tdierikx

Playing... Check out the leg action in this one... lol! T.

Ummm - I got a bit sidetracked playing with the 3 bundles of gorgeous... *grin* Mojo is such a snugglebum - he will hightail it around the yard, but keeps coming back to park in my lap at regular intervals... lol! I put collars on them so we can tell who is who... We need names for the girls - red and pink collars... pretty yet unusual names if possible... First up Red girl ... and Pink girl... ... and Mojo the little man... Next post has them playing together...

Wicked shot!!! T.

Geez DD - who died and made you the forum police? You know that these sort of threads often meander around various angles of a topic... T.

My old girl has aged so much in the past few months - I really think I'm not going to have her here by the end of winter. Right now all efforts are to make her comfortable until she tells me it is her time to go to the Bridge. I have had her since I picked her up as a 5 week old free to good home puppy in the Trading Post nearly 14 years ago. When she does go, it will leave a big hole in my heart. I have been preparing some of my friends and relatives, who love her almost as much as I do, that her time is approaching. Funnily enough - all of my friends and most of my relatives really do understand what my dogs mean to me, so I don't often get silly "it's only a dog" comments if one goes to the Bridge. T.

Mojo - Dojo... they rhyme mita... lol! Still trying to come up with cool names for the 2 girls that lillypilly doesn't say "YUCK!" to... *sigh* So far I've put forward Spirit, Shade, Magic, and Zen... and lillypilly don't fancy them... I was trying for a magical theme... How about I take them outside and see if I can get some pics - then you all can help suggest names for them, OK? Be back soonish... T.

Our rescue coordinator has spent time volunteering at Best Friends in Utah mita... ever wonder where we got some of our practices from? *grin* T.

You don't have to apologise to me, T. :) You haven't done anything that I haven't done myself at some time. So no moral high ground from me! :) :) OK - I apologise to anyone I may have offended with my comment about hysteria... T.

What sort of assistance dog are we speaking of T? Does not sound like a healthy relationship. If your brother leaves the house (without his dog) and the dog is so distressed even with family members who mind him (who he knows well) Surely that is an issue which needs to be considered. Did this dog have SA issues prior to placement or has that surfaced in your brothers home? Did you speak with the service who provided the dog re these issues? ETA Spelling! My brother's assistance dog is owner trained, and he's had the dog since a young pup - this dog would not rehome well if my brother passed away because the bond between them is unbreakable... not unlike your dad's girl wanting to go be with him... Using emotional language to criticize people for using emotional language, is granting the right to emotional expression only to your selves. You're overlooking the fact that numbers of people have debated the issue in this thread with rational arguments. And that other external sources have also commented, in rational ways, on the Toffee 'situation'. It's an ethical issue and, as such, is worthy of debate. Because of this thread, I've been looking up one of the Veterinary Journals in which every month an ethical issue, just like this situation, is set out for comment & debate. Some scenarios revolve around different views by vet & by owner about the rights & wrongs of PTS in particular cases. And, interestingly, there's a clear argument made that the interests of the animal exist above any status as property. I wonder if any vet approached to put Toffee to sleep, declined because of his/her interpretation of the ethics in this case. Pure speculation, of course. Certainly the vet assistant quoted made it clear he wouldn't agree PTS. What is obvious, is that a vet finally passed it as OK with his/her interpretation of ethics. I apologise mita... I was being a bitch... T.

Hysteria be buggered. Outcry because some of us have a different moral compass than others and find it appalling and selfish that a young guide dog was put to sleep on the whim of his owner. To many arrogant dog owners think because of the bond they have with dogs, that they could not bond with another owner. Labradors are prime example of a breed that can very easily and successfully bond with a new owner, look at the standard for a Labrador, the temperament in particular. You haven't met my brother's assistance dog then, have you? I know for a fact that he wouldn't function at all if my brother died... it's bad enough if my brother leaves him for a couple of hours - even with family he knows and loves. They share a completely symbiotic relationship - neither can really cope without the other. T.

But they aren't in Australia and have to comply with stupid Animal Lib types making up all the rules... T.

