Remarkabull

Me either. Same here. If you love a breed of dog isn't it for reasons other than just appearance? I know that looks are at least part of the appeal but to say that if you couldn't have a dog without it's tail being docked then I just assume that you must not feel very passionately about that breed after all, maybe it is just about looks for some people? I LOVE Dobermann's with or without a tail, however they come it wouldn't stop me from owning one.

My sister had 2 boxers, they both stunk to high heaven! I really think it is an individual thing, kind of like with people, some have a stronger odor than others. My 5 dogs are all fed the same diet and they spend alot of times indoors, our yard has no dirt or muddy areas, just grass and concrete however they all have a different smell. One in particular gets a bit of doggy odor about him and needs to be washed once a fortnight to keep the smell away, the others can go longer than that without starting to smell. I also like doggy smell it doesn't bother me at all, but I try to wash all the dogs fortnightly so when people come over the house doesn't reek of dog!

Have you ever actually been pig hunting? I have, and not once in the 10 years I went hunting with my ex and his brother (and numerous other people) did I ever see such a thing happen. Where they are from you get paid by the kg for a pig so there is no way they would use a dog that would do any more than hold a pig by the ears. If a pig was ripped up then it would be rejected and they wouldn't get paid for it. Not only that, all dogs had to be stock proof. There is no way a farmer would let someone on his property if the dogs were going to attack cows or sheep (the dog would get shot and you would be lucky if the farmer didn't shoot you as well). I'm not saying that there are not horrible p0eople out there that enjoy seeing 2 animals 'go at it' with each other but do you think that banning pig hunting is going to stop those kind of people? It certainly hasn't stopped illegal dog fights.

I'm actually pretty offended that people would think my dog looks 'bad' simply because he has a tail. I promise you that he gets fawned over and I am always told how lovely he is everywhere we go. (He looks nothing like a Lab, skinny or otherwise ) Like I said before, I really like the look of a cropped tail but I love Dobes for more than the way they look. I mean it's not as if it is a mutation or anything, they haven't been born with a 5th leg or 2 heads or something equally terrible that would make you go 'eww, that's horrible'. The fact is docking is banned in Aus and it's very unlikely that it will be allowed in the future so shouldn't everyone just accept it and get on with it? Edit - Agree with you Poodlemum

I like the look of a cropped tail on Dobes/Rotties etc, however my current Dobe has a tail and I actually really like it. IT is such an expressive part of his body and can and does tell me alot about his mood. There is nothing nicer than seeing your dogs tail wag or when they are focused on something and it is up at attention, curling over his back. For those that think it is 'weird' or 'just doesn't look right' that is simply because you are used to seeing such breeds without them and in time will become used to a tail. If you would choose not to own a breed of dog simply because you can no longer have it's tail docked then I would say you must not truly love the breed at all (JMO). (Just adding that when I say 'you' I mean people in general, not anyone in particular) :D

Well, when you see the same breeders regularly having puppies for sale, you know they are not showing so why would they keep breeding litters? It's certainly not to produce themselves a top dog, but their prices are way up there. I would say that if the puppies they are producing are healthy and well adjusted and the parents are being well looked after and have been health tested and not overbred then I truly don't have a problem with it. If you can make money doing something you enjoy and you are not harming anyone then whats the big deal?

I paid $1500 for Acheron (Dobermann, obviously ) and that price seemed to be fairly common for the breed, although there was a number of breeders that I had been looking into that charged a fair bit more than that (I had mainly been researching working lines and some were wanting $2500 for a pup but one wanted $4000 for a pup on main rego ) and to be honest I thought some of them were a rip off. I found Acheron's breeders by accident (we met them at a dog show) and they had exactly what I wanted. I was more than happy to pay what I did and think it is a reasonable price for a Dobe.

