bellab

I should add that Pound Rounds are irresponsible douchebags who have no idea about rescue, dog behaviour or responsible animal stewardship.... They give rescue a bad name!

What is wrong with you all? It is perfectly reasonable to rehome a dog that is dog aggressive on a pound environment and a fence jumper... So long as the owner can be trusted to keep him or her indoors or in a very safe enclosure and that, my friends, is why reputable rescue groups carefully vet adoption applications and carry out home inspections before rehoming animals. If you knew anything about rescue dogs, you would know that often the "dangerous" one in the pound is perfectly well-behaved at home. That the "perfectly behaved", "bomb-proof" dog in the pound often turns out to be a dog training nightmare after three weeks in foster care. Having said that, I rarely rescue such large, strong dogs as Am Staffs and thus can afford to be a little bit more blasé about it. On another note, any dog of that height can easily jump a six four fence. Humans seem to think yards are safe enclosures for dogs WRONG your dog just hasn't wanted to escape enough to figure out how easy it is. On yet another note, my parents' standard poodle has picked numerous fights with Am Staffs at the dog park, having never spent a day in the pound and having been otherwise perfectly well behaved, perfectly trained and thoroughly socialised... Most of those Am Staffs backed down and didn't rise to the bait, the few who did did so half-heartedly and both dogs stood down when their respective owners shouted for them to stop and put them back on leash. The whole bull breed discrimination thing is ridiculous... In past decades it has been Dobermanns, Rottweilers, German Shepherds etc. and at the end of the day, it is Standard Poodles who are the most naturally aggressive dogs... They're just not that popular and not within the price range of the douchebag bogans who think having a big, tough, scary, undesexed male dog is a smart idea. The kind of douchebag who dumps their dog at the pound and says it is a fence jumper because their fences are four feet tall in some areas and the dog was left by itself in the backyard for 99% of its life, literally dying of boredom. So taking temp notes from former owners is in my experience as clever as taking directions from a madman. Kennelling dogs for long periods of time is never a good idea and is not going to result in a well-behaved, balanced, mentally stable animal. You reap what you sew with dog behaviour, I tend to find, having rehabilitated "aggressive" and "dangerous" large breeds myself, including one Am Staff. If you don't know how to train a dog, let alone contain and control it, you probably shouldn't own one - it's not for everyone.

Hi Caz, First of all, I am so sorry for your loss. This must be a very difficult time for you - knowing not only that your beloved Goldie's death was preventable but also that it was gruesome. I am assuming you are in NSW? There is a code of practice for animals in grooming salons: http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/livestock/animal-welfare/codes/aw-code-8 And here is a link to make a complaint about non-compliant industry sectors: http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/livestock/animal-welfare/complaints/enforcement Furthermore, given that animals are considered property under NSW law, you certainly would have grounds to sue for negligence and perhaps even to claim damages for emotional trauma suffered. I would encourage you to go after these bastards because somebody has to stand up for the animals, who can't press charges or file suits themselves... Also, remember that this is a (terrible) practice that goes on in MANY grooming parlours in NSW every day and it is only a matter of time before it happens again. Only you can stop that, by taking the appropriate legal action. Wishing you the best of luck :) Bella

It is lucky some dogs can still be fed raw but our Major was too sensitive. The cooking liquifies the fat so you can remove it all. We tried roo but it was too protein-rich for Major so we ended up on chicken breast, which apparently has easy to digest protein. Lucky dog ate better than we did! Anyway, good luck!

Yeah it sucks. My crossbreed had it really badly. You can't feed them too much because they get an attack or too little because they look so skinny! I recommend a bit of rice or potato to fatten them up (I foster dogs and regularly get underweight, neglected dogs. It's so lovely once you realise you've fattened them up a bit and they no longer look sickly!) However, if you have to choose, it's better to err on the side of caution - each attack causes more damage, limiting their digestive abilities so it's a vicious cycle.

My Major lived from 12-17.5 with chronic pancreatitis and even then, we had to send him on his way because of complications from the pancreatitis. Unfortunately, pancreatitis brings a whole new set of dietary requirements very different to those of a healthy dog. All zealous raw food ideology must be left at the door because helping a dog live healthily and happily with pancreatitis is about preventing the natural outcome (death) from occurring. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with the raw diet idea in healthy, youthful dogs but the very old and infirm dog requires special attention. With pancreatitis, the first order of business is to severely limit fat - no matter what type of fat it is, it all gets broken down by the same pancreas-produced enzymes and thus puts stress on the pancreas, possibly triggering a relapse. Second, you must determine to what extent you have to limit protein. As permanent damage to the pancreas is caused by an attack and even more with successive attacks, your dog will have a limited ability to digest protein. As a result of this and their bouts of lost apetite (anorexia), severely pancreatitic dogs will have a hard time maintaining a healthy weight. You can increase the daily protein/fat load your dog can handle by feeding it small, frequent meals. Our old Major used to get 4-5 handfuls of food every day. Also, it's best to include a carb (my dog worked best with white rice) to compensate for the loss of energy and also to add fibre to the meal - dogs get colon cancer from a low fibre, high meat diet just like humans! We used to have to boil the chicken breast because otherwise it was too fatty for our dog and would trigger an attack. You skim the fat off the top of the water and can use a couple tablespoons of the water to moisten/flavour the meal. We also were told to add a tsp of low fat cottage cheese to make it more palatable for our now very underweight and anorexic dog. I stress the idea of the small meal thing. One normal dog biscuit won't trigger an attack nor will 1g of fat. It's about trying to 'drip feed' them a normal amount of food across the day. Anyway, I dont know what is apparently wrong with greenies but, if bones are a no, you may have no other option to clean their teeth - unless your dog is well behaved enough to have their teeth brushed! (Not like mine!)

Yes it must vary dog to dog. My late dog, Major, a border collie cross poodle (accidental conception not designer dog) had it from 12 to 17.5 years. We could only ever feed him chicken breast boiled to remove any excess fat mixed with white rice and a tsp of cottage cheese. Even then, the meal had to be tiny and fed 4-5 times per day. We couldn't vary from this at all without triggering an attack - no treats, no raw meat, no bones. In retrospect, we could have added some grated veggies but other than that, hills prescription diet was too fatty/protein rich. Remember it's not just fat that becomes difficult to digest - its also protein - so stick with chicken as the protein source, as its protein is the easiest to digest. We tried roo mince (as its almost 0% fat) but it triggered attacks because it was too protein rich. Reading now, he must have been very sensitive as we could never feed him anything interesting. Poor boy! Anyway, he lasted til 17.5 on that diet before he suffered too much and was an otherwise healthy, happy boy.