tdierikx

Most obedience classes have rules relating to the interaction between dogs - ie. dogs must be under effective control when in close proximity to others The fact that your girl air snapped and told the puppy that she wasn't impressed by it's rudeness is NO excuse for a stranger (instructor or not) to tell your dog off in an intimidating fashion. Quite frankly, if it were my dog that the instructor decided to chastise, the instructor would have had to deal with some unsavoury behaviour from ME... T.

Your vets should have acted themselves if they were so concerned about the rate of parvo infected dogs emerging from Griffith Pound... I'd say that a letter from a vet to Council mamagement on the parvo issue might have a bigger impact than a rescue group crying foul to the press and pointing the finger at the staff who have to deal with it probably even moreso than you do, and under much tighter budgets may I add... Quite a few groups had been rescuing from Griffith pound quite successfully begore Needy Paws (and yourself) decided that they'd jump onto the bandwagon and declare yourselves the be all and end all for needies in Griffith Pound. what you fail to see as a possible consequence of your attention seeking stampede to the media is that Council might just turn around and refuse to work with rescue at all - as has happened at more than one pound after ultimatums have been handed down by a rescue "rogue" (which is how you will be perceived by those on the receiving end of your media jaunt, by the way). Declaring yourself/Needy Paws as the only hope for ALL Griffith poundies is also a bit rich, don't you think? Not acknowledging ANY of the other rescues who regularly take from Griffith, but attempting to take all credit for ALL dogs taken is a bit of a stretch from where a lot of us stand. Did you even bother to talk to any of the other rescues involved before running off to the media to make yourself out to be some sort of rescue hero? As for the 4 "very hard" dogs at Griffith Pound right now... well - with your excellent media spotlight on the high rate of parvo there - I'd say most would be very leery of taking ANYTHING from there at all right now... But then, you "really do not care what anyone else thinks", so we'll leave the job to you then, yes? T.

There are a few new ones on her Flickr page... *grin* T.

Am I a bad "mummy" when I tell Harper that I'll send her to the pound if she continues being naughty? I'd never do it, but sometimes she's such a brat... T.

My Labrador girl is nearly 8... and she still has her mad moments... They do eventually get with the program, and really love anything that stimulates the mind as well as the body. I gave up trying to wear my Lab out the day that she outran 4 Whippets tag-teaming their races up and down the park. 4 whippets exhausted after 4 hours of intermittent running - 1 Lab raring to go for another 4 hours! T.

Harper's fave things to collect and bring into the house are dried poops... which she regards as a delectable treat... crunches them up in my hallway... grr! As if it's not bad enough that all 4 dogs are moulting right now, I have to sweep up her crunchie leftovers as well... T.

Harper is a smidge smaller than Fernie-Fern - she can't reach to the very back of the kitchen benches yet... but she's only 15 months old and still has a little bit of growing to do yet... I already make sure nothing that I don't want destroyed is well out of her reach... *grin* T.

You could go for an all purpose zoom lens like the Tamron 18-270mm... best of all worlds then! T.

Haha! Fernie-Fern is self dosing... T.

Awww... she should be named Chance or Lucky... She is a cutie too. T.

Commute... you only live about an hour (if that) from the city by public transport now, don't you? ... or take the dog with you and walk him a couple of times a day, or jaunts in Centennial Park could work too. T.

If you had a dog with parvo in your house/yard only a few months ago, the chances of the new little one being reinfected when she comes home from the vet are going to be high... Parvo is one of those insidious diseases that can hang around a VERY long time. Best recommendation is to wait at least 12 months before bringing a pup to your place. I had a litter of rescue pups in June this year who all had parvo - and I'm not allowed to have any pups on my property now for at least 12 months... 18 months would probably be the safest bet IMHO. Fingers crossed your little girl doesn't get reinfected when you get her back from the vet.... T.

Don't rely solely on the black light to spot ringworm - sometimes it doesn't flouresce... T.