Again, it reads as if you believe the laws don't apply to your dog because your dog is somehow special or better behaved than most. This simply isn't the case. Not only is it irresponsible, it also reads as being more than a little arrogant. The same laws apply to your dog as they apply to everyone else, you are not above the law. It sounds alot like a childs logic ( you know, just because they haven't hurt themselves yet by doing something dangerous they think they never will). There is always a first time for everything and the first time that your dog stops listening to you may be the last thing it ever does. Is it really worth it? I have a DA dog and she has attacked small dogs (twice) in the past that have approached her (not aggressively, just run up to say hi). Without fail the owners of said dogs have always laid the blame at my dogs feet because she was the one that caused harm, they never once considered that their dog would never have been hurt if it had been on a lead on contained in it's yard. I once was told that my Bull Terrier (RIP) should be PTS by a man whose SWF had just bolted from the front yard, crossed a main road and ignored the repeated attempts from the owner to call the dog back because I had to pick her up to stop her from killing his stupid dog. He thought it was so funny when I first picked her up because he though she was scared of his dog but when I snapped at him that I picked her up so she didn't eat his dog he went off the deep saying I 'shouldn't have a dog like that because it is dangerous'. She (BT) was NOT DA but I wasn't willing to take the risk that she wouldn't retalliate against the SWF.

What is a 'proper' hospital? The clinic my dog went to also had x-ray machines (I know because I had to develop the films when I worked there), it also had equipment for pathology. I said it was the only clinic in town, not that it was a run down, shoddy second rate clinic. I don't think that the fact that the so called 'proper' hospital has someone there 24/7 or that it has lot's of equipment is a good enough reason to over charge people for what is essentially fairly basic treatment. They would not need to use any of it to treat the dog in question so why should the owner have to pay for them having it? I will add that a few months after I started working at this clinic I brought in a friends dog for treatment of Parvo and told the vet that I would be paying for it as my friend could not afford the $600 and the vet then told me that I could just cover the cost of the bags of fluid used and any drugs given. When said dog was released a few days later and I asked how much I owed them I was told that $100 would more than cover the costs. Your vet was very generous. The costs did not cover any rent of property, nor use of equipment nor staff time which all adds up to the cost of the bill. They were generous, they didn't have to do that for me, but there was no real use of equipment, dog spent all day lying in a cage, staff time is fairly minimal, just cleaning of cage when needed. What I'm getting at is that I understand that some of the larger hospitals and 24 hour emergency clinics have much higher running costs and therefore are always going to charge more than a 'normal' vet clinic but I still think that the amount quoted is so OTT and just seems like pure greediness in comparison to the care and equipment that a dog with Parvo is actually going to require. I'm letting it go now, I'll just seethe in silence at how unjust I think it is To the OP, I truly hope you dog gets better and you have many happy years together like I have with my old girl.

What is a 'proper' hospital? The clinic my dog went to also had x-ray machines (I know because I had to develop the films when I worked there), it also had equipment for pathology. I said it was the only clinic in town, not that it was a run down, shoddy second rate clinic. I don't think that the fact that the so called 'proper' hospital has someone there 24/7 or that it has lot's of equipment is a good enough reason to over charge people for what is essentially fairly basic treatment. They would not need to use any of it to treat the dog in question so why should the owner have to pay for them having it? I will add that a few months after I started working at this clinic I brought in a friends dog for treatment of Parvo and told the vet that I would be paying for it as my friend could not afford the $600 and the vet then told me that I could just cover the cost of the bags of fluid used and any drugs given. When said dog was released a few days later and I asked how much I owed them I was told that $100 would more than cover the costs.

was the dog at a 24/7 facility with a vet always present though? Did the dog stay overnight? By your prices, they charged $100/day, including all treatment. I have never heard of a hospital charging that little these days (not questioning the truth, just saying I don't think a place could operate these days and charge so little). When my boy went to hospital, it was over $300 per night before ANY treatment. That was covering his boarding and staffing fees. She stayed there for 6 days, including overnight. It was the only vet in the whole town, One of the vets lived on the premises, and would check on patients overnight (if any of them were deemed serious enough to warrant it), no boarding fees were charged, she was a patient not a boarder. The only treatment she required for the first few days was the changing of her IV and cleaning of her cage, which is left up to the nurses, vet only looked at her twice a day, as would be the case in most clinics. Once it was clear she had improved and was likely to survive she received a couple of injections and on the second last day a small amount of food. Hardly worth $2000-$4000 IMO. I'm sure the cost of IV fluids has gone up since then but I seriously doubt that a vet needs to charge thousands of dollars to cover the cost of them. The thing is with Parvo and gastro there is not alot that anyone can do once they are on fluids, so having a vet there 24 hours a day is not going to up the chances of survival. If it was a different kind of illness or injury then having staff there 24/7 might be a plus worth paying for.

