Little Gifts

Behavioural and psychological issues are different from mental health issues Rommi - that's what I was thinking when I read this. Some people can have both of course, but mental health issues are those that can be clinically diagnosed like schizophrenia. Often people with mental illnesses act in ways they simply can't control - there is no intent to harm or kill. Think of animal hoarders - some of their animals die from neglect because they can't cope, not because they wish harm on the animal. Conditioning and having an abusive background are behavioural issues and can be changed. Just because someone comes from an abusive background does not mean they have to go on to be abusers themselves, whether that be directed at other humans or animals. Likewise with conditioning - it doesn't mean a person can't at some point think for themselves and make their own decisions. Particularly in today's society where education is the norm in most countries and the Internet exposes us to so many different world experiences and perspectives. So a decision to continue being part of something that might be considered morally wrong by general society becomes a personal one at some point. That could be because you like it or because you want to fit in or because you're scared of not doing it. That isn't a 'mental illness'. And "I didn't know it was wrong" or "I didn't know any better" is not a mental illness either - that's more commonly known as ignorance and denial. "I didn't care" is also behavioural and not the kind of person I'd want to know.

I had a boy with very debilitating epilepsy for several years. Long story but he always had problems working out where he was and who was with him afterwards. It was like he couldn't see or hear. He would be sniffing the air like he was trying to work it all out that way. Hopefully this is the worst it will ever get for you and Tag. It is manageable.

OMG - I made the mistake of checking out other abuse clips on You Tube and now I feel physically sick. The neglect and abuse of some dogs is more than I can imagine any living thing suffering through. There is a pit bull on there called Loius Vitton who was set on fire and survived. Their will to live and trust in humans must be incredibly strong. I'm not sure we deserve their love after seeing those images. No more for me.

I missed the show so was checking out clips on You Tube and the arsewipe who was kicking the small dog in the elevator was arrested for what he did. The dog had no broken bones or internal damage from the kicking. I hope the girlfriend dumped him too.

+1 I worked in statutory child protection for many years there is plenty of evidence that children who torture animals go on to commit other serious crimes like murder. It is also true that if the animal is being abused by an adult in the house then it is highly likely that there is dysfunction amongst the human family members like dv between the parents or abuse by one or more parent upon the children. It is all linked.

I've never seen the Rescue Ink show but found a book by them in the library and even wrote down some of the stuff they said about how a dog becomes conditioned to neglect or abuse and will lash out at a rescuer because for all they know they might be taking them somewhere even worse. It made a lot of sense to me. And wouldn't you love to be so intimidating you could just turn up at some arseholes house and get them to hand over their abused dog to you? I would! "Yeah buddy, if you don't want to book yourself in for knee cap surgery then this is how we are going to do it....."

MM those photos were HILARIOUS! I hadn't seen them before. I always think of swf's as not enjoying a dirty face. I was wrong!

I got some velour covered stairs from Deals Direct a while back as my old girl can now longer get on the bed without help. She refuses to use them and the younger dog ate the corner off so we continue to do the 'tuck the bum lift anytime she wants up on the bed.

You have a plant still alive on your verandah and the pot seems to be in one piece still - your dogs are not doing there job properly!

One of mine can't even recline unless it is on top of me or the other dog. She has no sense of personal space and has been like that since she was a pup. She wont touch a dog bed unless the other one is already in it.In winter she gets in under the doona (in the middle of the bed) and the other one is on the top of the bed near my head snuggled in her blanky. I lie on my side and scrunch us altogether and we all fall asleep like that every night. My sister's dog doesn't like anything touching her - not even someone else's pillow. She will get on the bed with us but only if a whole quarter of the bed is totally free. Same on the lounges - we bought an extra lounge so she could have her space. You can't even go and sit beside her.

Geez that was a close call! And I don't think it was the dog they were after either. They were trying to assess how vulnerable you were and whether the dog would go for them if they tried anything. I'm glad Logan was able to sense the trouble and let them know where he stood on things. Dogs seem to sense this stuff. Sucks though when you have to adjust your walking time to that kind of thing but I doubt they will be back - they wanted someone then and there and they already know the dog will protect you so they wont bother trying again. They go for easy targets unfortunately. And why don't you get yourself one of those small hand alarms? They are only about $10 and give off the most god awful high pitched scream. I keep one next to my bed but can take it anywhere with me.

Nic your words reflect how precious Ray was to you and your family and by the looks on his face you were all very precious to him. Those wonderful memories will always be with you - he will live on in your hearts. This kind of thing makes me cry like a total girl. One of my rescues is 16 on 10 August and every day I come home worried it will be bad news. She has cancer but is doing very well still but I hear people say the older ones deteriorate very quickly once it is their time. Even when the time is right to say goodbye it is still heartbreaking to have to go through. So I'm feeling your sadness tonight but am also feeling the love you all shared. Alyson

Harness and soft lead gives me a better feeling of control as I have had dogs slip their normal collars before. I've also had a dog who yanked on a retractable lead quickly and it broke injuring my hand and letting the dog run off. I wont use them again. I have bought a martingale but am yet to try it, mostly because I can't remember where I put it.

