Maddy

The fact that the rescue group manager thought what had happened was a fight suggests she doesn't really know enough about dogs to be rehoming them. Big dogs picking up little dogs and shaking them to pieces is not dog aggression, it's prey drive. As far as I'm concerned, breed shouldn't matter here- if your big dog gets drivey around smaller dogs, it needs to be muzzled and always on lead in public. In the case of rescue groups, I don't agree that rehoming such dogs is safe or responsible as inevitably, people will do as they please with those dogs and someone's pet is going to end up dead. Crap like this is roughly 25% of the reason I want to quit rescuing. It's a sad joke these days.

Domestic rabbits generally don't survive any longer than 24 hours in the wild. Not only are they poorly equipped in physical terms*, they lack the behaviours that make feral rabbits successful. *Just using mini lops as an example.. Lopped ears (which impacts hearing and ability to cool), colours besides agouti (in particular REWs, as they have poor eyesight), a short cobby body (not well suited to evading fast/agile predators) and no genetic immunity to myxo. People who set their rabbits "free" are, in reality, condemning that rabbit to a swift death.

mine has a breaking strain of 50 kilos, it is not a $2 shop one. A breaking strain of 50kg doesn't mean the lead is suitable for dog weights up to 50kg though. The force a dog can exert (in kilograms) can be far greater than its weight so a leash with a breaking strain of 50kg is still really only suitable for smaller dogs. You know, not all people who uses extender leads are idiots. Did I say you were an idiot? I was pointing out that a lead with a breaking strain of 50kg is not particularly strong. But if you want to take that as a slight against your intelleigence, go ahead

mine has a breaking strain of 50 kilos, it is not a $2 shop one. A breaking strain of 50kg doesn't mean the lead is suitable for dog weights up to 50kg though. The force a dog can exert (in kilograms) can be far greater than its weight so a leash with a breaking strain of 50kg is still really only suitable for smaller dogs.

I'd agree with Jed. I've adopted out a dog when it didn't quite feel right and it ended up being one of the worst decisions I've ever made. Now, if it feels wrong, I give it a few weeks to think over. So far, this method has helped me dodge an irresponsible owner who is now starving her new rescue dog (from another group) to death.

In so many ways, hey? Same sh*t, different bucket

That, I completely agree with. There's a property near us, only a couple of acres, and at any one time there are more than thirty donkeys and TBs on it, often with several foals. It's a ridiculously insufficient amount of land for that many equines and they aren't being fed properly (round bales dumped out every few months and left to rot) but the woman who owns all those animals is a government employee. Several people I know have reported her and complained but nothing is ever done. Her partner is apparently a well known drug dealer but nothing gets done about that, either. Grease the right palms and it's a smooth ride, I guess

They list only the positive though, not the reality. Try talking to someone who lives here- the general feeling is that the RSPCA are next to useless. Case in point.. a wallaby hit and left injured on the road, only a few hundred metres from the gates of their Hobart shelter. RSPCA were called and would not attend. Court results don't really say much besides "they sometimes do the job they are paid by the government to do". Penalties applied are decided by a judge based on severity of the crime and any mitigating factors. What they present is a (fairly short) list of successful cases with no mention of how many cases they simply don't bother to actually look into. In 2013 (that same year) I reported someone for something very serious (won't go into details here, for obvious reasons) and they didn't bother to send an inspector out. Not only that, the person in question is now running a "rescue" and actively taking in even more animals. So yeah, they're doing something for animals, all right

The profile (on PR) seems very much aimed at just one group of people (tradies) and that may be putting people off. It reads to me like that's the only sort of home that suits him. But having said that, I've had dogs for over 12 months before finding them the right home so 6 months doesn't seem that long for a less desirable type. I had a stunning black boy for 12 months who was an absolute sweetheart of a dog- perfectly dog social, gentle, loved cuddles but we had basically zero interest in him. He ended up going to Aidan Bindoff's brother which was a brilliant home. Sometimes it really does pay to be patient.

