BlackJaq

Loving all the photos, keep them coming if you have more :D

Yea, that was the impression I also had Krislin, I just didn't want to say "they looked like they were playing" :p The picture of his injuries does not look very serious to me, I have seen a sheep disembowled by dogs before, and it took about 30 seconds for that to happen. I can not imagine that the dogs were too serious at this stage. Still unacceptable, obviously, just makes the onlookers seem more cowardly rather than rightfully concerned for their own safety in my eyes.

I would like to point out that those must be some huge AmStaffs. The son said his father is tall.. Well those dogs must actually range in that mystical 50 kg range then, because they look like miniature ponies! Don't really have a comment on the not helping bit. I don't know if I would or not but would like to think that I would. Surely four people could be found, each to grab a dog. The dogs did not appear in a frenzy to me or that man would be dead. They were baiting him, as somebody else said. He is lucky he behaved as he did but at this level they were not in a mindless blood frenzy and it should have been possible for people to calmly approach them and restrain them as is evidenced by the security guard grabbing one and walking him away and the others following. I hope the owners are found and prosecuted over this. Just goes to show what a pack of dogs, even if they are unknown to each other (since one was supposedly being walked and then joined in) are capable of. The owner who was walking their dog definitely does not need to own this dog, they are obviously unable to control it at all...

So the dog came right up to the car? Or did they get out? That seems a little strange. You don't need to get a dog to point blank to kill it with a high powered rifle.... Wierd. It certainly makes it sound unlikely that the shooter thought it was a feral dog, since a feral dog wouldn't come close enough to the car to be shot at point blank

GPS collars have a place if you are genuinely hunting with your dog, which may require the dog be out of sight. A trained dog I might add. With a job. Not a pet puppy out and about on its own with a small child about to join in this fun. Not to mention to be within the law you need to be on a private property or a property you otherwise have permission to hunt on. I cannot speculate what made the shooter take the shot and have repeatedly said it was illegal and action should be taken. Yes, it may have been a perverse pleasure in killing fluffy baby huskies. Or drunkenness. Or an amazing amount of meth or speed in his system. Or maybe he thought the puppy was actually the Easter Bunny in disguise and would bleed magical candy instead of blood. I don't know and I said what he did was not right either way. Neither was what the family did though. They did not mean it but they put their puppy in harm's way and it was harmed. And I do hope they learnt the lesson that was to be learnt and no other dogs or God forbid their child will be put in a similar position. Just because everybody does it does not make it a good idea.

Well, the owners also described the puddle of blood being 3m from the road so unless the shooter swerved off the road and drove right up to the dog to delver this point blank shot then I believe they simply do not actually know what the expression means. It sounds to me like they are trying to describe that the dog was shot from a very short distance away? Either way, if it is as you say and people go shooting there regularly, you'd have to be an idiot to let your dog (and a Husky of all breeds, with a reputation for poor recall) off lead in that place I would think... As I said, since the dog was shot from a public road and such it was illegal and there should be consequences but nobody made things up from what I can see in this thread. The owners admitted fair and square to letting the dog off leash and the dog took off and they were unable to call her back. This is stupid and now they should know but I fear they don't. Hopefully they will not do such a thing again and hopefully the shooter cops the fines or whatever the rightful punishment is. Overall I am sad for the dog and also the little boy but looking at the photos of their child interacting with the puppy makes me think they may be a little blue eyed about responsibilities and also dangers of dog ownership in general...

