Alkhe

brilliant photos! I love the guy in the BC suit too :laugh:

I think it's a great idea! Might look into getting some. My dog wears a collar all the time, with a little tag with her name and my phone number on it - I wouldn't yet get rid of that, but would maybe have a furcode as well. Just because I want someone to be able to give me a call straight away if they find her. But having a backup like that if for whatever reason I couldn't be reached, would be great. I think things like this FurCode will be the norm in a few years, they probably just look weird at hte moment cause they're all fandangled and new :D

Mine stays inside too and has great control. I just make sure she gets out for a wee before I go to work, and the first thing I do when getting home is let her out the back for another one, and go for a walk. She usually does a huge wee in the afternoon but unless I'm unexpectedly late or she's had something salty to eat during the day and had heaps of extra water, there aren't many accidents. If there's ever a wee on the floor, it's right next to the back door anyway, and to be honest I don't care at all. That's my fault for not getting home in time to let her out, and she's not just weeing indiscriminately. Maybe just leave your dog with a chew toy or a kong or just something that she's allowed to chew, to eliminate boredom? Which is what chewing is normally a response to :)

Not to my knowledge, in SBTs. In various breeds, colours go in and out of fashion (eg apricot and red, in poodles), but a good way to tell this is to look at dogs that are doing well in the ring. To my knowledge, which is limited regarding Staffords, there tend to be lots of nice looking black, black/white and tan dogs. I'd suggest asking in the Stafford breed subforum for suggestions for breeders either in Tas or on the mainland as there are lots of experienced Stafford people on here :) http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/50264-stafford-fans/page__st__23475

Hmm, a bulge between the anus and scrotum doesn't really seem in the right place to anal glands, to me? I check my dogs by holding their tail up with one hand, and just feeling at about 4 and 8 o'clock around the anus.. if you're holding the tail up and can feel a bit of a bulge there, those are the anal glands. It may be slightly different for different breeds though. I know poodles are prone to anal gland issues because of their anatomy and the gland placement - I'm not sure exactly what the problem is with where they are located, but for some reason they don't tend to get naturally "expressed" when pooing, as much as other breeds.

I think I just gave myself epilepsy. In the best way possible. :laugh:

God, I wish I knew what to say in situations like that. Not that things THAT bad happen frequently, but there are often occasions when I just end up being dumb, mute and standing there with my blood boiling, and my teeth gritted behind what probably looks like a smile. I feel the same way when I walk past pet shops and see people oogling the puppies or asking to take them out and buy them. I suspect that there isn't really anything you can do or say in that kind of situation, beyond maybe strike up conversation with the potential buyers. Though in most cases it's probably counterproductive

If you wish to see the avatar, here is a link. For obvious reasons, dont click if you will be offended Avatar :laugh: :laugh: ah yessss, I've seen that one before - an oldie but a goodie, I remember that one from the livejournal craze of the late 90s!

Damn, I missed the avatar! Was trying to work out what was so wrong with a dog on the phone.. :laugh:

Were the Rottweilers papered dogs bred by an experienced Rottweiler breeder who breeds to type or were they BYB's or perhaps crossbreeds?? Not sure what difference this would make? From their posts it seems m-sass believes that as long as a dog is a purebred, bred by a responsible breeder there is no chance it could attack. Only cross bred, BYB "landsharks" do that. Dogs who attack passive people generally have a component of insecurity in their make up, breeder experienced with their bloodlines know the temperaments of the dogs they are breeding and what those lines produce and what their ancestors produced, what bloodline experience does the BYB have in comparison by mating just "anything" when they wouldn't know who the ancestors of the parents are let alone what traits they bought to the table, or the BYB is purposely breeding short nerved unstable dogs in their belief demonstrate protective instinct where is in fact what they demostrate is insecuirty and fear aggression and shouldn't ideally be bred on........the dedicated breeder of quality dogs of stable temperaments knows the difference, the BYB doesn't. I think you're preaching to the choir here - I doubt anyone will argue about, by and large, BYBs mating anything, and thus ending up with progency of anything x anything. Nor will people disagree that experienced breeders are more likely (one would hope) to research and know their bloodlines. The thing is, you're dealing with probabilities, and you have to add environmental factors on to that. Which means that there are no guarantees either way. Just like not every pedigreed dog has an even temperament and isn't involved in the kind of dog attacks that grace the In The News board here, not every non-papered or cross bred dog is a ticking timebomb that does. If you disagree with that, frankly I think you've got your head in the sand. If you agree.. I'm still not sure what it really adds. Just more complexity.

