baykinz

Of course a confirmation call is what is needed to determine the breeder's intentions, but it is probably a vain hope to expect any representative of Dogs QLD to conceal their identity when contacting a member. Doing so would open themselves up to complaint if the member in question found out about the investigation (and could possibly be a breach of their own code of conduct as appointed RNA members, although I wouldn't know). It's very different to contact someone as a private citizen than it is to contact someone as a representative of a business or other organisation pretending to be contacting them as a private citizen. Pretence like you mentioned with soliciting isn't quite the same, because the police are an organisation operating with the assumption that, at times, deception is very much under their purview and they have defined structures meant to guide how they use deception. I doubt Dogs QLD has that kind of framework in which to make decisions on appropriate and inappropriate deception, because they aren't an organisation operating under the assumption that they might need to use deception in their day-to-day business. Contacting the member with the details of the complaint is probably the only way Dogs QLD, or any relevant organising body, has to move forward without misrepresenting themselves, and it is unlikely they are able to move forward at all if they are prevented from presenting the complaint transparently. It's not very convenient and it may well prevent them from getting the bottom of the issue, but you're probably tilting at windmills trying to change it.

The most humane way to kill cane toads is to catch them, put them in a container with air holes in the fridge overnight (this makes them go all coma-y) and then kill them by putting them in the freezer, but Dettol spray seems to be the most common method (probably because catching cane toads and putting them in your fridge/freezer is terrifying and feels kind of gross). If you have a pond or other water on your property you can patrol for the eggs and dispose of them by burying them or drying them out in the sun. If you don't have still water on your land (and they therefore aren't breeding within your yard) you can try to keep them out by running a mesh screen all the way around your fence to eliminate any gaps for them to squeeze through. You would need to bury it and I think it needs to stand quite high. Tick control can depend upon your exact location. Certain places can be more tick-prone than others, and the prevalence of ticks varies with the weather, too. At my current home we back directly onto a park with a small amount of bush, and tick control plus checking the animals for ticks is very necessary all year long. We have found ticks on the animals well outside the October-April period. At my last house, however, we generally only needed to use control during the peak season, although you should still be checking for ticks regularly throughout the year even if you feel like you're in a low-tick area or if it's been cold (better to waste time fruitlessly checking than to miss one!).

There's some really beautiful photography in here. I feel a little overawed, posting my own snaps, but here are a few I took to play around with a new lens:

Since you asked about Canon, the two in the price range you're looking at, aimed at the strict point-and-shoot customer would be the Ixus 130IS (about $300-350) and the Ixus 210IS (about $450-500). There are a couple of other Canons sitting around that price range, but the Powershot range (and even the Ixus 300HS, which you could probably get for $500 if you looked around) tend to offer a few more complicated features like shutter priority modes that your mum probably doesn't need. Ixus 130IS 133g, 14.1 megapixels, 2.7" lcd, video 28mm -- 112mm equivalent Ixus 210IS 137g, 14.1 megapixels, 3.5" lcd touch screen, video 24mm -- 120mm equivalent What you pay for when you move up between these two models is the larger, touch-screen lcd, a bigger zoom range, and wider range of shutter speeds (the 210's fastest is 1/3000, and 130's is 1/1500). They both have image stabilisation. The 210 has some more advanced focussing software. For comparison, the Lumix at the same price point as the 130IS is the DMC FH20 (there are about four Lumix models more expensive than this that should be obtainable for $500 or less): 138g, 14.1 megapixels, 2.7" lcd, video 28mm -- 224mm equivalent It's got a much longer zoom, but no face recognition software when focussing. I believe it has a lot less modes when shooting, which is only a negative if you really want all the different shooting styles the Canons offer, and if you're looking for simplicity then you may well find they just clutter up the navigation. In terms of ease of use, the only way to really know what camera range your mum would find easiest would be if she were able to get into a shop and have a play with some of the demo models. Some brands are touted as easier to use than others, but it comes down to personal preference a lot of the time; different people find different brands easier to navigate.

A dog, like all animate beings, falls under the descriptor 'creature'. It is a dog with idiot owners and it is a creature.

That's not funny; it's awful! We had some pretty scary German Shepherds on our block when I was a kid, too, but they all stayed in their yards. The loose dog the neighbourhood kids were all afraid of was a medium-smallish white dog who ran loose (never saw a big dog off its leash while outside its yard as a kid) and I have many memories of running frantically down the street with him in hot pursuit. We used to run out in front of the cars on a busy road our street connected with because the dog wouldn't cross it and we were more afraid of being bitten than being hit! Obviously I'm lucky I haven't developed a complex about roaming white dogs under 40cm at the shoulder. :D

The only dog that has ever bitten me hard enough to break the skin was a little maltese-type creature. I saw it for the first time in the middle of the street, looking lost and dirty, so I had my mother pull the car over so I could pop out and check if it would come to me and if it had a tag with the owner's phone number. It came quite readily, but unfortunately with a lot more growling and snapping than I had expected. I wasn't quick enough at standing up (due to my initial shock at the bundle of fluff lunging at me) to avoid a small wound on my hand, and have since learnt that the nasty little creature lives in one of the houses on the street and is an enemy of all living things. It looked dirty, it seems, because when it escapes the owners just don't worry about it for a few days, and wait for the dog to return of its own accord. I can't imagine wanting to live with a dog that would happily engineer an escape from the garden in order to attack a wider variety of people and pets (and it's never seemed very friendly with its owners, either).

I love Elbie's 'dead' trick; it's so hammy. I am sure if he were human he'd have one hand over his forehead, one on his heart, loudly wailing "alas, you have slain me!" as he assumed an appropriately dramatic death position.

The only individuals whose behaviour you can predict or control in a public place are you and your dog, to whatever extent you have control over your dog. Even a well-behaved, dog-educated child can ignore a directive not to pat a strange dog if, for instance, the dog looks a lot like one they are very familiar with and identify as friendly. In their mind your dog is "just like <child friendly dog>" and they may not process a request not to pat, especially if the dog is off-leash, unmuzzled and doesn't issue a warning bark or growl until the child is very close. This doesn't make them stupid or naughty; even an intelligent kid doesn't think the same way as an adult. A poorly-behaved, ill-educated or excitable child, then, is just as likely to flat out ignore a stranger telling them what to do, even when the dog is completely unknown to them and issuing clear warning signs. Nobody has any kind of reliable control over other people's children, especially in a park context where the parents may be some distance away. The responsible thing to do is to ensure your dog is safe, and safe to be around, in the company of even wilfully disobedient kids lacking supervision from parents. A dog that might bite if a child touches it should be muzzled when off-lead in the presence of children, because whatever control you might have over the dog, you have absolutely none over the children.