Diva

Reasons why I don't like people guessing the breed of a mixed-breed and then the dog being marketed as that or labelled as that officially? - it implies breed differences are just about looks. They aren't. -it implies cross breeds look like their parents. They very often don't and most people guessing don't have a clue how different offspring can look from parents when not pure bred. - it can mislead adopters - for example, label a cream fluffy part Maremma a cream fluffy part Golden Retriever instead and watch the typical guarding and barking behaviours of the former breed surprise the hell out of the new owner, LOL. - it implies mixed breeds are mostly first crosses and therefore ascribes far more direct or indirect responsibility for the unwanted dog population to pure breed breeders than is fair. - if the mixed breed dog gets into trouble, the made up and guessed pure breed named gets the blame even though it probably doesn't have a drop of the breed in it - for example, can't trust those "insert breed here", look at this story in the paper. - weirdly, it seems to be quite often done by people who decry truly pure bred dogs as elitist, but they still want to pretend their mixed-breed is one and often choose really rare breeds to be part of the made-up cross. Did I mention weird? But if people have to guess, I don't care where. As long as they don't kid themselves that, apart from a couple of common crosses of common breeds, they have terribly much assurance of being right or that the dog truly is a first cross (unless it's an oodle). I think 'what breed is this' threads would be better labelled 'any pure breed whatever in this dog do you reckon'.

I have used most of the kennels in Canberra that have been mentioned, and cannot recommend any in the region really. Those I haven't used I have had friends use - with terrible consequences. I now drive the dogs out to friends in the country who take them as a favour. The only one mentioned that I haven't tried for dogs, in recent years at least, is Best Friend in MacGregor. While I cannot comment on them for dogs, but I did board a cat there who stresses badly at being boarded, and she survived her time there OK. Next time I absolutely need to board dogs locally I'll probably try them.

Years ago I did this for fun with my Belgian Shepherds, I started them by getting them to pull an old tire along before moving to anything bigger.

They do! I'd probably look best with a cat, lol.

LOl, me too. It's not that they are a pure breed that makes me have them, it's that they are the pure breed for me.

Good post ssm, I agree wholeheartedly with all of it. I am only interested in owning a handful of breeds ever. And no cross-breeds. Name calling won't change that. I am not one for bandwagons. I don't dispute that very dog deserves a chance at life - but other people's bad breeding decisions and ownership failures do not dictate what dogs I share my life with, anymore than I let the very unfair situation of homeless people in our society dictate where I live or who I live with. I invest a lot of time, money and emotion in my dogs. No apologies for going for what suits me best, and it is a pure bred puppy.

Scary isn't it. Two strangers put together in a too small enclosure with food triggers around can be risky enough, but 2 on 1 is crazy. No wonder some dogs come out of kennelling very stressed. Or injured.

I used to let a kennel owner run mine with other dogs in the exercise yard but she was someone who's dog sense I trusted. I haven't found another person running a kennel who I trust that much for some years, so I always refuse now. I usually put my two in an extra large double pen or side by side and pay the extra. One busy time at a local kennel they had to be put in together, which was less than ideal but OK as they get on fine. But I was horrified when the person checking them in said they might have to put a third dog in the kennel with them as they were so full - I told them under no circumstances was that to happen and the legal risk to them if they did that against my wishes and a dog was hurt was going to be very real. 3 dogs in a pen only just big enough for 2, for several days including feeding? So high a risk it is absurd. Especially to the 'third dog' with mine being very closely bonded giant breed females more than happy to back each other up against any aggressor. I won't go back to that kennel, someone with such a high appetite for risk is not someone I want looking after my dogs.

You can complain to the vet practioners board (I think that is what it is called) but I greatly doubt they'd find enough fault to take any action at all. All you can do really is change vets and use word of mouth to let others local to you know you found them incompetent. I have had far worse experiences, and so have many others I know, but there is little recourse. Some vets are brilliant, most are competent, some are sadly neither. Good luck finding a vet you can have faith in, your dogs are lucky to have you looking out for them.

One of the reasons I hate the 'guess the breed and call it that' game rescues have to go through - it makes the purebred breeders look responsible for far more of the homeless dogs then they are, either directly or through first crosses. As for the rest, a lot of what passes for the moral high-ground in blogs and other populist writing is just regurgitated feel-good sound bites from people who have no real knowledge but a wealth of self-rightousness. A little depressing really given how influential it is.

You'll get more answers posting it in the show forum.

Favourite - Borzoi, Borzoi and Borzoi, then any of the Belgian Shepherd breeds, then anything sighthound. Least favourite - anything that wants to root me, lick me incessently, bite me or my dogs, or yap for extended periods. These are of course least favourite behaviours, not breeds.

