korbin13

We did our 'pound puppy' with the BITSA test. Apart from taking a long time and being given a run around, we got a bit of a giggle out of it. She came back with a grandparent who would have been a neapolitan mastiff, and a great grandparent who would have been a stafford, another great grandparent who would have been a maltese! When people ask, we say she is a mastiff x maltese, just like to watch peoples jaws drop It did explain the extreme slobbering when eating though. If you are doing it just out of curiosity and have the dollars to spare, I would say go for it. I wouldn't like to use it for a 'life or death' situation so to speak.

Would love it thanks! Of course I will pay for it and postage!

I am looking for a dog pedometer or possibly even a gps. I take my two for off leash bush walks and have often wondered how far they travel. I can do my distance but obviously they are running ahead and back to me all the time so I was just interested to see the distance they do. This is only for interest sake so I don't want to spend a fortune. Google hasn't been kind, only came up with a site that no longer stocks the dog pedometers. I don't think that a human one would work. I have even considered strapping my iphone on one of them with the gps ap that I use to calculate my distance! Any ideas? Thanks

I haven't heard of tethering but I do know of people who have been advised to use the long stay. They have had success with this in conjunction with NILIF. They now swear by it.

I don't have any suggestions, sorry. But just wanted to say I hope your old boy gets well. I love old Staffords.

Seems like it is more of an individual dog thing. Recently I was speaking to a friend who has three dogs and she was glad they don't smell 'doggy' as they spend most of their time inside and she hates doggy smelling homes. Unfortunately her house in fact does smell quite doggy! So I think that individual perception and sense of smell adds to the 'doggy smell'. By the way, I don't say anything as it is her house and it isn't overpowering as such and her house is very clean. I am quite happy to go over and have a cuppa surrounded by three furries

Mine love fish but I don't like the mess. While at the seafood counter buying prawns for the cat, I spotted the seafood extender. My dogs love it and it is really smelling so I mix it up with the other treats. And it is clean and easy to cut up.

I too am finding this a really interesting read! I have found with my Stafford that when she plays with a new puppy or small dog, she will often go on her back for quite a while and play with them that way. She will get up and wrestle but spends 90% of the time on her back. But I do watch closely whenever there is any play, if she gets up on her hind legs, I take her out of the play!

I normally try to avoid these type of videos as I upset easily (yep I'm a sook!) but this was so inspiring and really quite uplifting. Thanks for posting.

Here is a bit more of the story for those who are interested. Considering the poor dog had been tied up for 20 to 30 minutes, it may have become stressed? http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/owner-ch...0119-19wll.html Poor boy (both human and dog) Oh and apparently in WA we have cohroaches!!

I had a friend who did this. I think that it is the sensible thing to do. The dog ended up living quite a long time, she got married and had children but the dog stayed with her parents but she always took care of it as well as her parents. I think that it's sweet, like a true family dog.

I think many of those who keep their dogs outside are neither aware of those arguments nor of the responsiblity they have to ensure that their dog's needs are met. I've said either can be done well but the onus on spending time with an outside only dog is higher.. and frequently not acknowledged. I think many dog owners don't even consider the issue. Dogs are outside because "that's where dogs belong". Asking them to explain why reveals those cultural perceptions I posted out earlier. Point out that physically isolating a social, pack animal is not natural for the dog and they look at you like you're crazy. I've got two of these kinds of owners as close neighbours. And I get to listen to their dogs.. a lot. Most of these type of people get a dog because they were cute puppies.......

When I was in the Army they paid for pets to be transported. If that is the same, hiring would be they way to go.

Use a green bowl, then you can't tell Yeah it has to be kept out of the sun.

The kids next door stopped hitting, kicking their balls over the fence once my dogs started deflating them! Their parents were quite sensible though, I took back a particularly expensive Sherrin football back deflated (because I felt guilty, the ball would have been worth over $100). The dad told the kid that he hopes that teaches him to either go to the park or not kick it so hard. I offered to pay but the dad would have none of it.

Thanks for the info regarding restrictions. NT is the same as WA then. Good to see there are some non reactive pollies in ACT! As for the bloodlines, my sons friends father (got it!) was breeding pitbulls but got out of it a while ago, way before BSL. Apparently he was having trouble finding suitable sires and dams, most were crosses. The most common he said was mastiff or bulldog crossings trying to be passed off as purebreds. I wish I had taken more interest at the time as I am still quite confused over the pitbull breed.

I was under the impression you could have one in NT or ACT? Or is this not the case?

Having looked at the AQIS site it looks as though you could just say that your pet is a staffy x and hope no one disputes it? Would be an expensive risk but some people will do anything!

Hi Korbin, It took a while for me to get Keira into the swimming, ie she was always trying to get out and would at any opportunity but after a lot of treats whilst swimming and once she calmed down and could play ball she now LOVES it, absolutely LOVES it, I just throw a ball for her and she is in no coaxing needed. Get whatever motivates your dog the most and use that to show them that the pool is fun. Honestly I find it so rewarding to sit by the pool and throw the ball for Keira because you can see she just absolutely enjoys it, I wish I had a pool so I could do it with her everyday! EDIT: I know some people are not comfortable "forcing" their dog to do something the reason I did was because she had the dodgy hips (BTW she stopped limping the day after her first swim!) but as I said well worth it when they really start to love it. Thanks for the info. I think that I'm going to put a bit more effort into a bit of pool work. It would do them a world of good. Funny thing is that they love their clam shell. And Bell will often stick her whole head in her drinking water :D Yet they freak out over the pool

We have had four days of over 36 degrees here. I take mine for a daily offleash bush walk but today have decided to give them a break. They run so hard that I worry they will pass out. We have a pool but I can't convince them to swim in it, which is shame as it would be great for them as the summers are so hot here!

Along the same lines as SecretKei, I have come across young men with purebred pitbulls, their mate of a mate told them, you see. Actually most of them are Amstaff X's or SBT X's. Most of them are quite proud of their acquisition, all BSL has done is turn these poor dogs into trophy dogs I was told at Christmas time I was cruel as I was keeping my 14 year old JRT cross alive as he is now deaf!! What the...........he is also a bit blind but still goes for a small walk every second day, can still crunch down a bone and we play fetch each day (although the ball doesn't get thrown too far!) Wouldn't believe me that there are quite a few dogs that live full lives even though they are deaf!!

Thank you Poodlefan. You learn something new everyday. I had seen martingales but not the others. Some of them look quite good.

Excuse my ignorance but what is a slip/limited slip collar?

Koolie is on their list of breeds that they can identify though. Not sure if I can post the link? This is interesting for me, as we have done the BITSA test as a bit of fun for our pound puppy. They rang to confirm the dogs name and advise that they were putting the results in the mail that day, apparently they can't email or phone the results through. I still haven't received the results three weeks later! And I can't get anyone to return my calls or emails....anyway if they aren't here after Christmas I'll be taking it further. A bit of fun has turned into a horror, although after reading this thread, I wonder if the 30kg puppy will come back as a toy poodle?!

I use tennis balls but I also use toys that sink (rope tugs) as they love to duck their heads under the water to find out whats at the bottom.