I must say I'm pretty gobsmacked at that price and variation as well. What's the breakdown of costs out of curiosity? All the best for your little pup. If it is a 24/7 hospital (the only type I'd let my dog stay at overnight) then that price is very reasonable. When my boy was sick with extreme gastro I landed up paying just shy of $4000. Running a 24/7 facility with the right equipment and vets present all the time is very expensice. When my dog had parvo she was in hospital for 6 days, no blood transfusion needed (have not ever heard of that one) and it cost me $600. I have worked for a number of vets over the years and have never heard of parvo treatment going over $1000. I have also never seen a case that required a blood transfusion . Treatment is IV fluids and not much else (or was in the places I worked). Nearly all dogs\pups survived and those that didn't were either too far gone when they were brought in or were not very healthy pups to begin with.

I've had a dog with parvo and she pulled through just fine. She is now 9 years old and has never been sick again a day in her life. I also believe your pup has a good chance of survival. Most vets are very cautious about giving a good prognosis with parvo so don't let that get you too down, try to keep positive. She will get worse before she gets any better and it's very distressing to see, so not a bad idea for you not to visit her unless and until she shows signs of improvement. A little OT but $2000 - $4000 for treatment of parvo sounds completely ridiculous and I am gobsmacked that a vet would charge so much for it. If she pulls through I would search for another vet to use in the future who is more reasonably priced.

He attack 4 people, but what did the people do on the first bite to the dog?. Did they say good boy give him a pat, or did one of the peoples give him a belting because he bite, or maybe 4 people try and fight the dog and he switch into defense drive in the fear response thinking the people going to kill him. It's fair for the dog to defend himself, maybe the people not handle the situation best and making the dog attack we dont know this? He may have just growl first then one people smack him and start from there, maybe nothing wrong with the dog other than he live with a house of dickheads perhaps? A dog he must not bite the human is a law the dog he dont read the law and know that, hes a dog and he bite under the stress can happen, no dog has exempting to this when the buttons is pressed to cause him to a reaction, yes. Joe Agree with this. We don't know what happened to set this dog off. I can tell you now that I've had dogs that would never bite a human, no matter what was done to them, but I have also had dogs (that have been wonderful, obedient family pets) that would never allow themselves to be abused by a person, myself included. If anyone had tried to really lay into them then they would defend themselves, aggressively if necessary, as I believe they have every right to do. Maybe this dog is a nasty dog who is unstable and should be PTS, but maybe it is a dog that was put under alot of stress or was backed into a corner and felt like it had to protect itself. I think it should be assessed before PTS and a full investigation into what happened just prior to the 'attack' should also happen and be taken into account before condemning this particular dog. ETA I think that almost all cases of 'attacks' should have this happen before PTS, not just this one because of it's breed.

Would like to know what happened prior to the attack, not too many details there. Very distressing.

My little dogs jump up and down as they please (but only one actually sleeps on the bed, the other 2 sleep outside) and the Dobe jumps up when invited and gets down when told to.

I had a rant a couple of weeks ago about a dog fight that I broke up and almost got my face punched in by the owner of the offending dog for my trouble. Since then I have seen her walking this dog OFF LEAD at least 3 times! Her dog cause massive trauma to the other dog and the initial cost of the surgery it required was over $1000 and yet she is still walking it without a lead. Another annoying thing is a lady that lives up the road from us. She walks 2 dogs every afternoon, one of which she has admitted 'doesn't like other dogs' and she walks behind our house (we back on to a fairly busy road) with her dogs of lead and they run up and down our fence with my dogs chasing them snarling and snapping and barking like maniacs. We always call our dogs back inside and just yesterday she calls out to my husband 'it's ok they're just playing'! How can she not realise that if the fence was not there there would be a serious dog fight happening? Some people really give me the s!*ts.

