sandgrubber

Another vote for Bravecto. Going on nine months with no ticks . . . or fleas!!!

I've gotten mixed responses from asking vets about this (with killed vacs). One side says, vaccinate. Even if the bitch is protected, the jabs will up the maternal antibodies and protect the litter. Other side says you don't want to up the maternal antibodies because it will goof up the puppies' vaccination schedule.

I'm impressed -- maybe unjustifiably so -- that a judge gave BOB to a relative outsider. I've never understood how a judge picks #1 among a lot of extremely good dogs . . . all of whom have their strong points and weak points. Seems arbitrary to me . . . and often weighted in favor of the safe option . . . giving the win to the dog who has previously won the most. Hard to imagine lawyers getting involved. Boss' owner must be a very bad sport. Guess it's not beyond imagination that there was some funny business going on and he has a case.

Tetanus is an awful disease . . . though rare. It's worth keeping up with the decadal booster schedule. I'd say the chances of getting tetanus from a dog licking a wound is near zero, but it might be a good excuse to get a booster if you're due anyway. Your own case is something to discuss with a doctor, however.

IMO two bull breed bitches is very high risk, but a bitch and a dog is still high risk. In my boarding kennel days, we found that bull breeds did not confine themselves to same sex violence . . . some will go any dog, particularly other bull breeds. As huski says, with proper training and management, it could be done, though I suspect there is some genetics involved, and a dog that is wired for dog aggression is pretty hard to get unwired. Why risk it? If you do go for two bull breed dogs, you might check with breeders and find a pup whose lines are deliberately selected to breed out dog aggression. I have Labradors and have kept mostly females. Never had a problem . . . they get quite attached to one another. Bull breeds are a different story.

This one isn't bad http://www.revivalanimal.com/articles/active-ingredients-in-wormers.html Given that tapeworm is relatively uncommon and highly apparent when present, I can't see the point of praziquantel on a regular basis. It's an expensive drug. Seems by far to be the preferred treatment for tapeworm, but not good for much else. I just use Pyrantel paomate for worming. I buy the stuff meant for human babies. It's cheap, easy to give, and dogs, including small puppies, are ok with being treated. It also works. I don't give it routinely . . . only when I see worms. The only routine worming I do is Ivermectin (1% stuff sold for livestock), monthly, for heartworm. I measure Ivermectin in a 1 ml syringe and give it by shooting up the yolk when the dogs get an egg. Some dogs, mostly collie lineages, have a mutation that makes them unable to tolerate Ivermectin, so this solution is not for everyone, but when it works it's an excellent solution. There is a genetic test available to make sure your dog doesn't carry the mutation that makes Ivermectin unsafe. Sorry for awkward writing. I don't have time to rewrite.

http://dogsinthegarden.com/plants-friendly.html Lists it as dog friendly as do many other sites. Can't see anyone claiming it has medical bonus, though.

I feed pork neck bones (widely available and cheap in my area) to my dogs (Labradors) from time to time. They are more than ok with them. They don't last long. I suspect they are a lot softer than beef or sheep bones. You'd have to ask your vet about whether they were ok for kidneys though.

Yep! no...only domestic dogs are man made; there are a lot of other dogs out there where humans didn't interfere much with breeding, e.g. dingo. A lot of 'breed histories' are bulldust. What the hell does 'man made' mean? Teriers did not evolve by natural selection in the wild . . . if that's what is implied.

What a cluge! Looks like no science and a whole lot of politics. LGD breedes in both 12 and 24 mo categories . . . Lab 18 mo, Chess and various larger setters, 12 mo; afghan 12 mo, saluki 24 mo.

Aux contraire, photos are essential for learning to recognize what snakes are dangerous . . . especially when the juveniles look so different from the adults. If snakes gross you out so much, avoid the thread

Maybe someone should create a list of the thumbs up charities and put it in the stickies.

Two of my dogs (Labs) were raised in WA and may have been influenced by my alarm at seeing snakes and cutting a wide swathe around them. The other (2 yr old) was born and raised in Florida. We have dozens of small lizards on my property, and lizard hunting is a favorite pass time. But I've seen them within a few meters of a snake half a dozen times. I can't believe they didn't see or smell it. But, no reaction. I think some of the snake reaction is breed related. Small terriers seem to have a death wish. One of my dog walking buddies in WA dragged her JRT's away from a dugite. When she was what she thought was a safe distance away she let the dogs off lead. One of them ran right back and attacked the snake. It did not survive.

Svartberg did a major study on temperament of dogs by breed, based on a huge sample of Swedish pedigree dogs ... all went through a standardized temperament test/ His data shows Lab and flattie as both being exceptionally human-social, playful, and fearless (the goldie was nowhere near them in these respects). Ie., bonkers. In breed groupings, flatties cluster with Labs, boxers, and AmStaffs. http://www.appliedanimalbehaviour.com/article/S0168-1591%2805%2900160-7/abstract I used to have a link to this article for free . . . it's probably around somewhere.

No longer breeding, but pig rails saved many a pup when I was doing so. My girls averaged 9 pups and weren't so great at keeping track of all of them. Yes, they need to be at the right height, and wide enough.

Pretty obviously, it's all over the place. Breeders are people, and vary immensely in their habits. Two thoughts 1. If they publish their phone number, they have invited legitimate calls 2. Always begin a phone call with something like: "I'm calling about puppies. Is this a good time to talk?" I find phones intrusive, in general. Being asked if it's a good time to talk quickly disarms my resentment of the phone . . . and allows me to say please call back later if it isn't a good time.

