Frequently Asked Questions????????????

We often receive phone calls and emails from new and existing owners about the breed so we thought we would put some of the most frequent questions and answers here for you to read.

1. How much does a puppy cost?

EACH BREEDER IS DIFFERENT but expect to pay around $1500 for a pet quality puppy and up to $3500 for a show quality puppy

2. Whats the difference between Show and Pet quality puppies?

A show quality puppy is a pup that the breeder believes will develop into a dog that displays high standards of type and structure worthy of being shown or bred from in the future. DESPITE what many people will tell you there are never any litter whereby all of the puppies are show quality!!!! any breeder that tells you the whole litter is show quality is talking nonsense and has more interest in financial reward than breed development. At best you would like to see 3-5 pups being placed on main register providng the litter was large and of quality. Most breeders will only put two dogs on main register from each litter.

Pet quality pups are sold as such because they do not display the true standard or type each breeder wishes to create by mating two dogs. They are still full breed dogs they just maybe have slight faults in terms of the standards that dictate they shouldnt be shown or bred from in the future as they do not bring anything extra in terms of quality that will contribute to breed development. This can often be seen in dogs that in maturity are very tall, thin in the body or have very narrow muzzles. They may also have tail faults or kinks or they may have an overly large amount of white in areas of the bosy that the breed standard deems unacceptable.

They are still nice pets and much loved family memebers they just arent what the standard dictates should be a true representative of the breed. These dogs should not be bred from as the flaws they possess will then be passed on to offspring which will not benefit the breed.

3. How much do they drool?

They do not drool as much as the movie would have you believe, in actual fact whisked egg whites were used to exgareate that dogs drool. They are large dogs though and Australia is a warm cliamte so they do get hot and thus drool. Females tend to drool less than large males but they do all drool at some point.

4. Do they need a lot of excersise?

In most cases they require only about a good hour of play a day and they will spend most of the day sleeping or lounging around. Females and smaller males tend to be more active than the larger boned males. Excerise should be monitored at all times to avoid injury as much as possible and they should not be overly walked or excersised until they are at least 7-11 months old. As youngsters they are still growing and bones. joints are not yet as strong as we would like.

5. What does Australian Champion imply and does it mean the dog will be of higher quality because the parents have australian championship?

The Australian Title is aquired by winning shows and in most cases the dogs have to compete against many good dogs which means they should be of a high standard. However in some places very few dogues compete and so the title can be acheived by simply showing up eac hweek and being at timest he only dog there. Judge the dog on its quality in person and not on its Champion titles. If it has gained show results such as Best in Group or Best in Show r if the dogs resides and competes in an area where many dogues are entered then the dog will have to have been from a good standard and this can mean the dog is a good example of the breed.

6 What are hip scores?

All large breeds are prone to hip and elbow issues so in an attempt to minimise this trait breeders should health test the dogs by x rays and a specialist vet will assess the dogs results and assign them a score. NO DOGUES should be bred from unless they have been health tested BOTH PARENTS!!!! and the breeder should then only breed the dogs if the hips scores are below the breed average. ASK THE BREEDER TO SHOW YOU THE HIP SCORES BEFORE YOU BUY ANY PUPPIES

7. What do you feed your dogs?

We feed our dogs Royal Canin dry food as well as a mixture of bones, off cuts and chicken carcus. We also give them veggies and pasta in the cooler months.

8. How much does it cost to feed a dogue?

I would say you should budget around $100 per dog per month as a conservative estimate, it depends on your choice of diet and your dogs apetitie. We would spend 500-600 per month on our dogs food.

9. Which breeders do you reccomend?

There are very few times i will recoomend a breeder because i believe you should do your own reserach and find the right breeder for you who hast he kind of personality and the dogs you want to own. Everyone is different people have there own favourites in terms of lines and types of dogs. I would obviosuly say that the dogs we own are from breeders that we respect a great deal and whom we believe breed a very high standard of dogue. They are the lines and type of dogue that i personally favour and seek to breed in the future therefore they are the right people for me.

I would always say judge the person before the breeder then the dog, that should give you all you need to know.

If you have any questions not answered here please feel free to email us anytime

WE WILL ADD MORE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS IN COMING WEEKS