Sanvean

Yes, please keep an eye out for ANY signs of bloat! One of my fellow rescue-group volunteers, who is a VERY experienced dog owner, lost one of her dogs to this recently, and she was broken-hearted.

That's horrible :( I'm fortunate that there are several stores in my city (Pet Supplies Plus and a local chain called Soldan's) that don't sell dogs and cats. There is a Petland, but I never, ever shop there.

There are lots of sites with quizzes to help you get started: [url]http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/search.htm[/url] [url]http://www.ivillage.com/pets/tools/breedselector/questions/dog/size[/url] You should also ask yourself why you want a dog, and what sort of things you want to do with your dog. In our case, we are homebodies (aka lazy!) and wanted to be able to do pet therapy. We needed someone small and gentle who wouldn't scare our kitties. We also wanted a hypoallergenic breed, because my fiance has allergies. We chose a Maltese and are SO happy with our Macy! She loves cuddling us, doesn't frighten the kitties and is content with a 15-minute walk every day. Of course, don't forget the many many mixed breeds that need loving homes, too! You can tell shelter or rescue workers what you're looking for, and they can help you find the right one for you :) You can search [url]www.petfinder.com[/url] for adoptable dogs.

:roflt: I had that same Mr. Hedgie for one of my foster dogs, Toby. He LOVED it! (It went with him when he got adopted....not that it would do Macy any good, as she is about the same size as Mr. Hedgie.)

Angel, if your husband isn't a dog person, I definitely don't suggest breeding your baby girl! God knows what he might do when he sees the mess a bunch of puppies can make! :wink: Jay is a cat person (as am I, for the most part!). He never owned a dog before we got Macy. He really dotes on her, though -- it's so cute!

[quote name='K']Maybe this is just your "new parent" jitters kicking in?[/quote] It certainly could be :) We've done two dog fosters before -- both of which went horribly -- so that could account for my nervousness. One was a GIANT shepherd-foxhound mix who was so sweet with the kitties, but the were positively [i]terrified [/i]of him. The other was a very cute beagle who couldn't be left alone for a second, otherwise she'd be chewing on something (and she had MOUNTAINS of chewies!). She even chewed on our leather recliner. :nono: Fortunately, Macy neither scares the kitties nor chews on things. I guess I'm just having a hard time believing that everything is going well!

I could :D My mom had a RR when she was a teenager and I've seen lots of pics of her. She was a gorgeous dog!

Great sites! (I did crappy on the first one, but OK on the second.)

Unfortunately, we're not. She's our fourth pet (we have three kitties), and we just wouldn't have the time for a second dog. Also, my fiance is not a dog lover, though he does love Macy. It took quite a bit of convincing to even get one! (She's my little wedding present.) Weirdly, when we DO meet other dogs, she's just not that interested in them. She sniffs them a little, then ignores them. If we're out for a walk and come across someone else walking their dog, she's more interested in the human than the dog.

Macy, our new little Maltese, is SO darling and the apple of her mommy and daddy's eye. We got her three weeks ago from a breeder who had her spayed after she had problems delivering her last litter. She is 5. She is very loving and cuddly, but she is not completely housetrained. (She's never peed in the house, but she has pooed on several occasions, though she's getting better.) Because of this, she's crated while we're at work (I come home at lunchtime) and at night. She sleeps in our room, but because of my fiance's allergies, she can't be in our bed. I know this is too much time in a crate, and I'm going to buy an ex pen this weekend for her to play in while we're at work. Hopefully, it won't intefere with her housetraining. But I worry that she's unhappy. We don't have other dogs for her to play with, and while our three kitties are nice to her, they don't play with her. (Our neighbors have dogs, but one is quite reserved and the other is too active for Macy's taste.) She's not interested in toys or chewies, except for the kitties' fuzzy mice, which I don't let her play with unsupervised, as they're really not meant to be gnawed on the way she does. She seems to love us very much and is content to lay in our laps for hours. We walk her nightly, and twice a day on the weekends. Am I just being paranoid? I love her so much, and I want her to be a happy little girl.

Macy likes to kiss my nose :) She also kisses my bare legs when I'm getting ready to take a shower. It makes me giggle! :buzi:

As I mentioned in the "Chihuahua food" thread, I'm going to switch Macy from Iams (which she was eating at her breeer's) to either Innova or Canidae, which are two of the higher-end foods available in my area. However, I can't find any info on their Web sites about whether they test on animals, and PETA doesn't name them as companies that don't. Anyone have any info on this? I've e-mailed the companies but not heard back yet. (Of, course, I only sent the e-mails today!)

[quote name='K']I can't bear droopy boobies on dogs....[/quote] LOL! I have to admit, I'm very happy Macy doesn't have saggy boobs! We had a very pretty pit mix in my rescue group once, but she had the MOST obviously boobies of any dog I've ever seen -- you just couldn't help but stare at them!

I agree with the others -- definitely think long and hard before you breed. Labs have HUGE litters, and they're honestly a dime a dozen nowadays. Can you find homes for as many as 12 puppies? Can you take those puppies back if the owners can't keep them for any reason? As far as her girly parts, I noticed this on Macy as well. A vet student friend said that's her vulva, and that sometimes things come outward, especially after the dog has had a litter. (Macy had two litters before I got her.) I don't know why her breasts might be saggy, though.

I'm so glad she came home! You must have been so relieved! It's awesome that you guys all microchip your dogs. Is that all throughout Australia, or just in your city or province? Macy was tattooed when I got her, and she has a tag, but I also want to get her microchipped. I'm just so paranoid! I'm actually more worried about someone stealing her than about her running away, though.

Yes, I've heard the bad things about Iams :( As soon as we get near the end of this bag, I'm going to start mixing something else in to get her used to it.

Well, I do have to agree that some breeds have been bred to extremes. Bulldogs in particular -- they can hardly be born the normal way any more (most require C-sections) because of the size of their heads. That's disturbing. I wouldn't go so far as saying that the breed out to be banned, but it would be nice if the standard were rewritten in favor of a less exaggerated look.

Macy is sitting on my lap right now and probably wondering, "Why is Mommy dripping water on me?" My heart aches for the dogs who live in these hellish places. The owner of that mill is lucky I wasn't the one who rescued that poor dog and her pups. God knows what I would have done.

My Macy, who is a 6-pound Maltese, eats Iams Minichunks. She doesn't seem to have any problem with the size. (This is what her breeder fed her; I may eventually switch to Innova or Canidae because of the higher-quality ingredients, though I do need to find out how big their kibble chunks are!)

I don't pretend to be a canine nutritional expert, but from my understanding, dogs are omnivores, not carnivores.

Poor Inky! That pr!ck will get his. :evil:

Our kitty, Janie, never scooted on the carpet or anything, but our vet said she probably had minor anal gland issues. (Her butt smelled atrocious, even after we bathed her.) We started feeding her a food with more fiber to make her poo harden up a bit. It worked like a charm -- and there's no more groans of, "Oh, man, my shirt smells like Janie-butt" now :)

I've only seen two episodes...one was a baby hippo in a zoo (super cute) and another was a couple who were breeding their pug. They clearly loved her to pieces, but they didn't seem very knowledgeable.

Perhaps they have a reason for breeding them that way? (I don't know much about Cresteds!) Perhaps make some calls, send some e-mails and/or visit a dog show....most breeders are more than happy to share their knowledge :) I would be cautious before deviating from what most other breeders are doing. They may have tried to do it the way you're contemplating and had some problems. (For example, you can't mate two tailless Manx cats, as the kittens will have deformities; you have to mate a tailless to a longtailed Manx.)

Macy was probably a log :)