Tempus Fugit

I raised the Herald - Sun item about the 'rabid' dogs in order to infer that the the Herald - Sun piece on the pitbull attack may have been sensationalised and that both items may contain untruths and are an example of poor journalism. I don't think headlines alleging dogs are rabid is a trivial matter. The threat of rabies getting into Australia is very real. Papua-New Guinea is officially rabies endemic, two dogs in Queensland were not so long ago destroyed because of possible exposure to the rabies-like Hendra virus (apparently there is a real risk that the virus can jump to dogs) and then in Victoria there is a risk of a bio-security breach at the Geelong Animal Health Laboratory. For more information read the relevant AUSVETPLAN

Now the Herald Sun is inferring wild dogs in Gippsland have rabies: Rabid dogs chasing farmers off their land Ed Gannon From:Herald Sun April 05, 2012 12:00AM I feel sorry for you guys in Victoria who have to cop this sort of hysteria. (here)

Berserk dog attack

Sorry duplicate post

The correct spelling is 'sacco'. They originated in Norway so you could try searching for sacco dog cart in various european languages (use google or bing etc to translate) eg 'sacco hundevogn'. The will probably be pricey no matter where they come from.

Wasn't sleeping with dogs to keep warm the origin of the bushies expression 'two dog night' 'three dog night' etc? I used to share my bedroom with two german shepherds, but they had their own hammock beds, I didn't allow them on the human bed.

I have lost count of the number of time I have read of children/ adults being bitten by a dog whose owner had given the person permission to pat. Many lay owners aren't capable of reading their dog's body language, other times a dog that has never shown agression can bite as a pain response to an undetected ear infection, sore spot etc. The dog is then executed. I also regularly read of guide dog and other assistance dog owners complaining of adults/ children wanting to pat their dogs whilst they are working. So a culture change to one of ignoring other peoples dogs seems to me appropriate. Perhaps some DOLers could enlighten us as to what happens in other cultures, eg aboriginal settlements, towns with populations of stray dogs such as in eastern europe,and countries where large dogs are used as livestock guardians. Is there a culture of patting such dogs or ignoring them? What about other domestic animals, e.g. horses? Would DOLers that are horse owners be comfortable with having adults/ children going up to their horses and patting them - bearing in mind a horse can kick and bite, and some can bolt if frightened?

I remember one time when I was adopting a rescue dog, the foster carer's neighbour screamed abuse at us the whole time I was there because of the barking of her other foster dogs. It was a very unnerving experience.

It should be a summary offence punishable by a fine for any person, without reasonable excuse, to interfere with an animal, or anything attached to or fitted to an animal, or to permit a child under their supervision or guardianship to do so. So one could get fined for trying to pet a dog, or allowing their children to pet a strange dog. I recall a situation about a year ago when I was going into a roadhouse cafe, a guy already in the cafe had left his german shepherd by the door. As I went through the door, I held my hand near the dog's nose as a greeting and he snapped at it - he was simply telling me in dog language that his attention was totally focused on his owner on the other side of the glass door inside the cafe and for me to mind my own business, which I did. He didn't lunge at me or try to kill me, he was merely communicating dog style. Would he have bitten me if I had actually tried to pat him on the head? - maybe. Would he have bitten a child that tried to pat him? maybe. I recall readind a blog entry once from a zoophile - never force yourself on an animal - if the animal wants to interact with you let it come to you, otherwise leave it alone.

Tell me I'm wrong in assuming the dog is riding unrestrained in the front passenger seat, and later rear seat.

As far as I am aware, the federal Dept of Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry (under which AQIS comes) has a biosecurity plan to deal with rabies outbreaks, although it is probably classified. There are special provisions, for example for persons from a rabies endemic country like the USA to bring their disability assistance dogs into Australia.

There is comprehensive information on this TAMS website.

I agree with T. Notwithstanding DD regs, lawyers have a way with twisting words. You should be able to get "Dog on Premises" and "Please shut the gate" signs from a hardware, pet or farm supply store if you are prepared visit a few places. Personally, though, I would keep my dog inside the house while people are going in and out of the gate given the risk of the dog getting out while someone is going through the gate - and keep the gate padlocked at other times.

Reading this thread reminded me of my 2nd german shepherd, that I got as a 3 1/2 year old FTGH. When I got him he would try to alpha roll any dog he came across (including my other rescue shetlie/husky cross) and I actually got bitten a couple of times holding him close to me as we passed other dogs being walked (redirected agression). I enrolled him in obedience school and used traditional discipline - a firm NO and strong correction with his check collar whenever he attempted to lunge at another dog. I was very happy when he eventually got his CDX title. (I wasn't game to try agility with him though). His agression appeared to be due to insecurity. The few times he did roll a dog he never physically injured them. Snarling ferociously he just grabbed them by the throat and frightened them so much they submissively rolled on their backs and wet themselves. I worked out that it was a pre-emptive strike/ fight avoidance technique. To avoid a prolonged battle where he might get injured he went in hard and fast, similar to the shock and awe tactics used by the Australian, British and American forces to avoid a prolonged battle with Saddam Hussein's forces when invading Iraq. In that case it was a pre-emptive strike because the allies were afraid Saddam would attack them with 'weapons of mass destruction'. With my sheppie, he apparently also had a fear that the other dog would attack him if he didn't get in first. The controlled environment of obedience class and daily obedience drill (which asserted my pack leadership) seemed to settle his fears somewhat. Thankfully the owners of the loose dogs he rolled never tried to pull their dogs away, since my understanding of an alpha roll is that depends on the underdog being completely submissive and still. Any movement of the underdog is interpreted by the 'alpha' dog as an attempt to fight back and will result in the alpha dog resuming its attack.

