D'smum

My mother-in-law grossly understimates her dogs weight since being told this is contributing to the luxating patella problem she has. Her fallback statement when I weigh her using all three sets of clinic scales?" Well, tell your silly vet that she's a crossbreed so he has no possible way of knowing if she's the right weight or not!" Facepalm.

Cape Otway Cottages were lovely. Very nice and cosy.

I'm doing the cert IV in Animal Management. It cost around $3000. They call and email persistently but this stops the moment you hand over the money. Their interest in me ended there. Getting any help you might need is near impossible and takes forever, usually just to be emailed a generic answer that doesnt actually adress your question. I would not recommend them to anyone.

I wouldnt insult my dogs by referring to them as human.

I watched "i am legend" and cried. Ex thought i was pathetic, but not as much as when he caught me with tears in eyes after King Kong. When he asked what was wrong i could only choke out "monkey...died". I could feed my smiling face with endless popcorn whilst watching a movie where people are butchered though.

Its in a lot of places. Werribee, frankston and meadow heights to name a few have had incidences that i know of.

Vets have the ultimate right to say no. I dont see the harm in asking at all. The clinics that i have approached have been more than happy to do it as it brings them extra business, we recommend them to local adopters and they are good, kind vets that like to help. I've asked my boarding kennel as well and they, too were more than happy also to help and went so far as to extend the discounted accomodation invite to any future foster dogs i may have (my own dogs stay at full fee) They are now considering fostering dogs off their own backs if the local shelter is full and they have room. A professional relationship is up to the two parties involved to negotiate. If its mutually beneficial, what's the problem? We race cars as well and our sponsors do some wonderful deals for us and in return their advertising is splashed all over the car and we refer anyone that asks about good mechanical or fabrication work directly to them. Not a huge amount different really. If they didnt want to be involved, they wouldnt be.

I would also recommend against the supercoat. It is a false economy, as already pointed out, as you need sooo much more of it than you do better quality food for it to be a complete diet. Add to that, that in my experience it is a common denominator in many cases we see of itchy/smelly dogs and im not convinced its anywhere near as good as it allegedly used to be. Royal Canin and Eagle Pack does well for my dogs but maybe if its just too pricey, i'd go blackhawk as well.

I dont see the issue with asking-no different to bargaining a car salesperson or asking "best price for cash right now" or as already mentioned, a bulk discount. I would imagine most vet clinics would immediately be able to distinguish the wheat from the chaff in terms of genuine rescue groups and scabby animal hoarders. I get a bit sick of the people that "rescued a dog off gumtree" (so in other words FTGH) despite them not having a cent to their name to vacc, chip, worm or desex it and then expect us to foot the bill because its a "rescue". Why? If you cant afford it, is its situation better than that which it was rescued from? And people speculating about dogs pasts and them being "abused" fascinates me. I own a dog that i know to be from an abusive background and i foster one which i am 95% sure is just a timid scaredy-cat and people love to focus in on it. Neither dog benefits from all the mollycoddling people try to give them and they look at me like im a heartless biatch when I tell them these dogs live like royalty now and their sympathy is not required nor beneficial. Some people seem to WANT their dogs to be from bad situations so that they can be the heroic knight in shining armour.

I'd rather the money be put back into rescue than line the pockets of byb's. I doubt theyd be turning huge profits.

You sound like you're fairly clued in on the subject of dogs. Each circumstance will be different- there is no "right" or "wrong" in this case. Go on your gut feeling when you meet the dog and owners. Ask them direct questions about health and behaviour and monitor their body language and response. Its not common as such, but I have seen dogs re-homed because they had an expensive medical problem that the original owners dont feel like treating.

I will stand corrected here, but no-kill shelters still euthanase dogs with severe behavioural problems. The point of no-kill being to rehome every dog that can be re-homed. Key words being "can be rehomed". In my experience a behavioural problem is considered a health problem like any other and if the dog cannot be re-habilitated well enough to be rehomed safely, then it is PTS so as not to handball the problem. I know this is not the case with all rescues snd some do re-home at any cost but i know this not to be true of all no-kill establishments.

