New dog

Dreamer 7

Hi all,

First time poster in this forum with loads of questions

We have a new edition to our family, we rescued a young dog in Jan and we have basically fed walked and played with her up until now. I now want to get her sorted out in the vets also.

Can anyone recommend a good vet on the southside?
Can you give me a rough idea how much vaccinations cost?
We think she is a bullmastiff (pic attached opinions welcome:p..........can a vet tell me what she is for definite? Pet insurance requires a dog breed

We mainly keep her outdoors due to newborn in the house, how do I train her to poo in one place?? She is in occasionally mainly with my partner , does it matter where she spends her time?

We think she is about 8 months old, she is in heat at the mo, can the vet vaccinate even tho she is older?

Am I mad taking in a big dog with 3 children?? She is v good with them at the moment but as she gets bigger I'm worried she will be too much.

Thanks

anniehoo

Dreamer 7 wrote: »

Hi all,

First time poster in this forum with loads of questions

We have a new edition to our family, we rescued a young dog in Jan and we have basically fed walked and played with her up until now. I now want to get her sorted out in the vets also.

Can anyone recommend a good vet on the southside?
Can you give me a rough idea how much vaccinations cost?
We think she is a bullmastiff (pic attached opinions welcome:p..........can a vet tell me what she is for definite? Pet insurance requires a dog breed

We mainly keep her outdoors due to newborn in the house, how do I train her to poo in one place?? She is in occasionally mainly with my partner , does it matter where she spends her time?

We think she is about 8 months old, she is in heat at the mo, can the vet vaccinate even tho she is older?

Am I mad taking in a big dog with 3 children?? She is v good with them at the moment but as she gets bigger I'm worried she will be too much.

Thanks

Well done on rescuing her. She doesnt seem to be a full mastiff to me (im thinking staffie x mastiff). For pet insurance jsut put crossbreed if you dont know.

Vets i could recommend on the Southside would be:
Dick Lavelle Sandymount
Argyle and Bainbridge Stillorgan and Dundrum
Theres a good few and most of them have very good reputations. What area southside do you live?

Theres no problem getting her vaccinated now, but try and get it done as soon as possible for obvious health precautions. Id estimate ~€100-140 for a full set. First opinion cases are also seen in UCD which may be cheaper.

You said she spends alot of time with your partner. Its very important to integrate her with the whole family especially the children. You cant afford to have her latch onto only one person as it may lead to dominance/protective issues when shes older. The good news is shes at a perfect age for training classes so id get started with that as soon as possible. Mastiffs and staffies are kind loving dogs but are big, powerful animals when mature so try it to get it right from the start to avoid any future problems. Good luck;)

Bluefrog

Beautiful dog.

I'd go along with all the above. To get her to unload her burden in the same place all the time will take time and guidance. Dogs usually have a schedule for doing these jobs so if you take her to the place at about that time and wait until she does it and then lavish praise and attention on her, she will eventually get that that is the place to go though you might get some strange looks from the neighbours

On the pet insurance thing, mastiff breeds such as boxers, rotties etc can be a bit more expensive to insure so maybe to avoid issues if you have to claim, describing her as a mastiff X might be the way to go.

I would imagine she's quite energetic so probably not wise to let her loose among small children purely because of the risk of her knocking them over but some dogs are better at taking size into account and can be quite gentle with smaller kids. You should get a sense of this from watching her interact under controlled conditions.

Dogs should have booster vaccinations every 12 months so getting that done is no harm. You also might want to think about getting her neutered if she's not already done.

Best of luck with her, as the previous poster said, mastiff based breeds make great family pets - very loyal and affectionate with plenty of energy to keep everyone entertained. They are also very smart and will respond well to training.

Sigma Force

No dog is ever too old to have their first vaccination, the dog should of been taken to the vet for a health check sooner and then vaccinated because if you have brought the dog for walks over the past couple of months there is a high risk of the dog picking up parvo or some other nasty.

I would get the dog vaccinated asap and spayed once she's out of heat and the vet says she's ready for it. Vaccinations prices can vary it's worth shopping around (obviously using good vets) because prices can vary hugely.

The initial vaccination will involve a health check first and it should all cost between €25.00 and €35.00 then again as said vets prices vary hugely so it could be more. Then two weeks later the rest of the vacccination should be a bit less. Spaying a larger dog can be much more expensive than a medium or small dog, again it's worth shopping around (again using good vets) you could end up paying between €100 and €200 it really depends on the vets.
You can even just give a couple of vets in your area a quick phonecall and they will give you prices over the phone, then take the dog in to the cheapest one for their initial vacciantion and health check, if you are happy with the vets and their service then having the dog spayed there would be an option.

I would get her to training as soon as you can, all pups should where available, but esp. as she's going to be large she needs to learn some manners so she doesn't knock kids over, dogs can be clumsy as can kids both never watch where they are going.

Insurance wise as she's a mix breed it might not be as high as if she was a pure bred, just pop on the website and you can check it out or send them an email. Sometimes if you apply for insurance through your vets you get a discount you also get a discount if the dog if microchipped.

If money is tight and you are on social or something similar you might be entitled to a neutering voucher vets will usually advertise wether neutering vouchers are available with them.

I wouldn't walk the dog until the vaccinations are complete but this could prove tricky the dog might become bored.

bernard0368

Congrats on the rescue.

If you got her from a shelter she will most likely be vacinated ask them? They will also cover the cost of spaying as well.

Check with the shelter before spending monies.

Dreamer 7

Hi guys

Thanks for all the info, I'll get onto the vets asap. I've heard of dog training classes in community centres etc do you have to hold a qualification to run these classes? I'd like to think the trainer would be a pro,

I didn't get her from a shelter, she was abandoned we took her in while trying to find owner hence the delay in vets visits etc. I am living in the Dublin 8/12 area so if anyone knows a good vet or classes that would be great. Obviously I can travel a bit if needs be she quite likes the car

lg123

Bluefrog wrote: »

Beautiful dog.

+1

deisebabe

ok a vets I would recommend that wouldn't be too far from you is in clondalkin. This guy is very good. http://goldenpages.ie/detailsSearch.ds?detailsListingId=IE_12105249_9999_1003.