Robbi

The South Australian Government in its wisdom has employed Professor Martin Seligman as its Thinker in Residence. Professor Seligman is being much lauded and praised for his theories on happiness but scratch the surface and there is something very dark and horrible. In the early 1960's (1965 I believe)Professor Seligman did a study on learned helplessness in dogs, I wont go into too much detail about what this monster did to a large number of dogs but ultimitely they were placed in metal boxes and given inescapable electric shocks of increased currencey and frequency until ultimitely many were killed This is not research this is just plain cruelty, I have been contacting the media to voice my outrage about this but I cant raise any interest. Today I am contacting the South Australian Attorney General John Rau about my disgust at this appointment, wish me luck.If you wish to contact John Rau his email address is [email protected]. I realise this probably will divide people as to what constitutes valid research involving dogs but after looking closely at this study I feel this went way too far. Thankyou

My (ex)mother in law planted dogbane in her garden everywhere and had just finished telling me how well it kept dogs away when my Cocker Spaniel went and rolled on it and seemed to enjoy snuffling at it without seeming to find it offensive. However dear old Basil did enjoy the smell of vile things so maybe he was an exception Dogbane does have a pretty flower and is very hardy so probably worth a try.

Beautiful Jasmine is a DOL favourite of mine. It is wonderful that she ended up as a member of your family she certainly landed on her paws. She is so sleek and shiny isn't she

Bombon-El Perro a gorgeously made Argentinian film (subtitled) the main charecter is Bombon, a Dogo Argentino. It was a bewitching film I would thoroughly recomend

Surely this isn't Petey the sweetest faced boy I have ever seen, butter wouldnt melt in his mouth I knew nothing about how destuctive Bull Breeds could be until Abbie the destroyer entered my life. After coming home to untouched kongs but the mattress off my bed pulled down the passage to the front door, carpet pulled up but interactive toy still sitting on kitchen floor and much more I built a very large pen in my dining room (Abbietraz)and secure her and the toys, bullchews in the pen, she now happily goes into pen when I am at work. She is now nearly two but when I relent and let her stay out of the pen when I go out she still destroys the house.

Thanks for that - so it is the containing of the sheep that is the problem, not the sheep themselves. Can assure you that they weren't doing that in Oz in 1827 Cant say that it didn't happen in the long winters of Saxony though - barn living would have been the norm over there. Souff The idea is good in principle and in Europe the sheep are in large barns but more like barn raised chicken, they are not confined to individual pens, I dont know why we didn't embrace the free ranging barn idea here in Australia but I think the feeding costs of penned animals would have been a major contributor. CSIRO did a study on how many kjs a day a free ranging animal requires vs a penned "immobile" animal. Maybe also the wool is less damaged in pen situations but not sure. My Grandpa had "Shedded" sheep as he called them. They never wore coats and lived in the shed with all the gates open in between pens. They lived as a small mob, but didn't go outside however there were bits of the shed that were open and they got fresh air and lay in the sunlight. He had radios playing, went over three times a day, they ran up to say hello and got pats. They were very healthy well adjusted sheep. I never knew others kept them like that................. It is an industry kept very quiet, I think they know it would not be recieved very well by the general public. I knew nothing about it until I did my wool classing certificate some years ago. I love the sound of how your Grandfather kept his sheep, that is how I think it should be done

Thanks for that - so it is the containing of the sheep that is the problem, not the sheep themselves. Can assure you that they weren't doing that in Oz in 1827 Cant say that it didn't happen in the long winters of Saxony though - barn living would have been the norm over there. Souff The idea is good in principle and in Europe the sheep are in large barns but more like barn raised chicken, they are not confined to individual pens, I dont know why we didn't embrace the free ranging barn idea here in Australia but I think the feeding costs of penned animals would have been a major contributor. CSIRO did a study on how many kjs a day a free ranging animal requires vs a penned "immobile" animal. Maybe also the wool is less damaged in pen situations but not sure.

http://sheepcruelty.wordpress.com/ It is only my opinion that the saxon merino industry is cruel. I worked as a wool classer in the early nineties and I have sheep, I take much delight in watching them and their individual quirks and strong family connections(they are a very established flock, family lines go back over thirty years with only new rams brought into the flock) I have been into a saxon merino shed in Victoria and was appalled by what I saw.

Unfortunate dogs owned by irresponsible owners unwilling to take the time to socialise and train their dogs to be good canine citizens.... Your hatred of crossbreeds sickens me and makes you look a bigot! ROBBI, This is a forum for the pure breed dog community and I totally agree and support what TheCoat has said: "No crossbreeds are finely bred animals with years of bloodlines at hand for trait selection to produce a temperament balance to safely fit into the community ..." This is absolutely spot on and yet you choose to attack the writer. Why on earth would hundreds of breeders of purebred dogs have taken the trouble to research bloodlines before breeding, often over many years, if we were not trying to breed dogs with predictable features, including temperament. GOOD STABLE, PREDICTABLE TEMPERAMENT is everything in a companion animal. You can never aim for that predictability in a crossbred dog because of all the unknowns involved. Souff In no way or form do I support bybs or puppy farmers I have purebred dogs, I show dogs, I also have a crossbreed dog and she is no less warrenting respect and the right to live as my pedigreed dogs. The Coat has outragously insulted Pit Bulls and other Bull Breeds and their owners yet that is perfectly acceptable? I am not condoning the breeding of crossbred dogs CERTAINLY NOT but I am saying that you will not wipe out crossbreeds in the near future so why not educate the owners rather than treat them and their dogs like lepers.

