Dame Aussie

I live near Mittagong in the Southern Highlands...there is a pet shop on the main road in the middle of town, and they are constantly advertising purebred puppies amongst all the oodles....most recently seen - Rhodesian Ridgebacks, Labradors, Maremmas, Toy Poodles, Jack Russells and Siberian Huskies Maremmas??!

That's all I see in the pet shops near me, maybe an "English Staffy" or two :rolleyes:

This is my experience too, yes it is good to be careful with a new puppy, but you can't get much cleaner than a vets floor as it's washed down so many times a day :laugh: !

Each to their own. We had Lili at the vet at 12 weeks and we didn't carry her the whole time. She was too big!

Ah bugger! In that case, I can't think of much else than blocking the area off and it doesn't sound like that's working! Determined little bugger :laugh: Would a dog run of some kind be a possibility, something that isn't fixed to the ground? All the best with it, it's not an easy thing to fix.

It's a hard one, all I can recommend is making it impossible for him to dig there, maybe concrete along the bottom of the fence or chicken wire dug in?

The info in that link sounds so similar to my Anatolian x Maremma, except a bit more extreme. Whilst I wouldn't change anything, dogs like this can be a handful. My Aussie just wants to please me, she is so easy, my boy however :rolleyes: Think very, very hard about getting a dog like this, they are much better out of suburbia, if only due to the barking, they do not want to please you, they want to please themselves, they won't always come when called and cannot be let off lead, teaching them tricks/obedience is frustrating as they don't see why they should do what you're asking. Also the destruction is something to keep in mind, my dog isn't even as full on as a TM but we have had a destroyed mattress, 2 rooms of destroyed carpet, a mobile phone, a coffee table and chair all totally annihilated....lucky we don't spend much on our furniture ;) If that's what you want then by all means go ahead, if not though, it could be a mistake. Good luck with your choice though and if you do decide to get one we need copious amounts of pics :)

That's what has stopped us installing a doggy door, one of our dogs is huge and a person could easily crawl through a door his size. We thought about those magnetic collar attachments which open the door but how easy would it be for someone to take it off the dog!

So sorry to hear your bad news My dogs are the same, if I am ever even in the least upset about something they will sit right next to me, not leave me alone and almost look upset themselves.

Yeah I believe we do expect too much at times. For that reason I would never have a dog PTS because it defended itself against rough handling or anything that caused it pain.

I never expected to see such a controversial statement on this board. However, you express my views perfectly. And mine. I think it's terrible that so many animals are put to sleep each year but the end justifies the means for me. Dogs will be in a very dire situation the day that we only have the registered breeders producing new dogs, in my mind that is not enough to sustain the species. Nobody here can deny that a lot of breeds are in trouble. You've obviously never worked in a pound/shelter. The end certainly DOES NOT justify the means. Whether registered breeders can sustain a species means nil to the poor dogs that are killed every day. Well we will have to agree to disagree. Like I said, I would love to save every animal and gosh if I could count how many times I've been stung by rescuing bees and wasps from pools sigh... But not at the expense of dogs, they are too important and too vital to humans. If every dog aside from those from registered breeders was desexed tomorrow, it would instantly create a situation that in my opinion, would spell the end of domestic dogs improving and perhaps their very survival - not to mention, I fundamentally disagree with the direction a lot of breeds are heading in. I actually agree with a lot of what you're saying and am not against cross breeds in general, but it breaks my heart to see a comment like you made, those dogs are just as beautiful, clever, loyal and loviong as your dog. Only difference is no-one wants them, they get left at the pound by their owners, have to go through the stress of it all, and then after that, they end up in a bin. That to me, will never be acceptable, no matter what it means for dogs.

See - I just don't think of this as BYB - to me BYB and Puppy Farm is the same thing but the scale is different - people breeding for the money and no other reason. Agree with this.

Awww!!! He's so beautiful, look at him watching the camera and looking all guilty, that's too cute!