Fleas can lay eggs in the wooden frames of furniture (like couches) so they need to be thoroughly cleaned. Bug bomb under the house (if you're not on a concrete slab) and also in the ceiling cavity. DE, as Powerlegs suggested, is also great and can be dusted into cracks and crevices where eggs might be hiding. Malaban can be used outside to do lawns and concrete, sandy soil is their preferred habitat so if you have that, soak or dust it heavily. Keep lawns short and treat under bushes or anywhere else animals sleep outdoors. Fleas can be a real pain to get rid of once you've got them so even after this lot is cleared out, keep up with the monthly treatments.

Wow.. what an idiot. Her dogs look all over the place (which I guess is to be expected if you've been crossing in other things) and pretty damn ugly. Why do some people feel the need to do that to some breeds? Take a perfectly good, working dog and breed versions of it that are entirely useless (unless you have toy breed cows to move, I guess).

Oh, don't get me wrong- the dog will certainly not be rehomed. But for the moment, it's just not something I can cope with doing so she stays. I have enough christmas related stress to deal with, without giving the AR nutjobs more reason to stalk me and my family.

...and that's how quickly it can happen, in the blink of an eye. Hope Paige is ok BnW, I sympathise, I've been there. I've also been there (very recently, too) and yep, it's not fun For two weeks after, I did a rotation of crates and muzzles to keep the peace. Things are still very tense now but management of triggers is helping. Worst part is.. the instigator isn't even suitable for rehoming (not by a long shot) but if I do the right thing and PTS, I can look forward to abusive emails and my rescue being very publicly dragged through the mud by people with nothing better to do with their time than sit on Facebook and trash ethical rescue. And people wonder why I so desperately want to quit rescue..

Nothing wrong with being sensible. I found out today that someone who was going to foster for us instead adopted a dog from the other greyhound rescue group here- I know this because someone called me to complain about seeing this person walking the dog unmuzzled in a park that prohibits dogs from being there at all. Seems I dodged a bullet with that one but still, irresponsible groups that like make me fear for the future of greyhound rescue.

Houndbag :D I have a couple and they're great. Big enough for all the junk that ends up coming for walks but really light. http://www.houndbag.com.au/features.html

Not a great deal of protein (being what it is) but sodium.. I'm not sure on the levels and it'd be something to look into very carefully. I suppose it also depends on how quickly your dog eats them. Mine just mouth rather pathetically at antlers and never really actually ingest much. Hard chewers may get a fair bit down quite quickly.

Same here. And the amount required for the first couple of weeks.. Ends up being absurdly expensive for large dogs and most got wasted because I couldn't figure out how to hide such massive amounts of powder in his food (because he sure as hell wouldn't eat it willingly).

It depends on the type of deer they come from. Some pictures from when I used to sell them. Mine being the largest were from Red Deer, the other is Fallow Deer. Looks nothing like any fallow deer antler I've ever seen- and given fallow deer are the only sort we have in Tasmania, I've seen quite a few. Fallow deer have thick antlers (relative to their body size) with large cups. The thin antler in your image looks exactly like chital antlers. Chital are also a spotted deer (so I can see how people would confuse them) but are much smaller than fallow and as far as I know, the smallest species in Australia. Also, length of time left sitting doesn't make a lick of difference to how long they last- antlers are shed when certain hormonal changes occur*- by the time they are shed, the bone material is no longer living and is as hard as it's going to get. Being left out will actually begin to soften the bone as the minerals are leeched from it by sun/wind/rain. There are two real factors in how hard the antler is: One is the deer's diet- a healthy deer eating a natural diet is going to have better quality antlers than a farmed deer. Second, the part of the antler. Tines have very little core to them and will last longer. The section between the burr and the trez tine is the thickest and has the largest core. Core breaks down first (and is actually relatively soft) so you'll get a comparable chewing life to a tine, even though the base piece looks a lot thicker. *Couldn't be bothered typing it all out again so a copy/paste from my website-

