Diva

Of all the staffies that have rushed my on-lead dogs, and it has been in the tens, only one has been friendly. So yes, that colours how I react now. Same for GSDs where the odds have also been bad, but the sample size smaller. I can't help but be affected by experience.

Well as a non-rescue person, I can say my response as an owner would be to sue to hell and back any rescue organisation or individual that took my dogs in without taking them to the pound for proper processing so I could find them. It isn't likely they will ever be in that situation but if somehow the worst happened and they did get loose, and they were stolen like that, I'd pursue every legal remedy available. That is seriously evil s**t to do to someone who has lost an animal.

It is a terrible thing to have happened and using a gun in a suburban area is very serious. But nonetheless the owner's comments leave me gobsmacked. Does she seriously believe she can let her dogs roam the neighbourhood at will while she gets fences organised? How about not moving the dogs in until there is proper containment in place? She has been unbelievably irresponsible and her dog has paid the price. And she claims to have worked with pet rescue, even more reason she should know better.

I haven't done a sweepstakes but I have watched them - sweepstakes is all entries (in this case babies) of all breeds in together, so not split by breed or group. The show schedules here usually say what time they are on, it is often before the rest of the show starts so you may need to get there first thing. Some people like to do them as they are extra experience for the puppy, some people don't because they think the pups get too tired, it's up to you and might depend on how big a show it is you are going to and how mature your baby is. Spweepstakes are optional, you need to decide to enter and pay the extra fee. I can only say they look like fun. For your other questions - you write the number of the class. You don't need to write the group number on the entry form, just the breed. And you are correct with your calcuation of age, but I think they go into minor on the day they turn 6 months, so he would be minor on 19 June. Long time since I had a baby but thinbk that is right.

Walking during the week is confined to the better lit roads. Makes it much duller and harder to get up and do it.

I assume you'd want to ask approval of the club holding the trial first but I don't know the exact rule. If it's obedience I am wondering how you would handle fast pace, and whether it would upset other dogs next to you in the group stay, but maybe they are just expected to cope.

It can work the other way too - my very first dog was a male Borzoi. A 45 kg, entire (showdog), high prey drive, independent, breed with a reputation for being hard to train probably should have been a disaster. Instead, it was a match made in heaven.

Sounds exactly the same as my experience, even down to the green urn. Not Hamish tho', another clinic.

That individual also had a 'bucket list' found in his possession which included killing a person. One of the reasons he was remanded in custody according to reporting.

I don't know, but I wasn't emotionally ready to have them back for a week so it suited me fine.

Poor dog. I also hope it's that same boy waste of oxygen, but I think he was already in custody 4 weeks ago.

Yes, same here. Her ashes were home in a week.

I avoid people walking dogs on those leads. There is a bloke who walks three small dogs on extenda leads here and they go off their heads with barking and growling at the full length of the lead, while he does nothing to control them. When my old girl was still alive we ran into him coming around a corner and he nearly had us on the busy road trying to avoid his snapping dogs while he lets them pull ever closer towards us. When we had nowhere else to go I looked down at my frail geriatric but 35 kg dog and said to the guy - "if they bite her she knows she has my full permission to bite back, and I hope she does". All of a sudden he remembers how to rewind the leads. So inconsiderate.

In your situation I'd have the dogs inside now too. How alarming! Gates are always padlocked here and always have been. It's inconvenient but I wouldn't have an unlocked gate in suburbia. It's a two gate system too, any one coming in has to get through both. I have friends in D'port, I'll let them know. But it may be that your dogs are being particularly targeted.

I guess so, if I mainly want to know where the ingredients come from I don't pay much attention to Made in Australia by itself. I like it to be nice and clear on the packaging.

