tdierikx

It's kind of telling that only a small snippet of my post has attracted answers. Please feel free to read further than that initial line for the overall picture I was attempting to convey... I think I prefer SSM's answer to it best so far though... *grin* T.

So - breeding less nicely turned out pedigreed dogs and having a completely distrustful attitude to prospective pet owners is the answer? If we are trying to educate the masses about the diversity and general wonderfulness of being a pedigreed dog owner, it doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense to set a goal that can't be achieved... ie. to own a well bred pedigreed dog as a pet. Sure - not all people who want a dog are "qualified" to own anything more than a stuffed toy - but I have a sneaking suspicion that those are somewhat outnumbered by those who ARE "qualified" to give a dog a wonderful home. Take this board as a small indicator of the general dog owning population - some have pedigrees, some have purebreds without pedigrees, some have mixed breeds... but generally we ALL have the best interests of our dogs at heart, yes? Translate that to a larger pet owning public, and you'll probably find that a majority of pet owners really want to do right by their pet - just that we all do it a bit differently to each other. I'll say it again, I am NOT advocating breeding copious numbers of pups to supply to any Joe with the funds to "take it off your hands" - selection of good homes for EVERY pup should be a primary goal for ANY breeder - be it pedigreed, pure, or mixed breed. I just think it would be awesome if there were MORE well bred pedigreed dogs available than there are right now. If your statistic of 20% is accurate - we can all only wonder at the sources of the other 80% of pets out there. T.

See now, there are generalisations from both sides of the argument... *grin* I'm not denying that there are people out there who look at their pets as possessions - but is it fair to taint the whole group with that generalisation? The numbers of dogs that end up in pounds is a nice statistic, but when compared with the actual number of pet dogs out there, it's not the largest pool to base any really useful facts upon. Too many people are using pound numbers as a crutch - how many really nicely bred pedigreed dogs do you ever see in pounds? Break it down - the number is miniscule, yes? Then we could look at WHY dogs end up in pounds/shelters... and that would predominately be that "the dog didn't live up to expectations"... pedigreed breeders have the means to match their dogs to the right homes due to the predictability of their breed characteristics, thus negating the numbers that "don't live up to expectation"... BUT there are not enough breeders of dogs that WILL live up to expectations - as opposed to the many who couldn't give a shit as long as the money comes in for their farmed or BYB pups. I am NOT advocating the selling of dogs to unsuitable homes - no matter the breed or mix... The more great examples of pedigreed PET dogs we have out in the public arena, the better publicity towards them as a great choice for a pet, the better for the whole pedigreed world, yes? Not to mention better for the general public who really only want a lovely pet dog to share their lives with. T.

There's a photo of Harper and her brother Rex on page 4 in this thread... he's smaller than her. All of the rest of the pups were tracking as ending up smaller than her by the time they were adopted. She was always the one with the longest legs... *grin* The blue and white boy was looking to end up like an Aussie Bulldog - built like the proverbial brick sh!thouse he was! ... and if you ever want any of our rescue pups FM, all you have to do is yell, and we'd be happy to adopt one to you! Actually, you could adopt me too if you want... lol! T.

Oh my! Luka's eyes are different colours... like my Harper... they can be "twinnies" methinks... lol! Big feet on long legs... check! Big goofy crazy ears... chesk! Gorgeous eyes... check! Pretty red collar... check! See... twinnies... hahaha! T.

I understand that HW - and as bound by the ANKC/State CC rules they are supposed to be aiming at producing show quality dogs in their breeding programs... ... but I'd still like to see maybe a few more initiatives within the pedigee world aimed at supplying an obviously large pet dog market with great quality healthy examples of each breed - otherwise, how are the general public to change their minds about pedigreed dogs? At the moment, the pet buying public are getting the impression that the only pedigreed dogs available to them are "discards" (a horrible word, I'm sorry) that weren't good enough to show - and that these "discards" are too highly priced (which we all know is actually a fallacy - but that's how Joe Public is perceiving it). T.

I can personally vouch for bdierikx's post - way back on page 1 for any actually interested - he has listed a large number of excellent resources for those truly seeking to train an assistance dog. bdierikx has trained his own assistance dog, and knows what he's talking about with regards to same. He has also assisted others in training their own dogs. When I saw the original post here, I flung him an email asking if he'd help out with some info for the OP... and I think he's put together a very well considered reply. Hopefully the OP got to read it through before this thread turned into a bit of a mess. (and, yes, bdierikx is related to me) T.

