Aroura

I just let him out to the toilet. I let him out of his crate, out the front door and went to grab him before he went down the steps. He was too quick for me, and hurt it again :roll: Next time I'll have to remember to pick him up BEFORE opening the front door! He pee'd for ages lol, now he's back in his crate crying because he's bored :(

Thanks Malamum, I was thinking it might cause the legs to splay outwards, but you do have a point. Either way, I don't have any sand anyway! :lol:

I'm suprised they didn't give him any pain killers! I'd seriously be looking more into what exactly happend - I know that if something like that happend to one of my dogs at the vet I'd never go there again. If they didn't have anything to hide they probably would have gone over it when you picked him up. If you have a crate take him home and crate him, thats where Diego is at the moment because of his leg, and I'm thaking god that I crate trained him because it almost didn't happen because my boyfriend wanted him to sleep in bed with us for the rest of his life! But I think all dogs, reguardless of size, should be crate trained, because you never know when they're going to need it!

I was sitting inside this morning when I suddenly heard this almighty yelp coming from the backyard that just went on and on. I walked outside to see Diego walking towards me with a paw dangling - it reminded me of the time Tessa broke her leg, the way it just hung there. I sat down and touched it, thankfully it hadn't been snapped. He got up and went to walk and it touched the ground and he started to yelp again. I gave it half an hour and he got up and still yelped when he walked, he leg was a little swollen so I thought why take the chance? And took him straight to the vet. Thankfully, it was only a strain! He's still yelping when he walks on it, I've got him on pain killers and he's going to stay crated for the rest of today and most of tomorrow. For about half an hour then I was so worried he'd fractured it, I was so releived to find out it was only a sprain :drinking:

Nea, hows Webster doing? It seems like only yesterday you were all excited about getting this puppy! How is he in the show ring? Do the judges notice much about the cow hocks? I can imagine swimming would help strengthen the muscle which would in turn straighten the leg, only, running in the sand to me sounds like it could do more harm than good. Any oppinions?

I think this is a great petition, and I think with a bit of effort we could make it to 10,000 sigs!!! Only 300 more to go! Lets do it everyone, the dogs deserve it, not to mention it will help stop millers in their tracks! [url]http://www.gopetition.com/online/4021.html[/url]

Ok Kiwi, if your offering... how will we arrange the travel? :wink: Well I've already talked to the breeders about it, they said he should grow out of it so I'm guessing that their line does grow out of it. You'd think so, every dog on his pedigree is either an Aus Grand Champion and/or a champion in at least three different countries, so I'm guessing if it were in the line that badly his relatives wouldn't have done so well in the ring! It does seem to be a little better now than when I first noticed it though, which is good - the breeders also told me how to stand him so its not obvious until it fixes itself. As for wovles having them, I guess hip displaysia would never have been "accidently" bred into wolves in the first place, natural selection wouldn't let it. Seeing as we don't have natural selection in pets thats why hip displaysia came about and thats why cow hocks aren't so good any more! Also, when asking why cow hocks aren't desirable you've got to remember that in this crazy world it IS desirable for some breeds to be so genetically WRONG that they can't even reproduce on their own, others that have legs so short they can hardly walk, some with faces so short they can hardly breed and others so big they rarely live past 8 or 9 years. Its a sad fact that this world only accepts things that don't function properly as "good" or "show" quality. Cow hocks may help wolves do this, that and the other, but lets face it, most breeds, cow hocks or not, wouldn't stand a chance in the wild even for a week.

Thanks for the photo's Kiwi (your dogs are so cute! I want one!!!). And thanks for the link and photo Majie, the link was helpful. So am I right in beleiving then that he will probably grow out of it? Should I restrict his exercise? Or does a bit of exercise help? What is the cause? From what I can gather it is genetic, in which case the breeders probably know best when they say he should grow out of it. What causes them not to grow out of it like in the case of the pic kiwi posted?

