Maddy

Willow's post (which hasn't been edited) links to an article (not an advert) written by Gumtree staff, outlining Guntree's policies. Let me quote it for you.. *Links to article. I'm making an issue of it because clarification of your post has only muddied the question even further. As far as bringing rescue into it goes.. being in rescue, perhaps I just have an oversensitive bullshit radar? ;) Anyways! You didn't write the article, my question is answered, thanks for watching, kids!

When you allude to mysterious adverts that no one else mentioned and then make claims to have written something (and then back-pedal and mention taking information from the original article), yes, it gets rather confusing ;) So, you didn't write the article from the OP, thanks for clearing that up.

You wrote an article outlining Gumtree's pet policies and their stance on puppy mills? Or.. you pasted a link to that article in an ad you posted?

I'm confused.. you're saying you wrote the article mentioned in the OP?

This was actually in a newsletter from DRP a few days ago- http://fully-aware.com/ Sums things up pretty nicely and includes pictures.

Maybe it's time you moved out of home. Just sayin'

I recently had a dog transported from a major airport to a regional airport and we paid $255 (which included crate hire and the required worming for Tasmania) for an adult dog of a large breed. The distance was more or less the same as your pup would be travelling. $550 seems a bit high but quotes for dog transport (judging from some of the quotes I got, anyway) seem to be decided by some sort of mysterious oracle that picks a number at random. For example.. road transport from NSW to Vic with pet transport company 1 (a seven hour trip, or something crazy like that) cost $80. The quote from a different company to pick the dog up from the airport and deliver to our house (an 18km trip or roughly a 20 minute drive) was $84. Mysterious stuff.

As obviously terrible as this story is, there's some conclusions being drawn that are, in my opinion, a little silly. One of my own dogs (Kiff, my oldest dog and the reason I rescue) has velociraptor claws and it's not from being kept confined or unexercised. Kiff prefers to spend 90% of his day upside-down on his bed and unfortunately, the fresh air through his toes isn't all that good at wearing down claws. Long claws do not necessarily mean a neglected dog. Weight issues aside, I assume this was in relation to the fly strike? If that's the case, I'm a monster too because I don't take my dogs to the vet when they get bitten by flies (mostly because they don't need to go to a vet for that), their ears are cleaned, a drop of Advocate is put on the base of the ear and finally some Flygon rubbed into the fur at the tips to keep the flies away. Surprise :rolleyes:

Unfortunately, I know exactly how this feels. We buried a foster dog under a tree in the corner of the yard more than three years ago and the little dears (mostly Grace, although Sally will help) will still dig in the area if we take away the wire that covers it. A previous foster dog actually managed to dig down to (and then through) the sheet around the body and I'm sure would've dragged out a prize if I hadn't noticed him through the kitchen window Typo

Personally, I really dislike seeing dogs in places serving food or places with a lot of children around. There are certain places that clearly aren't appropriate places to walk dogs- just like there's places you wouldn't take children. It's not discrimination, just common sense. Lovely. In the mean time, it gets stepped in or someone's child touches it. I can see why most councils choose to restrict dog access on beaches and other public land.

Kiff would sound like a grumpy, old man- the kind that would yell at kids from the front lawn.

That coat is awesome, I want one. Hardy's Angel Kiff

Stuff like.. maybe we need to breed our dogs smaller so that they'll fit on our rafts for when the whole world is a huge ocean. Or something

Taking the dog off their hands is relieving them of the responsibility of perhaps having to put unsold puppies to sleep (or continue to shell out money to feed large, growing puppies- either way, it's money). If BYBs were forced to deal with the consequences of breeding (whether that breeding was planned or not), perhaps some of them would think twice about doing it again. Taking "free to good home" puppies is supporting BYBs.

QFT

I think you're being a bit too sensitive about the off-the-cuff comment Che gave. : Just a tiny bit, yeah. Plenty of people here refer to long-haired dogs lacking pigmentation and weighing less than 10kg ( :rolleyes: ) as SWFs, no one is picking on anyones' choice of dog, it's just a good, generic description for something that is small, white and fluffy. I can't help but think this offense stems more from trying to divert attention away from a very legitimate point that was brought up- the owners of SWFs are often guilty of bending rules that the owners of larger dogs would never consider breaking. As an owner of a large breed of dog, you certainly notice the size bias a hell of a lot more.