Her ears aren't really all that huge - but teething is playing havoc with their set... lol! Her feet, ears, and skin all seem to grow, then she fills them and then they all grow some more... and the cycle keeps repeating... I'm going to have to buy another collar for her this week too - the medium one she got a few weeks ago is at it's largest setting now (40cm approx) and is getting tighter by the day... errr! She eats 2.5 times as much as the big girls now... they get 2 cups of Nutro a day, and she's getting 5 - 2 for breakfast, 2 for dinner, and 1 for overnight when she goes in her night crate. T.

I don't know what the rules are in SA, but in NSW the animal should be scanned at the time of being handed in and if chipped, the person surrendering needs to show that they are in fact the owner listed on the chip, then formally sign over said dog to the shelter, etc... In states where chipping is not mandatory, it's not necessarily the first thing the shelter is going to check for I suppose - they would most likely take the easy option and assume that the person surrendering the dog is telling the truth about owning the dog. However, in this case, the dogs had been at the shelter for some period of time before they were scanned for a chip, and it has come to light that the person who surrendered them may not have actually been the owner listed on said chips. The fact that the shelter has had someoone working with 2 obviously frightened dogs in that environment really is moot... the person who surrendered the dogs is NOT the owner listed on the chips, and the person who IS listed on the chips wants them back... it should be fairly simple to resolve the issue - but no - now the owner on the chip is being told that they will have to cough up some exhorbitant sum of money for the animals' care whilst in the shelter - or a general member of the public can come adopt the dogs for a paltry $400 for the pair. Please show me where it's not a case of extortion being exercised here? T.

You know what I'd love to see? I'd love to see large numbers of registered breeders breeding awesome dogs for the pet market. We can't deny that there is a market for pet dogs, and we can't deny that there are some really good breeders breeding nice quality dogs of all sorts of breeds. Wouldn't it be brilliant if there were some way to marry the two camps? T.

Mine can be masters of the "my mum doesn't feed or love me" eyes... Trouble does the most lovely beg too... T.

They really don't want them to get adopted, do they? T.

JRT Rescue is Jill... http://www.jrtrescue.net/ - phone number on the website... T.

They could be "adopted" from the RSPCA as a private citizen... no need to let them know you are with rescue... T.

Her ears are getting bigger all the time... to match her feet methinks... lol! T.

She is getting big, I'll agree... but she's my baby girl... *grin* No-one would have thought she'd get this big when she was born... she and her littermates were all pretty small compared to the other litter of pups we had from a smaller mother - and they were all bigger than Harper and her littermates for the first 6 weeks! The other litter of pups were never going to grow big like Harper though... Doesn't Pickles have the most beautiful teefies? At least something about her is perfect... lol! T.

Awww.... T.

Surely someone involved knows a single person who doesn't live at home, or a young couple with no kids? They don't need to keep the dogs - can hand them over to someone in your group 10 mins down the road from the RSPCA premises... T.

Seeing as I've been busy populating Katdogs' thread about her new puppy Sammy and neglecting my duty of taking photos of Harper - I decided to pull my finger out this afternoon and get some of her playing with Pickles. Note that Harper is a tad taller than Pickles at the withers now... lol! And she weighs more than Pickles now too! Isn't she just so purty? T.

How much are the RSPCA trying to extort from the breeder? T.

If you believe the AR nuts, all pedigreed dogs are incredibly unhealthy, and all pound/shelter dogs have "issues", and all pet shop pups come from atrocious puppy mills... are there any dogs fit for the pet market? Oh yes... the BYB mob... *sigh* T.

I have a 450D that doesn't see much action now I have a 60D... what price range are you looking at? T.

... and Jodie ball throwing exercise... *grin* T.

Really though, it's not about how much a dog costs as a determinating factor of it's "worthiness" to be a great pet. A lot of poorly bred animals in pet shops carry a price tag much higher than a well bred pedigree... but they come with a fancy name, so they must be special, right? As for the vet bills accrued for a pedigreed dog as opposed to a mutt - people actually tend to be more likely to take their pedigreed dog to the vet for minor ailments than they are for a mutt with the same ailment... You will never get a 100% guarantee of perfect health or perfect temperament when buying a pup/dog of any breed or mix... but you're more likely to get a better foundation for that good health and/or temperament with a pedigreed dog. Don't forget that owners also play a big role in establishing and maintaining both the physical and mental health of their dog. T.

Hmmm... decisions, decisions... Reading some of the posts about slow focus with the Tamron 90mm, I'm starting to think I may give it a miss and save up for the Canon 100mm L... but then again, I could get the Tamron 90mm, and then keep saving for the Canon 100mm L, while getting in some macro practice with the Tamron... T.