Can anyone here explain to me exactly what cow hocks are, what causes them, and if possible, post a photo for me? Diego has a hind leg that turns in ever so slightly, the breeders think he may just have a tendon that is slow to develop and a little weak, and it will be fine as he gets older, but I'd like to know for sure what it is. I'm hoping that what ever it is I can catch it while he's still young and fix it.

Just curious, what made you choose that breed? Considering how rare they are it can be hard to find a breeder, you will probably have to travel for it, possibly even have to import. Another thing you can do is contact breeders overseas and ask if they know of any breeders in the U.S. They may have imported to someone, or know of someone who has. Also contact your canine council, they should be able to help.

Well it's good that she found her home, it's a good idea not to judge, they could have spent all morning looking for her but not think to contact the humane society or something, or maybe its the wifes dog and the husband isn't all that attached to it or something. Lets just hope they love her as much as any of us would! Collie would explain the eyes, but it does seem weird that the dog would turn out looking exactly like a dobe, but keep the eye colour of the collie. If white dobes carry a blue eyed gene this would probably explain it, but it also seems weird that if it is possible to breed blue eyed dobes why the puppy millers haven't got their grubby little mitts all over it and pumping them out all over the place!

[quote name='Lokipups']Mutts, she certainly looks like a Dobe, and to answer your question , yes, it's possible for two brown eyed dogs to throw a blue eyed pup. Rare, but possible :happy1: .[/quote] Only if the gene for blue eyes is already there in both parents. I'm beggining to think that maybe this dog has a unique mutation, like when the Devon Rex was born they thought it must have been the same gene that created the curly coat as a Cornish Rex, however, when the two are mated together they produce straight coated cats. Maybe this is a mutation that is different to a huskies, or a danes, maybe this dog IS a pure bred dobe, but has amazingly come up with a very unique mutation. Well, pound or humane society, I don't care, I STILL WANT HER!!! pwrpufgirlz, do you want to start bidding for her? :wink:

Wow, those eye's are BLUE!!! Have you checked that they're not contacts? :lol: She looks so dobe, I can't see what would be giving her the blue eyes! The thing that gets me is that they're such a solid blue, a lot of blue eyed breeds have mottly blue and brown eyes. Don't send her to the pound, if you can't find her owners and you find out she's a stray, send her to me!!!!

Thanks Stephy :wink: Diego's grandmother was put to sleep the other day. She was apparently running around the yard so fast that when she ran into the fence she broke her neck. She was a grand champion, absolutely stunning. When I got Diego the breeders showed me how to show with her, they even put make up on her because she was going grey! Poor thing, hearing that news has really shocked me. Thats the problem with having a dog thats so fast, I hope nothing like that ever happens to Diego :( My brother lives in a caravan park, I live out of town, on my own at the mo, my boyfriends due back in December :D

Labs and Dobs ears aren't that long, she must have something else in her - thats why I say daschound, not just the ears, but a few other features look that way as well eg that expression in the puppy pic!

Sorry stephy, he doesn't have access to a computer! Diego's a whippet, ain't he a cutie? Dogpaddle, yes, I'm sure everyones dogs would love it out here... but mine got here first! :P :lol: Its great, they can really stretch their legs, Diego particulary loves it, he zooms through the grass at a million miles an hour - I knew he was going to be fast, but I never realised he'd be quite so fast at such a young age! I've had to be carefull with him, you know how dogs like great danes grow so fast and get so big so quickly they don't know what to do? Well Diego's the same with his speed, at 3 months he was running about 40km and always bumped his legs and got hurt. He's a bit more clever now, but I'm still worried about him. I have a bad feeling he's done something to one of his legs, nothing serious at all, just enough that when I stand him for show one of his hind legs turns in slightly, probably nothing anyone else would notice, it seems to be getting a bit stronger now though, I'm just carefull of not walking him too far. I wouldn't have walked him at all until 6 months, except that after a puppy is out of its baby puppy stage it looses the instincts to follow people, which would have made it impossible to ever catch him if he got out. I'm actually pretty proud of myself, every whippet owner I've ever talked to have told me to never EVER let him off lead until they're at least 18 months old, but because I took advantage of his following instincts at a really young age (from 9wks) I've got him to the point where running TOWARDS me is more fun then running AWAY from me. Its so funny, he was after some birds one when I yelled out "Diego, COME", and mid chase he turned around and came running back twice as fast as he was running away! Because he is so great at that I don't think I'll ever change my training technique with pups again, it works a treat :wink:

