Snoopy21

Thank you both, that is very helpful.

I am doing a Uni assignment and need some links to news articles about pit bulls please. I have gone through the News section here, but need a little variety. I particularly want some that have ludicrous descriptions like "sharks on legs" and "vicious, terrible beasts". A couple of positive stories to compare them with would be good. Images would also be helpful, particularly happy pit bulls (crosses and amstaffs included) and cute pups. I am trying to avoid horrid descriptions of maulings and deaths, because the articles are intended for by upper primary aged children. I would be most grateful for any link or pictures posted. Thank you!!

Sleep peacefully baby girl.

I'll give that a go. Thanks Pav Lova!!

Willow's are the same Deelee. Her front ones were just too long. I enlist one of the kids to shove treats down her gob the whole time I am clipping - that normally makes it a fairly quick and painless exercise. Although she is quite the expert at letting me get it all lined up and then yanking her foot away at the last second.

Trim more frequently. The quick will shrink back away from the end after the nail is trimmed. I trimmed every 4-5 days in order to get Willow's back to a more manageable length. I just took a little tiny tip off each, but they gradually receded.

That is hilarious!!

I saw this on BTN last night. In the clip they showed the dog ran up behind the sheep and let out an almighty chihuahua yap and the sheep actually jumped in the air. Lordy I laughed. Hope he doesn't get kicked though.

Look at that beautiful face! It must have been a joy to see that smile everyday. I can understand why you miss it so much. Fly free gorgeous Ricky.

I would think that the fact that the dog owner left the vicinity soon after the event without helping or leaving details would suggest that a large portion of the guilt lies with them. I hope this little boy is left with no physical or mental scars.

What a brave little guy! They are lucky to have survived an attack from such a powerful dog. I hope they heal well both physically and mentally.

What a gorgeous dog. Run free beautiful boy. Thinking of you hotfurball as you grieve the loss of your friend.

A little off topic - but would a bitch generally kill deformed or sickly pups herself? I have seen cats do the same and wondered if perhaps the bitch would have taken care of these pups herself if left to it.

So tragic I hate it when I hear parents blamed for accidents like these. And it sounds like a terrible accident. Little people who are confident walkers are very fast. And it is hard to keep them within reach at all times. They are also very unpredictable. I nearly lost one of mine to drowning when he was 21 months old. We were walking at the botanical gardens with my parents. I was pushing the pram with the new baby, and my Dad and oldest son were walking behind with the toddler. All of a sudden he dashed off and ran through a garden bed straight into the duck pond. Neither dad nor my son saw him go and there was no noise. Fortunately my husband had turned around to check at that moment and had seen him run. He ran after him and there he was floating face down in the duck pond. It was shallow enough that he could have stood up, but he was in his winter clothes which in Tassie included a snow suit which made it impossible for him to stand. He was just lying there - it was terrifying. Of course we grabbed him out and apart from being cold and shocked there was no harm done, but it proved to me how easy it can be. I can never blame someone for an accident that happened so quickly. And our dog's water bowls are emptied when there are toddlers at my house.

A Newf or a Leonberger. A mastiff and great dane are my on my DH's list. Manchester terrier is up there on mine, as well as bulldogs (French and British). Hmmm....I'd better get cracking!

I have a 40 kg lap dog. I am significantly flatter and wider than I used to be.

I wish Willow did that. She just starts drinking from the toilet if her bowl is empty. Ewwww.... I wouldn't restrict water from her at any time. That being said I do worry about her gulping water after a walk because of the risk of bloat in her type. I might be barking up the wrong tree there though.

I can try. Erm....how would I do that? It will be hard because once the other dogs start she likes to join in. But I will try anything. She is driving me nuts.

My neighbour has installed an ultrasonic pest control device on our adjoining fence. Obviously the motion sensor points in the other direction, but it goes off frequently during the day and night. My dog is understandably quite agitated by the noise and is barking whenever the noise occurs. The dogs on his other side also bark. I have asked him to turn it down, which he says he has done (my kids can still hear it though, so I'm not sure?) but the Willow still reacts. Is it OK to use these devices in suburban neighbourhoods? What will happen if I get a barking complaint because of his device? Is it painful to the dog, or just annoying? I don't want Willow to get into the habit of barking at every sound.

That is just shocking. Imagine how scary that would be for that poor family. Fancy having dogs that aggressive roaming the streets.

Sleep peacefully Oscar. Say hi to all my piggies past up there. They have lots of green grass over the bridge. Poor Jack. I feel just thinking about it.

I ony know one Airedale but she is as crazy as a loon. She is in our obedience class (well was) and she was even more hyper and stubborn than my over enthusiastic pigging mix. Noone ever wanted to stand next to her because she gave all the dogs crazy eyes to incite them to play. She is WAY cute though.

And why the Brittany over the Welsh if you don't mind me asking show dog? I have been wondering what separates these 2 breeds myself (other than physically I mean).

One of my sons suffers from sensory defensiveness due to his autism. I had a fascinating conversation with an OT yesterday about this very topic. I would assume that it would apply equally to dogs as people because the adrenalin/endorphin type system is similar. She was saying that we have 2 sensory inputs to our brain, the discriminative and the evaluative. The discriminative input tells us if something is hot, cold, sharp, hard etc. The evaluative tells us whether it is something that we need to pay attention too (i.e. is it life threatening). For some people the evaluative system is not functioning as well, so all sensory input is seen as life threatening, and everything is taken in. This means that as sensory input is accumulated across time, the level of endorphins in the body rises and has no chance to dissipate. Therapies used are therapeutic brushing as Haven mentioned or the use of scheduled muscle and joint work (including deep pressure massage) that allows the endorphins to dissipate faster. Once the constant elevated state from the endorphins is removed the brain learns to be more discriminatory about which sensory input needs to be paid attention to. I would say that by massaging Erik in the morning you are lowering the level of endorphins and allowing him to pay more attention to the input he is receiving. Maybe if you keep it up he will gradually improve?

My girl is one of those overly happy, excited people loving types. She will get into anyone's face for a kiss and loves everyone. I never thought she would be protective, but she proved me wrong. My BIL was visiting having met and snuggled Willow on several other occasions. She was asleep on the floor, with my DH sitting next to her. My BIL was telling us a fabulous tale about a brawl during a footy match and jumped up off the couch, waved his fist at my DH and raised his voice as part of the story. Willow leaped to her feet, and stood over my DH with a little growl. My BIL got a bit of a shock, but not as much as us. My DH maintains she must have been dreaming Still....you never know what might happen if someone were to really threaten us. Hopefully we will never find out.