Greytmate

Why wouldn't you get surgery? Another option is to send her back to the breeder for a refund I guess.

Yes, but have any of you painted the exterior of your house to match your dogs? Like the footy-head in Footscray who painted her whole house red white and blue? I think the footy fans are leading in the 'obsessive love' stakes so far. Come on dog lovers, show us the love.

My cousin loves football too much. He actually got the sack from a good job because he chose to celebrate a grand final win for 3 days instead of going to work. I also know somebody who was sacked from a good job because their dog was missing and they drove around looking for it instead of going to work. (They found it) I would be more like the second person I guess. Cousin is a bit of a goose, no?

It's not the world you live in, but the size and density of the town/city/neighbourhood you live in that largely determines whether people 'say something' or whether people mind their own business. Living in a high density environment means that people actually need to ignore a lot of undesirable things to avoid being totally overwhelmed by other people's problems. It's why small town or small neighbourhood living is so attractive. More people feel comfortable interacting with and helping out strangers. People in these places are more likely to take action if they see suspicious or undesirable activity, and so dogs are less likely to be stolen from in front of shops. Big cities can be very different.

I'm most interested in this one. This one indicates a higher level of reasoning that I wouldn't have really thought about ... but then I presume service dogs have a lot of training with spacial awareness and are maybe taught to think of their human as part of themselves when it comes to things like obstacles? I know "normal" dogs don't think about anyone else when it comes to getting through small things so it's really a training thing and not a natural thinking thing. I wonder how they train for this? I think the spatial awareness is already there is all animals and people, people are remarkably good at adjusting this subconsciously for different situations. People learn to cope with things like high heels, or the use of a walking stick and these things become part of our embodiment in space. I wonder if the use of the special harness helps the dog feel as if the handler is part of their body?

That's the important thing, otherwise they could do more harm than good if they come across as the Crazy Dog Lady Brigade. It would be interesting to see who the committee members are, if anyone can publish the list here when it is revealed. I found from my own experiences in trying to effect legislative change that I had to collaborate with and gain the trust of some very high achieving and powerful people. There would be little point in having a committee of 18 people unless in contained some that are regarded as leaders in their professional field.

Dogs generally can be trained to cope with differing distances from their owner while the owner is at home. All people should make an effort to train their dogs to cope with this, because if the dog is inadvertently trained to be overly-clingy while the owner is around by getting too much attention, it might have difficulties when the owner enforces a total separation. As you said before, it's about what the owner does when they are with the dog that needs to be considered. More than just looking at the undesirable behaviour in isolation from the rest of its life.

This is really interesting. When we walk our dogs we often take a piece of bread with us to give to the fish in the creek. Coco loves bread, and a few times now has waited until we are really distracted, halfway across a really busy road, and taken the opportunity to try to steal the bread out of our hands. She never tries it any other time, she knows not to steal our food. She realises that we are looking up and down the road for traffic, and are in a hurry to get across, and she takes her chance. She has never been successful, so it hasn't been self-rewarding, but she repeats the behaviour. She isn't a really clever dog, and so I thought it was pretty amazing that she was perceptive enough to know when we were at our most vulnerable. There is no time to stop and correct a dog and remove the bread from her mouth in the middle of a main road. Naughty dog. :laugh:

Yes its extremely dangerous. Not to the person having the vaccine, they are ok, but dangerous to the australian population as a whole if production of this vaccine is increased. In order to produce this vaccine, animals have to be kept infected in Australian labs.

Thats right. You cannot control anything people do after they get a dog. If they want an undesexed dog they will buy one and will not worry about whatever they told you or claiming a deposit back. Rescue dogs are only valued at two or three hundred dollars, and you may have difficulty charging more to cover a refundable deposit. You will miss out on buyers expecting rescue dogs to have had their work done and attract people who want an entire dog. As somebody already said, if a dog is unsuitable to desex, its unsuitable to rehome.

