~Anne~

Assumption one: the dogs are kennelled because there are too many to be kept as house dogs or under similar conditions to the average pet dog? Based on the above assumption - why is it necessary to have 'too many' dogs? For argument sake, let's say that 'too many' for large to medium breeds = 6+; and small breeds 8+

Thank you everyone. I think of him a million times a day. Today we collected his ashes and he now rests in his beautiful urn.

As I understand it, hybrid vigour relates more truly to a mix of species. In canines of different breeds it is still the same species. However, as it has been argued here a million times, outcrossing certainly can benefit. Recessive and dominant genes are still recessive and dominant genes and the traits of the genes are found broadly in all breeds of dog. That's my understanding anyway and it could be wrong as I am not a scientist I have not studied genetics in any shape or form.

I rehomed a blind and deaf pug and I believe there is hope for this guy. I do recognise the differences in the two breeds that may make it harder in this instance though.

Rest in peace my teddy bear -"Woonan the Hustler". Born 7 April 2002 and sadly losing the fight a few days short of his 11th birthday. You arrived into my life via QF408 from Victoria on Saturday 31 July 2004. You were a fat, snuffling, funny little thing who curiously checked everything out and marked every square inch of the gardens outside the domestic terminal before we got you into the car. We were alerted to you by Jeannine from Pug Rescue Vic who orchestrated your travel plans and faithfully entrusted you into our care. Your seizures we the reason you were being re-homed. Boofy loved you immediately as did Molly. More importantly, you had me falling in love with you instantly. Over the years we watched your health go from strength to strength. The seizures never stopped but you were always a happy, cuddly, sweet natured little dog who loved life. We nicknamed you teddy bear because you were so irresistibly cuddly. You melted even the hardest person with your ever so gentle laid back sweetness. Sometimes we called you poo bear after discovering your not so sweet eating habits. Our lives revolved around you and your care. We joked about your intelligence. A lot. You really weren't the sharpest tool in the shed. We despaired at your regular 4.30am wake-up calls and laughed at your pig squealing when you wanted food. I nursed you through more than 300 seizures. I stroked and cuddled you and stopped you from running manic into walls. On more than one occasion we rushed you to emergency for one problem or another. We laughed at you watching animals on tv. Every night you managed to see an animal or a strange person on the tv to bark at. You loved the tv. I have video after video of you watching tv and barking at the animals. I watched a video today of you telling Olivia you wanted the bone she had and another of you and I playing. You were the ultimate sweet dog of all dogs. You were a d will always be my heart dog. I knew things were not good after your vestibular episode in January. You never quite got back to normal. On Sunday, when you were quiet and remote, I really didn't comprehend that you were only for this world a few more days. I wish your heart had given out so you didn't have to live through those final seizures. By Tuesday morning, despite repeated doses of Valium, I couldn't stop your seizures and you were up to around 12 but then within 12 hours. When we arrived with you at the vet I still thought that they could stop your seizures. I thought we could get through this crisis like we had so many before. The count was up approximately 19 seizures by the time I realised we couldn't let you go through this any longer. I'm sorry I didn't do something sooner. I just couldn't accept that I had to initiate your imminent death. I'm sorry. I should have made the decision sooner. When I arrived back at the hospital you had just had yet another seizure. You were conscious but only just. I hope you realised I was there holding you. I hope I gave you some comfort. You will rest easy now forever. I miss you so much. The house isn't the same. It is quiet and still. My teddy bear is not licking my legs and feet, not sitting on my toes, not squealing for food anymore. I feel I've I will never stop crying. I've arranged the most beautiful urn for you.

Sadly, with the illogical push to desex everything that moves and to not breed, we will continue to reduce the gene pool and do untold damage to the canine world. Effectively all this will achieve is an increase in cross breeds and a decrease in purebreds I believe because idiots will still allow their dogs to randomly breed, the responsible will all have desexed dogs and the breeder will have given up trying to do the right thing and will then be forced to desex their dogs. As for the topics of breeders and rescuers working together, a friend posted this the other day on FB. It's heartening to see some people trying to work together. https://www.facebook.com/BreedersAndRescuersUnited?ref=ts&fref=ts

Thank you everyone. Today was the the first morning in over 9 years that I have woken up in my own home without the 'Monte alarm clock'. I would like everyone to know that your words really do offer comfort. They really do. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

He even looked cute with his head tilt.

Bananas in pyjamas.

Woonan the Hustler aka Monte Bear or Teddy Bear. This is my most favourite picture ever of Monte. He was so photogenic.

Thank you all. My teddy bear suffered seizures non-stop through the day. They kept him heavily sedated and even administered an anti inflammatory in case it was a tumour on his brain to see if we could give him some respite. He looked exhausted and dazed. We gave him his wings this afternoon. My life for 9 years has revolved around this little pug. I'm up before dawn 365 days a year medicating him come rain, shine or hangover. Im home by 5.30pm every day or my husband (or a family member is) to ensure his 12 houly medication cycles are never disrupted. He's had me crying with exhaustion with his regular 4am wake up calls and he has exhausted pet sitters with this too. His pig squealing noises at dinner time drove everyone crazy and I'm sure the neighbours imagined I was torturing him every day. He restlessly went in and out of the dog door 24/7 and i lived and breathed the thwump, thwump, thwump of that door swinging back and forth. He ate the pebbles in the hard and chewed up many of my pot plants. His insatiable appetite saw him eat a packet of worming tablets and his penchant for twigs and rocks had me stressed on many occasions. He licked every surface of the house and my legs and feet. My life as I have known it for just over 9 years is no longer. God I loved this little guy. So many people over the years made hurtful comments about giving him his wings just because he had epilepsy. But he loved life and he was loved so very much. He enjoyed it until recently.. When I arrived back at the hospital this afternoon he had just had another massive seizure. My poor little boy. this is why having pets is so hard. A part of my life has disappeared. A big part in a little hairy, shedding, snorting naughty cuddly pug.

