefully monitored. You can, presumably, rule out environmental factors, because you don't have other dogs with the same condition...so there's a strong possibility that the condition is genetic. As it happens he has never been used and probably never will be although I have seriously considered doing a test mating to a complete outcross but the majority of my fellow breeders don't agree that he should be eliminated.

A hot spot or even a couple over the course of a dogs life is not in my opinion skin issues. Hot spots are often just a symptom rather than the issue itself. For instance dead coat not groomed out creates the perfect environment for a hot spot, a sore joint or similar can cause a dog to nibble and create a hot spot. You really have to assesses the entire dog. I have a dog that reacts extremely badly to being bathed and rips all his coat out and creates sores to the point he has to go on steroids. He has no other skin issues at all and is completely normal at other times. He is a very nice dog in all other ways and has super health clearances that make him an asset to the breed so do you eliminate him? To me that isn't enough information to decide, if I said I owned or knew well many generations behind him with zero skin issues, would you still eliminate him? Hard decision isn't it. As breeders we all want to breed perfect dogs but if we throw everything out with the slightest issue we very soon won't be breeding. It really is all about making an informed decision.

I watched a video on FB the other day and they were using a cosmetic sponge instead of a teat and just syringed the milk onto the sponge. They said it was a lot quicker and the puppies take to it a lot easier. Found the link, hopefully this works

My favourites are Zuri, Nova, Denay, Asya and Rainie.

I have had that happen to me here. Relax, give it a couple of weeks and when he settles in and relaxes I am sure they will be fine. Personally in my breed I don't overly worry about it until 6mths. If I have felt them, they will be fine. I have also had an import go wrong for a different reason and I was very happy to be offered a replacement puppy with me paying the additional travel etc costs. The choice and risk of importing a puppy was my choice and there is a very long journey between a young puppy with show potential and a fully grown show quality dog. I know in my own kennel I end up pet homing over half of the puppies I run on.

I use drybed all the time and love it but my friend is considering buying some for her dog who is a chewer. I wouldn't say he is a really destructive dog but he is inclined to chew his bedding. I know it reads chew resistant but will it hold up to a bit of chewing?

I have had gravel runs for years and have found them great but have recently had to concrete/pave as I now have a stone eater. I would go back to the gravel if I could although the dogs are a lot cleaner, gravel is very dusty

After a lifetime of owning shelties and more recently Australian Shepherds I have been considering a Golden for my next big dog down the track and have been looking into the breed. For the most part I think they would fit in quite well but I have noticed they are quite doggy smelling. Shelties and Aussies seldom smell unless they really need a bath and I have never once patted them and come away smelling them on my hands. What is normal for Goldies?

I would consider scanning/scope her. I had a dog with an partial obstruction that wasn’t evident in x-rays and because it was a partial obstruction passed the barium tests. It took 3mths to formally diagnose him.

I personally only breed bitchs up to 6yrs of age as a matter of rule. I have considered mating a 7yr old but decided in this situation there were just too many cons and she was desexed,

Normally 4 or 5 days

Day 10 could be quite early, most of mine are in the 12-14 days as a norm if there is a norm. I have had the bitchs standing for nearly a week before I get a mating at times. If in doubt you could always prog tests

I am going to use my 13yr old at stud later this year, hopefully with good results. Maybe consider an AI. Interesting as his father was 13yrs old when he sired him as well

I have an aussie and multiple shelties and they get along great but I would never leave them alone unsupervised together. Things do happen and a big weight difference can cause serious issues. My aussie is quite rough and can sometime without meaning any harm hurt or frighten the shelties by pushing it just a bit far. Without me there to say enough I would hate to think what would happen.

