Brookestar

I love the orthobed from Snooza. They do have lambswool covers on them. http://www.snooza.com.au/index.php/snooza_store/indoor-beds/orthobed.html Trampoline beds are the worst as they are the most difficult to stand up and turn around on, get off, etc. Dogs stand up and turn around in the night, much like we roll over. They do have extra large ones, which my lab loves!!! Leash walks and swimming are the best for arthritis in terms of exercise. Running can aggravate it more. Accupuncture is fantastic and I would highly recommend it. It was not something I really believed in, until I was literally forced into it myself. I love it and will have no hesitation at all in using it on any dog.

Last year Geelong killed 20% of dogs, the Lost Dogs Home Averages about 30%. MOST of the animals euthanised at the Lost Dogs Home are ferral cats. I am not defending them. I do believe they could be doing more than they are doing. They are at least beginning to try to do behavioural rehabilitation with some of the dogs that come in, something they were not doing 10 years ago. GAWS is not considered no kill by most people. They are doing very little to no rehabilitation of dogs and have basically no foster carers. MOST of the dogs there are being warehoused, and in conditions worse than those I have seen at the lost dogs home. That video clip was of a news report that was aired 3 months after GAWS changed policy. At first it got support, but over time it died off and the kill rate increased, foster carers dropped off as they were given no support, volunteers could pissed off with what was happening, etc. I know of 2 volunteers who quit after they were forced to watch a very elderly and frail whippit kept alive, in the middle of winter in pens that had no real shelter at all. At the lost dogs home the dog would have been much more enclosed, than at GAWS. No vet I know would ever have kept such a dog alive. In the end one of them adopted it to have it PTS. GAWS have also placed dogs with people without charging any fees at all and without asking any questions at all. Some of the dogs have since been reclaimed by the RSPCA, as they were being so badly abused. And the most basic of questions or even being asked to pay $100 for the dog, would have prevented them from obtaining it. GAWS is not doing assessments of the dogs and will give them to anyone at all, often for nothing at all. Some of the most difficult dogs do need very experienced owners and simply handing them out to anyone does not solve the problem. Some of them have ended up been euthanised by the council after they bit someone, as they were in the hands of people who could not handle them. The simple fact is ALL shelters could be doing better. The RSOPCA in ACT I think is setting some of the best standards in Australia, not just in terms of keeping the dogs alive, but also in how they interact with them while they are in the shelter. They do have music playing all the time, they did nurmous studies to find out which was more soothing. They rotate many of the dogs through foster homes to try and give them all breaks from the shelter, rather than just saying some are lucky and get into foster care. Those that really do need foster care are kept there if at all possible. They classify the dogs in terms of the sort of owner that will be needed for them and so they are not simply rehomed with anyone, but they are kept until a suitable person is found. That does mean that the more difficult wait for much longer, but they do keep them alive.

He is not going to learn to pee anywhere else if you allow the other dog to hassel him. The other dog needs to learn that they have to share a toilet. If not the poor dog is going to be forced to pee in his crate, until the other dog dies. How would you like to be forced to toilet in your bed and to then sleep in it? He is not going to grow out of it and the other dog will not stop it, unless you act as a leader and take control of the situation.

I would get her checked by the vet for a UTI. While it is true that dogs cannot be considered reliable at that age, I would not expect that behaviour. Different dogs want to be rewarded in different ways, and the more rewards you can offer the better. Get a favourite food, liver treats, smacko's or something else the dog will die for. And find a favourite toy. The minute the finish going, say the word yes, then they know for sure what you are rewarding them for. Give the treats, then throw the favourite toy and play with them with it. NEVER ever give them access to that toy alone and save that toy only for toileting outside. You need to be very consistent with commands, and make sure it is said each and every time, while it is coming out. They need to associate the action with the word. Above all else make sure everything is cleaned properly. There are special floor cleaners you can buy from pet shops that will ensure that all smells are removed from the area where they are going inside. Normal cleaners will leave a smell for them, and that encourages them to go back there. Make sure you take them to the same part of the yard each and every time you want them to go and walk around with them. Dogs need movement to toilet and standing still is not going to help them to need to go. They do tend to poo at about the same time and pee at similar times as well. Find out when those times are, and ensure that you are outside at those times. Do not have a large area outside for them to toilet in as the smell needs to be there. Do not water the area and leave feces there for a few days at first to ensure they know what the space is for. Generally speaking feaces should be picked up at least once a day. Do not let the dog see you cleaning up inside. Remove them from the room, before you do it. But above all else make sure anything you clean it with is going to remove the smell from the dog. If it smells like a toilet it is a toilet, as simple as that.

