Little Gifts

LMO I had the video on You Tube but they revamped the site and it is not there now. It was taken so long ago it's probably on one of our old hard drives. If it turns up again I'll send you a link. Stussy is waggling a tug toy in his face encouraging him to grab on to it. He grabs on and runs off with it and Stussy is all no, no, no, that's not how you play tug! It's very sweet!

Here you go! https://www.rescuenetwork.com.au/

I still remember very fondly the shar pei Oscar we fostered here. He was malnourished, very shut down and due to heavy wrinklage unable to see and very mishapen. Ams said to me she wasn't sure he would make it and thought we'd have him for a while. He was eating every couple of hours to put weight back on and I had to put a mattress on our couple of lounge room stairs so he slid down rather than fell. He did a lot of pacing around our house and yard, mapping out everything in his mind so eventually the mattress went and he was safe. And of course it was the other dogs who helped comfort him. I don't think he'd been around many other dogs and he had certainly never played with toys. I took video footage of my girl Stussy teaching him how to play tug and photos of him lying on the floor surrounded by toys and floor mats and other things he was coveting. I was so in love with his ability to recover and he went to an amazing home with children after only a couple of months with us so his life was far from done by ending up in rescue. Oscar is who I think of every time there is a seemingly desperate case. I hope Sooty gets the same new life.

Just amazing!!!!

Glad to see media coverage of this issue. I read the full article and felt it was fairly balanced in that all sides had the chance to say their piece. It is the same fundraising the RSPCA use to do less and less. I have no issue with fundraising as long as you are spending the money appropriately. Paying your coordinating staff more and more when you are representing a not for profit sector is not appropriate.

What a tragedy. I wish she'd been able to see the escalation in Simba's behaviours because even if you don't think your dog would attack you, you can still get badly injured trying to break up an aggression episode. What kind of a life was he having when he needed to be locked up all the time to keep everyone else safe. And lastly, all the poor people who were involved in this incident as victims or responders - those are things no-one wants to experience. No winners here.

Well I'm glad she has found you. She gets to live her best life now, even at 12. And I wish we could be more resilient like dogs. There she is blind, elderly and with mobility issues and yet she wants to explore and take advantage of her new surroundings! Us humans would be lying in bed whining over our troubles!

Twigs! Twigs in my eyes dammit!

Yep Virgin. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6538933/Virgin-left-couples-beloved-bulldog-Bruno-die-blistering-temperatures-tarmac.html

The silky bantams!!!!!!

Yes I have. I had a very old stafford girl who was incontinent from both ends. I bought nappies as per weight (she was 21kg so I bought from memory up to 25kg) and cut a cross for her tail at a spot a bit less than half the nappy. I found the cross much easier to get her tail through than a hole and would just fold the nappy in half and it was a quick two cut process. You put the nappy on so the tabs go across their back, not across their belly like a human baby. When she went to the toilet the nappy would sag straight off her body and I'd change it (she was mobile so never toileted lying down but dementia meant she would toilet wherever she was standing). Due to the sagging and immediate changing we never had any skin irritation and didn't even need to clean her up between toileting either - it just all dropped down away from her body (even poo).

Apologies Rascal - I didn't mean to sound judgemental at all. You have been through something very significant and important and I would expect that was and should be your top priority. You can only pull yourself so many ways. I was just wondering whether there has been a different mood in the household over the last few weeks (particularly while you were in hospital) that he is picking up on without understanding what it means? Some dogs can be very sensitive to the little nuances. I hope some of the supplements work and that he settles in again.

Dog, imagine what $360,000 could do for cash poor rescue groups. Vet bills across Australia could be significantly reduced for a start but instead they will probably be Christmas bonuses for Pet Rescue staff.

Rascal my girl Stussy is now an only dog after 11 years of being in a 3 and 4 dog household. She is enjoying the extra attention but is a bit nervous when one of us leaves the house. I thought she would really struggle as an only dog as she is very social and interactive with other dogs (even strange dogs). Besides Hugo going he has also had you out of the house unexpectedly and now you are home and your focus is elsewhere (totally understandable with new bub). It is possible he is reacting to more than just the loss of Hugo - dynamics in your house have changed considerably in a very short period of time and things could be fluid for some time to come. Is it worth checking out doggy day care options as that might give him socialisation and activity in his routine plus have him in a supervised environment at times when you wont be home for an extended period? Who is he closest to in your house - is it possible for that person to devote some focused one on one time to him every day to develop a new and enjoyable routine? I know you don't need this worry on top of everything else. I hope it resolves.

LOVE IT!!!!

I saw this video on Facebook about a beautiful horse who just adores people and was going in to hospices and he chose which room he wanted to go into and it was usually a person who needed him. He nibbles on them and is very up close and personal! In the footage he visits a patient who I think might have brain tumours who has not been emotionally responsive. He starts to cry as Peyo nibbles on him and checks him out. Gave me the feels big time. https://www.todayfm.com/Muireann-OConnell/This-Amazing-Horse-Visits-Hospitals-As-A-Therapist-

Asal do you have Netflix? There is a series on there at present called Dogs which you would enjoy. It is very understated, so you come to your own realisations about the dogs featured each episode and what they mean to the people around them. How it is in real life really.