Have had that problem often. I just delete the body of the post and change the title to something like 'Oops! Duplicate Post".

You asked about trends . .. Show breeding has steered the golden away from darker shades, and toward a heavier coat and heavier build. It has also produced a temperament that is pretty different from the working / hunting golden. I'd recommend this article: http://www.appliedanimalbehaviour.com/article/S0168-1591%2805%2900160-7/abstract If you want a beautiful dog with a flowing rich cream-colored coat, go for a show dog . . . though you may find you need to select around some temperament faults. If you're looking for the traditional, somewhat rougher, reddish coat dog that is at home in the field, look for someone who breeds working goldies. Scottie Westfall of the Retrieverman Blog has written some good posts on working goldens. Here's a couple posts: http://retrieverman.net/2009/01/28/a-good-page-on-the-working-golden-retriever-in-britain/ http://retrieverman.net/2010/01/31/so-you-want-a-golden-retriever/ Sadly, Scottie has gotten so fed up with the social (and antisocial) aspects of the dogworld that he recently stopped writing about retrievers.

There is a HUGE difference between the F1 hybrid cross and a breed. Most of the 'oodles and doodles and puggles and chiweenies and all that stuff WILL NOT BREED TRUE. The F1 generation is relatively predictable. Future generations are not. You have to do a lot of selection to end out with consistent traits. And if you don't start out with a large stable of dogs to begin with you're likely to end out with a lot of inbreeding before you get to a consistent breed. I would love to see some breeds modified by well thought out crossing. But willy-nilly cross bteeding and selling for high prices (ie., most designer dogs) is profiteering first, dog breeding second.

In my experience (I lived outside Leipzig with a dog for a couple year) Germany is extremely dog friendly . . . not so child friendly. Many Germans identify themselves as 'tierleib' -- animal lovers. Willem's right. This article is 16 years old. BSL is still in force. The Germans have tended to avoid the difficulty of identifying pit bulls by banning them all: SBT, AmStaff, APBT and BT. There are undercurrents in German culture that wouldn't be a good mix with fighting breeds. Maybe that's why the legislation is accepted, or maybe it's some sort of determination not to import problems. Don't expect to see bans on the German breeds. Rottis, GSD's etc. are part of the social fabric.

My vet recommends douching the ear with a mixture of one part water, one part vinegar, and one point rubbing alcohol. Take a squeeze bottle like those sold for mustard and ketsup and really flood the ear. Message the ear. Let the dog shake it out. Then gently swab the outer ear gunk with a cotton wad. Yeast does not tolerate low pH, hence the vinegar. Rubbing alcohol has a drying effect. Water keeps it from being too strong and burning. Note, similar mixtures have long been used for kids with 'swimmer's ear'. If the infection is more complicated, your vet can probably give you an antibiotic ointment to apply after cleaning. Vinegar won't kill bacteria, only yeast. So if bacterial infection has followed yeast, you may need antibiotics.

Kudos to the Huff. Good article. Sad case . . . but good to point out that BSL is on the wane in the US for good reason.

Tired of it or not, emphasis on desexing and subsidized desexing works. In most of the US (apart from the South) it is getting hard to find dogs for adoption, that is unless you want a bull breed cross. Strays are being imported from Mexico and the US South to fill the need for adoptable shelter dogs. Private 'shelters' cherry pick dogs that are turned in for adoption, and their rates of rehoming are very high -- sometimes their prices are pretty high as well. In large part this is due to heavy emphasis on desexing and widespread availability and advertisement of free or heavily subsidized spay/neuter clinics. Our local clinic charges $US60 for a dog or bitch, regardless of your income. For low income people, it's free. They also have free clinics to spay and neuter feral cats.

I LOVE the diversity in the Labrador breed. The notion of splitting, IMO, is horrid and absolutely the wrong direction to go. When you have closed the stud books, you need to keep the breeding pool as large as possible. Splitting backs you into a corner. From the time of the breed's origin, there has been a strong tradition of aiming for dual purpose dogs, meaning field/sport and show. A century ago, Countess Lorna Howe promoted the dual purpose Labrador . . . and many many breeders still aim for Labs that are capable of hunting or other useful activity, but still do well in conformation shows. Many winning show dogs have been, and still are, worked as gun dogs. Some of the leading breeders in Australia and New Zealand fall in line with this tradition. The fact that some people are only interested in show or sport . . . or guide dogs or sniffer dogs . .. doesn't bother me at all. If you want a dog that excels in the hunt and has very high drive . . . there are breeders who can supply them. And if a breeder who has mostly done show/pet dogs decides they want to up the drive in their dogs, eg., to have a go at agility, there are bloodlines they can look to. Guide Dogs does sometimes use show lines rather than their own dogs. Blackboy Kennels in WA has a long association with Guide Dogs, and I know some Lab breeders in the Eastern States have also provided both puppies and stud services.

IMO people are far too judgmental. If ethical breeders don't breed to meet demand, someone else will. In the USA we're down to <7% of all puppies born being registered by the AKC. It's estimated that 300,000 puppies and dogs are imported each year to meet demand. Most imports are commercially imported, and are not pedigree dogs. Shelters have a surplus of breeds/types that people don't want. But there are not enough dogs to meet demand for the sort of dogs people do want.