Eat something in front of him first, even just a biscuit. Then put the bowl on the ground and walk into another room. Do not enter the room for 10 minutes. Then go in. If he is still eating, leave him to it. If not pick it up and take it away until his next scheduled meal time. You are teaching him that he can eat anything he wants, however he wants. He needs to know that you are in charge of food. That you will offer him food at regular intervals, but it is up to him to eat it. NO healthy dog will starve themselves to death. They will eat if you provide the right environment and give them the leadership to know that you decide on food, not them. Should be being fed 3, maximum of 4 times per day. Those times need to be consistent. In terms of leaving him alone, the key is to not make a big deal out of it. Do not say good buy. Do not greet him when you get home. Make sure he is in the pen for a minimum of 5 minutes before you leave, and when you get home, before you have any interaction with him. You coming and going needs to be normal. If you make a fuss of him it gives him something to fear. Ignore it all and it becomes the norm. However do make sure you play with the pup to help tire him out, then put in the pen for a good 5 - 10 minutes before you leave. When you need to leave, just go, do not say goodbuy or do anything else. When you get home, make sure you do other things in the house for a good 5 minutes before you have any interaction with him. If he is whining or carrying on, do not interact with him, until he is silent for a few minutes. If possible get him into the habit of you going out the door you will be leaving by, just go up the road, around the corner or the like and come back in, as though it was nothing at all. Being in the house, while in different rooms is a good start it does not equal leaving him. Make sure when you do go into other rooms that you close the doors. An open door, but out of sight is very different to a closed door out of sight.

Size has very little to do with anything. MOST dogs who are declared dangerous or menacing are small dogs, that are yappy and untrained. ANY animal control officer can confirm this. My friends Guide Dog is currently recovering after being viciously attacked by a Caviler King Charles Spaniel of all dogs. The Guide Dog was taken in for emergency surgery. It is unclear whether it will ever work again. The number one reason for Guide Dogs to retire is from Dog Attacks. Over half from smaller breed dogs. Only the day before this attack I was out walking with my friend and some woman came past with some small yappy dogs in flexi leads and started growling at the Guide Dog who was in full harness. The woman screamed at us saying that big aggressive dogs should not be allowed in public places. The Guide Dog had totally ignored the smaller dogs. How is it that the Guide Dog is a big and aggressive and out of control dog?? This is something she hears on a very regular basis. People with small yappy dogs, think their dogs have a right to attack a guide dog, just because the dog was there. I used to live in a block of flats and one of had a jack russell in it. The guy that owned it was a furniture removalist and played football in the lcoal club. He was incredibly fit and healty. 3 times I personally saw the dog pull him so hard that it pulled him over. He stopped putting the dog on lead as he could not control it on lead. I on the other hand had a labrador in a small one bedroom 3rd floor flat, which was full of people from other cultures, who were scared of dogs, but loved mine. She never barked, but had no need to bark. She was walked a minimum of 3 times a day, and was kept busy and occupied. She competed in obedience and agilty and was a visiting pet therapy dog. The same could not be said for the small breed dog taht was in the end kicked out by the Body Coporate, after it attacked two young children. ALL dogs can pull on a lead hard enough to pull someone over. Size has little to do with it. ALL dogs can be out of control if they are not trained and well socialised, not kept under effective control, etc, etc. It is the DEED of the dog, not the BREED or size of the dog. I have personally reported 3 aggressive and out of control dogs to my local council in the last 6 months, all were small breeds.