When Harper bit a bee (and it stung her back), I was much more calm than the vet... lol! She did need both the antihistimine AND an anti-inflammatory, as her reaction was rather violent to say the least. Next time will be when I have to panic - she's rather allergic to bees it seems... errr! Even after both shots, it was a good 7 hours before her face went down and the hives disappeared... I don't know if growing up on a farm during my teenage years has much to do with it, but I'm rather a dab hand at patching up animals. You had to be when the vet was a minimum 30-45 mins drive from you. I remember once when a friend's horse got stuck in a cattle grid, and I had to ride my pushbike for 5km to help her get him out - then while she rang for the vet to come out to us, I ripped the sleeves off my shirt and bandaged his torn frog good enough to walk him back to her place to wait for the vet. The vet was highly impressed that a 15 year old had the presence of mind to do that with an obviously upset and injured horse. It definitely helped that I and the horse were on good terms anyways... hence my friend calling ME to help get him unstuck from the grid... *grin* My dad and I also did some minor sugery on our dog when he came home with a bullet stuck in his chest - luckily it missed anything vital, and was lodged not too far under the skin. It had gone in just near the armpit and lodged in the chest muscle. We never did find out who had shot at him... probably some kids doing target practice, and it was a stray bullet... When I was 17, our dog needed a lump removed from his belly - I got to assist with the surgery in lieu of payment... *grin* T.

He's a big sooky la-la too... great for cuddling... *grin* T.

When I was in year 11-12, someone suggested to me that I should be a vet... not on your life mate! Apart from the fact that I was too lazy to put in the effort to get an HSC mark that would get me into Vet Science, there is no way I could cope with what an average vet has to deal with on a daily basis. That said, and while I have a lot of respect for the job vets do, I'm not a fan of upselling or having procedures done on my pets that aren't 100% necessary. Any vet that tries to push me towards either will get a short (and mostly polite) "no thanks". I also like to be a part of the diagnostic "team" when it comes to my pets' medical issues - who really knows MY pets better than I do after all? T.

His colouring is perfect for photographing... *grin* Very hard to take a bad photo of him really - I got about 100 really lovely pics yesterday... she's going to be thrilled! I love the colours on your Whippets Kirislin - perfect to taking great pics of - not too light, not too dark, great to photograph in pretty much any light conditions, yes? My fave colours on dogs (for taking photos of) are any shades of brindle, or tans... they don't contrast too much with backgrounds, and they don't blend too much either... perfect! I've only got 1 photo of my black and blonde girls where the colours are just right and they both look good - usually one will mess with the other when the camera does it's light balance adjustments... T.

This is my friend's young lad Shadow... isn't he simply stunning? T.

In all honesty, the rescues that work quietly and well with pounds rarely get any recognition... but they should, for without those fore-runners, groups like Needy Paws would never have even gotten their foot in the door. It can be counter-productive to make public ultimatums like the one above - and, as Powerlegs has pointed out, many other groups have worked with Griffith Pound for years, then public ultimatums may very well screw it up for ALL rescue who want to work with that pound... T.

That is one gorgeous pup! Quite gentle with the magpie considering it's age. T.

Run free and healthy Zuess... may your star shine bright in the heavens sweet man. Big hugs to you and the boys Rach... T.

Doesn't Maddie look the shortie compared to Stan? Gorgeous! T.

I'd say many country pound facilities would be similar, yes? Understaffed, under-resourced, underfunded... and animal management isn' high on the list of things to spend money on. Ultimatums like the one above may just have the result of council deciding that destroying the animals that are sick or have reached the end of their impound time is simply easier than dealing with rescue... T.

No biggie, if you give them a call, they'll happily recommend one of their member groomers... *grin* ... one of their member groomers won the Buddy Award at Groomquest this year... and they were very helpful to Caz after the incident where she lost her dear old Buddy to that maverick groomer in Penrith (who wasn't a member of any organisation) T.

Pets Australia has a lot of groomer members - and quite a few from your area... give them a call and I'm sure they will be able to recommend a few... http://petsaustralia.org/ - phone number at top right. T.