tdierikx

Not to mention specialist surgeons can be more pricey than regular vets... T.

They are usually very shy too... not always lucky enough to see them out and about at the zoo either, and when they are, it's a photo taking frenzy to get as many pics as possible - mostly to prove they are actually there... lol! T.

Definitely Fennec Fox... they are seriously cute, but have very sharp little teeth! Taronga Zoo have 4 new additions to their Fennec Fox family... deadly cute! 26-12-2013-taronga 788 by tdierikx, on Flickr 26-12-2013-taronga 233 by tdierikx, on Flickr 26-12-2013-taronga 119 by tdierikx, on Flickr 22-12-2013-taronga 933 by tdierikx, on Flickr 08-12-2013-taronga 998 by tdierikx, on Flickr T.

Avocados? Really? We had an avocado farm, and the farm dog used to snack on them regularly... but he had a cast iron constitution methinks... he also liked us to throw the seeds for him like they were tennis balls. He also ate the macadamias that fell from the trees - after the rats had obligingly cracked the hard bit for him. Zeddy loves pizza - the more onion on it the better as far as she's concerned... T.

I'll have Zephyr and Fire please... stunning smiles... T.

So jealous right now... *mutter mutter* My neighbour has an Airedale - impressive bark, but no actual backup... lol! Then again, if it were dark, you'd not know that it was a sooky Airedale behind the noise... T.

But what brought your neighbour to their attention in the first place? It's not usual practice for Council and RSPCA rangers to wander around looking for something to do, and then just decide to pick on some little old ladies' dogs for no reason... It's almost impossible to get an RSPCA ranger to attend anything where I live... not even a life or death matter... T.

I'm not doubting that Scootaloo has a rescue dog with issues... What I am defending is the fact that the MAJORITY of rescues are NOT "broken" in any way, shape, or form. T.

Once you meet a nicely bred and raised Rottie, you will definitely want one... they are truly divine dogs in every respect! I'd have 5 again in a flash... no joking! T.

There are also well bred purebreeds in rescue... believe it or not... *grin* Not all dogs become homeless due to issues they have developed... It's like believing all the hype generated about purebreeds after watching that stupid "Purebreeds Exposed" thing... we all know that the examples shown in that video aren't representative of large numbers of the breeds portrayed, yes? Well, it's the same with rescues - the majority are really wonderful dogs that are the apple of their new family's eyes. T.

I think that there has been a heck of a lot of vehemence directed at Jed in the responses here by quite a few people. We all could have explained ourselves and our stance on the topic without making our posts look like personal attacks on Jed's character, yes? I apologise if any of my responses have offended you Jed - you will always have my respect, even if I don't necessarily agree with you on this particular topic, OK? In the end, Jed knows what her pups will require to be raised as happy and healthy and socially acceptable pets - and maybe we should just agree to disagree... at least we know what Jed expects from her puppy buyers in case we get the urge to apply for one... *grin* T.

So how many rescues have you had experience with Scootaloo? You can't seriously be advocating that ALL rescue dogs are "broken" just because you ended up with one that seems to be just that? From my experience with literally hundreds of rescue dogs and pups, I can honestly say that there are a very small number of them that are "broken" in any way... and most reputable rescues won't rehome "broken" dogs... T.

I'd like to know how the person in this case managed to nark off a ranger so much that they called the RSPCA on her and got it to stick... T.

I did have one dog raised from a 6 week old pup (FTGH) when I was working 12 hour shifts - 4 days on, 4 days off... I had to start my dog addiction somewhere... *grin* She was 4 before I decided to get another dog... and it kinda snowballed from there... lol! I've never really been into going out (since I gave up drinking and got my first dog), so all non-working hours were spent with my dog - she even went ice skating with me... which was my one night out per week. I'm sure that it would feel wierd to only have one dog now... 4 is my magic number. T.

I see Stan is well prepared for tonight... lol! Hope you all have a greyt one tonight and that 2014 is awesome... T.

I work fulltime, have 4 dogs of my own, and up until recently was also foster caring pups for rescue... 2 of my own dogs are foster failures even. Never had a complaint from any of the new homes we found for the foster pups about temperament, toilet training, sociability, or the like... and I've had roughly 200 foster pups through here over the past few years... Some people who work fulltime might need to readjust their priorities to adjust to a pup in the family - but there are just as many who will do a fine job of it. T.

Awww... Akbar looks a bit like my oldest dog... getting a bit more grey every year... lol! T.

I have a photo somewhere of my brother's assistance dog manning the callcentre phones... he had the headset on and everything... lol! Most times though we used him as the office shredder... *grin* T.

Hugs to you Jed... T.

Ridgebacks are generally larger than Rotties... just sayin'... T.

That tiger looks rather Bengal marked... check out the amount of white on it's eyebrows and less ruff around the cheeks... but the stripes and ears are more Sumatran. I'd love to see a pure Bengal or Siberian up close... we have a Bengal/Sumatran cross at Symbio (ex-Dreamworld tiger), and he's huge! I've found that the big cats in the zoos I visit are most active first thing in the morning (just after they've been let out of their night dens), and at the keeper talk times when they get some food. T.

No problems... but picking just ONE photo from my 2 zoo trips every week will be the hardest part... lol! Just this past weekend, I took 1800 photos at one zoo, and 1300 at the other... errr! Oh - and that was the count of photos AFTER I'd deleted the crappy blurry ones! I don't post them all to Flickr though - just pick out the ones I like the best - usually about 30-50 depending on what turns out really nice. For anyone interested in a sneak preview... http://www.flickr.com/photos/tdierikx/ T.

What a handsome boy! They all ended up looking so different from each other, didn't they? I wonder what the ones that went to Fetching Dogs ended up looking like? T.

All of my rescue foster pups were crated at night... if they kicked up a stink, they were ignored and they got the idea pretty quickly that no-one was coming to get them out when they wanted it. If I had litters, they would double up for company in their crates - singletons had a bucket type beddie with a teddy to simulate a littermate environment. I tend to place the crates where they can see me on the bed in my bedroom, so tantrums were pretty rare anyways. My older dogs were crate trained at an older age (4 and 9 years old) - after they'd had a fight and needed cage rest. Both are still perfectly fine to get into a crate and settle when asked. T.

I'm a Zoo junkie - can I post zoo animal pics? And how many are we allowed as a maximum per week? I go to 2 different zoos most weeks - so can I post one from each zoo per week? T.