Rubbish. It simply is NOT in the best interests of the animal from a growth and health perspective. Responsible buyers WILL overwhelmingly desex their pets and the dogs benefit from their hormones as they grow. Giant breeds desexed at 6 weeks? I shudder at the thought. You said it yourself, RESPONSIBLE BUYERS will desex, yes, but unfortunately we live in a society where the vast majority are not responsible. If we lived in such a responsible society, we would not have dogs that are rejected, discarded, in which puppy mills existed, etc, etc. If we have majority responsible buyers, then why are the vast majority of dogs not from registered breeders and why are registered breeders against having to be accredited, checked out, etc, etc. I can tell you of many instances of kennel club breeders who have been closed down by the council, RSPCA and the like for dogs living in total filth, covered in fleas, maggots eating from wounds, totally wormed infested and the like. They were initally reported to the kennel club who did nothing at all, saying not our problem. If it was as simple as just going to any kennel club registered breeder it would be nice. There are kennel club registered breeders selling pups in pet shops, etc. How is that good for the dog?? To be stuck in a pet shop window?? To be impulse bought before christmas. People discard dogs like it is a fashion accessory. They get rid of them, because they have to move, they get rid of them because they supposedly cannot afford them any more. People do not get rid of children like that, so why get rid of dogs. They discard them because they cannot be bothered selling them. If you have evidence that proves that the vast majority of dogs sold from shelters were desexed by owners voluntarily then the government would love to see it. The simple fact is governments made these laws as the fact is the VAST MAJORITY were not desexed, and the few that were had already been bred from by people who knew nothing at all about breeding - backyard breeding, that you disagree with and yet here you are encouraging and promoting it. I do not desex my dogs at a young age. I know what to do to look after them. But do I trust the average person, not on my life. They do not even know how to teach a dog to sit, to take it for a walk every day, etc. But you claim that they can be taught to keep to a bitch safe and under 100% control around undesexed male dogs while on heat. I would love to know HOW you propose to teach the average idiotic dog owner how to do that. They cannot keep them under control 99.9% of the time, how on earth do you propse they do so when the dog is entire. I do not and never will believe it is in a dogs best interest to be bred from at 4 months of age, which is when small breeds can begin to enter heat cycles. I do not believe it is in any dogs best interests to be mated to any old dog wandering the street and nor do I believe it is in the interests of dogs to be bred from every cycle, yet the fact is that is what happens when they are in the hands of the average dog owner. As simple as that. Produce the evidence that you claim to have, and governments will consider changing the legislation. Perhaps you first need to start to look at why dogs end up in pounds and shelters in the first place. People do not discard children, so why dogs, if they are all such responsibe people.

Standard advice is to have your dogs spend a day or two there and see how they are at the end of it. That is really the best chance that you have. I have visited some kennels and seen staff in yards with dogs. I do believe they get what they pay for. I know of friends who had dogs at Kepala and they gave them a discount when they returned, saying that on 2 days they had not been able to take the dogs out as there were thunderstorms. They were thankful that the dogs had not been taken out, and shocked that a refund was offered for what they paid for and the dogs did not get. The reality is that what works for one dog does not work for another. Personally I would want my dog to see other people walking around the place, as the more humans they see the better they are. I don't see it as stressful for them to see humans, I see it as stressful for them not to see humans, even if they are not interacting with them. But that is me, and my dogs. As for paying for higher level accommodation, they should tell you at the time of booking, whether space is available in them. The dogs should be booked into a specific kennel, and there are limits on what dogs can be housed where. I would see it like us booking into a motel. I book in to a specific room, not to the motel as a whole. I would be shocked if they were selling spaces that were not available. I would trust them being in the higher level of accomodation, long before I would trust the play times, etc. I could not imagine a facility selling spaces that did not exist. I guess it could exist, just not from a reputable facility and it seems reputable. Reputable ones do not tend to have the higher levels of accommodation, as they do not have clients willing to spend money on it. One thing that you would really need to check is to ensure that they do have places available when it is that you want them there. Many of the more quality kennels are booked out a lot.

Since the episodes are all available online, then why not simply provide a link to the relevant episode and then we can all check it out for ourselves and decide what is and what is not the case. And don't tell me to link to them. I'm not the one claiming an episode did something, you are.

