Her Majesty Dogmad

I await the day with baited breath .... PR learning how to do temp tests will mean nothing. They don't learn their lessons. If you had been responsible for a dog biting a child or savaging/killing another dog, what would you do as a sensible and ethical rescuer? You'd be mortified. You'd make some changes to ensure that it NEVER happened again or was extremely unlikely to. You'd carefully risk assess every dog, every potential home and so on. What have PR done in response to taking a bad dog on? They've continued taking more on and operating in exactly the same way. For them if it breathes it deserves to be saved.

This same person applied for a small dog of mine last year, from the description of the activities I had to say no, I was terrified on the small dog's behalf - it was expected to be running around with all the large dogs, the dogs there for rehab and boarded dogs ...

Nothing good at all about this situation.

Lovely news, she looks really happy!

Not that you'd know it to look at them, but it seems that many of the people in the photo have been brainwashed and can barely string a sentence together which contains much more than expletives ...

Quite right, I'd never accuse Tim of writing utter drivel, unlike PR who use words to try and confuse and put people off track. Gosh, you'd be furious if it looked like the wheels were coming off your gravy train, wouldn't you? :)

There is still a concern that some dogs - such as the breed I rescue - can't pass a test such as the RSPCA's and will be euth'd for being timid. I hope that the council will apply some common sense. For instance, the tests done in the DAS pound are well done and very helpful when making a rescue decision.

Legal action is always their first retort. I'd like to know how many have taken legal action against them - or, maybe that is why they don't hand over paperwork to new owners so noone can really track them. As for the dog attack rate not increasing in the council area, that might be because they transport the dogs out of the council's area ... it doesn't mean that none of the dogs they have rescued haven't attacked other dogs - as Cryptic says above, there has been at least one reported death, due to a PR rescued dog.

Better to have some sort of test in place than continuing with a blanket release everything that breathes even if it is a fence jumping, dog aggressive dog. I was one of the rescuers emailed about such a dog and my reply was "How can anyone rescue/rehome this dog responsibly?". Ethical rescuers temp test dogs themselves before taking them on although problems can still surface later on that were not apparent in the pound. In today's litigious world I don't think any Council Pound can afford to rely on assurances to "rehabilitate" dogs of questionable temperaments. As sad as this statement may be for some people and almost impossible to accept for the odd few, not all dogs can be rehabilitated, not all dogs should be saved. I call it progress, like it or not.

Poor little man, those JRTs are so tenacious, I have had a few. He died protecting his family, God love him. Hugs to you.

The poor little chap with one ear and one eye looked perfectly adoptable. I'm disgusted the RSPCA would have put him down. I've had a few dealings with the RSPCA in SA, they are not open to other rescues at all - they'd rather euthanase a dog than help it if there is even the slightest issue which is pretty typical of the RSPCA Australia over it seems.

3 of my dogs got into a bag of fertiliser - i would have thought it harmless but rang the vet and he said - emergency - get them up here to get their stomachs pumped! Best to check with a professional.

double post ..

Oh no, this happens far too often. Very sad.

Thanks Gillbear - tried calling you but didn't get through! Will try again when I come back home later today.

This will be seen as controversial perhaps but wouldn't it have been better to get her desexed right away and halt the pregnancy in very early days?

Big D - I'm a volunteer but I'm definitely not an amateur, not that it's relevant. It certainly isn't POINTLESS to desex all dogs, it's all about being responsible and doing your utmost to ensure that the pet is able to be part of a home (as opposed to a breeding facility) and doesn't have unwanted behaviours. It would be a cold day in hell if I ever change my mind. It's been almost 20 years involvement in the rescue world, I've seen plenty.

Just wondering what other rescuers do if they place a dog on a trial period and then the dog becomes unwell and needs to see a vet. It would be great to hear from any rescuers who rehome out of their area as well. Sorry if it's been done before but I'm interested to know what others do, ie do you pay the vet bill entirely? Is it the new owner's responsibility?

That's what has worried me and this is not the only place that could be guilty of saving dogs and then keeping them in alive in a less than satisfactory situation for indeterminate periods with pretty much no hope of rehoming.

Some friends and I have been asked if we could do potentially long term care for 2 little old dogs in sad circumstances. One's fine with other dogs but we have been told that the Chihuahua is not good with other dogs. As we all have dogs of our own and not much time to spare on travelling up the coast, i was wondering if someone could perhaps visit and test the Chi dog with a friendly small dog. We are all used to Chis but we would just like to get some idea before we go further. I've yet to find out exactly whereabouts the dogs are but will be doing that tonight. Please pm if you could help. THanks in advance!

Poor little fellow, so very sad for you all. What a beautiful photo, he looked so happy and loved. Hugs.

I'm in agreement with HA. It's just sharing your thoughts with the world, well that's my take on it. What the world is short of is sound advice sites or sometimes people just don't think to look on the internet. I can't believe people don't just google search for help when they are struggling with dog issues. Sound advice is not really what your site is about though. If you are going to keep going with it, perhaps you'd need to have links to good advice such as housetraining - it's a HUGE issue for most people and many rescue groups simply do not provide enough advice and support to ensure that the dog adopted from them is not going to get stuck outside or abused for having accidents. In an ideal world the rescue group would have housetrained the dog before rehoming but it's not always possible if it wasn't in foster care. So many problems out there.

Oh no, so sorry Ripley. Millie was so beautiful and special, she was blessed to have found such love in your home, treasured as every dog deserves to be. Hugs to you, she's still with you, watching over you, I'm sure of that.

I do not want to see my dog hurt dogs belonging to irresponsible people. What sort of person are you exactly? This thread is nasty. Yes, very nasty. Noone with reactive dogs should be taking them out without muzzles. That is highly irresponsible.

Yes, sighthounds are not the dog for always doing what they are told, that's for sure. I'd recommend looking at a different breed, I don' know that the Irish Wolfhounds are built for agility.