mantis

Chrissie Swan & her just as ignorant offsider Jane Hall should shut their mouths until they are actually prepared to do some research instead of hysterically calling for the eradication of breeds such as GSD's, Rottis & Rhodesians - amongst others. I've been listening to her unfounded rants yesterday morning & again today where she questions why anyone would want to own a dog that weighs more than 50 kilos - sitting in judgement of people like me as if we are some kind of child killing monsters. Ms Swan hasn't met me or my dogs yet she is of the clear belief that my beautiful dogs have no place in society simply because they weigh more than 50kgs. That appears to be her only criteria to declare large dogs a dangerous menace & a threat to all children. Strange that Ms Swan didn't have the same level of concern for her own unborn child when she made the decision to smoke cigarettes during the later stages of pregnancy, despite the undisputed FACTUAL evidence that smoking whilst pregnant can have serious long term effects on the health of the foetus. And don't even start me on how she sent her 'rescue cat' back to the shelter because she found it sleeping in the babies cot. Wonder if her Bondi Vet buddy Chris Brown shares her extreme views regarding large dogs & dog ownership in general. Ah.. so weight is what makes a dog dangerous. I'd commented elsewhere today that my greyhounds (who are all very tall dogs) had yet to eat either of my children and that perhaps they were broken. As it happens, most of my dogs are around the 30-35kg mark so at least 10kg shy of being baby eaters. Useful to know! So that's why Kenny wasn't a baby killer, he only weighed 45kgs.

American Bulldogs again.........the Jogger now this one There is no place in the community for these stupid breeds for people wanting a protective type of dog. There is nothing wrong with having a dog that offers some protective quality in fact a dog can be very effective to keep potential thieves and unwanted visitors away and help people sleep at night, but a good GSD or Rotty will achieve that nicely who are genetically safe unless provoked with a high degree of trainability......bloody Bulldogs, Mastiff's and crap like that used as protection dogs are mauling's waiting to happen......when individual dogs in these breeds have a high degree of social aggression, they are extremely hard to train and direct aggression in the right areas for the right reason which is the reason why professional's don't use these breeds in formal protection roles. What a load of shit Agree & the fact they use the word "crap like that" when referring to dogs, gives me the shits. Says a lot for a supposed dog lovers forum.

You are lucky the neighbours contacted you before the Council. When I moved house many years ago with Kenny, I didn't think there would be a problem, as he had the house & the yard to do what he wanted. Didn't know he was barking while I was at work. My neighbours came over & told me that he was barking the whole time I was away. Fortunately Kenny hated water, so I bought a Super Sopper & kept it on the bin in front of my fence & told my neighbours to squirt him whenever he barked. Only took 2 days before he stopped barking. They had to do it occasionally after that, but there were no more complaints & they all ended up loving him. Talk to your neighbours & try to come up with a solution to make everyone happy.

Separation anxiety, is when you come home to see your bed, or couch, clothes etc torn to pieces. Speaking from experience here. :laugh:

They pit them against the other dogs to test instinct. They aren't stealing people's pets to do it. Like I said they have a surplus of their own dogs that are useless for the pit, plus their other fighters at their disposal. There's no point in taking the risk of being caught for theft and therefore exposing their entire disgusting operation (dogfighting is felony in the US and carries jail time) when there are many many dogs within their own and other fighters yards that can be used. Again, yes it happens occasionally, on a very small scale, from inexperienced idiots that just want to abuse animals and pretend that they are 'dog men', but it's not widespread, typical or commonly done with stolen dogs from people's backyards. We have to remember that organised dog fighting isn't just letting two dogs go at it for a short while. The dog has to be willing to cross the line and engage with the other dog over and over again, despite injury and exhaustion. They don't want a fast match that will be over in a flash, they want a match that will go for two hours and draw large amounts of money. Very, very few dogs have that ability - even when selectively bred from lines of 'champions'. Colby himself said how hard it was to get even one or two dogs in a litter that would do this. So therefore testing the dog on a dog with it's mouth tied and can't fight back or another animal is a pretty poor and useless test to see if the dog has what it takes to do what they want it to do. In fact it tells them nothing about whether the dog they are testing is worth keeping. That dog might be happy to go for a dog that won't fight back but buckle as soon as a dog does. Why would you use that test to decide which dogs to keep!? Well said.

Did she take the bed with her, because she looked comfortable. :laugh: My Cougar looks just like her & when I first got her I thought she was overweight. My next door neighbour who breed Staffies for over 20 years, said she was fine for an older dog & even though she looked overweight, he could still feel her ribs. So looks can be deceiving, as long as they are active, happy & have regular Vet checks, no problems. Let's face it, all us middle age ladies get a little rotund around the tummy.

When I saw that pic I had a quick look at my couch, phew, Cougar is still snoozing there. It's fantastic that you took her in & she seems to be enjoying her unexpected play date.

So when your off leash dog rushes up to an onleash dog & that dog doesn't like it & takes a bite out of your dog, I bet you will be the first one rushing to report the onleash dog. Keep your bloody dog onleash, except when in an off leash area. I'm sick of having to walk my dog at midnight, just so I don't run into irresponsible owners like you.

The look on the face of the dog on the left, looks like it's thinking, "keep that up & I'll slap you silly".

Oh..I love doing that to people. Willow loves bull chews, we use them at bedtime to keep her quietly gnawing away if she's not quite ready to sleep. People ask me..."Oh, what are bull chews?" I say, "Well, you know...Bull...bits." Doesn't take em too long to put two and two together with interesting results. I'm always puzzled by people who say stuff like, "Poor Pig" or "Poor Cow" when buying pet treats. I ask them, "Do you like bacon?" But somehow that's different. I was curious about them & getting some for Cougar, but after your 2 posts I think I'll give them a miss.

Dogmad & Pitbull story.

Cougar has a spa treatment once a month, nail clipping, hydro bath & blow-dry, finished off with a nice perfume & she adores it. :laugh:

As if they can do better than you DD! Mine don't want to share the bed (let alone my time) so apart from downloading bedtime stories I doubt they will assist with any hook ups even if Johnny Depp came calling! :rofl:

This. We can't even make a "b" sound without Lili noticing :laugh: Let's hope they never learn to spell, or we are going to be in trouble.

When I had my talking budgie Simon years ago, when my OH asked what we should get for dinner, Simon would say "let's get a pizza", because that was usually my answer. I think animals do understand english, or any other language. There have been many doco's where animals have been raised in 1 country & are sent to another country & don't understand the commands given in the new countries language.

Can't see any bite stats from restricted breeds other than Pitbulls, so a bit hard to say that bite stats wouldn't be higher again with no BSL when your irresponsible owner has Fila or Dogo as they please. All breeds can present danger I agree, but some breeds don't have the genetic make up to present the level of danger that other breeds have, that is, try and train a Labrador in front line civil defence then try a GSD or Belgian Malinois and tell me there is no difference in a dog's fighting capabilities from genetic (breed) foundation? Try and rehabilitate a Bull breed with serious dog aggression, a dog that has poor handler focus, and a high pain threshold, then try the same with a Rottweiler of similar dog aggression level and tell me the training result will be the same? Tell a Greyhound racer to switch breeds to Cocker Spaniels as breed doesn't matter, train em right they can still win.........need we go on?? Of course with responsible ownership a tiger in the backyard is safe no question on that, but when the tiger or aggressive dog gets out is when the problem begins and the breed having genetic predisposition to aggression and fight in the individual dog is a great factor in the outcome. Going down the "strawman" route, Comparing a tiger to a dog, well done.

*sigh* From the breed standard, regarding temperament: Behaviour and character. Being good natured, placid in basic disposition and fond of children, he is very devoted, obedient, biddable and eager to work. His appearance is natural and rustic, his behaviour self assured, steady and fearless. He reacts to his surroundings with great alertness. Ok, yes - good point! I take back my offended feelings. I hate to inform you, that the dog third from the left isn't a Rottie. Agree it's a ridiculous article, so many ignorant people out there. OH & Staffies are vicious looking, WTF?

Whilst it's true that probably few dogs involved in attacks labelled as Pitbulls are actually Pitbulls or have Pitbull ancestry, but they are in that breed type.......that is, they are not reporting attacks from GSD's or Standard Poodles claimimg they are Pitbulls........the point I am making is people getting up in arms over a dog labelled a Pitbull which is an Amstaff X or an American Bulldog, the media hype is targeting a certain type of dog which I haven't seen a misrepresentation in that regard whether they are Pitbulls or not, they are of Bull breed origin being the more relative point. Personally I think the Bull breed supporters have bought a lot of the problems on themselves with too much defence of "that's not a Pitbull"......who cares if they think it's a Pitbull, they are a restricted breed anyway, it's not going to change anything by highlighting that an attacking dog is X breed as all that did was provide the foundation for Victoria to target and seize crossbreeds too. In hindsight it would have been a better scenario to agree that these attacking dogs are Pitbulls and the nice dogs the Bull breed supporters own are not Pitbulls and everyone is happy. This continual defence of Pitbulls which are done and dusted with a likelihood of BSL release at zero is IMHO what is bringing the crossbreeds and anything else Bull breed related into the spotlight?? Most of the dogs ARE crossbred.. your point??? What makes a dangerous dog is a LOT more than breed. Even a cursory examination of the background on most of these dogs finds OWNER failure... failure to socialise, failure to train, failure to supervise and failure control. Don't kid yourself for a minute that a "nice" breed in the wrong hands can't be a danger to the community. And that is why focus on breeds is so dangerous. The myth that some breeds are "safe" and some are "dangerous" is probably the most dangerous aspect in all of this. Any cursory study of dog attacks on children shows that failure to SUPERVISE is what leads to most bites. Because what doesn't sell papers is that most dog bites are inflicted by the family dog. BSL is knee jerk, poorly researched and totally ineffective legislation and that should be screamingly obvious to anyone reading the bite stats at the start of this thread. If BSL is the answer, then how come bite stats are RISING??? Excellent post.

So the dog is not actually dead? Will there be a breed assessment then? And why are the owners claiming the dog was killed? ETA: Re: Owners being away and leaving the dog at home, we do that as well... We do have escape proof kennels and my father in law comes over and feeds everyone and checks on the auto waterer. I am very reluctant to leave my dogs in a commercial kennel or pet hotel when we go away and judging by the threads on that topic on DOL many others also avoid it if possible. Unfortunately my family lives overseas and we are unable to take pets when we go to see them. I don't think there is anything wrong with leaving pets at home in a familiar environment as long as they are cared for and cannot escape. I sometimes left Kenny at home alone when I went away for the weekend. He never had access to outside though, I put newspaper down on the concrete floor in the games room, I left him with plenty of food & water. As for the owners of the poor dog, I can't believe people don't register & microchip their dogs, they save money by not doing it, but as in this case, risk the dogs life.

Is that a good thing? PM me if you prefer. I wish you didn't live so far away, I would be way happier if you were helping my daughter's dogs.

He says on his site that he is. He treats dogs for anxiety & hyperactivity. My daughter's male dog is a chronic tail biter & she has tried everything to stop him injuring himself. Both dogs are also bad play biters, which until now they have been allowed to get away with as just dogs being dogs. My daughter lives in Cockatoo, so he is charging $100 an hour because of the distance, which I thought was a bit over the top. If anyone has any recommendations of another behaviourist in the Cockatoo area, please let me know, in case Tim doesn't work out.

My daughter has finally decided to get a behaviourist, to help with her two psycho JRT's, before she has her baby in a months time. I'm wondering if anyone has knowledge of him & can say if he is any good. His business is called "Naturally Wild", his name is Tim Munro & he is in Croydon Victoria. Thanks in advance.

This afternoon I was going to do my shopping, thankfully without Cougar & there were 2 SWF's running loose with no owner in sight. As I got closer, they both bolted across the busy main road, I closed my eyes not wanting to see them hit. Luckily they some how made it across the road & ran into a house, hopefully their home & stayed there.

Both are wonderful breeds, but being biased I would go the Mastiff route. :laugh:

Wonder where my friend Juice is .... she can attest to the fact that I adore her Bull Terrier "Bon" and her previous Bull Terrier "Mason" in particular. I thought Bull Terriers were Bull Breeds - funny about that. As Yonjuro said, only in the last fortnight I was trying to assist his friend's Rotti cross. As I have said numerous times before, I spend plenty of my spare time assisting dogs - of all sizes. Still, I can talk till i'm blue in the face - and i'm probably blocked by the right people now who will just accuse me of lying if they saw this post - i'm happy if they are happy. :) I'm not trying to pick on you dogmad - just letting you know how some of your postings on the topic can come across. I am someone who used to have a complete fear of small fluffy dogs... because I had encountered so many that just weren't nice at all... and most had shown varying levels of aggression towards me. I have been pleasantly reappraised of the ideas I used to harbor about small dogs through meeting a large number of very nice small dogs - but I'm still quite leery of any small dog I don't know rushing towards me. The thing is that I don't jump at every opportunity to espouse my thoughts about small dogs and present my experiences as evidence that all small dogs are nasty snappy things that will bite first and ask questions later... funnily enough, it wouldn't be completely true - regardless of my first hand experience with so many nasty ones. Again, just for clarity's sake, I agree with your thoughts about irresponsible owners of large or powerful dogs... but please don't pass comments that come across as tarring us all with the same 'bogan' brush. Many of us large and bull breed dog owners are just as responsible as you are. T.