DogPaddle

4 days later . . . *sigh* . . . I don't think she's coming back. Oh well, I tried to explain nice, really I did.

Contact Wysong directly - maybe they can help, I'm sure they'd like to expand their distribution or can refer you to a vet that provides their prescrip diet.

Royal Canin also makes a prescription diet I think. You would probably have to look them up online and call them for more info. My mum's vet gave her a recipe for cooked regular food (not kibble) for her dog when she wouldn't eat Hill's or Medical or something.

Not all prescription diets are equal. If you must use a prescription diet you should know that Hill's isn't the only company who makes them (although they do seem to have most the vets in their pocket.) Many people I've talked to who have to give their pets Hill's prescrip diets compalin that the animal won't eat it and I've never been fond of their ingredients but I'm not sure how the prescrip requirements affect ingreds. Anyway maybe you could see about a different companies prescrip diet: [url=http://wysong.net/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=WOTTPWS&Category_Code=RXDIET]Wysong[/url]

Blah! Lots of folks don't know about Haltis, hopefully that will change eventually. I have a freind who is a . . . very devoted animal advocate. I had to do a lot of explaining and reasuring when she saw my halti for my dogs.

NP. HF - How is Fred doing?

Yeah! Good for you. It always impressive when someone manages to go beyond their comfort level.

Me too. Zaphod cost me 150 to adopt (with a $50 spay/neuter rebate.) A few months later he cost me $435 in a week and half due to 2 after hours emerg. vet trips. At my mum's charity adopting a dog out costs the charity $60 IF the dog is already speutered, has NO health problems and doesn't need to be boarded until a foster can be found. It costs a good amount for shots, ads, "administrative costs" like paper for the fax machine etc. Many charities have to do lots of other fundraising to keep costs down to $150 or so and plenty of organizers and volunteers eat a fair portion of the costs themselves.

You might want to shut Buck in a smaller room for a bit and let Sheridan get familiar with the house and all the nooks, crannies and other kat spots that Buck won't be able to get at. This way when they are both loose together Sheridan will not have to be searching for a retreat if he wants to get away. My kats have an almost uninterupted highway above chest height through the main floor - backs of couches, shelves, desks etc. Drives the dogs to twitchyness but it works for the kats.

If you really really really really really really really really can't pick it up (and I bet you can do it :D ) then don't let Caeser near it in case it died from other reasons such as rat poison.

This is long but bear with me. I want to make sure there are no misunderstandings and clear up some misconceptions. Hopefully this will help and we can get on to the main questions regarding breeding shortly. I'm not sure who you were referring to with "that Cindy chic" but peope will likely not yell at you here (intestingly tying all in caps is considered "yelling".) However, folks here are serious about their dogs, serious about proper breeding and serious about pet overpopulation (see this link for just a hint at the overpop problem [url]http://www.petfinder.org/pet.cgi?action=3&type=Dog[/url] ) so they will likely want to be sure you're not a BYBer or Miller in the making. I'm sure you understand, you wouldn't want to help some one like that either right, it's reasonable for peopel to be sure they aren't contributing to a problem even if the questions are hard questions. [quote]THEY ARE BOTH THE SAME BREED AND ARE IN PERFECT HEALTH W/ALL THERE SHOT AND ALL[/quote] As for this - I'm not sure you are familiar with the sort of vet/cert/healthcheck that people often refer too in reference to breeding and how it differs from being in "perfect health w/all there shots." The sort of ver/cert/healthcheck people are refering to in part depends on the breed. For instance Great Danes are prone to Canine Hip Dysplaysia, Gastric Torsion and Cardiomyopathy as well as some CVI (wobbler's), Osteochondrosis, Hypertophic Osteodystrophy, Osteosarcoma, cataracts and elbow dysplaysia. Some of these things can express themselves later in a dogs life or skip generations. So a responsible breeder does genetic testing, xrays and ensures that the dogs lineage/pedigree/family is free of serious ailments for a few generations. That is what we are talking about. Of course your not going to breed an unhealthy animal without its shots, that's not what we're worried about. The reason people ask "how are you going to better the breed" is because of the overpopulation problem and the poor breeding problem. There are so many dogs in shelters that we all need to be sure that we are doing everything right when we breed and that there is a purpose beyond making money or "because Rover is such a sweet dog." There are so many poorly bred dogs with health and behaviour problems that they give everyone a bad name so we all need to be extra careful. So when we breed we are looking at doing it for a good reason. Betterment of the breed is a good one. Breeding out weak hips in GSDs, breeding in good reliable temperment in a breed with problems with it, breeding out a genetic problem in a breed with problems wtih it or restoring a positive trait that has been waining. Generally this should be done with as much forthought as possible and with lots of education, backup plans etc before the dogs are ever even brought together. Hope that helps. Any answeres to Newfiemom's questions would be great.[/quote]

Senile - Memory loss, confusion or cognative impairment associated with aging. It's not strictly a dog thing, in fact it may be more common in people but either way its usually an old age thing.

I've heard about dogs being skittish on slippery floors before. I think someone put in rubberized walkway rugs for their dogs - was that someone here?

NP. Just call ahead, sometimes a shop is supposed to carry a certain food and doesn't have it in. I always have to call ahead to get my EVO (Innova.) Wellness and Innova are both great. Watch his weight on both of them, but if he needs to pick up weight that will work well. I've heard you should watch their teeth on Wellness but I didn't find it to be a problem.