I usually don't read these types of posts, they just make me angry, upset and frustrated, but I did open this one for some reason, and it has made me feel or that and more. How dare they take his dog from him? What right do they have? If someone decided they didn't like the look of someone else, and shot them, they'd be jailed, possibly sentenced to death in some countries, or at the very least, be sent into a mental institute for life for being so crazy as to take the life of another. So whats the go? Someone sitting in their cushy mansion with their little foo foo dogs decides to pass a law that we can brutally kill other peoples pets just because we don't like the look of them? We're afraid of what they might do? What ever the reason, it sucks. Australian Cattle Dogs are the number one dog to bite someone, a lot of them even bite their family members, but do you see a ban on them? No, it's descrimination against bully breeds, they don't have the guts, nor the effort, to crack down on dog fighters, so they took the lazy way out and just banned the breed, so every single lover and owner of the breed is left heart broken, not to mention angry at the authorities, mentally scared for life.... and the rest. I wish that pay back would some day get them, but to wish for that is to wish for the innocent members of their family to die a brutal death, but I'm above that, I'm not that kind of person :evil:

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say dobe/lab/dacshound... I can see how she looks coonhound, but I'm not sure how common they are where you are, here though they are so uncommon it would have to be some sort of a miracle to find a dog with it in it at the pound. Dacsie would describe the long ears (we have only natural dobes here... thank dog... but none of their ears are that long), lab would describe the body shape (combined with the squareness of a dobe) and dobe would describe the rest. My sister has a lab/dacsie, if she got out with a dobe I'm pretty sure that might be how some of the pups turned out! (She's desexed though!) On the topic of desexing - save HARD!!! Believe me, I know about money problems, but one thing I always managed to do, as it was THE NUMBER ONE thing on my priorities list, was desex my dogs. Even if you have to borrow the money off your mum, do it, you owe it to your girl :wink:

Kendalyn, you're right about the showing thing, but hillsides also right about me not having to go to every show. My sisters planning on getting standard pinschers, so we can go on show trips together. There's not really much point spending $50 on petrol money to get to shows, as well as camping costs etc if you're only showing the one dog, I've been doing it so far, but it does make more sence to be showing more than one dog if you're going to all that effort just to get there. Showing is really just a hobby to me, and if I had to cut the show career short, so what? I've still got my loving pets, showing is just a bonus, as is obedience and agility and everything else I do with the dogs, I do it all as something extra so I can spend more time with them - its not the be all and end all of dog ownership for me! I do have fun though, and I LOVE watching all the other dogs there - I used to want to move to spain so I could sit and watch all those hot guys go by, now I'm taken so I just like to go to dog shows now and go gaga over all the cute pooches instead :wink:

The thing I'd be worried about with double stacking is that he might learn to climb them both, then hurt himself on the other side. Two suggestions, firstly you could get a crate and keep it open against the doggie door, so that he can go outside and have his own little space indoors. Montie and Cassies crate is extra large, so although they are tiny (Montie is also only 8 inches, but thats full grown!), they can play together and run around and do their own thing in it. My second suggestion, which you will probably prefer, is to simply renovate the gate so that there is a peice of wood or something going inwards, so that once he gets to the top... well he can't climb upside down! :lol: Hope that helps :D

