spanky

We traced our rescue French Bulldog back to where he came from originally. It explained everything to do with his resource guarding issues, dog aggression and fear of anything hard that could be used to strike him. I like to think that we have made the last 4 years of his life much better than the first 8.

I'm guessing the reasons pets end up in shelters are varied, but some would stem from poor training, socialisation, novelty factor wearing off etc etc etc. Cats are allowed too much freedom by owners, if you don't think they should be contained... don't own one. Undesexed cats are allowed to roam and become pregnant. No feral cats should be desexed and released, they should be pts. Pounds and shelters are not the issue, it's owners and the people breeding them that need to be held accountable.

I'm aware that it's not a zap and works more like a remote collar, but it is an easy way to describe what I mean.

She hates being sprayed with water. I'm cautious about zappy ones as she has anxiety issues... hence the barking.... and I don't want to make that worse. I've asked her behaviourist for guidance. Just wanted to get an idea on peoples experience with them, so we don't waste our money.

We're travelling around Australia in a caravan and this means our two French bulldogs are tagging along with us. Our female is a very alert (read pain in the arse) dog and barks at random noises, people walking past, the sound of people talking... well you get the idea. She is really over the top and we are concerned she will get us kicked out of places we're staying. I'm getting her tested for an over-active thyroid in the hope it sheds some light on her behaviour. Maybe treatment will bring her alertness down a little. Anyway, we are considering a bark collar. Can anyone suggest a good brand / type. We're thinking a spray collar, but would a shock or ultrasound collar be better? With luck this will be a short-term measure as we work on her underlying behaviours.

Huga, my mate seems keen.... keep an eye out for an email from Luke who has a boxer. Apparently I owe him cupcakes. Eta: send Lauren the link. She would totally rock what your doing. I do believe Snot has recovered from his neck relapse and is off crate rest. Oh and doesn't her browse have a shar-pei?

Not on here Clyde, but she is on huga's Facebook and has sat for Serena before. I'm sure they'll hunt them down.

Just shared the Facebook link with a male friend who has a boxer. The boxer is an older gentleman, the guy is nice to look at. Not sure he'll go for it, but I have attempted to bribe him with home baked cake and biscuits.

Yay! Hope the girls and pups get the all clear at the vet.

Have you contacted Sunrise and Today? It might be a great way to reach a large audience. Especially those people that aren't internet media savvy. Seems like the kind of story they would happily push.

We wanted a small dog, due to yard and fences. I didn't want a dog that needed lots of grooming and I didn't want a dog that fell into the SWF category ( though I'd love a TT). So, our options were Boston or Frenchie. We prefered the bulk of the Frenchie and are now owned by 2 of them.

I know an awesome dog acupuncturist it you need one. She's based at Jindalee.

I'm so sorry Gayle. Run free Benson.

I was at Spotlight this morning and they asked for the owner of a car to come to the front. She'd left her dog in the car with all the windows up and customers coming into the store were telling staff. It is overcast and not hot today, but still it wasn't the right thing to do. Anyway, the lady cracked it and said people should just mind their own business. She did leave though, so she must of felt bad.

I'm heading to spotlight today for some curtain material. I'll grab something for the quilt.

Sorry to read your girl has passed to the bridge noisy. Thoughts are with you and your family.

Steve, how would they go with dogs on lead with strangers? We're in the process of looking for a 50-100 acre property to have a mixture of cattle, sheep and pigs so I'd like a maremma. If we find something in a suitable area I'd like to do a dog friendly farmstay, but not sure a maremma would take kindly to having strange dogs on the property. So maybe I'd be best not having one?

It's not me joining the thread (my photos are terrible), but I'm posting for my hubby. Pic is of our frenchie Callista.

We have two inside dogs (french bulldogs) and everyone was stunned that we weren't planning on making them outside dogs when our son was born. I said that the dogs were here first and that their breeders would be horrified if I made them outside dogs.

How's it going thommomac?

All dogs used in scientific studies are killed, that's the law. Testing in animals is for insurance purposes, nothing else. Stitching kittens eyes shut has not led to any ocular cures. Thalidomide was tested in animals and if penicillin had been tested in guinea pigs it never would have made it out of the lab. Drugs have different effects in animals, are excreted differenly and metabolised differently. As for eating animals, yes I do care how they are treated before being killed and we should work to ensure they don't suffer beforehand. We are carnivores in the end. Can you show me that please ? RSG - it may depend on the type of trial / testing being done, but for some there is a requirement for the animals to be euthanised at the end. I don't know if it is all, but I know we dissected rats at uni that were required to be pts at the end of the trial they were in.

Oh I agree. No animal should be made to suffer in the name of science. I think dogs and in this situation... non-recovery surgery... attract the reaction they do because people see them as pets / companions. It's easier to distance emotions from livestock or rats etc and not be concerned about how they are treated. The logic that it is acceptable for students to learn on cadavers from the pound, but not do non-recovery surgery on the same animal seems kind of flawed to my way of thinkng.

Rev Jo, I'm not saying they suffer. I was attempting to point out that there are lots of areas that dogs are used in science and that it is just a fact of life. The number of pts dogs from pounds used by uni vet students would be a small part in the scheme of things. Thankfully not all the articles I'm reading result in pts, but they do desex to get the repo tract. Apparently bitches are complex when it comes to IVF compared to other mammals. I guess I wonder how many people make an educated choice about where their protein comes from and if they pay the higher price for protein that matches their ethics.

For everyone that feels so strongly against this happening, how do you feel about dogs used in medical trials that are looking for cures to human diseases? Dogs suffer from quite a few similar diseases to us and live in our environments, so it's a good starting point for finding if developmental treatments work before starting human trials. I'm reading a lot of scientific articles around reproduction in dogs for an assignment and they are using beagles from their colonies for the research. Most are pts so the reproductive tracts can be removed. To me that is much worse than vet students doing non-recovery surgery on dogs allocated for pts at the pound. We feel horrible about this happening because they are a companion animal and we are emotionally attached to dogs as a whole. Yet do you care about how your steak or roast was treated before it landed on your plate? Do you consider the living conditions, distance it was transported to be slaughtered and how it behaved walking into the kill area? To me the way your food is produced is much more important and impacting on your life.

Nope I don't know more than you i was just thinking that maybe the hours drive from brissie might have been considered too much. I didn't realise the animals were sedated for transport, so it probably has nothing to do with it. Possibly it is the piggery pigs.... I don't like the piggery or the chicken farm... but I would assume if more were needed than could be supplied they'd buy slaughter animals? We did live pracs for anim1003 and anim3019 last week and used the sheep and dairy herds. Any lab work was on stuff from the abittoir.