melzawelza

I just think it's ridiculous that anyone would denigrate her for swearing under such circumstances, as a lot of the posts here have done. I can't believe people care so much about swearing full stop, let alone after someone has had their dog killed deliberately by a psycho who has directed his dog to do so.

Who cares if she drops the c-bomb?? Her dog was killed by a man who from reports actually set the dog on them deliberately! You're damn straight I'd be dropping it and more if the same thing happened to me!

Agreed.

I would report it because of the owner's reaction. It's one thing if they seem totally stunned, worried, apologetic etc. You would have some faith that they would prevent it happening again. But the fact that he seemed fairly unconcerned and said 'he can be unpredictable' indicates he's done it before and yet the owner still allowed you to put yourself in a position that could have resulted in injury.

When you say you leant down to pat him.. did you squat next to him or lean over him? Leaning over dogs can be seen as threatening by dogs that are fearful or not too keen on people. Still doesn't make it your fault though. The dog obviously has big issues if it will lunge at the face of someone trying to pat it. If the owner knew his dog was unpredictable he should never have allowed it to get to that point!

"Come" means immediately stop what you're doing and run to me, sitting in front until released. Her name is a general attention-getter which has her just check in and come closer than what she was.

Don't know about other States but not in NSW you wouldn't. The complainant's details would be supressed. You can only get that information if you or your dog was attacked by another dog and you were pursuing the owners legally for costs.

Yep, in NSW it's your responsibility as the 'old' owner to complete the paperwork and send it in. You can get pinged if you don't.

Who cares about the language? If someone had set their dog on both me and my dog (resulting in my dog dying) you bet I'd be calling him all of that and worse.

Well, most people don't want to put their dogs through operations under GA unless their dog is actually a Nuisance barker and they have tried everything to rectify it already. It seems the OP is very sure that her neighbour is over the top and her dog is being blamed for all barking. The dog is also being blamed for barking which is happening when it's not there, so the debarking wouldn't make a difference to the complaints anyway. That plus the last two people I know of who decided to go down that path had to get a specialist in and paid about $3k for the operation. OP - it sounds as if the Council have told the woman they will be taking no further action - is that right? If so, I would just keep doing what you're doing and don't worry about it. Lots of people threaten taking it further when the Council says no further action but very few actually do.

You can buy bark count collars that actually have a counter inside them that count how much your dog has barked. Ask your council if they would be amenable to you getting one?

I would encourage her to go for an adult dog, either through rescue or a breeder, that's temperament is known and will cope well in the environment she is describing. There are dogs out there that suit the 'look' she is after in rescue with a temperament that is more suited to her. On the days I go to work I'm gone for 11 hours. My dog couldn't care less. She chases lizards in the yard and sleeps in the sun. She's happy when I get home and even if I miss a walk she isn't fussed, she's happy to snooze on the couch with me. There WILL be dogs that suit her situation, (she will need to obviously make a few changes as far as training/exercise etc) she just needs to find them. I certainly couldn't raise a puppy while gone for such long hours, and you never know how that puppy is going to grow up and whether it will cope with her situation - hence why I am suggesting an adult.

Awful. Poor little pup, and I can't imagine how the owner is feeling. Bull Mastiff seems to be the new buzz word breed in the media. Lets hope nothing actually becomes of it, legislative wise.

Most breed rescues fully understand high prey drive and wouldn't be shocked or surprised at all by the situation, I don't think it would deter many if he's a nice dog otherwise. Contact Barb at Alaskan Malamute Rehomind Aid Australia - she is in Sydney but I'm sure has contacts up your way. I can fully understand that with the 91 year old Grandmother being so stressed and anxious around the dog it may be better for all for him to be found a cat-free home.

