Staffyluv

Do they have a Facebook page set up for them?? If so, I am happy to share it - FB seems to be a good avenue for lost or stolen pets making their way back home.

Well done Raineth.. Corie, I have to leave Zig from time to time (I am lucky enough to work from home) but when I do, I find things like stuffed kongs, hidden treats and squeaky toys, bones etc are all things that will keep him occupied for ages.. But mostly he seems to sleep when I am not home. In summer time, I freeze chicken stock in containers and let him have the frozen container (dilute it a bit and add chicken necks or turkey necks or chicken wings). Thanks HD.. I think my jaw was on the ground for the last while, I just couldn't believe how well he did.

I will.. I am looking forward to her arriving and I know Zig will be beside himself having a new foster to play with. She will be joining our obedience club and start at beginners next term (that gives me a few weeks to work with her here at home first)..

Zipp, will be known as Saffi when she gets here (Zipp and Zig would be confusing enough for me, let alone 2 over the top dogs).. She arrives on Sunday after lunch.

Sorry to hear your dog was attacked Raineth. I have had a lot of success with LAT for Ziggy. Just wanted to pop in and tell you all that Zig has his intermediate assessment next Sunday. Our trainer went through exactly what will be asked of us and we even did a longer run through of the commands in class and then on our own with her as the assessor. Zig did really well and she doesn't think we will have any issues at all. We also had the chance to work today under really distracting conditions (there was a group of dogs, off lead in the supervised play ground section of our dog club field). Dogs running and barking and having loads of fun just 15-20 metres away and Zig still managed to remain in a drop stay until released (about a minute).

She can come and stay here Maree, until her forever home comes up (if she is stressed etc). I am sure her and Zig would get along like a house on fire.

Every day is come to work day for Zig.. Office worker boy 2.2013 by Jodie Moore Photos, on Flickr I have a few 'tradies' as clients and they bring their dogs over when they come - so they can have a play while we chat..

My heart really goes out to the OP, what a decision to have to make. Only you can really know in your heart, what is the best thing for you, your child and the dog. I will be honest and say that I would try every possible avenue (I realise you seem to have mostly done this already) - I would try a couple of different behaviourists, if it was my heart dog (someone might have advice that would make the situation liveable).. I also realise that the safety of the child is the highest priority.. We can all sit here and type what we would do - but in reality, no one can know what they would do unless faced with the exact same situation. I wish you well in your decision, it isn't one I would be comfortable having to make - no matter what you choose.

Zig had another 'episode' the following Thursday - that is 4 in total now. With the last 2 being a week apart. The vet really thinks it is small seizures, so has given me valium for the next time it happens. He also wants me to video the episode so he can actually see what is going on. I am keeping a diary to see if there is any correlation between food or places or anything with the seizures (if that is what it is).. So far, so good - nothing has happened again yet. I hope it doesn't. We are having pretty good progress through intermediate obedience with the only real issue now being his distraction levels. I have a feeling I am always going to have problems with it. He can sit and stay for about 30 seconds in a distracting environment but last Sunday at training, he broke his stay every time in about 10-15 seconds with other dogs playing in an off leash area about 20 metres away. At home, I can put him on my bed, say stay and come back in a minute and he is still there. At the park, very early with little distraction, he can stay in sit or drop for a minute before he is looking around and I need to call him and get him to refocus again. Apart from that, we are going great guns..

According to the Geelong Advertiser in early June 2013 - it is a hoax Link 1 The Australian in May reported that it is true.. There is a dog snatching ring in Brisbane's Bayside area Link 2 According to the Hoax Slayer - the dog fighting gang stealing dogs by marking houses with stickers etc, isn't true Link 3 Will we ever know the truth? Dog fighters guard their 'sport' with as much tenacity as the dogs they choose to fight in the rings. A few years back now, we had the misfortune to run into a guy (he actually showed up at our place with a friend of ours) who was mouthing off about just such a ring out near Yass. We questioned him quite a bit about and although he told us some information, he was also quite elusive with more important details - like the where and when.. Further investigation on our part, led us to believe that there was such an event held out that way. Apparently they moved the venue from 'farm to farm' so as not to bring attention to it. Personally I think it is disgusting and those involved should be locked up.. My gates are always locked with padlocks and a bike lock on the side gate. I never take my dogs in and out of my gates - they only ever enter and exit from my property via my front door.. I could leave the gate open and Ollie would never walk out of it. I almost trust Zig enough to leave it and walk away for an extended time - I can leave it open while I mow the front grass and he doesn't come out - but I am not sure what would happen if he saw another dog go by (I think the temptation to say hello would be a bit much for him)..

