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[Grease_Monkey]

My little Labby (Mila) is in to get spayed today. Shame, the Boxer (Diesel) is completely and utterly lost without her today - looking for her in every nook and cranny! They are completely dependant on each other. The next week is gonna be tough since the usually sleep outside together, and I will have to keep them apart (she will sleep inside in our room).

 

I fear the day one of them dies - the other will be distraught! Though that is still many years away...

 

Edited May 7, 2019 by Grease_Monkey

[Rocket-Boy]

I would fix her..but it is up to you...if you let her have more litters just do it responsibly.

 

Just careful when you cross breed you may end up with pups that have the genetic problems of both breeds.

^This, a friend of mine and I both got our staffies from the same litter. He decided to breed his little girl and we had ours spayed as soon as possible. He regrets it to this day because of the trauma it put on her body giving birth. Her hips were never the same and she had to be put down last year. Our little girl has signs of her hips not being great but she still behaves like a puppy at 10 years old.

 

Other than the physical side, the hormonal side is not good for dogs that arent spayed/neutered.

[DJR]

Apologies to all who have to live with uglier dogs and in uglier places........  

[Fruity]

Tigs basking in the sun a bit earlier.

[River Rat]

Not to be an alarmist but my son recently lost his 4 year old Retriever X to this silent killer. He lives in Pretoria but I have seen reports of this from the Benoni area.

 

https://www.greensidevet.co.za/spirocerca-lupi-dogs/?fbclid=IwAR3rJdqVNwFipxkNDyrxHN6o1-yDySRiokgs4FZe5W4HzquqaDHeapercow

[Ed-Zulu]

Not to be an alarmist but my son recently lost his 4 year old Retriever X to this silent killer. He lives in Pretoria but I have seen reports of this from the Benoni area.

 

https://www.greensidevet.co.za/spirocerca-lupi-dogs/?fbclid=IwAR3rJdqVNwFipxkNDyrxHN6o1-yDySRiokgs4FZe5W4HzquqaDHeapercow

Where I reside in KZN this is a common treatment in all dogs from our vets. problem is that once Fido picks it up it's usually fatal 

[River Rat]

Where I reside in KZN this is a common treatment in all dogs from our vets. problem is that once Fido picks it up it's usually fatal

 

Do you know what the vet is using? Is it Advocate from Bayer?

[Ed-Zulu]

Do you know what the vet is using? Is it Advocate from Bayer?

Unfortunately not at the moment, let me ask and get back to you

[dev null]

Here are the pups now. They are strong, healthy and gorgeous. Will fix Mika after these 2, raising pups is damn hard work. We are putting together the poster to put up at the vet's office tonight. BTW, they are 4 weeks and 5 days old today.

 

 

Edited May 28, 2019 by Moridin

[Dogs]

Cinnamon, our daughter's dog is a double rescue, with her mother's shelter burning down and then taken to the shelter that we support before we adopted.  Got her at 4 weeks which turned out well as the other 4 pups did not make it.

Being introduced to the Bouv....quite a difference in size .

Has grown a bit since then, but we have no idea what breeds she is....did however see a similar one a 36One (which also features in their short video).

She is a hoarder of note though.

[DJR]

Dammit Rufus! Leave the flamingos alone! NO! They are NOT to be fetched!!!! - Make a guess........do you think he listened to me? Or do you think he tried to? 

[DJR]

I've recently read through my shelf full of "dog books" again and came across this bit, which may be of some interest to anyone about to get a puppy. It relates specifically to making a connection and training a dog:

 

Research showed that under the age of 6 weeks the puppy makes a strong connection with its mother and its siblings, but with nobody else. Between the ages of 6 and 8 weeks it is introduced to the pack and it then makes connections with them. It also learns its place in the pack and get to know who the leaders are. After the age of 8 weeks it takes longer for this to happen and and the connection is often not as strong. 

 

This means that you want to get your puppy as soon as possible after 6 weeks, so that you can have it during that 2 week period and spend a bit of time with it yourself. Just to be there, to talk to it, feed it and touch it. The bond will be strong and the dog will be much better focused on you, much more willing to please and learn from you - something you want when you try to train it later on!  The exact best time was found to be 6 weeks and 3 days.

 

It was found that dogs handled this way completed their 1 year training on average 2 months earlier than ones who stayed with their mothers until the traditional age of 8 weeks before they went to their trainers / families / owners.

Edited June 2, 2019 by DJR

[Ed-Zulu]

Cinnamon, our daughter's dog is a double rescue, with her mother's shelter burning down and then taken to the shelter that we support before we adopted.  Got her at 4 weeks which turned out well as the other 4 pups did not make it.

Being introduced to the Bouv....quite a difference in size .

Has grown a bit since then, but we have no idea what breeds she is....did however see a similar one a 36One (which also features in their short video).

She is a hoarder of note though.

There is definitely German pointer blood involved there, based on the coat and head colour.

 

They are stunning dogs, well behaved and highly trainable. Great running companions too!

[Grease_Monkey]

I've recently read through my shelf full of "dog books" again and came across this bit, which may be of some interest to anyone about to get a puppy. It relates specifically to making a connection and training a dog:

 

Research showed that under the age of 6 weeks the puppy makes a strong connection with its mother and its siblings, but with nobody else. Between the ages of 6 and 8 weeks it is introduced to the pack and it then makes connections with them. It also learns its place in the pack and get to know who the leaders are. After the age of 8 weeks it takes longer for this to happen and and the connection is often not as strong.

 

This means that you want to get your puppy as soon as possible after 6 weeks, so that you can have it during that 2 week period and spend a bit of time with it yourself. Just to be there, to talk to it, feed it and touch it. The bond will be strong and the dog will be much better focused on you, much more willing to please and learn from you - something you want when you try to train it later on! The exact best time was found to be 6 weeks and 3 days.

 

It was found that dogs handled this way completed their 1 year training on average 2 months earlier than ones who stayed with their mothers until the traditional age of 8 weeks before they went to their trainers / families / owners.

This is interesting because there is again other info that suggests dogs are better behaved the longer they stay with their mothers because they learn manners/rules from them. I have certainly seen this with both our current dogs. We got the boxer at 3 months old because we were moving and were only ready for him a bit later, our lab we got at 3.5 months because we had Parvo on our property and did not want to expose her before she was fully vaccinated. Both our dogs know what they can/cannot do in the house, eg: neither of them have ever peed/pood in the house despite us having never potty trained them - we assume they learned this habit from their mothers.

 

But on the other hand, they are both extremely hard to get not to dig holes?

 

I dunno, maybe a bit of an advantage in both the approaches. Maybe the best approach of the dog could stay with it's mother till later and you can spend time with it after the 6 week period?

[DJR]

This is interesting because ...............

The book I refer to, looked at it purely from a training perspective, mostly for dogs that were destined to become workers like guide dogs, drug and bomb sniffers, trackers and working retrievers and pointers.

 

I agree with you, there are many other factors involved, some of which may make it better to take the puppy later. All my own dogs I got at 8 weeks. That said. I have never come across any recommendation to take it earlier than 6 weeks. 

[Grease_Monkey]

The book I refer to, looked at it purely from a training perspective, mostly for dogs that were destined to become workers like guide dogs, drug and bomb sniffers, trackers and working retrievers and pointers.

 

I agree with you, there are many other factors involved, some of which may make it better to take the puppy later. All my own dogs I got at 8 weeks. That said. I have never come across any recommendation to take it earlier than 6 weeks.

That does make sense.

 

I have never really formally trained my dogs apart from getting them to sit and give me their paw - so wouldn't be able to comment on the effect getting them later has had on them in that respect.