Salukifan

Take the tray out. Never understand why they come with trays unless you expect the dog to pee in it. A decently thick pad will ensure the dog can't feel the wire. Clamp the crate cover onto the corners of the tray with plastic clamps from Bunnings. Personally, unless the deck was very sheltered, I would be using kennels, especially in winter.

Howie was in an unusual positon on the bottom of the bed the other morning. When I got up i realised he'd manage to get his head between the buttons on the bottom of the doona cover. He had it around his neck and was trapped! How will he recover from this trauma??

Knowledge and ethics don't always go together. Neither do intelligence and knowledge.

This is the clique democratically elected by all full members that you're talking about? No, this the future clique who kid to you they will do the right thing by the membership & you never hear a sincere thought from them again. & of course there is the laxidasical syndrome of let someone else do the job that also allows it to happen. Once in it doesn't take long for them to toe the "us & them" line though. Like they say, the only person to ever go into parliament house with an honest intention was Guy Fawkes. So why do people voting for them? If you think that being a CC member is some kind of power trip with endless privilege, think again. I can assure you the reality is nothing of the kind.

This is the clique democratically elected by all full members that you're talking about?

Disagreement isn't censorship. I have no idea what you mean by a "true but uncomplimentary missive". A letter? If it's not complementary about an individual and its printed, its defamation territory. No editor is going to do that. Democracy only works with the participation of the body politic. Believe me when I say that CC members get the Councils they deserve. Queensland's elections are a case in point. It's a shite load of work to be on Club and CC committees. From where I sit you tend to see the same folk lining up for mulitple gigs and the rest do sweet FA. If people want things to change then perhaps its time for them to step up and do it rather than whine bout how things are now.

I don't think its unfair to suggest that one person's (or even more than one persons') negative experiences shouldn't colour the entire debate JL. I also haven't had experiences that put me off club membership. All breed clubs elect their Committees. They are required to under ANKC regulations. If people care enough about how things are run, there are methods of changing them. Fact is most don't and they get the Committees they deserve as a result. You're struggling to get a turn out to a lot of AGMs. I enjoy the activities of the clubs I'm a member of. So do a lot of people. Sure some folk don't but they can change things if they choose to. It's the Marvin attitudes of some of those within the ANKC fold (and those swiping from outside) that put a lot of newbs off the purebred dog world. People should be given a balanced view and allowed to decide for themselves rather than deterred by a heap of negativity.

Oh I don't know, they do have their moments :laugh: Unfortunately the biggest problem in all breed clubs is getting people on committee, too many members (not in our club thank goodness) love to whinge, but aren't prepared to do anything positive to instigate change, it's very easy to sit on the sidelines and complain, not so easy to join committee and actually do something. At the moment we have two pet owners on committee, one is our newsletter editor and one is our obedience co-ordinator and also runs breed rescue (and horror of horrors she also owns a crossbreed but guess what, she hasn't been expelled from the club :D) Neither of them is involved in showing. Perhaps that's the key. Don't have people in competition with each other in important positions. Assuming of course that you have the luxury of choice. People aren't lining up for such jobs and with volunteers, you work with what you get.

Whippet Club of Victoria has fun days, racing days and recently had a comp day with fun classes. Hats off to them!

They don't need to. They'll still be exposed to purebred dogs and the people who own and breed them.

And sometimes they see purebred dog breeders as having no right to question their fitness for puppy ownership, or they don't want to wait. So off to the Trading Post or Gumtree or the pet shop they go. Given that the existing number of ANKC breeders don't have any problem placing the pups they breed, what's the point in generating demand for pups that simply don't exist? Breeders aren't fading away because they can't sell their pups. Maybe we need to encourage those breeding responsibly to keep doing it before we ramp up demand. Imposing legislation that treats them identically to puppy farmers ain't the way to go from where I sit.