I usually get his meat from Woolies - just human grade roo, turkey, beef. His turkey necks and chook carcasses come from here as well. His other bones come from the butchers at the markets (beef and lamb ribs). Not sure but it is definitely something to look out for.

That is just it - it wasn't a one off. This has happened 4 times now. The episode that sent him to the emergency vet was much worse than the other times. The first one was a few months ago and I just thought he had an upset tummy (eating grass and stressing). Then it happened again about a month later, the same as the first time and again I thought it was an upset tummy. The third time - he was absolutely frantic, wide eyed, eating grass like no tomorrow, shaking and drooling. This is why I raced him to the emergency vet. Then last Thursday (exactly a week after being in emergency) he had another episode like the first two.. I am keeping a diary of food, exercise, what we do etc. So far so good. Oh opologises Staffyluv, I thought it was just a one off. Zig's a very mysterious boy then isn't he? You are doing all you can, keeping a diary etc, he is in the very best if hands, yours. I sincerely hope he doesn't have a relapse. Sending positive healing thoughts from my guys to Zig. Don't forget to take care of you too :) That is OK - I did start a thread one night here a while back where he was being weird and took him to the vet the next day and we all put it down to an upset tummy, so when it happened the second time, I did the same thing.. But the third one was so much worse.. I have tried to think of what he could have had/eaten/done on the days he was sick at night (it's always at night) and I can't for the life of me match it up to anything really. Thanks for the positive thoughts everyone - much appreciated.

If by 'those breeds' you mean bull breeds, you are certainly lumping a diverse group of breeds into one category. As has been stated before, the bull breeds include breeds such as the French Bulldog, the Boston Terrier, the British Bulldog, the Boxer, the Bull Terrier, the Bullmastiff, the ASBT as well as the SBT (and by Sandra's experienced eye, the culprits in this attack are not purebred SBT's). Plenty of members of this forum own and responsibly raise these breeds. Plenty of us have well-socialized and trained dogs, and are not rude or abusive on this forum. My heart sinks every time a bully-type (type, not breed, - how often is one of these dogs a well-raised and cared-for pedigree dog?) dog is responsible for a dog attack. I'm upset for all involved and angry at the owners who don't take responsibility for their dogs. I hope that the injured women and dogs make a full recovery from this attack. So many of these incidents are preventable. Every time a bully-type breed attacks it means the rest of the bull breeds get tarred with the same brush. It's disheartening to see so much of this 'tarring' happening on this forum. Believe it or not, we bull breed owners are not all bogans and our dogs are not the 'devil incarnate' with 'locking jaws.'

That is just it - it wasn't a one off. This has happened 4 times now. The episode that sent him to the emergency vet was much worse than the other times. The first one was a few months ago and I just thought he had an upset tummy (eating grass and stressing). Then it happened again about a month later, the same as the first time and again I thought it was an upset tummy. The third time - he was absolutely frantic, wide eyed, eating grass like no tomorrow, shaking and drooling. This is why I raced him to the emergency vet. Then last Thursday (exactly a week after being in emergency) he had another episode like the first two.. I am keeping a diary of food, exercise, what we do etc. So far so good.

Mid fight? Now, THAT is some vet! Most would have just got a sedative and whacked it in intramuscularly... T. T that is exactly what I thought.

I am glad the bloods were clear. I have everything crossed that he never has another 'thing' ever again.

It's not so much the public IDing the breed that I was wondering about, but a member of this forum stating that the dogs shown were "definitely" purebreds. Really no hope if someone who is obviously interested enough in dogs to spend time on here thinks these were "definitely" purebred Staffordshire Bull Terriers! Oh I see.. Thanks for clarifying. I think when the average person sees a bull breed, be it an SBT or an Amstaff or an APBT - they don't see the difference between them. They see 'bull breed'.. I will be honest before coming to DOL, I used to think Poms were just a fluffy Chi. There are a few breeds that I used to call something entirely different. Sure I know better now, thanks to DOL and taking an interest. But if you (meaning anyone) don't really care (or are not interested) for anything other than your own breed - do you really take enough notice to learn the difference between the different breeds?

