gila

Okay I will write to Sue. But now I'm unsure of whether to write to council or not. Erny has a point, but if I don't let council know about what I heard, the rangers won't be taken to task over it. Of course, there's a pretty damn good chance they won't be anyway, but if the council doesn't know what happened they don't have the chance to do anything about it IYKWIM?

Thanks Erny. Yes, the bolded bit is what I'm worried about. I was there and heard for myself what was said and how it was said. But they didn't admit anything outright, and I guess it's my "interpretation". It will be hard to convey what I heard in writing. How do I write to Sue? Well I thought the same at first, but then I thought that if I write at least then the council will know that people are watching them and that rangers WILL be held accountable. Ugh, I'm not sure now..

What should I write in a letter to council? They didn't say outright, "I'm going to abuse my powers and have dogs destroyed just cos I can under the new legislation". It was implied through the way they were laughing and joking about it. Although the point about owners "not being able to complain" was mentioned a couple of times. It WAS extremely unprofessional seeing as they were talking about it in an open courtroom in which several other people were sitting, and not even bothering to keep their voices down.

And don't forget the "lock jaw" comment..

I heard a disgusting conversation between council rangers today that confirms our suspicions about the new Vic dog legislation that gives rangers the power to immediately destroy roaming dogs that they deem "likely" to attack or they think are "dangerous". I'm doing a ten week work placement at the Ringwood Magistrates' Court at the moment and today I went to sit in court to observe a few council matters concerning roaming dogs. The magistrate wasn't in the courtroom yet so the rangers were just chatting to each other. They started talking about the new legislation and what they said absolutely disgusted me. One of them started off by saying in this gleeful voice that since the new legislation came in she's been driving the streets keeping her eyes peeled, implying that she just can't wait to start seizing and destroying dogs. Then they all start joking about how great it is that the owners won't be able to do anything about it. One of them then piped up and said "well there are internal procedures to follow". But another laughed and said something I didn't quite hear, and they all laughed. I wish I'd heard what she said, but the way they laughed afterwards it seemed like they think these "internal procedures" are a bit of a joke and they can ignore them without having to worry about any repercussions. Oh and then a guy who I think was the prosecutor that the council had hired to prosecute their cases started talking about how he used to be a ranger. Boasted about how on his last day on the job he shot two "Rockwheelers" that were attacking a goat. Now I have no problem with famers and such in rural areas shooting dogs that are on their property chasing/attacking their stock, but this guy was laughing like it was a big joke and he took pleasure in doing it. Made my stomach turn. I was so mad I had to leave the room. When the new legislation was first proposed most DOLers, including me, suspected that rangers might abuse their power, but to actually hear it straight from the horse's mouth was just shocking and disgusting. And these a-holes are rangers from Maroondah City Council - my municipality.

I'll be there with my boy. It's the day after his 9th birthday, so it'll be his birthday jaunt

These are SO good huga! I really love the one of the Mini Schnauzer flaked out on the sand.

I thought my dog was the only one that did this! Apparently "get out" now means "walk out of the room backwards". That's the only time he does it though, unless I give him the "back" command or walk into him.

When I was a kid I loved GSDs and desperately wanted one. Unfortunately the breed doesn't really appeal to me anymore THen when I was in my teens I discovered the bully breeds and drooled over pitties and bull terriers. Still love bullies, but now my dream dog is a Rotty.

What a bizarre thread! To the person who said most people equate aloof dogs with killers, are you serious?? An aloof dog is more likely to ignore and keep it's distance from strangers. What normal person would freak out and worry that a dog that's not showing any interest in them is suddenly gonna try and take their face off? Why change our dogs and breed standards to cater for idiots? Oh and I'm "not given to indisriminate friendships" either. Nothing wrong with that.

The expression on Asha's face is priceless! It look like she's thinking, "Sh!t we've been caught on camera!". But Charch hasn't realised yet, and is all, "What's the matter darling?"

She's beautiful and looks very comfy in her new home. I feel so sad for that poor lady having to give up her dog though :'(

Naww so cute! My dog wouldn't stay on a lilo. He'd probaby panic and start scrambling around and fall off. I took him in a canoe once. It was a two person canoe with two cockpits. I put him in one and sat in the other to paddle and the stoopid dog got scared and somehow managed to climb across the canoe to sit on my lap. Made it a bit difficult to paddle!

Voted no for both cos even if I knew my dog was well trained, had great recall and was muzzled, I couldn't be sure that the other dogs or people would be as well behaved and wouldn't do something stupid.

I love the look on the kelpie's face! She looks so worried that Fable and Zero are gonna eat all the cake before she's released, but is still sitting there like a good girl. And that caterpillar cake is freaken awesome!

D is for Dreams

My court is the same CW! There's an Irish Setter, a Bernese Mountain Dog, a Golden Retriever and a Border Collie. I kinda feel like Spence and I are lowering the standard lol. Although maybe there are some crossbreeds lurking in backyards that I just never see?

I don't get these "should I report the agressive/roaming dog" threads. The answer is always YES.

Nope I don't like people feeding my dog. Never had random strangers try to feed him, but certain family members have a bad habit of putting leftovers and scraps in Spencer's bowl after I've already fed him. Spence's bowl is kept on the floor in the mudroom which he doesn't have free access to luckily. When we attended training classses people would sometimes ask if they could give him a treat after class or at the Christmas party etc and I'd usually agree cos it wasn't a regular occurence. Spence would happily eat treats that he considered to be as good as or better than the ones I had. But if he deemed the treat inferior, he would take it from the person very politely and then gently place it on the ground lol

Oh noes!! *glances nervously at the evil yellow-eyed, orange eyebrowed dog sleeping at her feet* I've had friends say to me, "Rottweilers are guard dogs, not pets" And it's not exactly a myth but I had a VET ask me, "Maltese come in black don't they?" Uhh....no.

You have to make this funny noise to get them to do it... just ask Ashanali. It's a photography skill that she's refined over the years. She even made that noise when she did my photos. I didn't put my head on the side all cute though but I did laugh. lol the problem is, my dog is so used to me making weird noises at him when I've got the camera out he just ignores me or looks at me like I'm an idiot. Thanks huga

Ooh I'll come along if the weather isn't too horrible.

OMG Dash is adorable! I want to smooch him on his wrinkly forehead! I reckon that little head tilt is THE cutest thing that a dog or puppy could possibly do.

Really like the last two!

Aim: I took Spence shopping yesterday for a jumper cos it's getting cold and our house doesn't have heating. So today I wanted to get some photos of him in his awesome stripy hoody. Thought the skateboard would be a good prop. I kinda wanted a down and dirty, "Spencer in da hood", "what up bitches" feel Result: I discovered that Spence is too much of a cream puff to pull off the whole bad boy skater thing. And a more urban environment would have made a better background, but I was way too embarrassed to venture off our property. Tis a nice enough photo though and it shows off the jumper so I'm happy with it. Aim: I had this image in my head of Spence and I in our matching stripy hoodies sitting together with our heads down and hoods pulled down low. Result: Found out that Spencer's hood looks stoopid when he's sitting and only looks decent when he's standing. And my hoody is a bit small and doesn't pull down low enough. So I got Spence to stand instead of sit, and with some dumb luck got this shot. I love it though and it's way better than my first idea!