True. I've heard some horrible stories about reports being ignored. It is really about what is in the reports that are made. Child protection is the same. People can and do report, but they give so little information that they do not have enough to go on. Child protection is based on reasonable belief, police warrants are based on reasonable belief. The police cannot prove you committed a crime without finger prints, DNA or the like and these cannot be taken without you being arrested first. They are simply required to have reasonable belief. Child protection cannot prove a child is being harmed without seeing the child. In order to see the child they have to have reasonable belief. Are there children who slip through absolutely, are there children who are taken who should not be, absolutely, and way too many. I can assure you there are websites of parents who seriously have done nothing more than the average parent and the kids were taken away, often at 3 am by the police, and put in some institutional setting with total strangers, kids are not placed in foster care at 3 am that is left until the following day. Don't think that traumatises a child?? Whatever one might think of dail docking it is illegal in ALL states of Australia. The RSPCA cannot just do as they like, they are required to get court orders to keep any animal in their care. They can enter to investigate, just like child protection and the police. Of course foster children can be placed in care at 3am in the morning. I'm not sure where you have received this information from. They most certainly can be my friend works for DOCS and another is a foster carer. they get renoved and palced in foster homes when they do not matter what time of the day or night it is. Since we have massives shortages of foster carers they are rarely if ever used in emergencies. One cannot sit on a phone at 3 am ringing around for hours and hours and hours on end hoping that someone MIGHT take the child. On average it takes them 100 foster carers to find a home for a child. They do not ring 100 different people at 3 am.

Or maybe they simply don't want their pups used to breed in opposition to them. The Australian Labradoodle assocation does require all of there dogs to be desexed before they are sold, unless they are going to approved people. They do health check all dogs, and were doing some tests at a higher level well before the individual breeds were. I do not support them and do not believe in them. I think the attempts to make this breed are dead and gone and proven to fail. Although this group is doing all they can to become a registered breed, and there is a chance that they might eventually make it, not that I would be going anywhere near them. But they are doing health tests, more than standard breeds require. They do not desex to enable them to breed more, it is to make sure they are not been bred in inappropriate ways. Shelters desex at 8 weeks as well. Do you want them to rehome all of there animals to people who have no idea of how to handle dogs, let alone an entire dog and just let them breed like wild fire. Free desexing vouchers failed, as less than 25% ever went back and of those that did over 90% had already had a litter. Of course there are risks of early desexing, but in inappropriate hands the simple fact is it is better for the dogs to be desexed. The benefits outweight the risks unless they are in the hands of experienced people. It is for this reason that shelters desex and any responsible breeder who cannot control exactly who is going to be handling the dogs would do the same. I certainly know some kennel club breeders who desex at 8 weeks prior to sale for this purpose. No BYB would bother to desex dogs at a young age, it costs too much money and they could not care less about what happens to them.

Aphra, thanks for summing it up so brilliantly. I do believe that some dogs are more head strong than others and do need better than average owners, and I do believe that pit bulls are one of those breeds, that does not however mean that all dogs of a particular breed will all be bad. Even if one could say the breed was bad, the simple fact is BSL does not work and is not working. I loved the report that someone recently posted a link to from the AVA about how to deal with dangerous dogs. We know from that what works, and at a minimum it should be tried. It has to be better than what we are currently doing. I lived around the area where that took place up until 6 months before it. No schools in the area had any form of pet education program in schools, and most had refused them and had policies in place refusing them. I moved to an area in a totally different part of the state and the opposite is in case. Not only do school children ALL have pet education programs, each and every year in primary school, preschool kids are also having it. The difference in the way children approach and interact with dogs, the way they ignore them, or ask and then interact correctly is amazing. I wish something could be done to educate there parents, but it is working with children. I would like to see it continued into secondary school to try and ensure that it is maintained. I would also love to see something done with new migrants to help them to learn to interact with dogs properly, way too many of these attacks are on people from other cultures, who often have the least amount of knowledge. Compulsory education of owners of dogs, I would like to see dog owners licenced. Not that I think that will stop everything, way too many will do what is needed to pass and then treat the animal like shit, but it has to be a start. I have noticed in recent years that many shelters are now giving some free or discount on a beginning training class and that is a start. Unforunately they are not the ones who need it most. They had the common sense to go to a shelter, and did not purchase on impulse from a pet shop and/or some backyard breeder selling them for free at a market or any other stupid situation.

