Sanvean

How is the poor little guy doing?

I live in Michigan, and spaying is about $100 for female dogs, maybe $70 for males. I paid about $35 for Macy's last vaccines, but that didn't include rabies. (With small dogs, most breeders recomment you get rabies done at a different time than the other boosters.)

Courtnek, the site is [url]www.dogstickers.com[/url] I guess the thing that cracks me up is that that dog is the FLOOFIEST looking Maltese I've ever seen! The limpid eyes, the show coat...even Macy looks more menacing! (Though not by much.)

Lovely dogs!

So....your dog lives outside, but you're having a problem with her going INSIDE the house, is that right?

Daisy, Angel adopted a darling little Siamesey kitten -- I think the pics are in the Pictures forum. He's TOO cute! Poor little guy, with those icky ear mites! But behle is right...it seems like just about every kitten has them at some point.

We've been having quite a time with Macy lately. As I've mentioned, she is not entirely reliable in the house (though she is getting better). As such, she is kept in an x-pen when we're at work. Jay came home the other day to find that she had pooed ALL over her pen. I figured she was sick, as the only other time she'd pooed while confined was when she'd gotten into some wet cat food and snarfed a bunch of it. Then she didn't poo for almost three days. We were very worried about her, but we called the vet, and he said that as long as she was acting normally (she was), not to worry. Sure enough, she eventually pooed, and was fine. THEN, last night, Jay took her out to go potty and said she turned right around at ATE her poo as soon as she made it! I was absolutely horrified! I'd seen her eat kitty poo before (she's always trying to find a way to get to the litterbox), but never her OWN! We were pretty disgusted. The only reason I could think of for her behavior was that Jay had given her tons of Greenies the day before, and maybe her poo still smelled like them. I took her out this morning, but she didn't have to go, so I couldn't see what she did. Now I'm worried that maybe she was pooing in her pen and eating it during those days we thought she wasn't going at all. Please help us...I don't want a poo-eating puppy dog!

I agree with the others. It sounds like you care a great deal about your babies. But I will add that, like the others, my concern is the pet overpopulation in this country and the number of dogs already in shelters. Is it possible that people are buying puppies from you instead of adopting babies from shelters? I guess this depends on what kind of dog you're breeding. If it's labs, then the answer is yes. If it's a small breed, then the answer is probably no. My only other concern would be the breed standard -- are you in any way making sure the pups you breed conform to it? I am a firm believer that a dog should look like its breed was meant to, not like something else. But that's just a personal opinion :)

I'm sure he'll be fine! At that age, they're usually pretty good in the car. As he gets bigger, you'll def. want a carrier, though. If money is an issue, a lot of places sell those cardboard ones. they aren't the sturdiest things in the world, but they're better than nothing.

Thank God she's OK for now! Will be praying for Cookie and your family!

Really? Several Maltese breeders I know of use human hair products on their dogs (gel to keep topknots in place, conditioner to smooth out hair, etc). Of course, Maltese have hair rather than fur.

Does she have any distinguishing characteristics that they can describe? A friend of mine was fostering a Pom that someone found in a park. She put an ad in the paper, but the only person who called said she left the dog in her yard all day, didn't know how much she weighed and had never taken her to the vet. My friend thought it probably was this woman's dog, but she couldn't bear the idea of returning her. She agreed told the woman she didn't think it was her dog, and since the woman apparently had no interest in coming to see whether she was or not, my friend just kept her :)

I believe that people hair products generally work fine on dogs.

I was looking for Maltese stuff online and came across this: [img]http://www.dogstickers.com/acatalog/688sign.jpg[/img] Doesn't it just scream, "Hey, burglars! Come on in! Our only protection is a 6-pound dog!"

Oh, dear, I'm getting all misty now!

Awww -- what a darling!

I'm tearing up, even though I've read this before.

LOL! I do the same thing with Macy. She stays in her x-pen while we're at work, and she always puts her little paws on the side of it and tilts her head and looks at me when I'm about to walk out the door. I tell her, "Mommy has to go to work so she can buy puppy food, but she'll be back at lunchtime to cuddle you!" She also likes to bark when people walk past the house. As we live in a subdivision, this happens quite often. We scold her if she barks more than a couple times, and she always gives us this reproachful little look like, "Fine. I warned you -- don't blame me when they come kill us all!"

Thanks, K! Where can you buy these -- drugstores?

HF, tell me some more about how you use Vaseline to prevent staining! I have a hell of a time with Macy's tearstains! Know any other good remedies?

Yay! *Begins chanting* We want pix...we want pix...we want pix...

Congrats to you on deciding to wait to breed! It's definitely not a venture to be undertaken lightly. One of my parents' boy kitties had some loose skin back there after he was neutered. As I recall, it eventually shrunk up.

Oh, Aonir! I'm so sorry...I didn't mean to remind you of your poor babies! :bigcry:

I forgot to add this, but maybe it will make you feel better. Macy's breeder said that it is very common to lose pups...Maltese babies are just SO small. They're like little kittens -- they're so little that they have almost no reserves.

I personally think people should have to have a license to have a cat or dog (or larger animals, like horses). They would have to pass a basic test on animal care and agree to keep their pets in a certain condition, with heavy fines and the loss of their pet(s) if they don't.