spottychick

Wonderful story. I hadn't heard about this Michael Vick before - I hope karma gets up and bites him many times on his derriere.

Bit of a long one but I wanted to give people a proper picture of how he's going. It's now been nearly 4 months since Tango the psycho dalmatian arrived at Launceston airport and we took him home to our North East town. We've had lots of bad moments with him and some of them are still happening but so many lovely moments too. He is becoming a very confident and ridiculously happy dog. He is funny and loves to bark at us to come and play. In the morning he leaps on my bed and squirms around on his back like a demented frog and then leaps off the bed and barks before racing into the lounge room to do zoomys and then back onto the bed to do it all over again till I get up. Hahahahahaha. He loves to grab toys (or my shoes) and tear out the back door getting me and Pepper to chase him. He adores the car and no matter how long a trip we have when we get home he refuses to get out of it. I have to leave him in the car with the back open till he gives up and comes inside of his own accord (usually about half an hour or less if I make food-preparation noises!!). He is getting along better with Pepper tho they are not best buddys and he is still touchy with her, but occassionally they sort of play (from a distance with each other) and the other day he inadvertantly hopped into the same basket as her (its a big basket) - Pepper climbed out as she doesn't trust him (LOL fair enough!). I had to go to a weekend workshop last weekend so he stayed here with access to the house all day (a friend fed them etc) and he did no damage or anything naughty while I was away. This is a dog who's lived outside in a fenced run all his life. I think it's amazing. He's put on weight and he's now all of 20 kgs and doesn't have so many bones sticking out - but still needs to put a bit more on. He is eating meat for the first time in 7 years of his life - just good quality chicken meat/frames/wings or Natures Gift tinned chicken - as well as a huge variety of wholesome foods. Rice has changed from being 90% of his diet (before he came here) to being about a third of it and it's now brown rice, not white. He has one health issue - an indolent ulcer in his eye - and we've just run out of the vets medicine without any significant improvement so we'll have to go back to the vet. Otherwise he is very healthy. And he has been brilliant about letting me mess about washing his eyes out and putting in gunk. The other day while walking him he suddenly started to limp. Without thinking I grabbed his foot to see what was causing the limp. Then I felt along the limb gently pressing looking for the sore spot. I had forgotten that he's bitten be three times for grabbing his feet. But despite being in some discomfort and yelping at one point he did not attempt to bite me or even look like he might. On the contrary, he came towards me when he first starting limping like he was asking me to fix it!!!!! A couple of weeks ago I took the dogs to Campbelltown when I had to visit the Doctor there and he accidentally got out of the car before I could get the lead on him. He ran off toward the main road (Midland Highway) and wouldn't come to me despite me waving a yummy bakery bun around and making crackly paper noises at him. He didnt exactly bolt but he definitely kept his eye on me and trotted off whenever I got close. Fortunately I managed to enlist the help of some locals to sort of "herd" him up and I managed to snaffle his collar as he tried to dart past me. On the good side, when he almost fell out of the car while trying to jump in the back a bit later, I grabbed him and lifted him in - that was a big step for him - letting me pick him up!!! ANyway - I realised he has a long way to go before he can be trusted to come back to me and be allowed to be off-lead anywhere. ANd lastly, today I took Tango and Pepper for their usual walk up the hill ( towards the old mine) and stupidly lost concentration for one second and dropped the end of his lunge lead. Tango kept trotting along unaware he was "free" and I tried to discreetly run up and catch the lead. Suddenly, I could see his body language change as he realised I didn't have hold of the lead and he looked back at me and then put on a burst of speed and took off. I was devastated. There was no way in hell I could catch him up and he was heading straight for areas where there are mine shafts. I had to make a quick decision and a huge leap of faith. I didn't run after him or call him - I knew that would only spur him on. Instead I called Pepper back (she was excitedly following him) and got her to stay by my side. Then I sat down on the step of an old church building, tried to look casual.... and waited. :D My heart was in my mouth and I was close to panicking and crying because at the speed he went - with lunge lead trailing behind him - I knew he could be miles away by now and I might have lost him for good - to a possibly horrible fate. But I knew panicking wouldnt help. Anyway, Pepper was sitting next to me but clearly very agitated and wanting to go after him. I was sitting there doing breathing exercises to stay calm and was just on the point of giving up and racing off to get help to search the mine area for him...... when I saw a flash of white and OH MY GOD there he was!! :cheer: Running back towards us!!! He was a little unsure where we were and I could see him looking down the other path and looking a bit worried so I called his name - just quietly and calmly and he snapped his head around and came towards us as happy as a bug!!! Then the little smarty stopped a little distance away so I couldn't grab him. SO, being slightly smarter than him, I pretended to feed Pepper a treat from my backpack (she's such a great training prop LOL) so he came over to get some too and I got hold of his lead. I really REALLY wish I DID have a treat with me. It was absolutely the time to give him lots of treats. Not having treats I did all I could anyway and gave him the biggest fuss of his life. Rubbed him all over, cooed and kissed him, etc He was so thrilled he turned his ears around backwards and went all silly and coy while doing a silly high-stepping prance at me. Pepper got hugs too of course But I am absolutely thrilled. I really didn't think he'd come back to me if he got off the lead but HE DID. ANd this is a massive watershed in his relationship with me and us. SO anyway, if you're still with me this far, I think Tango is doing brilliantly well and he is bringing me a great deal of joy and laughter. He's not quite so "psycho" anymore

Yes Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! I wish I had a spare $4,000 to snap these poor babies up!

