Her Majesty Dogmad

I'm quite surprised there is a need for this rescue but obviously there is so I'm glad someone's stepped up to the mark. Sounds like they are at least very responsible with what they do. I'd prefer seeing them in this scenario than seeing a bus passenger's phone video of a fox being ripped apart by 6 Fox hounds on a hunt this week. A Fox hound was also killed as the poor fox and then the hounds ran onto a busy road and one hound was hit by a vehicle. It was in the Daily Mail yesterday - www.dailymail.co.uk - if anyone's interested. I HATE fox hunting with a passion.

When I was in the UK in 2010 I saw a documentary on Greencross vets - many vets in the UK had apparently become Greencross. There were a number of alarming stories, one I remember is that of a man (not a well off person) whose dog had terminal cancer and the vet knew this but ran up a whole lot of bills on unecessary tests/treatment. All in all it was pretty disturbing and I hoped that it wouldn't happen here.

Don't vaccinate when your dogs have Cushings - it isn't effective. My vet was letting me continue with the annual vaccs during one of my dog's Cushings until I discovered it doesn't work when they are on medication for Cushings. I don't vacc my old dogs very often, they've had many vaccinations previously.

Alternatively Iggy Rescue might have some Canberran adopters coming to Sydney on Saturday. Perhaps they'd be kind enough to take her back with them.

Here's the link and text: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2281359/Top-Crufts-breeders-dogs-savage-young-girls-walked-home-school-mothers.html How utterly terrifying, this poor family. Dogs should have been euthanased and she certainly shouldn't be breeding from dogs with such aggressive temperaments. I'm sure some won't agree with me on this but that's my opinion. A top breeder whose show dogs savaged three young girls was given a suspended jail sentence today. The girls, aged five to seven, were attacked by two bull mastiffs as they walked home from school with their mothers. They were shaken like dolls and bitten all over their bodies, a court heard. All needed hospital treatment for their wounds and two required surgery. Owner Julie Lindley, 53, admitted the dogs, which had escaped from her garden, were dangerously out of control. She destroyed both dogs after the attack, Manchester Minshull Street Court heard. One, a two-year-old called Theo, had just been named a top UK bull mastiff and had come third at Crufts. Theo attacked the girls in Bolton after escaping from his pen with another dog on March 22 last year. Caroline Hamer told the court how the dogs bounded towards them as she walked home with her daughter, Nicola, seven, and her five-year-old friends Matilda Dawning and Charlotte Riggs. Alison Hayworth, prosecuting said: The dogs pushed them all to the ground and Mrs Hamer quickly got up, however Nicola was still on the pavement with both dogs attacking her, biting her and shaking her like a doll. Mrs Hamer got the dog off and tried to wedge herself between it and her daughter. A passer-by put the girl, who was covered in blood, in a car. The dogs then lunged at Matilda. Her mother tried to lift her out of the way but one bit the girls leg and it became a tug of war as both mother and child were pulled into the road. Julie with Theo who was named a top UK bull mastiff Lucy Riggs, the mother of Charlotte, watched in horror as the dogs grabbed her daughters arm and pierced her forearm. Motorist Darren Westhead desperately tried to stop the attack by driving into one dog. But it got up again and began snapping once more. When police found the dogs, Theo had blood in his mouth. The three mothers told the court their daughters had been terrified and would bear the physical and psychological scars for years, if not for life. Lindley, from Bolton, who runs breeding company Hyerdunscar Bullmastiffs, admitted being the owner of two dogs dangerously out of control. Since the incident, two cages have been put into the garden and the fence has been strengthened, the court heard. Judge Martin Allweis said he accepted that Lindley was full of remorse but the attack had been serious and sustained against three children. He sentenced her to three months in jail, suspended for 12 months, and ordered her to pay £1,000 costs. She now faces a civil claim for compensation.

A picture would probably help! I don't think she'll suit the home I've got on offer as the dog must be bullet proof with cats.

