LizT

+1 Get your parents in agreement first. It will make it easier.

Nope, they don't. I used to work upstairs from a pet shop (which has closed, yay!) and we'd hear the puppies crying when we were there late at night over Christmas doing catalogue setup. That's what I'd always thought. I suppose at least they aren't being subjected to being packed up and shunted around everyday.

no first we educate the government ... then we educate the 'animal professionals' then it will filter down to the public. You can't make the public responsible if the resources they go to are behind. This is true, there should be a prime time tv show called WHAT IT MEANS TO OWN A K9 - The responsible owners Guide :)... I don't know too much conflicting advice from "experts" already. Just look at the viewpoint Don Burke directed the public with.

Yes the pet shop was heard quoting that because the dutch shepherd was crossed it would be really calm and the perfect pet for a CHILD. Some people need beating about the head with a blunt instrument. Yes, why should we be the ones with all the headaches. OH and I were in a shopping centre with a Petshop that sells pups the other day and the staff were rolling up the bedding and cleaning out the windows as it was closing time soon. "They take the pups home overnight don't they?" asked OH hopefully. I just shrugged as I couldn't really say for sure though I've never seen a trolly with pups leave the shopping centre at closing time either.

Say there's an idea, after all they are such reponsive easy to train dogs as you know. Every novice could manage to train one as the ideal family pet, impossible to muck up, so well trained it wouldn't need to be on lead when walked etc. What a money spinner. ;)

I like the part about "they can't hurt you if you don't let them, they never were your friends and to just give your dog a hug." So true. Happy to say I've not meet any who are that extreme so far in the dog world but have encounter a few in the horse world. My daughter was telling me a funny story a friend related to her and the gist of it was that little Miss precosious 8 year old had just won everything on her million dollar pony at the Melbourne Royal and was being interviewed by the MC of the day over the P.A. His questioning begain with "How did your day start today?" Probably wanting to know what time everyone had to get up to prepare for the busy day. "Little Miss 8 began to recite her day. "Well first we got up to feed "Blackie" and mum gave him his needle so he would be quiet and good.....everything then fell silent. Out of the mouth of babes. :laugh:

Most looked extemely pleased with themselves but I'm reading "guilty shame" in Kirty dogs eyes in the original post. :laugh:

One of my favs is when I see an old couple ahhhing and cooing at the window and talking about getting a pup 'cos Fido has been gone now for two years etc. etc. and I pipe up with Yes, they are cute....but I would pay $X,XXX for a cross breed, to which the husband usually responds with "Yes, that's a lot isn't it! hehehehe Then I continue with. Hmmm.. you would pay about that much for a purebred from a Breeder and I toddle off. Turn around and they are talking and walking away. :D

No, I don't think they understand, I'm sure they sense our emotions though and I believe they have a far better capacity for forgiveness than us. :)

Yes I remeber hearing that. If something unsavory got to your prize bitch she was ruined.

Okay I love and adore Siberian Huskies but always felt they were a "specialist breed" in terms of training and fencing etc. So I'm sitting here on DOL when my daughter who has taken her little sister shopping at XXXXXX XXXXX sends me a text with a really sad face showing of two Sibe Puppies in the Petshop at the Mall. Poor Babies, I hate seeing large breeds in Pets Shop even more than the smaller ones and that usually gets my goat. \There are also the regular Beagliers, Maltese X, Shihtzu X mini Poodles, and Japanese Spitz X Shihtzu. But Sibes C'mon.

Yeah. Sometimes it feels like a lost cause. But don't give up, you then will meet someone who actually asks questions and wants to learn more (on the subject of responsible pet ownership) on occasion and it bolsters you.

Yeah, mud don't stick to Cavaliers either. :D It's just the inital shock before they dry off. ;) Yep, a bit similar coat texture I would have thought. The hardest thing is to resist the urge to towel it off. Leave the mud be and the coat drys and sheds all the mud. Rub it with a towel and it's a mess! Often whem i am walking her people comment that she's just been bathed - nope, she just looks bright white all the time. Yeah. I just towel off wet feet, blot the body and legs, no rubbing and wait. :) I've even noticed that green grass stains when they go out after the lawn has just been mown seem to disappear too? Worried me the first time I saw green paws and though Oh. no I have to rewash, but they vanished during the next few hours.