I can't see how colour could affect temperament? It doesn't seem logical..... Does anyone have evidence or research to show there is something to this? german shep fan, I think you're talking about Cocker Rage, a so called "syndrome" that affects golden Cockers. As far as I know there is no basis of truth to this, happy to be corrected though byu someone who knows more!

gsIt worries me too. Do police dog handlers let the police do run off lead into someone's fenced backyard without checking if there are dogs around? And if there are dogs around, do the dog handlers have 100% control to ensure their dogs don't react to the owner's dogs? Would the police be held accountable if their dog bit someone's dog in their backyard? Would the owner be held accountable if an offlead police dog jumped into the backyard and was bitten by the owner's dog? Most police dogs I have seen have a pretty aggressive body language and I'm sure most dogs would react to them if they jumped into the yard. I can't answer the questions about who would be held accountable if there was an altercation but I can share one experience. We were woken one night by a bit of a commotion in our suburb (speeding vehicles, sirens). My OH heard a noise in our backyard and went to look through the laundry. As he approached the glass sliding door he saw something big moving outside. It was the biggest Rottweiler he'd ever seen and the handler yelled "Police! Stay inside!" The dog was running through our backyard searching for an offender who crashed a stolen car and escaped on foot through our area. The person had committed an armed robbery before stealing and crashing the car, so the police believed he might still be armed. We didn't have a dog at the time so no idea whether they would check the yard for a resident dog, but the police did enter with their dog before we were aware of it. I *think* the police dog was restrained by the handler at first, and then released to search the yard. I had no idea WA police had Rotties, he was an awesome looking dog. OT but we had special Ops police involved in an incident near our house recently, we live in a fab area lol, and they had the biggest Rotti I've ever seen!!! Gorgeous!

I don't have anything to recommend but what a beautiful girl, I love the slimmer looking Labs

I don't know that much about either breed but I would agree that with small children a Silky would be a better choice. Good luck with your search!

So the dog is one that is best kept from interacting with children. The owner shows she knows that & separates the dog from children when they are visiting. And you have then felt quite safe to have your children visiting that home. Looks like the owner has arrived at one management strategy which works in one respect. It's not totally unusual for some owners to separate their dogs when there are children visiting. For example, some small dogs are overwhelmed by the liveliness & 'touchiness' of children playing with them. Also other dogs can get highly excited with children running & squealing...& that triggers a prey drive or need to 'correct'. Yes, I always watch Lili like a hawk when there are kids around, normally she isn't very interested in them, but if they run and squeal I can see her watching them and I worry she might chase! She has never done it so it could all be in my head, but I know my dog and I know she loves to chase....anything....:laugh:

Smaller dogs seem to be more possessive and I'm learning that with mine now who I try to socialise with A LOT but she's still wary of strangers who come in (friends she hasn't met) and wont let people she hasn't met pat her which is really annoying for me because I don't want that dog who just wants me. She loves people and dogs she's met before but if she hasn't met you then she's really not interested (not at all aggressive, just not interested in attention from strangers). I want to change this but no idea how. I went to a friends house last night for dinner, she's moved into a big share house and there are 5 or 6 of them there and I brought Lucy along. New surroundings + new people and she wasn't letting anyone touch her. :eek: My Aussie Lili is just like this, if she has met you before she's all over you, if you're new, well, you have to prove yourself :laugh: She's never aggressive or scared, just not interested at all in attention other than from people she knows. It takes her about 15 minutes to warm up to a new person and then, forget about it :laugh: I don't see it as a completely bad thing though, I feel a bit of comfort knowing she wouldn't just go off with anybody.

Absolute gold, too too funny!

I don't think I have ever "disliked" a dog....how do you do that? it's a dog. They aren't like people, they aren't rude, snobby, nasty by nature, cruel etc. A dog is the product of it's owner and the way it has been raised, I could never dislike a dog because someone didn't socialise it properly or beat it up to the point of it being fear aggressive...... There are breeds I like better than others but that is a preference, not a personal thing. I just wouldn't have one of them, I dont actively dislike them, I think that's a bit strange. JMO though.

I never expected to see such a controversial statement on this board. However, you express my views perfectly. And mine. I think it's terrible that so many animals are put to sleep each year but the end justifies the means for me. Dogs will be in a very dire situation the day that we only have the registered breeders producing new dogs, in my mind that is not enough to sustain the species. Nobody here can deny that a lot of breeds are in trouble. You've obviously never worked in a pound/shelter. The end certainly DOES NOT justify the means. Whether registered breeders can sustain a species means nil to the poor dogs that are killed every day.

I'm confused as to what these "disgusting things" said actually were? All I can see is an OP which sounded like a BYB (something that is not supported here -check out the forum rules) and comments directed at the fact this is not the correct way to do things. Sure, the OP clarified but is everyone supposed to edit their posts? Can someone tell me what was so disgustuing please?

Agree 100% with this.

I use a rake on Lili, it's prefcet to get out the undercoat.