Maddy

Greyhound or whippet. But neither of my current two or I'd starve to death :laugh:

The other scenario is the thief knew the dog well.........owner may not be saying that, but you never know? Thief may have threatened to take the dog over a disagreement and when he did, the owner published the video and reported it to get his dog back? I don't know how someone could randomly roll up at any house leash in hand and waltz out with someone's dog. Every single dog I've owned (which includes one GSD) and every dog I've ever fostered would have happily walked off with any person who gave them an ear rub or a treat. The average pet dog is not some highly trained guard dog, taught to reject food from strangers or aggressively defend itself from theft. I don't know how anyone could assume otherwise. Unless a GSD has been purposely bred to eliminate protection trait, no stranger will enter it's yard and walk off with the dog......a bitch (show dog)who finished in 3rd place at the GSD Nationals a couple of years ago nearly bit me the other day until the owner came out to calm her down. There are a couple of male show dogs I know who will do the same.......these are good stable dogs anyone could handle in the owner's presence but a stranger getting them out of their backyard, good luck with that Yet curiously, unprovoked human aggression (simply being around the dog without its owner present is hardly "provocation") is a disqualifying fault. And unfortunately for those dogs, if they were to bite someone, the law would likely see it the same way. Personally, I'm of the opinion that a dog who bites unattended visitors is the absolute opposite of "well balanced, steady of nerves, self assured, absolutely `at ease (except when provoked) and good natured". Such a shame that sort of temperament is being encouraged, under the guise of having a "protective" temperament.

The other scenario is the thief knew the dog well.........owner may not be saying that, but you never know? Thief may have threatened to take the dog over a disagreement and when he did, the owner published the video and reported it to get his dog back? I don't know how someone could randomly roll up at any house leash in hand and waltz out with someone's dog. Every single dog I've owned (which includes one GSD) and every dog I've ever fostered would have happily walked off with any person who gave them an ear rub or a treat. The average pet dog is not some highly trained guard dog, taught to reject food from strangers or aggressively defend itself from theft. I don't know how anyone could assume otherwise.

Agree with this. Does anyone seriously believe that people are going to drive around the suburbs looking for houses with a mark on them? It would be worse than looking for a needle in a haystack. eta re bolded first paragraph It does seem like a huge leap when you could just write the addresses down on a piece of paper and then give that piece of paper to the person doing the stealing. On that same bit of paper, you could include breed, owners' schedules and security of each house. Of course, that sort of sensible approach is much less mysterious than secret signs and codes painted everywhere.

Perhaps though if she had access to early dental care things might be different? I think this looks fab as a prophylactic measure. Nope, I've had Idiot Dog since he was 13 weeks old and his teeth are terrible. He has always had deer antlers, cow hooves (and any other safe chewables I come across), brisket bones and was raised on a raw diet but some greyhounds just have really crap teeth. Idiot Dog had his first full scale and clean at 9 months old and has had them every six months since that- it makes no difference though- if you end up a a greyhound with a bad mouth, removal of the problem teeth is really the only permanent solution. Personally, I wouldn't be keen on letting anyone scale my dogs' teeth without a GA and AB cover

Sigh. If you think there's no more to it than poop consistency then I don't want to read a thing you've written on the topic. What are you basing it on then, you're on here looking for opinions? I don't imagine you've tried every food you review for long enough to get a decent sample either. On here looking for opinions but doesn't want other peoples' opinions "Good" ingredients don't necessarily equate to a good food and order of ingredients (and whether or not they're meals or actual meats) also make a lot of difference. Fact is, user reviews are valuable in analysing a food, even if they do have to come from us naive plebs*. *Assuming, of course, that Dave-O would never be so terribly negligent as to try any of the foods for himself.