Lots of good posts... faith restored :laugh:

Your submission or details won't be passed on to the original complainant - it is against the GIPA act to do so. Basically it will be for the Council only to determine whether they should place the order or not. I would definitely write it for him if I were you :)

... people's circumstances change in a fifteen year time period. If you have a read of the actual situation I posted you will see that Nancy was sufferer of an abusive relationship, had all of her money and her cards maxed out by her abuser, and only got her dogs back after two months of them being starved. I'm sure that she wasn't in that position when she got her dogs, and probably never comprehended that she would be. I know first hand that she is a very well educated, well spoken, strong and intelligent woman. I could never have imagined after meeting her that she would have ever been in that situation. But, she was. Ok, what about Nancy's situation, that she describes here on a thread discussing her response to Jamie's letter. (Side note - follow Kim's posts for more progressive, compassionate sheltering information). Read that whole thread if you can, there's so much interesting discussion that may cause people to consider other's situations a little more open mindedly: Was Nancy's situation worthy enough? Or does she also deserve abuse based on the condition of the dog she was surrendering and the fact that she wrote she was moving on the intake form? Does she deserve compassion or a blog post calling her by name going viral condemning her in hateful, vitriolic language? Also, no kill shelters are very often closed admission. Not many will take an elderly dog with a low chance of rehoming. Those that do almost always have extensive wait lists. Just because there was a No Kill shelter there doesn't mean it was an option for Cocoa's owner. No. IMO taking this dog to the nearest vet and having it PTS would have been the ethical option. Or if this was impossible, taking it to the shelter and begging them to PTS while she was there may have been a possibility. And if you have no money to pay for euthanasia? Don't you have to pay to surrender an animal? In the USA a lot of open admission shelters do not have a surrender fee. To be honest I'm really dismayed at the absolute lack of compassion shown to our fellow human beings in this thread. I am a dog (and cat) lover, just like everyone else in this thread. I work with animals, I spend almost all of my spare time with animals, and am involved in rescue. I would like to think that there would never be any circumstance where I would need to surrender my animals to a shelter. But I am not so arrogant to think that I could never, ever be in any situation where I would feel forced in to that position. People say 'I would live in my car with my dogs if need be', but do they actually think that through? What kind of a life is that for a dog? What do you do with the dog on a hot day while you're off for job interviews. What you would be doing could easily be considered animal cruelty. I would much rather someone who had lost their house surrender an animal to a shelter so it had the possibility of being rehomed, then cram their dog in a car and lessen theirchances of getting back on their feet. I certainly wouldn't judge them for doing so. Every single one of us could find ourselves in a situation where we are forced to surrender our dogs. It could hit us like a ton of bricks and that would be it. People deserve support and compassion in these situations, not hate and public shaming. If we are upset about shelter killing we should be working on fixing the SHELTERS, as it has been shown that it is achievable to stop killing healthy and treatable animals, time and time again. I also don't buy in to the idea that the only people that should be able to own animals are should own their own house, have a totally 100% secure job and endless funds. Many programs in the USA now have done away with the judging attitude such as seen in this thread - it doesn't improve anything, it just makes things worse. Instead they are working WITH people, in a non-judgemental way. You know what they've found? Most of the owners that people in this thread (and myself in the past) would be disgusted by, really do love their pets and want to do the right thing by them. If they aren't it's because they either lack education on the best way to care for a pet (they don't realise that what they are doing is not ideal or adequate) and/or they do not have the funds or access to services they need. These programs provide people with what they need to become better pet owners and guess what? Once people have the knowledge and access... they do it! Shaming shaming shaming never gets anyone anywhere. It closes doors, it prevents people gaining new knowledge and skills, and the cycle continues over and over. Check out HSUS pets for life program,: Pets for Life ETA: I am not saying that Cocoa's original owner was definitely in dire straits and had no other option to surrender. Maybe they knew about the cancer. Maybe they decided that the old dog was boring and to get rid of it. Maybe the moving WAS the real reason but they hadn't bothered trying to find pet friendly accomodation. Those people certainly exist. What I am saying is that we don't know the circumstances of what happened to Cocoa prior to being lucky enough to go home with the author. To judge so harshly, with such hate, in such a fashion, with no evidence for that judgement is in my opinion a horrible thing.

