raineth

Our dogs were in a kennel for five days while we went away, and when we collected them our dog Digby (five years old) was very lame. It seemed to us like maybe he was very sore in the back, and in one hind leg. He would take ages to stand and would just lie down again as soon as he could. So I took him to the vet that same day. The vet did a an examination of him and the only thing she came up with was perhaps he had a little bit of arthritis in his hind knees, but she wasn't sure. She wants me to put him on something like Pernease powder or Sasha's blend, but I am reluctant to do this unless I know he does indeed have arthritis. The vet did put him on anti-inflammatories, and these have worked very well he is now back to moving normally and seems very much himself again. The only other thing she could think of was that perhaps he was a bit silly at the kennels and hurt himself. Which is possible, but if you know Digby, he really is not the sort of dog to run around like crazy and be silly. Digby has never had anything like this happen before; could arthritis come on so suddenly? He is very fit and not overweight. I take him for twenty-minute run three times a week (he is a very big boy, and a longer run would be unsuitable for him) and he has never showed any lameness at all. How is arthritis usually diagnosed? Is there some sort of test we can do so we know for sure whether he has it or not?

Unfortunately, from the limited information given, I do think the dog should be pts. The owner has proven to be incapable of managing the dog (judging from the fact the dog had already been declared dangerous even before this incident). The dog may be able to be rehabilitated... but you would need a person with the right skill-set willing to do that, and what are the chances of that? Ultimately aggressive dogs, especially those who have put someone in hospital cannot be ethically rehomed. Ofcourse the owner is at fault in this, but that doesn't change the fact that there are very few options for this dog that would result in him not being a danger to people.

LOL. Good on you Kat. I hope his owners are found. Hi, Good on you for helping this little guy........I have a similiar looking dog who is the fun police for my Pointers.......she just turned 4 and is greying out now too.......your better than me though, I know it's illegal but I'd keep him but advertise him in the local paper first as a found dog. I couldn't stand the thought of what might happen to him in a pound. That is an awful thing to do. He seems like a much loved dog and he and his owners deserve to be given the best opportunity to be reunited with hims. If he is not reclaimed at the pound he can then be legally adopted. What if it was your dog that went missing? Katdog good on you hopefully his owners can be found when he goes to the pound :)

Did you actually read the article The victim, who did not want to be named, left his vehicle and approached the pair where a short conversation ensued before Max, who is classed as a dangerous dog by the council, leapt through a window of the car and attacked the man. The victim, who was last night undergoing surgery so doctors could examine the full extent of his wounds and potential damage to his Achilles tendon, denied that he had provoked the men. I'm pretty sure Megan is referring to the fact that the article says that the man who was bitten was not attacking the owner, only that they were having a conversation. The owner said he was being provoked and threatened where does it say that? In the full article linked, which I presume people read before jumping to conclusions http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2012/10/26/368698_news.html I think you have completely got the wrong idea. I am not arguing with you. I thought you had misinterpreted Megan's comment. I read the article that was linked and I didn't read that comment. You don't need to be so defensive, I am not attacking you.

I personally think it sounds a bit dodgy that a dog that's already been declared dangerous manages to get out through the car window and attack someone.

Did you actually read the article The victim, who did not want to be named, left his vehicle and approached the pair where a short conversation ensued before Max, who is classed as a dangerous dog by the council, leapt through a window of the car and attacked the man. The victim, who was last night undergoing surgery so doctors could examine the full extent of his wounds and potential damage to his Achilles tendon, denied that he had provoked the men. I'm pretty sure Megan is referring to the fact that the article says that the man who was bitten was not attacking the owner, only that they were having a conversation. The owner said he was being provoked and threatened where does it say that?

Did you actually read the article The victim, who did not want to be named, left his vehicle and approached the pair where a short conversation ensued before Max, who is classed as a dangerous dog by the council, leapt through a window of the car and attacked the man. The victim, who was last night undergoing surgery so doctors could examine the full extent of his wounds and potential damage to his Achilles tendon, denied that he had provoked the men. I'm pretty sure Megan is referring to the fact that the article says that the man who was bitten was not attacking the owner, only that they were having a conversation. Therefore it's a bit OTT to say that the dog attacked because ti was defending its owner.

But that is what most buyers want to see :) A member of my extended family bought from what she thought was a reputable breeder, and the breeder offered to meet her half-way with the pup. A few months later this "breeder" was on the news for the appalling state her dogs had been kept in. If my family member had visited they would have realised the kind of place they were buying from. For me visiting the home of the breeder is as much about being able to look and interact with the mother, and any other dogs the breeder owns that are related to the litter I'm interested in. This allows the buyer to get a good idea of the temperaments of the dogs the breeder is using and producing and also anything healthwise that can be seen, sich as itchy/irritated skin.

It doesn't make sense to me either. I know some people say that some breeds don't have any health tests (as in the problems they are prone to can't be tested for) but really I think that doesn't justify not having mandatory health testing for the the breeds who do have health problems that can be tested for.