Yep the double standards on DOL are mind bloggling When it comes to guide dog losing their lives, even more so (check out the other thread in the News section on a poor guide dog losing its life due to negiligence on the part of the handler leaving this poor dog to cook to death in the car ). Can't quite work out whether it is due to the dislike of the Labrador breed/it's popularity, as majority of guide dogs are Labs or whether they have done something similar or know someone who has and are trying to justify their actions. I am sure any future guide dog death posts will have the usual suspects coming in to defend the action of the person responsible for the guide dog's death. There is a HUGE difference between a service dog dying through negligence, and one that is humanely euthanaised on the behest of the owner. Seriously - we really don't know the full story or history about this dog and owner - so any suppositions from this side of a "news" article are only that... suppositions. T.

This is the interwebs Sheridan... hysteria and outcry appears to be the norm, remember? T.

In the days before the word "labradoodle" ever came about, all crossbreeds were labelled just that... crossbreeds or mutts... and in the main, most were apparently great family dogs and had few health issues of the kind we see nowadays... ... then all that changed when certain types of people saw the chance to make a buck by giving crosses fancy names and touting them as some sort of "breed" - rather than a mix. Remember the good old days when there would be a few FTGH ads in the papers for pups - good luck finding many now... everything has a stupid "breed" name on it and people are charging small fortunes for them... *sigh* T.

This learning lark is a bugger, isn't it Roo? But you are learning, and it's not all bad is it? Mummy always comes back eventually... Good girl Roo! ... and extra well done Jelly!!! T.

Well done Torque!! Lovely photos - that first one is another one to be printed and hung on a wall methinks... T.

Thank dog there aren't any photos... I'm already really upset that we can't fit in the 4 from Broken Hill... Seriously, we are completely chokkers with pups right now, and if we took more before moving some of this lot on, we really couldn't give them all the amount of socialisation they need to become great little canine citizens before adoption... we have to set limits, as hard as that is for us. As for names for the BT pups - only the boy has a name so far... Mojo... my friend has a gorgeous male dog with that name and I asked her permission to name our boy after him (even though they aren't of the same breed) T.

Sealed concrete is easier to keep disease free - and fleas don't like living on it either. Dogs in shelters certainly should not be kept in dirt floored pens that can't be kept disease and flea free. The optimal solution is for the animals to be housed in concrete floored pens, but also let out into runs where they can get exercise, fresh air, socialisation, and sunshine for a minimum amount of time PER DAY. Both the kennels AND the runs need to be kept effluent free... ie. cleaned up at least daily... at the bare minimum. T.

OMG - Copper and Topaz are adorable!! They are all looking great... awesome job everyone! T.

There is also the fact that purebreed lines are easy to check back on to see what may be present or lacking... thanks to all the dedicated breeders out there who try to produce the best next generation that they can. As for crossbreeds, there is very little data about the genetic background of any individual "line", and thusly the argument that they are generally healthier, or more prone to disorders, is pure anecdote. I think also that more of the general public are more likely to take their purebreed dogs to the vet for any perceived ailment than those who own the generic crossbreed - so the theory is that those crossbreeds not seeing the vet with any regularity are "healthier"... which may not really be the case... or it may be... how can we extrapolate true data if the target group is under represented? The sheer variety that crossbreeds come in is staggering - pick any two breeds and someone has possibly tried (or succeeded) crossing it - with extremely varied results - even in the same litter. My personal take on it is that if a prospective puppy owner looks for a breeder (of any pure or crossbreed) does a bit of homework into the genetic testing of their breeding animals, and breeds to enhance the possible long term health of the offspring, then they are more likely to take in a pup that will have the best chance of being healthy for longer than a pup whose breeder just threw 2 random dogs together to make pups for sale. The other fact - that environment can play a huge part in the development of any dog - seems to be missed when the extremists (from both sides of the argument) put forward their hypotheses... it's not ALL about genetics... genetics is really only the starting point... T.

The 3 BT pups are tiny! And deadly cute to boot! Safely ensconced in my lounge room now... *grin* T.

Run free with the angels Jet... good boy! T.

WOW!!! totally awesome work there! T.

I have 2 foster failures - my smallest permanent dog (my first foster failure) is 14kgs - the latest failure turned out to be a Dane cross! That makes 4 large dogs permanently living here... but I still take on foster pups... *grin* Call me crazy... I'll take it as a compliment... lol! T.

My brother has a self trained assistance dog. They have a completely symbiotic relationship. If anything were to happen to my brother, it would probably be extremely damaging for his dog... and it may just be that he would need to go with my brother... T.