Why not just try the food for yourself and review it rather than rely on other peoples' opinions? Things like FB followers says nothing about the actual quality of the food. And as someone else mentioned, it includes potato (as third ingredient) and in terms of ingredients overall, I'd say it's well behind both BH grain free and TotW, both of which are actually priced better.

me too Same. I keep saying it but you do get a lot more FB likes and shares when you wring every ounce out of a sad dog. So you've got 'no kill' + emotion + ulterior motives like money and promo for your cause. I just can't look. Off topic again Pretty much. If anything, the suffering is good for those sorts of rescues because who wants to donate money to some healthy, happy dogs? Never mind that a happy dog still needs all the same vet work and basic resources as one who's had a bad start to life, it's become a competition to see who can come up with the most terrible backstory. Best story I've heard was another dog I took from another rescue- apparently this traumatised young greyhound puppy had been used as a bait dog, was covered in wounds, starved and even had his teeth filed down to stop him from fighting back. Oh, and he'd been dumped because they were finished using him for bait. When he arrived several things were obvious: not a greyhound or a puppy and definitely not traumatised (super outgoing and friendly). His "wounds" were untreated ringworm, to go with his untreated tapeworm (he also came with some bonus KC, because why not). He was a healthy weight for his breed mix (despite the worms) and if his teeth were filed down, it was because he chewed anything/everything he could find- when he wasn't casually scaling 6 foot fences (which is how I assume he ended up in the pound to start with). But yeah.. if you remove emotion and operate your rescue with honesty and reason, you'd better also have a job that pays well enough to cover it.

The vewy sad faces started at an early age.. And are mostly caused by exposure to water.. Or hilarious hats/clothing.

Have you considered something like this- http://www.bowhouse.com.au/p/737730/automatic-pet-waterers---4-sizes-easily-hooked-up-to-a-water-tap.html I have a heavy duty plastic one that bolts onto an external wall (or fence, etc) and connects to a tap, cost me about $130 including post. Mine also has a drain to make it easier to clean out (not that I've gotten around to installing it ) The obvious advantage is that even if they dig out the water, it automatically refills anyway. The float is concealed behind a plastic wall to prevent anyone from having fun with it.

The physical problems were easy enough to fix, it was the psychological damage that was really awful to see. No animal can live through that amount of stress and come out the other side unscathed by it In that dog's case, we were able to repair the damage enough to rehome (and the dog in question is now a happy dog, living in an environment where food doesn't have to be fought for) but it makes me wonder how many others are not so lucky. I guess I always assumed other people rescued for the same reasons I did- to improve the lives (through improving the welfare) of the dogs I took in. If a rescue group is not focused on the welfare of the animals in their care, what the hell are they doing in rescue to start with? Sometimes, I think rescue does need regulating because there's an odd double-standard whereby suffering is "okay" if the intentions behind it are/were good. For example.. if a farmer kept a seriously ill cow alive for months, putting it through invasive treatments just to squeeze a few more months of life out of it, people would be horrified. But a rescue group can put an animal through the same thing but that's okay because they're motivated by love, not profit- as if the suffering animal cares about the motivations of those making it suffer. I've been rescuing for almost 10 years now but I have to admit, I still can't understand that. Fair enough if it improves quality of life but some cases I've seen have made the animal's last few months even more painful and stressful than before it was "saved". And.. that got slightly off topic it's just something that bothers me a lot.

Sadly, not everyone who wants to help is really suited to it and that's what some rescues don't understand. More foster carers does mean more lives saved but sometimes, it comes at the expense of quality of life for the "saved". I've taken a greyhound (from another rescue) who was in an inexcusably terrible condition and it was obvious to me (from my very limited contact with the foster carer) that she could neither afford nor cope with the number of dogs she had. But the rescue had kept that poor dog there, slowly starving and miserable because hey, at least the dog is alive and that justifies cruelty, somehow.

Yes, to your first statement, whoever keeps them ... and wherever. And yes to your second statement, too. Breeders of my breed of interest have told me that 'incidents' can happen where a fight will break out. They've said when it happens with the females, they mean business. Have no idea if that's generalizable to others. Yes there's real fire in a bitch fight. They can be absolutely feral and it can turn into a lifelong hate. Pack fights however often start with an instigator and deteriorate into an attack on the weakest be it male or female. The one who squeals, or is having a seizure or is just the smallest oldest or weakest dog. It's when you see the real animal wiring in a dog that would otherwise be wagging it's tail at you. I know exactly what you mean there and it's terrifying to see. I've PTS three dogs in my care for DA (the first was absolutely horrific and I'll never forget it) and wouldn't hesitate to do it again if the dog obviously had issues. The idea of keeping that sort of dog and putting other foster dogs at ongoing risk is just incomprehensible to me.

