Big Paws Only Dog Forums

Today I went down to cellar, and my white cat followed me (which is quite unusual as he is not walking outside much)
Picked a jam jar, and spotted that our other cat, Minnie is already sitting in cellar. Then looked again - it is not our Minnie, it is stranger cat.
Asked him what he is doing here and he answered with loud purring. Well, picked jar and cat, and got him inside the house.
Dogs greeted him very happy like he is already their best friend, and cat acted the same way - with loud happy purr.

I put the cat down on the floor - dogs were licking like mad to clean the cat (he was wet and covered in mud), cat was happy purring. Then he jumped on cat shelf (were we are feeding cats, asked fior some food) and then went to husbands lap, and asked for more cuddles.
Nobody has cat like him in 3 km radius, so he has arrived from somewhere far away... 


Listen me!

Can I ask a question? Let me whisper!


Can I stay here?


He said yes!

You can see in left down corner Barry's nose - cat is not bothered at all.

I put him on our local lost/search page, but I do not have a big hope, that somebody will claim him. He is not lost just today, and we are living in very rural area.

Well, here you can see what I mean with "dogs love him and he loves dogs".








Here Barry is garding cat's bowl and pushing cat to eat.

Would you ever believe that this cat has just entered our house few hours ago?

I can just tell how I found my breeder.
Go to shows near you (travel distance possible for you as flying saint pups is not an easy task) and find which stud dog you like. For example, I have very personal likes/dislikes, but show titles just helps to find some quality on top of your own gut feeling (I'm sure this stage can be done on internet).

Then do the research on pedigree, and - most important - previous litters sired by dog that you like. (Great dog does not mean always that his /her children are great as well.)

Then - try to find parents and grandparents of the dog, and find out how are they now (HD test is important thing, but there are also ton of illneses that dogs can pass to offsprings, so if his father is already died from cancer as well as most of his littermates, I would not get any further on this dog).

Then go around to collect gossips about the dog you like, and his breeders... Stand close to judge table (or better, table where the club officials are sitting and keep ears on guard - you will be surprised how many things you can hear there!) and so on... All gossips, bad or good, helps you to prepare for the right questions when you will be at that stage.

Then try to meet him and owners, talk with them, try to work out dog's personality and temperament and all that. Then find out has he had sired not so far away and any litter is expected, then repeat the whole research on the bitch that he has (or will) sired.

Or do the opposite and start with the bitch and work on the sire that she has been sired (or even better - will be sired).

For example, I like only full mask LH boys, so anyday now the boy that I like most, will sire the bitch that is owned by person, that I'm calling my breeder for nearly a year now. Then I will need to wait until I will know if the mating will take (the previous didn't) and then, when puppies will be born, another 2 weeks to see is there any LH boys in the litter.

The dog that I want to be father of my pup, has sired a dam already which I do not like (on top her HD score is D, not good at all)... So I better will wait and bite my nails

This is on top of basic research - all health tests to be done for at least few generations like hips, elbows, eyes and so on...

I would really start with confirmation/show rings to find what exactly I want to see in pup...

All this is because I want a possible show dog. For example, for my first saint many many years ago I had just one but very strong requirement - perfect temperament (I had small children at home and needed extremely friendly dog, without any possibility of beheivior issues, and I got one exactly that I wanted). 

If you are looking for "just a perfect dog" and can afford the vet bills then rescue is an option as gut feeling is the only important thing I have one resce at home now, complete foster failure, she is complete mess if we talk about breed quality, but such a sweetheart - all love, pure saint in heart! 



 

In my country there are no limits - all dogs must be licensed and if you have 6 or more - you must register them at the state veterinary service on top of local mnicipality which issues the licences. But from other hands - if neighbours start to complain, there might be problems as they will find something that has not been done right. But if your dogs are well trained and cared as well as your neighbours - no limits here.

Never used a crate and never needed/regreted it. We have only one cat crate here, to take care of cat if ill, and I once used it with my smallest foster (he was something hin/pappilion mix, 2 mo old (size about 1/4 of a cat), and with my big paw pack I just worried that somebody can accidentaly step on him at night. He liked that crate from the first moment and had a great nap there during the day, and also got all toys there... 

Thank you all, Grace is saying her thank you too! But at the moment she just can not leave kitchen and her that special bone

As Grace is rescue, we do not know her exact birthday date, but we traced the suspected breeder of her, and she hgad a litter in February, so on Grace's papers her birthday was registered on Valentine Day. So we shall celebrate her birthday... But not tomorrow as my son is in hospital, and tomorow he will go for surgery, so probably the birthday celebration will be delayed later for weekend. We have some celebration plans - it is her first birthday!

The spring is here! Daffodils? Migratory birds? Nooo... We call it "another dead poodle on the carpet"

Please, do not panic! This new strain is covered by existing vaccines! So no reason to worry, really! And it is not so new - it is already known for past 8 years since discovered in Italy in 2000. It is widespread there already, as well as in germany, Belgium and even in U.K.
If a puppy miller losses 600 pupies... Media may pay a lot of attention, because media is media, but I do not think that there is a real reason to pay attention to it.