Greytmate

My suggestion is to build up a positive association with the carrier, before you take her out on a trip. She will need to get used to a different motion than car travel, so maybe start with the carrier on the floor and letting her explore it and sleep in it and get used to it before you try carrying her around in it, before you put it on the bike. One bad experience can put her right off, so you might need to take time with one small step each day, before you do a normal length trip. Have fun, my dogs are over 30kg, and so miss out on this sort of thing.

I think it's a result of a person doing a lot of internet research. They have researched how to choose a breeder, and have come up with some reputable registered ones to contact. They have researched dog breeds, and unfortunately have been given a misleading sales spiel about what a 'puggle' is. And the breed seems to tick all the boxes, and has 'health claims'. They have seen rescue sites and plenty of websites warning about the horrors of puppy farms and pet shops. But you really only find out about the deeper information on breeding dogs by doing lots of reading and seeing lots of dogs. An email like that is a chance to educate on why no ethical person would cross breed a dog. I liked Steve's response and hope it pushed them in the right direction.

That sounds like a good way to go. Whether your pup gets rougher or gentler will depend a lot on the reactions he gets from other dogs. He has yet to go through the "teenage" phase, so what might be innocent play now might be too challenging for other dogs later. If you really want to be able to teach him only to play in a certain way, you had best ask in the training forum. My advice is more about removing a dog from a situation before you see the dog reach that overexcited state. Tiring out your dog with a walk before playing with other dogs is a fantastic idea. Tired dogs do play much more gently. Don't feel as though your dog has to play with strange dogs, socialisation becomes less important as a puppy grows up and the boundaries you set are more important in keeping a dog out of trouble.

It's normal, but the nipping sounds like your dog is getting very excited. If one day your dog tries it on a dog that doesn't like it, things could turn bad very quickly. You can't really stop the nipping, it is natural instinctive behaviour, but you can stop the play and restrain the dog if you think your dog is getting too overexcited or out of control. The play behaviour is stalking and it is trying to take the other dog down, even if it's not serious. There are other play styles that are not so dominating over other dogs. I wouldn't be able to say whether it is anything to be concerned about unless I could see the dogs interacting with each other for myself. There is a lot of communication that happens before and during play, and that will give a clue as to the intent of the play. The other dogs coming back for more is a really good sign. You do need to be aware that this may not be the case with every other dog.

They are not saying they won't they are saying that a physical examination is not enough. That is fair enough, because vets have no real training in breed conformation and even if they did, we all know that you cannot identify a pitbull using a "standard". (I'm really amazed that the Vic gov has gone down this path after the embarrassment of councils and points check-list garbage that was discredited in court in QLD.) The council is saying that DNA evidence will not be accepted by them. And that is fair enough too. Only people like vets can legally sign off on all the paperwork necessary to get paternity and identity established, and so if somebody is willing to pay a vet to organise that, the vet's decision should then be accepted by council without the vet having to provide a folder of documents. I think this sort of thing is what the AVA might mean by extra evidence. I can certainly understand why councils would not be willing to deal with people sending in random DNA paperwork, as the council is not really qualified to check the credibility of the documents whereas vets are. Having said all that, how likely is it that somebody with a non-registered amstaff is going to be able to track down two registered amstaff parents to do this testing? I feel sorry for people that bought backyard -bred amstaffs. It's just so horrible that despite all the educating about buying registered dogs that we do here, we have not really been able to reach all of the families that have bought these dogs. They may have bought them in total ignorance but they bought them with the best of intentions of getting the right dog for their family.

There is no DNA test for this breed. However there is DNA testing to establish parentage. If a vet did this testing and was satisfied that a particular dog was the progeny of two particular registered microchipped ASTs, then they could supply a certificate saying that the dog has been identified as an AST, without having to show any of their DNA evidence to council. A DNA profile or test result isn't evidence of anything on its own, identity has to be verified and vets may be able to do this in some cases.

Did your friend register the dog as an American Staffordshire Bull Terrier, as stated in the letter? Because there is no such breed. Amstaff owners hopefully have papers to prove they have an American Staffordshire Terrier. If your friend did not register her dog with the "bull' in the breed name, she needs to contact Craig Murray immediately and advise him that the letter is incorrect, CC a copy to CEO, councillor and Dogs Victoria, and have her dog's papers ready as proof. But if she did register her dog as an American Staffordshire Bull Terrier, she should probably go to the meeting.

If council staff are advising people that other breeds like SBT and Amstaff are to be restricted, and we have no evidence at all that they have, then people should ask for written clarification of this from Councillors or the Council CEO. People are getting so upset and it might be because counter staff are acting irresponsibly or making statements out of ignorance. This whole thread could be just a wind-up or a typical case of miscommunication. Council counter staff have been known to say stupid and ignorant things about laws that have nothing to do with them. You need it in writing from somebody who is accountable. You cannot expect politicians to take you seriously if you are not prepared to communicate professionally with them on their level. You are going to look foolish aggressively fighting against staff over something that may not even be real. Forget the general council enquiry phone number, just email the important people directly and demand an urgent response.

Yes I think they should. I had heard that there is a legal distinction between buying a pet (from a rescue organisation) and buying a dog (from a pound). Apparently pets have to be of at least 'pet quality' where as a dog can be of any quality. That's why pounds get away with what they do. I guess we either have a system like QLD, where dogs can be placed undesexed and unvaccinated and some rescues obtain the dogs and sell them undesexed, or we have a system like Victoria where pounds must prepare the dogs for rehoming themsleves and dogs being sold have to be of at least pet quality. By pet quality I mean that the dog is able to be a pet. A dangerous or sick dog wouldn't qualify. A pup would as long as it was healthy. I prefer the Victorian system, but I know plenty of others here on DOL don't like it at all. When I spoke to QLD state government when they were writing the state act a couple of years ago, there were no plans to reform the way that QLD pounds operate.

Do you want to show concern, raise awareness or change behaviour? I don't agree with the gruesome pictures either, they really horrify and repel people. Using visualisation instead of words is a good idea though, as you can say so much with images. Here is an interesting alternative from US Artist Chris Jordan. 10,000 dog and cat collars. Click on the pic once to zoom in, and then once to zoom out.

I agree with what Persephone has said as far as introductions go. However I wouldn't have them off-lead around each other until you have seen the behaviourist. If the fights were extreme before, they might be deadly now your pup is bigger.

I think you are the one with the poor understanding of dog behaviour. Some dogs, like most pugs or whippets, will never be aggressive, no matter how badly they are neglected, under socialised, abused or untrained. It is their genetics that makes them that way. Other breeds of dog will be aggressive despite anything the owner does or doesn't do. Genetics is the strongest influence of a dog's temperament. It is the solution. Many years ago, a group of responsible pitbull owners got together and decided to start a quality breeding program. The result is the American Staffordshire Terrier. But if you don't believe that genetics in a breed can be 'bad', why exactly are you asking for a quality breeding program? What do you think it would achieve?

And that can happen because greyhound people were able to put a logical argument forward to get the law changed. Team Pitbull don't operate like that.

Dogs don't suffer when they are euthanised. They don't know it is happening. The only person that suffers is the family losing the dog. And they have up until 29 of September to do something to avoid it happening.

It's only unregistered dogs that the crack-down is on. Responsible dog owners register their dogs and keep them legally. Unless anyone here can give real examples of where registered pets are being seized from responsible owners, I have no problem with what the government is doing there. It is good that they are focussing on the irresponsible few rather than making life harder for owners of registered dogs.

