tdierikx

How? I mean, many well run rescues will have teams of fundraisers and coordinators. How does more fundraising equal less time spent with animals? The majority of rescues aren't all that well run though, are they? How many of your charges are kenneled until you can find a carer for them - however long that may take? Are you constantly using "this animal will DIE if you don't donate now" tactics? I don't think so... but there are MANY who are... T.

It's hard to tell as far as I have experienced... some abused dogs (from known abusive backgrounds where the owner was prosecuted) are the happiest and most trusting souls I've ever met - and some from non-abusive backgrounds are reactive to their own shadow... I think a lot of people would like to believe that they have rescued or adopted a dog to "save" it from some perceived abuse. It makes them feel good about themselves, and also allows them to explain away behaviours that need a fair bit of work to correct. I'd say the starved pair from Gundagai pound you recently helped into rescue were definitely abuse cases... but others we have no background on... VERY hard to say with any accuracy. T.

Those two dogs don't run together any more for precisely that reason - if they have a fight, it's on to the death. However, I can take them (separately) to a crowded dog park and have other dogs rush or try to dominate them, and they don't react... go figure? I know exactly what they are capable of in a fight, yet they don't do it with other dogs... neither of them have issues with my other 2 dogs either - just each other. T.

Sorry about yesterday - big day at work and I couldn't be bothered doing stuff on the computer that required any thinking... Newest Taronga pics are up now, and here's a taste... 01-09-2013-zoo 986 by tdierikx, on Flickr 01-09-2013-zoo 604 by tdierikx, on Flickr 01-09-2013-zoo 479 by tdierikx, on Flickr 01-09-2013-zoo 430 by tdierikx, on Flickr 01-09-2013-zoo 351 by tdierikx, on Flickr 01-09-2013-zoo 188 by tdierikx, on Flickr See the rest here... http://www.flickr.com/photos/tdierikx/ T.

Believe it or not, in most cases, it's the smaller and heartfelt donations of goods or services that really do mean the most to many rescues... they know that the person has really thought about what the animals may need and tried to provide what they can... and in many cases those people who make the smaller donations probably had to do without something themselves to provide that little extra for the animals. Never underestimate how helpful and appreciated even the smallest thing can be to a rescue... As for those constantly harping for more and more donations and using every trick in the book to make people donate... sometimes I think some of them have really lost sight of what exactly rescue is about... too much time spent constantly fundraising means less time spent actually with the animals they are purportedly fundraising for. T.

I had a friend that used to be a lab tech at Sydney Uni, and they were breeding their own test animals for better controls for their testing/experiments - rats, rabbits, dogs, and cats were the animals she had to deal with... As far as I know they stopped using ex-poundies due to the above - and the fact that the AR types got really vocal (and in some cases, physical) about it. T.

Wow, that is scary. I would have thought that the spray would mess with the vision and smell to the point that the dog wouldn't be able to continue an attack, assuming it didn't already have hold of the person or dog? Now a taser might do the job nicely :D But seriously, a walking type stick that could emit a suitable electric shock would be great for the elderly. A taser would possibly work - but not one of those piddly personal use ones you can buy over the internet... you need the higher end professional ones like the police carry. I know that capsicum spray doesn't work because a policeman tried 2.5 cans of the stuff on one of MY dogs - 2 of my dogs were having a full on barney in my own back yard, the police were "visiting" a neighbour and heard me yelling and trying to pull one of them off the other, and came over to "help"... boots, batons, capsicum spray - nothing worked because both dogs were way too far gone in the heat of the fight to detract them from their purpose. The 2 dogs finally succumbed to exhaustion after the longest 6 minutes of my life... Now - if the policeman had done what I asked/instructed - grab the back legs of one of the dogs and pull - there would have been no need for the amount of paperwork he ended up having to do for discharging all that capsicum spary, the dogs would have had less injuries, and all would have turned out much better than it did... *sigh* T.

I can tell you right now that even capsicum spray directly into the face/eyes (used by police) won't work on a dog that has passed the point of "intent"... T.

I bought the Spray Shield from Animalcare Australia, I didn't make it myself. It's the only spray dog deterrent that's legal in NSW, its totally harmless, I've tried it on my own dog with no after affects. It only has shock value on a dog as they don't care for the smell or the spraying sound, it says on the can it won't stop a high level aggressive dog but as it's the only defense that's allowed in NSW I'm using it because Gods knows we aren't allowed to defend ourselves against other people's aggressive dogs with anything else. The white vinegar was a suggestion from an animal trainer on another thread, it's stings apparently but does not cause any damage. It does if you don't have the dilution right... I've seen the effects of it being sprayed at a dog's face - by a "trainer" no less... the dog required some intensive vet treatment for her eyes. T.

Awesome!!! You have a lot of VERY nice photos there piper! T.

Be careful about spraying any animal with a caustic solution like vinegar... you could be liable for vet fees if you get it into a dog's eyes - and possibly slapped with a cruelty charge to boot... Not sure about the citronella - may be best to read any safety notes on the bottle before spraying it at anyone else's dogs. T.

I've got his Australian Mongrel book - courtesy of another wonderful DOLer... love his work!

Awesome effort koalathebear!! T.

