Swiss Girl

I wish there was a similar report in australia, it would be interesting to note if there is similar results. I thought the fact that it was more widely reported if attributed to a 'pit bull type' confirms what so many of you have always said. I'm glad we have so few chained dogs, that seems to cause so many deaths of toddlers.

so sad, and so easy to have prevented. There is an update to the story if anyone is interested, the home life sounded sad, not a great way to bring up a baby. http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/...o-death/1087804

This is a very long article which examines each of the 33 deaths due to dog attacks in USA last year, I have only copied part of it here as I think it really is a bit to long. It is very interesting and you can certainly see a pattern devloping. http://btoellner.typepad.com/kcdogblog/dog...atalities-2009/

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/103959...s-toddlers-face

I agree, but if people are to stupid to put their kids in seatbelts, drink and drive, take drugs and smoke, then what chance they will listen about dogs in the short term. I would promote dog licences for owners, similar to a gun licence where you first get the licence, then your allowed a dog. But the majority of dog owners disagree. To find a solution that satisfies everyone, promotes good ownership but still protects innocent bystanders seems almost impossible. Having children myself, I hate hearing about children being hurt, unless they do something so utterly stupid that you can only think, "Serves them right". I have a pitbull cross (according to the owner) living on my street. The owner is an arrogant, young stupid male, who thinks its funny to tease his dogs during the night, has allnight drinking parties with his mates, never socialized or trained his dogs. They have attacked by current dog 5 times, each time a little worse. I have not reported him yet, but made it clear last time that if it happened again I would report him to the council. I have to protect my dog, each time she was attacked it took time and training to settle her down again and lower her aggression, I have rights too. But would I contact media, no way - nothing to do with them.

And how many times have they said the truth? Not bloody often, they always embellish & sensationalise stories, quoting "unnamed sources", if you don't think the media lies, I have a bridge you can buy in Sydney. Is it going cheap? Truthfully, the media does exagerate, and I especially hate the news headlines that often are completely different from the main story, but if the kid had done something bad I'm sure the dog's family would have complained, and that would mean 'conflict!', something they always love. Just to give you two quick stories of the media found lying, one incident happent in Ballarat a few years ago, the paper said a young school girl was attacked & seriously hurt by two APBT's, it ended up being two "supposed friendly" breeds that bit a teenage boy, causing bugger all injuries, but all the TV stations ran with it. Another was in WA, where the media claimed a man siked his two APBT's on another driver because of a road rage incident, making him out to be the bad guy & the guy who got bitten innocent. Turned out the guy that got bitten was the aggressor & the innocent guys two Amstaffs jumped out to protect him, after the thug started bashing him, by the way, those dogs were found innocent by the courts fortunately, but guess what, no retraction from the media for running with the bullshit story. There are many more & I can tell you, the media pay people to implicate Pittbulls, or Bull breeds to up their ratings. Yes, and if it was a pitbull or pitbull cross I would be suspicious as well, but they haven't claimed anything like that What appears to be truthful was a dog was being walked past some children who may have been looking the dog in the eye, or laughing or pushing each other, who knows and it really does not matter. The dog bit a child, that is what is important.

I agree with Sandra777, natural rope is the best for dogs, but if you want something different I would recommend Aussie Dog Toys, I have purchased several over the years and although they are really expensive, none of my GSD have managed to destroy them. http://www.aussiedog.com.au/

And how many times have they said the truth? Not bloody often, they always embellish & sensationalise stories, quoting "unnamed sources", if you don't think the media lies, I have a bridge you can buy in Sydney. Is it going cheap? Truthfully, the media does exagerate, and I especially hate the news headlines that often are completely different from the main story, but if the kid had done something bad I'm sure the dog's family would have complained, and that would mean 'conflict!', something they always love.

And how many times have they said the truth?

I don't think the media is necessarily lying, but I hardly think we will get an accurate idea of what occurred from the media. My biggest concern isn't really the six year old kid who was playing in the gutter on his own but the kid whose parents let him walk a dog who was "fine, usually" on his own. Just the idea that the dog may have displayed problem behaviour in the past is a good indication that this attack did not just come out of no where and that there could have been pre existing problems. I would hardly call an 11 year old a teenage, by the way. Would you let an eleven year old walk a large dog on his own? No way, there are a few kids who walk dogs in my local park, but they are all smaller dogs and even then I think the parents are mad. An Akita escaped from his backyard a couple of years ago and came to the park and attacked a small dog, it could easily have been one of these young children who could have been badly hurt trying to defend their dog. My error with the boys age, I thought he was slightly older. I saw something frightening a few days ago, and if I knew the child I would have approached the parents. A young girl (6 or 7?) was walking a small dog off leash in the middle of the road to the park by herself, the dog saw another dog and ran forward so the girl ran after it and bent down to pick up her dog, her head would have been only 12 inches from the other person's dog, how easy for the other dog to lunge and bite her face. You really wonder sometimes, my heart stopped for a moment.