You can view the draft legislation here. Note the web page allows readers to make comments.

Reminds me of the days when there were horse troughs in the main street. Drinking fountain with dog bowl

Goodbye old friend of many walks. You passed away on a beautiful spring day. Two big yawns and you were gone, running with the pack across the rainbow bridge.

My apologies if this has been posted previously: The Victorian Bill

Unfortunately, it IS the breed. They have been bred to fight over many, many years. It is imprinted into their genetics in the same way Retrievers were bred to fetch their masters' ducks, etc when hunting. No one, and I don't care how much of an expert they claim to be, but no one can control these dogs and stop them from attacking when they want to. Matthew B So you think because a breed was bred for a specific purpose they can't make wonderful family pets, if that was the case I shouldn't have a Rottie as I don't have cattle or a cart. I don't have sheep so I shouldn't own a GSD,you see how stupid your comments are. Selective breeding over a number of generations can alter character traits in any breed, eg the divergence between show line and working line GSDs. The dog that killed the child was reportedly not a purebred but a cross breed of the type often used pig hunters etc. Such dogs at least need to have a desire to stand up to and defend themselves against, if not attack, an aggressive quarry. I daresay out of a litter of such dogs 3 or 4 might go to hunting homes while the cast offs end up in the general community. If hunting with dogs was banned then there would be no need for such dogs but I don't think a government would have the political will to stand up to the hunting lobby. The owner of the dog has been branded as irresponsible for allowing his dog to escape, apparently for the first time. Well, the DOL Lost & Found forum is replete with cases of dogs that have escaped from their owners premises - yet these DOLers seem to get sympathy rather than condemnation. I heard the other day of a case where 4 sibes escaped from a backyard because a delivery man opened the gate. Was the sibe's owner irresponsible for not padlocking her gate? I have a 1.8 m back fence, yet I have had a cattle dog actually jump from the rear laneway into my yard (and get roughed up by my 2 gsds). Maybe I am irresponsible for not topping my fence with broken glass and razor wire to deter trespassers, like the railways do with their train yards. In the case of the Melbourne attack, I think the police and coroner should be allowed to complete their investigations before kneejerk condemnations are made, including by politicians.

I believe it is not uncommon for search dogs in Afghanistan to 'wash out' of the military after being traumatised by close artillery bursts. Not suprising when you consider the reaction of some dogs to fire crackers and thunder.

Apparentlly Sport Dog now make a combined training/ tracking collar.

Unfortuneately you can't quarantine flying foxes. The genie may already be out of the bottle, like with cane toads, a much larger and visible beast than a virus, which authorities so far have been unable to eradicate, and which are inexorably spreading. Eventually the disease will probably get into the feral horse and dog populations - and other ferals if the virus is good at mutating. Mandatory vaccination of domestic animals may be the future.

That's a pretty powerful dog. Trying to justify it with stating the size of the dog doesn't make sense to me.It's not your concern why they had their Police Dog with them....a Police Dog is a Police Officer. I don't think this is correct. My understanding is that a service dog is normally considered to be equipment, same as a gun, taser, pepper spray etc. Disabled persons' assistance dogs are legally medical appliances, not humans. Police dogs are not "service dogs" - they are K9 Police Officers and as such an assault on a police dog is the same as an assault on a police officer. I would be interested to see any law that defined a police dog as a sworn police officer, with power to enforce law and arrest persons. As far as I am aware, only a human police officer has such powers and is therefore qualified to be described as a "police officer".

That's a pretty powerful dog. Trying to justify it with stating the size of the dog doesn't make sense to me.It's not your concern why they had their Police Dog with them....a Police Dog is a Police Officer. I don't think this is correct. My understanding is that a service dog is normally considered to be equipment, same as a gun, taser, pepper spray etc. Disabled persons' assistance dogs are legally medical appliances, not humans. Dogs are territorial by nature and it would be normal for many dogs to challenge another dog coming onto their territory. They do not have the wit to discern the difference between a police dog and an agressive stray.

You wouldn't be able to get a GPS dog tracker into an implantable RFI chip because you need a device on the dog with enough power, which means a rechargeable or replaceable battery, and sufficiently sized antenna to transmit the dog's GPS coordinates to a remote receiver, depending on type, a special handheld receiver or a mobile phone tower. Also the dog's device needs to be able to resolve the weak signals from the GPS satellites, which again needs are larger antenna than what can be put into an RFI microchip sized device. (Remember a typical RFI reader needs to be very close to the dog to read the data - since the RFI chip doesn't have its own battery, the reader needs to supply the power to the chip so that it can transmit its data back to the reader). You can get short range wristwatch sized locating devices to put on children that might wander off at a picnic ground but that is about the smallest. Because of the short range they wouldn't be suitable for dogs. GPS dog tracking collars have been around for a number of years and are commonly advertised in hunting magazines. You can also Google on them. The most popular brand appears to be Garmin.