To those who jumped on (flamed??) me for telling you about my chat with the lady who wants to rescue a dog. Until the RSPCA in Tasmania fix their problems and start spending money on actually helping dogs instead of having high pts rates and spending their money on nice staff bonuses and vague but massive "admin" expenses I will happily continue to warn people away from them. There are plenty of other dedicated rescue groups who are actually doing the right thing by their animals who have lovely well- prepared pets desperately in need of adopting so it's much better for people to support those groups instead at the same time as rescuing a deserving pet. This is one of the reasons why I preferred to go the extra expense of spending money on air freight when I adopted my dally and get him from a NSW rescue group rather than go via Tassie's RSPCA which is just up the road from me. The lady already has the option of still going to the RSPCA if she wants to, I simply gave her information from the other side of the coin. I have not stopped her from making a choice - I have given her the ability to make an informed choice. If she wants, she can do her own research (like I did) but at least she has been alerted to the fact that things are not always as they seem. I think it would be irresponsible NOT to let her know that it's not all roses in the RSPCA. Note that I'm referring to Tassie RSPCA and they have real issues with high kill rates and irresponsible money management which have resulted in many, including their biggest benefactor, withdrawing their support for them. I'm quite happy and proud to warn people away from them (counteracting the massive RSPCA promotional machine) and direct them to better, less cash-rich and kill-focussed rescue groups.

Aww critsnbits - good on ya!!! What a lucky puppy to have found you. I remember looking into this a while ago when I was considering adopting a deaf dally - he eventually went to someone else. I found some websites and groups through google searches that had some great tips and ideas. Sorry I can't remember them off-hand. But I did just find this page that looks like it has some useful links and resources. http://deafness.about.com/cs/deafpets/a/deafpets.htm

That is such a tragedy - makes me so mad ;)

Disgusting! How can they justify this and happily sit there counting all that money. But it's what I've come to expect from the RSPCA A lady was chatting with me at a cafe yesterday about my adopted dally Tango. We had a long discussion about the ins and outs of taking on an adult dog with a "history". She said she'd been thinking of buying a puppy but I had made her think that rescuing a dog is a better idea. She said she was going to visit the RSPCA tomorrow and see if they had anything like a Golden Retriever or labrador she could adopt because she likes that kind of breed. My immediate response was NO don't go there. Check out the Tassie Dogs home or find out if there's a GR or Labrador specific rescue group and go with them. I gave her a run down on the RSPCA and she was shocked and appalled. I think it's a tragedy that the RSPCA has fallen so far that I find myself warning people away from them.

I have "tuff toys" for my dogs. If they grab something they shouldn't (eg my shoe) and run off with it I catch them up and swap the shoe for the tuff toy then play with them. I wont play with them if they don't let go of the shoe obviously. I got some great tuff toys from vetnpetdirect. They havent managed to damage them after months of playing with them.

OMG!! There were other adults in the trailer while the mother and baby were in the back room. They heard the baby cry around 9.30 and that's all. It all seems very suss to me. Note the advice given at the end of the article Swiss Girl posted - re if you have a dog and a baby is on the way they suggest you "snatch it's food and poke it in the eye" to get it used to how the baby will behave!!!! WHAT?????????? My God! Are these people insane?

Dalmatian, lived till nearly 19 and then was still going strong and only passed away due to choking on something. She ate raw meat and veggies, some eggs and cottage cheese, glucosamine and flax with occassionally some EP holistic - for the last 9 years of her life.

What are they?

I don't have a cat at the moment. I'm not all that interested in cats generally but I used to have the world's best cat. She thought she was a dog really and would come for long walks with us (and dart out from behind stalks of grass and leap at us then race ahead and 'hide' behind another bit of grass). She also slept in the basket with my dogs and often groomed them (and they groomed her). In the car she'd sit in the back seat with the "other" dogs. hee hee SHe wasn't any particular type - she was a fluffy black and white cat. I chose her for her personality when she was a kitten. Very bold and outgoing. I would get another one if the right one came along - but I'm not sure how my new fella will react......

