Kissindra

1. I will always provide my dog with adequate, food, shelter, fresh water and exercise. 2. I will equip my dog for life by providing it with good socialization, training and manners 3. I will ensure my dog receives adequate veterinary attention 4. I will take full responsibility for all of my dog’s actions 5. I will not allow my dog to roam freely except in designated off leash areas And then only in a responsible manner. 6. I will provide adequate fencing and containment systems to suit the breed of dog I own 7. I will not allow my dog to cause a problem to or lessen the quality of life for any person in the community by barking, destroying property, threatening or mauling humans or other animals. 8. I will take responsibility for any mess or excrement caused by my dog in both private and public places 9. I will lead by example and advocate responsible dog ownership within the community 10. I will refrain from any action, which will place the MDBA in disrepute. 11. I will not breed my dog without first upgrading my membership to the MDBA breeders code of conduct and complying with all of the requirements which are expected of an MDBA breeder member. number 5 - I would stipulate you mean "in public places" number 7 - I would prefer the wording to concerntrate on the legal definitions of a nuisance/problem. Too many threads about crazy neighbours ect. to attempt not to bother ANYONE number 11 - how does that apply to people who have made an agreement with their registered breeder about their mains registered dog, are they considered to be breeding the dog if the only part they have in the process is that they own the dog and their name will appear on some paperwork? How does it apply to a co-owned bitch who is going back to her breeder for a litter or two but is primarily in the care of another owner?

found my fabric! Just need to get my bum to spotlight to see what I can find to decorate it.

Jed just a thought on the centrelink fun - while you may not qualify for disability pension, what you can do is ask your doctor to fill out a form saying you are not capable of looking for work on the relevant grounds. This will last for six weeks once you file it with centrelink, then you need to get another - not entirely helpful but it means you don't have to look for work or be filling in forms every week. So glad you get to see the pups :rofl:

it is with happy tears that I report - we've just gotten back from driving Luna to her new home. I will miss her but could not ask for a more wonderful and perfect family for her. She will be loved and cherished.

;) Jed, thinking of you.

surely they were angels

highly recommend looking at the relevant government grants - particularly anything to do with community education - you could chase a grant for a public open day, or to run some community doggy fun days with an educational component. There are grants specifically for advertising but the majority are targeted at events for the community - no reason you can't make that work for you.

Atticus got a nice blue blanket with aliens and spaceship print from kmart

AWL varies greatly between states, in QLD they do some damn amazing work and should be particularly noted for their wonderful community education programs. Have to say though, I'm surprised to see such a post as the AWL have quite a well set up fundraising section and even run their own op shops, have training facilities for hire ect.

;) :eek: :mad :o ;)

I swear puppies have an inbuilt radar for mess too cute!

I am needing to find somewhere for the puppies to go at 7 weeks old, or if I can get them to Brisbane I might be able to look after them for another week or so...I can't take Mum dog because 'technically' she belongs to someone - if you find my earlier discussions this is discussed in detail, a whole 'nother story....I know this is not ideal and that a lot of breeders keep them up to 12 weeks, but a vet told me they can be removed from mum at 6-8wks old as long as they are weaned, and its honestly a lot better than they would get here being left to fend for themselves. I thought a rescue place may take them and by the time they were vet checked etc it would be close to 8wks before leaving littermates. I would have prefered for them to be de-sexed before re-homing so that they don't end up like their mother. ah I remember now, got a little fuzzy on the details yup your best option is to get to a rescue or shelter where they can remain together, or be fostered out with at least one sibling until they are able to be de-sexed. You should be able to get that happening either via RSPCA fairfield or Best friends rescue so transport is the big question mark. Could you get hold of a crate or two to make transporting them easier/safer? With pups that age something you can easily clean and steralise is the go for transport and you have to be wary of exposing them to nasties.

sorry if I have misunderstood, but are you looking at seperating and rehoming them before 8 weeks and before being de-sexed?

sooooooooooooooooo cute!

