BlackJaq

Have you actually crate trained her or just locked in the crate? I think you may need to revisit toilet training separately in any case.

Is he splitting it inside the house or anywhere? I guess if it is an inside only issue you could train him to be calm and stay on his bed during inside time and make sure you increase outdoor activities so he doesn't end up stuck on his bed for too long. If it happens all the time anywhere I would consider docking. Depending on where he splits it, I might consider a GSP dock (only top third is taken) or a Dobe dock (only a stub is left). My personal preference would probably be the GSP dock for this breed but if he splits his tail very closely to his body then this won't do you much good and you might need to go with the full dock. How old is he now?

I have posted him on the GSP thread as well just for good measure. Hopefully he will find somewhere to go soon!

Not sure I get your point Santo. If we were living 20 years ago then I'm sure OH's dog would have been some kind of Rotty mix or maybe a GSD mix. Coming from the people he did, he would have had the same piss poor temperament, because that is what these drongos (thanks sandgrubber ) selected for. I have openly admitted that OH got the dog as a penis extension. He did not buy him as a Schutzhund prospect or a Police Service dog prospect. He didn't even buy him as a pet and companion. He bought him because it was what his friends were doing and it was the cool thing to do. He has been slow in learning his lesson but at least he is being reasonably responsible about the way he manages the dog (my "hints" might be helping, too). By the way, OH has a brother who is a little slow due to oxygen deprivation at birth and who was gifted a puppy by his mother after the parents split up and OH went with his father. That puppy grew up to be one mean m*therf***er, very bitey and headstrong. The (very young and mentally disabled) brother had been in charge of raising the puppy and I refused to take the dog in when his mother was trying to dump him on us in his old age as I did not want to deal with another problem dog. The breed was Golden Retriever btw. So much for your breed stereotyping. That dog was a menace and not managed anywhere near as closely as our prick of a bull breed and thus much more likely to actually hurt somebody due to sucky ownership.

Has he been posted in the GSP thread on here yet?

Is there any way you can take him to another pound? I guess it depends on where you live... Their behaviour you describe from the last incident is despicable in any case

I would also hand it in and let the pound staff know you would be interested in helping the dog if it goes unclaimed (read: willing to take the dog). If the dog ends up unclaimed you can take it home and surrender it to rescue. Maybe start making some enquiries here or with local rescues before you get that far to avoid being stuck with this dog (unless you actually intend on keeping it) I would also hazard a guess that they will not bother to bail the dog out. there are extra fees if dogs are not de-sexed, chipped and council regoed.

And I can't even begin to describe the shit fights we had over him wanting to breed with that dog. Even after he came to realize that not all dogs are PITAs like that one. He still keeps it entire now. Unbelievable. And he is not a stupid person either. Sometimes I just want to whack him with a clue-by-four

Totally agree. The number of people buying a pup without so much as reading a breed description (if they know what breed or breeds are in said pup) is staggering. My own OH bought a bully x pup off his mate a few years ago. The dog was meant to be a status symbol and OH was 17 at the time. He took the puppy home at four (yes, FOUR) weeks old and brought him back to Mum to nurse a couple of times a week for the next few weeks. Other puppy owners did the same and puppies were encouraged to "fight" at those get-togethers. OH was told that the males in this "line" are nutty and aggro and would make great guard dogs. In OH's perception, his manhood must have at least doubled when he took this dog home I think. He was expecting some sort of super dog, aggressive and staunch at his command, but docile and obedient when needed... Puppy was fed burger patties from Maccas as first solid food... Around 12 weeks OH and I started to go out and I convinced him to at least get puppy vacced, wormed and such. Puppy was also chipped and council registered (as a concoction of breeds since we have no clue what is actually in it). Many years later we still have this dog. It has very poor manners with other dogs, easily overreacts and turns violent with them. I do not allow it to interact with any of my dogs unrestrained. He has turned on both OH and me inside the house due to extreme dominance (for example OH tried to send him off the lounge to his bed, dog turned on OH for this) and is no longer allowed inside as I do not feel safe with him inside. He is penned separately on our property and not allowed into town. He is not walked anywhere but our own property and I refuse to hold the leash as he weighs over 30 kg and I know I cannot hold him. He cannot be off leash in an unfenced area. Ever. When he goes to the vet he is muzzled and kept in the car until he can go straight to the examination room. All other animals have to be kept away while he is there. Personally, if he was my dog I would have him PTS as his life is not all that great, always being confined and not allowed to play with other dogs. He is unpredictable and, in my opinion, dangerous. OH now admits he is sorry he got him but is very attached to him emotionally and will not part with him except for medical reasons. He loves my pure bred Weimaraner and often says he wishes his dog was more like her. He realizes now that he should have done more research and at the time, he never even thought about getting a certain breed, he just went for what was easily available. Differences between breeds are only now starting to register on his mind. He is realizing that he could have chosen a breed for certain traits rather than just appearance. He realizes that my dog can go anywhere with us, because she is well behaved and easy to control. She is not likely to launch at other people or animals to try and kill them. She can be tethered somewhere for convenience and won't carry on like a pork chop every time a butterfly farts. Anyway, long story short, he has learnt his lesson and I think this will be his first and last ill thought out, spur-of-the-moment puppy purchase and he is already looking at breeds he would like once his dog passes. If we did not manage his dog as we do I have no doubt he could be dangerous to others and that is solely his "breeder's" fault, as he bred two dogs of known poor temperament and sold puppies to every Tom, Dick and Harry with cash in hand. My OH is not the only one to buy a puppy like this, tons of people do it every day and no amount of legislation is going to change that unless these people are educated as my OH was in the end.

