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It may also be that the fit just wasn't right, and they needed to give you a reason. Just like job interviews - it's as much about feeling that the person is going to fit in with the group's culture and other members, as whether they feed feed the same food or have the same approach to various things. At the start it may seem like a rude rejection, but in the end it's probably for the best. Particularly if you've found a group that you gel really well with since :)

I suggest sardines too - not every day of course, but once a week or so. Mine all love them, but it gives one of them diarrhoea, so - just a word of warning. They don't agree with everyone, and diarrhoea is bad enough as is, let alone SARDINE diarrhoea.... ;) How about just upping the amount of food?

Pretty sure they're $600.

I met him on the weekend! :love: God I love RWL.

If you do have carpet, an extraction cleaner is a godsend. My dogs don't smell (or shed) so it's not doggy smell, as much as.. just... dogs running around, making things dirtier and grottier faster than they otherwise would! :laugh: I have a rug in the lounge room which is kind of .. dark red/bright maroon which doesn't show dirt that much, but when I clean it with the extraction cleaner... The "water" (read: toxic waste) is filthy. I also foster, so sometimes have little accidents to deal with, and the extraction cleaner is great for them too, and just generally freshening up the carpet upstairs. Mine is this Bissell one - basically you push it along like a vacuum cleaner (after vacuuming) and it releases water and cleaning fluid on to the carpet, then you go over it again and it sucks all the gunk out. The machine has a clear plastic part at hte front, so you can see the colour of the water and the bits of crud being sucked out of the carpet. Once it starts getting clear, it's the best feeling in the world :D (simple pleasures...)

Isn't that the whole point of the study though? What we currently have is a pretty lacklustre, patchy "system" whereby many great dogs that would suit many homes never get there, because they behave a certain way in a pound environment. In recognition of the fact that the temperament tests that are currently used by pounds and shelters aren't able to take into account the fact that timidity (or whatever) isn't necessarily an insurmountable problem, or a factor that makes a dog unrehomeable.. this study seeks to enable various other things to be taken into consideration. I fail to see how this is a bad thing. This goes a much greater way toward taking into account different breed characteristics and tendencies than anything that exists for pounds to use so far. Of course it's not perfect. And of course it won't take into account the particular breed attributes and differences. But it's better than what we have now. Argue all you want about how other things would be better - but someone here is actually doing something. I for one think it's great, was really pleased to help, and can't wait to see the results. And as for the key problem being people who dump their pets at pounds - well, yes. But recognising that that's something to tackle doesn't mean there shouldn't be better ways of dealing with the result of that. Which is dogs at pounds. Which are often assessed poorly, because assessment tools available and/or widely used are crap. It's like saying what we really need to do is stop war, and anything less than stopping war is a waste of time. Go stop war if you want, but don't jump on the people who are plugging away at their own piece.

I found the feedback from my two really interesting - I expected to be told that Maggie would fail also, and never make it out of most pounds. But she actually "passed" with flying colours, apparently. It was also really interesting to hear about how different my two are, and how much more self regulating maggie (in particular) is. I could hear her shake every so often, and apparently she would take herself away from whatever stimulus it was, shake herself and her heart rate would lower. Good girl!! :D I can obviously make various assessments myself, but to hear someone else's objective assessment was great. Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

I was just looking on petrescue for a dog to suit somebody else, and found this girl - http://www.petrescue.com.au/listings/205830 6 ish year old kelpie x lab, who is with Vic DRG. Maybe worth a look? I'm not sure how she showed up in my search, as I was looking at small dogs.. but there you go! It may mean that she wouldn't show up in medium dog searches and may get overlooked..

Oh yay!! So glad you've had some success with them - what a bloody relief! :thumbsup:

What a perfect outcome! But please, as if you have to justify taking a dog out of that situation and bringing it into your home to be loved and cared for. You did a great thing, and I'm so glad it has worked out for you both! He's a gorgeous little guy, he almost look deer-like to me. I dont know what it is, he just looks really.. gentle and lovely :D And tdietrix.. your Harper's playmate is PERFECT. He's the ultimate Hairy Maclarey. I love him!! What an awesome little guy! I thought my Mimi was the closest thing to a real life Hairy Maclarey, but that guy takes the cake. :thumbsup:

I don't even know what to say Em I'm just so sorry this is all happening. When it rains it pours, hey? :hug:

IMO I wouldn't be using the Lida list as any real guide. Certainly for my breed it had no basis in reality, listing some really obscure and uncommon conditions for the breed and missing most (actually nearly all) of the important ones. (and yes I have contacted them about it, to no effect at all) Ah - fair enough. I've never looked at it in great detail, but have stumbled across it numerous times and bookmarked it for reference. That's good to know though, thanks espinay. :)

This may also be useful - not exactly what you're after, but it's a database of common genetic diseases in dogs. You can search by breed etc - the info is mainly American but apparently they're supplementing it with Australian info where they can. http://sydney.edu.au/vetscience/lida/dogs/

Mm, me too. Could they not allow him/her to at least sleep in a laundry or something? Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Hmm, bang? Ie, drop down dead? Spin around? Rock solid recalls! Never too young! Have a look at YouTube.com/kikopup, she had amazing tricks and awesome videos :) God it's really hard to think of tricks. I'm waiting at the airport, it's way too early and I should get off dol. God. Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

I walk them before food, always, and wouldn't worry at all about walking or exercising them if they hadn't eaten since the night before. In fact, mine get one meal a day usually (at night) and get walked when I get home from work, before their dinner. So they've usually gone almost 24 hours without eating. That said, they get treats on their walk or at the park. It is more important to give your dogs time to digest food before exercise if they're larger, because of the risk of bloat. I have a toy and small dog so the risk of that is slim to none, but I'm still paranoid. Bloat is a deadly, deadly thing and a horrible way to die, and some breeds (particularly giant breeds) are much more prone than others. I'd suggest being very careful about too much exercise too soon after dinner, regardless, though :) Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

That's probably one of the only things my Maggie hasn't tried to eat.. <img src='http://www.dolforums.com.au/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' /> he will be fine, it will just work its way out, I wouldn't worry about it. A few weeks ago my other dog Mimi did what looked like a leopard print poo. Upon closer inspection... Yep, she'd eaten half my favourite pair of undies. :laugh Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

I think I'd be a bit put out by a breeder offering a pup at a 'discount' for any reason at all. But to be honest, money doesn't and wouldn't come into the equation for me, when buying a pup, older dog or any dog, regardless of from rescue or a breeder. That's not to say I'd pay $10,000 or something, but I think I'd be rubbed the wrong way by someone selling one pup for a bit less because of any kind of imperfection. That said, I wouldn't buy a pup that I had concerns about, in terms of temperament etc, at that young age. It wouldn't be anything to do with money, but that if I were going to buy a purebred pup I'd want to be 100% sure about it.

Best way is probably to jump on a train at Spencer Street Southern Cross to Showgrounds station :) We're coming back from Tasmania on the 3rd so will go on the Sunday arvo, if anyone wants to meet.

A friend of mine works at Ka-Pooch in Fairfield, I'd trust her with my dogs any day. Not sure whether that's good for you, location wise, though.

Oooh, I was wondering when this was on again. I missed it last year and was devastated! The year before was awesome :) It's mainly breed club stalls, some rescue stalls, obedience/flyball/agility demonstrations, that kind of thing. Unless you're affiliated with one of the stalls, pets aren't welcome, though. They also had some confirmation shows going on at the 2011 one at Caulfield, but I'm not sure whether that's normal - they seemed like actual shows, not just .. 'demonstrations', though.

Yup, it seems like they want a really broad cross section of dogs, with different backgrounds, of different 'type' etc. I'd definitely shoot them an email, they are in need of more dogs still.

I did it this morning with two of my dogs - the two smallest they'd seen! :laugh: It only takes an hour (per dog), it would be great if more people could help

Oh god, she is adorable! Congrats :) :)

I think you just have to look at it in a different way - it will definitely change your relationship with Maggie, but Maggie will change too, and that's perfectly natural. I also have a Maggie, who I got at age 3, and who also has a very soft temperament. She was EXTREMELY timid when I first got her, but is now a completely different dog. When I had had her for about 18 months, I brought my 11 year old 'family dog' Mimi to live with us, from my mum's house. At first I was worried like you, because Maggie had been by herself and we had a perfect little routine going - it was just lovely. But I do think that having Mim around has brought her out of her shell, gives her much more confidence when we are out, and they both just seem to enjoy life so much more together. It's one of those 'the sum is greater than the parts' situations, I think. For me and my dogs, anyway. Maggie is still my little girl, and Mim is still my old girl, and having them both here at once hasn't detracted from my relationship with either of them one bit. I appreciate them both in different ways, and no longer take certain things about each of them for granted. My story won't be the same as everyone else's, and I'm sure some people regret getting another dog, as hard as that is to actually verbalise. But it doesn't always work out as perfectly, is what I mean. I really do think that one way to jinx it from the start is to worry about the negative impact though :)