I am hyperventilating even responding to this thread! Our 3 dogs are very social so we (stupidly) decided last year to go to a doggy camping event with them. It was a freaking nightmare! The youngest dog was just in a panic the whole 3 days and had to be leashed on a run. She'd go crazy and wrap herself around poles and camping gear and everything would just topple over. The middle dog kept doing runners. The oldest dog is mostly blind so would just follow one of the others or be getting in the way. The only peace we had for 3 days was when we were all in the tent at night. I was so stressed out - I really expected our dogs to have a bit of a play with the other dogs there, to engage in the organised activities but also happy to be with us swimming, exploring and lounging around. Nope. We had the crazy dogs who kept running into other people's camp areas, running up into the mountains in the heat, raiding bins and fighting with each other. Everyone else's dogs seemed like they were on valium compared to ours and few other dogs were even tethered or leashed. We so didn't expect things to go that bad as we also love camping and put a lot of effort into creating a dog friendly set up. I'm still embarrassed thinking about it all. And even worse, the youngest one still gets into a panic now at large dog events like millopn paws walk and bark in the park. It is like she has lost her confidence in doggy groups. I suspect she'd run screaming if she saw me pull the tent out as well!

We have had a husky x, a teensy toy style dog, a mature staffy and a staffy pup living together here. All four played so roughly together I used to panic, but it was just how they wanted to play - the teensy one was the worst! The husky x did have a tendency to discipline the others, to keep them in line when things were getting too boisturous. The teensy dog lives elsewhere now but still visits and the play is still the same. We never had problems at meal times and if anything the slow eaters learnt to eat at meal times or miss out. As ellz said - it is about the dogs personalities and the supervision you provide.

Fantastic news Pipsal! I'm not sure if I mentioned it before but Dr Chris Brown (Bondi Vet) was going into remote communities doing vet care (and I assume desexing). Why not get in contact with his clinic or the show as well and see if anything comes of it? Big hugs to you for what you achieved.

That boy came to the right street! Hope you find some info out about him and he has a good owner to go back to.

So who watched Bondi Vet more cynically last night? ME! Everything he did was all for the cameras - here let me carry the pelican, here let me bring a puppy back to life, here let me help the mum bond with her babies. It was making me sick! I love animal shows but don't think I can watch him anymore - he's gone too tv and not enough vet for me.

The best thing about the behaviourist was that the changes were simple to make and keep up with. It all just clicked into place for us and things worked immediately, ie same day our attitude changed so did the dogs behaviours. Specific techniques can also be reintroduced at any time if you find things slipping backwards. Our behaviouralist did the amichien bonding thing with us and some others on DOL have pooh-pooh'd it but it was perfect for us and our dogs, particularly the gesture eating and giving each dog a clear role in the pack and encouraging this role over others. These 2 things alone changed the dynamics.

I live in a u shaped street that is full of dogs - most houses with more than 1 (we have three). There are also a couple of cockatoos and some roosters and we live near an ambulance station so at times there can be quite a racket going on. Our dogs are fenced off from the street and we've only had one noise complaint a couple of years back which the council investigated and said wasn't an ongoing problem. Anyway our household is planned so that someone is always home before dark to let the dogs in. There would only be a handful of times every year that this doesn't occur and last night was one of them. I ran into the house and went straight out the back to let them in when I got home last night and some ahole was yelling at them to "shut the f*** up!" So I went out there ready for a fight but couldn't work out where the yelling came from. The dogs were of course barking desperately as soon as they heard the car pull up but only for a whole 5 mins until I got into the house and let them in. Sometimes it doesn't matter what you do, someone will always be upset by it! I too love my sleep and since one of my dogs is a terrible snorer I sleep with ear plugs in. So even if the roosters are crowing or the cockatoos are going off their nut I can sleep on through. Having volunteered at a shelter for a bit I'm not being bothered by dogs barking for a reason (even at the ambulance sirens!) but we do have some yappers across the road that just like the sounds of their own barking and I sometimes fantasise about putting muzzles on them! I wonder how their owners don't notice????

I have been in EXACTLY the same situation. Older desexed staffy female and young undesexed staffy female coming into sexual maturity. Our problem was exacerbated by a third dog (husky cross undesexed female of an in between age). The two staffy's kept going each other over empty bowls and a couple of other resources. The old girl wouldn't give in and relinquish her spot in the pack so the fights were to the death! The young girl was desexed (had been planned anyway) but it made no difference to the fights. We had to get a behaviouralist in to help us manage and things changed immediately. We have probably only had one fight that got out of hand in the 2 years since the behaviouralist helped us and it was our fault. As has been said before it is all about how we manage the dogs behaviours and environments. The person we used is based on southside of Brisbane and her price was very reasonable (cheaper than all the vet fees!) and I'm happy to pm you her details if you want to look into it further. It was the best thing we have ever done for us and our dogs.

I love reading these! One of mine likes to clean teeth and she circles her dinner bowl round and round and round while eating, mostly dropping it on the floor to eat it from there. She is also guilty of picking up a couple of biscuits, jumping on the closest lounge to eat them, then jumping down and running back to her bowl to repeat the process. She only does this at breakfast though. One of my other dogs used to do something a bit embarrassing. She used to have a thing about sidling under a plant in the garden or a towel hanging in the bathroom, then she would rock herself back and forwards with the leaves or towel rubbing lightly over her back. This was accompanied by pleasurable groans, her eyes rolling back in her head and the tongue flicking in and out licking the air.

I emailed the journo as well asking for a link to the source material but haven't heard anything back. He is a senior editorial journo with The Age so I hope he checked his facts like a good journo should before using them!

I'm very jealous! I wish I had thought of training my dogs to do this. One of mine often runs around 'wearing' her fleecy pj's with only one leg in as she refuses to let me do the others. It's like trying to put shoes on a toddlers foot!

My young staffy girl has to put EVERYTHING in her mouth. She doesn't necessarily chew or swallow the items but it seems to be the only way she knows how to work out what something is. I'm very texture orientated and have to touch and feel stuff a lot so I reckon if she had human hands she'd be the same.