Hi Skruffy & Flea, This topic was raised some time back & only Sherel can really answer it. The old bag only had 100% Australian Made on it too & I raised it with Sherel. It is 100% Oz made, produce of & owned, so maybe she feels that by saying it is 100% Oz made, that it covers the product from paddock to plate. I agree with you though, that something like 100% Australian Owned & made & 100 % product of Australia would be better, or just 100% product of Australia would probably cover it all. Even the trace elements are sourced from Australia if they are available, according to Sherel in an earlier post. I have no idea about BH, but those terms have specific meanings and "Australian Made" is about the site of manufacture, it doesn't mean Australian product is used although it may be. This is from Wikipedia but it's a nice summary: The definition for Australian Made means that the product is substantially transformed in Australia and at least 50 per cent of the cost of production has been incurred in Australia. The definition used for Product of Australia requires that the product has all, or nearly all, of the manufacturing or processing carried out in Australia and that all of the products significant ingredients come from Australia. The definition for Australian Grown is that each significant ingredient has been grown in Australia and all or virtually all of the production processes have occurred in Australia.

That's a shame, there are plenty I'd suspend well before her.

Meaning what? I know there was an attempt to limit what she could do, said to be based on her facilities. I don't know how it all turned out.

Jan is probably the cheapest you'll find. Most of Canberra's vets don't like her, but she was brilliant with one of my elderly dogs years ago and she provides cheap service to a lot of people who couldn't afford the big clinics.

Yes, but if this process is entirely subjective and outcomes vary wildy from vet to vet it will carry no credibility. A show judge is looking to balance out the strengths and weaknesses of the whole dog, which leave lots of room for opinion. The vet on the other hand is supposed to be looking at designated health watchpoints, not the whole package, and should be doing so against agreed standards - I assumed that's what the training and testing process was about, getting that standard calibration. Without some calibration the process is useless as a performance measure. In Borzoi one of the watchpoints is excessive hind angulation. Angulation is objectively measurable, even if I doubt excessive has been defined as yet. Other vet breeders studying the breed for other reasons have measured front and hind angulation across a range of specimens (although I think they measured hock angle, rather than stifle). Specific physical characteristics are measurable and comparable with standard methodology. If it's just any old general practice vet's opinion of what is excessive, I can rate it no more highly than the judge's. I've dealt with too many vets who didn't have a clue. Good process, and transparency of decision making, are SO important if any of this is to make a difference for the better and not just have a perverse outcome. But maybe all the naysayers are right, and a health outcome is not really the point here. I don't know.

So it was passed and failed on exactly the same criteria? No, dogs with ectropion and entropion might be noted as part of an eye test but unless it had resulted in damage to the eye the dog wiuld still be given a clear certificate. However, both those conditions are disqualifying conditions under the Kennel Clubs new breed watch program. I understand the eye certs have different criteria, but I can't get my head around the Bulldog passing at rehearsal under several vets, and then failing on the day. Not, apparently, for a new injury but for a characteristic that would have been evident first time around. That makes it seem like a very subjective process. I'm not against the principle of breeding away from extremes that cause health problems at all, but I find that disturbing.

Excellent post ssm and I agree with every word. Lure coursing is far from a perfect test, but it's very much better than nothing.

I don't know, but it is the way I was educated from a child. Good dogs didn't attack pups, and male dogs didn't attack females, and any that did were considered 'wrong' and not kept. Shot I think in reality. On the other hand, aggression between adults of the same gender didn't raise much of an eyebrow. These were farm dogs so limited breed range.

Great post Really? I don't find the highlighted sentence 'great' in any way. I do. A lot of people tend to forget how much dogs can mean to some dog owners. If someone killed a member of your family in self-defence, you would grieve for them, but still accept it. However, if they not only killed in self-defence but also mocked you with their bodies, you would want to retaliate!!! I don't understand why some people can't see that for some of us dogs are part of the family and losing them can hurt as much as losing a human family member. To have someone mock that loss is inhuman. Yep, I might well want to retaliate. But I wouldn't victimise a second set of innocent animals, his dogs, as the instruments of revenge. I might punch his lights out. But harm more animals? No. To 'disappear' dogs just to get at their owner? That's just as despicable as what he did. And btw, some people feel about their chickens just as we do about our dogs. Dog-owner, I am very sorry for your loss and how you and your dogs were treated.

Great post Really? I don't find the highlighted sentence 'great' in any way.