Fingers crossed.

They are listed seperately because that is what people list them as I think. Tammy - It's odd most breed clubs/breed sites/responsible breeders that I've come across don't push their breed so much, but then I was never really looking for a Lab. The BC groups really seem to want to be sure you know what your in for. :lol: Same with Malinois and working GSD groups, I haven't checked show GSDs though.

Do you use pesticides in the garden? Good luck at the vet.

Ah thanks Mutts4Me. So than Maxium is better than OL'Roy and about the same as Science Diet.

[quote]Toys of the gods, he thinks.[/quote] Kavik thinks so too. I can bribe him to do quite a bit with an old toilet paper roll.

[quote]If we set a box down somewhere, he tries to eat that.[/quote] :lol: I'm not sure why that strikes me as funny. Maybe its the thought of a tiny Lhasa viciously dismemebering a box. Fred does sound special, definately something to treasure.

I have no problem posting my email . . . its [email]DogPaddle@gmail.com[/email]. :D

HF - I understand what you meen about breed misrepresentation. If you click on Border Terriers in petfinder you get a lot of Border Collies. If its black with white on the belly or feet its a Border Collie. If its tan and black its a German Shepherd. :niewiem: On Petfinder a good portion of the dogs are listed by their owners, some of whom are uneducated. Some rescue groups aren't good at breed id or just make their best and try to get them homed. Additionally there are some people out there who will call their black pitmix a labmix because they think it will help get them homed. Oh and I don't blame you for deciding not to take another pit or pitmix. You tried, you are educated about the breed and know it isn't for you and your household - that's responsible. Canis - I know, aren't those numbers astonishing. I think the AKC, CKC, WhateverKC, petstores, petsupplystores, breeders and public service announcement media should have to post those sort of stats all over the place. Miss J - Nice to here you are thinking about adopting. If adopting more than one is truley what would work out for you keep an eye out for postings on Petfinder or your local rescues and shelters for dogs that are to be adopted together. They will already be adjusted to each other and won't have to be broken up.

So I was on Petfinder today and I was curious as to how often you find certain breeds posted. You can check the full list out here: [url]http://www.petfinder.org/pet.cgi?action=3&type=Dog[/url] However here are the big ones: American Staffordshire Terrier 1848 Australian Cattle Dog/Blue Heeler 2105 Australian Shepherd 2462 Basset Hound 1234 Beagle 4599 Black Labrador Retriever 4246 Border Collie 3436 Boxer 3007 Chihuahua 2138 Chow Chow 3116 Cocker Spaniel 1764 Collie 1954 Dachshund 1531 Dalmatian 1310 Doberman Pinscher 1218 German Shepherd Dog 6633 Golden Retriever 2432 Greyhound 1519 Husky 2069 Jack Russell Terrier (Parson Russell Terrier) 1049 Labrador Retriever 11921 Pit Bull Terrier 4505 Retriever 927 Shar Pei 1105 Shepherd 6247 Siberian Husky 1397 Spaniel 1002 Terrier 3763 Yellow Labrador Retriever 1561 If you combine certain headings you get a better idea too. For instance how many dogs in the Terrier heading do you think are pits - a lot, same with Labradours in the Retriever section. American Staffordshire Terrier 1848 Pit Bull Terrier 4505 Terrier 3763 ACTUAL TOTAL - Aprrox 10000 Black Labrador Retriever 4246 Labrador Retriever 11921 Chocolate Labrador Retriever 736 Retriever 927 Yellow Labrador Retriever 1561 ACTUAL TOTAL - Approx 19000 Notice how high the percentage of black labs is. Also there are nearly 2x as many Labs as the next most prevelant breed. German Shepherd Dog 6633 Shepherd 6247 ACTUAL TOTAL - Approx 12000 I think the next dog I adopt will be a Lab/Pit/Shepherd or any one of the dogs on the big list.

Neutering of adult dogs occaisionally will not make changes in behaviour (hence the desire to have them neutered in puppyhood.) With some dogs changes may begin to appear within a week, some dogs may take 6 months. Keep in mind neutering alone will not always solve aggression problems. Your dog has already developed habits and habits have to be retrained. A behaviourist is a good step as no one here can observe your dog in person and a behaviourist is far better than we are at gauging a dog than we would be over the internet. You may want to switch dog foods. It [i]might[/i] help. Kibble'n'Bits is low on usable or quality protiens and incredibly high in suger. If you fed this sort of food to a kid they'd be bouncing off the walls so it stands to reason the dog might calm down some if the diet changed. Look at something like Canidae, Innova, Wysong, Wellness, Eagle Pack, maybe Kirkland if there is a Costco near you and price is a concern. Socialization and obed. classes would be good as well but start with the other steps and allow a short calming down period first. Fetch is a great game, it doesn't play up on aggression or possesion issues and requires that the dog return an item to you. Maybe have a 20 min play session 1 to 2 times a day in addition to whatever excercise he gets from regular yard outings and playing with your neice. You can also do a 5-10 min obedience session with your dog daily to reinforce his role in your family. Just stuff like sit, stay, down, shake, watchme etc are fine. Watchme is a good one for getting his attention when he is flipping out too. Consider NILIF as well. And as much contact with you guys when the baby is safely in bed is a very good idea.

I have been debating putting in a sectioned off area for digging but the yard is so small I'm not sure. I've heard about it being good for wearing down nails and good excercise.