gwenneth1
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Everything posted by gwenneth1
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Speechless..........
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Poor little kid, very sad to hear. More tofuzzy82's post, when we've had a pup out in a public area (3 mths) with our older dog, the older dog uncharactistically became standoffish with people and began 'guarding' and becoming protective of our pup (they're same sex). We had to take steps to address the situation, with now good results, but it did take us by surprise that "Mr Reliable" had a sudden personality change.
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I personally don't feel equipment and training will make much difference without enforceable accountability and feel that will be nigh impossible in Indonesia if their history of atrocities/abuses against people that have occurred in East Timor and PNG (and by some accounts are continuing) with absolutely zip accountability for those responsible. I feel that 'mere' animals will not seriously warrant any real accountability at this point in time. Reports filtering through livestock sources have said that the up to 95% of abbattoirs in Indonesia have "....serious problems" which have been known about for a long time (One may interpret "serious problems" as they wish) despite ongoing training. The cattle industry is seriously angry with organisations involved in live export, that they have paid levies and fees too, which supposedly resolve welfare issues, training and so forth and avoid unmitigated disasters like the one that is occurring. Unfortunately successive Australian Governments have proved to be be void of any intestinal fortitude whatsoever when it comes to Indonesia (for example Balibo 5).Over ten years of 'working with Indonesia is a long enough 'trial' for me to conclude that implementation and enforcement of regulations is simply not going to happen in the foreseeable future. I'm also not going to psycho analyse why some people have a predisposition towards inhumane acts towards something more vulnerable, but I do believe that those with such tendencies will not be 'educated or trained' out of that tendency without some incentive eg the threat that their source of livelihood will cease immediately. AGain a sincere 'policing' of this, I believe, will not transpire. Australia does need to 'clean up its own backyard' regarding animal welfare issues, livestock intensive farming and it's 'processing plants' included. Cargills USA/Canada has used Dr Temple Grandin's model to minimise stressors and provide a relatively humane alternative from what I've seen and hopefully it will be in the best interest of plants for public relations sake if nothing else, to embrace such models. I feel the way forward to combat the anti-meat feeling slowly permeating potential buyers, is continually strive for such improvements for long term positive outcomes. Australia has more transparency than Indonesia, which is why local (too slowly) welfare issues are being addressed. We have a fierce Animal Welfare Officer at the local saleyards where cruelty is not tolerated, (along with addressing issues of transportation of vealers). I am not suggesting for a minute that all is peachy in Australia although comparatively speaking, we are light years ahead of Indonesia in terms of recognistion of animal welfare. I come from a family whose livelyhood depends upon cropping and cattle, our preference is to have regional abbattoirs once again operating which would regenerate those areas which keenly felt the closures.I will note that we did not nor seek sales to the live export industry as we found a steady productivity within local market. Exporting processed and chilled meat o/s is my personal preference for many reasons and religion does play a part due to the mistrust that boxed beef processed here may not have been 'done' in accordance with Islamic practices. I am guessing from the limited information I have that the ban on exporting beef would hurt local markets short term before the usual balancing out is made, but northern producers in the top end are the ones who will suffer financially the most due to remote location and (to my knowledge) no local meat processing plants. I grew up in an era (getting old!) where home slaughtering was done, I was about 12 when I first saw a steer slaughtered via a bullet, it was instantaneous and I did so at that time because I thought if I eat it I should have the guts to watch it die. I felt sorry for it, but at the same time relieved that it didn't suffer at all. I know I could not personally watch the way those cattle in Indonesia suffered and died which the final decider (amongst others) for me supporting a proposed ban. (I will most likely take a hit in my hip pocket and the Angus I was looking at once with $ signs has lost some of their glean.) I am usually one of the people who has a certain amount of healthy cynicism when it comes to Animal rights/green groups as I've found an extreme element to some of them, however the chinese whispers about these practices have been circulating for many years outside of these groups and in livestock sources themselves, but often attributed to 'urban myth' type of stories when mentioned in public circles. Urban myth no more. This post is just my personal views and I am not egocentric enough (yet....ha!) to believe I am "right" or "wrong" because it is a highly emotive and sometimes interesting subject but I have especially appeciated some of the points of views from both sides of the fence when it has been done in an eloquent manner.
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Complain-I'd be distinctly unimpressed about the lack of communication. It doesn't matter if the staff were young or not on duty, it is up to Management to keep clients up to date and informed of any changes that occur with dogs in their care.
