melzawelza

This has to be one of the most idiotic articles I've ever read.

Lovely story, thank you for sharing :)

You'll probably find the person thinks that Bull Terriers are Pit Bulls - every time someone has said that they don't like Pit Bulls because they're so ugly I've asked them to describe one and they describe the classic shape of the Bull Terrier head (which I love!).

Thanks! We also have a great dane, and I've always thought she (or her predecessor) would be the ones to bloat, not Harry. Please stay conscious and look out for the symptoms. The dry retching and hanging head and salivating and panting were my warning signs, even though his "belly" was soft. His stomach is further up in the rib cage, and I saw that his ribs were bulging out where they normally don't, so that's when I called the vet. Luckily it looks like surgery went really well, now just have to get him back to his silly self. Oh, I assumed it was your Dane that bloated... what breed is Harry? Thanks for that information. Hope I never need to use it. Lots of healing thoughts to Harry.

How scary Flashsmum... I hope he recovers soon I'm a bit paranoid about bloat - I don't have a giant breed by any measure (she's about 25 kilos) but she has a really, really deep chest - almost a sighthound-y body. So it's something I'm conscious of.

Very sad. A bad look for rescue dogs as a whole. I wish we knew what happened immediately preceding the attack, and whether the mother was there supervising. It says that she was saying that she was told by the rescue that the dog was good with kids - I wonder if she took that to mean that she didn't have to watch or be concerned? Unfortunately the UK focuses heavily on breed when it comes to dog attacks, and their BSL is very strong. We know that the flip side of BSL that is so dangerous is that people assume that if their dog isn't a 'banned breed' it's automatically safe. Pictures at link

I'm 50 years old so hardly naïve, been around a while now and can tell you there is no way I would kill my dog and eat it. Why is that so hard for people to understand? I COULD say I don't think I would but why would I when I KNOW I wouldn't Do you think this man would have ever thought he would kill and eat his dog in such circumstances? Unless you have been in that situation you don't know what you would do. People do crazy things when impending death is looming - it's called survival instinct. I'm sure many people wouldn't, and I'd like to think that I wouldn't either, but I just don't know so I won't judge this man for doing something he thought he needed to do to survive.

I really don't think that anyone could say they wouldn't do this if they were faced with life or death. I'd like to think I wouldn't but starvation is a pretty awful thing, that makes people do pretty awful things. I think it's naive to say that there's no way you would do such a thing. You could say that you don't think you would, or would like to think you wouldn't, but none of us can be sure unless we're in that situation ourselves.

Rangers and Councils can't action animal cruelty - they will just refer you back to RSPCA or AWL.

I've almost missed a chip in a dog before. Scanned and scanned.. nothing. Ended up on the fourth scan finding it tucked right inside the dog's armpit. A lot of people may not have been so persistent and never found it.

That's right, as a rescuer I do all my paperwork when dogs are adopted and send it off. I just asked for a list from the council of all the dogs registered in my name and guess what? Some of the dogs i have adopted out and completed Transfer of Ownerships on are still in my name ... Yep, and then there is my latest pet peeve: UNREGISTERED microchips. Microchipping simply isn't enough! A microchip has to be registered, or it is completely useless! I kept hearing very sad and frustrating stories about unregistered microchips from my rescues, but it never really registered with me (no pun intended) what it meant, until someone posted the following link: http://petaddress.com.au/ To my horror, one of my boys wasn't registered either! It's easy. Just go there and type in your pet's microchip number to see if it is indeed registered, and/or to update your contact info. If you can't find anything, please immediately contact your registry, so the problem can be fixed before the chip info is ever needed. Pet address is great but NSW people need to know that the NSW companion animal registry (compulsory government run registry) does not participate. So if your pet is only listed there it won't come up if you search pet address.

Great blog post from Shel on the circumstances surrounding this incident and the vast difference in reporting between this and Ayel Chol's death. Toddler dog attack death in Queensland

Deeon Higgins got quite a large amount of media coverage and that dog was not reported as a Pit bull, but after seeing the lack of anything on this case I wonder if Deeon got attention because if the 'Bull' in Bull Mastiff?? It makes me really sad. This little boy's death is just as tragic, just as heartbreaking, just as preventable... yet it seems that deaths by other breeds just aren't as important.

Sigh. So sad. So preventable. I'm surprised at the lack of media attention on this??

So sad

I think the import ban came in in 1991. I don't know how strong they are on it though - a friend of mine moved to QLD from Canada with her papered AmStaff (with cropped ears which would usually at least draw attention) and her unpapered bull breed with a red coat and a red nose. No problems, no questions asked.

Make sure the only brand you buy is Herm Sprenger. They are the best quality, nothing much else compares.

Mine was from k9pro. I don't think there are many other options in Aus.

It's a tricky one. What I'm saying is based on NSW - I have no idea where you are. Killing livestock will earn you a Dangerous Dog declaration in NSW. A dog that is Declared dangerous cannot be rehomed and has strict keeping requirements. However a dog has to be declared by Council for those restrictions to be binding and able to be actioned on. If it's not reported, there is no obligation to keep the dog as a dangerous dog, and the dog can be rehomed. Putting something like this in writing could certainly earn a Declaration if it got in the hands of a Council Ranger that felt the need to do so. You could quite possibly also be opening yourself up to liability if it does it again. On the flip side, you could open yourself up to liability if it does it again and you DIDN'T tell them! There is the the moral obligation of fully disclosing what you know of the dog's temperament to an adopter, so that they are able to be the best possible owners for that dog, fully informed. There is no right or wrong answer, it's shaky.

If it's bigger than a Lab it's not an APBT ;)

There are still quite a lot of pedigreed dogs around - real APBT with papers - but they are closely guarded and people really have to be able to prove themselves over a long period of time to get one. There are endless amounts of 'pit bulls' in the pounds and in people's backyards. They're without papers for generations, it's really impossible to know what they are. They might be APBT, they might not. Much more likely that they're not. But they look the part so they're often targeted negatively for that reason. But you're right, many, many people have owned them in the past both here and overseas and they've stolen many hearts :)

Hugs to you Jelly... what a lucky girl Roo was to have you. xx

I helped organise the Sydney talks but unfortunately couldn't go as I was in Alice Springs for the Australian Institute of Animal Management conference. All the feedback I got was really, really positive though. We're incredibly lucky that he's been here.

The percentage of pit bull type dogs in the USA that have even had a whiff of dog fighting is tiny. Those that are rescued from fight busts are overwhelmingly suitable for adoption either very quickly or after behavioral rehab. All breeds are a mixed bag.

I just want to congratulate you on considering health first when it comes to breeding your dog!