As an owner of a well mannered, but slow large dog, can I just say I hate, hate, hate "knock out" games. We're usually the first out, every time and left to watch all the border collies and poodles show off. All it means for me is that the best dogs get better, and the dogs that are the slow ones and need the most work don't get the chance to get the extra work. It is not at all motivating for me as an owner to stand around and do nothing - and quite often I have gone home and felt quite demoralised. who says you have to stand on the side lines and watch "the best dogs get better"? no reason you can't keep practising the same exercise outside the game. If you are going home feeling demoralised then there is an issue with the focus being more on being competative rather than working with individual dogs and having fun and improving at your own rate. That might come from the training environment or it might come from you. I find I'm always made to feel that the emphasis is on having fun with my dog, reguardless of whether we wish to compete in future or not. I know some dogs will have more aptitude for it than others, and some handlers more devotion than others but I'm never made to feel like not being on of the best or most devoted out there on the field in class is a problem as the main thing is to enjoy it and give it a go and the more you enjoy it the more you are motivated to practice. Then as you see improvements you get more motivated. The trainers make it clear their dogs are not robots who are always perfect and that if we are having a night where we are just feeling frustraited then we'd be better off just taking time to chill with our dogs until we are in a better head space to train. We have people aplenty with dogs not of the border collie/poodle persuasion who do really well and they are inspiration for the rest of us not to focus on the breed we have at the end of the leash, but the individual dog. At the same time they do make it clear some dogs will just take more time to do things owing to size, and so there isn't that feeling that we are in direct competition with one another - rather we are there with our individual dogs, all having a go, all having areas of difficulty and success. If I get knocked out I either cheer the others on or take the time to have a play or do some practise, try not to take it to heart and just keep the focus on your own lovely boofa ;).

knock out competitions where the slowest to perform a given comand are knocked out are fun, as is dividing a group into two teams and having a competition to see who can go through an exercise and have all dogs in the team lined up in sit/heel the fastest. we had one game where you have two teams, and you have to get your dogs attention and try to make them wag their tales but you are only allowed to say a word that is a fruit or a vegetable (depending on if you are in the fruit or vegetable team) when the instructor yells sit or drop you get your dogs to perform the command and the slowest is eliminated - giant dogs get two chances :rolleyes: Sam, our instructor lined up a bunch of games for us with toys and raw hide prizes - have to say all of us went home grinning ear to ear it was so much fun!

Steve has put some more auctions up today guys

congratulations PICS PICS PICS :D

The myth is this is the case for every dog, and it isn't. Be it by virtue of nature or nurture some dogs just don't push the boundaries or have any particular desire to usurp possition. While you'd have hell to pay with your girl over one lessening of a rule(in this case sleeping on the bed), others wouldn't with their dogs.

I'm in bed with the laptop - have had to make several pauses in my internet viewing owing to fat cavaliers who decide it is cuddle time. Luna is now next to me rather than on me - flat out on her back with her belly up awaiting scritches, if I spend too long typing without a scritch I get an indignant snort

no, Jed, thank you. Thankyou for all your words of wisdom and wit. Thankyou for always giving a damn about your animals. Thankyou for your increadible bravery which is an inspiration. Thankyou for your work in establishing MDBA and PACERS and in every other way you have contributed for the betterment of animals. Thankyou for being part of this community.

Morning Jed, hope you slept well. What a beautiful poem, so simple yet it ignites such a complex depth of feeling in anyone who knows what joy our furry family members bring to our lives and how deeply we feel their loss when they are no longer with us.

and if you allow this your poor dog will be confused and miserable because you have failed to give it any kind of structure simply by letting him/her/them on the bed, therefore you are a bad bad owner - no treat for you!

people are funny like that - I had an aquaintance expect me to give her big thumbs up to her semi-formed plan to get a kitten while her housemate/landlord/friend was overseas. He'd said no to a kitten until she was in a stable job, it wasn't caused by a dislike of cats, just that he didn't want to then become responsible for said cat when she inevitably f*cked up. This is a girl who abandoned her last cat when she moved because she couldn't be bothered looking for it on move day yet she thought I'd think it just dandy to get another and to do so behind the back of a mutual friend who was putting a roof over her head while she was in the middle of yet job rut of her own making.

cheers guys, will try putting a backing on the stairs - tarp and a few nails ought to do it - and see if that makes the difference first. Hopefully the landlords get back soon from overseas and we'll have permission to sort a ramp. Will let you know how we progress!