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Pig Hunts May Get The Bullet Over Use Of Dogs
gwenneth1 replied to RottnBullies's topic in In The News
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Pig Hunts May Get The Bullet Over Use Of Dogs
gwenneth1 replied to RottnBullies's topic in In The News
What really infuriates me about the whole pigging debate with DPI and National Parks etc is the hypocrisy. They can decry the practice of pigging as cruel,yet happily acknowledge and support commerical, intsensive farmed piggeries, which in my mind the quality of "life"for those animals is absolutely zilch. By the way, where were the Greens outrage at the massacre and utter ineptness of the culling of brumbies, in which horses were left to die or to be cleaned up four hours later, mares aborting foals as they lay dying, carried out I believe by National Parks? I won't even start about the fuel loads building in some state forests, but I will touch on the penguins being burnt to death by a usual ill managed and conceived burn off by the erstwhile "Environment Department" (which they quaintly referred to as a success until their dirty secret came to light) and who can forget the "brilliant idea" of branding seals by Australian Government's Antarctic division ? The list of mismangement and cruel practices by various government departments supposedly looking after tax payer funded reserves and parks is atrocious, yet here we have a token few up in arms about the using dogs to manage feral pigs? As my previous post indicated, I do not condone those token few morons indulging a passion for bloodsport with dogs and pigs, but perhaps those who past judgement about issues that happen on the land who have been happily living in their city dwellings could walk a mile in their countrymen's collective shoes for a while or maybe go or attend to a mauled lamb or weakened sheep half eaten by pigs. Probably the worse was a heifer stuck in a bore drain that had her backside eaten out by a mob of pigs but didn't have the luck to die outright until she was shot to put her out of her agony. What does the DPI or Environment departments think of those who employ the use of livestock guardian breeds to protect their chose stock (poultry; sheep, horses; free range pigs etc) against feral pigs; dogs;foxes? Those large breeds are a deterrent, but also killed feral and noxious animals who have preyed upon their stock. Is that to be "managed" as well? Of course landownershave a LEGAL OBLIGATION under legislative acts to control feral animals but as long as it isn't deemed inappropriate by Government control agencies (of course poison isn't!!!???). I am so fed up with a ignorant Greenie or Government pen pusher sitting in their ivory towers passing regulations and judgements on to people trying to make it work on the land all the while eating their Australian farmed meal and"tut tutting" about how farmer's conduct themselves and then approving cruel and hairbrained schemes as mentioned above! As far as caring for wildlife, well those poor pluvers, ducks and other bird species who have flightless young on the ground cop it but good from feral animals. -
Hmm, no, never had a dog with a food based name butI've heard of other dogs (sorry, spelling probably wrong) called 'Tutti Frutti", "Pistachio " ; "Cherry"; "Sorbet" "Muffin"; "Mango"; "Waffles" ; "Callebaut" and "Caramel" "Peanut"........think that's it. I hear of a clever names like the following, I wish my imagination was a bit bettter: "Our dogs are named after food - Jindi for cheese and Henschke for wine (wine and cheese as the two go so well together). Previous dogs also had cheese names, Stilton for a Kerry Blue and Tilba for a Lab."
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Pig Hunts May Get The Bullet Over Use Of Dogs
gwenneth1 replied to RottnBullies's topic in In The News
Like anything, you get your "cowboys/yobbos" who actually use dogs and pigs for entertainment against each other, which is point blank barbaric. I had a pet pig growing up (yep, can you hear them thar banjoes playin? ) and she was as smart and personable as any dog I had owned, so I do not enjoy seeing or hearing about them ripped up for fun. These same sort of yobbos (may I say, we have found generally high percentage of such come from the city areas) are the types that shoot up any animal that comes within their view, including my bloody mare and foal! (To which there is no symbol I can insert to show my utter fury and disgust!), they also leave their poor dogs behind once fun is up and in no way represent a professional, experienced shooters who are concentrating on doing the job at hand with minimum fuss or danger!!! My brother had used dogs for "pigging", the dogs were well trained and protected and pigs were disposed off quickly by him and he is an "A" grade shot who competes regularly with clay pigeon as well. My brother is also, like I believe most hunters are, very experienced , from the land type of people, whom everyone would be happy to meet and get help from if they were broken down on the side of a road. An illiterate, redneck, vulgar man he is not and certainly not a spousal abuser or potential serial killer in the making. Making those comments are ill informed and inflammatory not to mention counter productive to any real argument being made. Overgrown and scrubby State forests, now generally locked up from public access, are full of feral pigs that aren't touched and causing havoc on neighbouring farming areas. I have to say the old baiting system of using 1080 ( Schedule 7 Restricted poison ) isn't that humane either. Using dogs to flush out and temporarily hold a pig until a kill shot can be made may not be ideal, but in some cases it's the best option available and in my mind, a much better option than 1080. It's probably also not ideal in somes mind to use dogs to move stock and do a nose bite on occasion, but sometimes it just is necessary when you are dealing with semi-wild cattle and it may offend the sensibilities of some, but I bet those same "some" are happily leather wearing/using, meat eating, dairy consuming types as well. The word hypocrite springs to my mind. -
I had a docked breed -hypocritcially I liked the look of a short tail better on some breeds ,but I was never in favour of docking so actually asked the breeder not to dock a pup (she refused because pup selection was done at six weeks and she was not going to leave them all undocked so I could pick one, which I understood and besides at that age she felt it was too old to be done) . Now, I am use to a long tail on them, I actually don't mind 'tails' at all although when I look at breeds such as Rotties or Dobes, it still looks a bit 'weird' to me to see them with tails to be honest, especially for some reason Rotties but I suppose in years to come, most people couldn't really imagine them without a full length tail. I think Dobes look 'softer' with a tail, but not Rotties (?? god knows how my brain works ) An edit, because I wanted to add that some breeds of poultry traditiontally have their combs and wattles dubbed/cropped/cut off for show purposes, so go figure how one species is considered over another for scrutiny is a bit baffling.