Reps from ACT Dogs have had early discussions with the Govt member taking the lead on the breeding code and will be consulted.

This. They think he has been involved in an incident and you need to find out what that is if you don't already know. If he was being classed as restricted based on his parents coming to the authorities attention I could buy it, but not dangerous.

Around here they often rush in pairs. I find that much harder to deal with than one.

Doesn't bother her, she just goes to rescues for her dogs. She does pay out on me every time I mention a show experience though, as she still thinks it's all full of nutters. Trouble is, when people are so rude to the public they don't know who that person is in 'real' life - offending people who may have policy and regulatory influence is not smart when dog breeding is already under pressure. Best to treat people with common courtesy and retain credibility.

It was probably well over two years ago, actually. It hasn't really been playing on my mind all this time, but I have occasionally thought about it and wondered what the general consensus among breeders was with regards to things like this. I partly asked that because I still remember clear as day approaching two different exhibitors at the Canberra Royal Show years back with a puppy enquiry. Even though judging was well over and I didn't want to touch their dogs, both were really really rude, to the point that my companion on the day was gobsmacked. I shrugged it off but they confirmed the worst stereotypes of the 'purebred' scene for my friend who still mentions it to me every show time and has it as her vision of the show community. Fortunately showies like Keshwar have largely restored my faith in the bulk of exhibitors and most really are helpful and not nasty. But for my friend that is the one and only exposure she has had to showing and it was really terrible PR.

She had probably had a few bad experiences with the public treating her dogs inappropriately and was taking it out on you. Not fair but human. Or she might just have been cranky that day. It was a couple of years ago you say, has it been playing on your mind all that time? Most people are happy to have the public interact with their dogs under supervision and at an appropriate time, but not right before going in the ring. I have had the other extreme, with an official at an Ag Show standing in front of my gazebo and telling some of the public not to bother about the gazebos,the public could enter any of them at will and look at any dog they wanted, whether people were in them or not. Umm, hang on, what about personal possessions in the gazebos, the valuables that go missing sometimes, the dogs having a sleep and exhibitors needing a break or preparing for the ring. I am very happy to talk to the public but not to have them wandering through my stuff.

Sure, showing is imperfect. It isn't always fair or well informed. I personally don't enjoy it much either. But I means that many other people than I give an opinion on the dog, and that is very important if you plan to breed. Understanding what makes a good example of a breed is not straight forward. For both new people and the experienced it is very easy to think one's dogs are much better than they are. Showing gives a benchmark. A breed survey system might be better, but showing for many breeds is all there is, unless you do some original purpose performance activity and test them that way.

This. I don't think I'd show a dog with a major structural fault as movement is so important to my breed. But if I did I'd expect it to be judged accordingly. However I might breed a carrier of a genetic fault to a genetically clear dog depending on the fault, the mode of inheritance, my ability to be completely certain that the mating could not produce an affected animal, and if I was sure any carriers produced could be identified by DNA and their future breeding prospects managed accordingly. If it was a disease with a complicated or poorly understood mode of inheritance and no reliable test, and which materially impacted on a dog's quality of life, then no, no way. Edited to add - I wouldn't show a surgically altered dog.

That's terrible. Shame on them that they don't allow you to register them truthfully.

"Borzoi" "B...O...R...Z..O..I" "Russia" "Hunting" "wolves, foxes and hares" "Yep, wolves" "No, that's the Irish Wolfhound, these ones come in lots of different colours" "yes, very fast" "no, she hasn't had a bath for a month, she just looks like that"

My vet does them around 14-15 months, eg 12 months after the last puppy shot, so I'd say they are not dire. But don't forget them, they are very important. After these you can go on a longer schedule if you want but this lot are important.

This is off the fb page. "Afghan - 12 Basenji - 17 Basset Fauve deBretagne - 1 Basset - 3 Beagle - 12 Bloodhound - 2 Borzoi - 17 Dachie Mini Long - 17 Dachie Smooth - 6 Dachie Mini Smooth - 5 Dachie Mini Wire - 3 Deerhound - 4 Finnish Spitz - 5 Greyhound - 5 Ibizan - 2 Irish Wolfhound - 18 Elkhound - 8 Petit Basset - 5 Pharaoh - 1 Podengo - 1 Ridgeback - 18 Saluki - 17 Whippet - 27"

Funnily enough I stopped donating after similar hassles, someone claiming I hadn't paid them when I had the bank records to prove I had, someone who didn't followed through with the vet details to donate to until the last day when it was suddenly urgent and I wasn't on DoL, that kind of thing. No-one abusive though.