BigDaz

I have a 2008 Holden Calais Sportwagon, very handy for the two Staffy's, I need to get the windows tinted though as one hates the sun shining on her. It is a bit lower than your average SUV which is handy for them jumping in by themselves, although Queen Zena still likes to be lifted in.

I dont know if it has been mentioned, what about a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, they are big dogs in a smaller dogs body. I hadnt had a dog for 20 years, now I have two of them and they are just the most loving, funny gods.

What a bullshit generalisation Not every young adult or even teenager feels 'tied down' by the dog they love and have waited years for. I have had dogs of my own (either gifts or purchased myself) consistently since I was 11 & I'm now 25 and have not once felt burdoned or tied down by them. I know I am not alone in this. Fair enough, I probably did not word that very well, I was just trying to point out the long term commitment any animal is. I guess I was just realating more to my own experience not knowing the OP's situation. From 18yo I was out most nights, or away on work trips and would not have had time to commit to a dog, especially since I have a lot of trouble letting anyone else look after my dogs, I just dont trust anyone else.

Just my opinion, I think you are too young to be tied down by a dog. Your priorities and situations will change so much over the next 10 years you really don’t need a dog holding you back, plus you don’t want to subject a dog to all those possible changes in circumstances. If you do want a pet, maybe think about fostering Greyhounds, I don’t know much about the actual program but it may be worth looking into. Sure, Greyhounds are a little ugly, but they are beautiful on the inside……apparently.

Not one of mine...........36 degress and she is out there sunbaking.

No offence but I do think you are looking at this through your personal point of view, you are probably a responsible dog owner, but you need to understand that puts you in the minority. There is a lot of bad stuff happening to dogs out there and I think anything that can be done to stop these people having dogs is a good thing. I agree with what Steve has written. How do you figure that a law that insists on desexing before release if an unregistered dog is impounded will stop "these people" having dogs? Genuine question - I don't see your point clearly. My theory could be flawed, but I figure some of these people at least only have the dogs for breeding purposes, taking away the breeding ability means they wont re-claim them. Yes, they may just get another breeding dog, but instead of making it easy for them we can make it a bit harder. Even if it doesnt stop then having dogs, it stops their dogs from going out an re-producing a litter of unwanted (or wanted) puppies. Its possible I am not explaining myself very well, it seems pretty clear in my head

Why? A dog can be declared as a "Dangerous Dog" if it rushes someone or threatens them. It's too late for me to go looking up the wording of the law, but I recall the interpretation could be something along the lines of "the dog jumped up on a person; this frightened the person; the person ergo felt threatened". This is the problem with the law : it is too open to interpretation by each person who reads it - people ASSUME "Dangerous Dog" means the dog has shown real/genuine signs of being dangerous. That's not necessarily the case. Sorry, I admit I don’t know what is required to declare a dog as dangerous, I assumed it would be relevant to the term. My reasoning is that I walk two Staffy's every night and coming across this type of dog could be detrimental to all of us. I also see kids out playing as well. I figure a classified dangerous dog should be well secured, if it is not it is a danger to kids and others, if the owners have let it escape once they may again.

I could be wrong here, I am sure someone will let me know that I am. I vaguely recall that the Labradoodle was bread by the Guide Dogs to investigate the possibility of breeding a low allergenic, but still capable seeing eye dog. If that was a possibility, would that be a good reason to investigate cross breeds?

What about question 2, should a classified dangerous dog be destroyed if it is caught on the loose. I said Yes.

I find these guys pretty good, I buy arthritis stuff from them: Greyhound Products

No offence but I do think you are looking at this through your personal point of view, you are probably a responsible dog owner, but you need to understand that puts you in the minority. There is a lot of bad stuff happening to dogs out there and I think anything that can be done to stop these people having dogs is a good thing.

I remember a few threads a while ago talking about Stem Cell treatment for dogs with HD, here is one thread I found, but I am not sure how realstic it is or if it is a bit of a scam. It must be heart breaking, I hope it never happens to my two, but it is probably not common for Staffy's. One has already had OCD of the elbow, that was bad enough.