Thinking of your Li'l Lottie! Hope she's okay

Cool. I am making mine up as I go along based on charts showing food purine levels and acid vs alkaline levels. I should add I also give him some tinned food but only Nature's Gift chicken and rice or oats which is very good quality, natural and doesn't include organ meat or any additives etc. The price isn't too bad either compared to Hills etc

My dally's a stone-former and is on a low protein diet to keep his purine levels low. He gets a range of foods including cottage/ricotta cheese, eggs (soft boiled), yoghurt or kefir, brown rice, quinoa, whole raw oats, veggies, fruit and some chicken plus chicken frames/necks. He is also getting some hemp granules, flax oil, fish oil and a mixed "immunity" supplement from VANs that doesnt contain yeast. For treats he's getting natural dried fish (not very often and only a tiny bit), bananas, cheddar and other cheeses and ryvita. To help alkilise his system he also gets ACV in his food and lots of water mixed in. ETA I also cook the rice with miso as a stock and I should add that occassionally he gets Cheerios as a treat LOL He loves em

Those in "the know" use Pentax (K200 DSLR)

True MM! I was just being flippant anyway. ;)

Yep - tuna in spring water is a regular addition to my dogs food (except the dalmatian who forms stones!!). Also sardines. Fresh tuna is good but can be expensive and hard to get around here so tinned tuna is a great stand-by.

I saw that on TV & Lexy looked as proud as punch to be alongside the 'dad' she'd saved. Good dog, Lexy! I hope there's a Doggie Hero Award coming up. Awwww that's so cute!! What a great dog I love "dog saves person" stories. BTW ........ GARDENING???? She was going to go outside and do 2 or more hours of GARDENING........... in the middle of the night!!!??? Huh?

I'm with everyone else. You can't buy the puppy without causing pain and suffering to more puppies and adult dogs. FUll stop. I never shop at pet shops that sell puppies etc. I had a favourite pet shop in Launceston that sold VAN products and other healthy stuff but one day I walked in and there was a sign out the front saying they had some cross-small breed (cant remember what now - shitzu and something) puppies for sale. I was shocked and questioned the owner (who I had a good relationship with till now) and he was completely clueless. "But people will buy puppies from us" he said in bewildered consternation. I gave him a lecture and told him he'd just lost a valuable regular and I wouldn't be back till I can be sure he's stopped supporting puppy farms. SO anyway - that's my feelings on it. Now I buy exclusively off the internet for my dogs, except meat etc which I buy from a local butcher.

Hmmmm. Looks like she should've been sterilised a while ago. Here's more on the story Read the rest here There's a pic of the poor dogs. One's only a pup and they look so sad. Tragic - again - it's not their fault!!! It doesnt sound like they "attacked" him - it sounds more like one of them grabbed the nappy and pulled and unfortunately grabbed the baby with it. If it had been an attack they would have injured other parts of the baby.

I somehow doubt it could have been an hour and a half - but you can't believe everything you read in the paper. Someone was exaggerating I suspect, and not necessarily the teenager. It sounds like he did all he could and what a horrible experience for him to go through. That poor labrador..... I noticed someone posted that the boy might be telling lies. About what? I can't see how anyone could suggest the boy is lying - unless he attacked and mauled his own dog causing those injuries and then dragged a neighbours dog into his yard and then stabbed him several times to make it look like the dog did it. Ridiculous of course. So I don't quite understand how anyone could suggest the kid lied. Maybe I've misunderstood.

Awwww she's gorgeous! Hope you find her family soon!

Unfortunately it's not actually legal to take dogs to school parks - even when it's not school hours - and I've been told off about doing that on a couple of occassions. It is very difficult in some places to find anywhere to let your dogs off-lead which is why off-lead parks have been set up. If you have dogs like mine they absolutely NEED to have a fast run and play off-lead so while a walk on the lead is nice - it's clearly not enough. I don't know the answer but I don't think it's just to have responsible dog owners NOT going to off-lead parks and never letting their dogs off-lead or allowing them to socialise with other dogs. I believe they do need to be socialised - this in turn makes DA less likely (providing the socialisation goes well of course). This is why I'm looking for an acreage here in Tassie for my next home. Probably won't get one on my budget but it would be the best solution. *sigh*

I have to say it sounds okay to me. It must be a beginners class and the dogs are getting treated for sitting and "coming" without being told to (including "coming" to the trainer). They are also being trained in a way where it's almost impossible for them to fail. This is great. When they are doing the right thing of their own accord that to me is better than only doing it when told to. They are figuring out for themselves what the right thing to do is. As I understand it when they start doing that solidly - on their own initiative - you give their action a name - "sit" "come" and reinforce it as a great thing. I only recently learnt the value of letting the dog work out what to do first, without you telling it to, when I tried out the Triangle of Temptation on my 8 year old lunatic adopted dog. Believe me, it really works.