Nic.B

Bella's lump removal went very well overall, while she was still under she had a dental early. As Bella is an old duck I did not want to put her through another anaesthetic. I was in the city today until 4.30pm so there were endless calls between my vet and I. After surgery our vet believes the lumps are benign fatty lumps, we should have further results soon though. Bella is doing well, still groggy though has had a wee, is drinking well, some yogurt and is settled in my bed. Poor little soul has had half her coat shaved, we have three suture lines to keep an eye on until the stiches are removed. Thank you for your kinds wishes and support. I ADORE this little girl, Bella is one in a million and special beyond words in more ways than one. After Bella went to bed I hid away and cried for hours with the worry and fear. I woke up with golf ball eyes and was a nervous wreck all morning. You would think that by now I would have learnt to be realistic and logical! I am so happy my baby girl is home safe and sound with me and doing so well. Fingers crossed for further results all coming back great.

Thank you so much for your thoughts and best wishes. Bella is such an incredible dog, I simply adore her. I have always said that I have only ever done half the work with my fosters, Bella does the rest. We had a good nights sleep (Bella hogged the bed lol) I will let you know how she goes, probably later this afternoon.

My gorgeous 11 year old Kelpie Bella has had multiple soft lumps surface very quickly in her upper pelvis/hip area and along her spine. We both went to our vet today to have bloods done/biopsy’s etc now we are waiting for the results. I have decided to remove the lumps regardless, so Bella will have surgery very early tomorrow morning. It is not an easy decision as Bella is eleven years old. Thank god my heartbeat is so fit, healthy and active. I have everything crossed that we will have great news tomorrow not bad news. Please keep Bella Donna in your thoughts xxxx

Hawkesbury Pound have been "temp testing" dogs for a few months now which has its own pros and cons. Is temp testing via shelter staff? independant? or Rob Zammit Shmoo? Email me if it is easier...

Thanks Julie, I agree it is tough. The dogs declared dangerous have been in new adoptive homes when the attacks have occured. The dogs are then removed by pr's (usually MN herself) before the dogs are seized by rangers. These dogs are moved into another state and rehomed without disclosure of behavioural issues nor the DD order. I will add an example: ***name removed*** you want proof I can give you one example where I have proof, reports, and screenshots. A certain dog, was with a foster carer and whilst there it was responsible for attacking and injuring 3 kids. It also was a major escape artist and would then dig under the pens of other dogs to let them out. He killed farm animals, and was moved to kennels. He was reported to the council for the attacks on kids. This dog was advertised on gumtree as the perfect kids dogs, it stated that he loved kids. When I wrote on the crew wall that stated: Please remove my phone number off the advertisement for Milo I will not be associated with rehoming a dog that has bitten a child under any circumstances. Please make sure my phone number is not on any gumtree advertisements. Mel Norman then arranged I have proof for the dog in question to be sent to QLD before the council could follow up the attacks further. This dog is still in QLD, and it was never assessed by any professionals at all. Thats just one example, and I have many more all with screen shots, and emails and proof that they do not always do the correct thing by the general public . There is also a screen dump of the dog listing on gumtree. The dog is being advertised as in QLD.

Dogs declared dangerous by council are moved into another state and rehomed without disclosure of the dangerous dog order nor behavioural issues. Dogs which have attacked children and other dogs (at least one dog has died from an attack, another badly injured) are also moved into another state and rehomed without disclosure. Dogs deemed "release to rescue only" are pulled out under clause and immediately adopted into homes. PR's have not even met these dogs. One of these dogs was returned to the pound within a week and very sadly was pulled out under clause a second time by pr's and immediately put into another home. By that stage the dogs injured tail ( which was why she was deemed RTRO) was so bad that the lady spent over $2000 on surgery to have part of her tail removed. This dog went on to attack the lady’s other dog. Dogs chipped to MN and pound rounds have been abandoned and confirmed as euthenised in shelters other states. Dogs chipped to MN and pound rounds have been abandoned and left in shelters in other states. This is just off the top of my head, obviously there are a lot more issues which probably comes down to ethics and morals. The number of issues is staggering, the way people and dogs have been treated is shocking. There is no complaints process aside from MN herself. The site is heavily moderated, only comments which drag people further into the pr's web are allowed to stay. Some of the experiences people have been through have reduced me to tears, I constantly find myself appologising on behalf of rescue. These people and families are really lovely people who had the best of intentions. Rescue seriously needs to be regulated, it is tragic that the hard work and great reputation of rescue is being smashed appart by this group. The public needs help and support in recognising a reputable group from the rest.

