Her Majesty Dogmad

One thing about greys though, you should never let them off the lead. Most of them walk beautifully beside you, without pulling so are ideal pram companions! They are so gentle as a breed and that is why such terrible things are done to them in the name of research, they are compliant and don't bite back ...

I'd also add that I don't find a huge difference between the females and the males but I also think that may depend on breed. Personally I prefer males but I do know that a lot of people think females are: a) cleaner b) more loyal c) more affectionate I can say that isn't true. If I was only looking for one dog, I'd look for a dog I fell in love with (that fitted all my criteria) and I wouldn't care whether that was male or female, I've loved both equally.

Yay Jo, hugs to you and dear little Raffi for going through such a bloody hard time. I'm so glad he will be with us a while longer. :)

I suit the terriers, I'm very tenacious and determined and have a mind of my own! :laugh:

I cry no tears for the dog aggressive dogs. I don't believe every dog must be saved because it is breathing. I only save beautiful natured dogs and know that oldies have so much left to give as do greyhounds .... in both cases it is sadly hard to convince people of the value of either.

I almost wanted to take one home myself

there are many questions to ask yourself (or let a good rescuer ask you) which will help you in your search. When you have young children - I'd rule out large boisterous dogs or tiny toy breeds. Have you ever had a dog with a high maintenance coat? By this I mean a non shedding coat ie malts, shihtzus etc. They need professional grooming and groomign by the owner. Are there any allergies in the family? Do you have any other issues such as back problems which might hinder you from picking up or walking a dog? Can you walk a dog as well as cope with a toddler? Greyhounds are wonderful dogs, depending on your answers to the above! These are some questions which will help you narrow down your search, I have many more (I specialise in matching people with dogs or at least pointing them in the right direction).

T - thank you so much for all the toys - i finally got to visit yesterday! I showed Digby the jointed teddy bear which was too nice for Dusty and PHoenix, no matter how much we loved them .... anyhow, Master Digby loved the bear as you can see in the pics. You've made a little boy and two doggies very happy - thank you for your generosity T!!

I tried to send you a pm but it didn't work, I have a good idea of what you could do to help the kitten. Give me a call.

With respect, a little more roaming might reduce some of the hot house mentality of the rescue forum. You know as well as I do that there are rescue forum folk that never post anywhere else - perhaps in part because they feel that they don't get the deference they get in rescue??? I think some rescuers would benefit from spending time in the health and training forums.. and the puppy one. That's where some of the owners of future surrenders start their careers here. They may not have much time - I know I don't but I regularly go into some of the other sections and provide information. I certainly have little time for the other craze - Facebook - bores the crap out of me. When you've worked a full day, come home to your own dogs and then end up spending 3 hours on the phone/email, eating dinner at 9.30 - as happened to me for a few days the other week - you may not have the time or the energy left to go through all the forums just in case there's something you can offer advice on. And it often leaves me dismayed. There is the owner posting in the Health thread about a whippet who can't gain weight. Plenty of people offering advice but sometimes people aren't prepared to listen ... I find your suggestion that we need to be lauded, VERY offensive.

Then maybe a little more education and a little less siege mentality is called for. Christ knows, registered breeders and trainers spend half their lives on this forum handing out free advice to BYB pup and pet shop puppy buyers - for the benefit of the dogs. A closed ranks, delete the thread and repel all boarders approach in the rescue forum doesn't educate anyone. Frankly some of the homing decisions I've seen foisted on novice dog owners who are doing precisely what rescuers want them to do (adopt) appall me. I think you are exagerrating just a little here. You also need to remember that DOL is a purebred forum, as rescuers we are not free to roam in all sections and some of us will have our memberships cancelled for being a little too open with information on non-rescuers. That's all I'll say as i do not want my membership to be cancelled. :)

I get you HW but this was not a cowboy rescuer involved although someone who has only been on the forum a month or so isn't to know that.

You are so far wrong, it isn't funny! You've just joined the forum but went in to rescue with boots on - as far as I could see you were just in there to question everything you saw as being wrong. One of the people you wanted to check on was me. I had said that I'd had to turn down a desperately needed foster home for two reasons: 1. The applicant and sister turned out to have parents who owned the house, lived there and actually didn't want to have any foster dogs. 2. The house had a doggie door (great!) to the backyard and an unfenced pool (not great). You suggested that we should perhaps worry about being in legal trouble for turning down foster carers. As you couldn't see that the two reasons above weren't fair for turning someone down, I shared with you the benefit of some of my experience. You were also concerned with another very experienced rescuer using a Caesar Milan technique when introducing dogs into the household. The other option at the time for that particular dog was death. None of the above involves "snobbery" - it's about years of hard work in the rescue field and tonnes of experience. You are welcome to ask questions of rescue - you can ask me anything you like here or pm me. I'm happy to take people out on the road with me, doing pound visits, rehoming and foster care. Many of them have come once, burst into tears and given up, I've tried to help - believe me I've been there, plenty of times but that doesn't save any dogs, does it?

Gotta love a scruffer - I think I can def. see some Schnauzer in the mix!

Kennelling any dog, 1 week out of 3 is not good for the dog at all, end of story - no matter how nice the kennel is. And I'm a very experienced rescuer, foster carer and so on, I'm not just making an assessment without sufficient knowledge.

Optimum is also a far better quality canned food. Pal is RUBBISH. If you want to stop two dogs playing all night, use a crate for the smallest one! I've fostered hundreds of dogs and have come across the same problem and a crate is the answer. If you can't afford vet bills then don't have a dog is what I'd recommend because ultimately the care of the dog will fall short won't it? It's quite simple.

I am sure PAWS would take him, I would need more info - please PM me asap.

I think the muscles would have been wasted over the 7 week period when they were not being fed properly, I'm hoping that will improve now that they are on the mend, with gentle play in the garden and then walks around the block. The vet assured me they weren't too far gone in the beginning, I'm sure they will come good in every way. :)

Oh yes, I would have to add that I'm presuming she is in a very warm spot inside - she'd need thick coats and a heat pad to keep her warm enough if she isn't under your doona. Otherwise, she may just get pneumonia and die.

I would but only if when the FIFO went away, the dog's life was relatively undisturbed - ie it stayed in its own home with other family members that are normally part of the family unit. If the FIFO person lives alone and has to kennel the dog or place the dog with whomever could look after it for a few days here and there, then definitely no. Far too confusing for any puppy or dog to be going here there and everywhere on a regular basis and dogs in this situation can develop behavioural issues. We recently tried to help 2 dogs that were originally adopted from a "Free to Good HOme ad" but the new owner made an arrangement to hadn the dogs over to the original owner for a weekend every two weeks and for longer periods whenever the person took annual leave and this had gone on for 18 mths. The dogs had become very destructive and started escaping ... Interestly enough, we at Iggy Rescue just took a surrender from a FIFO person. They were devastated and it wasn't a cut and dried story. The partner developed a terminal illness and passed away, all within the year of adopting the dog. The dog was then having to be kennelled when the FIFO worker left for the mines. The dog wasn't coping very well at all with the arrangement and so the decision was made to find the dog a new home. I've put an update on the Italian Greyhound thread but we found the boy an unbelievably wonderful home - on acreage (fenced of course) with several family members and 3 other dogs with whom he plays constantly. A very happy change after all he's been through. They have also offered to stay in touch with the former owner under the circumstances. :)

Save Our Strays really are Boxer Rescue - they actually take the dogs and find them new homes. They've always got Boxers there, they are commonly dumped these days. Can't beleive anyone is keeping a short coated dog outside in the Canberra area, far too cold. I will ask them if they have anyone waiting for a Boxer at the moment.

Firstly get her to the vet. Provided nothing else is wrong with her, stop feeding her the Pal and Supercoat - it is simply not quality enough to put weight on her. Last year at Iggy Rescue we took an Italian Greyhound that had had 3 bouts of pancreatitis in 12 months. We didn't know what we were getting but he was skeletal and it was winter time so who knows how long he'd have lasted. He'd been fed Pal for several months to that point! We got him straight to a vets but then he was put on expensive biscuits with cooked chicken meat, Basmatic rice, sardines, vegetables etc. He was given 3-4 small meals a day initially. That is what you need to get started on asap. No more Pal or any other canned food. Puppy food is more nutritious so we have our starving whippets on puppy food at the moment and if you look at the rescue thread, you can see they've both put on over a kilo a week for 2 weeks.

I have had purebreds and crossbreeds, I rescue both and as someone else said before, "a good dog is a good dog". I rarely go to dog parks but last year I took 3 of my beautifully natured little rescue dogs along and there were 5 people there with 3 purebred dogs in a little group and as I walked by, they were saying and pointing "what a funny looking dog" and things like that, they were sneering ... they were the snobs. They were morons who couldn't see past the fact that my gentle and good natured, quiet little dog wasn't any good because he wasn't a purebred. There are many people out there who don't know much about dogs but who have prejudices that cause them to judge things on sight. Never a good way to behave.

Thanks for the help Panto! Ella has done a wonderful job with the boys and we are so pleased to see them looking much better. :) We'll keep going until they are normal weight and then we'll start the general vet work. I hope to visit over the weekend with the toys that Tdierx kindly bought for them. Then they'll be ready to find a new home of course!

Which rescue group are you fostering for? They should have procedures and policies to follow, surely?