Indeed! :laugh: I also didn't think I needed to name names if you know what I mean

Personally I would look for a breeder who is not only willing to share any advice they can, but who also has actual experience in the working field. It is one thing to say "this is how I am told it is done" and another entirely to be able to explain how the breeder personally has trained their dogs to guard stock and how they have dealt with issues. Since I would be looking for a working dog primarily, not a show dog or even a personal pet, I would expect a breeder to do all in their power to insure the dogs are healthy and fit for the intended purpose. Nobody can guarantee that their pups will be %100 healthy, but recognizing that some faults are a major detriment to the dog's working ability and culling stock exhibiting such flaws from their breeding program is more important to me than a dog whose appearance conforms %100 to the standard. I'd rather have a round-eyed dog with an undulating lip, but also a well shedding coat and full nose pigmentation working with my poultry than a dog that has won a thousand Championships under international judges. I personally have no experience at all with LGDs apart from going out of my way to meet a relatively new breeder and her dogs in my local area, so I fully expect that I would need a lot of support from my potential breeder and I would hope that they would bear with me and not get overly annoyed at lengthy phone calls, emails and silly photos of their dog wearing Christmas antlers and participating in other non work related family endeavours. I would also be unlikely to be attending any shows with their pup and hope that this would not bother them overly as the dog is going to a working home, not a show one. Reading this thread really made me see some clear differences between what I perceive to be a good Maremma breeder and what I perceive to be a poor one. I don't think I need to point out which I found to be the poor one and if I have no luck finding a working dog through rescue (since I have already registered my interest I will be waiting to hear back first) I would definitely be contacting other breeders in this thread who have displayed greater dedication to the breed's actual purpose, apart from showing and winning the all important Champion sash

I wonder if they will start to enforce these standards not only with other shelters but also any breeders they come across. It comes to mind that registered breeders are easy targets and most small scale hobby breeders would not have the required concrete floored facilities that seem to be a requirement (or is that NSW only?) as many prefer to raise their litters inside their home rather than a kennel environment...

Wow funny how they are a native protected species one day and a pest free to be culled to help out farmers the next... Maybe they should make up their mind one way or another.

Wow this is starting to sound like something from Days of our Lives or Neighbours.....

Can't help but agree. I am interested in a working dog who can do his job. I don't intend on leaving the dog to fend for himself but rather he will live around the house paddocks protecting poultry, sheep and goats. That makes me a potential buyer of a dog required to fulfil his traditional role, as Tralee has described it? Including human supervision and family contact? However, the dog will most certainly not sleep inside, since night time is when I loose most of my stock (mostly poultry). Building entirely fox proof housing may work if you have 5 or 10 birds, but once you have a flock of large birds like geese, 15-20 or more, you will want to keep them paddocked like sheep, with some natural shelter such as wind breaks and shade trees, rather than a fully enclosed shed. If I had a way of fox proofing the entire property I would not need the dog.... I am a little confused that a city dweller would be claiming to breed suitable working dogs, despite never actually having worked them and seeing no issue with lack of pigmentation, excessive coats which may shed badly in hot climates and larger sizes for the size alone, potentially increasing feeding requirements (a cost factor that I think will figure in any farmer's calculation) and maybe even issues found in other heavy large breeds, such as dysplasia, early onset arthiritis etc. I am also confused as other are, in how the appearance of the Italian dogs makes them a superior worker in Australian conditions. Would be nice to have a slightly more detailed and less snipey response...

It seems certainly very strange that the car pulled over first and then the dog apparently ran over to it, as the family describes it. And some punishment should be in place for the shooters, I would also hold anybody I found shooting into my property from the road responsible and expect the police to follow up any report I made, especially if the rego had been correctly recorded. Not sure if that would be an issue for the landholder to follow up or if the police can do that on their own. I just really wish that Peppa's family showed any kind of learning curve that would help prevent a similar incident occurring again. And the fb page is just ridiculous beyond words.... There are nutters claiming all hunting and shooting any animals should be punishable by law and anybody who kills any animal is apparently taking some kind of perverse pleasure in it.. Where do these kind of nutters come from? They appear to congregate on fb in astonishing numbers...