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Ditto!
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Ditto, I saw a similar situation in a showground area with a "Professional Trainer" and a client with a large Rottie. Everything about this trainer was aggressive, the way he talked (loud, clipped tones), walked, gestured-all of it projected non stop on to this dog, who from where I was sitting was a strong, happy boisterous dog with an owner who both needed help. Needless to say, watching the session was not disimilar to watching a head on collision in slow motion. Hanging a shingle out proclaiming expertise doesn't make one an expert. I've had the pleasure of watching a couple of people working different dogs and the way they can individualise 'training' to suit the dog at the time and know when/how to apply things is amazing. I think people like that are definitely gifted, I wish I had that gift for sure. I find it curious that BOTH your dogs are having the same 'technique' applied, are they identical in nature and behaviour? As far as tying up, I do with my dogs for short periods, if I'm entering an area , say, Stallion's paddock, it is safer for me and them to be tied out side. Since I'm not 100% confident of the sit-stay working for a longer period of ten minutes, a short tie up is safest and my dogs are quite happy/tracatable at the time. The "no free pats" regime-who knows with your dogs. I have a couple that are by my definition 'spoilt' and become more eager to please, another goes better on being made to 'work' for a pat. I agree with assertions by many that extended periods of tying/chaining a dog leads to potential territorial/aggression issues from what I have seen in the past on my family's farm, although I don't think that was what the DogTech trainer was suggesting. I would happily go to somebody with a talent/gift for training to learn as much as I could, but it's sepearting those who've read a little bit of Milan or other books and think they're an expert which is the problem because of the potential for screwing up a dog's mind. I frequently read forums/discussions on DOL and other sites, because sometimes you read of a recommended and praised 'trainer' (not in my state, as this one turned out to be) or even glean some helpful information.
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ditto
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Nothing surprises me with PETA- I foolishly attempted to reason with a spokesperson from the group regarding bullbreeds of dogs. This woman absolutely felt that to end the suffering of potential candidates of dog fighting, was to gradually annihiliate dogs that came from a historical breed used: APBT's; Amstaffs; Staffies; etc or crossbreds with the potential for fighting. They felt the destruction of such breeds were ultimately better than ending up in the inhumane hands (about the only thing I agreed with was branding such people using and abusing dogs "inhumane"). How many breeds and thousands of dogs this would end up affecting is bewildering to think about it. When I said, so hypothetically speaking, when there are no such breeds, what happens when these "people" start using Dobes, Rotties; GSD's etc as substitutes for bullbreeds. No actual answer, just more rhetoric spewed forth. They seemed quite radical and the lack insight they have into their own standards and behaviours is something to behold, so using "sexploitation' doesn't surprise me in the least.
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Pardon my ignorance, but could somebody tell me what this award is about? "Diane Gunn Scarcella Award -"
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A work colleague of mine (this is going back about 8 yrs ago) had her two staffy x dogs escape from her yard. (This remains a semi-mystery how, because there was no evidence of digging out, jumping over etc, she presumes that a meter reader who was going around that day did not secure the side gate properly although in the fallout, naturally it was vehmently denied by Elec Company). Colleague found out when Police notified her at workplace that dogs were seized and one had been shot and was now kept at Police compound. Dog was NOT given any veterinarian treatment and was left to bleed within the compound for several hours. Police said they received a complaint of two "wild Pit Bulls terrorising the street and had gone to capture dogs where one was threatening so was "winged" to subdue him" Close neighbours told colleague dogs were running around the street playing with each other and weeing on everything in sight, but at no stage were menacing anybody, except to cunningly keep an arms distance from a neighbour so they could enjoy their day out. Police turned up gave chase, one was cornered against its home's colourbond fence WHILE TRYING TO FIND A WAY BACK IN and in neighbour's words "was used for target practice by young cop", horrified neighbour started yelling at cop and raising hell, young cop did not keep shooting. In Police report "Dog threatened officer with imminent attack" was used to justify shooting the dog. Cut a long story short, Police Prosecutor did a great job on Colleague saying we won't object to you paying a fine and having your dogs back, but if it goes to court we will be presenting a dangerous dog case and asking for dogs to be euthanised and if you fight it, the dogs will have to stay in compound until case is concluded. Highly distraught Colleague copped a fine, kept mouth shut and collected dogs, took shot dog to Vet immediately.. Shot dog made a full recovery, Vet complained to Police of treatment of dog. Of course, this is the brief version of the whole story, but after that, I have VERY LITTLE FAITH in some over zealous and moronic officials involved in such cases . I had met these dogs and while one was a boisterous type in need of some consistent training, both were dog and people friendly types. I know there are instances where dogs with stupid owners are a real threat, but I now ALWAYS wonder if there is another side to the story.
