tdierikx

Hot off the presses... size doesn't matter... really it doesn't! T.

Thank you for coming here to clear the air (somewhat) about the situation at Ipswich pound, Cr Antoniolli. May we ask whether the RSPCA may have a tender pending for the pound service - and if so, will you be recommending that ANY contractor taking on the pound service should attempt to KEEP working with private rescues to maximise the number of animals rehomed from Ipswich pound? You must admit that this is part of why the AWL have had much success with their rehoming rates to date... T.

Thanks LG... you can probably tell that I love puppies way more than the average person... and rescue just has so many... *sigh* Well - Master Houdini didn't get out of his day pen today - so no destruction or poo waiting for me when I got home... yay!! I must get some pics of Tiger and Harper playing... the size difference is HUGE, but she plays so well with him, and he loves her to bits... T.

Thanks Powerlegs and lou_x... I think I'm calm about the destruction puppies can cause because I've fostered so many now... lol! Tiger was just finding ways to entertain himself is all - seeing as his toys were all in his day pen, and he couldn't get back in to play with them... *sigh* Fixing electrical cables sin't hard when you grow up with a technician for a dad... He's been well secured in his day pen today - I have put extra clips on the area he escaped through yesterday. T.

Under existing fees, if you register your entire dog, then desex it later, you don't get any refund either. Not a huge incentive to have your dogs desexed, is it? T.

Some of the recommendations wouldn't be necessary if the powers that be would effectively police the current laws and regulations. Typical "solution" - throw more regulations and laws into the mix that will only negatively affect responsible pet owners... *sigh* T.

I'm thinking... "Hey ladies, you know what they say about a man with big ears... big wallet!" T.

Do you think he might try using kitty litter? We had a chi in rescue who had been trained to use a litter tray... T.

Thanks peeps! One of my workmates bought me a lovely chocolate cake in the shape of a dog... and I couldn't bring myself to cut it - so I made someone else do it... lol! He tasted really yummy! Got home to find that Tiger needs a name change to Houdini - he had gotten out of his day pen and wreaked carnage on my electric blanket cord (luckily not plugged in), and peed and pooped everywhere. He's going in the outside pen tomorrow... lol! Oh - and I found that as I had a nanna nap on the couch last night, he'd gotten to my phone cable and my house phone wasn't working. That is fixed now, and I'll get around to fixing the electric blanket cord before I need to use it again. Anyways, Tiger and Harper are playing quietly... must go see what they might be destroying now... T.

Ummm... do we have any new photos of the babies? They should have eyes now... *grin* T.

Now... the thing is that quite a large number of people don't even opt to lifetime register their pets under the current system... and the councils aren't following up on that. It's not going to stop animals ending up in pounds - the largest group in pounds are not microchipped or registered. How is this new development going to change those statistics. From where I sit, it looks like those of us doing the right thing already are now going to end up paying more for doing so... *sigh* As for breeder licensing - it's still not going to stop the BYB's... T.

I'm so glad that Harper is enjoying being a big sister to Tiger - he's loving having his big sis to play with - and she's loving having a little bro to teach bitey face and zoomies. And Pickles is the referee, if she thinks Harper is getting too over the top, she flattens her... lol! T.

Awesome news Jelly... what a nice guy it sounds like you've met. Then again, how could he not fall completely for her? She's such a gorgeous girl. T.

Just had a seriously funny moment here with Tiger and Harper. Tiger runs under the bed to play hide and seek, and Harper leaps on top of the bed and looks around as if to say "where did him go?"... she's pretty, but not too smart sometimes... lol! Tiger then comes out from under the bed and barks at her to say "I is here you silly!" I think he's worn her out now, she's gone to have a lie down, and Tiger is prowling about looking for things to chew on... *grin* T.

Can I admit that Cooper is my fave of all your dogs tlc? He has the most adorable eyes... *sigh* As for Justice... I LOVE that photo! T.

No one is making demands. Some are strongly encouraging the adoption of timeframes and objective records by which to measure progress. I explained why a few pages back. If you don't understand, feel free to PM me and I'll try to explain it in terms that make more sense to you. The best trainers and behaviourists in the world do this kind of thing for a reason. It can be a huge help to both dog and human and I have no doubt those suggesting it have Jelly and Roo's best interests at heart. Brooke isn't the only one who saw certain posts as demanding a fix by date. As Nekh has said it's really not anyone's business. Though a few Roo pics wouldn't go astray ... I second tha call for more Roo pics... *grin* T.