We live in a different environment and a different culture. We are not that used to seeing it, our dogs are not used to seeing it or doing it, other people are not used to seeing it, and drivers on our roads are not used to seeing it either. We have different dog walking habits, different shopping habits, and different community standards. It's not just that we are not used to seeing it, it is that most of us here are aware of the consequences of something going wrong if we did do it. And if we were not before, we might be after reading the whole thread.

Nobody is going to inspect his bedroom every night.

It's really sounding like this man is in a state of denial about his dog. I can understand that because it is very common for people to take any criticism of their dog personally. Especially given the agenda of many people to deny any genetic basis for behaviour and to blame the owner. As far as he is concerned, he loves his dog and he probably thinks others are to blame if the dog harms them. It would be hard for him to accept that his dog is 'bad' when there are so many good things about it. So now you have advice for him to see a lawyer if he starts talking about appeal, names of good trainers, and the advice to obey the conditions of the declaration. If he is unwilling to take this advice from you, I would stop entertaining him in the shop and call council to report his dog for being unmuzzled. By starting this thread here you went to a lot of trouble to help this man, and hopefully are in a better position to help him now. Withdraw your support if he just wants to use you to listen to his whinging, it's not really fair on you.

Goes to court? I'm not an expert on NSW dog law, but this isn't a criminal matter that will be given court time. The dog was simply declared dangerous under the powers that council has. This declaration is valid in all eastern states of Australia. Any appeal is about whether council followed procedure, and then this is investigated, and the appeal is only upheld if it's found that council did not follow procedure (and why wouldn't they?) There is no courtroom or judge or 3 dogs or character assessment. The dog has been declared dangerous based on what is was reported to have done. What it is known to have done. That's it. He must pay his fine and keep the dog under the prescribed conditions, regardless of any appeal or argument or appeal for assessment that he is considering taking. He sounds like a person who is rambling on without having had any legal advice. So don't entertain his line of thought and urge him to get a lawyer if he wants advice, and keep the dog muzzled in the mean time.

Thanks for taking this all on board M United. We all just want to see the right dog with the right owner, so owners are happy and all dogs are safe and happy. The dog and owner that this thread are about are in a very unfortunate situation. It's not black and white, and good intentions can't always fix problems. While he walks his dog around the inner-sydney environment, this dog will be continually provoked to aggression.

I don't care what you claim to know about dogs, you don't know enough to decide whether other people are on topic or not. I'm not even sure how you think you are going to help. The whole community would be much better off with dogs like this muzzled and on lead at all times, it's not helpful to suggest anything else. You have been given names of trainers and that's all the helpful advice you are ever going to get here about how to treat aggression in a particular dog. The dog is still dangerous and has to be muzzled regardless of what trainer is seen.. I know about your lifestyle and what you want to do with your new dog, because you told us. Want to read back and check? You can get all the behavioural lessons you want, but if you let an amstaff offlead in the park to play with other dogs, your lessons won't really count for much, you will lose control of the situation and your dog's instincts may come to the fore. That is why dogs are declared dangerous. You need to forget about the idea that dogs behaviour is the sum of the owner's efforts and intentions and realise that different dog breeds have different genetic tendencies. It's how you manage the dog more than how you train it, because mismanagement will see your dog learning lots of stuff you might not want it to learn. You have seen an example of what can happen, so you need to think carefully before you buy a dog too. You have told us you like dogs to be offlead and play with all the other dogs, so how about you take some advice to keep yourself out trouble too? Don't buy a breed that is known to have a 'play style' that can end up causing fights. You will find that many people will clear out of the park and do anything to avoid your dog playing with theirs.