While in my opinion the sooner these places go out of business the better, there are minimum standards at present and if the amounts of the puppies are correct they are being held illegally. They are not allowed to have more than 4 per cage. And that depends on the weight of the animals. More than likely the larger breeds are already over 3 kg and so they can only have 2 per cage. Not nearly good enough, but a start. They can in some instances have more, but the size of the cages must be much bigger for each additional animal. Given that we know that Pets Paradise always have the smallest cage sizes possible, so they can have more animals shoved into them, we know that they are not going to be allowed to go over the minimum. In order to house the different breeds together they would need to prove that they came from the same source. Since 99% of them are dumped by backyard breeders then that is incredibly unlikely. http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/pets/about-pets/legislation-and-regulation/domestic-animal-businesses/operation-of-pet-shops I would report it to: The local council animal control The RSPCA The Department of Primary Industries I would not rely on someone else saying they reported it, I would be doing it myself to each of them and encouraging every single person who has personally seen them and has a problem to do the same. It will at least make the conditions the poor pups are living in, slightly more tolerable. They are not committing a crime per say, it is a civil offence and for that reason the police are not able to do anything at all. They cannot go to prison for it. They can be closed down at an absolute last resort, but usually are just issued with fines. That particular shop has already faced prosecution for selling 6 week old puppies before. I personally know about that one, but from my understanding there had been others before it and I guess they just never learn and why bother, all they get are fines, and they make billions of dollars from them, it makes no difference. But it is my understanding that the fines increase with each new offence.

That is something I would totally agree with. These people's attitudes can and do change and can change quite quickly given the right support. Seen it personally.

The RSPCA and the Lost Dogs Home are the primary pounds in Melbourne for over 90% of councils. The vast majority of dogs who are surrended at those places are rehomed. It is those that are not reclaimed at the end of the 8 day quarantine period that are more likely not to be. And while I respect that not having the money to feed the dog is an issue, and is not the fault of the dog, what is the fault of the dog?? Dogs do not choose to be socialised, choose to go to obedience classes, choose to go to the vet, etc. They all require careful and attentive owners who are willing to do the right thing by them. If they are not able to afford to feed them, what else are they not able to afford to do for them? People don't discard their children, just because they can't afford to feed them?? I can assure you most of the emergency food suppliers do provide dog and cat food for people who have pets. And any of the places that give out food hampers at christmas to those less fortunate, also in the vast majority of cases do put in pet food if they know the household has pets. In regards to the temperament test, it is very easy to pick out pieces you don't agree with. BUT it does require score of 100 or more. Any one area is only going to score up to 10 I think it is. That means they don't have to fail one area, they have to fail 10 areas. I do totally believe that much more can be done to rehabilitate animals, than what is currently being done, but like Megan, I also know that 99.9% of the people who turn up to those shelters have never owned dogs before and will be lucky to walk it every day, let alone bother taking it to training or the like. All they get is the rough and tumble of the dog park, with owners who are not even watching them. Those dogs need to be able to cope with that. My understanding is the RSPCA across Australia has now implemented the processes that the RSPCA ACT had in place. And dogs were categorised based on their needs and catergorised, according to traffic light colours, people were assessed before being allowed to look at the animals, and were only shown those that matched the traffic light colour they were assessed as being able to handle, for most that was green. That does give those dogs who need an experienced handler a chance, but it also means they are likely to spend years in the shelter. Within Victoria until 18 months ago it was not possible for any animal to be in a shelter for longer than 3o days. That time frame was set down in legislation and enforced by the relevant government department. Many of the shelters in VIC had temperament tests based on the chance of a dog being rehomed in that 30 day period. Not saying it was right, just what it was. Any test is only as good as the person administering it. And is it going to be applied differently by some people absolutely. Does more need to be done to pull them into line and to do all we can to ensure it is being applied fairly and equally among all staff, absolutely. Is the test perfect, probably not. Are enough dogs placed in rehabilitation programs, definatley not. I do remember watching a show on TV recently in which prisioners were doing rehabilitation of dogs from the RSPCA in NSW. I would love to see that rolled out across the country. It is a win win for all concerned. The prisoners give back and learn to care for another human being, the dogs get much better care they would languishing in a shelter and hoping a volunteer would take them for a walk and the dogs have a much better chance of being rehomed. Of course that requires state governments to be willing to set up such programs, and that is not popular with the community, who then think that prisoners just play with dogs all day.