Oh Huski, you were deprived of one of the joys of childhood! The world can be viewed in an entirely new light when you are 6 years old and sitting in a cul-de-sac with your friends - all manner of wonderful subjects can be thrashed out in such a plac-e, right thru to the meaning of life (thru the eyes of a 6 year old of course). You can keep a close eye on the street cricket the bigger kids are playing, or the basketball game being played in the streetside hoop, or wager whether it was Kylie or Brandon who was fastest on their bikes as they whizzed around the safety of the cul-de-sac, or just simply chat to the next door neighbour who is washing their car on the grass, telling them all about the new teacher at school or whatever. Life in a cul-de-sac isnt all bad for a 6 year old, and cul-de-sac gutters did have a reputation for being reasonably safe places for children, in communities where people get along. Souff I agree, my 2 kids were allowed to play on our front lawn, they walked up the road to their friends houses, rode bikes on the street, up and down for an hour sometimes, they played cowboys and indians - they did it all. Suppose I should be glad few dogs lived on the street and they never got bitten for being allowed to live on their own street. I don't care if the boy did look the dog in the face, I look at dogs walking towards me to read their body language. When it comes down to it this was a nasty bite made for little or no reason, and the dog should be PTS. Why do so many of you think the media is lying? Maybe it really did happen just like it says, the teenager walking the dog appears not to be arguing the point, and if you want to be picky, what does the comment "a boy at the house said the dog was ''fine, usually'' actually mean, usually does not mean always, it only means usually.

The Swedish Vallhund might suit your daughter, a very intelligent active dog that is fairly small 15kg, easy care coat. They are a herding dog, so intelligent, very owner focussed, friendly, happy small dog. I looked into getting one for my daughter.

We had cartrophen injections for our previous GSD girl, and it certainly helped her, but eventually we put her on Sasha's blend and it worked really well for her, she had a mixture of HDD and arthritis. We also recommended it to a few owners of old GSD who lived locally and they both said they had noticed a difference after being on it for a few weeks.

http://www.dailyadvertiser.com.au/news/loc...ce/1789781.aspx

I though some people may like to know that David Correa is slowly improving, his mother left a comment on a webpage. "Pasquale Casino The good samaritan wishes to remain anonymous..need the dog person to come forward and face the music... on a positive note, David is now awake and looking healthier." February 4 at 5:06am http://www.facebook.com/posted.php?id=269716852331 and on the 18th feb: david's mum writes: Posted on 16 Feb 10 at 10:13am I would like to thank the person who assisted my son David when he fall of the Hasting Pier on the 20th of January. I will be forever grateful;David has a long way to recover,but with his determination and care he is receiving I know he will get there. Thanks God there are people like this lady who don’t hesitate to help someone in need,in my heart she’ll always be my hero. God bless her http://cranbourne-leader.whereilive.com.au...k-action-vital/

I have "Why does my dog act that way?", also really good and I tend to read it once a year, and sometimes go grab it to quote something.

we never crated them, they just got quite a few bones and played games inside to mentally tire them out. I only took them for a 5 minute walk on the leash once a day, never had a problem of any sort with any of the dogs.

This owner in Perth was not very happy as the breeder assured them that their dogs have no allergies, she went to a special puppy class for staffy's (didn't know there was one) and found several of the litter mates there, all with skin problems. It is a shame because it really is a cute pup. I must ask her if it is registered. If it is should she report it to the kennel club? Better still, I'll tell her to join dogzonline. Love the tutu

Is it a fact that they have more problems with their skin? I just ask because there is a 6 month old blue pup at the local park and she was telling me that her pup has a skin condition already.

Thanks Ruby Star, I ran into several people a few months who recommended it, don't know how they ever heard of it because I've found no trace of it I'll contact the canine club an see who trains there now. Hi Tobies Mum and Rottperth so sorry for your loss Labrat, we also lost a pet just ove a week ago, our cat Xena

Great, she may just be a little sensitive, but it will improve as she gets older. All I can say is if you can get up at 4am and not be grumpy, congratulations. My dog would take one look at me and run for it my dogs all learnt the cue word in a week (not saying they didn't have accidents). You mentioned treats, are you giving something really nice such as polony? The better the treat, the quicker the learn with some dogs. I always have special treats when trying to teach something inportant, for everything else they get liver treats.

I made myself quite unpopular at our park for a while by telling one owner to turn around and keep an eye on her dog, something along the lines off - you can't just bring your dog here and ignore it you know, turn around and keep an eye on it. The blasted thing took one look at my pup and just hated it, would never leave her alone, in the end if she was there I kept walking, not worth the stress or bother. You can't force people to care. If you want to be polite, just ask casually, Why does you dog attack mine like that? They may get the hint.

I just came to ask about obedience classes, and your discussing it . Could someone recommend a class south of the river for my pointer, who is being a right proper bugger at present. I had heard that they had classes near murdoch university now, but can not find any information about it. any information would be appreciated (and costs if you know), would prefer a class by an animal behaviourist as my GSD used to go to one, but she has stopped now, so looking for somewhere else.

I can't believe the dogs owner watched him pee on 4 people and did nothing about it, next time ask them to lay on the floor so you can pee on them and they may realise that it really is not nice. I was also marked by a dalmation many years ago, but he only did it to me once, I always assumed I was standing on a nice scent and was just unlucky.

I wonder if your feeling a bit tired and grumpy when you get up in the morning (I know I wake up that way at 5am), and your pup is sensing this and getting unsettled. I can only suggest you try to be really possitive and upbeat and relaxed when letting them out, then trying running to the lawn with some toys and just play until something happens. Then use you cue word and lots of yummy treats. If your pup still seems stressed you could also throw a handful of tiny treats around the lawn to keep her mind off what is happening and more onto seeking. When I trained my pups I used to take them out every hour for a pee break, the more often you catch them going, the more treats and the quicker they learn your cue word. So perhaps try to increase your potty break frequency, even if your dog squats and only does a few drops that is still cause for celebrations. Just make sure to keep saying the word every time she squats and always have treats on you, she will learn eventually.