imported_Kat

Hey there, I regularly petsit for 2 Irish Wolfhounds called Daisy and Oliver. Might have pics of them somewhere I'll have a look later. :fadein:

Her Dad sounds incredibly irresponsible. One thought that crossed my mind does he want rid of the Belgian because he is past breeding age? It seems so strange to get rid of a family pet then replenish the "stock" with two more dogs both pedigree. :-?

From what I have read of it name suits it!

Good luck Star, best wishes and paws crossed for you and Zebra :wink:

[i][color=orange][b][size=6]Happy Halloween to everybody![/size][/b][/color] [/i] Keep all your furbabes safe tonight. Its one of the worst times of year for my work..and yep you've guessed it I'm working and on call tonight. :roll: Our stupid council don't pick up stray dogs after 6pm so we have to take them into the surgery. Always a fun night trying to find cage space. We don't even allow in-patients today to keep cages free unless the animal is critical but no routine spay/neuters.

Can anyone tell me what BSL stands for? While I was awake last night and couldn't sleep I thought maybe bullsh*t law? :lol:

Hi Ellie, we have qualified for the triathlon which consists of Obedience, Agility and Show handling (ha that will be interesting :P ). The trials for the Obedience team start next Saturday and will be finalised around mid november time I think from what I have heard. That main ring beckons and Meg and I are going to try our very best to get on that team ! :D

Well in response to your question the wolves were the first canids after Tomarctus so to speak. From extinct wolf species, other animals like jackals and Coyotes evolved. Foxes evolved on a different linage. Wolves started to undergo domestication shortly after diverging from Tomarctus, so unfortunately we can't go back millions of years and find out the real truth, but the picture has been put together from fossil records. It would appear that domestication and a form of artificial selection whereby wolves were kept as companions, was responsible for the interference in the dewclaw evolution. Food for thought! :wink:

At the moment I'm doing my literature review for my thesis on the evolution of canine social behaviour. Now I know we had a dewclaw debate a little while ago, so here is some fascinating scientific evidence to confirm that dogs do not need dew claws. Sit back and relax for a history lesson! 60 million years ago arboreal animals called Miacids roamed the earth. From miacids diverged the line of Cynodictis which eventually evolved to a line including Tomarctus species which resembled a long legged wolf with the body of a weasel. Now, Miacids were tree-dwelling (arboreal) and had 5 toes on both fore and hind feet. As they diverged to eventually become Tomarctus, arboreal behaviour evolved to terrestrial (this was due to the need to exploit a much wider environment for food and survival and also because dinosaurs began to die out so predation was decreased). As they evolved to become terrestrial animals, fossil records show that the 5th toe (dew claw) was significantly reduced in size, and eventually became vestigial (of no use as they were no longer needed due to the behaviour and habitat change). The paw pad also reduced in size. Dogs today have dewclaws just like wolves but these dwclaws are unecessary, unless any of you have dogs that climb trees! Natural selection isn't allowed to take place due to humans interfering continually and breeding, but if it were, then dogs today wouldn't even have dewclaws. Why have something you don't need? Hope this proves to be fascinating for the rest of you as it was for me :wink:

In what way is Color sick? I don't understand the situation why this girls Dad would take a dog to the shelter if he was sick? Surely a Vet would be more appropriate or does he just not want a dog in the house. :-?

Yep I am very happy to say that Cory has a forever home now and can put everythinng behind him. Poor pup has had a long few months of being transferred from foster to foster but he is now very much loved with a family and twin boys of 12, perfect :wink:

If you decide that you do want to go ahead with co-ownership, you need to draw up a written signed agreement, This should include who gets what percentage of the show prize money, breeding stud fees percentage, money from puppies that are sold, vet fees, who gets to keep rosettes/trophies from shows. What age is your dog just out of interest? As you can see there is a LOT to consider. I co-own my Border Collie Meg, which some of you may or may not have known. The reason why is because her other owner is a lady with severe lupus arthritis and a multitude of other health problems. I started off taking her to the local puppy class, then someone spotted she had a talent and now she works Championship Agility and Obedience. To enable me to enter her in classes I had to be a co-owner. We drew up a document and so trophies are kept at Margarets house and I keep the rosettes and medals. Veterinary bills are catered for by her other owner. It really is a complex business and ensure that you really want to enter co-ownership, before you make a decision.