I think you can report it! PR pays people to do it. I was also getting ads from a Labradoodle Breeder, disgusting.

I may have an elderly person in Sydney now in the same position. Will look into it further, his neighbours have emailed to ask.

I'm sure she'll be OK but how upsetting for you.

There needs to be a lot of family support, or that of neighbours. I don't rehome high maintenance dogs to elderly people usually, just depends. Each case is individual but everything needs to be dotted and crossed so that the dog's wellbeing is never compromised. Unless there is someone walking the dog daily, I also wouldn't rehome a dog that needs walking either. I did rehome an 8 yr old Maltese dog to a disabled person a couple of months ago. The neighbours walk the dog every day and the former foster carer stays in touch all the time. My dear friend who is a groomer has that part of it sorted. It's a wonderful match, made in heaven. This little dog was a surrender from an elderly person who'd been given the dog 2 yrs before and hated it. Luckily I got there as she was about to make the euthanasia appointment. Sounded like the devil incarnate as she described all the wrongs this dog was doing. I wondered what I was getting. He actually turned out to be one of the very best dogs I've ever known ...

And sadly I've come across dogs in rescue with no eyes, some due to glaucoma and 1 due to 2 separate dog attacks by the same dog. Don't get me started on that one, it was an appalling situation.

You need to find out if this is a genetic disease - if so, the breeder is doing the wrong thing and needs to know. Personally, I would have one eye done - there are rescues that do this for much older dogs - we don't get that much of a discount but it makes a whole world of difference to a dog and to an owner. I have had 1 blind dog and a couple of nearly blind dogs all due to cataracts. THey were all old or I would certainly have considered surgery - they were foster dogs and were all rehomed, even the blind one. They were all very loved in their homes and walked etc like any other dog. That said, if it had been a puppy I would have gone ahead with surgery without question and definitely if it was MY puppy.

Sorry to hear of your worries. Firstly, it is safer never to expose your dogs to a delivery person - you just never know and you have to remember that not everyone likes dogs. I always put mine away if I'm having things brought into the house - they are the friendliest dogs in the world but I know that some people don't like dogs. I've had a number of dogs with dementia and currently have 2, both with different symptoms. My vet thinks with one it may not be dementia but a pituitary tumour. He's just tested positive to Cushings but he's about 14 and has a bad heart so I'm not going to do anything further. Unfortunately he's gone downhill rapidly in the behaviour area, he does odd things but the very worst thing is that at night he won't go outside to wee any more. I've tried buying nightlights and leaving lights on but it's not making any difference. He's producing huge amounts of dilute wee, due to the Cushings and I have to have the right light to see it on the white tiles I have when I get up in the morning. This only started a couple of weeks ago, I'm not sure how much longer I can keep going - I've tried putting him outside to sleep in the laundry or in the dog run inside and he goes crazy - one night he got stuck under the trampoline bed .... Can't have him barking his brains out at 1am like the other night. I guess what I'm trying to say is that sometimes you have to make a tough decision and look at their quality of life and your own. I love my boy dearly and am trying to cope as best as I can for as long as I can but it's hard.

Hugs to you

Some Chinese people have real issues with dogs - there are a lot of Chinese people buying up in my suburb and they cross the road or recoil in horror as I walk my little dogs along - I asked a Chinese colleague why? She said they were brought up to believe every dog carried rabies and was diseased so to give them a wide berth. Knowing that, I wonder why they eat them? It isn't all Chinese people, one of my friends is from Hong Kong and she loves dogs.

It's a disgrace, it's libellous. Those rescue groups who have lowered themselves to join forces with PR should disassociate themselves very quickly.

I had a call last week from someone who wanted help with the dog she had adopted. Pretty much everyone she'd spoken to had suggested "sedation". I wondered just what behaviours were such a problem that people were recommending sedation? Dog turned out to be 1 year of age. The undesired behaviours were that the dog was having toilet accidents at night, in the dark. The dog has a habit of chewing things around the house (an iphone included) and jumping onto the dining room table. I spent an hour on the phone with this lady - first thing to explain was that a 1 year old dog is going to be energetic and frequently dogs of this age will chew things up. I gave plenty of advice and strategies to deal with the issues and offered to keep helping. I cannot believe people were suggesting sedation for this dog's behaviour, it's all pretty normal in my experience.