So sweet! I love your foster and adoption stories - than you so much for sharing them with us!

There is no love lost between me and the RSPCA for many reasons, but I agree with Thistle here and whilst we may not have the full story I still have overall concerns for these dogs. I stated earlier that I had seen pictures of scoured bellies. That is a legitimate concern to me because that doesn't happen from one night in a dirty cage. They may be good 'breeders' of this breed but I wouldn't want my dog caged in a room that looked like anything in those pictures, particularly in the heat, I wouldn't want my dog without a constant supply of water and I wouldn't want my dog lying even overnight in a wet cage (water or urine). So if it is not ok for my dog I don't feel it is ok for other dogs either, even temporarily. If I was helping out at a shelter or pound or house/dog sitting for a breeder that looked like those images I would be very concerned. I've seen (and cleaned up) messes made by a lot of dogs and puppies overnight and this has a longer term look to it. I also feel that if you have 110 dogs/puppies on your premises that is a lot of work and I don't know how many people were assisting this breeder to keep on top of everything that was needed. I know a few breeders in real life but don't know any who have ever had that many dogs in their care at one time. Even if only half were for sale that is more puppy farm than breeder territory. That many dogs is also a potential sign of a fairly good income and yet the housing conditions seem so poor. Most breeders sink their money back into their dogs and set up. Perhaps there are runs that weren't shown but why would you even be using old cages and windowless rooms that look so poorly maintained if you had other options? So unfortunately, the more I hear and read up, the less my opinions have changed that intervention was needed. Not sure it needed to be seizure and immediate sale of all these dogs, but it seems the breeder surrendered them rather than have them legally seized. If they felt they were in the right and could back it up why not fight for your good name and dogs back? Maybe they were truly overwhelmed? I wish they'd felt comfortable seeking assistance earlier if that was the case. I do feel for the breeders but leaving the RSPCA out of this I still see concerns for the conditions those dogs were in and I definately have concerns regarding the significant misinformation that came from so called people in the know on behalf of the breeder. That took a lot of my confidence in their side of things away. That wasn't just a misunderstanding of details - they were rather elaborate lies left in a public place for all to read. And if the RSPCA are publicly denying the transporting of dogs in horse floats and the subsequent injury and loss of two dogs then they are taking a huge risk if they are lying too. I'm sure they would've been photographing, videotaping and documenting everything they did to protect themselves legally. What a big, sorry mess. Ultimately more clean up work for rescue.

I got this response from the RSPCA - "All dogs were transported in air conditioned pet transfer trailers (with some in the car next to our team). No dogs were transfered in a horse float and no dogs have had to be euthanised from this raid."

Juice I've asked them to respond to that very issue on their page and will be interested to see what/if they respond. I've not seen them rebutt claims publicly regarding seizure cases like this before. Maybe they can do so because they wont be prosecuting? I think their writers have let them down though putting too much spin on how difficult this case was on the RSPCA officers - time, conditions, etc. They are doing the job they are mandated by law to do and they will be reimbursed financially for their efforts and rewarded by saving dogs they felt were in need. No need to do the poor me bit when it should be about the dogs. Also a bit concerned at how much money they are charging for the puppies. Given they have moved so many over to rescue (who I doubt will get the same prices) it's a bit unsavoury to be cashing in on these animals misfortune.

Interesting. I agree based on the additional information that the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. RSPCA said they were notified by someone independent who had seen 5 of the dogs and had concerns. Very different scenario. There is also a photo of a bunch of dogs standing against a fence and at least 2 of the bitches have scoured bellies and the only time I have seen that before is from dogs left to lie in their own waste for extended periods of time. I am certainly not trusting of how the RSPCA behaves but something still smells a little fishy here. Thank you for the additional links Asal. I will be doing more reading.

I've been following it on Facebook. These breeders have prize winning show dogs. I feel like someone else in the dog world had to know conditions there were not up to par. There are bitches with stained bellies from lying in their own waste for prolonged periods. Many of them were living in confined spaces in tin sheds in Gladstone in this heat! In other news there is an existing kennel/puppy farm wanting to expand its operation on the Sunshine Coast. That is also getting huge coverage and public outcry on social media. This one wants to run 200 kennels, have 100 breeding pens (only 50 bitches though, apparently) and from memory 16.5 staff to run all that. They were not previously approved so wanting to expand will hopefully be their undoing. People are getting angry over puppy farming up here and it is about bloody time.

How did I miss this! You mattered on this earth Leo. You had a job to do and you did it well. Time now to do whatever you want over the bridge. XXX

SO CUTE!!!!!!