Meg just amazes me, truly she does. I feel so guilty leaving her when I have to go to the Netherlands. I took her down to the park tonight in pitch blackness with fireworks going off in the distance and still she wags that tail madly and produces outstanding red-hot heelwork that I only dreamed of when I started to train. I used to envy a lot of handlers that had wonderful dogs with heelwork to die for. Now there is only one dog I idolise, and thats my Meg who puts her heart and soul into working with me. I have such an overwhelming feeling of pride in her. We are going to storm Crufts 2004!!!! :D Sorry if it sounds like I'm gloating, but just had to share. I love my dog :angel:

Hi there what age is your pup? Your little dog right now knows that he can get away with chastising you, so that needs to be changed. Be stronger with him. I know he is probably small and hard to be firm with but if you can't crack this when he is a pup, then you will have serious problems later in life. Regardless of whether he likes it or not place him on your knee firmly keeping two hands on his back clasped around his abdomen. Hold him so he faces away from you then release him onto the floor saying nothing, not even a praise word. Leave him a few mins then do it again, and again say nothing at all when he is on your knee and on the floor after being released. After a few attempts of this, pick him up and face him on your knee holding him for about 30 secs and release him. Again say nothing. Repeat this again holding him towards you for a few times and ignore whatever behaviour he is displaying be it growling or snapping or tail wagging. After you have done this a few times pick him up and when you hold him, stroke him one long drawn stroke starting at his head above his eyes and down to his tail tip, then release him. Slowly build this up and if he remains quiet during the stroke , then praise him lightly after you finish the stroke. A lot of peope will talk about the alpha roll and a lot of people launch straight in and assert dominance over their dog. In my opinion and from what I have gained from training dogs, rushing in never works. Repeat this stroking behaviour followed by praise for a few days and the start to put him on his side very slowly still on your knee. If he resists and growls don't tell him hes a bad boy or anything else. Just ignore him. Go back to the stroking and try again until he is quiet when you are rolling him onto his side. Eventually he will learn that you are asserting dominance over him, but you aren't forcing it upon him and he will be fascinated by this new role and as long as you are persistent and strong with him, he will enjoy the reassurance that is derived of knowing his place in the "pack". Good Luck and congrats on your new pup :wink:

Good to hear she is fighting hard :D

Heya, just wondering how your girly is doing? :D

Hi there Laika and welcome to the board. :wink: :fadein: Your dog is the perfect age to start agility. Puppies can start agility from when they are under 6 mths. Little things like getting your dog accustomed to walking over boards on the ground will all assist when they tackle the Dogwalk, A-frame and seesaw. Also they can go through a tunnel (kids tunnels are brill for this!). little things like this are all the foundations of your dog doing a full agility course. At our dog club we only take dogs from 8 mths onwards. These dogs will be trained for accuracy on the contact points and will do low jumps. They will not tackle full height (2'6 jumps and weaves until they are over one year of age, due to their bones being susceptible to injury. Some dog clubs wont even accept a dog until they turn one year old, but we take them younger as flat exercises that don't jeopardise the dogs health are perfectly fine. Dogs in the UK can not start competing until they are 18 calendar months of age which is also very fair and an acceptable age. One last thing: obedience is the essence of a good agility dog. We insist on members taking an 8 week obedience course before they are allowed near the agility field. Good luck for it, be warned Agility is very addictive as Meg will demonstrate!!! :D [img]http://sander.servehttp.com/kat/meg%20jump%20wales.jpg[/img]

Sorry folks I'm only posting these now. My pc was fricking about last week and then I was just back from the Netherlands last night but better late than never. These are the photos taken of Cory following his ordeal... Humanity is a loose word to use for the b****** that did this. [img]http://sander.servehttp.com/kat/Cruelty%20lurcher.jpg[/img] [img]http://sander.servehttp.com/kat/crue.jpg[/img]

Excellent news and you didn't act like a plonker! You behaved like any of us would if we were in your situation. Glad that all is fine :D

An interesting fact for you all: Excluding dogs small animals live less time than larger animals. i.e mouse = 3 years ish and elephant= 60+. Now look at dog breeds. Small breeds live longer than large breeds. Makes you think doesn't it? We haven't attempted selective breeding in these animals to the same extent as we have dogs. In fact dogs are the most manipulated species on the planet that have been subject to selective breeding. Yes selective breed has produced outstanding traits in dogs for physical and phenotypical characteristics, but one thing that has been compromised in the process is life span. Cross breeds generally live longer as they have hybrid vigour and usually outlive their breed counterparts that they are comprised of. On this thread the oldest small breed I know of was a 25 year old Pekingese that we eventually had to put to sleep in work, next oldest would have been a 21 year old JRT. As far as large breeds go, the largest we had in was a 19 year old Border Collie who was healthy with slight arthritis until his life was snipped when he was involved in a tractor accident.

Hehe congrats :P

Totally beautiful dogs and look like smart breeders too. From what I know of training with Flatties is that they are intelligent, not the same field as their Golden counterparts as Goldens can be manipulated to do anything but Flats will invent new ways and rebel tasks. Be firm with him from day one so he knows his place, but he will provide you with hours of entertainment and fun with his antics! Get him into agility and Obed too if you can :wink:

Sounds like the breeder needs to learn how to breed [color=red][b]RESPONSIBLY[/b][/color]...... sod 45 years of so called experience. Times change and back then it was all money making (still is now to a large extent but more people are breeding and considering the safety of their pet). I would advise you from a veterinary and from a pet owners point of view to be mature and not join the thousands of other asswangs in the world that breed irresponsibly and end up endangering, jeopardising or shortening their dog's life.

aww glad wee Montie is home and snug :wink:

Just wanted to say congrats on your new puppy and good luck. I don't know if I missed it or not but is it a Flattie that you are getting or what breed? :fadein: