koalathebear

Some foster updates tonight :) Frida has grown up into a gorgeous dog And Ollie is so beloved. Here he is waking up his older 'sister' with good morning kisses :) I am taking a break from working right now so we have two new foster puppies arriving tomorrow :)

That's Dodge :) He's our third dog - he was an AWDRI foster who we ended up adopting :) More photos of him here. He has fit into our pack very nicely and although he is still timid and neurotic, he is gaining a lot of confidence :)

There's also Stitch, but I think she's quite a high energy dog :) http://www.workingdogrescue.com.au/2013/05/13256-kelpie-female-stitch-8mo-wollondilly-picton-nsw-avail-now/ I think she's gorgeous though

Such posers

I use the K9Pro gripper leash for when the dog is already relatively well trained and does not bolt - and I want to use a longer leash. Not good for a bolter though because once when using it, and the dog bolted my hand got cut and started bleeding. But otherwise a great leash. When the dogs are still bolty, I really like the black dog smart leads. The fabric is quite soft on the hands.

I used to buy a lot of really beautiful hand-crafted tags from etsy and other places but have given up on items that dangle. I found that they got a bit grubby and also, I had a bad habit of when I was in hurry of clipping the leash through the wrong loop - particularly at agility. So I've switched to flat collars These are embroidered with names and mobile phone numbers. Elbie and Dodge have theirs embroidered with black thread Hoover has white thread embroidered on his These paracord collars have name, registration # and both of our mobile # engraved: This is a collar for foster dogs All of the above are from dogids.com which has an excellent range of durable collars and leashes. These collars we bought from cleanrun - they were the collars that first converted me over to embroidered collars

Wow, that is so lovely of you.

Thanks for this ..... but I wasn't able to burn the videos to disc so I could take them to the Nursing Home. Probably me - I'm not exactly smart when it comes to the 'finer' side of computer management. Mind you, I'm not exactly smart when it comes to ANYTHING computer, :laugh: Erny, the WKC videos are uploaded to the website vimeo (like youtube) over here: http://vimeo.com/user3655233/videos. You can download an add on for firefox or chrome that lets you download directly from vimeo to your computer. I really recommend the WKC videos because there are some fantastic dogs and handlers in there :)

Thanks Steve. That's very helpful and exactly what I was looking for. Most people can't have 'full quarantine' so the option is either foster in the manner I have been doing or not foster at all but I'd like to see what steps other people take to minimise risks when full quarantine is not possible. As mentioned, I can do things like: - segregate dog from my dogs for 2 weeks - as mentioned, there's a concreted area which we can segregate with a fence and then put a run/crate inside that - when inside, keep the dog crated and in the bathroom - have bleach ready - ideally wear different clothes/shoes I still haven't decided I will take dogs that are out of a pound, I'm still pondering things and seeing what I'm prepared to do. We've had a dog with kennel cough before and one of my own dogs came to us with ringworm so we've treated those things before. I really am most concerned about parvo because it's so horribly infectious and incredibly cruel to the dogs in question. I agree - but even if one agrees to 'take the risk', there are risk mitigation steps that can be taken rather being entirely irresponsible and letting the dog mingle with resident dogs, run around on grass and tramp all through through the house etc. There's clearly a line between all in and all out. That being said, my dogs do go to obedience school and dog park so are no doubt exposed to all sorts of nasties there, too. Nonetheless, I do want to try to take precautions where possible.

Thanks. I've read that but it was for the full-on quarantine facility which I do not have. I was hoping to see what other people who don't have the deluxe model do.

Quite a bit of space and I could set up a fence (like this) and put a run or large crate inside it. Is parvo (and other nasties) diffused through the air though? I'm aware of how serious this issue is - which is why I still haven't fostered a dog directly from the pound. The longevity of parvo in soil is longer and far worse than a lot of scheduled hazardous substances :p These days I wonder how many people rent/buy houses without knowing that perhaps the soil is contaminated by parvo - I mean how many people disclose that when they leave?

Thanks. Do you have any suggestions i.e. things that you have done to mitigate risk if you have rescued dogs from the pound?