Not if the cost was too high ... wow too much effort just put the dog to sleep Of course, why waste the money when one can go out and get another puppy! Quick to the Petshop

My girls only get fed out of their bowls or training treats yet Crystal has a huge fasination with Bananas??? She had never tasted any but would still sit and stare through us while we ate them and try to grab the peel while it is being put in the compost bucket. So I gave her a bit in the guise of a training treat. YUMMO. Now if anyone is eating a banana she stands there "stacked" staring up hoping she'll get some. :laugh:

Yeah, mud don't stick to Cavaliers either. :D It's just the inital shock before they dry off. ;)

Grey and Pinto horses and Parti coloured Cavaliers. What am I thinking????? Makes me love the dark Bay with only a white star and the GSD especially more. :)

You were warned. :D

Fifty years ago my father would only own a male cat because he didn't want to have to "deal with kittens", meaning dispose of them. Did he desex his male cat so it didn't contribute to this problem? Of course not, that costs money! It was only when I got older and our cat had been missing a few days and came home clearly having been fighting and had a horrible maggot infected abcess that had exploded on this head (sorry everyone ) that even he couldn't argue about going to the vets with it and the vet convinced him to also have teh cat desexed while he was under having his wound cleaned and stitched. Since then all our cats were desexed. So it's sad to see that this attitude can still persist today. This persons sister's dogs need'nt have been PTS, it could have been spayed and if pregnant delt with at the same time. Surely the vet who put the bitch to sleep would have told them that!! Something doesn't sit right with this story???

thats the point. how often are we told this only happens in purebreds because they are inbred? nothing is that black and white yet so much has been slated against purebreds when this happens in their ranks. do you understand? You are right there. But were it not for the fact that people like Leema posts on DOL we wouldn't hear about these cases. And they are useful and interesting regardless of breed, cross or otherwise. I mean there is a HUGE difference between many purebred dogs but something to be learnt from the experiences of all breeders. :)

:laugh: Reminds me of when I had a Lhaso Apso, who stayed in the kitchen of my flat when I was at work. The previous day had been my brthday and there was a lovely tablecloth on the kitchen table, with a vase of flowers and about half a birthday cake. On my return home I found that Khan had been pulling on the table cloth and the cake a vase were both very delicately balanced on the edge of the table ready to tip over at any moment. Lucky my tram wasn't late that day. :)

Mental image of Rotties standing over Spag bol drooling lustily but not actually touching food. :) Nah, seriously, they are good dogs. :)

I never could understand people who have cats that are allowed to walk on kitchen benches!! Com on people!! Seriously EWWW! No cat I have ever ownedlived with has ever jumped up onto the kitchen bench more than once. Sure the sneaky buggers will try to get some food if left unattended, but I wouldn't leave food out if a cat is in the room anyway, and my cats would never try to get any if I'm in the room. :laugh: .

I look at some of those harnesses and I hope to doG that no one has a serious accident. Sure, it's better than having a dog hit you in the back of the head and breaking your neck but seriously, a daschunds' back is going to be broken even in a harness. One hard braking, a violet flip and it's over Rover. (Just look at the picture in the LINK "Pretty Miss Emma" posted. They really are not a "one size fits all" solution are they? Unlike a child restraint, that is designed around the one model. And whilst the point of the harness is to try and protect our beloved pet from injury and from causing injury to others, have you seen what crap some people have floating around in their car??? Really, in a serious car accident, depending on where you get hit, the severity and where your passengers are located will determine the outcome. Still we must do what we can and endeavour to keep driving safely.

asal the deformed puppy was a cross breed from a rescue litter. Some intersting reading there. With regards to your postings, interesting what is happening with the Arabian horse re DNA testing. Also further to your postings on "closed Stud books", what say you to the concept of "Breed classifications days" for dogs as per the Pinto Society, no papers or pedigree required, just need to pass a classification of three judges, so long as it doesn't have any Standardbred in it (but whose telling)! What a can of worms that would open! If it looks like a 'dog' then it must be a dog. ;)