spyda62

My friend and neighbour has been in hospital for the past 6 weeks. She probably wont see this weekend out. I managed to find a foster carer for her beautiful 13 year old Dalmation with one of my close friends. She is very much loved and well cared for by this family. (They also have a 10 year old Dobermann and 7 year old Manchester Terrier). To my suprise, the breeder of this dog has managed to track me down and contacted me. He has offered to take this dog back. When I explained where the dog is and how well she is being cared for, he has said that he is happy for her to stay there. He has only 2 conditions....1. That he wants to be financially resposible for any vet bills that will occur and that...2. when the dog dies that he will be allowed to get her cremated (at his cost). He also offered to pay her food costs, but I have that covered. I am so impressed that after nearly 13 years that this breeder still cares so much about one of his puppies. Wish more people had this kind of dedication to their animals.

TLC...your bunch look very cute getting bathed. I have only used the public dog wash once and thought it was great. Will definately be using it again!

I am not averse to this idea because I am "greyhound" person. I am averse to it because it is just such a flawed theory. I pay plenty of taxes and council rates already and dont want to pay more for a system that I know, I will fail with one of my dogs and be deemed an irresposible dog owner. My dogs are with us nearly all the time as it is. I dont see how this idea is going to be of any benfit what so ever to someone like me.

Well, how about if your dog just needed to pass a temperament test and some basic commands, particularly recall? I agree that there's more to good dog ownership than obedience training. I was thinking more along the lines of proving your dog to be sociable and responsive. Who would do the test and whose temperament test would be used? One of my dogs is dog agressive, she would fail any temperament test. Does that then put me in the irresposible owner category?

In my opinion, dominance is just a stupid word that is overused in the doggy world. So many people with badly behaved or badly trained dogs use that word to excuse their behaviour. Or people use it as an excuse to manhandle dogs. I heard a story of a dog groomer that had to show who was Alpha to a "dominant" dog (that she was meeting for the first time) by using the alpha roll and had this dog pinned down for nearly 15 mins till it submitted. This dog weighs 3.5kgs! My dogs sometimes go through doors before me, sit on my lap, my small dog sits on top of one of my bigger dogs, one dog tries to hump my mats when I shake them. Does this mean they are dominant...not a chance! Just badly trained / behaved.

I highly recommend Alida`s At Yatala. The care she gives to the dogs is fantastic.

Thank you for that john.davey.

I was wondering if anyone on here was able to tell me the best place to get information about American Bulldogs. I have done a google search and keep coming up with just very generic info. Even peoples experiences with these dogs would be appreciated. I am not planning on getting one. I just need to find out about them. Thank you in advance.

Looks Sheltie x Pom to me also. Very cute whatever it is.

Wow! Very cool! Good for you for putting so much time and effort in! Last year I worked permanent part time, i was a full-time uni stduent, and I did two days of work experience a week. I know what it feels like, but again, so worth it! leeLa- a looong time ago hahaha! oh good. I didn't want to offend you if you were talking about another life - some people believe that sort of stuff which I think it pretty cool but I didn't know how to phrase the question! hahahahah Oh beautiful! What kind of pup is it?? A beautiful Staffy X Boxer girl.

Another crazy dog lady here! Have 3 dogs of my own. Currently fostering a deaf 6 month old pup NDTF Qualified Work full time as an animal Attendent for AWLQLD

I have Annabel, 7 month old deaf Staffy x Boxer staying with me at the moment. Prior to her, it was Shelly a 5 month old deaf Staffy x Bully. Initially I put bells on thier collars so I did not need to keep going and checking on them if I couldnt see them. Shelly was VERY easy to train, all done with hand signals. She was like a little soldier by the time she got adopted. Annabel has been a little harder, only because she was a bit older when I got her and already had so many bad behaviours to change. (plus being a crazy, high energy happy natured dog) I conditioned both those dogs to a thumbs up (good dog) thumbs down (ahh- ahh) hand signals and found that to be very effective. The other thing I taught both dogs was to keep checking in with me. Every deaf dog or puppy I have ever met have been big barkers. Like any other dog though it is fixable through training.