Tiger was perfectly behaved at bedtime last night. As soon as I popped him into his night pen and turned out the light, he settled like a pro and went off to sleep. Not a peep from him until this morning when Harper decided to tell me to stop hitting snooze on the damned alarm clock already... Tiger and Harper are getting on like a house on fire, they appear to be completely besotted with each other. They have had a couple of hours play this morning, and now they are both resting quietly and regrouping energy for the next play session... T.

^^ I agree 100% T.

Tori, Tiger, Tango, and Toby were all desexed yesterday, and are doing great. Tori, Tango, and Toby are staying with Aunty Lillypilly and I've brought Tiger home with me this week to play with Harper, Pickles, Trouble, and Zeddy. So far, Tiger has decided to hump Pickles - which got him soundly told off - and hump Harper, who thinks it's a great game... *sigh*... I may need to change his name to Randy or Romeo... errr! All he wants to do is hump, or play bitey face for 10 seconds, then go back to humping... he even gets his lipstick out... ewww! Tiger isn't put off by Harper's size, and she accommodates him by lying down so she's at his level for playing. She is very good when playing with smaller dogs, as her bestie is a 3kg scruffy terrier. I just hope he works out soon that this humping business isn't going to get him anywhere... Tiger has completely worn himself out by crying in his pen, and is now thankfully sleeping off the effort of his Harper play session and cry-fest. He has a really good set of lungs, that's for sure! I was expecting it though, as this is his first time away from his littermates. I think he's going to be an expert in couch cuddles in no time though... he is such a snugglebum... *grin* T.

The thing is that you have offered to give them their money back and to take the pup back - and I'm thinking that you'd then be spending money in vet fees yourself to rectify the problem, yes? But the new owners don't want to return the pup to you - just for you to cover the medical expenses to rectify the problem... which can turn a good relationship bad when they decide to go for the most expensive vet and treatment because someone else has stepped up to pay for it... There is no 100% proof that the issue is a genetic one. You haven't had this issue arise before in how many years of breeding. And you test for everything genetic that you can actually test for. I'm willing to wager a very large sum of money that if you weren't an ethical and responsible breeder of quality dogs, this issue would never have seen the light of day between you and your puppy buyer. In all fairness, I'd offer them the cost price of the pup back (or part thereof if they refuse to return said pup to you), and chalk it up to experience. No admission of any fault by you or your breeding program either. T.

Using some of the testing available to us now, we can at least identify issues that can be worked on with a dog to try to reduce negative reactions, yes? In NSW a pound has to hold a dog for a minimum of 7 days (unchipped) or 14 days (chipped) - if an assessment of how the dog is handling the environment could be done early on in the dog's stay, then maybe something could be done to give that dog more chance of being adopted or taken in by rescue before it's time is up and it needs to be moved on by other means. Take Renbury as an example of a pretty well run pound (IMHO anyways), the staff there do everything in their power to make a dog's stay as "pleasant" as possible, they take the time to actually interact with each dog in their care, even if it's only a few minutes here and there. If you ask the staff about any dog in their care, they will know exactly which dog you are referring to, and will happily give you their observations about that particular dog, it's likes and dislikes, etc... and they don't have volunteers at Renbury to help with any of that. Renbury also work very well with rescue, and have never given a bum steer about a dog's temperament that I know of - we've always had brilliant assessments of dogs that we've been interested in taking, all the good and bad points that have been noticed, the changes in behaviours in the time the dog has been there, whether it has settled well, or needed more effot to settle, etc... Not every deserving dog will get out of Renbury, but ALL of the staff, from management down, work darned hard to give them every chance at doing so... which is probably why you don't see a high staff turnover there either... T.

I'm all for a test designed to identify what issues need to be looked at for any particular dog to be made rehomable... but not any test used solely to define which dog lives or dies in a pound. I think that any behavioural assessment done in a pound environment needs to take into account what effect a pound environment can have on a dog. Fear and confusion at their change of circumstances, and hearing/seeing other dogs in the same state day in day out, complete strangers handling them, etc... certainly wouldn't be bringing the best out in most dogs, would it? Especially in some of the larger pounds like Blacktown... T.

Not exactly a competetive marketplace, is it? The mob who have the power to shut you down are also tendering for the job you are doing... it stinks big time. T.

Well done!!! T.

Looking good... pun intended... *grin* T.