It is not the slogan that bothers me, it is the attitudes that come with it. Apparently it is shameful to buy a well raised pure bred puppy from a registered, ethical breeder, when there are ill trained, unwanted older puppies to be had from the pound, of unknown breeding, with no health checks or breeder support, out of parents of unknown temperament and health... Anybody who buys from any breeder should be ashamed, yet the same people will buy puppies from pet stores or adopt dogs that are completely unsuitable for their circumstances, because they are saving a life. There is nothing wrong with getting a dog from a good rescue, but the same is true for getting a dog from a good breeder. These people seize blindly onto slogans and misleading arguments without wasting a second to think it through for themselves. Yes, there are plenty of unwanted dogs in need of homes. Personally I believe many of them come from "one off breeders" who have no clue about anything and will hand their puppies over to anybody with fifty bucks cash in their hand. But how do you stop those people? They breed without planning or foresight, often without even intention. They and their dogs are not registered or recorded anywhere, often those dogs will never even see a vet for the duration of their short lives. They never leave the backyard or the radius of their chain on the farm and unless you check every single property you will never even know they are there and breeding. It seems to me that others were very correct when they said only registered breeders will be affected by any of these changes anyway. There is nowhere that I am aware of to report backyard breeders who adhere to no regulations at all and even if there was, nobody would care to hold them to the law anyway.

I have also had the page pop up on my wall and going by what I have read on it, I doubt they have learnt any lesson at all. They blame nobody but the shooter, certainly not themselves for the dog being not only off leash but also out of sight. I also expected that the dog had been run over the first time I read an account of the events and it wouldn't be the first time, either. Plenty of people seem to have no concerns at all about letting their dogs roam around off leash and even out of view. When bad things happen, it is somebody else's fault. Obviously I do not condone the dog being shot from the side of the road, which is illegal but if I found any dog, regardless of breed, on my own property, I would also shoot it, where it was safe to do so. I have made the experience that if you chase them off they will return later to finish the job of killing my poultry and by the time a ranger arrives to impound the dog it tends to be long gone anyway. Best to keep your dog on leash unless you are on your own property or in a designated off leash area. People going on about a husky looking nothing like a "wild dog" seem to be unaware of the issues rural areas face regarding feral dogs that can be of any breed or x breed and truly their appearance has nothing to do with their ability to kill stock, as long as they are over a certain size. Same with the comments regarding it being "only a puppy" and "perfectly rehomable". From a distance, you cannot always judge a dog's age and a seven month old husky would be of a reasonable size. I have yet to meet a farmer who goes out of his way to try and rehome what appears to be a feral dog, growing up without human contact makes them less than desirable or manageable as pets.

I would really like to see the government enforcing existing laws on chipping and such and putting some more resources into that, than what is on the cards now. I do however like the idea of permanently recording breeders' details on every pup's chip entry. This would make it very easy to contact breeders when a dog is in trouble and see if they are able to take it back or rehome it, as responsible breeders seem to do now anyway. It would also enable some data to be processed, to show where dogs in pounds and such genuinely stem from, and would surely give some backing to PB breeders' claims that their puppies are not the ones filling up the pound. Of course anybody who works with a pound already knows that it is mostly crossbreds, some mixed breed SWFs, bully types and sheep and cattle dogs with a smaller number of other cross and (potential) pure breds but it seems to me that the majority of the "adopt, don't shop" crowd genuinely believe that it is registered pure bred breeders who fill up pounds, a claim that I would like to see disproven with some solid evidence to shut their silly nattering up for good. They make no distinction between "puppy farmers" and genuine small scale hobby breeders, breeding for improvement, showing and performance, rather than cash. This really rubs me the wrong way every time a stupid "adopt, don't shop" poster appears on my facebook wall, shared by a well meaning but ignorant friend...

I used to spray wee patches with pine-a-clean to remove the smell. Puppies and even older dogs will often wee (or poo for that matter) where they can smell previous toileting has happened.. This then becomes their toilet spot.... Maybe try carry the puppy to the lawn for a few days to be sure she will remember this as the "new" toilet spot and make sure to clean the old one well so that the scent does not prompt her to go there again and again

Hate that stupid "it's skinny because it's old" line. Makes me want to tear my hair out in great big chunks and rage like Rumpelstiltskin

Um is this a joke? Surely they can't be serious.. All my money would go on kittens and beef steak I think....