True. I've heard some horrible stories about reports being ignored. It is really about what is in the reports that are made. Child protection is the same. People can and do report, but they give so little information that they do not have enough to go on. Child protection is based on reasonable belief, police warrants are based on reasonable belief. The police cannot prove you committed a crime without finger prints, DNA or the like and these cannot be taken without you being arrested first. They are simply required to have reasonable belief. Child protection cannot prove a child is being harmed without seeing the child. In order to see the child they have to have reasonable belief. Are there children who slip through absolutely, are there children who are taken who should not be, absolutely, and way too many. I can assure you there are websites of parents who seriously have done nothing more than the average parent and the kids were taken away, often at 3 am by the police, and put in some institutional setting with total strangers, kids are not placed in foster care at 3 am that is left until the following day. Don't think that traumatises a child?? All of these things are based on reasonable beliefs. If the caller gives bare minimum information then little is done. IF the caller says a whole lot fo bullshit, then something very different is done. And it is the same for all of it. The RSPCA does have to provide proof, via photo's and the like in court in order to prove what was going on. I did watch RSPCA rescue and while I remember a docked tail, I do not remember the dog being seized. I do remember the owner being given the third degree over it, but the dog was not removed. The only time I rember them breaking into a property and removing a dog was when there was no one there, and neighbours, many of them all said no one had been to the property in days. Whatever one might think of dail docking it is illegal in ALL states of Australia. The RSPCA cannot just do as they like, they are required to get court orders to keep any animal in their care. They can enter to investigate, just like child protection and the police.

They can complain to the council, they can complain to the RSPCA. Neither of them can do anything without any proof. Sure it might not be a pleasant experience being investigated, but if the dogs are well behaved, and only bark when confronted and not aggressively then they have no leg to stand on. And the RSPCA can only do something if the animals are being cruely treated. Personaly I would be keeping the dogs inside, that way they cannot be hurt by them, etc. It is not as though she has to be at work all day or the like at her age. The dogs should be fine inside, any well behaved dog should be. Any proof that you have of the dog being healthy and well behaved, will also help. If the dog has had any obedience training, that will help, vaccination records, etc will help. Dogs being desexed also looks good, as they are less likely to be aggressive. Those things should not be necessary, but they can help. If the dogs are as you say, anyone who knows the slightest things about dogs should be able to see it. There are no excuses for what they are doing. I would be logging everything. The police honeslty are quite powerless they cannot do anything unless they can prove it, and it is a he said, she said situation, which is not proof of anything. I would say it is a cultural thing, not religious. Muslims are not religiously against dogs. They consider dog salvia, not dogs themselves to be dirty. They say that if a dog licks you the area they lick should be washed 7 times!! The Koran also states that ALL animals should be treated with the atmost respect, fed, sheltered from elements and treated humanely. BUT in the countries they are from, most people are living in povety, dogs are everywhere and those dogs often have rabies, people die from dog bites, as they contract rabies. They cannot comprehend that dogs in this country are not like the ones in the countries they are from. I would also agree with others, more than likely they could well have lived in areas in which dogs in Australia were very poorly treated and were very aggressive. That does not mean they will always be that way. Being around well behaved dogs can actually teach them a lot. I had a friend who lived in a three story block of flats, when she got her first guide dog. Half of the flats were full of people from different cultural backgrounds and they freaked at the site of the guide dog. They swore at her, tried to stop her from coming out, and deliberately got in her way. Having to toilet the dog in the nature strip did not help. Some friendly Australian neighbours ended up being with her for the first month, at the dogs toileting times, and they would also meet her at the bus stop when she was coming home, etc. They calmed down within a few months, and within 12 months they were all patting and playing with the dog - the problem they had then was trying to explain to them about the harness and while it was fine to pat the dog some times, other times it was not. They also became much better at coping with other dogs in the neighbourhood and one of them even got a cat, realising that animals in Australia are very different. There are no excuses for what they are doing.