That is one brave little boy. It really sux though that a kid got hurt, a dog is dead and the owners only got citations.

I took my dog to him with dog aggression issues. In a nutshell.... Long consultation, lots of money and he taught me a leave command.

That is very, very cool. You must feel so proud

Ditto

Not knowing your specific experience perhaps a generalisation is not appropriate but the vast majority of people I have dealt with over the (many) years who end up in a huff and saying we're a bunch of elitist snobs HAVE been told why good breeders care about where their puppies go - it's just they don't want to hear that they're not suitable owner for the breed they have in mind (or a pet rock in some circumstances) or they aren't allowed to breed from their PET ONLY puppy or they can't have xyz colour with abc markings just because they want one. I'd explain it this way. If you want to buy a fridge that will keep stuff cold, by all means go along to your nearest discount retailer and buy the cheapest one they have. Set aside a similar amount because in a couple of years time you will no doubt be buying another one. If you want to buy a fridge that will look good in your kitchen, has good technology inside and will either stand the test of time or be covered by a proper warranty, then do some research, check out your brands and choose the best brand for your purpose and price. I do understand what you are saying...at that stage in my life all I wanted was a wellbred, papered, healthchecked puppy as a pet. Always my pets are desexed. Seriously....I was knocked back by one breeder as my previous dog (Purebred Bernese Mountain dog) was bitten by a snake and died as a result. I look back now and in hindsight, I should have been a bit more humble when contacting the breeders, but I believed and still do believe I am a good pet owner. Getting a pet dog for (legitamate sincere puppy buyers) should be a good experience and not leave people walking away shaking their heads wondering what the hell that was all about. I really believe that any of us that choose to be involved in the dog world, wether it be breeding, rescue, training and etc should be taking every opportunity we can and educating people where ever possible and helping them to be the best possible dog owners they can be.

Surely, to a degree, it is up to Ethical registered breeders to educate people as to why they have such a tough criteria for their potential puppy buyers? I know from my own personal experience that after trying for 5 months to buy a purbred, papered puppy, I went and brought one from a petshop (this was nearly 6 years ago). I went to a petshop out of pure ignorance and frustration. I had no idea what was expected from me. Maybe if just 1 person had explained what I was doing or saying wrong the outcome "may" have been different. I was definately very motivated to do the "right" thing and get a purebred puppy. Instead I walked away from the epxperience feeling I had been very badly treated by a bunch of elitist snobs ( obviously my views have changed over the years).

Jimmay...What an awful situation to find yourself in while walking your dogs. In your situation, I would have done exactly the same as you. There would really be no point hanging around and potentially having your dogs involved and making it even worse than it already was. I can only hope the Staffies were reported and the owner of them gets her butt seriously kicked!

Willow...I completely understand your dissapointment. I recently had a situation walking 4 dogs and a GSD came to "say hello" (no where near as bad as having a baby I know). Lots of people going past not one person offered any assistance. Still dissapointing. I really believe that if the driver was not a "doggy" person they would not have even realised that it was a potentially dangerous situation for you. Thankfully it was not a bad outcome for you and your baby.

I work for AWL so I get to take my dog to work each day. Only downside to taking my dog is that everyone loves to give her treats and she is getting VERY fat.

What a load of rubbish! What is that teaching the dog? That is such dangerous advice to be giving people.

So sad

Unfortunately any idiot can set themselves up as a Trainer / behaviourist in this area. I have seen some shocking methods used by some trainers around here, including, pinning puppies to the ground and letting the other dogs around them climb all over them till the puppy on the ground "submits". Grrr...it is so frustrating! I always tell people to ring and talk to the clubs and trainers, then go and watch them in action (if possible) find out what methods and tools they use. Then use one that they feel most comfortable with.