Geez she is a piece of work! Unbelievable!! MN holds the 16d she also holds the fundraising licence (actually she has two! just in case one is revoked). There is no doubt the 16d has been breached on multiple occasions. It appears the DLG won’t act, councils are being threatened to be sued if they do not continue to release dogs to this group. Meanwhile there is a trail of destruction whenever this group raises its ugly head. It is only a matter of time before someone or a child is killed. You simply cannot operate so carelessly and recklessly without the inevitable occurring.

Poor Zig I hope he is feeling better this morning SL. One of ours played with a bee once, poor little loves face swelled so quickly (her face was huge!) I rushed her to the vet after hours and she had an antihistamine shot. It settled down pretty quickly after that. WD40 is a great idea, I have not heard of that. We have those dreadful wasps at times as well, they are such angry things! Chase me and the kids all over the garden at times. A friend of mine showed me how to get rid of the nest. I have to wait until dark (when they are all inside the nest) light a peice of newspaper and hold it to the nest. If they try to come out to attack you their wings burn off which is a bit sad. It did work though, no more cranky wasps.

Just be careful Aussie, I pick all the fruit now as it is just not worth the risk. Maybe pick up the fruit off the ground.... The weird thing is, Bella has never in 10 years eaten the plumbs It was difficult to diagnose to begin with, I had no idea that she had been eating plumbs and didnt mention it to the vet, at first they thought she had had a stroke. I saw the seeds in her stool and which led us to cyanide poisoning. Bella was at the emergency vet in a very bad way, it was terrible. Thank god she pulled through, I adore the monkey!

Plumbs (the kernel) and I understand some other stone fruits are poisonous for dogs. Bella my beautiful 10 year old Kelpie decided to eat a whole bunch of plumbs off our trees, she must have also chewed the seed. She developed cyanide poisoning, I thought we were going to lose her, very, very scary.

She will be safe and sound Thundercat :) Cavies always find great new homes or rescue. HP is now desexing which is great news. Any adopted dog is desexed, rescue sign an agreement to ensure all dogs are desexed prior to rehome.

Just going door to door in any shire in any street would pay someone's wages and vehicle costs every day. They would either pick up fines or rego fees and at what cost is BSL and the life of a child or someone's pet due to owners who dont keep their dog's in secure yards ? The fees for life time registration in NSW goes to councils to enforce the laws - I pay money for all of my dogs to give them money to ensure other people do the same - it was the platform they used to bring it in and rather than driving around shopping centre car parks and fining people who over stay their spot for five minutes theycould take some of that and do what they promised to do. They have to attend anyway for barking dogs etc and they have to pick the dogs up and take em to the pound what's the differeence in infrastructure and admin to take it home and counsel the owner the first offence? Its the same person, the same vehicle, the same administration. Surely allocating council land which is used only for a handful of people who want to run their dog's off leash , supplying poo bags because people dont want to have to carry them , ensuring everyone plays by the rules and fining those who dont requires more than simply ensuring they are more proactive and everyone is safe to walk their kids and their dogs around the steets? A lot of councils DO take dogs home first go without impounding. I certainly do, and If I can't find the owners I drop them at the local vets where they can stay for up to three days before they have to go to the pound. Most go home before that point. I know my Council is not the only one to do that. But yes; there are still plenty (especially rural) tHat don't. But when you take them home do you work with the owner to see why it happened and how to prevent it happening again? Yep - check out the fenceline, discuss exercise/training. If they don't know how he's getting out I suggest they stand out the front and call him to see if he 'shows' them by escaping to get to them. Majority of the time it's a one-off accident of a child or tradie leaving the gate open though, as opposed to an escape artist dog. If someone knows who Melzawelza really is then please nominate her so I can tell her in person how fantastic I thnk she is www.mdbaawards.net.au Yay! I dont know Melzawelza though I agree she is a star!