I'm with pet plan. One time I waited a few months. But I do know that was due to the vet not sending the records in. In the end I went into the vet clinic and waited until they printed them out and then I sent them all in. Within 2 weeks of getting them they paid the vet. One of the reasons I am with pet plan is because they will pay the vet directly. The joke with that claim was that the vet was hassling me about the claim not coming through, but it was not coming through, as they were not providing the required information. The second time I claimed, they had paid within 1.5 weeks. I did lodge another claim 3 weeks ago and have still not heard, but it was only for a small amount, so I have paid the full cost and am really not worried about how long it takes to pay out. My renewal was recieved 2 months ago. The premiums have not increased for me, and nor has the excess.

Totally agree with that. I want my pups to have off lead time. Dogs cannot play naturally on lead. having said that I do not want a free for all, that is not helpful and does not help dominate ones learn to control there behaviour and nor does it help shy ones to learn to come out of there shells. They need to learn to be around a variety of different dogs. Personally I go and visit puppy preschools before I get a new pup and check them out, so I know what will be going on. I also want my dog to learn from a very young age to come back to me off lead from playing with other dogs, and they cannot do that if they never experience it. I am however of the firm view that it must be very tightly supervised and controlled, two dogs at a time and carefully matched pups at that.

There are very few countries in which you can bring in young pups at the moment. Most of them do require a rabies vaccination and titre test and then wait 3 months from then. The first rabies vaccination can be given at 12 weeks. I am pretty sure a second is required, 4 weeks later, 16 weeks. 4 weeks after that a titre test can be done, 20 weeks. 90 days after that is the first eligible important time, assuming all goes according to plan. I would say at best guess, you could bring a dog in at 8 months. There are plenty of tests and will be many more tests that are required to be done in the 30 days prior to import, and that is the primary thing that is changing. At present over 80% of dogs are imported from UK, US and Canada and they all require this at present. What is changing is the number of treatments, blood tests, etc in the final 30 days. It is about treating them before they enter Australia, to minimise the risk here, and hence you can minimise the number of days in quarantine. There are a small number of countries that do not currently require rabies vaccinations and that will change for them. Like others I would not be counting on it happening in the immediate future and would simply assume current requirements. Some currently have 60 days, so for them the reduction to 10 days will be even bigger.

There are pet stores near me that do that. They also regularly - one day a fortnight, have staff from the local shelter at the shop with dogs in crates, but each getting time out on leash, so that people can meet and interact with them. Anyone who is interested in them, must go through the whole shelter process in order to be allowed to adopt one. Someone also talked about dogs in foster care having to go back to the shelter. One of the primary reasons for that is to enable the foster carers to remain anoynomous. You do not know how many idiots will turn up and threaten people if they do it any other way. Many have tried to do it elsewhere, but the need to protect foster carers is the primary reason. Even if they met in parks it was not guaranteed. They need to ensure that staff are there. It is more about how the person interacts with them. Most shelters have yards they can take the dogs into and they are not simply looking at them through kennel runs, etc. Of course the other thing in regard to pet shops is making sure the dogs are appropriately looked after while they are there. That would mean making sure the store had full kennel runs like shelters and that they dogs were not simply in glass windows. Dogs need to be allowed to move away from there bed to toilet, that is one of the fundamental biological needs of dogs, and to deny them that opportunity is simply cruel and inhuame. It also means they are more likely to be dumped, as puppies that toilet where they sleep are almost impossible to toilet train. Young puppies when they first start to toilet on there own, crawl a few steps away from where they are sleeping, toilet and then crawl back again. Over time and with support they will move further and further away from where they sleep. Pet shop windows and small cages deny them the chance to do that. They also need clear surface differences. Raised beds as they have in shelters allow them a chance to do that. I have many problems with dogs being in pet shops. If they had kennel runs for the dogs and people were scrutinised in the same way as shelters do, I would not have as big a problem. But simply taking shelter animals and putting them in tiny cages does not make it OK. And anything at all that supports puppy farming is wrong. And of course they must all be desexed first. That is what also angers me about PIAA they are allowing dogs to go to anyone at all and then allowing the people to breed them indescriminately. And of course they do not really care where they come from, registered with the local council, registered with the state government, as a puppy farm, and it is all OK to them!!! They also need to be required to keep the vacinations up to date. Most states do not allow them to be sold without the first vacciantion, usually given at 6 weeks. But if the pup is still there at 12 weeks, when the second vacination is due they are not required to have it done, nor are they required to keep worming it, etc, etc. They have to be vet checked and obvious signs of worms treated, but it is recommended that pups be wormed every 2 weeks until 12 weeks and then monthly to 6 months and they don't do that. They do the least amount possible, for the shortest time possible. I do know of vet clinics that have as a way of trying to keep some kittens alive handed them over to pet shops to sell. They had 20+ litters dumped on them. They were rehoming what they could, some were able to go to shelters, but they were growing up too fast. They desexed them, as well as all the vacinations, worming, etc, etc.

