Tobias0407

That is true. From my experience at a shelter, the general public see purebred dogs as being out of their league, unaccessible. That's why they go to a pet shop or BYB. This may have to do with socio-economics, there may indeed be groups of people who see purebred dogs as being out of their league. But, without wanting to sound like a snob, that has nothing to do with why none of the people I know want a pedigree dog. They just don't see the advantages. In fact, if you ask them, they will happily and confidently list the disadvantages of owning a purebred dog. Their 'mutts' cost as much or more than any purebred dog (one of my best friends recently picked up a 'Groodle' for $1200) and they chose that 'breed' because of the reported benefits over a purebred. Even the vets will tell you that a mutt is healthier than a purebred - it's common opinion across society now. And until the pedigree dog owners do more to involve the non-pedigree owners in their world and give them a chance to see the benefits of owning a purebred dog, I can't think of any reason the trend will reverse. The only reason I myself got into purebred dogs was because of my interest in a sport where your dog must have papers to be eligible to win. There you see very quickly how much easier it is to train a dog from lines bred for these purposes than it is to train a mixed breed and so the benefits are apparent. I'm not the sort of person who would spend time watching dogs prance around in circles at the show rings and yet how else these days can you really have any contact with purebred dogs and their owners? It may have once been the case that people chose to buy a mutt instead of a purebred to save money - an analogy perhaps could be how margarine was initially 'butter' for the poor man. But it has evolved beyond that now, and like margarine (despite the fact that margarine is actually not very good for you at all and being comprised of complete crap), it's now considered the healthy, superior option and commands a price as high as butter if not higher. My fear is that through the anti-purebred dog programs people will be turned away from that option. Through the anti-byb campaigns, the ethical but not registered breeders will move away from that. And so all that will be left is the crap, unethical people just putting two dogs together to make a buck and finding a quality dog will be just that much harder.