I actually got an email from Muhammad Ali- who's apparently moved to Africa, set up an oil business and just needs me to transfer him a small fee so I can collect the eleventybillion dollars he borrowed off me once. Yes, i don't use one of my email adresses for this reason anymore! If I do sign into it, there are 500 emails telling me how rich I am!! It's either some overseas lottery, a long lost dead relo, some millionaire dying wanting to gift their millions to me, the russian mob needing me to move money for them....it's endless! One of my more recent dog-related ones was requesting boarding.. I guess they figured out people weren't buying the yorkie puppy scam anymore.

I actually got an email from Muhammad Ali- who's apparently moved to Africa, set up an oil business and just needs me to transfer him a small fee so I can collect the eleventybillion dollars he borrowed off me once.

Kiff used to be able to hold on for about 12 hours but I think that was more to do with him prefering to be inside and busting than outside with all the water/dirt/cold/outsidey things, even if it was only for a few minutes. The few times he had accidents inside though, it was massive amounts. I actually caught him halfway through once.. he started.. I noticed.. he kept going.. I stood there waiting for him to finish.. he kept going.. I went and got a few old towels from the linen cupboard.. he kept going.. I put the towels under him to soak some of it up.. he kept going.. From the amount, I assumed he hadn't actually gone the last time I'd put him outside. He had a tendency to run down onto the grass, turn around and run straight back up the stairs again, probably hoping that'd be good enough to be let back in :rolleyes:

I really have to disagree with this sort of attitude towards dog ownership, for several reasons. First up (and perhaps most importantly) is the flawed idea that more legislation will make Joe Public behave nicely. As has been proven time and again (to our detriment) ownership laws do little to prevent the bad owners and serve only to make things harder on those who do the right thing. Then, there's the powers that would have be bestowed upon animal management officers to achieve total compliance- some government employee with the authority to search my house and yard without any process in place to protect the public? No thanks. Further regulation and berating the general public isn't going to bring about any positive change. For positive change, there needs to be education (with a focus on how to do things right, rather than why everything is wrong) and incentive needs to be provided for people to do the right thing. Buy your dog from a pound or rescue? Get a discount on registration. Desex your dog or own a desexed dog, further discount on your registration. Attend dog training or socialisation (or education) programs/groups, another discount. Help people do the right thing, rather than just whinging and demanding laws when people make inapprioriate decisions. There's just no point making new laws when people won't understand the point of those laws or why they're in place.

I know the one you mean and.. yeah.. For a while there, they were advertising in other places and the list of dogs and breeds available was just unbelievable. We have a chain pet store up in Launceston that's very similar. The last time I ventured in there, it was staffy x chi puppies :rolleyes:

I still have a box full of those damn things, they were the fugliest t-shirts ever made This is what we started doing with them..

Slightly off topic but.. http://eqitopia.com.au/distant_healing.html Personally, I wouldn't be trusting any business that offers something like that. Anyways.. If they're located in Australia (and haven't indicated that the product has to be shipped from overseas), a month does seem a bit long to wait. I'd leave it another two weeks (just to be sure it isn't going to turn up- I've ordered stuff from VetNPet and it took almost 5 weeks to arrive) and if they haven't emailed you back or sent the items, then go ahead and contact PayPal about it.

It is not a bargain when they are taking money from people when they know they will not have to provide any service. I stand by what I said in the first place- disgusting behaviour from people who should know better Wishing bad things on people just because they aren't what we'd consider "good" people is totally backwards. I've said this time and again in news threads but people seem to completely miss the point- taking pleasure in the exploitation or harm of others is exactly the sort of thing people here get all fired up about (and then do/encourage themselves). The hypocrisy displayed is sometimes absolutely mind-blowing. I keep forgetting why I tend to stay out of this section of the forum.. :rolleyes:

We don't know whether the people in the group would or wouldn't be saddled with the dogs, that's the point I suppose. It would be a bit funny if they were saddled with the dogs I don't know whether I'd call these people incapable of making sound decisions, by that reasoning you'd have to argue that anyone who believes so strongly in what the bible says is incapable of making sound decisions. I suppose we'll find out on Saturday ;)