My pet plan monthly payment has remained the same, $40. The excess is still $100, the only difference is that the amount I can claim has increased from $9,000 to $10,000.

A pet resume is the way to go, and the more information and proof you can provide the better. If you have pet insurance say that, as that says that if unexpected vet bills come up, you will still be able to pay the rent. I had written references, from landlord, neighbours (they are the ones who lived next door to the dog), vet, dog trainer, etc. All of them included phone numbers. I took my dog with me, I know that they will not bark and deliberately tied them up out the front, where she promptly lay on the ground and slept. Even offering to allow them to meet your well behaved pets first will help. I do not normally tie my dog up outside anywhere, but I do when looking for rental properties, I want to be upfront and honest about who the dog is and what I am asking for. They want to know that you wil be able to pay the rent and keep paying it, that the dog will not destroy the property and also that the dog will not bark day in and day out and hence hte neighbours will not be complaining. The more of that you can prove to them the more they are going to be happy to let you rent the property. Most landlords are not that bad, they just don't want aggressive out of control dogs, who will not only destroy the property, but will also annoy neighbours, they also want to know that should something happen to the pets, you will still be able to keep paying the rent.

Puppies are born with what is often referred to as a puppy license. Put simply it allows them to act like puppies. Like we accept that babies will cry adult dogs accept that puppies will be puppies. BUT the license expires somewhere between 16-18 weeks. They start to smell differently. They will still have some puppy smell for a while after that, but gradually adult dogs will become less and less tolerant, in what they will accept. Much like we become less and less tolerant of what we will allow children to do. There are rude older dogs, just like there are rude people. If dogs have not been well socialised with other dogs as young puppies they will not learn well. This does not simply mean taking the dog to dog park and allowing anything to happen. It does mean creating lots of opportunties for the dog to play off lead with healthy, well socialised adult dogs. Good puppy preschools do this. I would not take a puppy to a dog park until they are at least 6 months, but I do ensure they have lots of off lead play with other dogs of my choosing, and of a variety of breeds. They also have to learn to speak dog. They are born in effect knowing how to speak there breed, not dog in general. They have to learn what stuck up and what floppy ears mean they have to learn a whole range of different types of tails as all breeds hold them differently, etc. If they do not have different puppies and adult dogs to play with at a young age, they will struggle much more.

I only know of one person who has had a dog in Quarantine and they prepared the dog for the quarantine stay, not just for the flight over. They found out the times the dog would be fed and started feeding at that time, they bought a bed and sent that over with the dog. The dog slept on the bed every second night at home and in the crate on the alternate days. They also only walked them once a day as they would not be getting walked 3 times a day (which is what they were doing) when in Quarantine, wouldn't get a walk a day. starting feeding the dog the food they would be fed in Quarantine, etc. They organised to house sit near the Quarantine station so they could visit themselves. Like everything some dogs will cope much better than others. But given the alternatives one has to consider how well the dog would cope being rehomed.