That hasn't been my experience Steve. Crickets If crossbred owners take their dogs to any of the ANKC affilidated dog training clubs around Australia, they'll get such exposure. Breed clubs also roll up at Pet Expos, council dogs day outs etc. What needs to change IMO is the attitude that dog ownership is a right, that having a dog as a back yard ornament that you simply feed once a day is just fine and that you can buy one today in a retail or internet exchange just like any other. The explosion of puppy farmed and BYB dogs (purebreds are also caught up in this) is fueled by ignorance and driven by profit. As your average family has bought into the "desex your pet" message, obtaining a dog from a litter of a family pet of a family friend is pretty much gone. That's left hobby breeders and the profit breeders left to fill the hole. No surprise that the larger operations and those for whom profit is the primary motivation have filled most of the gap, assisited by the likes of Mr Burke spruking his hybrid vigour rubbish for his own personal agenda. The idea that you only go to an ANKC breeder for a "show dog" didn't come out of nowhere and the idea that pedigree dogs are "unhealthy" didn't either. And while some animal welfare groups promote the "don't breed or buy while pound dogs die" line, and rescuers steer every puppy or 'what breed for me' enquiry towards a pound or rescue group, responsible purebred dog breeders will continue to remain in the crosshairs of restrictive legsislation and be left out of consideration as the first place to source a dog. Frankly I think limits on dog numbers and the patently ridiculous conditions some councils place on breeders is significant disincentive to anyone to responsibly breed dogs. What sort of decent Maltese breeder is going to keep their dogs in outdoor concrete runs year round?

Oops double post.

I wish I shared your confidence on that Moosmum. Seems to me that the kinds of people who care about such things already source their dogs responsibly, be they purebred or crossbred.

Word of advice; don't use purple spray before you see a vet with a dog or a horse. It stains the wound and makes examination more difficult. Drives vets crazy :laugh: Ottoderm does the same job without the staining :)

Crickets. The ANKC has an associate register that pretty much does this for folk who want to do dog sports. Some breed clubs have fun days but it's a hell of a lot of work and generally restricted to pet owners of purebred dogs. I can understand why Maltese folk might not want to open the doors to crossbred owners. It's all those crossbred breeders and buyers that have pretty much led to the demise of the Maltese as a pet. Hard to put your heart into something like that. As a poodle owner I feel the same way about oodles. The breed I love has been exploited and abused to produce a pet that's often not much like a poodle at all. How does providing encouragement to oodle owners to show their dogs 'convert' them into becoming poodle owners? Half the reason these dogs sell is because their owners have bought into the hybrid vigour misinformation and the tripe about getting the best of more than one breed.

Yep, right here in the puppy listings on the Main Webpage. :) Word to the wise: avoid the blue pups and do look for health tested parents. SBT breeders here may have a few recommendations.

I have always maintained that if the breeder of the dog doesn't know the correct name for the breed, that's one hell of an indicator that they have no idea what they're doing. "Shy" and "runt" also ring alarm bells for me. SBT pups should be robust and outgoing. I appreciate you've probably already made an emotional commitment to this pup but the best advice I can give you is to look elsewhere. You might also want to remove the link to the ad. It's a breach of forum rules to post it. I wonder if the "abscess" on that pup's stomach is an umbilical hernia.

No drama jerry lee. I respect your passion for your dog of choice. It should be possible to debate vigorously and remain civil. Thanks for helping me demonstrate it. I knew that the construction brick bats were aimed at me

Jerry Lee directed the points about construction at my comments, TT. :cool:

I would never discourage anyone with an SBT from doing agility. I'd be suggesting they keep the dog lean and keep it chiropracted but I recommend that for all agility dogs. However if someone asks what breed I'd recommend for agility, they are not on the list. My guess is that the differences between those two responses is lost on some.

I wonder if you might consider that it's possible to have similar thoughts about those with no experience in agility stating that a particular breed is "highly suitable". My guess is not. :) It's called a dog walk by the way, not a beam.

I know sweet FA about Beagle weights Jerry Lee, and since I wouldn't recommend one as an agility prospect and you don't see many in agility, I don't see what point their relative weights make. Yes, it was a Miniature Poodle that I had to retire. No there are no issues with his knees. He managed to gain an Endurance Title just fine. He has a congenital spinal deformity in his neck that didn't manifest any symptoms until he was six years old. Broke my heart to retire him two quallies short of his Masters title but he never trained or competed again from the day it was diagnosed. He's now 9 and going just fine. Not that you give a damn if it will help you defend a position that no one is trying to force you to take.

Can you list the names please?

I didn't denigrate anything. And if you think I"m "anti-staffy" you are sadly mistaken. I wouldn't own a Stafford but there's one in particular I'm very fond of. I have frequently recommended Staffords on this forum as great kids dogs. But for agility? Sorry but no For your information, I did agility with poodles weighing 4.5 and 6kg. The Miniatures were the same height as my friends show SBT who weighed 18kg. The SBT standard is what responsible breeders breed to - it is not a historic document. Whippets are taller than Staffords by the way. In case it's escaped your notice, I didn't recommend THEM as agility prospects either, even though a handful have done well. It's not a simple task training a Whippet for that sport regardless of how athletically suited they might be. And I have quite a bit of affection for Whippets. :)