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Yep, confirmed worrier here. This why I will not breed, I'm not internally wired for that amount of worry...............
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Never seen the asian ones, only the natives. Tracey, you have to learn to say what's on your mind, you'll never get anywhere if you keep holding back.
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ditto that- they're gorgeous little things.
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Why Is Aus Becoming So Non Dog Friendly
gwenneth1 replied to Inevitablue's topic in General Dog Discussion
I was told by a guy I know who sails around Australia, that he was fined in southern nsw marine park waters because he had a jr on board within those waters. -
I'm still getting over the 'cull' Parks and Wildlife Services 'attempted' to do a few years back........sickeningly sad....
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Felt like I was there watching. A powerful piece of writing...Thanks for posting.
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To view the video in question follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Jtz-vYKlXk Yes, very interesting-if you click on Dog Rescue (General Rescue Discussion) forum, there has been quite a few comments posted regarding this. I think I read somebody's post as saying Nathan Barnes had a lot of guts to be a whistleblower, which I think he has for sure.
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Why Is Aus Becoming So Non Dog Friendly
gwenneth1 replied to Inevitablue's topic in General Dog Discussion
In advance, apologies for being a wishy washy fence sitter, because I can appreciate two sides. On one side, I get fed up to the back teeth with irresponsible owners who have their untrained dogs following them off leash, in around busy roads, other dogs and people. The same "type" of people, usually have large, intact male dogs who frequently terrorise other dogs and their owners, much to the joy of the knuckledragging type owner. (same type usually sports mutliple tattoos (not that there's anything wrong with that...) and will roll up one leg of said tracksuit pants and strip shirt off in order to share their ink with the world, complete with mullet cut (which, in my humble opinion was an eyesore in the 80's!) Or there are the seemingly articulate and intelligent owner, who gets a breed type totally unsuitable to their personality and level of understanding about such a dog, so their dogs drag them all over the placewhile out for a walk, owner quickly looks around hoping nobody sees their dog take a huge dump on somebody's front lawn or footpath (leave said mess); jump up on strangers, either boisterously try and play with other dogs, or try and pick fights with other dogs. Owner gets frustrated and stressed and dog becomes more uncontrollable, but owner still insists on taking dogs out and attempt to have coffee on the sidewalk close enough to other patrons, so dog barks, jumps, pulls , gets tangled in other patrons chairs etc and generally puts other patrons off. These two types give good dog owners a bad name and one bad apple does tend to spoil it for the rest. On the other side. I have spent (like many others) an inordinate amount of time, effort and a little money to do my best to be a thoughtful and courteous dog owner. I keep my dog on a lead whilst out in public, I carry plastic bags to clean up, I carry water to give my dog a drink (in one of those nifty little doggie water bottles); I go out of my way to socialise my dogs; I don't let my dogs become an unwelcome, intrusive pest to others. I would like to be able to take my dog more places, but it seems a lot of this has been closed off by pencil pushers who find it easier to just simply ban things rather than tackle those who break the rules, an easier and cheaper option for them. I resent those pencil pushers and I resent the idiotic owners who instigated the over zelous laws and regulations but then I do not have enough faith in ALL dog owners to prove we can collectively do the right thing. I thought it may be interesting to add this though. When I grew up, as a child, we all use to go to parks, make tree houses, cubbys, ride bikes and horses around. All of us generally had a dog in tow (off lead, I may add). All the dogs were bits of this and that (when the first purebreds came to town in the form of a bull terrier and dobermann it created a sensation!), all the dogs (male dogs were always intact) got along, followed us faithfully, did not bite, chase, fight or cause mischief. I can recollect probably one minor dog fight when we were walking home and a homeowner's dog jump the fence to have a go at our dogs and one child being reported bitten by an unknown cattledog cross in a public park. I don't think I'm being carried away with sentiment from those times, but I really do think that dogs generally seemed to be more social and well adjusted back then, then they generally seem to be now. I would be interested to hear others thoughts from those who grew up in the late 60's and 70's to see if was a similar scenario in their area. -
Nice, informative answer.