Mine go on command so if I anticipate any issues I make sure they really have to go (I might have brekky or get dressed first thing in the morning instead of letting them out first thing so they have a few minutes to reflect on how badly they actually need to go) and then open the door and give the command. Being their good little obedient selves they usually rush out to follow the command since by now their little bladders are just about ready to pop and if they notice that it's cold/wet/hot/foggy/whatever then it is usually afterwards and they rush back in ASAP lol Nothing worse than standing outside in the cold waiting for a dog to decide that it won't melt in the rain while it tends to it toileting needs :p If it's really wet or windy and I am heading straight back inside afterwards I will usually put a rain coat on them so they don't get all wet and smelly and this usually means they are not worried about the rain anyways, even if they don't need to go urgently

It has nothing to do with dogs being reactive, which you should know seeing as you have amazing dog behaviour qualifications. As I said, the same dog might be fine if it was off leash as well. Your sense of entitlement clearly tells you that your dogs should be free to approach anyone they like at an off leash area , whether their dogs are on leash or not, and that person and dog better like it and not react badly! This speaks volumes for your supposed knowledgeability about dogs.

It should also not be forgotten that the "popular byb breed of the day" is generally more susceptible to dickhead ownerhip and thus may feature strongly in bite stats. Nobody can deny that the same thing happens with Golden Retrievers and Labradors and has, in the past, happened with GSDs, Dobes and Rotts. In the US, Huskies are often mentioned in dog attacks news as well as Akitas. This does not necessarily mean that those breeds are actually more aggressive than others, just that the press like to report scary sounding news over boring news. Most pounds will tell you that they get a comparatively large % of bull breeds in, which is generally a good representation of the dog population in the area. Most of them will not be chipped, not to mention pure bred anything (read: back yard bred and often owned by people who would not be considered responsible dog owners by most) and most of them behave just fine apart from basic lack of training. People like Santos are what brought us BSL and what stands in the way of abolishing that useless legislation and actually implementing some owner-targeting techniques that will actually work to lower bite stats.

Regarding the bolded part, you may be surprised to know that a dog who is on leash and being approached by an off leash dog may have a very strong reaction, compared to the same dogs in a situation where both dogs are off leash. It may be in your dogs' best interest not to let them approach dogs on leash simply to avoid being hurt by an on leash dog overreacting. I hope if your dog approached an on lead dog and received a negative reaction you would not have been complaining, since it would be your own fault for letting it approach a dog on leash.

What a wierd and disjointed article.. so hundreds of dogs have been dumped and they have identified puppy farms.. No mention of the conditions at puppy farms, other than they produce several hundred puppies a year... So are they implying all the dumped dogs came form those puppy farms or what? Huh?

That's great! Love how enthusiastic she is!

I think everybody needs to maybe call back to mind the fact that not all targeted persons are puppy farmers. Not by a far cry. Do you still think everything would be peaches and roses and fair enough if you were on the receiving end Dogmad? We don't allow random people to be persecuted like paedophiles, especially when they have not even been convicted as such in court, so why are people being treated like puppy farmers when they also do not have any convictions saying they are such? How would you feel if people were sneaking around your property at night, filming and trying to make you look like a hoarder for example?

