Simply Grand

Sars, I don't know why RSPCA Aus is based in Canberra. We had nothing to do with them, although I do think the CEOs and boards of all the branches meet with them from time to time. Tammy is at Weston, in a little office in the Admin demountable :)

I'm actually now wondering how much of this stuff is known by the vocal RSPCA detractors who post on DOL and other places... That's not aimed at anyone in this thread but I wonder whether people who say they would never support anything to do with any RSPCA based on what they know or have heard about a particular branch realise just how separate the branches and RSPCA Australia actually are. I responded to someone on the RSPCA QLD FB page who had posted a link to an article about some issue with RSPCA Vic's actions and explained how they are all separate and I hoped that people wouldn't stop supporting RSPCA Qld because of whatever happened in Vic. The response (not unreasonably) was that it wasn't acceptable for some branches to be good and others bad, the 'good' ones should step in and fix things with the 'bad' ones. Ideally yes, but given the set up that would be like saying for example X state police do a good job but Y state police don't and are corrupt so X state needs to step in and get Y state working better. Legally and operationally it just isn't possible unfortunately. One branch has no jurisdiction over another, and as I said RSPCA Aus don't oversee operations, the individual boards and management teams do. ACT and QLD actually worked quite cooperatively while I was there and presumably still do, sharing knowledge and best practice, even moving dogs around if they are more adoptable in one place than the other, but that happened because of the efforts and relationships built between staff in each team. If all branches would do that, fantastic! But one branch can't force another

Deakin is RSPCA Australia, not RSPCA ACT. Again from what I recall, the temporary set up at Weston was agree to years ago when the management at that time (I don't know who it was then) started working with the ACT government on plans for a new shelter down the track. I believe it was agreed that no significant investment would be put into infrastructure at the current site so that there would be more to invest in the new shelter. Whilst the facilities are far from ideal for staff (basically all in demountables which are hot in summer and cold in winter!! and spread out so communication can be difficult) and there are some things to do with quarantine and infection control that are known to be far from ideal I think the set up for the animals is actually not too bad. Definitely not perfect!! But reasonable as far as comfort, safety and stress levels go.

Omg, Wags started it?!?! Wow, just wow. I seriously doubt he did anything to "start" a fight, and I've alluded to this before and it isn't always a popular opinion but I expect my dogs to accommodate for dogs that are smaller, less able, at some disadvantage etc to themselves, even if he did do something (again, i doubt he did). I know there is an issue with some dogs behaving badly towards dogs bigger or stronger than themselves and I guess in theory they need to accept the consequences, but for me personally I expect my dogs, at least the 20kg one, to tolerate an annoying smaller dog snapping at her or whatever. In that situation I expect her to walk away, and that is what she does. If she didn't respond like that she would not ever be off leash around smaller dogs, simple as that. So, I seriously doubt Wags instigated anything, but even if he did I would expect any dog of mine that was bigger than him to tell him "don't be a pain" then move him away and leave him alone. NOT to launch an attack and kill it. (not blaming whoever owned whichever dog allegedly attacked Wags as the owner may have had no idea but it pisses me off a bit when people say "the small dog instigated my dog attacking/killing it"

As far as I'm aware RSPCA Australia doesn't provide funding to any of the state branches. They pay for the big national advertising and fundraising campaigns, and I vaguely remember hearing that a portion of any funds donated to RSPCA Aus through advertising of things like Cupcake Day and MPW are distributed based on the size of each jurisdiction (which means the big states get significantly more than the smaller ones, regardless of who actually needs it more), however it only goes to RSPCA Aus if the donors make a general donation without specifying a branch. MPW is obviously the biggest fundraiser and funds from that stay with the area that raises them, so for example all the entry fees and sponsorship money raised in Sydney goes to the Sydney shelters, raised in Canberra goes to the Canberra shelter etc. RSPCA Aus is also only an administrative and lobbying (I think) body, they are not involved operationally with any of the branches, that comes down to the management and board of each branch. This is problematic IMO as it means that when you have state branches not necessarily doing the best they could be by the animals (not mentioning any names ) there isn't actually an overarching authority with the power to step in and change how things are done. It also means it's too bad if one state is highly profitable and another is broke, the funds don't get shared.

RSPCA ACT is not well and truly in the black and has not been for some time. When Tammy started as CEO a year or so ago she was very open about the financial position of the organization at that time, they were bleeding money every week, operating costs were far exceeding income and the organization was from memory two months from being literally completely broke. Tammy was appointed with the edict to turn things around and I believe she has improved the financial position but I don't know the current figures. I highly doubt they have reached a point where they are profitable yet. As Akayla said, the 90+ animals would be small animals, not cats and dogs, although there were sone seizures of significant numbers of dogs from some homes. I suspect the change of management and Inspectorate staff over the last year has impacted on the level of action taken as far as seizures and prosecution go.

I know you want the thread deleted but if you haven't already, do call the RSPCA and talk to the Inspectors. Despite some people's beliefs about the RSPCA the Inspectorate at RSPCA ACT are actually pretty good and investigate cases of skinny dogs and work with the owners to help however they can (including providing food free of charge if that would help) OR try to pursue actual neglect cases if they have the grounds. If it is a case of an unwell dog and the owners show they are doing what they should the RSPCA inspectors won't make life difficult for them! The DAS rangers don't investigate this kind of thing. ETA - sorry, I missed the part of your post where you already said you were going to call RSPCA. Good on you :)

Most professionals I know shudder at the idea of "doggie day care". A bunch of dogs of varying sizes and temperaments running around under the "supervision" of someone with minimal dog knowledge is an accident waiting to happen. And sadly, they do. Yes, I actually did a trial shift at a (relatively) well run day care with a quite knowledgeable owner, there were lots of separate spaces, dogs were temp tested on intake and were divided by size, age, temp, play style etc and there were private spaces where individual dogs could be put if needed and I STILL spent the whole time feeling so anxious watching even the small groups of dogs from different families running together that I couldn't work there. It also concerned me that even though the owner/manager was dog savvy some of the staff were apparently just enthusiastic pet owners who didn't have prior experience working with dogs, as trained and experienced staff were just not available to employ. I'm in no way saying that the owner wasn't doing a great job, I think the set up was probably about as good as you could get given the limitations of running such a place as a business but the whole concept is just too fraught with danger for my liking. I think even more dangerous than a dog park as at least at a park the dog to human ratio is lower. I'd love to do a really properly set up daycare but I just can't see how it would be financially viable. Re. This case, the autopsy (necropsy) does sound pretty conclusive I wondered about the damage being done post-mortem too but haemorraging, bruising and congestion make it seem pretty apparent the dog was alive when injured. Poor little thing. I really hope the truth comes out, an accidental death resulting from an attack is bad but trying to cover it up is really inexcusable (if that is what's happened).

It was at Farmer Dave's. I saw it on Facebook too and also read that the owner originally was ok with the burial (although I wasn't clear whether they were told before or after it was done) then changed their minds. Apparently Farmer Dave said the dog just lay down on its own and died but the whole story (both sides) sounded a bit weird to me. Eta I haven't read what the autopsy said yet, I will go and look

Aaaaahhh so many! Totally agree, the quiet is the clue that something is going on. My most recent one was the other day. I was watching tv with Saxon, Quinn and Riley were amusing themselves chasing around the house and wrestling in the bedroom being noisy and annoying but just having fun. When they went quiet in the bedroom I enjoyed the peace for a while, then got suspicious. Went into the bedroom and they were happily crunching away...on the wheat spread all over the bed coming out of the holes they'd chewed in my wheat bag. ETA I've become slack, they were never allowed unattended in the bedroom until recently - they are now 3.5 and 4 and I thought they were settling down a bit, but I was wrong. I've also just had to install child locks on the cupboards in the kitchen that have access to the bin after living in this house for 4 months, Quinn figure out opening them and kept robbing the bin. The last straw was finding her on the couch eating from the moldy remains of a sour cream tub

You could try calling Weston Creek Vet Hospital. Their receptionist Erin has a lot of dog training knowledge, I don't know if they run puppy classes there but they may have somewhere they recommend if not. Erin did work/train at RSPCA though so you may not be interested in her opinion

No Belco Pets don't sell pets. They work with foster groups to promote their available animals though.

I've heard good things about All Round Good Houndooze Belco Pets too, and I took two of mine to Geraldine of Geraldine's Animal Training and they were good classes - controlled off leash time with matched up dogs and a focus on teaching pup to work with owner and handle distractions. This was when she was running classes at Hall Vet but she has her own set up now. RSPCA runs really good puppy classes too, although apparently can vary a little depending on your instructor. When I was there our syllabus really focussed on the relationship with the owner and setting up a pattern for training/working together, as well as socialisation with different surfaces, distractions etc - very controlled interaction between the pups (at least in my classes :p )

Oooo, well then can you come and sit around while my dogs sleep when I'm out at work?! :) In all seriousness, I think kennels being unattended overnight is not something that occurs to people in general, because we tend to be at home at night with our dogs, so people find it a bit daunting at first to think of their dog alone overnight on the premises. Night time tends to be scarier than daytime in our minds. However in reality most dogs are left unattended in their home environment for hours while people are at work/out doing whatever. And a dog secured in a kennel is likely to actually be safer than in a house or backyard so logically it isn't an actual problem, I think just something we as humans have in our heads. I think it's worth remembering that it may come as a surprise to some people that there won't be someone there monitoring their dog 24/7 though.

Some might, we had Chihuahua puppies at the RSPCA. I did make the same observation about the RSPCA ad that featured an Aussie Shepherd and plenty of people pointed out that pure bred dogs do in fact end up in shelters or rescues, and also that from an advertising point of view a dog that gets attention is obviously more useful than one that people don't notice as much.

Or they took an opportunity to promote adoption from rescue or shelters. There are responsible organizations doing this through pet supply stores.

You are absolutely not being unreasonable! Having a reliable place where your dogs will be safe and cared for is a privilege, not a right and you absolutely don't have to be available at your clients' whim. As long as you look after the dogs well I'd go to great lengths to work with your hours. My dogs have been kennelled a couple of times, most recently was when I had to kennel Quinn for various reasons while I was house hunting. The whole planning of the moving in day revolved around getting to the kennel during their stipulated pick up hours and that was fine with me, despite it being a hell of a stressful day.

Well, it is an ad for Purina Puppy Chow, so it's hardly going to finish by promoting anything else. It did say "adoption drive today", not "pet shop with puppies in the window every day" (which obviously an unscrupulous pet shop could say anyway but...), I think it comes across that they are encouraging "adoption" which is widely associated with shelters and rescues rather than pet shops or Internet. And the overall message is that things don't run smoothly for this guy and the pup destroys his important project, but he acknowledges that she didn't do it to be a pain and remains committed to her. There is no one perfect way to get a pet, nor can any of us make people do things that way we want them too, people may make mistakes and not feed perfect nutrition BUT if every pet owner went into it with commitment to perservere through the tough, frustrating times there would be far fewer abandoned dogs out there. It's a pet food ad, not an animal welfare educational video, and it IS cute

It is super cute :) He will be a good doggy dad. And I can so relate to that moment you realise they've destroyed something you REALLY didn't want them to :laugh:

There are a heap of puppies listed, male and female and a range of ages, lots in Vic and NSW as well as Qld. 10 older dog listings as well. Don't give up hope Kajtek, the right one will be out there for you and your girl :)

Yay! I remember (I think) when you talked on here about your first litter being born :) My girl Quinn (Aussie Shepherd) had her first season at 14 months, second 11 months later, 3rd 5 months after that, 4th 6 months later and 5th (just recently, she's 3.5 years old now) 6 months later. So after the first three I was thinking "WTH I am in for?" but it seems to have settled now.

Same here TSD, sanitary pants from PetStock with cut down panty liners. Hopefully one of the DOLers with stores will pop in though, it's nice of you to think to refer them :D

Resource guarding from other dogs is different to resource guarding from humans though (I know you know that casowner). It's pretty "normal" for dogs to warn other dogs off their claimed food, starting with mummy dog telling baby pups to leave her food alone until she decides they can have some. Whereas most dogs are not quick to show real aggression towards humans over resources unless/until they've had experiences that teach them it's beneficial or necessary for them. When I say real aggression, I mean escalating quickly to an actual hard bite. Many dogs don't guard from humans at all, quite a few will warn with moving away, growling etc, some will air snap and maybe bite if pushed enough but the real concerning thing for me with this OP was that the puppy escalated so quickly to a real bite.

Shelties spin! And bark, but when they are really excited they spin in crazy circles and look insane. But apparently it's just a "normal" Sheltie thing :p

Very interested to hear from breeders. I will be surprised if it is normal for Maremmas though. I am far from experienced with them but during my 12 months behaviour testing at RSPCA we had 5 Maremma come through and be assessed and none showed this behaviour.