Diva

Remind myself it is never the dogs’ fault. Never. I am in control of the training, I set the criteria, I control the method. I can’t always control the environment, but I control the where and when. I even chose the dog in the first place. How can I get frustrated with the dog? It is all mine to own. If I am frustrated with myself I just think what effect that must have on her, and how unfair that is to her. And I do something easy and fun for the dog for a bit so she finishes happy, then quit for the day.

I saw a uniformed police officer interviewed on TV news. But I can’t recall now if I saw the clip online on a news site or directly on the TV. No doubt it will all come out in the Coroner’s report.

I remember him telling me (on DoL) to get a cross bred dog because my pure breed of choice couldn’t possibly suit me as well as they had for the past 30 years, he had had an epiphany and we should all get cross breeds. Having had a happy healthy breed that was perfect for me for so long I decided he was either zealot or snake oil salesman and wouldn’t touch his products with a ten foot barge pole.

There are quite a few breeders these days who use or fit the term ‘preservation breeders’. They mostly have the very old breeds I find. They seek to maintain their breeds, not change them.

So now the Police say the fatal attack was done by a dog tethered in the backyard. And the baby went to or was taken into its reach. No unknown dog jumping a fence. That poor child.

The trend to add Merle into breeds that never had it historically makes me so sad. It’s a sure bet someone will do double Merle at some point, maybe because they know no better or maybe it’s not blindingly obvious in one of the pair, and deformed puppies will result. Why create a risk that didn’t exist - oh yeah Merle us pretty and you can charge a lot for the novelty. And nobody can blame ‘breed standards’ for that mess.

I’d suggest that with children involved you would be best getting some professional help, someone who can work with you and give you specific strategies. If you post where you are you will get good recommendations on who to call, better than just picking at random. In the interim I would suggest feeding her in a crate or separate area well away from the children. As for desexing, there have been some studies showing it can increase aggression in females. But that might mean it made the behaviour worse, rather than being a cause of it.

I am much less inclined to blame breed standards. I shall stick my neck out for you to chop off. I think our society seeks extremes and novelty. How often is some poor deformed creature posted on social media to a chorus of ‘I want one!’, ‘cute!!’. Let a celeb own one and guaranteed popularity no matter how dysfunctional. Certain sectors of society prefer cute/extreme to functional everyday of the week. Look at the extreme bullies, completely outside the normal ankc arrangements and highly extreme. Or the colour breeders making everything Merle. Or teacup everything. Or novelty crosses for novelty sake. Nothing to do with show wins or conforming to the standard. But I agree judging in the show ring also tends to fashion to the detriment of function. Often quite contrary to what the breed standard actually calls for. There are breeds where moderation is a key feature of the standard, or excess in one feature is specifically prohibited in the standard, but rewarded in the ring. Actually sticking to the standard would be quite different. That needs to be fixed. I don’t think show bred brachy breeds are automatically unhealthy either. I used to, really firmly I believed that, until I saw the healthy ones in action. And saw the results where the testing chambers are being utilised and how many were just fine. I think the the real issue for me is not the extreme physical features that can fairly easily be bred away from. I think it is the shift in thinking from line breeding/ in breeding, which was hugely useful in setting type and often produces great dogs, to managing genetic diversity for the good of the overall population. Over the course of a human lifetime what is needed to maintain pure breeds has changed quite a bit. I think that is a challenge, one where technological advances offer huge potential but where the culture and incentive structure needs to catch up a bit. For my own breed, I think things have improved over the last 15 years. Mainly in the US and parts of Europe, where many of the dogs that are in the show rankings also feature in lure course and straight racing rankings. Function is right back up there. I can also look at some of the photos from a hundred years ago and know you could groom those same dogs up and show them successfully today. I can plan a litter and have less than 1% COI over 10 generations. Our big risks are low numbers and being collateral damage in the anti pure bred agenda.

http://doggenetics.co.uk/merle.html this is pretty good on the genetics of Merle

‘The story was the ultimate antidote to recent dog attacks in Canberra’. Nope, not even close. Nice Rottie, nice owner, but there are still too many uncontrolled and dangerous dogs (not Rotties that I have seen) on the street.

I don’t think it is even that. Most of those I have noticed have been outside of any competitive context, people don’t seem to have any firm criteria most of the time.

There is a fb group called Nail Maintenance for Dogs which has detailed information files on cut lines and managing long quicks, worth a look.

Write or email your concerns to the ACNC if you think they don’t fit the requirements for a charity or their work doesn’t fit the purposes they avow. Maybe copy in the Deputy Prime Minister and the new Commonwealth Minister for Agriculture.

Ask his breeder, or if you are his breeder or his breeder doesn’t show, contact a breed club or go along to a show and make contact. It isn’t a copout out saying that, people familiar with the breed might see something saying he ISN’T from that photo, but no one can really tell he IS from one sitting photo. In trying to assess if a dog is a show prospect from photos you need side profile photos of the dog standing four square, front and rear shots, ideally videos of movement, knowing what the bite is and, if he is an entire male, that he isn’t cryptorchid. There is a fb group Australian dog show newbies, they are usually good in helping people get started. There are confirmation evaluation groups too.

Calling it a dog fight gives a bit of a false impression. I doubt the pug was doing much fighting back. It was an attack and one that might well have killed the pug. I can understand the guy lashing out with the bat. But continuing to strike once they had let go of the smaller dog crossed the line. Had he stopped as soon as the attacking dogs did I would feel quite differently about it.

It sounds like a new behaviour for him? At 12 I would start with a vet visit. He could have canine old age dementia, which the vet can help with. Or he could have failing hearing or eyesight.

Oveds

Quite a few show dogs are washed in human shampoos and conditioners, and often weekly. A lot of the hype around dog products is just hype.

Dog walkers in places like New York have been doing this for years, so I would want to see the evidence on number of incidents before I would judge for those environments. Here, by which I mean around where I live, it would be dangerous because of too many ill mannered and aggressive loose dogs who would start trouble.

Paul Walsh at the Canine Coach might be worth a try. I haven’t used him for training but he has a good reputation. I have used his dog walking services and was happy with him. If you prefer a vet, Helen Purdham at Hall Vet has an interest in behaviour. I don’t think she is a specialist but I believe she does a lot of work in the field. I think I would start with someone like Paul though. Or if you wanted to go to Sydney, Steve Courtney at k9pro.

He is lucky he had an attentive owner who noticed so early. Good luck with it.

If I was you I would buy the offal in slightly larger quantities, just because the amounts you need are so small, and freeze in portions. You don’t need to feed it every day, getting the weekly amount over a couple of days in the week is fine. Or feed the liver one week and the other offal the next. The other meat you will be able to buy in weekly, it probably means you will get variety between but not within weeks. I wouldn’t buy a separate freezer for one small dog. .

Do you mean a hygroma? If so they are common in large heavy breeds, unsightly but not usually a threat to health. I am sure owners of such breeds on here can give you lots of tips to manage them. Maybe change the title of your thread to include hygromas to attract the right readers, as they are not just a Newfie issue.

The occiput shouldn’t grow at that age so I would be worried there was something else going on. There are conditions that affect the muscles of the head, but I suppose it could also be some kind of tumour-definitely something to raise with your vet.

There was a thread in general discussion a few weeks ago about it