Phew!! So so glad to read this

Sorry to say but what a load of rubbish . Have you ever meet a Komodor in person ?? I gather not & its statements like yours that create hysteria by people who are followers. Komodors have been shown in Australia ,attended Royal Shows with no dramas. There is more to understanding breed than cut & pasting a breed standard & then saying there dangerous . People jump on the band wagon of ban this ban that & many have nevr meet one nor wish to because the hysteria tells them they are bad , Let's keep this discussion calm and reasonable. It's a discussion - I think the Komondor example was used as an example - if a dog is bred to exhibit a particular trait it's fair to consider that it will exhibit that trait. I actually just had a look on dogz online and there aren't any breeders in Australia listed anyway. I read padraic's post as just putting forward a bunch of ideas almost as questions. I don't think he's seriously advocating restrictions on large breed dogs; it's more like thinking out loud about what some of the issues are, that can be grappled with. There are no easy answers or single issues here, there are many intermingled ones all bundled up together. Pulling them apart is important. It's important to be able to have rational discussions about BSL and associated issues. There's no point in jumping down someone's throat for expressing an opinion, it just means they won't come back and you end up with an insular community in furious agreement. That advances no causes and doesn't change anything. To make any headway into affecting change anywhere it's important to be able to speak to people with varying ideas and understandings, from all sides of the fence. That means people with a lifetime of experience with particular breeds, and no experience at all. If you can't do that, you're not going to help anyone or anything.

I'm not trying to downplay the significance of dog attacks or take the issue lightly, but I do wonder exactly how big a problem we are dealing with here - have the incidences of dog attacks been increasing in recent years? I don't actually know, just putting it out there. The internet is brilliant for enabling greater understanding of events and goings on, but sometimes it can distort our understanding of what is "normal" or a normal amount of things happening. Things are easier to know about now, which means it's hard to compare current trends with those from the past. We might hear about more attacks around the country etc, but it doesn't mean there weren't just as many before, if not more. They're just easier to see, particularly in a community that's interested in dogs, and online. It's always easy to look at the past as a golden age of.. *insert social norm*. It's the same with everything, and I'm not sure that dog owners are any better or worse at responsible dog ownership now. And finally, with these discussions it's always worth considering that DOL is a unique community that in some ways has separate and more particular or nuanced concerns than the broader community. Sometimes I read threads or posts here about people and their dogs being "attacked" and rushed etc, and think.. if that happened to me I wouldn't even think twice. If that happened to my mum out walking her dogs, or my boyfriend, or my friends from the park.. by and large, I can't think that any of them would care or think it a big deal. I'm not saying that there aren't real, serious and dangerous attacks and incidences that people witness and deal with. But sometimes I do wonder whether it's a bit of an overreaction, or a reaction from someone who is almost expecting and looking for something to happen. I don't often see roaming dogs around here, but I live in an inner-sh suburb - though there are some boisterous and untrained dogs that I frequently see, with pretty clueless owners. I guess my point is that if you're looking for a problem, you're going to see one. Just some extra thoughts for discussion

:laugh: :laugh: that's actually an old photo of a grown out teddy-bear type cut.. I love it too, but it only looks nice for a week or so. Then it's just messy scruff town! Lately I've been teaching myself to do proper poodle face and feet :D One day.. one day I'll get there..

Oh nooo, so sorry to hear this Will share on facebook.

Oh wowwww, they're gorgeous! More playdates and pics please :D

This is Maggie, just after I found the contents of the bathroom bin (er, the worst one to be got at) strewn around the house. Butter wouldn't melt, but the dental floss on her head was a dead giveaway...

Oh dammmmn another one I can't attend!

:) No worries, she wasn't there tonight but I'll ask when I see her next anyway.

+1 +700

Hey, I'm going to buy and take some stuff tomorrow afternoon, happy to buy some stuff for you if you'd like :)

Hi SwaY - how old are they, and are they both male and female? An older woman at my park has a Min Pin (approx 8 I think) and lost her female to cancer about a year ago. She's been grieving and not interested in a new dog until recently, so I will let her know that there are some oldies that need homes. She's an experienced owner, prior to the MPs she had Dobermanns.

Agree with persephone. Unfortunately, puppy farms are not actually illegal, either. So apart from educating as many people as you can (and you're preaching to the choir here!) there's not much that you can do about it I completely understand how frustrating and angry you feel though, I spend so much time being disgusted at the things people can do, and try and focus on what I can do to educate people about what's happening, and how to avoid supporting dodgy breeders.

I answered as accurately as possible, but my feedback would mainly be on that 'which is your dog - the nibbler, the gourmet, etc' because it doesn't seem able to fit dogs of even your average dog owner. I ticked the 'beggar' one, because my dog begs for food constantly.. but i don't actually reward that behaviour. It's the only one that remotely fits her, though the answer implies that she gets fed because she beg for it. My issue with that kind of multiple choice question is that it has 2 assumptions in each of the answer options, and if you're answering in a near-enough's-good-enough kind of way, the results are going to be skewed by assuming that the 2 things are related. Eg, my answer to that question would lead to the assumption that I feed my dog when she demands, it, but that's not true in 99% of the cases. While I probably over-thought some of the questions, I'm sure your "average" dog owner wouldn't have trouble. I am thinking about my family members and friends etc, all of them of who feed tinned food and table scraps etc. On a side note, I'd be very interested to see the results of any surveys of dog weight and owner weight - it'd be very interesting. Sometimes I wish people would pay the same amount of attention to their own diet as they obviously do to their dog's diet! And vice versa.. I'm terrible, but those thoughts do enter my head on many occasions.

Decent opening hours that enable people to get to them to view potential pets, check to see that their lost pet isn't there, etc. That includes weekends, and not just 1 hour from 9-10am or something ridiculous like that. 9-5 on weekdays is not adequate. Fostering program. Regularly updated website with photos of pets to facilitate re-claiming.