BlackJaq

I honestly think the general public are pretty much dumb as dog shit and will jump on any band wagon that is being hailed loudly enough. The broad masses are pretty easy to manipulate, especially using the media (including social media) and once the ball gets rolling you might as well save your logical arguments and get the hell out of the way because by that stage they aren't going to listen to anyone, least of all reason. Sorry to put it so bluntly but one only has to look at all the support and donations the RSPCA usually get (ironic, seeing as in this case the RSPCA is the enemy) and nobody questions anything they do until they get the knock on their own door.... Alas, you just can't fix stupid (or mass emotion, whatever the case may be)

We saw it when those AR nuts went and took the night footage of the Collie breeder's dogs in their night quarters and made it out like that is where they live 24x7, not to mention that lady tossed her dogs raw chicken! *cue horror movie soundtrack*

I honestly think most dogs in pounds come from one off, accidental or under-the radar byb than registered breeders and puppy farmers together. 99% of dog owning people I know got their dog from the paper, local notice board or "a guy" they now who has puppies. I don't think I know anybody with a petshop puppy because they are ridiculously expensive, especially as most of the ones around here are usually mutts without even the fancy oodle names. This legislation will only impact a small minority of puppy producers, Joe Public will go on their merry way popping out unsocialized staffies down the back just as generations before him did. This will not impact either impound numbers of euth numbers in opinion, except maybe to increase them as well raised, well socialized puppies from pb breeders become a rarity and people source themelsewhere

My Weimaraner has a very short single coat and doesn't seem to shed much at all. About twice a year she will moult and drop quite a bit of hair during that time and brushing doesn't seem to help much then. Overall, she doesn't bring much dirt into the house, nothing gets stuck on that short coat and she doesn't carry things inside on purpose lol She does, however, have a strong houndy sort of smell. Washing does not really help, in fact she always has this very particular smell about her. Personally I kind of like it, because it smells like HER if you now what I mean, but it is definitely noticeable and not everybody likes it as much as me lol My bully mix has a double coat and sheds a fair bit but she has pretty much no smell unless she gets very dirty or wet. I am not much of a fan of long coats and very short dog hair seems to be a lot easier to vaccuum up than long hair (I used to have a Coolie x with a long-ish coat, she was blue merle so there was long white hair everywhere.. used to drive me crazy) but honestly I probably wouldn't make coat a criteria except to rule out dogs that need a lot of time dedicated to specialized grooming since I don't have the skill, patience and wallet to care for a coat like that.

Is it actually common for vets not to use gloves during surgery??

Was it an off leash park?

Yea the RSPCA are certainly starting to peddle the PETA ideals a bit too much for my liking and I bet they are having a lot of input in both the NSW and VIC legislations that are being reviewed now. Wonder how long it will be until they tart to denounce pet ownership as evil and request all animals to be released into "the wild" for us to watch but never interfere with...

An old farmer told me he kept 1080 baited chicken in his garage fridge which at some point ended up leaking out a little. Apparently several of his dogs lapped it up and all died within the day.. Not sure if that is true but if it is it certainly doesn't take a large dose to fell a dog... And quickly!

So this dog had an actual condition? I thought he was just leaner than the owner liked? Was he unable to gain muscle tone through exercise? A lot of youngsters seem to grow out of the "gangly" stage and unless there was an underlying condition you wouldn't think treatment via steroids would be the first thing on anybody's mind? There was no mention of any testing done prior to prescribing steroids Just seems a little (a lot) over the top.. kinda like prescribing antibiotics every time somebody coughs that's all....

Wow I think I would probably change vets...

Sounds like "puppy farmers" have had substantial input in the wording of this bill then. I suppose it might be in their best interests to shut down small breeders, as they will soon be the only place (other than one time ooops breeders) to get your puppies from....

Are you serious???

God help you if you are giving liver without a bowl, that's a double whammy.. Sorry but I honestly can't this stuff seriously anymore. It would be funny if it wasn't so potentially devastating....

Welllll...... There seems to be a general trend towards obesity, not just in pets.. And from what I can see when I am at Woolies doing my shopping, usually very obese people also have very obese children and partners.. I imagine the dog at home wouldn't look much different. Even the dogs in ads on TV often look fat to me. I guess fat is kind of becoming the new normal for a lot of people It' nice that the general public are concerned about dogs' health, but you are far more likely to be reported for a "skinny" dog than one so fat it can barely walk. Apparently fat is preferable, even though I think you are more likely to get issues with a slightly obese dog than with a slightly too lean one.. kdf, Lani looks like a racehorse in peak condition to me haha! At some stage my mare was nearly that fit and it drew some looks.. Somebody even asked me if I feed steroids to my horse and skimp on the feed :p It's not a common sight so I think a lot of people don't recognize it for what it is...

Might be worth contacting a University in your area? They may be able to test it for you? I would ask at your vet's maybe?