To date, we avoided fostering dogs (via rescue) that are striaght out of the pound because we don't have the ability to quarantine properly. Thus far, we have: - fostered dogs that have already been quarantined with another carer for 2 weeks; - are pups from a litter and parent that were already in foster care when born i.e. not from a pound/parvo environment I am considering the possibility of fostering dogs (via a rescue group of course) that are directly from the pound. I know that this increases the risk of parvo/kennel cough etc Constraints: 1. I don't have the ability (or money!) to built a proper quarantine i.e. stand-alone bathroom-like room that's fully washable/rinesable etc. 2. I don't have a separate laundry. In terms of alternatives, I was considering: 1. creating a dog run on a concreted area of the back yard 2. when the dog is in the house, keeping it in a crate or in the main bathroom for the first two weeks. Any other suggestions? What sorts of 'chemicals' and accessories should I be buying so that I can disinfect and also maintain quarantine. I know some people are quite relaxed about this but I personally know some carers who have experienced the tragedy of puppies with parvo dying while in care - and then having to disinfect the entire house and also be precluded form fostering further puppies because unvaccinated pups were permitted to run all through the garden/grass/dirt etc i.e. for me it is a real danger and not just a theoretical thing.

Soooo cute :) This one's my favourite

Elbie and Hoover had great fun participating in an agility demonstration at the Belconnen Dog Obedience Club today. Hoover was naughty and bolted a few times, but overall the dogs were good. I run both dogs but OH helps set up and put away the equipment - and takes photos! The jumps are on 300. The dogs jump 500 but because we were switching between dogs so much, it was easier just to leave it on 300.

Once ownership/risk/title passes to the new owner, there's really nothing that the breeder as the previous owner can do about it - the dog belongs to someone else. Desexing contracts etc can't be enforced unless you have a retention of title clause/retain part ownership. If you want to have joint ownership/have a retention of title clause though, if you want it to be enforceable, you'll also have to register it as a security interest under the PPS Act otherwise it's meaningless. Even then, you'll need at least a couple of thousand dollars to pay the court fees needed for a specific performance action in the Supreme Court - that's even if you have a lawyer willing to donate free legal time to help with documents etc. It's do-able but I don't know many people who have the time and funds to pursue such an action. You can certainly draft a breeders contract to increase the likelihood of its enforceability e.g in order to 'repossess' the dog in certain circumstances, I've tweaked with wording in the past to include concepts of reliance and also included what is in effect a call option (which is enforceable) but there's still the time and money needed to enforce such documents. You can also bolster your case by having transfer forms signed at time of contract to be held in escrow in case the breeder ever wishes to exercise the call option. In my view, the simpler the better - I've seen some pretty wordy, verbose breeder contracts that throw in a lot of fancy legal-sounding words that actually have zero legal effect and actually just cloud the purpose of the document and undermine the enforceability. Clearly drafted, persuasive breeder contracts can make buyers believe that they're at least bound morally even if there's no legal clout behind it because of the pain involved with enforcement.

Heh thank you! It was Mr KTB who took most of the good photos - I took a few of the 'cute' ones but he's the gifted photographer. Thank you! Dodge is a failed foster - inevitable when you foster dogs. I knew it would happen, just didn't realise it would happen so soon :) I have to say, I have so much respect for you wrangling FOUR dogs. Two dogs was easy, three dogs is such a logistical challenge, although Dodge fits in very well in the pack. Hoover is a happy little soul, he enjoys life in a way that I find very inspirational :laugh: :laugh: Everyone has a different favourite - all my dogs can be a bit spethal but I love them all dearly. Awww, thanks. We love our dogs and they really do live up to their names. Kelpie's do shed a lot but it's worth it - a well-bred Kelpie is SUCH a beautiful, smart and loyal dog.

My favourite of Hoover:

Doggies at South Durras

I hope Anthony is doing well! He's a lovely guy and saved our first foster dog Ollie!

I'm so sorry, persephone. I always loved seeing photos of Hamlet - so handsome and unique-looking

To be fair, dog colours are very confusing to the uninitiated :laugh: For instance, the colour that is 'red' in a border collie looks cream/yellow/gold/wheaten to someone else. The colour that is called 'red' in a Kelpie is liver in a dobermann (even though it is pretty much the same colour! :) Most people call my Hoover a coffee, brown or liver dog - very few people know that it is red. His 'tan' bits would be called gold or cream in another breed. If Hoover went missing, I'd probably describe him as a brown and gold colour rather than red and tan and if I had a red and white border collie that went missing, I'd probably describe it as yellow/gold/wheaten to maximise my chances of geting it back. There do seem to be a few colours that are consistent across breeds: - black is always the same colour - white is always the same colour - blue is always the same colour :D