Thats awesome Melzawelza :)

I am not saying AC does not cost money, I wonder if councils make a profit? A lot of money is paid in fines, impound fees, rego, chipping, adoption etc, just interested thats all.

Is it? pounds and shelters are run on the smell of an oily rag. There is money from rego and chipping (chipping is $40 though the chip only costs council a couple of dollars) a huge amount of money also comes in via fines and fees. I have seen people pay a fortune on impound fees for their dogs.

I agree Steve. It is just basic common sense, get what is already in place working really well. Regular free micro chipping would be great and free chipping for those with limited finances. I was speaking with a ranger from the US at the G2Z summit. He runs a huge open admission facility which was high kill. They now have computer’s in their trucks, once a dog is scanned the chip contact details and address comes up on the spot. They then take the dogs home and have a chat with the owners/offer support. This system has seen a massive reduction in the number of dogs impounded at this facility. It is a lengthy, time consuming and expensive procedure to “process” a lost dog and kennel them. Doing everything possible to avoid impounding a dog makes sense. Not sure if councils would be too happy though as they miss out on the $$$

Low cost desexing, esspecially for families who are low on finances. A lot more education, information, support and contact points on responsible dog ownership, training/stimulation, care needs etc. Heavy focus upon areas which see a high number of dogs impounded. Pre surrender support and education, links to appropriate services. It would be great to see rangers have the ability to scan a roaming dog for a chip and access the data base instantly. This avoids the dog being impounded at all in some cases. Instead of taking the dog to the pound, they are able to be returned to their owners. I know this sounds huge, though a well run private boarding kennel. Families who are low on finances or some considering surrender could have the cost taken off their rates or perhaps offered lower rates. Some shelters in the US are having great sucess with this.

No mention of registered breeders at all the whole night Sheridan but I think it was clear what they were talking about when they discussed puppy farmers. They had the guy from Banksia Park/ACA Breeders proudly stating he has 300-400 breeding dogs on his property. I couldn't help but pipe up at that. Ooh are you the woman wiht long blondeish hair? Who talked about him not giving his breeding dogs the opportunity to live in the circumstances he was breeding puppies for? That is my friend, also a Mel, who got her point across beautifully. I was the second one that came in with the left hook discussing the socialisation of the puppies themselves :) You guys were fantastic! :)

I thought going to be a weekly program and ongoing debate?

Jane you will love it, a must see. That twit puppy farmer Collin in VIC's son was on there spruking and avoided or side stepped any questions as he couldnt answer them other than the truth and reality of what large scale commercial breeding entails. I dont think we would have been able to be quiet :laugh: everyone was very well behaved, plenty squirmed in their seats though. I saw it, I was wondering about Juice watching it on the computer. I loved how Jacqueline Dalziell gave it good to the fat, greedy old fool spruiking petshops and crap about how dogs are impulse buys. He knows nothing at all, obviously. As for Mr Greedy Bast--d, the puppy farm man, I would have liked to wipe that smile off his face. Oh sorry Was that the PIAA rep? he lasted about two seconds "There is no such thing as impulse buying when people pay $1000 for a puppy" or "It takes about one hour to sell a puppy" I think he spent the rest of the time grinding his teeth with the frustration of facing the truth. No wonder he was cut off.

Jane you will love it, a must see. That twit puppy farmer Collin in VIC's son was on there spruking and avoided or side stepped any questions as he couldnt answer them other than the truth and reality of what large scale commercial breeding entails. I dont think we would have been able to be quiet :laugh: everyone was very well behaved, plenty squirmed in their seats though.

I got confused On normal tv it was on channel 3, sorry for any confusion.

Juice we are going to have to find a way for you to see this, you will be really interested :) I will try to put up a link, if someone else can put up a link that would be great as I have no idea with computers.

Wow, just wow! This is great for impounded pets and the community. So many different points of view, most of them valid. Even if you didnt agree with a speaker, it was interesting to hear another view and for that to be challenged with another opinion.