what dogs you own? or would love to own!

i love my pekingese.! I had 2 but one got stolen the other week.

 

You had one of your dogs stolen? That's a real shame. Was it microchipped? If so, there's a chance a vet may scan it sometime in the future and put 2 and 2 together.

My wife and I have 10 Cavalier King Charles Spaniels (2 boys, 8 girls, we show and breed them). I was a never a dog person til my wife brought home our first Cavalier and I fell in love with the breed.

 

I totally agree about those dogs, My wife brought home a female and we love her immensely, No trouble whatsoever and a constant companion.

My wife wants to get a male and at least have on litter. I am a little leary. We would not be out to make money, just provide them to people we know.

Ours is registered. Do you think getting a male would be a good idea? Are they more or less affectionate?

Thanks, Brad

 

This may come off a little negative, but please bear with me and PLEASE don't take offense.

Have you done any breeding before? This is not an easy breed to breed; you need to be there when the mom starts welping to assist and know when there is a problem that requires a trip to the emergency vet. You need to do a lot of studying and learn everything you can. It's bad enough to loose a litter, but infinately worse to loose the mom; We have never lost a mom, but a friend of ours once did.

What does your contract say? Puppies sold by reputable breeders are almost always sold on a restricted contract, which means they cannot be bred. And if you buy a puppy with breeding rights, you are going to have to prove to the breeder that you know how to breed. Oh, and if you thought your current girl was expensive, wait til you see what a dog with breeding rights costs!!

And lastly (probably should be firstly!), health testing needs to be done. As you know, a big problem in this breed is MVD. In order to breed responsibly, both the dam and sire must be checked by a cardiologist at least once a year and if they have even a grade 1, they cannot be bred. Additionally, eyes and hips must also be certified.

So lots to think about. Having said all that, I don't think there is anything in my life that I enjoy more than breeding these guys. If you really want to start breeding, I would suggest you start showing first (I'm a big advocate of that) and hook yourself up with a breeder in your area that can mentor you. It may take a while (we showed for close to 2 years before we found someone willing to help us), but there's no better way to learn about responsible breeding. The last thing you want is to be branded as a Backyard Breeder or a Puppy Mill. Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

Bruce

BTW, is this the greatest breed or what!

 

Oh, forgot about the question about males. I happen to like the males a bit more. There is an old cliche "The girls love you, but the boys are in love with you". A very subtle difference, but a difference.

Can you tell I'm very passionate about this breed?!

Bruce

 

Bruce,

Thank you for the kind response. It was forthright and not in the least bit offensive. That was the kind of answer I was looking for.
My wife is the one who would like to have a litter of puppies--I can understand that; but as you mentioned there is a great deal more to it, than having a litter of kittens.

We love our dog (Caramelle) and would never do anything to cause her harm. Guess you can tell from her name that she is white and tan colored. She is beautiful. Her mom's name is Rosie and her dad's is Spike.

Have a great afternoon and keep sharing those doses of reality with us pet owners who may veer off into fantasy land once in a while.

Brad

 

We have a Basset Hound and a Boston Terrier. They are the best. If I could have more dogs I would also get a French Bulldog & a Bullmastiff

 

I have a girlfriend who has a german shepard black lab mix. Looks mostly shepard but I think the lab in it was good for his temperment. Just a wonderful dog. Highly intelligent and trainable. Never will touch food not given to him. I trained him to balance a dog treat on his nose and wait for you to say ok. Could teach him anything really. Very protective without being vicious. Her and her daughter both complained about him dragging them on a walk. I had him heel trained in about 15 minutes I mean sit when you stop everything. Adversly my mother has a pure breed Wheaton terrier. What a god awful dog. Grabs food off the counter, nips at people, goes in the house, in the trash. anything you can think of that a bad dog does it does. I wont bother trying to train it basically because I can't stand the thing. I think she paid around $1300 for the damn dog. Her criteria being it was "cute" I guess it is if a dustmop with legs is cute. I guess I have farmer mentality when it comes to animals. Nothing but the best for a good one but no time or desire for the bad.

 

I've decided that my 5 are simply allowing me to live in 'their' home, but they're all my kids. BuiLDPro68 . . . I have an Akita that desperately needs training! She's a wonderful girl, but has gotten away from me a few times and is gone quicker than I can spit! What's the secret to training to heel and sit? She's not aggressive towards people in the least, but jumps to give them kisses, and turns into 96 lbs. of wiggle when she's around anyone. Suggestions?

My family is Yoshi, an Akita/Shepherd who's my senior boy; Holly, a ShihTzu/Dachshund (just use your imagination) and her 6-month old son Georgie (imagination + Beagle), and Ally-Beary, a Tibetan Spaniel. They're all from shelters other than Tia, the Akita, who needed a new home. I work with an Akita rescue group - it's definitely rewarding, but can be horribly heartbreaking, which is when I wonder why I do it. But along comes another needy dog and I'm at it again.

 

Wow with that many dogs first thing you have to do is establish who the alpha is (sounds like the Akita). You probably already know. That will be the one who doesn't take any crap off the other dogs but the others will from him/ or her. That is the one you want to concentrate training on especially, because if that one acts right he/she will get the others in line. Dogs are pack animals and work on on hiearchy of sorts. Idealy YOU want to be the boss but that can be difficult to establish when you may have to "usurp" the previous ruler. It would be difficult and lengthy to try to describe dog training in general but I would suggest watching a show you might have heard of called "The dog whisperer" I completely agree with the guys methods and teachings where I am not usualy a fan of fluff TV shows. Afraid I can't recall off hand which network it's on put it's pretty popular so should be easy to find. I wish you luck. Having a well trained pack can be very rewarding.