This. Even if you are declared %100 innocent and even if there was an ombudsman and ways to appeal and all the rest, once your face and name are out there, that's it. The social media court does not need a legitimate conviction and any nutter, psychopath and loony can become a part of it. People get harassment and death threats for the rest of their lives as you have described above. I realize puppy farming is bad, but destroying people's lives for unproven allegations is completely unforgivable. I still feel bad for the breeder whose place was featured on Today Tonight. That whole thing really made me aware of the powers that can be brought against you without any actual legal action needing to be taken. Personally, I think people who break and enter and trespass in pursuit of damning video and photographic evidence should be exposed to the same harassment as the people they are supposedly exposing. Maybe they will learn some compassion that way.

Sorry but when you are in rescue you are expected to vet check each animal that comes in. Each animal needs to be vaccinated if the state of vaccination is unknown, each animal needs to be spayed or neutered before adoption and each animal needs to be chipped and registered if they are not already chipped. These things don't come cheap. Then on top of that, animals need to be kept free of parasites and if they come in with infestations they need to be treated. Same goes for any conditions. Since these are largely unwanted/unclaimed animals from pounds you would assume they have various issues that their owners have not tended to. I cannot see how you can compare rescue dogs and cats to a privately owned pet? I realize you are a professional and many on this forum seem to hold you in high regard and are quick to recommend you, so I am a little dismayed at the way you seem to be happy to excuse every shortcoming that is brought up. It was said that conditions were made previously, so the shelter did not pass all inspections with flying colours. Lola was told to reduce her numbers as well from what I have read. I also disagree with the actions of the RSPCA in seizing dogs and not allowing another vet to view them or conduct an autopsy to prove or disprove their conditions. I also don't believe that cat flu is a good reason for euthing that kitten on arrival and I do believe that this may be standard procedure for some RSPCA shelters. However, if those dogs really did have untreated conditions and were suffering due to lack of treatment then that is in fact cruelty. It does not matter whether it was cruelty committed in the name of rescue or in the name of making money by mass producing puppies. Suffering is suffering is suffering. I agree that the RSPCA have not gone about this in the best manner but that does not mean that the complaints made should not be investigated properly.

Maybe try getting him a rain coat so he doesn't get cold/wet in the rain? I know it sounds awfully girlish but my Wei always wants her coat on to toilet outside in the rain if we are all inside. if we are already outside anyways and she is warm from exercising and running around it's obviously not a problem but if she is inside in the warm and needs to go out she will stand at the edge of the veranda and just look at me until I put the coat on. As soon as the coat on = no problem

Maybe laws differ in the US? I'm not sure that they differentiate between the two like they do here in Aus? ETA: Have read a little about it and it seems that manslaughter does exist in the same capacity it does here. I presume the prosecution would have a reason for calling it murder, not manslaughter though? I presume since there have been previous reports, they may be arguing that the guy knew what his dogs were capable of and may have kept them for the purpose of hurting/killing people? Who knows, I'd say we will find out once it goes to trial. ETA: 2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manslaughter_(United_States_law) This might explain it :) And I realize that wikipedia is not an awesome source :p

Your are kidding arent you? No I suppose you arent.. Why would I be kidding in asking a question? wasnt it oversimplification that brought in BSL and naught else? doesnt the AVA paper list a raft of issues just about all ignored in the quick fix mentality? I think maybe you need to come back and post when the Endone is out of your system as you have said, since your posts make no sense at all?

Good. I hope Australia takes note and also begin to address the correct end of the leash in these cases!

I suggest you watch the video. As I said, you get a pretty good look of the facilities and I shudder to think what they were like previous to the improvements

I do wish they would take you up on it since I am sick of seeing dogs destroyed for high prey drive and similar stupidity. These so-called issues are perfectly manageable as owners of various Pointing, Retrieving and other working breeds demonstrate every day Back on topic, that TT episode showed some pretty unsafe pens with loose wire and tin edges accessible to dogs (since the pens seem to be constructed from it). My dog has cut herself on the edge of a sheet of corrugated iron before so I have an idea what kind of damage it can do. I do not find many of the kennels that were shown to be particularly safe and they did not look like they would offer a lot of relief from summer temperatures either. I do not subscribe to the idea that anything is better than death and when it comes to living beings sometimes quality might be more important than quantity (this includes quality of life but also quantity of dogs vs quality of individual care etc)

"Mean" is a very emotional term... Just saying.