Australias animal welfare laws leave a lot to be desired. We dont have to look further than the live export trade, vealer boxes, saxon merinos, stomach shooting brumbies,camels and donkeys in the outback, baiting dingo's to the point of near extinction, watching animals die due to 1080 baitng programs funded by the federal government is one of the most barbaric deaths imaginable. Before we point fingers at other countries we have to be sure that we are not doing similar things to animals here.Hallal slaughter is routinely done in Australia as are other ritual killings of animals

Happy birthday Ruger, sending you Bully hugs and Whippet kisses big boy

Unfortunate dogs owned by irresponsible owners unwilling to take the time to socialise and train their dogs to be good canine citizens.... Your hatred of crossbreeds sickens me and makes you look a bigot!

It astounds me yet again how much venom and hatred any thread on bsl and/or Pit Bulls or Pit Bull crosses invokes. If you dont like Pit Bulls that is fine dont have one, dont give them a moments thought but dont belittle the efforts of true dog lovers that are trying to stop such blatently wrong legislations.

I live the Whippet versus Staffy rally racing daily, they are hysterical :D

The running pack

One super(giant)Whippet and a Bull Breed cross :D

So glad to hear Earl is home, big kisses from us to him, now enjoy your holiday and soak up the lovely Queensland sun :D

They look the perfect couple :D

No, that was an overstatement but I do think that flawed research or possibly people taking certain sections of a study and inflating its importance have done Bull Breeds nothing but harm. The bite statistics that are often quoted b the media and politicians is seriously flawed and I use for example www.dogsbite.org/dangerous-dogs-pit-bull-owners.php I dont want the Greyhound to have any negative studies that people can twist for their own purpose. Why dont researchers spend some time doing positive studies on dogs and highlight their strengths-Why do Sighthounds have heat seeking abilities for example?

Sighthound owners were very open and willing to give information regarding Corvus's hypothesis, nobody took great offense to such a loaded statement and were willing to give examples to prove/disprove the theory, there was no need to get annoyed when what was said didn't suit the study I am sick of my chosen breeds of dogs being maligned by researchers and the media, I am off to take my Bold/bumptous Whippet and my sweet and gentle Bull Breed for a walk and watch the result of biased studies and media hype as people try to avoid the Bullie and pat the Whippet ;)

Sounding positive Big kisses to our favourite Bloodhound, you probably all feel as flat as Earl today after all that stress

I am beginning to think that in the dog world there are actually very few DOG LOVERS, people that see beyond the breed,type or purpose of the dog and love the dog for what it is. A domesticated animal that has given companionship,love, protection, help whilst hunting.Is a bed warmer, herder and much more. In return the least we can do, the absolute least, is provide food,shelter, safety, freedom from abuse or persacution. Whilst persacution sounds strong bsl is absolutely persacution, a Bull Breed or Bull breed cross deserves the same rights and protection as any other dog purebred, papered or not

Its a funny thing isn't it before I met Borzoi the last thing I would have called them was goofball clowns but over the last few years of being around them I have found them to have the most endearing characters.

I think we have to always be careful of any generalisations, in humans we would not like to be pigeonholed, say for an example "All red headed people of Celtic descent are bad tempered" would be an unacceptable theory and an overly sweeping statement. By surmising that Sighthounds tend to be timid/sensitive we would be just as wrong. I live with a very dominant male Whippet, he shows many behaviours that admitedly seem unusual for a Whippet but not unusual for an alpha male maybe. He humps other dogs if not closely watched during play, guards the property superbly, was leash reactive and has always been jockeying to be pack leader over the other dogs we have/have had although not successful against my old Kelpie bitch. Is Yogi timid, no but he is sensitive to many things in his envoironment, he hates thunder,firecrackers and many other things so he cant be labelled a typical Sighthound maybe Timid no, sensitive yes. I also handle and work with 3 Borzoi, the oldest bitch is an absolute clown, she smiles at everybody loves a pat and a cuddle,no timidity or sensitivity. The oldest male is aloof but loves to play with his toys and I would call him timid however he was not socialised as a young dog so I think his timidity is due to that rather than him being a Sighthound.The young male Borzoi is a goofy goober, he is happy playful, gentle and what I call a dependable temprement, however a sensitive soul. Just my personal experiences but 4 sighthounds all with very different natures

People who are proponants of bsl need to open their minds and their hearts to the fact that there are no inherently bad/vicious breeds of dog. take the Dogo Argentine for example, although a banned breed here in Australia and bred to hunt Puma and wild Boar in its homeland it is also trained to be a seeing eye dog and assistance dog in Argentina. What I really struggle with is that people who call themselves dog lovers can support such backward thinking legislation such as Victorias. We need to follow the Calgary blueprint when it comes to dog management, they lead the way with non bsl dog management programs.