Inevitablue

Yep, agree. Who drew the line in the sand in the past few decades? My breed only came into existance ~150 years ago and became recognised as a breed within this lifetime. But... if its not a fashionable cross for $$$ why give it a cross of two breeds names. The whole labradoodle name came about because the original people WANTED the public to know the dog was a cross between 2 breeds. hehe... why not call it the Curly Coated Eyesight Dog

Years ago my dog had a scratch on his eye and I could see it was irritated. The vet did the fluroscene test and gave him some bute (yes...bute) and said it would all clear up. I voiced my concern that this was my agility dog and needed his eyesight and was told to relax, it would heal perfectly fine. 3 days later I come home from work to a shaking dog in the corner whose eyeball had burst. His muzzle was wet from eyeball fluid and his eye was like a shrivelled up pea. Rushed him back to the vet, there was a younger locum on who had a go at me about leaving the eye long enough for it to pop. Not so politely told her the dog had been there 72 hours earlier. An abcess was in the back of the eye and took out the eye when it burst She immediatelty operated on him and stitched his 6mm corneal tear back together. It took 4 months for the eye to refill and lots of care with his eyelids stitched together. Soooooo moral to the story, if your concerned about an eye definately ask to see a specialist. I asked the original vet for a referral and I should have gone with my gut feeling. It would have only been a bit of wasted money if I was being too precious. He ended up with adhesions and could never quiet cope in bright light afterwards and had a scar on the cornea. 6 months after that happened he misjudged some stairs and broke his lower jaw!

If you decide to keep him some training will also help to reduce the chance of him getting attacked. Not saying it was your's or your dogs fault AT ALL, and your not breaking the law, but a hyper young boistrous dog can draw more attention to himself when out walking. Is he desexed? My male dog was horribly attacked by 2 GSD's when he was 8 months old, and that turned a switch on in his head- the 'get them before they get me' thought pattern. With training and time it was turned around. I did always note though that when he was defensive and puffing himself up he always drew more attention to himself, whereas when he was calm, not making eye contact with strange dogs and a neutral tail carriage we hardly ever got approached. Think about keeping him and getting some help. You will probably unlock a brilliant dog!

Yeah, the lead was for the safety of the sheep. Until the instructors know that the dog wont just chase the sheep then they drag their lead behind them, easy to catch them. She wont have to wear the lead again. It didnt really tangle, she trod on it a few times but she was too focused on the sheep to worry her. Most of her time was just trotting along pushing the sheep forward.

Some photos of my girl's first look at sheep. I think we are both keen to do more

All these super cute puppies I feel like mine has grown up so quickly...12 weeks now. Here are some photos of her first look at sheep. She had 3 very short sessions (5 min). She did so well that the instructor said she did enough to qualify for her first herding certificate if it was a trial! In the little ring- 'I wanna have a go in the big ring!' So little but 'look mum the sheep are doing what I say!' Going around the sheep

It's not that it's a preventative, osteoarthritis is asymptomatic for awhile before the owner starts to see changes in the dog. The claim that people with high risk dogs should begin using the products before the dog starts showing signs is because the chondrocytes can be influenced before the inflammatory response begins. I think Joint guard is good before a dog gets too stiff, but if trying to treat a sore dog then the ETA in Glyde offers quite good anti inflammatory properties.

Thanks Janba for steering me in the right direction where to go for herding. Sue was great, and I was pleasantly surprised at my young dogs approach and attitude Saw a few faces I remember from doing agility a few years back too. Was nice to have people remember me competing with my deaf girl. My OH and I really enjoyed watching a variety of dogs working, can't wait to learn some more skills with herding!

Yay.....Congratulations!! bring on as many photos as you can take Hope you score the job too :-)

But you are giving him a chance ... RAZZLE ... COME!!! doesnt comply go get him - he was asked to comply, and then he either listened to your command or he didnt. Problem is with counting you then condition the dog to wait until you get to 2. He probably now thinks that you're not really serious about his recall until you reach the 2 command, which can be a disaster later on when you need him to listen and listen now. haha...my male dog was like that...I think it was the way I said 'nooooowwwww' in the lowest tone possible. my deaf dog would get her hand signal and if she didnt comply I think I subconciously conditioned her to the hands on the hips was her version of 'noooowww'

While stereotypes dont help people, there is a reason why they do get applied. Im no old-timer myself, and like you, I managed to study full time from home, maintain a full time job plus a part time job as well as look after my dogs exceptionally well. My comment wasn't blaming the younger generation, it was throwing out there -the possibilty that the well known generational changes in society and the current 'I want and I want now'. Surely you look around at the younger generation and see this? Surely you can acknowledge the growth in younger people who want a particular dog simply because of fashion and image, without much consideration to the responsibility. I'd say most of the people on this forum, regardless of generation, are not the problem Maybe there are young people out there like that, most of my friends are uni students, work at my job or are involved with dogs so maybe more 'responsible' then most, but I am not aware of that many more young people with that attitude then older people who have that attitude (i.e 30 yo's with big credit card debts, a 50 yo I know who wanted to retire and now can't afford the mortgage). Ask anyone who has advertised a litter of pups, impulse and unresearched dog enquiries come from all age ranges! (In fact my older aunties and uncles (my parents generation) have mostly pet shop dogs/impulse buys and my and my cousins generation mostly have dogs from registered breeders). and thats a good point, that perhaps the percentage of people looking for purebred dogs has increased (minus the DD fad). What do you think needs to shift before dog owners can enjoy their friends in a more dog friendly society?