In other words you traumatised the dog. You are exactly the type of person I would not want within a mile of my dog and there are plenty of groomers like you. If you could not handle the dog tell the owner you are unable to take the dog for grooming and why. You have no right to abuse the dog. Think about this in perspective for a minute.... if dogs in the wild are carrying on or missbehaving do you think their pack members put up with it?! NO, they would deal with it the only way they know how, by a good old fashioned doggy telling off, a few teeth & snarls & then dog gets put back in it's place. Similar concept really, little spoilt dog is being a nasty pasty on the grooming table or carrying on ridiculously, sometimes they need to realise who's boss & once they're told, most come to the realisation that all their nonsense isn't going to get them anywhere & behaving better is far less stressful. I've seen this with my own eyes. Yes, sometimes there are dogs who find it far too stressful & need to have it done under sedation, but that's a different kettle of fish all together. I realise domesticated dogs have different behaviours but... let's stop cotton wooling everything. Not everybodys dog is 'a little darling' I agree with using negative as well as positive methods to modify a dog's behaviour, but what you have said isn't really applicable to the situation in a grooming salon. At home there are many ways that the pack can behave and this will affect how the dog interacts with each member. But a groomer may be somebody from outside the pack. Much of the aggression groomers would experience with a new dog would be clearly defined as a challenge. The dog is anxious and doesn't want to be groomed because it knows it hurts. It also knows that the way to avoid being groomed is to behave aggressively. The groomer needs to be calm and assertive. There is a place for stern growls and gruff voices from the groomer. There is no place for yelling as increasing the volume will increase the dog's anxiety and aggression. There is a place for grabbing a dog and physically holding it into certain postures, either to change the dog's demeanour or to allow the safe grooming of the dog. There is no place for shaking a dog as that sort of frenzied action will increase the dog's anxiety. No dog is more dangerous than a dog owned by people that have allowed it to become aggressive. An unknown person handling the dog is in danger of being bitten, and so they need to be assertive and try to assess the nature of the dog and gain its respect before the grooming starts. I don't think that can always be achieved with purely positive methods, but if we use negatives for training, they need to be used in a fair way that won't heighten the dog's anxiety. And I don't blame some groomers for sending some clients away. There is a role for vet nurses to sedate and clip off neglected, aggressive dogs. If a dog has these problems, a bad haircut is the least of its worries.

I think if you are running a business from home you really have to make an effort to separate work and family life so that neither has a negative effect on each other. Let your husband know what hours you are prepared to work and ask him to turn away anyone coming out of hours or who doesn't have an appointment. If he can't do that, it might be better if he doesn't answer the door to strangers while you are not at home. Have a work phone number and a personal one, and keep your work phone switched to message bank if you are not accepting calls. If you are the sort of person who just can't say "no" to pushy people, people will take advantage of that. Maybe you could practice saying "Yes I can do your dog but work done after hours is a $70 surcharge, is that ok with you?" Otherwise you will just have to learn to think on your feet when people are pressuring you and say "No, you are going to have to make an appointment."

I don't like people that draw paralels between their dog's sexuality and their own sexuality. Please don't talk about your testicles here.

This morning the kookas were going off their heads about something. So I went outside to look and one had a small snake in its mouth.

Big brown snake reared up at me in Victoria last week. We had a big bluey in the yard in QLD two days ago. Does anyone know, are reptiles like these paler in colour than usual after coming out of hibernation? Because the brown snake was almost cream coloured and the bluey was very pale.

You can get a ridge in other breeds too. There is no way to tell what is in the dog by looking at it. That is a very common colour in many breeds and is often seen in crossbreed dogs. Darkrai, it's loaves of bread not loafs of bread.

The dog is a known dog killer, it should be euth'd not rehomed. Absolutely. Not at all ethical to rehome a dog that has killed other dogs. Really dangerous thing to do.

Since your dog has been attacked, it now has a much lower threshold of what it will tolerate from other dogs. Your dog may feel more secure if you make sure other dogs cannot come too close. It doesn't really sound like escalation to me, rather in the course of play the other dog just went a bit too far and crossed your dog's boundary. If your dog started to growl or pin down dogs that were not interacting with it, then you would have a real problem. If you were to send other dogs away before they get close enough to upset your dog, your dog will probably not need to growl or show any aggression at all. Hopefully Underdog can help you. They would need to observe your dog's behaviour to give you an idea of how successfully some work could be done to raise your dog's threshold. Until then, for your own dog's safety and pieace of mind, keep other dogs away from it.

Bull terriers, Staffordshire Bull Terriers and American Staffordshire Terriers are recognised breeds with a well documented breeding history. Over the last few decades in Australia they are generally bred for pet or show homes. While all of those breeds have a background in fighting, it's what breeders do today and how they select their dogs every single time they breed that makes the biggest difference between ANKC bloodlines and other bloodlines. Anything unpapered is just a gamble. You don't know what is in the lines or what traits the yobbos have strengthened. You can call the dog a pitbull or anything you like, if its a big nasty dog it will end up in the media if it hurts somebody.

Nice doggy. If you are going to buy an unpapered amstaff, you are much better off having one that doesn't look like one at all.