Just took a small female surrender on. Attacked by other female dog in the household last week. Neither dog was desexed. She's got bite marks and wasn't taken to a vet ... So many issues to think about with regards to NOT desexing. I won't do it. I also won't rehome where the existing pets are undesexed. Won't bore anyone with the reasons but above is one example of where it can go very wrong.

Well I'll tackle it from a practical rather than cerebral way - when I rehome unwanted dogs they will be living inside the house. If you have desexed a dog, especially a male, you have a lot more chance of successfully housetraining the dog. It is very difficult to stop an entire male dog from marking if undesexed. Now some might argue and perhaps they have been lucky but where I've taken male dogs from the pound and tried to housetrain them before they go to the vet (this may be because they are too thin to have surgery etc), I've never been lucky. The amount of wee has been enough to sink a battle ship and no amount of training input from me has changed that. I should say that I've housetrained many rescue dogs over the last 10 years, including a 15 yr old that had never been inside a house and a dog that lived in a breeder's kennel for 9 years. And as for females, yes, I've had more than one rescue dog come on heat. I've no idea why anyone would want stray male dogs coming from miles around. There's also the mess it makes and if you have other dogs, it can cause trouble. In essence, what I'm saying is that apart from the risk of producing more puppies, there are behavioural issues aplenty that may prevent the undesexed dog from being the companion I envisage (and the masses want to adopt) when I rescue the dog. There are also health problems too, I lost my beautiful GSD cross because she was old and I got her desexed but she had ovarian cancer. Only had her for 6 months and I was robbed of further happy years with one of the most lovely dogs I've ever rescued.

So many Beagles around - there is Beagle Rescue NSw. Blacktown POund also seem to get a lot.

Apart from my having answered that just a couple of posts ago, this has been answered a squillion times over the years: it means that that particular dog will not produce any more dogs. Simple as. You say there is no evidence that desexing dogs reduces the numbers in the pound. Well where is your evidence against it? Numbers alone will not prove anything except there are greater or lesser numbers. As with humans, there are probably more dogs in the world than 100 years ago, ergo there are likely to be more dogs, numerically, in pounds. And there would be a damned sight more if dogs were not desexed. Agree with DD here. Maybe those who do breed rescue see things differently - I do both and there's no way in the world that I will allow a rescue dog - pure or cross breed - to go out undesexed. I'm an independent thinker by the way! Very independent in many ways and I don't rely on anyone else to tell me how to think or what to do. I do what is right, in my humble opinion. :)

She's so gorgeous! Great work Aphra!

I was in a shopping centre car park last year and as I parked my car and walked towards the shops I saw a distressed poodle pawing at the windows of the car. It was quite warm, getting hot as it was the middle of the day. I was just getting my mobile phone out to call triple 0 when an elderly lady appeared in a bit of a state. I asked if it was her dog and she said yes it was, she had gotten lost and hadn't been able to find her car. I told her never to take her dog out on a warm day and leave it in the car .... stupid woman. Unintentional but it could have ended in tragedy.

It is, I've never lost the colour from a rug but I can't guarantee it on other people's rugs. It certainly removes the smell for the dog, they've never gone twice on the same place. Maybe get a professional carpet cleaner, they have special solutions for these problems.

Sadly by the time there are symptoms it is usually too late to do anything. My girl only had a week from diagnosis and if I had the time over again, I would have given her wings even sooner. This happened to me. A friend rang to ask about her friend's dog who'd just been diagnosed with the same thing. I said please tell them not to wait, I got the diagnosis and didn't accept it, thought it couldn't be right and 2 days later my poor girl had a terrible night before we got to the vet, it was the end. I should have let her go on the same day.