Thanks for the good thoughts everyone. Zig's blood work was all fine - nothing out of the ordinary an he can go back to his usual diet (which I imagine he will be very happy about, he has never been a big fan of cooked chook and rice). The vet wants me to keep a bit of a diary each day of what we do and what he eats and if he has another episode to video it so they can see what he is doing. Our vet is still of the mind that it is probably a very minor seizure but doesn't want to medicate him on a possibility. So we wait and see if he has another one and what sort of circumstances surrounded it. Hopefully that won't happen and it was just some random tummy upset that made him hyper and a bit unresponsive.

Good grief - what sort of Staffords do they have where you live! The brindle one with the flea allergy looked like a BYB SBT, the red one in the cage was no SBT and I doubt it's mother had ever seen a SBT even from the other side of the road. Couldn't figure out if the brindle one shown again was the one with the flea allergy or a different dog because the second time they showed a brindle one (in the cage) it didn't look quite as Stafford-like as the one with the flea allergy, but that could be a matter of camera angles. Whatever they were, they shouldn't have been out on the street unattended and I hope the owner gets her arse sued off. This is the biggest problem of all - breed identification.. But should we expect Joe Public to be able to identify the breed? I think as a reporter, reporting to the public, they should at least do some research to determine what breed it was or just call it a cross breed.. I totally agree that the owners of roaming dogs (especially the ones that threaten or cause injury) should have more to answer to. The penalties for these offences need to be more severe - hit the hip pocket big time and even gaol sentences or community services in the least. The vet stating the dog had lock jaw is deplorable - you would think that someone who had studied animal anatomy would know better.

Why would I be disappointed? How incredibly immature of you! Snide much? I think it is a very sad case indeed. I have never said you made this up - I did say I thought the owners was telling porky pies, as I honestly didn't believe that a 6 month old pup would be capable of doing enough damage to require the sort of surgery you described in your initial post - I have since realised that is entirely possible based on others experience. I have personally never seen a 6 month old pup do that sort of damage. I stand corrected... Glad you now understand - you did not have enough experience to judge the situation. I am not snide but I get very p----d off when certain people start accusing me of lying (or spreading secondhand lies from an owner) because I'm relaying a story to do with bull breeds. Other posters on this thread have done the same previously so may they all stand corrected. Your response was most definitely snide. I do have plenty of experience with bull breeds thanks - I have lived with them most of my life. Our family have had in excess of 10 of them (I have had 3 of my own as an adult). A lot of my friends have them. I have NEVER seen a 6 month old pup cause damage like you described. Hence my first response. Again - I did NOT accuse you of lying. I suggested that the person that relayed the information to you was telling 'porky pies'.. To me that is exaggeration/stretching the truth or just plain bull$hit. That is the only thing I stand corrected on - I believe you are against bull breeds/types of dogs and seem to take great pleasure in posting anything you can find that denigrates the breed/type as often as possible. But as I said before, no one said you had to like them. Edited to add, I have never once said or suggested you make things up..

Why would I be disappointed? How incredibly immature of you! Snide much? I think it is a very sad case indeed. I have never said you made this up - I did say I thought the owners was telling porky pies, as I honestly didn't believe that a 6 month old pup would be capable of doing enough damage to require the sort of surgery you described in your initial post - I have since realised that is entirely possible based on others experience. I have personally never seen a 6 month old pup do that sort of damage. I stand corrected...

CnB they notice when their world changes - give her time and I am sure she will come around. I am so sorry to hear about Coby.

Thanks They are a tad expensive aren't they..

Snook he is fine today. We went to the park early for a walk and then I let him off lead for a run for about 15 minutes. We came home, he had breakfast, then slept for a while.. We spent the afternoon in the garden building the no dig garden beds (not sure how long they will remain no dig with him around).. He was laying in the sun, diggin in his hole. We just had an early dinner and he is sleeping again. He does seem 'worn out'.. Like he only goes for a bit before he wants to stop and sleep.. Off to google Liver Shunt - thanks dancinbcs. Any suggestions would be helpful. I missed the vets call (because I stupidly left my phone inside while we were doing the garden) and there was no answer when I tried to call back about 2.30pm. I imagine there was nothing serious or Hamish would have left a message and he didn't. I will call them first thing Monday.

Beautiful dogs - I have always admired them.. Stunning to look at.