tdierikx

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.

Pity they don't allow Cute cross Cuddlehound... 'cos I reckon that's what she really is... *grin* T.

Oh Anna! My heart goes out to you... Run free with the angels little man. T.

I'm actually pretty shocked at the number of people here who have reactive dogs - and are advocating everyone else lock theirs up so they can take them for walks wherever and whenever... Most dogs I have met running loose in my area have been friendly - in some cases way too friendly with anyone and anything approaching them. If I come across a loose dog, I'm likely to knock on it's owner's door and return it to them (in the case of the dog getting out accidentally), or popping them into my car and taking them to the local vet/pound for scanning and return to same. In more cases than not, the dog has been a first time offender in getting out of the yard and has been off having a lovely adventure looking for someone to give them attention/pats. I live in an area where the number of staffy/mixes completely outnumbers any other breed mix, yet we don't seem to have incidents warranting any media (or ranger) attention around here... go figure? T.

The only thing cuter than lambs are goat kids... *grin* T.

Hahaha! Too funny! Sounds like the perfect dog... *grin* T.