Then you should possibly reconsider your own plans to buy an amstaff and think about buying a breed that is more suited to running around a park and playing with all the other dogs. Why would i not allow an amstaff to play with other dogs? My current family small dog has no issues playing with staffys, and a fair few friends of mine own english staffys and i really enjoy that breed. Going to the park is something i enjoy doing. But just to clarify something if i had a dog for whatever reason couldn't be taken to the park then i will deal with that, its not all just about the park. Make up your mind. You will deal with it but it would hurt you? Bullbreeds need careful socialisation and should be encouraged to be calm around strange dogs at a park. You are going to end up with a dangerous dog as well unless you buy a breed to suit what you want to do with it. And this will be all your own fault. No. It's none of your business. Because this man has told you his dog has been declared dangerous, encourage him to follow the law and report him if you see his dog unmuzzled. That's all you can do. I see a lot of your posts go off topic. Best to stick to what this thread is about. I have encouraged him to follow the law but i'm also trying to help him deal with the issues his having. If you disagree with this that is your opinion, mine is to help him as much as i can. I see a lot of your posts have no idea about dogs, and you are in no position to dictate how a topic progresses if you keep adding more information. You can't help him deal with his dog's issues. they are serious and dangerous. You can't help this person and are not helping him, except by giving him somebody to talk to. And you should learn from this and buy a dog that suits your lifestyle, not buy a breed that is unsuitable for what you say you want to be able to do. Or you will end up with a dangerous dog too.

Then you should possibly reconsider your own plans to buy an amstaff and think about buying a breed that is more suited to running around a park and playing with all the other dogs. Why would i not allow an amstaff to play with other dogs? My current family small dog has no issues playing with staffys, and a fair few friends of mine own english staffys and i really enjoy that breed. Going to the park is something i enjoy doing. But just to clarify something if i had a dog for whatever reason couldn't be taken to the park then i will deal with that, its not all just about the park. Make up your mind. You will deal with it but it would hurt you? Bullbreeds need careful socialisation and should be encouraged to be calm around strange dogs at a park. You are going to end up with a dangerous dog as well unless you buy a breed to suit what you want to do with it. And this will be all your own fault. No. It's none of your business. Because this man has told you his dog has been declared dangerous, encourage him to follow the law and report him if you see his dog unmuzzled. That's all you can do.

Then you should possibly reconsider your own plans to buy an amstaff and think about buying a breed that is more suited to running around a park and playing with all the other dogs.

This is story is exactly why you should never buy a dog for somebody as a present. It might be completely unsuitable for their lifestyle.

It's not luck. Buy a dog from a good breeder or ethical rescue, and you will get a dog that suits your lifestyle. This person didn't do that, so it sucks to be him right now. He now has to adjust his life to keep his dog from hurting others.

A specialist has already told him to keep the dog on lead. The council has declared the dog dangerous. And most pets that have a problem like this are very loving towards their owners at home, where they spend most of their time. I don't let my dog off a lead ever, but he loves his walks very much.

The only grounds for appeal are that the proper procedure wasn't followed by council. Which means he will very likely lose, as the procedure is very simple and was probably followed. I would report him for not having the dog muzzled in the mean time.

It sounds like the dog is genetically predisposed to having a very high prey drive. That isn't 'breed' as such, as the dog is a random cross breed. But we can say that it is breeding that is likely to have created this dog. Being an angry or careless owner doesn't make your dog want to kill other dogs on sight. Prey drive does. The dog has been declared dangerous. GOOD. It must always wear a muzzle. Yes, there are all sorts of training people that offer money-back guarantee, but nobody with a brain will take your money and call this dog fixed. The type and amount of of training necessary to stop the behaviour is well beyond the capability of most people, and can be all undone in a single instant. It's great the owner loves the dog, but they just need to keep it muzzled in public, on lead, and well away from other dogs, for the rest of its life, and think much more carefully next time they go to buy a dog. That isn't too hard.

When somebody here is reported for that, the rangers go around and have a word to them about their responsibilities. There is a dog in our street that used to wander but now is kept confined all the time. A dog next door to my friend that was out all the time is now only let out to roam occasionally. All because the ranger reminded them of their responsibility. And it's not like a noise complaint where clearly there is an annoyed neighbour who reported it. In this case the ranger will see the dog isn't confined or registered and talk to the owner about what they need to do. The conversation wont be about the neighbours, just about the dog.