Its not meant to be insulting, I apologise if you think it is, but in context of the whole sentence I do believe it holds some relevance. Perhaps a better choice of word would be better, but the sentence does communicate my point. The title is also why is Australia becoming so un dog friendly. I can barely access any beaches anymore, cannot let my dog offlead with effective control etc etc. Wouldn't you like to be more like some European countries where your dog could travel on the train, join you at a cafe and enjoy a swim at a beach without an hour drive? Third world countries are not used for this comparison. The health of aussie dogs is second to none, but how they fit into society and the increasing restraints placed on Aussie dog owners certainly is

While stereotypes dont help people, there is a reason why they do get applied. Im no old-timer myself, and like you, I managed to study full time from home, maintain a full time job plus a part time job as well as look after my dogs exceptionally well. My comment wasn't blaming the younger generation, it was throwing out there -the possibilty that the well known generational changes in society and the current 'I want and I want now'. Surely you look around at the younger generation and see this? Surely you can acknowledge the growth in younger people who want a particular dog simply because of fashion and image, without much consideration to the responsibility. I'd say most of the people on this forum, regardless of generation, are not the problem

Reading about the attack on the child in SW Sydney and speaking to some french people this morning got me wondering. Why is dog ownership and dogs in general going backwards in Australian society? Dogs seem to be more celebrated in other countries. What are the major factors contributing to the tragedies, the tighter controls and the public perception. Are the changing cultural demographics contributing? Is it the 'boganess' of Aussies, compared to the refinement of the French? Is it the 'I want without putting in any hard yards' attitude of the younger demographic? Is it the ease of access to dogs in pet shops?........... there are so many factors and each contribute Im sure. For one, I dislike the attitude in Australian culture that its seems to be everyones right to have a dog in the backyard regardless of the dogs quality of life. My parent's instilled in me that a dog was more work and more responsibility than a horse, and I had to commit to going to dog school, walking the dog every day, make sure it wasn't a danger to society etc etc.

Perhaps he drank a fair bit of bath water...hence the diluted wee, and the 'mum, Im so busting I just cant hang on any longer' incidents

Exactly...and this spunky little Mini Pin is getting everything he wants! By that stage the behaviour will be much more established, with a nice big fat neuron for that behaviour. Puppies might not be considered 'dominant' but from a very early age they are experimenting on how to control situations, exactly like every other animal.

I hope the innocent Akita gets out of the pound soon. The poor dog gets impounded because of an annoymous tip off I'd be PISSED if my dog was taken off the back of misleading information. I take it Kunsah wasn't microchipped? (is it required in WA?)

Its really hot over there at the moment, isn't it? Perhaps he is just looking for a cool place to sleep. My pup had a bed in one half of the crate and chose to sleep on the steel floor. Now the heat has passed here (brrrrr its now only 20 degrees) she chooses to sleep on the bed.

This thread is so nice. How can it not make you smile What? your interupting me I'm, I'm, I'm about to sneeze

I will one day get a Chi, a brown and tan one. Would love to raise it to be just like a 'big' dog. I'd also love to work closely with a Malinois. For now I'm happy trying to keep up with the ACD's

Russell at the Winmalee Clinic is a nice combination of genuinely caring about the animals and keeping abreast of latest regimes etc.

I needed to rejoin DogsNSW, so I entered the puppy competition. And the winner was (drum roll...) http://www.dogsnsw.org.au/puppies/puppy-competition.html Tess! Oh, and my dog and I dont share the same name My OH is having so much fun taking photos of her, I must have over 200 already. My valentine's day present was a 20inch x 30inch canvas print of her but Im going to draw the line at printed T Shirts (that PIXMA tv ad is coming to mind) here is a super photo of her

They are going the extra mile to covert enquiries to bookings.... hopefully a sign that enquiries are dropping off. Did you know that BarkBusters is owned by the sister of the DogTech franchisor...

http://www.dogsnsw.org.au/puppies/puppy-competition.html I think that one does

I entered another photo of her in the DogsNSW monthly puppy comp for a bit of fun... hehe, and she won (probably the only entry in Feb ) http://www.dogsnsw.org.au/puppy-corner