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ITALIAN GREYHOUND PUPPIES
If you are here to look for your first Italian Greyhound puppy or even want a few questions answered please click on the little greyhound logo here first and maybe I will have the answer for you. I am often asked about housetraining an Italian Greyhound and have my method for you on the Faq page link below. I have also found on the internet a page that gives some extra guidance so click HERE to have a look at what they have to say as well. You can never have enough information.
If living Interstate from us here in Sth Australia and you are interested in purchasing a puppy please check HERE for the cost of travelling your baby to your State with Virginair. Alternatively we can organise travel arrangements through Jetpets for you. If you wish to organise your transport personally their contact phone number for dog transport is 1800 244534 We recommend and use them regularly to transport puppies both interstate and overseas. They do also offer breeders rates for puppies travelling from registered kennels such as we are. My puppies are usually able to safely travel at 12 weeks of age.
I have created a showcase of puppies that have found homes as either showdogs or companions with other loving owners. I hope that you enjoy seeing the achievements of some of them here. If you have purchased a Tunamara puppy and wish to add it to our online family please feel free to contact me.
IMPORTANT
My puppies are all house reared and well socialised. They leave here vaccinated, microchipped, wormed regularly and fully vet checked for any health issues. I can supply registration paperwork for show puppies only but all other babies or youngsters will leave me without official registration papers. Please remember that the cost of a puppy reflects the amount of time, dedication, love, money, planning and research that goes into every Tunamara puppy. Also consider that your puppy is a long term investment in a loving companion as you can expect to have your Italian Greyhound for often up to 15 years and sometimes longer. I do try to keep the final cost of a puppy to a mimimum while rearing happy healthy babies. I like to keep in touch with new puppy owners and am always available to help with advice when needed. Please BEWARE of cheaper puppies offered by mass producing kennels with numerous different breeds as they often do not give follow up advice or have membership of the Canine authorities and are therefore not subject to the strict code of ethics and care that has been designed to protect all puppy buyers as well as the dogs in our ownership. I have written my thoughts on the :-
Puppy Farm / Backyard Breeder / Designer dog issues
which you can read here if you wish.
When making your enquiry, please give me your name, phone contact and the area in which you live so that I can organise a quote for travel also if it is required. I have had many one line queries from unidentified people and unfortunately due to the large amounts of spam mail I do not reply to any email now that does not give identification especially if it comes from a hotmail or yahoo account.
IMPORTANT NOTES FOR PUPPY BUYERS
FEEDING.... I use and recommend "Optimum" puppy food. Tinned formula is fed from 4 weeks of age and the matching dry food is added/offered from 6 weeks. I also use VIP Gourmet pet roll and puppy roll as all of my dogs just love these products. I have had no problems with the diet and health of my puppies since using these foods and am happy to endorse them. My adult dogs have a complete balanced dry food formula in preference to meat these days as I am very suspicious of the amount of hormones and growth additives added to chicken and stock feed. These additives can affect your dog when digested from the raw meats that are available for pets today and even human meats come from force fed (feed lot) cattle and sheep so do contain preservatives, additives and hormones. I feel much safer using a proven cooked formula made specifically for my dogs and tested for quality with added vitamins and minerals. I am also NOT a fan of the raw chicken neck / wing diet as I personally have lost 2 dogs to choke from unchewed chicken necks. These were adult Italian Greyhounds who knew to chew their food but bolted the necks whole and died when the bones became firmly stuck in the throats. Undigested small bones from chicken can also cause bowel impactions so although many may recommend this style of feeding, I do not so if you must feed raw meat please get it minced and realise that raw chicken has little or no iron content so a suitable vitamin and iron supplement would also be needed. This way of feeding may suit a bigger dog with larger oesophagus but not small breeds in my opinion. My dogs love the rawhide chew bones and strips and these are wonderful for their teeth as well as the larger beef marrow bones to gnaw when cut longways in half.
VACCINATIONS ETC.... I vaccinate my babies no earlier than 10 weeks so please realise that I do not allow them to leave until age around 12 weeks of age. I use a standard C3 vaccine as the more complicated ones containing extra components have been known to cause reactions in some babies sometimes affecting their immune systems. These extras can always be given with the later booster needle if required. Puppy can be microchipped at vaccination time if it is requested as currently it is not compulsory in SA and some other areas, alternatively you can chip your own puppy when it is a little older using your own vet. Current charge for chipping at my vet is $35.00au.
TEMPERAMENT.... I have had many would be Iggy owners ask about the problems associated with having a male dog as a pet. My answer is and will always be that I feel the male dog makes a much more stable pet. He is easier to housetrain, He costs less to desex at the vet and he usually has a very happy, relaxed, loyal approach to life. When you have a male as a pet he will look up to you as his leader and will follow you like a shadow. I find boys faster to learn and once desexed at around 6 months of age I have found that they become soft and affectionate with their owners. The female is sometimes moody especially around season time and occasionally sulky and withdrawn if she does not wish to follow the lead. I have found that they are not always as outgoing as the males preferring to be entertained and coaxed rather than wanting to please as they are more self contained and independant. If you have a mixed pair the female is usually the more dominant. You will need to spey your female at age 6 months to prevent unwanted seasons in the home and to deter male dogs from coming to call. If you really want a female for your house pet please realise that in many cases the breeders of this elegant breed need to retain the best girls for their programs as this is still quite a rare breed and although excess males are reasonably easy to source you may have to wait in line for a suitable female.
For more info re training and other often requested notes please read my Faqs page, link at the top.
NOTE.
Parvovirus is a devastating viral disease that often strikes unprotected dogs with fatal results. It is found in all States of Australia and all too often it is our young and older dogs who are the worse affected. All puppies from my kennel are vaccinated for parvovirus along with their distemper and hepatitis needles before being rehomed but there are a few facts that you should be aware of. When your puppy is born it is protected by its mothers antibodies which are transferred through the placenta, colostrom and milk supply. These antibodies stay in the puppies system to around 10 weeks of age (according to current veterinary advice) giving protection of varying/diminishing degrees to the puppy. When you purchase any puppy at age 8 weeks the vaccination supplied which contains live bacteria is attacked by these maternal antibodies which reduces and in some cases negates the protection offered by the needle. This is why a vet will advise another (booster) needle at 12-16 weeks of age. Many puppy buyers do not take their new baby for these very important needles and therefore leave their dogs at risk. My puppies are not subjected to vaccinations prior to 10 weeks of age when it becomes more viable and offers better protection and they are kept isolated during these early days. I now re-home my babies at around 12 weeks as Parvovirus is a devastating illness and young puppies often do not survive so there is a need to be especially careful when taking young partially or un-protected babies home at 8 weeks about keeping them away from other dogs until the second needle is given and protection is obtained. Obviously most puppy buyers want a cute baby to look after but think about it, when all is said an extra few weeks do not make a lot of difference in the puppy's life and can make all the difference if the vaccination has not taken strongly. |