But isnt this a risk worth taking, getting 95% of the dogs away from the scum that just want to use them for BYB, worth the unfortunate 5% that may have future issues. ( my stats are not accurate, just an example) Remebering that the number grows exponentially, 95 BYB dogs quickly turns in to 1000 puppies, sold to scum.............. for the same purpose. The 5 that may have developed HD are still only 5.

I dont understand, the first thing I hear on here when someone mentions their entire dog is causing trouble is "desex it". Then a council does what a lot of you would reccommend anyway and you are up in arms. I would imagine the number of breeders dogs picked up by the council is pretty low, and I agree there should be some way of ensuring these dogs are not desexed, but with the number of boguns in and around Franskston this is probably doing the community a service.

Not sure if this is any help or not, but I use Weldmesh Fencing with star pickets in each end, it looks a tad ugly but does the job for an easily removed solution. Weldmesh fencing can be expensive but you may be able to pick something up on ebay.

Being someone who has, through lack of knowledge, done this (not Labs) I would advise against it. It is not the end of the world as some Dolers would have you believe but it is a lot of hard work and can have its own negative aspects. There are few positives to having two pups as well, but I think the negatives outweight the positives. Maybe think about getting a Pup now, then later on look at getting a friend for them from a rescue. This way you have the best of both worlds, the Puppy you want and you save a dog from the pound. This was along the lines of my original plan..............but they were so cute and I coudnt decide...........so I took both.

My two eat BARF containing Kangaroo and do well, I didnt convert them over until they were grown as I wanted to be sure they were getting the required diet without worrying, I now buy the BARF pre made. I also tried Beef but they started reverse sneezing a lot so now I stick to Kangaroo.

Apart from Vet bills. - Bought them their own heater for winter. - Bought them their own air conditioner for summer. - Bought a wagon to make it easier for all. - Took 2 weeks off to mind them when they were desexed. - Took 3 weeks off to look after one when she had elbow operation. - The only holidays I have now are to dog friendly places.

One Staffy girl tries really hard not to jump, so there is a bit of growling, snorting and lots of wriggling while trying really hard to sit. Her sister has to have a toy in her mouth, then just walk in circles around me.....that is my OH fault for telling her how cute she looked when she did this as a pup.

I do worry, having two Staffy's, zoomies can get a bit ugly. They like to run at full speed then tackle each other, this usually involves flying in the air, hitting the ground and doing 4 to 5 rolls, I can see broken bones coming on. I have had to put up a temporary fence to reduce the space they have in the back yard so they cant quite get to full speed.

I dont undertsand this part, your original post indicated you had taken him to the vet already. My two Staffy's hate the bath and get really stressed at bath time, no blood yet though.

One of my Staffy's had the same thing, it was straight to the emegency vet (which luckily is only 10 minutes away). I wouldnt take chances with swelling around the face.

Personally I wouldn’t go jumping into a raw diet with a young dog without speaking to your vet. If you get it wrong your pup could be missing out on required nutrients which could have damaging long term effects. I am not saying don’t do it, just make sure you know exactly what you are doing. My two Staffy’s have been eating Raw since they were 14 months or so, but even then there can be times when you need to think about what you are doing. My girls both started reverse sneezing a lot, and for a couple of minutes at a time. They would be fine for a few weeks then they would start again. I remembered some advice I got on here about Staffy’s and beef not always being compatible. Stopped feeding them beef, the reverse sneezing stopped and has not happened again. I still feed Raw, but now Kangaroo, I am just poiting out how saying "feed raw" is not always wihtout issues as well.

I have two female Staffy litter mates who are now 2 years old. When they were pups I always fed them together and I now know I can leave food out if I need to and there will be no fights. I don’t know if I lucked out or it was a result of them growing up eating together. When they got older I did start separating them for dinner as we started feeding RAW and chicken necks, so we wanted to let them eat slowly. When we feed dry food even now they get two bowls next to each other, one tips one bowl over, they eat that together, then she tips the other bowl over and they eat that together. I could also leave them with bones and feel confident there will not be any issues, but I don’t, bones are more of a treat and I wouldn’t risk it.

I have two Staffy sisters, one does this as well, the other one doesnt. Although annoying is is also a bit handy when you have two dogs, to know which poo beloongs to which dog in the case of sickness or constipation.