Afterwards?
Definitely....
Congrats on the new dog, Don! Best of luck with her. She is lucky to ba adopted by such a good guy. :)
Congrad. Don. Nice looking assistant. Let her play with some of your lights.
I'm very happy for you Don. She looks beautiful.
That's awesome Don, hope it works out.
Foy
As long as she picks my number .......
"This was her preferred posing position." < mine too
congrats don, nice looking dog.
Congratulations! She's truly a beauty. Might as well make a very nice new companion. :)
All the best.
Thanks Bob, this is all very useful stuff. You have a good way of making it clear what to do. Thanks a lot.
Initially I'm going to borrow a crate - there is a small problem that a giant sized crate won't fit in my car, or I'd be taking one down in the car to get her.
Fortunately I have a good friend whose mother bred dogs (Well, if you can call toy poodles dogs. Personally, I think they are fantastic little creatures, if a little embarrassing to be seen with in public) and she used to breed dogs herself - it was she that introduced me to giant schnauzers.
I've found that a lot of problems with dogs stem from lack of exercise, a tired dog is usually a good dog. This is a good thing for me too as I weigh about 35% more than I should. A younger dog will require lots of exercise. Which will undoubtedly be good for me. Fortunately for socialising her with other dogs, she'll get plenty of opportunities in the local park. For about 6-8 my local park is usually full of dog walkers. And most of my friends have dogs.
It's amazing how word gets around the hospital where I work - about 6 patients today asked when I was bringing the new dog in to visit them. I did warn them that it might not be soon.
I don't know the exact situation here (it worries me that a breeder had "too many breeding bitches"--the acquisition of this one doesn't sound quite like a rescue operation to me). But whatever the case, since no one's had the guts or thoughts to bring it up, this statement is true in any case: don't breed or buy while shelter pets die. Saw that on a bumper sticker once, never forgot it. And again, without commenting on or knowing all the details of a particular situation, the practice of docking should be done-away with, especially dogs which will not be true hunting dogs, which is the vast majority of them. I equate this useless and cruel practice to the circumcision of the human world (some striking similarities, including its feigned utility and the motivating reasons--would make a good article... hm, note to self, but anyone's welcome to take that idea and run with it).
I'm also very sorry for your loss. I have a large compassion for animals, especially dogs. We all know how important she was to you. It's because of our great care for dogs we should endeavor to send the breeders out of business until the shelter-pet problem is no more.
It is now illegal here (Since about 2000, and in England since around 2007) to dock tails and AFAIK it has always been illegal to crop ears.
This girl's going to need quite a lot of work but she certainly is placid. My requirements were quite specific and I did check the local shelter a lot.
Thanks for the info Don. I think you're great, btw. In the U.S., we have breed-specific 'rescue organizations', not sure what to call them. People who have their hearts set on a certain breed can usually wait for, or arrange (albeit at greater difficulty/distance) a rescue. Because of that, certain breeds are pretty much not found in shelters--it's good to see. Though, the best dog my family ever had growing up, was a pure mongrel (mix of mixes), after we saw the light and stopped buying from breeders after a bad-apple (malevolently schizophrenic, it would appear) purebred dog. A lot of breed buyers want to make sure their kid's dog isn't "broken", and want a "new one". Our experienced proved that isn't necessarily the case, at all. I do realize you're buying a 'used bitch' and not a puppy, pointing out that despite my last post, I did see the conscience play there.
You may have said this elsewhere, but if so I haven't seen it: so did you have a specific need for this breed, or what was the reason it was so compelling to get one from a breeder rather than an off-breed or mix from a shelter? Just a great love for the breed? As much as I love certain breeds of dogs, if I couldn't rescue a certain type, I'd get another from a shelter, based on personality, rather than biting the bullet and buying.
I drive buy a breeder's house every day to work, where they have an sign perpetually advertising puppies, and every time I want to shoot it with a paintball gun filled with red paint. "Responsible breeder" or not. I tense at the term in most cases. Kind of like saying 'responsible diamond miner'. (Which they're actually trying now.)
It's awesome and great news to hear docking is outlawed there--what political region are you talking about? Would like to see that here. U.S. is slow to catch up. USA banned female circumcision in 1996. (Better late than never.) Males not getting equal protection under the law, despite constitutional amendments. Yet. It's coming. Maybe decades away but will happen. When knowledge filters out on how it IS the same between sexes, and done for the same reasons (overt or covert), w/the same lies motivating them (down to the identical claimed "benefits"). Thanks to Intactivists, 2 cities this year (San Francisco and Santa Monica) have separate local proposals to ban male circumcision under 18. Most U.S. cities to not have type of balloting power though (and usually that's a good thing, but not in this case).
I was 5. I didn't choose it.
So it wasn't my fault. If my memory from 1965 serves, it was green so it probably was that ugly :)
She's a hard girl to photograph. Every time I pick up a camera, she wanders up to see what I'm doing. It is hard to photograph her when her nose is 1mm from the lens. Here's a nice picture of her (and not such a nice picture of me) this evening.
http://www.blipfoto.com/view.php?id=1211563&month=6&year=2011
She's a lot smaller than Fizz - Fizz was 50kg, Dieta is 33. She's at the very bottom of the size range for the breed standard.
But she's wonderful. Expect a lot of pictures once I train her to stay more than a millimetre from the lens. She's a very loving dog, but she's had little or no human contact. She now knows that getting into the car leads to fun stuff. Up until this evening, I had to lift her into the car as she didn't know what she was supposed to do. She's beginning to respond to her name now - especially if there are doggie treats in your hands.
She's not going to enjoy the vet tomorrow when I get her properly checked out, vaccinated and so on. Neither is my wallet....
I just hope that she soon catches on that stairs aren't scary things and she doesn't need to be carried up and down them. She does, after all, weigh 80lbs.
I'll move the crate downstairs once she's more settled. 32 hours after I first met her I've still not heard her make a sound.
Looks like love at first sight Don. Congrats! I'm sure this is the start of a great friendship.
Congratulations Don she is a beauty, you did good.
Wow. congrats, on your new assistant, Don! I'm sure she'll tolerate you just fine... 
We're off to the vet in a few minutes. As you can see, she's already learned the essential doggy skill of blocking any doorway that's handy.
There seems to be a buglet with this editor, the picture I can see on the edit screen doesn't appear in the post.
I don't get any toolbar when I try to edit an older post. Odd that...
So here's the pic I've been trying to post of Dieta the doorstop. The vet says she's fine and in good physical condition. She's started the vaccination - she gets another dose in two weeks.