I get the Weimaraner version of Puss in boots. If I don't look, I get a gentle touch with a very wet, very cold nose (preferably in the ear or some other exposed bit of skin). Then immediately back to puss in boots with a very slow wag. If she has to go outside during the night (not very common but it happens) she will smack her lips.. Just that. This is why she has a bed in our bedroom, because no way in hell would I hear lip-smacking from another room.

I just skipped the bit about the license number, as I am not a registered breeder. I did copy and paste the first part of the comment though

I only went by my experiences with her in certain situations (same as with OH's dog). As I said, I do not know how she would behave in circumstances we have not been in. In Germany, they tempt test Weimaraners for this behaviour before giving permission to breed with that animal (they also need to participate in hunting tests and are genuinely a performance breed, rather than a show pony). Would be nice if other countries actually tested that their dogs fulfil the breed standard but I realize this is a touchy issue what with lack of active hunting with dogs, BSL, dangerous dog declaration issues and such. I will not get my dog assessed as I do not want to give anybody leverage in requiring the dog to be declared dangerous if she should ever actually defend me in a physical manner and the other party seeks retribution, if you know what I mean. It is bad enough that dogs kept for hunting in NSW are now considered to be dangerous, no need to give anybody further ammunition (lucky my dog is primarily a pet ;) )

I have filled in the feedback from according to the DNSW recommendations that I have received in an email and I suggest all members do the same. Sorry if the email was already mentioned.

I agree, most dogs would probably not physically engage an intruder. In saying that though, my OH's dog one night bagged the seat of somebody's pants who had been breaking into a business on the other side of our fence one night. When making their getaway, they obviously didn't realize that there was a dog out the back of our house, since he did NOT alert bark, just waited quietly for the guy's ass to come over the fence. Even now, he will not alert bark unless he is confined, he will go straight in for the confrontation instead. Obviously we keep him well confined and we live out of town now without neighbours.... This makes me think that the the loudest barkers are not necessarily the ones who would actually act. The dog is a mongrel, 30 kg tan bully type btw. I do not take the dog into public but I suspect any aggression toward the person holding his leash would draw a similar reaction. Personally I own a Weimaraner and another tan bully type from the pound, about the same size as my OH's. I take the Weim with me almost everywhere and I have been in a situation where an older guy got out of his car in a road rage incident and advanced on me. Not sure what his exact intent was since my Weim started bristling at him as soon as she spotted him and when he was a few meters away I told him loudly that my dog would probably bite him if he came within reach. By this point she was nearly up on her back legs with her front legs stiff and bouncing up and down as she was barking and had the biggest hackles on I have ever seen. In normal circumstances she is perfectly polite and calm when out and about, so she obviously thought this guy meant me harm. I suspect being on leash and as agitated as she was she may have grabbed him if he kept on coming. At home she will not attack an intruder if they behave as though they are meant to be there (she spotted the meter man before me a couple of times and barked at him from a distance). If they became aggressive I think she would probably feel the need to act in one way or another but I suspect if they let themselves be driven off by barking then she would leave it at that. If they came at me I guess she would interfere and honestly, if she did not behave in this way then her breeders would have bred a very poor Weimaraner indeed... Guarding and actively protecting their master and his possessions are firmly anchored in the breed's purpose, even though many seem to have forgotten this. My own tan pound puppy will guard very vocally but I have not been in a situation with her where she had the need to actively engage somebody who was either breaking in or threatening me so I cannot guess how far she would go.

Hi guys, I am sure this has probably been asked about a million times already but how did you start your dogs on weaves? We have a new agility club starting up in my very rural town and so far, we are really enjoying it, but have not had a serious go at learning the weave poles yet. The ladies who run the club seem to have a basic idea on how to train it but being essentially beginners themselves, I thought I might ask here since I would rather have a clear idea on what to do before I start training :)