tdierikx

To be fair, the OP is usually one of the first people to engage others in talk about dogs - in a positive way... You must have been having a rough one for whatever reason DD... I think you can be forgiven this time... *grin* I could lend you Pickles for an afternoon's walk - she gets all sorts of comments about her crazy walk... lol! T.

Ummm - the "choke collars" are actually called "CHECK chains"... the idea is not to choke the dog with them, but check them with a tighten/release motion. All types of collar can cause injury to a dog if not used correctly. Let's completely ban all of them... *grin* T.

Well written, covers all of the basics - and doesn't force one option as "better" than any other... AWESOME!!! T.

I do the poo patrol morning and afternoon/evening... yet they still will go out for a midnight snack while it's dark... I have 3 poo-eaters here, but they only eat each others - not stranger poo outside of our yard. I'm pretty sure that the older girl has taught the younger ones the habit... T.

Those figures are only for those that were registered with the ANKC, yes? There is at least one "breeder" who is crossing them with other breeds... who knows how many they may be producing that just aren't registered with the ANKC... T.

Annandale vets are brilliant... I'll also second Ayman at Narwee and Green Cross at Mortdale. If you want to go further west, Rossmore Vet Clinic is excellent. T.

Are there many reputable breeders out there that knowingly use a "blue" stud or dam? T.

No way is the dog a full anything. I'd go for Shar Pei cross. Stranger things have happened - I've seen some quite leggy pure Peis... pure but not well bred... T.

Could be a badly bred bone mouth Shar Pei too... Fling some pics to Ams - she'll have a better idea than most as to whether he's a full bred or cross Pei. T.

I don't know any vet that will give a 3 week old pup a C3 vaccination - and even if the vacc given is only a Parvac, the pup is still at risk from Hepatitis and Distemper at the very least. I have seen dogs with both Parvo and Distemper over the years - and can attest to the fact that any pet owner would NOT want to see their pup suffer from either. Honestly, I would be advising your friend in the strongest terms possible that they do not want to adopt any dog from this particular breeder. T.

You really couldn't ever take a bad shot of Lottie, could you? She is stunning! Loving the bird shots - brilliant photos indeed! wish I'd taken them... T.

Not a chance the little man can stay at Katdogs' place straight out of the pound - she's getting a not fully vaccinated new pup in a few weeks time... can't have any possibility of any nasties getting into her yard. I've met him and can back up everything Katdogs has said about him. He's a lovely little chap, gets on well with others, and is quiet. He will make someone a very nice little companion for sure. T.

OK - I reckon an official name change to "Buddha" is in order... lol! Seriously though - those are some incredibly nice looking pups... and Lara is divine! T.

Thanks Shmoo! T.

May I reiterate... I'm not even bothered to respond to the allegations any more - because it doesn't matter what is said or done, these people are hell bent on believing what they will anyways. T.

Believe whatever you like Ruby Jewel, but also be aware that your accusations on a public forum could be construed as being very close to libel/defamation... Obviously no amount of actual truth is going to change the minds of those who are hell bent on believing the worst about others. The people spreading the current lot of rumours haven't been within cooee of the place in well over 15 months - and the most vocal were actually asked to leave for causing the issues they are screaming so loudly about. I'll give you a particular truth about a working kennel - when you feed dogs, funnily enough, they will produce poo... and equally funny enough, they will do it a number of times in a 24 hour period. First thing in the morning there will invariably be poo and wee in most kennels - and also funnily enough, someone has to clean that poo and wee up. That takes a bit of time when you have more than a handful of dogs. And it's a longer process when the weather outside is nasty and you can't put all the dogs out in the exercise areas - on those sort of days you are rotaing dogs into clean kennels as you clean their "used" ones. Also, once you've cleaned the kennels on days when the weather is nasty, you still have to get each dog out individually to spend some one-on-one time with them and give them some exercise. Whe you have volunteers who are allergic to a poo scoop, or won't walk a dog in inclement weather, and just want to sit around having coffee and bemoaning that others haven't done all of the hard work with the dogs before they arrive for their feel good "I'm 'helping' at a dog rescue" day... then sorry, we don't need that sort of volunteer at our rescue... What is wrong with making appointments for people to come and see dogs they are interested in adopting? I challenge you to find many rescues who just fling open their doors to have the general public wandering in willy nilly. We are not a pound, and our premises are private property - so we reserve the right to dictate who can visit and when. We had well over 30 people visit this past weekend, and they didn't seem to mind that we made specific appointment times for them so that we could give each the time needed to make sure the dogs they came to see were right for them... and give US time to make sure that ALL of the dogs in care were attended to properly (read kennels cleaned, dogs put out in the exercise runs, etc). But please still feel free to perpetuate the ugly rumours that have no basis in fact... I'm over giving a rats about them... T.

Actually... it sounds a bit like some freaky Halloween toy noise... T.

Thank you mita... It's amazing how much vitriol and untruth a few disgruntled ex-volunteers can spout to all who will listen... and equally amazing how many people will believe things without bothering to check the facts for themselves. Just get out the pitchforks and torches and go on a crusade... *sigh* Honestly - less Facebook and more reality would be a better course of action for quite a few people... *grin* T.

My (first) heart dog was the best dog ever on the planet - her name was Woosie, and she was a Rotti. She went to the Bridge in 2004 and I still lose it (read go all weepy and choke up) when I talk about her... ... but recently I was fostering a couple of litters of rescue pups, and one little girl has completely stolen my heart. Her name is Harper, and she's a Staffy cross. To be blessed with a second heart dog is the most wonderful gift... I'm still trying to think what good thing I could have done to be so lucky to have Harper find and pick me to be her one and only... *grin* T.

If it's a koala, I think we just got an idea of how intimidated (not!) they are about dogs in their area... which could be used as evidence to shut up those stupid Greens in Tweed Shire Council calling for a no dog zone for a new housing development for 40,000 people... *grin* Right before the longer growling noise, it's like a larger dog has barked fairly near to where the dictaphone sits, then it's like maybe the same dog vocalising as if to tell the littlies to shut up... Do you have one dog who has a larger/deeper bark than the others? T.

NSWAR also run a community program called Pregnant Paws, where we take in pregnant bitches whose owners are contemplating surrendering because they are worried about the possible costs and medical issues that may arise during whelp. We take in the bitches, whelp them safely, and once the pups are weaned we have mum desexed, microchipped and vaccinated (if needed), then return her to her family. We desex and rehome the pups ourselves which helps cover any costs involved. Sometimes we make a "profit", sometimes we don't - especially if a caesarian is needed. We could lecture the people who have let their bitch get pregnant in the first place, but we find that by providing the Pregnant Paws service the word gets out there better about desexing your dog before it needs the service we provide. And on a serious note - it gets a bit rich when one receives death threats from crazy arsed people who have been told all of the crazy rumours going around (and think they are true)... we've had ones that were pretty specific about what they were going to do to us and they knew our address - the Police are very happy to act on those may I add. As for fellow rescuers spreading false information around about each other... you all should know better! This "game" is NOT a frigging competition as to who is better than who at rescuing - it's about finding homeless dogs new homes for god's sake. T.

Sage and Toby have new forever homes now... as do Holly and Oliver... That's all of Blossom's babies adopted now - and the remaining 4 of Daisy's babies all have appointments tomorrow... yay!! T.

Oh my! Rudy is a bit of a looker, isn't he?? Awesome save guys!! T.

As Katdogs says Tapua, Harper is not a Lab, but she lives with one - does that make her an honorary one? *grin* My Labrador wasn't anywhere nearly as well bred as yours, and her name is Trouble for a reason - but she does play really well with all of the rescue fosters I have coming through here. So you could say that Harper has been well and truly "Lab tested"... *giggle* Harper actually will stop tugging my pants leg if I tell her to now Katdogs... and she is learning fast that jumping up to demand cuddles doesn't work - 90% of the time now she will sit and look up to ask for her cuddles like a good girl. We are still working on her "boot bandit" thievery... *sigh* T.

Oh man DD - you don't want to foster puppies then... the little buggers can be up and down in feeding habits from week to week. If you want a dog that will ALWAYS eat ALL of it's dinner then go looking for more even if it's fit to explode... I'll lend you my Labrahoover Trouble for a while... *grin* T.