I remember years ago - before the internet existed - when my dog was let out by the mower man... I rang the local council, and the girl who answered the phone had no idea where the pound was... for 3 days (I called every day)!!! I finally got jack of the stupid council girl and rang a few of the local vet clinics and found out that one of them was the pound. I called the pound/clinic and they swore blind that they didn't have any dogs matching the description I gave them - large/medium sized scruffy black and white mutt (she looked like a scruffy BC by the way) - so I asked my neighbour to drive me down there just to check... and my dog WAS there! She also had a broken leg that they tried to browbeat me into expensive surgery for... *sigh*... I have no doubt that she would have been euthed as soon as her time was up (and it was only a few days back then) due to the broken leg that really didn't need surgery to heal just fine. I'm positive that when I called, the person answering the phone didn't even look at what was in the pens... From that day on, I've always made it one of the first things I do when moving to a new place - find out the closest vet clinic, and where the area pound is located... luckily I have not needed to collect any of my own dogs from a pound since that first time... *grin* Where I currently live I am in the corner of one council area which borders 2 others. Depending on whether my dog is found IN my street or on one of the streets at either end, they could be impounded at one of 3 different pounds - Canterbury (around the corner from where I live), Renbury (at Austral), or the Sydney Dogs and Cats Home (at Carlton)... how's that for confusing? My lovely neighbour Katdogs made up some flyers with the pound info a while back and letterboxed around the area so that everyone here knows where to look if they lose a pet... how cool is she? T.

I just ignore the rantings about anything that doesn't interest me... My brother has taken to spamming me multiple times a day with "don't vote for Tony Abbott" crap... whatever gave him the idea who I might want to vote for is beyond me... I haven't even worked that one out yet - but his constant spamming sure isn't making me any more likely to want to vote Labor either... *sigh* AA or AR types... meh... delete. T.

Save a little bit here and there when you can Kirislin... then you can buy it and not feel guilty... *grin* I went to Taronga again today... will post photos tomorrow evening - I'm pooped now... T.

Love how little girl is "killing" that cow... lol! T.

You're game! What if the shooter has a thing for dogs? T.

Bloody hell... that's scary! T.

Thanks Ruffles. grizabella - the marmosets and tamarins were very tricky to capture in movement as their enclosures are not under the best light - but as you can see, they slow down some when they are eating... lol! They are really small too - the pygmy marmoset was about 5-6cm tall... John (the owner of Symbio) says they are also going to get lemurs soon too... yay! And a new reptile section with more exhibits... and they are going to change/move some of the older exhibits to newer digs. I really love how most of the animals are actually interested in human interaction. The cockatoos will fly over to the sides of their enclosures and chatter away to you, as will the blue-winged kookaburras, and most of the other birds too - not the eagles fortunately... err! Even the cassowary seemed reasonably friendly, but was in an area that was hard to get photos of him. They have a couple of albino peacocks too (all the peacocks roam free) - and an albino echidna. If you are in Sydney, a visit to Symbio is a must... it's small and can be seen in a couple of hours, or you can just relax and take it all in at your own leisure without missing anything in a single day. I started by walking around the whole place and getting my bearings first, then wandered back to the ones I wanted more/better pics of... although the marmoset and tamarin ones were taken on my first trip around when they were eating and easier to get in focus... lol! I swapped the long lens for the shorter one for a while, and my camera felt REALLY light - it was strange... lol! T.

Thanks Kirislin! T.

It was awesome! I got to cuddle a few animals... I kissed one of the goats (I'm a bit of a goat fan), patted a few kangaroos, took LOTS of pics... I was really impressed at the tiger enclosure... it's almost THE perfect setup for getting great photos... T.

Ummm... now let me huess who the piggy puppy is... lol! What a porker! They are getting cuter by the day! T.

Well - I finally got myself down to Symbio Zoo today... and got some nice pics... *grin* They have very cute little Marmosets and Tamarins, Meerkats, Koalas, various birds, and a few reptiles... AND you can go in with and pat and feed Kangaroos, Emus, Alpacas, etc! AND they have TIGERS!! They have a really awesome Tiger viewing area... heaps better than the setup at Taronga even! If you want great pics of Tigers, get thee to Symbio Zoo and rock up for the 12:30 feeding and keeper talk... you won't be disappointed... lots of viewing area and brilliantly set up for getting great photos of the Tigers chowing down on their lunch nice and close! It's a small zoo, so I managed to go around it twice with my camera in under 4 hours... lol! I also got chatting with this gentleman near the Tiger enclosure - and it turns out he owns the place... lol! Nice fellow, and he was explaining their current expansion works and all that... they are going to get some Lions and Cheetahs within the next 12 months, and are building a new Koala breeding sanctuary area as well... someday I may actually get me some pics of Koalas "doing it"... *giggle* I will be a repeat visitor to Symbio... that's for sure! ... here are some of the pics I got today... 31-08-2013-symbio 025 by tdierikx, on Flickr 31-08-2013-symbio 102 by tdierikx, on Flickr 31-08-2013-symbio 180 by tdierikx, on Flickr 31-08-2013-symbio 196 by tdierikx, on Flickr 31-08-2013-symbio 676 by tdierikx, on Flickr 31-08-2013-symbio 692 by tdierikx, on Flickr 31-08-2013-symbio 944 by tdierikx, on Flickr 31-08-2013-symbio 1045 by tdierikx, on Flickr More can be seen here... http://www.flickr.com/photos/tdierikx/ T.

Me too! My cousins still live in Clontarf... I don't... lol! T.