Kori

I think you are absolutely correct there. A lot of the people who own such dogs (certainly in the area I live it) got them for free or next to nothing from no one de-sexing their animals and a ready supply of mongrel pups - the cost of taking the dog to the vet to quietly put it to sleep is prohibitive for many low income earners or welfare recipients for whom such dogs are the most common breed. This is not surprising at all, I am surprised anyone least of all the council should be shocked.

This would have been about 8 years ago.. I dunno if they had that back then or not, if they did then yes it was amazing that he did pass it.

Thank you thank you thank you so much AJ :D What a star Geoff is! You know what, I think it is a mini miracle, but my little girl has since yesterday been up and walking - ok very shakily and she often falls on her butt, but she is doing so well it is just amazing :D I am just so very very happy, and having to Thank you again for recommending Geoff, and of course thank him for his incredible abilities!! I am just hoping this rapid improvement continues! Wooo hooo *doing happy dance here*

Sad story, and a good article, the Vet in question is correct, it is largely the Bogan element who have no idea, or worse actively encourage bad dog behaviour that are the issue. BUT... I have to tell you all the story of a Pitt Bull X in my own family, and how sometimes it *IS* the dog not the owner... My brother who is the most responsible person I know (literally) and a loving family man with at that time two young sons purchased a beautiful tan young dog from the RSPCA as a Boxer X (but it became apparent later that he was a pitt bull x Staffy) and set about raising this dog properly including socializing with people and other dogs... or rather trying to... he was a super aggressive dog from day 1, whilst he was fine with my brother adored him in fact, and tolerated his wife and the kids he absolutely hated everyone else, and other dogs were seriously in danger, it wasn't long before it became apparent that he had to wear a muzzle at all times he was out of the house due to his inherent aggressive nature and want to attack anything unknown. He was also incredibly destructive, and once when he was on a very short car trip to the dog park totally flipped out and ripped the back of the station wagon apart completely in a frenzied attack that was apparently terrifying to the kids in the back seat. He also went after another dog one day, getting away from my SIL and in the process got hit by a car which was traumatic, but they paid the $4000 for the Vet to fix him up and he recovered well physically. He had obedience training, and every attempt was made to calm this dog down and make him a loving and loved family pet. Without a doubt the scariest dog I have ever met, and we were raised in a household with Dobermans and the occasional German Shepard, so we are all well used to big powerful dogs and I personally have never had a problem with a dog until this one, he was truly terrifying, if you came to their house he would have to be locked outside and he would then literally try to smash the glass doors to get in, full on attack mode the instant he saw anyone who was not in his household, regardless if they were another family member or a small child etc. This was obviously not sustainable in a normal very middle class household with lots of kids coming and going and finally after about 3 years they had to have him put down he was just too vicious and too uncontrollable for a family pet. Sure you could argue he could have had further training - but the reality is he was always going to be an unstable animal and could never be trusted around people or other animals, this was not a decision taking lightly, and it broke my brother's heart as he did love that dog - but he was never going to be a family pet.. I just am thankful he never had the opportunity to actually get out and attack someone or thing, as there is no doubt he would have if he could have. He could easily have killed a small child or in fact anyone. Sometimes it just *IS* the dog. I now live in a very bogan area (god was that an eye opener for a North Shore girl with a left leaning!) and just about every dog here is a Staffy/Pitty X never de-sexed and you see these morons all the time encouraging bad dog behaviour and thinking they are he men for owning some big vicious anti social animal - argh! I saw one the other day with a Staffy/Pitty x puppy and the dog was attacking the toddler's tricycle as they walked along, instead of instantly stopping this incredibly dangerous bad behaviour, they were pissing themselves laughing and encouraging it. Perhaps a dog license, like a gun license, I dunno. There are certainly plenty of people who should not be dog owners, just as there are plenty of dogs who for whatever reason are too unstable and dangerous, and that is just a fact.

Thanks Stan's Mum! We are so encouraged by how she has been over the last 4 or 5 days, she has worked out toileting, and is often trying to get back up on her feet, we abandoned the bed rest mid last week as she was just so miserable, and it turns out that the Vet/Chiro thinks she should be moving about anyway, so it was a good thing! I think she has a good chance of walking again, with more therapy and more time, she might always be shaky on her pins and no more mad JRT antics, but at least she is still with us, and still happy! We might give the acupuncture a go too, just tricky atm as I don't have a car and are up the other end of the Coast. I am just so happy to now have some hope for her future!

