CreamyPuff

I'm fairly new to the ACT so does anyone know who I would contact to find out? Canberra Connect perhaps?

If you have a warning sign on your gate/fence stating "beware of dogs" or anything along those lines and someone does enter your property and are attacked or bitten does this make you liabale since you have a warning sign up? Will your dog get in trouble and/or be PTS? I'm asking becuase one of our dogs can be quite territorial and although we have a sign on our gate I'm worried that if anyone did happen to ignore it and get bitten that she would be PTS and that would just crush me! So does anyone know if this is the case?

I think it would be ok under supervision only. One of our dogs was accidently given a corn cob which got stuck in her intestines and had to be sugucally removed. If your dog is large enough to bite off a big chunk of pine cone it could possibly have the same result. Not only was our dog in pain before and during her recovery but the vet bill wasn't very nice either!

OMG I just searched via google images and found some horrible photos of dogs going through ear cropping. The poor thing! I guess photos like this are required in making people realise that it is such a cruel practice-it has certainly changed my mind!

Hhmmm...interesting picture. Well now that I know that it is illegal becuase it is downright cruel I change my view. I would rather know that a dog has not been in pain rather than it looking good. Just out of curiousity now, does anyone know of, or know where to find the prcedure/how it is done?

So because the dogs are not used for hunting etc like they were bred for it is seen as not needed anymore, I can make sense of that. I just thought that maybe there were medical problems associated with long ears and that's why they used to crop them.

Ha ha too cute!

But does anyone know WHY it's illegal?

Is ear cropping illegal in Australia? If so, why? What are people's opinion on ear cropping? I love Great Danes (might not ever get to own one but can always hope) and I love the cropped ear look. I think it makes the dog look very noble and smart. Don't want to cause any controvery but as I mentioned in the topic description I could not find out very much info.

Gypsy often farts when she is jumping up onto her lounge chair I think it must be the contracting of her butt muscles when she is jumping that does it! Can't help but crank up laughing when it happens though, although she is not impressed and gets rather upset that I am laughing at her for something she has no control over.

Either way the manner it was said could have been a bit nicer-that is all do not want to start a debate on someone else's thread

PF is saying that people should get their dogs from rescues. The rescues get the dogs from the pound and then put them in foster homes. People then adopt the dog from the rescue. Why is this a better approach? You *can't* tell what a dog's behaviour is going to be like in a pound environment. When a dog is living in a foster home, the foster carer gets to see what the dog behaves like in the real world and can find a suitable family for it. For example, my girl would shut down in a pound enviroment. People would think she was sweet and shy. In the real world, however, she can be very aggressive. I imagine that a young family would see her in the pound and think she is soooo sweet and would be so gentle with kids. The kids would pay the price for this mistake. The pound I got my girls from let me spend time with each of them in the pens to get to know a little about them and their behaviour. Fair enough it is not as good as what foster homes can offer but I think the comment by PF was uncalled for-just my opinion is all.

Poodlefan what's wrong with dogs from the pound? I have rescued both my dogs from the pound and they are great companions-people just need to do their research as mentioned before about the breeds, not the place you get them from. The pound my 2 were brought from both came microchipped, wormed and with desexing vouchers (they were too young to already be desexed) so are just as good.

I know this is a dog forum but this thread reminded me of when my Mum's cat caught a mouse and we were fighting over who was going to get it off him as he wouldnt give it up. We decided that I would hold him, while she grabbed the mouse out of his mouth by the tail which was hanging out the side. I picked him up and just as she went in for the grab he decided to drop it and it started darting everywhere! I ended up throwing the cat (whoops) then Mum and I ran around screaming, jumped on the lounge, woke my Dad up in the process, and got in lots of trouble for being too loud and acting like sooks!

I brought a 2nd hand colourbond one, complete with insulation. Not sure if it was home made or not but was very well done if it was!

Gypsy seems to think that she needs to empty any bowl, be it food or water, that is inside. She will stand there drinking, and drinking, and drinking, even though she has obviously had enough, until I yell her name to stop. Then she gets startled and decides not to swallow the mouthful she just had so it comes running out the sides of her lips. She then proceeds to try and give me a hug to say sorry for being a pig, although I swear she actually does it just to wipe the drips onto me-one time she done a very obvious rest the chin on the leg, wipe mouth to the left, then to the right, then walk away!

My dog got the same the day after I washed her-little pea sized lumps all the way down her spine. I normally just use a flea treatment shampoo but thought I would try a natural, chemical free shampoo and funnily enough this one caused the reaction!

So it's the same deal for cats too then. That's good to know since we have a 12 week old kitten who is about to go for his vaccinations.

Thanks for the articles, I had a quick browse (at work atm so have to be sneaky). So do you guys vaccinate every 3 years, or not at all once the first vaccine at 6 months has been done, as written in the 3rd article. Just curoius to know what everyone else does. Does anyone think it is neccessary for the girls to have vaccines before they come to the new house if they already had them last year???

Hi, I found this site a couple of moths ago and have been noseying around since then but I have a question I need to ask so thought I'd join! My fiance and I each have a dog. My dog is Gypsy, a Ridgeback x Mastiff, and his dog is Sonja, a Pittbull x Staffy. I rescued Gypsy from the pound 5 years ago when she was a 3 month old pup. She had a very bad start to life, with evidence that she had been beaten and mistreated. She is very well taken care of now and is my precious baby girl. I love her SO much, even enough to get a tattoo of her name on me! I got Gyspsy before OH came into the picture so although he is jelous of her sometimes he knows that she is part of the package! When he said he wanted a dog of his own we went to the pound again (I will not go anywhere else, I believe that if you don't mind a crossbreed then rescues should come first!) and that's where he got Sonja, also 3 months old at the time (she is now 1 1/2). We have recently moved into a brand new house in a brand new area and I definately want the dogs to have their vaccinations before they come out (currently at the parent's house due to Gypsy being an excellent escape artist so some backyard renovations are needed before they can come out) because I want them to be protected against Parvo expecially so not ifs or buts for that one but I'm just wondering if it is neccessary to get vaccinations every year? The reason I ask is that OH's brother's OH (lol) is a greyhound trainer and she says that she never gets the dogs vaccinated as it is an unneccessary waste of money. Is this true? Do you all get annual vaccinations? Up until now I have always booked an appointment as soon as I get my reminder letter but if it is not neccessary then I wonder why the vets do it. Is it just a scam to get money, or is it actually neccessary? I want the best for our dogs and want them to live healthy, long, happy lives but if we can save money on vaccinations and use that money elsewhere then I wouldn't get the vaccinations if they were not neccessary, although I think I would be very hesitatnt at not getting them and more than likely get them done once the thought of them being unprotected got the better of me! Any advice/opinions would be greatly appreciated! (and sorry for the novel)