tdierikx

The lions were bloody hard to get a good vantage point for by the time I got there - it was crowded and there were a lot of rude pushy shovey people trying to lift their children up to the glass to put their slimy hands all over it... I was off to the side and had to use full zoom and sports mode on the camera to get any shots at all of the male. The light wasn't perfect either... I did get some nice ones of one of the females though, as she graciously came right up to the spot I was standing and looked dead at me from about 3 feet away. God they are divine animals! Tossing up whether to go again today and see if I can get some good tiger shots - also missed the elephants, the gorillas, all the Australian fauna, etc... I mainly went yesterday to have a go at shooting the reptiles... I spent a good 90 mins doing that, and did get some nice pics of slithery things... *grin* I think I did pretty good getting around 1200 photos yesterday, and only deleted around 300 that were complete crap. T.

... last lot... Some of the pics aren't the greatest - lots of reflections on the glass and smeared kiddy fingerprints don't make for ease of photography - not to mention that it was pretty crowded at some of the exhibits. T.

... part 2... ... more coming...

I was supposed to go help a friend with something today, but she got called in to work at the last minute... so I decided to go to the Zoo instead... *grin* Here are the fruits of my labours with the camera... More coming...

Please do not use the word "Stafford" and "type" in the same sentence, the word "Stafford" is used by the breed enthusiast when discussing the "Staffordshire Bull Terrier". By all means "Staffy" away, as that's the terms for the generic brindle pound mutt and the "type" without papers. Sorry WIW - but the average Joe isn't going to make the distinction between "Stafford" or "staffy" when one is rushing up to greet them and it scares them, are they? T.

There is "attack" - resulting in injury... Then there is "menace" - behaviour that can ONLY be construed as possibly leading up to an "attack"... And then there is the average Stafford type of greeting with completely over the top pushy "pat/love me now" attitude... *grin* If someone isn't dog savvy, the last scenario may be reported as "menace" in the very least - more than likely due to stupid reporting of stats like those in the OP... grrr! T.

But they should be and they are, if purchased from a registered breeder who breeds for type, temperament , structure and soundness. The "pedigree dog" is the superior product. If it weren't there would be no dedicated registered breeders who believe in the dogs they produce. I agree with you for the most... but that kind of "attitude" displayed by those with pedigeed dogs can also be a put off for the average person... T.

OI! No popping in without new photos Andrea... T.

When "attack" is construed as "any act that causes fear in the recipient" - the statistics presented will be skewed. Stafford types will ALWAYS factor high in those sort of statistics because a high number of them will be way too friendly for their own good and will rush up to anyone and anything wanting to say hello in an over-enthusuastic manner. The numbers as presented in the OP don't actually state how many of these "attacks" actually resulted in any injury at all - yet the average Joe reading them will correlate "attack" to mean that injury occured, and come to the (most likely) wrong assumption that Stafford types are dangerous, evil, bitey dogs... ... and THAT is the reason that I don't trust any statistics regarding this particular topic. They are presenting a "fact" that the people who designed the data gathering want to "prove"... and the assumption they are trying to prove with thos stats is just wrong from the get go. T.

I'll agree that dogs being stolen by those operating dog fighting rings DOES happen - but I don't believe it's the epidemic that some portray it to be on social media... T.

If we have any pure dogs/pups in our rescue, it's amazing how many enquiries we get for them. People DO want purebreeds... but some are of the perception that breeders "charge too much"... It's amazing how many times we'll be asked if our rescue dogs have testing scores for whatever is tested for in that breed - and we usually point those people towards registered breeders to source a pet from, explaining that rescue dogs are generally what you see is what you get, but registered breeders can give many more guarantees about long term health and temperament because they actually carefully select their breeding lines for those specific traits. We have convinced quite a few people that the price of a registered pedigree dog/pup is a very worthwhile "investment" when factoring in possible long term costs - and you know EXACTLY what you are getting from them. What really gets my goat is those from either "camp" (pure or mixed) that slag off the other's dogs as being "inferior"... many people have mixed breed dogs that don't have any health or temperament issues, and there are those who have purebreeds that do have issues. Carefully selecting the individual dog for your family/lifestyle is more likely to land you a great family pet - regardless where you source it from. That said, I'm very naughty when it comes to pet shops and seeing people considering buying anything from a glass enclosure - I quietly let them know the possible conditions those pups were born in, lack of proper socialisation from spending their critical learning periods being tapped at through the glass, the fact that they only come with their first shot (regardless of age at time of sale), etc... glad to say that I haven't seen anyone I've spoken to actually go in and buy a pup... *grin* T.