Ok, what about Nancy's situation, that she describes here on a thread discussing her response to Jamie's letter. (Side note - follow Kim's posts for more progressive, compassionate sheltering information). Read that whole thread if you can, there's so much interesting discussion that may cause people to consider other's situations a little more open mindedly: Was Nancy's situation worthy enough? Or does she also deserve abuse based on the condition of the dog she was surrendering and the fact that she wrote she was moving on the intake form? Does she deserve compassion or a blog post calling her by name going viral condemning her in hateful, vitriolic language? Also, no kill shelters are very often closed admission. Not many will take an elderly dog with a low chance of rehoming. Those that do almost always have extensive wait lists. Just because there was a No Kill shelter there doesn't mean it was an option for Cocoa's owner. No. IMO taking this dog to the nearest vet and having it PTS would have been the ethical option. Or if this was impossible, taking it to the shelter and begging them to PTS while she was there may have been a possibility. And if you have no money to pay for euthanasia?

What an amazing owner Roo has. Jelly you put your all in to helping Roo - much more than most people would have done. Wishing you strength on the 14th.

Ok, what about Nancy's situation, that she describes here on a thread discussing her response to Jamie's letter. (Side note - follow Kim's posts for more progressive, compassionate sheltering information). Read that whole thread if you can, there's so much interesting discussion that may cause people to consider other's situations a little more open mindedly: Was Nancy's situation worthy enough? Or does she also deserve abuse based on the condition of the dog she was surrendering and the fact that she wrote she was moving on the intake form? Does she deserve compassion or a blog post calling her by name going viral condemning her in hateful, vitriolic language? Also, no kill shelters are very often closed admission. Not many will take an elderly dog with a low chance of rehoming. Those that do almost always have extensive wait lists. Just because there was a No Kill shelter there doesn't mean it was an option for Cocoa's owner. I can't comment on this because I would never allow anyone to treat me or my dogs this way. But looking at the number of oldies in the pound list, I doubt that people in general only surrender them as a last resort. You have missed the point of Nancy's article. She is not saying that the owner definitely had a legitimate reason for surrendering the dog. She is saying that NO ONE KNOWS the circumstances of the owner and it is wrong to make a very big and very negative judgement call on her reasons and send such a letter out, naming her. Granted, the writer didn't intend for it to go viral, and man I wish it didn't. It's a blight on rescue.

Ok, what about Nancy's situation, that she describes here on a thread discussing her response to Jamie's letter. (Side note - follow Kim's posts for more progressive, compassionate sheltering information). Read that whole thread if you can, there's so much interesting discussion that may cause people to consider other's situations a little more open mindedly: Was Nancy's situation worthy enough? Or does she also deserve abuse based on the condition of the dog she was surrendering and the fact that she wrote she was moving on the intake form? Does she deserve compassion or a blog post calling her by name going viral condemning her in hateful, vitriolic language? Also, no kill shelters are very often closed admission. Not many will take an elderly dog with a low chance of rehoming. Those that do almost always have extensive wait lists. Just because there was a No Kill shelter there doesn't mean it was an option for Cocoa's owner.

I don't agree with Nancy. I don't have much sympathy for people who dump their dogs. Those who put in the effort to rehome or hand over to rescue because of dire personal situations, or if they are too old, PTS, I can sympathise with. But to dump at a kill shelter is unthinkable. So there is absolutely no circumstance, ever, in the history of dog ownership past and present, where it is acceptable to surrender a dog to a shelter?

I hate this blog post. I feel sorry for the author and the pain she is feeling but it's just awful and should never have gone viral. Nancy at ColoRADogs in the USA wrote a response which I much prefer (I was lucky enough to meet Nancy in May and the work they do for the underprivileged dog owners in their area is amazing). Facebook link There is a response from the author there too.

Very glad to hear it, poor old chook!

I know someone who does this with his American Pit Bull Terrier... they beat all the huskies :laugh: