Paxy is just starting to lose her baby teeth and two adult teeth in the front have already emerged. The question is the last couple of days she is not so very interested in her food. She is happy to chew on chicken wings (slightly defrosted) but the dry kibble she gets in the morning she is not eating within my 10min time limit and her dinner which is raw mince is also only being half eaten (also 10min time limit).

She is happy to accept dry kibble as a food reward during the day and she is not overloading in this (she gets only about 1/3 cup for brekkie). I'm not sure whether this disinterest in her meals is teeth or she's getting older. She is nearly 5 months old. Her bowels seem fine atm (in case you're wondering - although she was a bit loose the other day). Other than that she is probably a little quieter than usual but nothing to really worry about. I did wonder if it was a delayed reaction to me having been away and then comeback but I think I'm reading too much into it then!

Another question, do koolies usually get their first season around 6 months or a bit later? We start obedience next week - Canine Good Citizen - which goes for 8 weeks so was wondering if she will end up in season half way through it or whether to book her in for desexing, either way she's going to miss out on a lesson or two!

I'd say that is the reason why she's gone off her food.. both Tully and Evie went off their food when they went through their teething stage. They were also off colour during this time. There is no need to worry, she'll be right.. just be patient and give her plenty of goodies to gnaw on.

Now I'm not sure about everyone else's Coolies but Evie didn't have her first season until she was about 10-11 months old.. it may have been because we didn't have any mature males around, not sure.

Poppy and Pixie came in about 8 months but Harley was 18 months we were beginning to thing it was never going to happen!!!

Mine were the same with their food, very picky and all they would eat was chewy things, lots of bones!! and toys to chew on

Koolie’s on average will have their first season around 6 months, but there are always exception to the rule.

The teething is most probably the underlying reason for her change, she will get enough sustenance from chicken wings and the dry kibble you give her during the day, so be at ease, I know you watch her like a hawk, so if it becomes something else you'll be right on top of it.

Over the last two years we have recorded slight out of the ordinary occurrences in some Koolie’s such as delayed seasons, phantom pregnancies, no pregnancies, double seasons.
It is believed that theses Koolie’s may be sensitive to the climate change due to the severe drought we are having.

One member who owns Siberian Huskies and knows firsthand how that breed is effected by climate change believes in this theory very much and I am inclined to agree.

The recorded incidents have been mostly about mature females who have never had any problem, who have seasons like clockwork and it has only been over the last two years from other parts of Australia.

So she may take longer to have her first season and it is not a concern, she will when she is good and ready.

If your not intending to breed with her then just get her desexed, no problem.

Bluedog, did you have any particular reason to wait until she was 6 mths for desexing? Because that is a kind of random age, and getting her done now would probably not make any/much difference. Possibly she might be slightly leggier as a result, but the difference between 5 and 6 mths isn't going to be very significant, I don't think. And no clinical significance of longer leg bones due to earlier desexing has been found as yet.

You might be interested in this article - over the last few yrs have you heard the stuff that's gone around about the risks of desexing? This brings it together and tries to balance the pros and cons. And it's a 'serious' article (published in JAVMA). It doesn't say don't do it, it says work out whether or when it's best for the individual animal. Personally, I think I will be very unlikely to desex my companion male dogs in future. Companion females, the pros are stronger, so not sure about them.
Determining the optimal age for gonadectomy of dogs and cats http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/pdf/10.24...665?cookieSet=1

Hmm Paxy seems to have got to this age all of a sudden!
Kooliemum your article kept coming up "error" so couldn't access that page.
I know there are risks involved in the doing and also in the not doing!

My only reason at the moment for delaying desexing is to avoid missing classes in the middle of our 8 week obedience session!! Maybe I'll give the vets a ring tomorrow morning and see if they can do it early next week as the first week of obedience the dogs don't attend! Of course this a decision then based on my convenience not the dogs.
I don't intend to breed with her and I think it's more suitable in a city/urban environment to have a dog desexed. I mean there are so many dogs near each other it's harder to keep them apart when those hormones start working. Of course there are many pros and cons to desexing and for each person it is an informed decision to make. It's also much cheaper to register a desexed dog than an entire although our council has a lifetime fee not a yearly like a lot of Sydney councils I believe!

That link works for me...
This is the higher link, wonder if it will work...
http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/abs/10.24...vma.231.11.1665
The links to the pdf are on the R side of the page.