The shelter manager's letter: "I am posting this (and it is long) because I think our society needs a huge wake-up call. As a shelter manager, I am going t o share a little insight with you all - a view from the inside, if you will. Maybe if you saw the life drain from a few sad, lost, confused eyes, you would change your mind about breeding and selling to people you don't even know - that puppy you just sold will most likely end up in my shelter when it's not a cute little puppy anymore. How would you feel if you knew that there's about a 90% chance that dog will never walk out of the shelter it is going to be dumped at - purebred or not! About 50% of all of the dogs that are "owner surrenders" or "strays" that come into my shelter are purebred dogs. No shortage of excuses The most common excuses I hear are: We are moving and we can't take our dog (or cat). Really? Where are you moving to that doesn't allow pets? The dog got bigger than we thought it would. How big did you think a German Shepherd would get? We don't have time for her. Really? I work a 10-12 hour day and still have time for my 6 dogs! She's tearing up our yard. How about bringing her inside, making her a part of your family? They always tell me: We just don't want to have to stress about finding a place for her. We know she'll get adopted - she's a good dog. Odds are your pet won't get adopted, and how stressful do you think being in a shelter is? Well, let me tell you. Dead pet walking! Your pet has 72 hours to find a new family from the moment you drop it off, sometimes a little longer if the shelter isn't full and your dog manages to stay completely healthy. If it sniffles, it dies. Your pet will be confined to a small run / kennel in a room with about 25 other barking or crying animals. It will have to relieve itself where it eats and sleeps. It will be depressed and it will cry constantly for the family that abandoned it. If your pet is lucky, I will have enough volunteers that day to take him / her for a walk. If I don't, your pet won't get any attention besides having a bowl of food slid under the kennel door and the waste sprayed out of its pen with a high-powered hose. If your dog is big, black or any of the "bully" breeds (pit bull, rottweiler, mastiff, etc) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the front door. Those dogs just don't get adopted. If your dog doesn't get adopted within its 72 hours and the shelter is full, it will be destroyed. If the shelter isn't full and your dog is good enough, and of a desirable enough breed, it may get a stay of execution, though not for long. Most pets get very kennel protective after about a week and are destroyed for showing aggression. Even the sweetest dogs will turn in this environment. If your pet makes it over all of those hurdles, chances are it will get kennel cough or an upper respiratory infection and will be destroyed because shelters just don't have the funds to pay for even a $100 treatment. The grim reaper Here's a little euthanasia 101 for those of you that have never witnessed a perfectly healthy, scared animal being "put-down". First, your pet will be taken from its kennel on a leash. They always look like they think they are going for a walk - happy, wagging their tails. That is, until they get to "The Room". Every one of them freaks out and puts on the breaks when we get to the door. It must smell like death, or they can feel the sad souls that are left in there. It's strange, but it happens with every one of them. Your dog or cat will be restrained, held down by 1 or 2 vet techs (depending on their size and how freaked out they are). A euthanasia tech or a vet will start the process. They find a vein in the front leg and inject a lethal dose of the "pink stuff". Hopefully your pet doesn't panic from being restrained and jerk it's leg. I've seen the needles tear out of a leg and been covered with the resulting blood, and been deafened by the yelps and screams. They all don't just "go to sleep" - sometimes they spasm for a while, gasp for air and defecate on themselves. When it all ends, your pet's corpse will be stacked like firewood in a large freezer in the back, with all of the other animals that were killed, waiting to be picked up like garbage. What happens next? Cremated? Taken to the dump? Rendered into pet food? You'll never know, and it probably won't even cross your mind. It was just an animal, and you can always buy another one, right? Liberty, freedom and justice for all I hope that those of you that have read this are bawling your eyes out and can't get the pictures out of your head. I do everyday on the way home from work. I hate my job, I hate that it exists and I hate that it will always be there unless people make some changes and realize that the lives you are affecting go much farther than the pets you dump at a shelter. Between 9 and 11 MILLION animals die every year in shelters and only you can stop it. I do my best to save every life I can but rescues are always full, and there are more animals coming in everyday than there are homes. My point to all of this is DON'T BREED OR BUY WHILE SHELTER PETS DIE! Hate me if you want to - the truth hurts and reality is what it is. I just hope I maybe changed one person's mind about breeding their dog, taking their loving pet to a shelter, or buying a dog. I hope that someone will walk into my shelter and say "I saw this thing on craigslist and it made me want to adopt". That would make it all worth it." Together we can end this senseless killing. Keep speaking out and sharing this page. Well this page has been shared twice on my wall in the last couple of hours. I hate it that people seem to think I am personally responsible for the death of all the animals in shelters because I bought a purebred Dobermann instead of rescuing. I wanted a dog firstly as a companion but then also to do Schutzhund with. How would that work if I adopted a mixed breed (probably staffy cross of some sort) that had been abused in its past home? So these days, if you want a dog, you have to go to the shelter and just make it work with whatever you get? I would argue that one of the reasons so many dogs end up in shelters is because it was the wrong breed/s and incompatible with that person. And how do they know that 50% of the dogs dumped are pure breeds? My vet couldn't even tell me what my dog was let alone volunteers at the pound! (no offense meant to anyone who volunteers...) I would never have added a dog to my life if I couldn't have a Dobermann from lines that matched me personally and my aspirations. Owning a dog is just too much work to have one that doesn't suit your lifestyle and interests. And the biggest thing that gets me about this whole argument is that it doesn't actually make sense. Ok let's say that a law was introduced that banned the breeding of dogs and so when our dog's died, we all went out and rescued dogs. Good for us. But then what happens after people do that a couple of times? Where do the new dogs come from? The only people who would still be breeding would be those with no regard for the law and I'm guessing no regard for improving their dogs through the next generation either. What great dogs we will all have. How is that a desirable outcome? And that's the best case scenario. The alternative is that no-one will be breeding at all and we won't have dogs anymore - there goes 40 000 years or so of evolution.

Just found this browsing Youtube the other day and have finally managed to get through it. Not because it was bad, just because it is quite long. For anyone interested in Livestock Guardians, at approximately 45mins there is a good segment on them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE-3aggrAHI

Agree 100% with dotdashdot - your house, your rules and frankly I think they should be grateful that you're offering to accommodate them in the first place. In relation to the dog hygiene issue though, well, there's lots you can say about that. Firstly, if your dog is wormed, there really isn't anything they can transmit to a human - we don't share the same diseases or anything like that. Having animals around also decreases your chances of developing allergies, hence why some childcare centres are now keeping animals on site for the babies to play with (http://www.zebrakids.com.au/index.htm). Their saliva contains bacteria killing compounds and has been shown to kill some of the most common bacteria that affect humans such as e coli etc. The saliva of dogs contains many agents that kill germs and help heal wounds. A few of these agents include: The enzyme lysozyme, which breaks the chemical bonds in bacterial cell walls. The antibody IgA (immunoglobulin A), which directly attacks bacteria. Opiorphin, which has an analgesic (pain killing) effect. There are known cases of people getting sick from being licked by their dogs but these are so rare that they are considered newsworthy events. Most articles conclude that you don't have to worry too much about getting sick from your dog. Studies have also shown that dogs lower blood pressure and dog owners typically have fewer doctor visits than non dog owners. And my last argument; if you could get sick from a dog, I would be sick by now. There are plenty of people on these forums that spend a lot of time with their dogs and yet I don't see a single thread about their dogs making them sick... And I'd finish by again reiterating that it's your house.