I let the dogs decide. As soon as the bitch is standing I let them have a supervised play together each day. I am happy for them to mate each day they are both willing but it really depends on the dogs. My older boy has always only been interested when they are bang on, normally only one mating where as my blue line would mate them from day one if allowed to pester the bitch. I don't prog test and have good sized litters

As a sheltie breeder I don't really know if a sheltie would be suitable for you. One of the biggest complaints against shelties is they are prone to bark if left outside or alone and are reserved with strangers which isn't really what you are looking for. I actually think an Australian Shepherd might be more what you are looking for. I have found them to be steadier than shelties and while they definitely do need more exercise that varies with individual dogs. My current Aussie Nova needs a lot of exercise but my previous one Reeve would be happy to do as much or as little as I wanted

Unless the dog is lame or in obvious pain you can't tell HD from the movement. I have owned a dog with a 42 hip score that won movement awards. Just ignore them and hip scored as usual at 12mths

I think an autopsy has to be done pretty much straight away. I had a dog die overnight at a vet and when I asked for an autopsy the next day they said it would be off little benefit as the body had gone into rigor mortis. I insisted on one anyhow but it didn't explain anything.

This is the main reason why my trust has a set amount of money in it, controlled by 2 different people and any remaining money goes to an outside party that has no say otherwise. In the end you do have to be able to trust somebody as nothing would prevent them having everyone pts to save the bother if they really wanted to. That said I am very sure that my wishes would be followed.

As a multiple pet owner I have given this a lot of thought. I have a discretionary trust which a certain proportion of my estate goes into and it is overseen by 2 different people who know exactly what I want done with each individual pet. Some with health or temperament issues will be pts, some will go back to their breeders, some have appointed people to take them but there are also some that will need to be rehomed. The trust gives them the funds to have someone in looking after the dogs while this is arranged and to fund on going needs if necessary. For instance I would love it if some of the older but still healthy dogs were homed with older people who perhaps can afford the basic needs of a pet but anything over and above eg meds is beyond their means. The trust would allow for this and after the end of my last pets natural life the remainder would be donated to charity.

I brought a maiden bitch in last year from a breeder who had issues getting live puppies on the ground. The first one was mated twice for no puppies the first time and the second time she had 2 born dead and 1 fading puppy. She then mated another bitch several times for no puppies. I brought my bitch off her and mated her and a couple of weeks ago she aborted the puppies at 7 1/2 weeks. She was in pup as she was scanned at 4 weeks. She seems fine now although she had a nasty discharge for a while and has just finished a course of antibiotics. She does still have a light cream discharge which my vet has said to leave currently as long as she is well within herself. None of these bitch's are related and our breed isn't known for having fertility issues so it seems really odd. Has anyone had this? Any suggestions for what I should look for? Are my other bitchs at risk? This isn't something I have ever experienced before.

I find it difficult to comment on things like that as on the one hand I would love to see some dogs that live totally miserable lives as breeding machines live better lives but on the other hand I don't think people like me should be penalised and forced to spend huge $ building facilities that will never be used. I currently have 11 dogs and while the young ones are kennelled during the day while I am at work when I am home they are all inside with me. If I have litters they are born and raised inside. I don't know what the answer is

I think the risk of getting double merles (who are white and are highly likely to be blind/deaf) when doing a merle to merle mating is 25%. It is not the same as doing a sable/merle mating which only risks it being unshowable

I have seriously considered doing a merle/merle mating as I have 2 merles I would loved to mate together but I believe if you do and get white puppies the only responsible thing to do is have them pts and I just can't bring myself to risk it.

Talking about my own breed (shelties) I wouldn't say a merle/tri factored sable mating is a no no. For a start the worst thing that can happen is they produce sable merles which are still happy healthy puppies, they just have to be pet homed. It is said that a sable merle mating will improve the tan on your merles and presently with the lack of available tris it is extremely difficult to find a suitable tri so a tri factored sable may be your only option. Blue/blue matings is however a definitely no no and while I do know of breeders who have done a sable/merle mating I don't know of any that have bred on from a sable merle, they have been pet homes and their correctly coloured littermates retained