Her Majesty Dogmad

I will be printing this article out and posting to a few local pet shops .... esp a large chain ....

So very sad for you, RIP Toby I'm sure you will be running through fields in the sun with your friends who've gone before you.

Personally I would not be reintroducing them as I don't see this as a good mix. If it was bad before, what would happen if you were out and things escalated? Are you always able to keep them separate? The size, the age and the types of dogs here are all vastly different, I just don't see it becoming harmonious now if it didn't start that way. It's sad because you had the JRT for 9 yrs and then brought in a puppy, sent your old dog away and now that's not working for her. JRTs are hunting dogs and not compatible with small furry things or chickens normally. Perhaps it's best to rehome her somewhere she will be happy.

Have any of you owned a small 14 yr old dog? I've had quite a few, I have some now and I think it hardly likely that they could run or be particularly threatening. There was no need for the level of aggression this moron meted out. No, the dog shouldn't have been off the lead but this is an act of cruelty. I was walking my small dogs last week and 2 dogs ran out of their garage at us - yes they were small and fluffy - one backed off but the other went for one of my dogs. Did I kick it? No need. I grabbed it by the scruff and moved it forcefully away from my dogs and he had second thoughts and off he went. He was far younger and far more capable of doing damage than any 14 yr old dog.

I think this could be typical of the breed. A stafford breeder I met recently had 4, all raised together and came home one day to find 3 had savaged the 4th dog very badly and the dog recovered but could never be left alone with the others again. Another staffy owner told me they had a male and a female and then got a puppy, I can't remember the sex of the pup but it was pretty young. After a few weeks, all seemed to be well but one or both of the staffies killed the puppy. It is a breed known for its feisty nature, it doesn't back down so perhaps if both dogs are like that, you are going to end up having scraps that turn nasty. I think you may need to keep them separated somehow.

Hello Bonniebank! The breeder of the Pharoah Hounds made a very quick and very poor decision when rehoming. I had alerted them when their dogs ended up in a local pound and when she told me about the home I expressed concerns. Other dogs she rehomed quickly have also ended up in strife but I believe she is no longer breeding.

Some idiot is offering these dogs as pets in Sydney, we just found an ad. Dreadful for the dogs, it doesn't mention they'll be desexed before rehoming either.

another of the main complaints in the parks around here in summer and after was that people's dogs (who were flea treated) were coming out covered in fleas. One stupid owner at the local park apparently "doesn't like chemicals" so goes in with her 3 dogs with hairloss and constantly scratching. I'm sorry but I consider that extremely irresponsible and selfish and although it may be a belief she has, it's not doing her dogs any good to be left in that condition either.

sandgrubber - I don't agree with you that dogs aren't fenced in, over in the UK. I'm actually from the UK and have spent over 30 years of my life living there, in a village. Last year I travelled through villages in several counties but in the true country parts of the UK and I still didn't see loose dogs. I did see many dogs, including those who stayed in the Bed & Breakfast in Devon that mum and I stayed at a for a few days. I even managed to see 6 different Border Terriers (amongst many other dogs) being walked on the same day - a relatively rare breed in Australia but one of my favourites. It's simply dangerous over there with the very busy roads, even in the country, to have loose dogs. I don't know what the difference is but I believe it is attitudinal for the most part.

I have small dogs and consider dogs parks to be way too dangerous. In this area there have been deaths and attacks, not always on small dogs but if it is a large dog then the small dog often dies or gets such a savage mauling it doesn't survive. Simply not worth it. People don't keep their dogs under control, go there for a gossip and pay no attention, have dogs that get possessive over them, over toys etc, are untrained and so on. I only socialise my dogs with friends' dogs in safe environments.

As someone with their own dogs, all desexed, who brings home pound dogs and then gets them to the vets, I've had a few odd occasions where the dog I've collected from the pound has come on heat. This has not been a problem with some of my dogs but it has caused two of the desexed males to scrap a bit. If you have an entire male Dobe and a small dog, you'll possibly need to take precautions when the bitch comes on heat.

Amen to that!

All attacks should be publicised but many are not even reported to Council. When a Pitbull in the next street to me jumped it's knee high gate and savaged a Jack Russell on lead with its young owner as she crossed what is a very busy road, I rang the council to make sure they knew about it. The police were called as the attack occurred right in the middle of the road and from a neighbour who witnessed the whole thing, it was very distressing indeed. The JRT was almost certainly dead at the end of it. Several days later the council knew nothing about it and were not really interested. It wasn't reported in the local paper either. Shortly afterwards, the Pitbull and its owner disappeared. A Labrador killed a poodle in the local dog park last year, again, not reported. Recently another neighbour discovered dog fur and chunks of flesh and blood in the oval round the corner from me. Nothing reported to Council - I rang them and they knew nothing about it. About a month ago, in my street, a "staffy cross" that was known by the owners to be dog aggressive was let out of their gate one night. The dog attacked a kid and his poodle and another dog (don't know what type). Both attacks were reported to Council - they spent two days driving round looking for this dog. Neighbours on the corner have a cattle cross - when they open their gates the dog can get out - it is aggressive with small dogs and attacked another neighbour's dog. She did report it and the Council came and took action, gates were changed and guess what - the morons still leave their gate open. Council doesn't believe it or is too busy elsewhere ... My other neighbours and I hate walking past as you never know if the gate is open or not so we go elsewhere. They are moving now and going to inflict themselves on another street somewhere. For the most part, the Council appears to know very little about what is going on because people don't report it.

