Diva

The main difference for me is the timing. The shooting of those dogs killing poultry was at the time of the attack, and presumably to prevent the attack continuing on other stock. If I had been there when the JRT was attacked and had some way of killing the malamutes to stop the attack, I would have. Not so they didn't 'get away with it', but to save the dog being attacked in that moment. Btw, I think the attack on the JRT is a worse reflection on the attacking dogs. Because I think there was less in it's on-lead behaviour to trigger prey drive then there is in a chicken or turkey's behaviour, and they must have very low thresholds to attack. That's assuming the JRT attack was prey driven. The noise and movement of poultry is an high stimulus for the majority of dogs imho, esp if no previous exposure to them which is more feasible for poultry then for other dogs.

They are for me I expect they'd infuriate some people. But then so do cats and I like those too

I like a big dog, but not a noisy, clumsy, drooly or needy one - the grace and elegance of the Borzoi, their sense of humour, their intelligence, a general arrogance with strangers but a deeply affectionate and playful nature with friends and family, their lack of unnecessary barking, not needing hours of work everyday to keep sane, and at times a certain feline element to their nature, suit me down to the ground. I find them very beautiful and very easy to live with.

I'm OK with them collecting for their own members - it's a bit like the people who say they prefer to give directly to an affected friend in need in the area instead of a broader appeal. The purebred dog world is a networked community in it's own right and people who belong to other canine associations across Australia may feel particularly connected to that community, esp if they are active in showing or other cc run activities. It's not 'elitist'. It's family. Doesn't mean I won't also donate to pacers or the salvos.

I agree entirely. A working dog owner telling a Husky owner they haven't seen 'real' prey drive is absurd. It might not look the same on a sleeve. But it's real prey drive.

So Abed, did you say this: because you simply didn't know that Huskies are reknown as a breed for their high, genetic, prey drive? (I am assuming that neither of us know the drive of the specific dog). I agree with your point about a false sense of security, but am greatly amused if you think that only working-line GSDs and Malinois can have high drive to chase or catch (real) prey.

.....and Huskies, which from what I understand of them were traditionally expected to support themselves for much of the year by what they hunted. No prey drive, dead and out-of-the-gene-pool Husky. Of course I don't know what prey drive Huski's particular dog has.

True. Although I'd really hope that the people who place breeds known for a high prey drive, be they breeders, rescues, pet stores or bybs, explain what they are potentially capable of, and that also people who select a specific breed do their own research. Pipe dream, I know. Edit: my system is taking so long to post today it's like being on a phone call with a relay delay, sorry if that makes it confusing.

I put n/a for the website because 'flashy' isn't what I like, informative is. Lots of pictures of their stock so I can see the type and the recurring attributes I like or not, pedigrees so I know who's related to who, and health information. Not common in my breed, but it's a nice place to start if it's there.

I understood your whole point, I just had trouble with the quote function so I couldn't single out the bit I wanted to specifically respond to - which was the parts that made such discrimination sound inherently unusual. A lot of people seem to think that prey driven dogs simply have no capacity to discriminate between triggers, it would have made some breeds pretty useless for their chosen tasks if that were the case. I think that if people are going to own high-prey drive dogs in the 'burbs - and they tend to include the breeds I love - teaching some of this discrimination is a responsibility as much as a good fence is. I believe that some good greyhound rescues won't place as a pet a grey that is too prey-driven on small dogs, it must be a heart-breaking decision some times, but it's the right one.

Gosh that's hard. Did the vet give him a full medical work up? It seems odd he's started this at such an advanced age, unless he has shown a tendency to anxiety previously or there has been some other major upheaval in his life I'd be thinking medical. No helpful ideas on management - I think this is a tough one.

I'm suprised you haven't seen more dogs who distinguish Cosmolo, I don't think they are that rare. I have had several high-prey drive dogs who would chase, catch, and sometimes kill, rabbits and/or foxes but who were completely safe with cats (even stray cats) and certainly with small dogs. Because they learnt what was acceptable prey and what wasn't at a young age. Trying to introduce a different free-running animal to them as adults and teaching them it wasn't prey was much, much harder, but as puppies they picked it up quickly, and it stuck solidly. Same for possums, I've had a number I wouldn't trust with a possum but who were safe with cats. Dogs who know the family cats and are safe with them but not with other cats, who they distinguish from them easily, are an example a lot of people would be familiar with too. I have even seen groups of field-hunted large sighthounds running free before a show with italian greyhounds and other small dogs - once in person, once on tape. Those last examples floored me as I always allow for the risk of predatory drift in free running situations, but culturally at the time it was very normal for that area. Those handlers would have been suprised by a dog who couldn't tell the difference. If you have a dog in suburbia that completes the prey sequence and kills, and is also triggered into full drive by an on-lead, walking, small dog, and has in addition not been taught to defer to people and will attack even an accompanied on-lead dog - it's a very dangerous dog and it should be housed and muzzled like a very dangerous dog, or pts.

No problems here with any injuries to them at all. Touch wood. Both the younger dogs have them left on and you know how they run ssm. When I had a couple of Belgians many years ago not a single problem to any of theirs either. I'm only referring to front dew claws of course, I've never had a dog with rear ones.

There are laws, we may not think them well enough enforced or comprehensive enough, but there are laws. Better enforcement of the exisiting laws would probably achieve a great deal. And dog bodies/canine councils are not necessarily in disarray. They are just not constituted for the purposes you would like them to be. Canine bodies are not regulatory bodies, they are more the the equivalent of sporting or, for the non-ANKC bodies, industry associations. I am not saying there isn't a problem - there are several different problems which all get muddled together in these threads - but generalisations that are wrong only cloud the issues.

My first Borzoi sprung one toe as an adult, I was told it was a tendon injury. It never bothered him or stopped him running but it looked very obviously different to the rest of his toes. Those Dane toes don't look 'sprung' to me, not like his did anyway.

Thanks!

Has it worn well 2ps? At that price I am tempted to pick one up as a spare if it is not too flimsy.

Well small is relative, but too small for any of my dogs that's for sure. It's not tall enough or long enough. I'm not knocking the crate though, it was good of the OP to post the link -just the description of extra extra extra large was amusing, it would not be described as such in many brands. (a bit like when I bought a jacket in Beijing.... I was horrified how many x's I needed there!)

LOL, me too. Too small!

Thanks. Scary to need to rehydrate urgently and not be able to get what you know.

They're great

For future reference Nekhbet, would you mind saying which one was OK? I've wondered about this too in first aid situations

I've only desexed 2 of my bitches, both as adults. One became incontinent about 8 mths later and she was on medication for it the rest of her life.The other still hasn't and she's 10 now. I don't like the 50% strike rate!

Spoil sport.

Very poor wording then, I'd expect more care from a supposedly reputable source. I can tell you the average age of dogs in this house. It means nothing in terms of their lifespan. As for the RSPCA telling you the average age of dogs pts, at best they could only tell you for the surrenders. For the unchipped/reg'd strays, they can only guess.