Just wanted to pop back and say a huge thanks for this! We saw him, and he is a lovely man, was very thorough with her, and whilst he didn't promise anything, or give us any false hope, we strongly believe she can make some kind of recovery now, he was brilliant with her and after the session she is now able to stand up and walk for very short amounts of time, so we live in hope that futher sessions and further time to heal might well lead to a recovery of sorts! Thanks again

Couldn't agree more! I applaud all those people who have made the mature and sensible decision not to become Pet owners... to NOT subject some poor animal to a life of lonely solitude and boredom all day as they are out working and then don't have the time/energy/inclination to walk/play interact with them when they are at home. There are some valid points to what they are saying, it is now very difficult to rent a property with pets, and my own parents had to give up their much loved dog when they went into a retirement village... such prejudice should be addressed I agree, educate the landlords/owners of such places that pets are a vital part of a family and do help to increase the quality and length of life to older people, the disabled etc. For anyone to be suggesting we need MORE pets, when our pounds are overflowing with unwanted animals now is highly irresponsible.

Great! Thanks Stan's Mum

Wow, great info, thanks very much AJ

Hi all, I am in need of the name and phone number of a good dog chiro on the Central Coast NSW preferrably - Can I tell you the sad tale of my gorgeous shorty JRT - About a month ago she seemed to injure herself and had what appeared to be a bad back, or torn muscle or similar - given how active and fearless she always has been this wasn't a major surprise, she has always been very very full-on physically and will literally throw herself off beds/sofas/decks etc. Typical Jack Russell But she had never hurt herself in the process before. We took her to the Vet and he checked her right out, he thought she might have an abdominal issue or perhaps a slipped disc, as her whole body was so tense and stiff and it turns out she had luxated patella's in both hind legs, so he fixed that (apparently a very common JRT issue) and gave us some pain killers for her, and almost immediately he put them back in she seemed to bounce right back and after one day of total drugged out sleep she seemed to be 100% her normal self again, and has been very well running and bouncing around like her normal JRT crazy self ... until this week. On Thursday she was very sooky and started doing the hiding under furniture thing, not wanting to play or be active - but she did still go for a walk and seemed OK just perhaps a bit out of sorts. I took her for another little walk in the evening and she really wasn't into it at all, was very happy to turn around after a short distance and was walking very slowly home. On Friday morning we awoke to find she couldn't move her back legs at all, was totally paralysed and the legs had no control at all, they were just dragging along behind her :'( and she had lost bladder and bowel control, Absolutely the saddest thing I have seen. She didn't appear to be in any pain at all, just very confused and sad about her plight. We rushed her to the Vet, who did a thorough exam of her, advised that she has little to no sensation in her rear legs at all and then had to give us the bad news that he believes it to be one of three different very serious things. She has a severely slipped disc, most likely originally caused back a month ago, and some event has greatly worsened it. OR She has a Tumor or growth that has now pinched or impinged onto her spine causing paralysis. OR She has severed her spinal column. He could not feel any break or spot on her spine that might indicate any damage to the spine, nor is she sore or anxious at any point along her spine. His only suggestion was for her to have spinal surgery which he did not believe would be sucessful as she has so little sensation in her rear end. The cost to investigate further/exploritory surgery is well beyond what we can currently physically pay, it is just not do-able, and he gave us little to no hope of there being any kind of cure for her even with surgery as the window for it is very small (12 hours) and even then in such cases it often doesn't work and the animal has to be euthanized anyway. He did suggest the only thing we could try is absolute bed rest pain killers (although she doesn't appear to be in pain) and no movement for a little while and see if that in any way causes a miraculous recovery, but really it would be a miracle We are doing that now, it has been two days of her confined to a crate, but so far no change in her condition sadly. The Vet totally poo poo'd Dog Chiropractor as he thought it might be more dangerous than helpful and was disdainful of their lack of qualifications generally... but I found this site by searching for Dog Chiropractors and it seems some of you have had very positive outcomes, even with paralised dogs. One thing I have noticed is that her bum is now a completely different shape, she used to have quite a wide butt (in fact we used to joke about her large bum) but now it is significantly slimmer than the rest of her body, and she doesn't appear to be able to spread her legs ( you know how they do when they are on their backs and just totally chilling out) I am now thinking this might be a pelvic issue, or both hips are dislocated or similar, another thing is she can still wag her tail, and if I let her, she would scoot around like a mad thing dragging her legs behind her and trying to do exactly all the normal things she does. I also disagree with the vet, I think she does have SOME sensation in her back legs, pinching or scratching them causes her to look around at the leg in question. She also hasn't gone #2's for days, last time she did was in the Vet's surgery, and she has been eating fine, but it is not coming out the other end, and her wee STINKS very strong and very yellow colour and she has no control over doing it, typically it happens when I pick her up, wee fountain >_< At this stage having been told it is pretty hopeless I will try anything that doesn't cost a fortune (only because I don't have it and can't get it ) Thanks in advance.