Tag Archives: terriers

11/10/12

Preparing for Puppies

So we have been undertaking puppy preparations here, in anticipation for Clover’s upcoming litter. We have many basic things, as we have had litters before – thermometers, heat lamp, whelping box, and so forth. So, really, the only stuff we had to get is the fun stuff!

 

Leave with Work

I put in leave with work, as I pretty much don’t work when I have puppies. I need to be here for the whelping, and I need to be here to clean, socialise, and just generally care take puppies. At a young age, they are not too strenuous. As they get older, the elimination increases, and so does the work load!

 

Clover in the whelping box, the blanket over the top is to make it more den like for her. The whelping box is next to our bed. You can see to the right the towels ‘ready to go’ on top of a column heater. The brown blanket is lining a box, which has a hot water bottle inside – ready for puppies when they’re born. The blue toy outside the whelping box is Clover’s personal touch!

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12/7/11

Myrtle at 6 Weeks

We are very happy to introduce Myrtle, our newest resident.  Myrtle is 6 weeks old and is the daughter of my Clover, out of a dog in Victoria.  She was born a singleton puppy, and we were lucky enough to find two 9-day-old puppies that have been her siblings.  Myrtle is 3 days younger than her foster-siblings.

This mating has been a long time in the making, and so far, we are quite happy with the result.

So here is a video of Myrtle, at 6 weeks (and 1 day) old doing some training.  It is mostly fun – we are playing tug. I was going to edit out the minute where she goes and entertains herself but that, in itself, is quite amusing.  She pretty much knows ‘sit’ and ‘touch’, but and in this video we practice ‘give’ (the tug toy back) and ‘drop’.

I was happy with this training session. We both had fun, and that’s all I really want at this stage.

12/28/10

“Off the Chain”

Today I found an interesting documentary on dog fighting, called “Off the Chain” (you can watch the first part here on YouTube, and follow the links through to the other 5 parts.  Please be aware that some footage is quite graphic).

For me, I always like to get alternative viewpoints on issues.  This documentary achieved this.  There are plenty of segments that educate us on the evils and tragedy of dog fighting, but this documentary actually allowed us to hear people from the other side – people who fight dogs themselves.  I have never heard this viewpoint before, so I was very happy to get this perspective.
 

The major issue this documentary brings up to me is that dog fighters cannot seek medical treatment or humane euthanasia of their animals because of the fear of prosecution.  I wonder if there was more protection of dog fighters and their privacy if less animals would suffer.  (It is like drug users – when a person overdoses, we don’t then charge them for the use of an illicit substance.)

This documentary also covers the inefficiency of breed specific legislation, and brought up many points I agree with.

Another area of interest was that the rules for dog fighting was also covered.  They explained the procedures for a dog fight, and how winners are determined, etc.  This was very educational to me – I never knew of these rules and, actually, they seemed reasonably fair despite the questionable context.

Overall, I recommend anyone who can withstand some gore to view this documentary and see if it challenges your current thoughts about the dog fighting scene.