Monte will be given his wings this afternoon. He went into status overnight and has suffered seizure after seizure. He is currently heavily sedated at the vet hospital and the seizures still haven't stopped. I am gutted.

These two are gorgeous! I love the markings.

This year has been stressful in relation to the health of my 3 pugs. Boof has had 4 surgeries and several tests and procedures for his MCTs and Monte has begun to decline considerably neurologically. It started in January with vestibular. He at first appeared to be in severe pain around the head and these symptoms progressed within 24 hours to a vestibular episode. He couldn't stand, his eyes flicked back and forth and he was terribly distressed. He had the mother of all clusters of seizures that same night. Over the next 5 weeks he gradually improved. His head tilt remained and at times it was really bad. He gradually began to navigate stairs but on bad days we blocked them as he tumbled several times. A couple of weeks ago he developed really bad diarrhoea. When it didn't clear in 48hours we headed to the vet. Then the other two came down with the same symptoms. Thankfully it only took a few days on scourban and they were ok again. Last week he began to breathe noisily and it seemed some times with effort. He was also very drowsy and weak. The vet did X-rays but could not find anything wrong. He was found to have some fluid around his heart though and so he was started on fluid tablets. In the last few days he has deteriorated more. He is still weak. His head tilt has returned to what it was immediately after the vestibular. He circles a lot and you can see he is having trouble heading in the direction he wants to sometimes. When I got up just after 5am this morning to medicate him with his anti epileptic meds I found him lying outside on the deck in the rain. He was ice cold and I thought he was dead. I could see he had had a seizure. I brought him back inside ad dried him off mad warmed him up by cuddling him. He eventually came round a little more and i fed him and medicated him. He seems to have lost his ability to consider where to toilet or he is simply to tired or weak to go outside and he simply stands wherever he is and urinates. The fluid tablets are also exacerbating this. I have stopped them now though as I am not sure he is benefiting from them overall. Today his head tilt is bad, he seems confused, he has urinated 3 times on the floor and also had another seizure. Looking at him I can't decide if he is happy or not. Am I dragging out the inevitable or am I jumping the gun too quickly. Next week he might improve. He's bounced back before but he has never had so many problems in such a short time and neither has he seemed so 'brain damaged'. He's only just turning 11. I don't want to lose him, he's my heart dog and I have nursed him through so much since he came to us as a rescue just over 9 years ago. I don't want to let him go if he is still happy though. His seizures are painless but how does he feel with his world tilted? Is he stressed when he turns in circles and can't find his way forward for a few seconds. Is he just existing? He hasn't shown interest in playing with toys much in the last 3 months and the last time I can think of him playing was only about 3 or 4 weeks ago though. He hasn't tried to chew a nylabone for the last week but that isn't long. He is still eating and loves his food.... but then he is a pug on phenobarbital so he has a double whammy of the love of food.

You don't need to go in person. You can download a change of details form from the DLG website and possibly also your local council site. Complete the form and post it to the council. The form also will ask you for the chip number. I would think it is to ensure they have the details required to locate the entry on the database and update it. The database is state-wide and is accessible by all councils in NSW. It's not locally held by individual councils.

Agree 100% with all you have said. She is looking at the problem through fractured glasses.

I felt the same Christina. It makes me feel sick seeing the current farming practices.

Sorry Rach. You've certainly been through a horrible and testing time.

So sorry Anna.

I agree with this. It has it's good and bad but FB in particular has allowed the extremes to be more easily achieved. When discussions are part of a FB page I think it's important for the page owner to maintain a distance and be at all times appropriate. I realise that trying to control the crazies and general public wouldn't be easy but the pages where the page owner doesn't behave appropriately are usually the same pages that all hell breaks out in regularly. I wont link with most Facebook rescue pages because I find them so over the top. Someone the other day made a comment about the reactions being almost cult like with some pages and I agree. The zealous nature of the support becomes really cringeworthy to watch and it sadly creates a feeling of saint like status in the page owner. Social media certainly is changing the face of rescue. I think DOL rescue has changed. There were many great discussions once held and lots of support at times shown to those who needed to ask questions. I still see some great threads but that level of support and discussion, which was not a high percentage overall of the threads even then, now appears to be a rare thing.

Couldn't agree more and it is getting worse by the day.

They won't be able to enforce registration anymore than their current capacity to enforce it. The lifetime registration idea fails in NSW because it isn't backed up. Those who own unregistered dogs will still own unregistered dogs regardless of how often the fee is charged.

For me it's once every adult lifetime. I don't vaccinate my dogs anymore. I still firmly believe the puppy vaccinations are essential. I would personally follow up with one when the dog became an adult and that is all.

Shelters (aka pounds in NSW) are managed and run by local government. This usually means that there is limited funding. Limited funding stands between the ideal world and the real world.

Congratulations to Ric, Russ and the team. Another leap forward for a progressive Council. The Council deserve recognition for the changes they have implemented over the last 5 years.