Not sure about cats but I had a dog that was 'breedist'. He was a Dobe and he hated Rotties and SBT's. He was entire and loved the ladies but even a entire bitch of either of those breeds would not be tolerated by him. He was facinated by Mal's and Sibes and Sammies, was good with other Dobes and most mixed breed dogs (unless they looked like SBT or Rotty crosses) and his best mate was a male Kelpie X that he used to do Flyball with, so it wasn't a male thing, just a breed thing.

back yard accident here too! Was walking to the line to hang a load of clothes and tripped over a dog! Ended up breaking the head off my elbow (ow) and had to have surgery (after waiting almost 2 days to get an X-ray, but I did get given the BEST painkillers ever, I was a zombie for those 2 days )

I see so many people get a puppy, play really rough games with it, let it bite and mouth them and then all of a sudden they expect the dog to know that it shouldn't 'play rough' or nip and bite anymore. We had a neighbour that had a SBT X and they used to let their 4 year old daughter wrestle with it and hit it if it was 'naughty', she spent more time with the dog (without supervision) than she did with her mother, so much time that she started to squat to pee and poo on the grass just like the dog did, truly this kid was turning feral. I could see that at times the dog had had enough of this kid and would react to the child like she was another dog or litter mate and I always warned them that one day the dog would turn and bite her (at the very least) or possibly kill her due to lack of supervision. They always insisted that the dog and child were 'best mates' and that the dog 'loved' her and would never hurt her. My own dogs have never and will never be allowed to mouth or play too roughly with anyone, adult or child. I also have a rule that my kids are not allowed to smack or man handle the dogs. ETA I think so many of the 'attacks' could have been so easily prevented and would probably never have happened had the owners had more knowledge about dogs and dog behaviour. So amny people truly have no idea.

remember in the traditional context this process had a reason. How many of your dogs were hunters or full time workers? None, but I was saying it in reference to another poster saying that they had heard that 'floppy' ears can mean more smell and infections etc. Just saying that none of my dogs have ever had that problem even though they have floppy ears. Personally I like the way the cropped ears look, but would not do it to any of my dogs because in this day and age it is not necessary and is simply for the vanity of the owner. ETA Actually one of my dogs is a retired pig dog (been a while so I tend to forget) and from all of the hunting dogs I have known of none of them have had injuries to their ears.

4 Dobes and a number of X bred dogs with floppy ears and no health issues with any of them. Also no guarantee that it will end up a nice job. I have seen plenty of pics of dogs with butchered ears and there is no fixing it once it has gone wrong.

Dobermann's are definitely my heart breed but I would love a Afghan Hound and a French Bulldog one day. If I could though I'd also want a Giant Schnauzer (black), a British Bulldog (which is my OH favorite breed) and another Bull Terrier (miniature this time round)

I feed raw to all 5 of my dogs and I think it's cheaper than buying a premium kibble. I don't have a extra freezer so everything has to fit in the 'human food' one! I feed minced chicken frames mixed with eggs (including shell), yoghurt, offal, crushed flaxseed (or oil), kelp powder, sardines (tinned and whole fresh ones when I can get them), apple cider vinegar and sometimes I'll add leftovers or fruit and vegies. It varies every day which of the ingredients I use in the mix (never the same every day). Twice a week instead of the mince mix I feed horse or buffalo bones (with plenty of meat on them) and that is their meal for the day. I also give fish heads as a special treat once a week and another once a week treat is a milk mixture that another poster uses - milk (I use either lactose free or goats milk as one of my dogs is lactose intolerant), eggs and honey. It can be a pain sometimes to have to 'make' the dogs dinner every night but they really love it and have great skin and coats and are very healthy and I also have complete control over what they are eating.