More of the photos from Lani.. Kiff's bacon face :laugh:

On Monday, 22nd of September, I said goodbye to two of the most important dogs in my life- Booma Bozo (24/3/2002) and Hardy's Angel (27/4/2003) - and even though it's already been a month since they went to sleep together, part of me still can't quite believe they're gone. Kiff came to me from GAP Victoria and even though he was a grouchy old man from the beginning, I still don't think I've ever met a dog who lit up quite so much when a visitor arrived or who changed my life quite as much as The Snausage/Chief PeePaw of the Wetfoot Tribe. Kiff's first week with us.. (someone doesn't like being woken up) And a few pictures from his tenth year.. Sally came to us a few months after Kiff, from a trainer on the north west coast. We were actually supposed to get Sally's sister but she died of cancer while on the waiting list and instead, her trainer opted to give us Sally. From the very beginning, it was obvious Sally was a little different- she had very high prey drive but was possibly the sneakiest dog I'd ever met. Considering that, I decided she wouldn't be safe to rehome and so she just sort of.. hung around. A few months of hanging around turned into a several months and a coat with her name on it, a name tag with our number on it and eventually, a council rego tag to make her sneaky entrance into our family official. Sally when she first arrived.. We figured out pretty quickly that a warm Sally was a happy Sally The Sallyroo, a creature often found on the front lawn.. The pictures below are from Kiff and Sally's last Sunday with us. They were taken by friend and incredibly talented and patient photographer, Lani Smith from PawPrintStudio. She's probably getting a bit sick of hearing it but once again, I wanted to thank her for sharing that last day with us and helping to make it so fun for the hounds. It means the world to me to have those memories.

Dog Rocks are literally money for rocks. The "science" behind them is more dodgy than a Jenny McCarthy convention on vaccines and the fine print on the website backs that up. If you're having trouble with urine burns on the grass, the easiest way to fix it is to hose down that area after your dog has used it (to dilute the urine).

She should be banned from having any animal in her care, for life. At 14kg, that poor grey must have suffered horribly before she died

Although protein level is higher than BH, I'm not really sold on the ingredients. There's a lot of filler stuff close to the top of the list and the third and fourth protein sources are behind two major fillers. It also seems to have a lot more leafy greens in it than BH and I'm not a fan of those sorts of things in dog food. Rabbits eat kale, greyhounds do not. I only use kibble (TotW) in treat toys and as an emergency food anyway but I think I'd buy BH over this, if I couldn't get TotW. The BH also works out $5.97 cheaper per kilo, despite being comparable in terms of ingredients.

With ALL due respect, please read what I wrote. I made no such statement. To note further, I do not intent to argue online with strangers after having to have my own dog treated because of numerous issues post vaccination. I don't think anyone was arguing, but making a point based on the science currently available for those who might stumble across this post with similar issues. There is already enough panic and dramatics around vaccinations as is, we needn't spread that further. A point was just made for future reference, no one was calling you a liar or starting a fight. Also worth pointing out it was only the MMR vaccine that was alleged to cause autism, not the process of vaccinating- which is a very important point. Not that the vaccination issue is worth getting into, it's worse than religion at times. But anyways.. I have a dog with epilepsy who is also a bit "different" but I'm not sure I'd consider it the same thing as autism in humans. Idiot Dog gets overwhelmed easily, has issues coping in some situations, has balance issues, can't interact "correctly" with other dogs and can't do quite a few things normally but those differences are related to whatever brain damage/dysfunction causes his epilepsy and his lack of vision in one eye. Some of those things have improved with very careful and slow training (he gets overstimulated quite easily and we also have medication to deal with) but he'll never be "normal" because obviously certain parts of his brain are actually damaged somehow. I assume it was perhaps something that happened during birth (rest of his litter were completely normal) and given how much the likelihood increases with dogs- as opposed to human births involving only one child and a lot of intervention- I'm surprised there aren't a higher percentage of not-quite-rights around.