...or I could've just said that :) Yep :p

Personally, I think it depends entirety on the individual dog. Some dogs might not cope with that arrangement, others might get on just fine. I sometimes babysit a hound I adopted out (longest was for 10 days) and she copes just fine- she's always happy to see me but she's equally happy to go home again. It gives her new owners freedom to go away on holidays and she's with someone she knows, win/win for everyone. I think some of the judgements people are making are a little harsh- I doubt this is a decision Samman is making lightly and he's at least trying to do the right thing by the dog by asking what he did. There are some people here who are living in glass houses when it comes to doing what is right by the dogs in their care. Ned comes to mind

I'm in a similar position at the moment with my old grump and honestly, I think whichever way you go, there's still going to be some amount of guilt over the decision. In my case, I've set myself a definite deadline- his 12th birthday (about four months away). If he can still stand and move around comfortably by then, we go back to the vet for reassessment and more painkillers. If not, that's when I'll have to say goodbye. Whichever way you go, it's a hard decision so take care of yourself

Not judgemental like saying people who do take their dogs to offlead areas are putting in extra effort? Implying that those who don't (or can't) aren't putting in as much effort. That sounds pretty judgy to me.

Goober dog doesn't really do toys. His thing is eating in odd/annoying places- take a mouthful of meat from his bowl, carry it over to my shoes, drop it into one shoe, eat meat from shoe Or being woken up one morning to find he'd brought a chicken neck into the bedroom and had propped it between my feet to eat it We find food in all sorts of places: half-finished pigs ears on our bed, half-finished pigs ears down the side of our bed, a ~two month old venison shank bone that keeps turning up for a few days and then disappearing somewhere within the house again. I have no idea where that thing goes when it's not around. It actually resurfaced again today. He woke me up early this morning with it- came into the bedroom, crouched down as close to me as he could and then began to do the grinding chewing thing. It's currently sitting next to a half-finished pigs ear that I assume is going to end up stashed in the vicinity of my pillows :/

Greyhounds can be a little different. Mine are not allowed offleash for their own safety and the safety of others. I don't do off leash areas as my dogs have skin like tissue paper and they can be hurt, people also don't want my dogs (especially my very highly prey driven girl) running their dogs down. I would never let them off at the beach either for the same reasons and the fact that I can't run 70k's an hour to try and catch them as they are chasing a flapping plastic bag that could blow across the road. The last time Stan was 'allowed to explore new territory in his own way' we were on holidays when a friend let him out of the house on the fully fenced property for a wee and he suffered a fractured skull and smashed sinuses requiring two surgeries and months of only onlead toilet breaks in his own backyard. Hardly mentally healthy for him OR me. My greys don't need a social life they have each other, they are walked twice a day, they play in the backyard together and enjoy their favourite past time which is laying on the lounge with their legs in the air. I make the extra effort to keep them safe because of who they are and I know them better than anyone. This. One of my greys also has really high drive so she's not even walked in public, let alone off lead. She's a very happy dog anyway because I take the time to actually do things with her at home. The suggestion that taking your dog to an offlead area is "extra effort" and should be applauded.. *eyeroll* Driving to an offlead area, letting your dog in and then standing around playing Angry Birds on your phone is not what I'd consider to be going the extra mile for your dog. More like the opposite.

I guess the only thing I'd add to the greyhound information already given is a bit more about prey drive. I've seen dogs who were otherwise totally solid show interest in a dog when it was squealing from fright or pain. And being the joiner-inners that they are, things can quickly go downhill if two or more greyhounds are present in that sort of situation. If your dog is fearful (especially of bigger dogs), offlead play with greyhounds is probably not a good idea (even with muzzles on). For small dog owners generally, I think it'd be sensible to ask the greyhound owner before encouraging smaller dogs in to play- accidents can happen and when they do, the bigger dog generally gets the blame- not all greyhound owners want to take that risk.