I have seen videos like this before, done by guard dog training companies - it seems to be a common thing that they do. I train in bite sports with my dogs and still I am not sure that they would have attacked this man under the circumstances he presented. He was very calm, confident and yet friendly and nonthreatening with the dogs. He was deliberately not triggering any defense drive any of the dogs may have had. He was also careful to show no weakness - a bite suit will do a lot for one's confidence around dogs and dogs trust you more if they can tell that you are confident and sure about what you are doing. I would be confident in saying that most criminals lack this. These dogs were not trained, so they could only go on their instincts and past learned behaviours. They would be making judgements based on his behaviour, so I think, particularly with the rottie (and maybe even the collies), we would have seen a very different story had he behaved like a typical criminal. He came through the front door, rather than over the fence or window or whatever - this is how people normally enter the door and he didn't even have to break it down, he just opened it as it was unlocked. You will get a very different response from my dog should you enter via the front the door as compared to say, sneaking in through a window. He then acknowledged the dogs in a friendly manner. Some displayed a degree of territorial behaviour but again, he had done nothing to trigger their defense drives so the dogs didn't feel threatened and most well socialised dogs won't just attack someone for no reason (dogs trained in bite sports are no exception). If you don't have a trained dog, you may still find that your dog protects you should you get attacked either in or away from your home. My dog did before I started his training. This is because your dog will be able to tell that you are scared and that will trigger their defense drive. Depending on how developed that is (based on breed, working lines etc) will then decide what sort of response you get. From what I have seen, it's more about the dog than the training. You can do a lot of training with a dog but if the drives and the nerves aren't there, well you can't make something from nothing, you can just teach the dog how to better manage and express the drives it was born with. I don't know what he teaches his dogs at his school, but we teach ours to recognise and react to suspicious behaviour and he displayed none of that in this exercise so I would not have been unhappy with my dogs if they too had not attacked someone under these circumstances.

Pawsforlife sell Blackhawk chicken and rice 20kg for $84.95 and from memory I think shipping is only about $6. I get the lamb and rice for puppies automatically delivered each month and really it just makes it so easy.

This sort of thing makes no sense to me. With so many breeds available, there seems to be no sense in choosing one with a temperament that doesn't match your needs. Obviously looks come into it, but think of it this way; we probably all have friends that are less attractive - how your friends look is not really what's important. But we don't have friends that we don't get along with and it's hard to have a friend with whom you share no interests. Why would it be different with our dogs? I wanted a large, loyal, protective, trainable, intelligent, high drive, loving, energetic dog. So they were the only breeds I looked at. Then, from these breeds, I chose the one that was most attractive to me and that was the Dobermann. If what you want isn't what the breed is about, then why buy that breed? I don't think dogs end up in the pounds because they weren't pretty enough... Not saying this is what you have done, just it's something I do see a lot of and I don't really understand.

Well if the dog is entire, he may have some urges. Humping a person or other animate object (unless it's a female on heat) usually has nothing to do with their sex drive, it's a dominance thing and I think you're right to not allow that; I certainly wouldn't accept my dog humping me. My entire male is almost 3 and although he has been known to occasionally 'sort himself out' so to speak, he has never tried to hump a person. He's a healthy boy and I know in human males everything should be 'cleaned out' from time to time (better for the prostate etc) so I just tell him not to do it in front of me or guests; I don't care what he does during the day when he's outside.

I voted 4 years + but really it will probably be longer than that before I am able to get my next dog. I have 2 dobes at the moment, a 2.5 year old and a 4 month old and as they are both entire males with which I hope to compete in Schutzhund (eldest got his BH on Saturday) well I know I have my hands full. I think the maximum number of dogs I could own is 2, I am already struggling to work a full time in a challenging role, play and walk with the dogs and get through their training programs. But one day, my goal is to import a proven Dobermann bitch (ie with Sch/IPO titles) and of course that will involve an overseas trip to watch her and the family in action. I prefer working with males but Australia doesn't appear to have much in the way of quality bitches for working breeding progreams and semen is much easier to get in than a dog. Naturally, the dog I like the most at the moment happens to be in Mexico and we can't even import a dog from there so yes all in all nothing is going to happen anytime soon

Very very sad to see what happened here. To lose your dog like that would be just horrific, not to mention what the poor dog went through. Some interesting points being raised by all here. I don't really think arguing about which breed or size of dog is most likely to initiate an attack is relevant - with the way things work in society, all anyone will care about is the aftermath. Dogs are dogs, obviously some breeds have been developed with stronger focuses on particular traits but at the end of the day I have seen viciousness at all levels and sizes. Without training and proper socialisation you may see these traits exhibited in in dog when it is inappropriate and/or dangerous. The issue though for large dog owners (and I am one myself) is that our dogs can do so much more damage. When we decide to buy a large powerful breed, we need to accept the responsibility that comes with that. I think we can all agree that if you had to be attacked by a dog, given the choice, I'm sure chihuahua's would be chosen a lot more often than rottweilers. RIP Lady and all the best to the poor owner.