Persephone, may I ask what you use for bedding instead? Obie and Flipp both shred beds as well as soft toys and a few lounges now, I'd love to use something else for bedding that's soft and snugly for Obie being a whippet. Flipp has more chubby to her so is happy with old blankets on the old lounge. I don't mind picking up disembowelled toys but bedding every day is driving me nuts. I'm the neighbour that has been known to vacuum the backyard to clean up the snowstorms! I just use opshop blankets , both wool and that polar fleece I guess your boy needs something soft for his bony self - what about a trampoline bed with a blanket "nest" ? Thanks Persephone, hmmm, I have to fit it in his crate for when I'm at work but maybe I can pick up some old lightweight doona style blankets at the op shop for him, thanks for the ideas. I may have to simply continue picking up stuffing, we've been using the Costco beds, huge and the last three were only $34 each for a rotti size crate but haven't seen them for a while now at Costco only smaller and dearer. I've had my fair share of bed shredders (including the infamous Douginator) and for crates, I've found the K9+ crate mats to be pretty good. Chuck one or two of those in to pad the bottom, throw in a couple of blankets (I get the coral fleece blankets from Kmart) and it's warm/soft enough for hound bums. What I noticed when dealing with Doug was that there was actually pretty minimal chewing involved in his bed killing- he'd just dig furiously at the bed until it gave up its precious stuffing. So.. dig proofing the upper layer will usually put a stop to it. For soft beds, I covered them with a Snooza Durobed cover; for mats, you could do the same job with shadecloth and a decent sewing machine.

We only have one similar service in Launceston (a regular doggy day care) and that costs $45 per day. Compared to the average price of boarding around here (between $25 and $30 a day), that does seems quite high to me. I looked into day care for the Idiot Dog for next year (when I'll be out of the house most of the week) but an expense of $225 a week just for someone to keep an eye on him was something I couldn't justify- he doesn't need to be entertained, just checked on a few times during the day. For a service where the dog just sits in a run from 8am until 4pm (or whatever times), I don't think I'd be willing to pay much more $20 per day. Anything more than actual boarding and you might as well just board the dog overnight.

Having only recently let my two oldies go, it's something I've also been wondering about quite a lot. Mine were raw fed, we did everything right and we still lost them far younger than I was prepared for (Sally, 10, an aggressive thyroid cancer; Kiff, 12, issues with his back, amongst other things), yet I know people who feed nothing but supermarket rubbish, never take their dogs to the vet and their dogs live to 18. It's a bit frustrating and feels unfair but I suppose some of it just comes down to luck/genetics.

Pretty much. Throw in a naughty whippet and our house always has toy stuffing scattered around from their latest kill. We buy cheap dog toys and I re-stuff/stitch them up again if the murder hasn't been too severe but generally speaking, they fully kill at least two or three toys a week.

I have a dog who needs medication twice daily (and has since he was 9 months old) and the only thing I've found entirely reliable is just putting the tablet straight down the back of his throat. He doesn't love it but we finish with a bum scratch, he gets minimal tablet taste and he'll actually come when called for his tablet. I think the problem with using food for long-term tablet hiding is that one taste of the actual tablet in any given food can be unpleasant enough to put the dog off eating that food again, leaving you to move onto the next thing and so on it goes. By just putting it straight down the throat, I think it's probably a more enjoyable experience in that they don't get the unpleasant surprise of biting down into "yummy" food, only to discover it's the tablet.

Exactly. Tasmania has really good cat laws (any cat not owned by a registered breeder must be desexed, all cats must be microchipped, illegal for unregistered people to breed cats, etc) but with one part-time position to enforce these laws, they've made absolutely no difference. Cat rescue groups are still overflowing with cats, people are still breeding them and selling online, same old story.