I wonder if the RSPCA educates their officers on the body structure of various dog breeds.. I can imagine what an RSPCA officer would say at some of the photos posted here and you'd have a hell of a time getting the dog back if they decided to seize it Made me a bit worried back when my Weimaraner went through her skinny stages around 12-18 months, even though she had good muscle tone, some of her vertebrae were visible, along with most of her ribs and the top of her hip bones... She was shiny, healthy and well fed and gained more weight eventually (as per the photo I have posted in the other thread) but it certainly makes me twitchy every time somebody comments on her being skinny even though she is no longer ribby

I think sometimes the level of fitness can also change the overall look of a dog. For example, a 25 kg dog with no muscle tone may look pudgy, whereas the same dog at 25 kg but with several hours of exercise a day might look almost too lean to some people, as fat will cover most bones more evenly than muscle tone. Ribs don't usually have that much muscle tissue on them so they may be more prominent on a very fit dog than an unfit dog at equivalent weight. Personally I have to agree that many show dogs I have seen seem to carry too much fat and I'd like to add that I've seen many examples of my own breed (as well as others, of course) with very poor muscle tone as well. I find the lack of muscle tone in a show dog just as bad as an excess of fat since an active working breed should look the part, especially if you insist on changing them from a purely performance bred breed in their country of origin, to a show and pet dog.

Just looking at a dog with little to no body fat and a super fine coat as a normal condition is not going to be the same as just looking at most other breeds. Most pet dogs carry too much weight. In my opinion so do most show dogs. In my experience your average pet owner has no idea what "lean" is and regard any hint of rib (when three visible ribs is quite normal) as "skinny". A dog in good working condition should have slighly exposed hip bones. Show most people a fit lean sighthound and most will think the dog emaciated. Have to agree, I can often hear people commenting that my dog looks skinny and once a kid came up to me to tell me that my dog needs to be fed really badly as she is starving.. Around here you can usually tell which dogs are backyard ornaments (generally normal weight range but very poor muscle tone) and which are much loved family pets, usually indoors (generally a bit thicker than what I would keep them all the way up to so obese they can barely waddle after their owner when out on "walks"). Of course there are fit, healthy dogs to be found in both ranges and people who are overweight themselves tend to have fat pets, whereas active people often have better muscled dogs.... But you can definitely detect the trends....

I agree with above posts but this is confusing me a little because we recently had all our dogs vaccinated for heartworm... Do you mean there is no vaccination available in Vic or we just shelled out about $150 per pop for a non-existent vaccination?

You'd think council would not put bait out in a dog park... Nobody is that stupid ETA: Baits can easily be moved though and are available to people who did the short course as far as I am aware. I guess it depends if the chicken is baited and if o with what. 1080 is fox bait commonly used but rat sack or similar would probably work, too and anybody can buy it I would get it tested for peace of mind. Even if your dog did not get any, whoever put it out might put out more

If you have any concrete area at all you could opt for a small transportable run that gets locked together with pins so you can tidy it away when you are home or not using it and this way you might not loose any living space permanently. If this is not at all possible then I really hope that the other things work for you because none of our bullies ever grew out of destroying stuff, even when they had a full training schedule and things to do while we are out lol Sorry I don't mean to sound really negative, it is just my experience (hence they are not ever left inside unsupervised!). I would definitely keep on working on alone time while you are home. What you are describing is very normal and you will have to ignore it completely until the dog goes quiet on his own. The I would immediately let him inside and reward him for the first few days. Then slowly let him wait quietly longer and longer. This is really important because as he gets older (and bigger and stronger) he will get worse if he finds that he can make you come get him by doing things (crying, chewing stuff, digging, barking, trying to climb fences, he may try a whole variety of things once he knows he can succeed). If you don't deal with it now while he is still relatively young you will most likely find yourself in big trouble later and even now it might be part of the reason why he destroys stuff when left alone as he may be protesting this and has not learnt to be on his own and comfortable/relaxed.

What kind of training do you do with him? Anything interesting, or just simple things like sit, stay etc? This will quickly bore most dogs to death and I suggest you start finding tricks and more difficult things for him to learn. I would maybe consider looking into some kind of dog sport, teach him tricks and devise ways for him to amuse himself and wear himself out as others have said. Also, the dog run sounds like a good idea to me but make sure you buy a good quality one, things that contain most other dogs don't necessarily work on a Stafford ;) I like to stop my dogs from being able to engage in destructive behaviours to begin with (by keeping them with me, crate training or kennelling or a combination, whatever works for you), rather than trying to correct behaviours that are self rewarding after the the fact. My Weimaraner is two and a half now and I am only just starting to leave her inside the house by herself for a couple of hours at a time now. Both the bullies we own are not left in the house on their own at all, they are two and a half and 5, respectively.

I would not want to be Lola's vet at this time, since all the animals were supposedly receiving treatment from what I gather? If she has receipts detailing that vet seeing the animals in question then surely that would be sufficient proof that she was providing vet care and the vet would be next in line for not picking up and treating those conditions?

I have to admit, this sounds kind of likely to me, too, especially since they were basically dobbed in by friends.... Who picks up a dog and then drives a thousand k's before taking it to a pound or RSPCA shelter :p Still hoping they will chip the dog now

Maybe a chip could have reunited them a little faster?