I've thought long and hard about this one, I've begun to realise I just can't live without a Boxer. It just doesn't feel right, I have an emptyness in my life, all that slobber, all those burps, all the mentalness, doggie punch ups, sloppy licks, snorting, its all gone and I want it back. But should I really be getting another Boxer? Now? Well, actually, it wouldn't be until probably next winter, but will my other dogs feel left out? Four dogs is a lot to spread your attention around, I've got the time, and the effort, but... ok, I think whats holding me back is Montie. It sounds silly, nobody beleives me when I say how spoilt he is, but I wouldn't want him feeling that he's missing out on any of mummy's attention! But also, on the other hand, it might remind him of Lily, who he loved so so much... Of course I've got other things to consider too, I want to have kids in a few years, would a Boxer be too much for them? I've been assured that it would be fine, but I also know how full on they can be. Another thing, I want a boy, I want something big, something that I can stud out (I don't want a female, I want to show, and I'd possibly want to pass on the line if its a good one, but one thing I do know is that I am not ready for puppies, they are so much commitment and I'd be too paranoid of them going to the wrong homes!), I want a guard dog, not an aggressive dog, just something that can scare people with its looks... ok, so you get the point - I want a boy, and I want to show.... but how would two entire dogs go together in a house? Would they fight? Should I just get a boy to not show and desex him? I doubt Diego would ever start a fight, he's the gentlest thing I've ever come across. Or maybe, should I just get a girl and send one of them off to visit their Auntie Claire or Nanny Neen when the bitch is in heat? So many questions, I've lived with 5 dogs before, but that was with dad and we shared the responsibilities. Its bad enough now when I visit Claire and stay for a couple of weeks during res school - 6 dogs then! They all get along so well though - could adding an extra spoil this harmony? Considering I am on my own for half the year, due to Josh's work, what are peoples oppinions on me getting another Boxer? Keeping in mind I already have three dogs, three rats, gold fish, and very soon, a Devon Rex cat. I know I can always count on you guys for good advice :wink:

[quote name='73junebugz']Oh they are just precious! Love Diego...he's gorgeous. And the girls are adorable...I just want to reach out and hug 'em. Thanks for the pix![/quote] Montie is a boy... :oops: :oops: :oops: :lol: He does make you want to hug him though, don't he??? :wink: Mutt_Lady, Diego is certainly a sweetheart, and I love him to bits and would do anything for him, but I have to tell ya, Montie still sneaks in at being the biggest apple of my eye, I always say if I won the lotto I'd clone him, I know that all dogs are special and irriplacable, but I honestly couldn't imagine life without Montie, he's such a special little thing! I did plan for a while to get him, and I did talk about it a lot here! I was going mental, I'd planned to get him before he was even born! It seemed like an eternity until he was born, then another before he was ready to come home with me. And as for Josh, he's hopeless :roll: :lol: Before he left for Tasmania he'd come home, Diego would get a hug before me, and when we were both out and got home Diego had the biggest cuddle sandwich, everyone else thought it was riddiculous. It was Josh's idea too, for Diego to sleep in the bed with us, I remember one time we stayed at my sisters and had to share a single bed, sure enough, Diego was squished in there between us :lol: BK, I'll have to do regular pic posts in that case, we can't have anyone forgetting how cute Montie and Cassie are!!! :o

Sounds fun!!! I'm going to get into it with Diego one day I think, I've got to find out how old they have to be first, he's only 4 months old now, but he's fast! Already faster than any dog he knows, even the sheep dogs on the farm, which are pretty fast. Everyone at training loves him and is amazed by the turn of speed he gets when he really goes for it :D

lol Stephybum, 23 :lol:

I've kept a very close eye on it, it seems to be fine, the gum still looks very healthy and suprisingly it doesn't seem to be painful. If I do see any warning signs though I'll rush him off to the vets, don't want to make the trip if I don't have, still paying off Monties bill from when he was attacked by a staffie.