I spent 4 weeks in the Uk last year and travelled and stayed in various parts of the country. I didn't see one loose dog, nor did I see anyone outside of London walking dogs off leash around towns. In London (and I'm sure in other big cities), staffies and other large bull breeds are often owned by young men and I saw several in different suburbs, being walked off lead. It is part of a gang culture sometimes. There is a problem over there with dog attacks in the city areas and far too many staffy/bull breed types being abandoned. Battersea Dogs Home in London has a lot of stats on how many they take. They farm them out to their homes outside of London but they are hard to rehome. I don't know why the offleash walking happens so much here, I'd be interested if a study was done as to why people do it and why people are unable or unwilling to provide a secure yard so their dog doesn't ever escape. It's not rocket science but it seems to be an insurmountable problem for some reason.

I don't agree that BSL has anything to do with people walking dogs off leash. It has more to do with their own sense of importance, their puffed up bloody egos - ie I have a dog that I can walk down the street loose and am in total control - which is usually untrue. Most of them don't give a crap about how that may affect other people nor do they care about the law - most of them wouldn't have any idea about BSL. Many people have told me that they always had their dog off lead down the road but one day, that dog suddenly crossed the road. They were bewildered, they'd trained the dog since it was a puppy to follow them. Heard this ---- time and time again. Many people with working breeds seem to do it, those dogs are often exceptionally obedient and do follow their owners anywhere but some also veer away from their owners to attack other dogs, even crossing the road to do so - I speak from more than one unfortunate experience of my own here.

I couldn't agree more Corrie. I'm sick to death of reading about loose dogs attacking people and dogs. I think the laws should be harsher for those who have dogs that attack other people or animals. There's far too much of it everywhere, including in my street in recent times. I've been so worried recently that I have to drive my own dogs somewhere else to walk safely.

I'm constantly picking up loose dogs if I can catch them and I frequently can. They are often running across roads or about to when I see them and stop my car - I carry a spare lead and slip collar. I feel it's worth the risk - worth saving them from injury or death, worth preventing a car accident, worth preventing people who don't like dogs from being terrified, worth stopping the dog from being attacked or attacking an elderly person or child walking another dog and so on. It is worth the risk in my opinion. If more people stopped to help loose dogs then we'd have less of the above scenarios happening. The first thing I do is look for a tag but if I can't reach the owners i take them to a vet. If a dog appeared menacing then I wouldn't try and catch it I'd call the council or the police. I've followed a dog like that and called the council with the address of the house it could be found at.

He was probably just too busy thinking about reproducing before LOL

As someone who rescues or assists purebreed and crossbreeds find new homes, I've had 5 cases recently where 3 breeders were contacted and asked if they would like their dogs back - the answer from all 3 was no. In 2 other cases, the owners expressed great concern about having their dogs returned to their respective breeders and explained why. On contacting other breeders I've had them tell me they euthanase anything older as it won't rehome if they are forced to take it back. Not all rescues grab purebred dogs away from breeders, most have probably made the attempts I have and had the above results.

I've had a lot of his type of dog here and he's perfectly normal. They are quite busy and playful types, indeed my rescued ancient Maltese male will still wait until I'm changing shoes to grab one as his prize and take off round the house with it. He'll still tear up magazines if they are within his reach, and tissues galore - used or clean. He's been a revelation as I didn't expect that from one as old as him but castration at a late age didn't stop him from wanting to mark the odd bit of territory within the house ... It could be worse! At your dog's age, he should be walked for up to an hour every day!

I recently visited a Pets Paradise store and had a discussion with the staff about where there multitude of crossbred puppies came from. They said they def did n't come from puppy farm situations and they really didn't like people suggesting they did. They came from breeders that were registered with the RSPCA they said. My reply was that is absolute nonsense .... and this rubbish is obviously used by management to convince the young staff that all is OK and then they tell the idiots that buy from there the same crap.

Maybe the man was trying to help a loose dog with no owner around, I doubt that he deserved to be bitten - maybe he was bending down to read the tag, I'm sure we've all done it. Lucky there were no kids around or it may have been worse in the way of injuries. Or perhaps it was a loving nip - I've just lost a dog that used to headbutt me and give me little love nips - sometimes they hurt. I agree there needs to be an awful lot more education on how to interact with dogs though, I'm amazed at the amount of parents that let their children run full pelt at me and the dogs (on lead) or just let them go to pat the dogs without asking. I always use that moment to instruct them to always ask the owner BEFORE attempting to pat a dog and then how to do it - ie don't pat them on the head. This seems to be what the average person goes to do without a second thought.

It's actually the same for rescuers who have rehomed with a contract to say the dog should be returned to them if there is a change in circumstances. If the dog ends up in one of the large welfare organisations then the rescuers can't get their dogs back from them either and the dogs are subsequently euthanased or perhaps inappropriately rehomed as they are generally going from kennels rather than a foster carer who would know more about the dog's needs.

Is the flap on the dog door clear perspex by any chance? If it is, cut out a piece of coloured paper and stick it onto the flap as this gives dogs a target. A lot of dogs are not happy with a clear flap - this is a Dr Harry tip! I've fostered about 150 dogs and this trick has worked every time. Also, you need someone to help you but put the dog back and forth thru the flap and give them a little treat every time they come thru - do this 2 or 3 times a day for a few days and it should help.

I've got the ramp here and it was excellent for a heavy old dog that couldn't jump.