I watched it last night. I'm quite sceptical about the premise even though they showed the owners apparently doing much bettter with their dogs afterwards. It just doesn't seem all that logical to me. Get two people who have no idea about dogs, fly them to Australia to work with already trained working dogs even though at home they have a Staffy, Bully mix/ husky who are all completely untrained ??? I'm guessing the guy learnt to not be so incredibly lazy, and the lady learnt how to follow through and to be quieter; but I think it would take more than those things to turn their situation around. Also I am sceptical about Matt's statement that her dogs would end up killing each other. I don't really understand what made him come to that conclusion. Lastly I completely agree with lavendergirl that having the husky around the tiny baby as shown in that clip is asking for trouble. I firmly believe that dogs and babies don't ever need to mix like that, dogs should be taught to keep their distance from babies. A baby that young is especially at risk for being mistaken as prey, especially by a breed of dog that in most cases has strong prey drive as a trait. Lastly the cat incident made my blood boil. How they could watch from their window as their cat was at risk of being torn apart made me so angry. They should have gone out immediately. Then I found it hypocritical that Matt's wife came out screaming her guts out to get the dogs under control after they had criticised Kim for using volume to try to control the dogs

Oh I hope that's not the same in QLD. I'm already pretty sure which breeder im going with, they're listed on the DOL page so i figure they must be good! I'm loving reading up on GD's, I wish i could get one right this second but i have to wait a bit longer until it's practical Hi there :) As others have said the only thing that a DOL listing means is that they are a registered breeder. Make sure you read the guide that sas posted on finding a breeder. Unfortunately at the moment ther are many GD breeders around who don't do the health testing, don't breed well conformed dogs and don't breed good tempered dogs. Spending time finding the best breeder you can will be time very well spent :)

Don't just look at the dogs, sometimes there is a tendency for positive only trainers to be very harsh, negative and critical of the people! Some of them seem to absolutely take joy in pointing out every little thing the human is doing wrong. Training is meant to be fun for both you and the dog so I would steer clear of a place that doesn't also have a nice atmosphere for the humans :)

that's a pretty different caper to throwing together two dogs for the sake of it though. I don't agree with what she did but I wouldn't have reported it either.

Oh dear i hope your dog will be o.k. Gecko Tree. Sounds like you did a brilliant job though :cool: :)

haha spray cheese always makes me laugh ... ahem Yeah it's really good isn't it. I do something similar: My boy Digby can lack confidence in social situations. When people on our walks ask if they can give him a pat I say well 'let's ask Digby' and I ask them to stand still and call him over, that way he can choose whether to go over to them or not. He usually does choose to go over to them and he enjoys the interaction more than if he has no choice. But you know I might try doing that test with him with us as I haven't done that before.

oh keep getting distracted I say! Those photos are just beautiful

In the purebred dog world, if you say "purebred" it's taken to mean "purebred/registered/with papers". Without papers, you can't prove your dog is purebred, anything could have snuck in back there. So what would you then call a dog who looks like a particular purebred but doesn't have papers? You can't call it a mix or a mongrel. I still don't agree. Pedigree purebred = papers. But no papers on what has all the physical and temperamental traits of a certain type of breed still is a purebreed to me. I have a Lab with no papers but was deemed to be a purebred gundog so is now on the Associate Gundog register. My other is pedigree. She is no less Lab than my papered one. I'd say she even has more natural Gundog abilities than the papered one. I agree with Rubystar.

My pedigree Dane would have had no issue at all with living in a flat. He was very quiet and was not even energetic as a puppy. He destroyed virtually nothing as a puppy, just stole the odd toothbrush. He was extremely easy to toilet train, we only had a couple of accidents. Our house is tiny, only nine squares, and he didn't have his own room or anything. Generally speaking larger dogs are much more still, they sleep many more hours in the day. They don't wander around so much. So they bring a different kind of energy to a house. He just slept all day on his bed. But would have no issue getting up to do something when you wanted him to. The only issue would potentially be if there were lots of stairs that needed negotiating. That would probably be quite bad for growing Dane pup. Even my current 60 kg rescue dog would be perfect. He loves to go for a walk or do a bit of training, but of these things are not happening he is asleep on his bed.

love the photos! They all look to be getting along beautifully :) You must be very happy! :)

What was the reason why you stopped training your dog? Both the times of the classes and the regulations are not compatible for me and my dogs. The club started a monday morning class and so I went because at least the time was compatible. Then they stopped it on a monday morning. But also I have two giant dogs that are rescues and both find the environment of training stressful/exciting, yet all I am allowed to use it either a martingale or a head-collar. One of my dogs especially finds a head-collar extremely unpleasant, and that is even with training her to it slowly. Do you feel your dog is well trained enough? My dogs training could always be improved. And I would actually really like to go to a training class. Did you not get results from previous training attempts? No I don't think that when I went to training much was achieved. Is training too far away/ too often/ too expensive? Are you simply too busy? Did you find training boring? Yes it is too far away (takes me longer to get their and back than the time the class goes over). It is not too often or too expensive. I am too busy to go to their wednesday night training. There was a lot of heelwork and that is a bit boring. What would prompt you to start training again or would you not start training again regardless? I would go to training again if I was allowed to use a check chain or a volhard collar and if it was on at a time I could get there. also to add that where I am there are three options for training. One is solely rewards only. the other two are absolutely awful, based on continuously punishing your dog and include very severe corrections with check chains, as well as screaming, yelling and even kicking your dog.

Yeah it looks amazing Pers!

aww thanks stans mum :)

That's so gorgeous Pers! we've gone back to winter here too, but at least it makes for some gorgeous clouds :)

most GD cost around $2000. Sometimes a little bit less, sometimes a lot more.

I don't know what used to be practice or not. Merles cannot be shown, but once upon a time I believe they were able to be used as part of a breeding program. But now they can only be on limited register. Merles are a natural occurrence in harlequin litters, if you breed harls you will get merles and that is that. So these days they are sold as pets, and as far as I understand you'll pay just as much for them as any of the other pet puppies in the litter, sometimes a teeny bit less.