tdierikx

Googling leads me to believe that it's not an unknown occurrence for the AF to cark it on this lens... and I've tried every suggestion I found to try to get it working again... AF is definitely dead... *sob* It's possible that it's seized due to me not using it all that much and it has been exposed to a wide range of conditions (ie. hot and cold, muggy, etc). What's really scary is the price range to get a new one - anything from around $110 to $404... huh?? This isn't the II (second generation) 18-55mm lens, it's the original one. The II is even more expensive - almost to the point that if I only had the option to buy the 18-55 II lens, it wouldn't be all that more expensive to get an 18-200mm Sigma or Tamron one... Moot point at the moment about getting a new lens - me has no job and no money right now... *sigh* T.

Simple maths also says that special needs animals bring in the donations... *grin* For those that use commercial kennel space, how often do people from the actual rescue go out there and interact with the dogs they have kenneled? How well to they really know that dog when it comes time to rehome it? What happens to the dogs that donations are required to cover vet fees for if the donations don't come in? My take on the whole charity/donations thing is that it should be used to supplement the funds for the dogs in care - not be relied upon to fully fund the care required. T.

It seems to be the AF mechanism/motor that is having the issue with my lens. Seeing as I don't use that lens all that much it may be that it has seized... the manual focus works fine, but I'm not as good at doing it as the AF was... *sigh* What I'd really like is an 18-200mm lens - that way I can have the best of both worlds without having to switch lenses... something for the wish list I think, as I don't have a job at the moment and money is a finite resource right now. T.

Little dogs do less damage? No excuse. It bit the owner and the owner doesn't trust it. The OP doesn't trust it either, and it gets put away when people come to visit in case it bites someone else. What if it had been a child the dog bit instead of an adult? Based solely on what has been posted here in relation to the dog's behaviour/nature, I'd pts. T.

Tintin Jac - we get to keep the puppies rather than asking the owner of the mother dog to pay anything. mita - you can bet we spend lots of time with the pups - we are starting to call them "the time wasters"... lol! I went and sat in their box with them today and got swarmed! They are the funniest little things who are shaping up to be exceptionally people friendly - and we have now got play happening! They waddle over to each other and munch down and shake - too funny to watch as they have no teeth yet... *grin*... and the little growls and barks are a complete crack up. I think we are going to have at least 3 pups with a similar profile to Storm's - just with slightly shorter snouts. The smallest pup (we are calling him Joe) - the tan one with 2 white spots on his neck in the first photo - seems to be the one who is advancing fastest. He's always the first with his head in the food tray (and the last to take it out) or to waddle over for a climb on any human silly enough to sit in the box with him. Sasha (the girl) is also a climber - she heads straight for your lap, then has to perch herself on the highest point she can climb to. The big black brindle boy is the laziest, followed by the big brindle boy - probably why they are the biggest pups. They are all fully aware of their surroundings and I think their eyesight and hearing are getting better too - when you say "hello kids" you get all heads up and looking at you... *grin* Storm has a beddie set up just outside the box so she can rest away from the babies if she wants - and she is taking full advantage of it nowadays. She will watch them and go to feed them whenever her udders are full, and she goes to clean up every mess they make pretty darned quickly too. She is not protective of food any more either - we can have her eating outside the box, and the puppies with their tray inside the box, and all get their fill. She only cleans up what's left in the puppies tray when they have all left it. I'll be very happy if all of these babies have their mum's temperament - she is an expert snugglebum and very placid girl. After her bath the other day she came up so soft and snuggly - she gets lots of cuddles - and we take her out for a run and potty break a few times a day so she can have some one-on-one time with us too. T.

What a stunning boy... but do I see "boy bags" in that last photo?? I'm sure there's a reason they are still there, right? T.

Somehow I don't think this discussion would be having the airing it's getting if the dog in question were of a larger breed... hmmm?? From all the OP has stated here in this thread, this particular dog is a fairly savage little piece of work... and it may be the kindest thing for him to "rest" now. It's got to be a tormented life feeling that he always has to be on his guard like that... T.

The girl is the brindle one looking up in the 3rd last photo Purdie. I hadn't really noticed that it's the left ear on each pup Kirislin... one pup has a little chunk missing from the bottom back section of the right ear as well. It seems that the reason she did that to her bubs was a combination of needing extra calcium in her diet and needing more food in general - apparently it's a fairly common thing in BT's? We now make sure she always has a huge full bowl of puppy dry food available, and give her soft food with added calcium powder 3 times a day. Once she realised there was a constant supply of food and the pups weren't going to take it, she has settled down to being a pretty good mum. She has also gained a bit of weight and is now producing plenty of milk for the babies - she is happily feeding them and cleaning them. We have been offering the babies some sloshy puppy wet food for the past few days, and they are right into it... *grin* They are starting to look like little dogs now, and are extremely mobile. I can't wait to see what their little faces are going to look like - so far I reckon we have a nice mix of the BT and Staffy snouts. None seem to be trending towards either nose style as yet though. They should be starting to be a bit more coordinated and start playing with each other soon too. T.

We got a call about 10 days ago asking us if we could take five 12 day old BT cross Staffy pups due to their mum being rough and chewing on them (3 have bits of their ears missing). We advised that we could take the whole litter AND mum dog (the BT) to give them all the best chance - if mum dog was acting like this with those 5, then she could do it to the others too. So - the owners of mum dog (her name is Storm) brought them all over to us, surrendered the pups, and will allow us to keep Storm until the pups are weaned, then we will have her desexed and vaccinated, and give her back to her family. We have worked out (with vet advice) what was causing Storm to chew on her babies, and have rectified that situation - and all the babies are doing really well now. 3 of them have half an ear missing, but I reckon that will only add character... *grin*... they are otherwise stunning little things. We call this service "Pregnant Paws", and have been piloting it for a few months now. Anyways - without further ado - here are pics of the munchkins... The day after they came to us... 2 days ago... Today... We have 7 boys and 1 girl - the names we've picked to use are... Thomas, Jack, Joe, Petey, Mikey, William, and Charlie for the boys, and Sasha for the girl. Haven't actually allocated the names to individual boys yet - waiting for them to show a bit more of their personalities first... Oh - and here is Storm... ain't she purty? T.

Ripper photos!! Well done! T.

Well - tested the 18-55 lens again today... no joy... the AF appears to be stuffed. Grrr! Wont focus on anything at any distance by itself. On the upside, I prefer the longer lens anyways so I can photograph puppies/dogs just doing their own thing and not being totally distracted by a camera in their face. Thank you all so much for your suggestions, they really helped! T.

Herbert... love it!!! Hahahaha! Zeddy - ZedZed, Zeddy Bubba, Bubba Trouble - ChubbaLubbaDubbaTrubbaBubba, Chubbalubs, Chubs, ChubbaLubbaWamBamBoom Pickles - Camp Dog, Hoppy, Wobbles, Ratbag, Pickie Poo, Puckles They respond to all of them... T.

I've had the distance issue a few times with the longer lens... Didn't get the pups out today - was mowing around the rescue property instead. Hopefully we will have reasonable weather tomorrow and I can get them out onto the nice short grass for a better photo shoot. I'm not a big fan of the shorter lens and don't use it all that often, but yesterday I was curled up in a 4 foot square playpen and really couldn't use the longer lens... *grin* T.

Aren't there enough homeless dogs in Victoria for the rescues there to take in? Why are they taking dogs/pups from Sydney pounds? T.

I am not offended by your post as I agree with some of it but I will say I HAVE been in this exact position with my beloved dog on the vets table getting put to sleep from biting my face so my answer comes from personal experience :) This dog was desexed, raised the same as my current three, taken to training, exercised daily and yet was an aggressive little dog who had bitten 2 family members previously on the hands when they were patting him. He was the family dog at the start, and towards the end became my dog as I was the only one willing to look after him. I am not telling the OP to say PTS, everyone makes their own decisions........but I do wonder how many that have responded saying "rehabilitate" have actually been bitten on the face by their dog and know that there is now no way that you will ever trust that dog again. ETA: I am actually shocked that people are suggesting giving the dog to a rescue group. Why? There are so many nice dogs that have never ever bitten anything that need homes and people want to save one that has bitten it's owner on the face? I usually agree with most posts on this forum but this is ridiculous. Rescue groups shouldn't be even touching dogs like this! Where's the LIKE button?? I agree fully with the bolded bit... it's another factor to consider... T.

I'll try the lens again today and see if it still plays up - it could have been a distance issue, but I've never had it happen before with the 18-55mm lens in similar conditions... I can't wait for these little guys to start looking like real dogs - I want to know how their snouts turn out... like mum's BT roman nose, or like the supposed Staffy dad's nose... I'm thinking we may have a few of each and some combos... lol! There are 7 boys and 1 girl in this litter - the girl is the mostly brindle headed one, with a tiny smudge of white on her nose. T.

So - how many healthy and more easily rehomable dogs were pts at HP last week MissMolly? And how many of those could possibly have been helped with the money and resources spent on the 2 not so healthy ones taken by rescue? I personally believe that rescue needs to be done with both head and heart - and resources allocated accordingly. Constant touting for donations to cover costs is a put off... and as Greytmate suggested, it can give people the false belief that many rescue dogs are "broken" in some way - which we all know isn't exactly true. Not all dogs in pounds can, or should, be "saved" - for some, it's possibly the best thing for them to be given their wings. Not all pounds pts in an uncaring manner either. T.

Here's another that shows all of them together... taken with the 55-250mm lens... T.

Newly charged battery Roova... *grin* It could have been the distance/subject - I was scrunched up in a puppy playpen taking photos of 3 week old pups... Here are a couple of photos that worked that worked just fine... Cute, huh? BT cross Staffy - don't ask - I volunteer with rescue... T.

OK - so I'm snapping away at some 3 week old puppies with my 18-55mm EF-S IS lens (came with the 450D), and suddenly it decides to stop doing the auto focus thing when I zoom in on a munchkin - and refused to take the photo. Still auto fosused fine and took the photo when not zoomed in though... Lighting wasn't perfect, but wasn't crap either - and it had been focusing and taking photos fine with or without zoom prior to that point. I had the camera on full Auto mode, but even when I changed modes, it still didn't want to auto focus or take the photo when zoomed in. If I turned off the AF and manually focused when zoomed in, it took the photo just fine. So - could it be the light/subject/close distance that was the issue - or could this be the start of me looking for a new lens? The 55-250mm lens worked just fine, so I don't think it is the actual camera at fault (and the AF is built into the lens, not the camera) Any ideas gratefully appreciated... T.

He's only tasting her HonBun... 'cos she's so sweet... *grin* T.

Before I bought my Canon 450D, I used my Powershot S5 - it took great photos - check some out here... http://woosie.net/photogallery/index.php ... and here... http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y220/tdierikx/S5%20Zoo%20photos/ Now check out a comparison to the S5 Zoo photos to the ones I took recently with the 450D... http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y220/tdierikx/Zoo%205-11-2011/ Funnily enough, I still have the S5, and can't take a decent photo with it nowadays... go figure? I tend to use it to do video instead now... T.

Gorgeous!! T.

Damn! Where's the LIKE button?? T.

A recent litter of 9 large breed pups we got from the local pound (dumped at 4 weeks of age) - just feeding alone started with 1 20kg bag of kibble each week for 2 weeks - then I had to buy 2 20kg bags of kibble per week after that as the munchkins were eating 5kg of kibble per day! Luckily they did well on Bonnie Puppy - only $40 per bag... Then there were 3 lots of worming, chipping, vaccinating, and desexing - multiplied by 9... Oh - and changing and washing their bedding daily during particularly wet weather, so needing to use the dryer to get it all dry... I think we nearly broke even on costs over the 4-5 weeks we had them... selling them at $300 each. Now factor in bitch in whelp and needing to feed her properly to ensure healthy pups, possible complications requiring vet care (like a caesarian), making sure mum is fed well enough after the birth so she can in turn feed the pups - then factor in the bitch getting eclampsia or cracked nipples and having to hand rear most if not all of the litter, etc... License to print money, ain't it? NOT!!! T.