It must be the day for it today... I came home to lots of feathers in the kitchen - no body, just lots of feathers - way too many feathers for the bird to have gotten away. It was possibly a small magpie, or a willy wagtail from the look of the feathers. I'm tipping Pickles as the one who caught the bird, because Zeddy is too old and arthritic to catch one. But how the heck Pickles managed it is a mystery too, because she's mobility challenged (in a sort of spastic way) herself... Everyone lined up for dinner though, so it can't have been all that filling... Tomorrow's poo patrol will probably tell me for sure who did it... look for the feathered poops... *grin* T.

Awww.... T.

So, really, the system of reporting is a bit "broken" at best, yes? And then we are to rely on the stats produced as some sort of "proof" of what? I remember when I did a Statistics course, and the main tenet was that you need to gather the data in such a way as to "prove" your theory... it didn't have to be actual fact, just be able to be presented as such due to the nature of the data gathering process. I've taken ALL "statistical data" with a very large pinch of salt since then. It will only ever prove what the gatherer intended it to prove. T.

I'm sure that if there was a positive outcome from yesterday's court date, we'd have heard about it by now... T.

What about the people who would prefer to think (and report) their pet has been stolen rather than the more usual scenario of it getting out by itself and possibly coming to a sticky end somewhere all on it's own? Seriously, there can't be so many dog fighting rings out there to account for ALL the missing dogs... T.

There's not only mandatory reporting - but the definition of "attack" itself has been expanded to include behaviours that don't include biting. Like I pointed out before, an enthusiastically friendly Staffy type rushing over to someone in the hope of a pat could be construed and reported as an "attack" if the person the dog is running towards is frightened by the behaviour. An "attack" doesn't have to involve injury to be reported as an attack either. T.

They'd want to take it seriously... there are lots of holiday-goers that bring their dogs with them up there - and there have been numerous incidents where local people's dogs have been attacked. My brother's assistance dog was one that was attacked by a holidaying dog - whose owners packed up and left the area in the middle of the night to avoid being prosecuted... grrr! T.

Any news on the court hearing today? T.

To me "upselling" is the adding on of services that aren't necessary - pushing hard for the most expensive (and not necessarily the best) options - purely because the vet needs to show that they are bringing money into the practice. I've seen that happen in more than one vet clinic actually... Then there is the pushing of certain brands of medications, or foods, worm/flea treatments, etc - all because the clinic in question gets a commission on those particular products. THIS sort of "advice" and pushing the product lines they get commissions for is not relevant to my dog's issue (read reason for vet visit) on any given day. I select the medications, flea/worm treatments, and food that I know they will do best on - not what has been "recommended" because that's what the clinic want to sell. I like to be fully involved in all diagnostics and treatment plans for my animals - and the one thing that will immediately get my hackles up is being talked AT rather than TO. The only time my dogs will visit a vet if there is something wrong with them that I cannot handle on my own. Sometimes vets need to realise that the person they are in the room with is the one person that can give them valuable information about symptomology, etc. I'm a trainee vet's worst nightmare actually... lol! T.

That's what I was thinking... a Maremma will see off any marauders quick smart! T.

Isn't the next court date some time this week... in Adelaide? Tomorrow? T.

I'm mean - if they don't eat, then it gets taken away and they don't get any more until the next feed time. Longest I've had a dog hold out was 2 days... *grin* Seriously, who's supposed to be training who here? Lol! T.

I've found that one needs to train one's vet - just like we train our dogs... I don't cop to overservicing or trying to sell me things I don't need, so the vets that I choose to use are ones that understand that fact and give me the services I DO need without all the other crap... and in many cases I get discounted service to boot. Then again, I'm not a clueless owner either - I've seen and helped treat a number of things that many vets just don't get to see as often as we do in the rescue game. Point in case, Kennel Cough - doesn't bother me in the slightest unless I see yellow or green snot, then I ring the vet and tell them I'm going to give the dog a specific (weight related) dosage of the antibiotics I have on hand, just so they can update or create a file for that particular dog, and note the disease in it. I also source my medications from suppliers rather than from the vet clinic, effectively at least halving (or more) the price... and we buy in bulk for even more savings. I have actually had a local vet call me for advice on a particular case they had that they knew I had plenty of experience in... I usually only go to a vet for a second opinion on something I've mostly diagnosed myself - but may need certain tests to prove conclusively. The 3 vet clinics that I use all understand how I operate, and are mostly happy about it - and don't usually charge a consult fee either. How's this for a price markup? A parvo test kit costs retail $19 for a vet to purchase... explain to me how taking a swab of poop, putting it into the provided solution, then dripping it onto the test contraption and waiting 5 mins can blow out to an $85 cost - on top of a consult fee to boot! T.

Way to go Carter and his mummy! Well done! Carter - you are a spunk! T.