I have two shelter dogs. I had one originally and my plans were to buy a purebred boxer from a registered breeder. Thats what I'd always wanted. However, I am a foster carer and when a beautiful staffy x boxer girl ended up in our care suffering severe neglect and mange, it was decided after two days that she would not be leaving us. I could not ask for a better dog and as much as I'd still love a boxer one day, I'm happy with my decision. And having seen some of the gorgeous dogs that end up in boxer rescue, I have an idea that that's where my next dog will come from. In terms of temperament, my shelter mutts are great. They tolerate foster dog after foster dog and are kind to them all.

I have dealt with RSPCA many times in regards to cruelty cases and this doesnt sound right to me. In Victoria, my understanding is that if an owner tells the inspector that the anmal is under veterinary care, they will confirm this with the vet and follow up to ensure that appointments have been kept and treatment plans followed. I admire the work of the inspectorate but think their shelters could do much better in terms of re-homing, etc.

I work at Lort Smith also. I fostered, then adopted, a sweet staffy cross girl that I believe wouldve quite likely been PTS at any other shelter. She had demodectic mange and was malnourished and neglected. She is now the happiest, most playful dog around and I shudder to think what may have happened to her if she'd ended up at any other shelter. The good work done extends way past the shelter animals, as already outlined. The pet therapy program, the emergency boarding program as well as a bereavement support group for grieving pet owners, amongst many other things makes it a lot different to your average vet hospital. Also, people dont have to pay in full upfront for surgeries which helps many "ordinary" pet ownerd every day. Absolutely worthy of donations.

Eden Hills seem great. Have heard great feedback from clients about them.

Patricia McConnell's "The other end of the leash" is great for shedding light on the way our own behaviours influence our dogs.

There is a woman in melbourne that is a serial "acquirer" of young animals. When they do the slightest thing wrong, she beats them (the last one with a rock) then takes them to be put down due to their injuries :-(

I do the same thing. Unfortunately most people seem to be after instant gratification and they "need this week" or "must have by weekend". I'm yet to ask what hideous fate befalls them if they DON'T get a puppy by their chosen date. I have grave doubts after reading some of the ads that a breeder with a conscience would re-home to some of these people.

When a brawl erupted in my backyard, i bashed the side of the tin shed hard and repeatedly. The noise distracted them for a split second-long enough to grab a collar in each hand without sacrificing a hand. Then i let the dog that wasnt the aggressor go and confined the aggressor until he'd cooled his heels a bit.

I'll never forget a woman that walked in to a pet shop where i worked years ago on xmas eve and actually abused me because the shop did not sell puppies. When i recommended either a shelter/rescue group or registered breeder, i didnt even get to explain why before she asked me how the F she was going to have time for that at 4pm on xmas eve. Apparently the nice lady wanted to buy any old puppy she could find for her daughter for xmas...breed probably is irrelevant when you know youre most likely going to dump it before the end of the school holidays. Its not often I'm speechless....

I see this all the time. If theyre really lucky, that $1300 gets them a bonus case of parvo chucked in for no extra cost. One lady got very upset because her dog was listed as a cav x on her file and demanded it changed to "cavoodle". After I explained to her that our system did not have cavoodle as an option due to it not being a recognised breed and gave her points of contact that she could go to to verify what i was telling her, eventually she became quite upset and told me she'd paid $1200 for him at the pet shop. He'd also been quite a sickly puppy and cost hera lot at the vet since. That is a conversation i probably have at least once a day. It really breaks my heart. Firstly to see young puppies treated in such a way. Secondly to see people who thought they were doing the right thing (i remember all the books i read on pet care 20 years ago reccomended buying from pet shops!) being taken advantage of like this. And thirdly because of all of the other sweet puppies dying in pounds and shelters while crap backyard breeders are churning out more and more puppies to satisfy demand. Its a sad situation all round.

I joke about desexing myself because i dont like kids and in case it matters i am now considered fully grown at 5"2 and 33 years old. I never suggested routine removal en masse of childrens organs. Bridgie-cat said everything perfectly. I'll be leaving it at that :-)

Funny. We've been misdiagnosing a lot of things as pyometras then. And mostly in old dogs, ive never seen one in the first season. And i dont really believe in comparing desexing a dog with removing childs organs, sorry. I respect your right to an opinion but i know what i see and respectfully beg to differ.

Absolutely. Convenient as in less possibility of trips to the vet for mammary lumps and no risk of pyometra. I'm sold. Hell, if they'd desex me I'd be all over that as well. Desexing early as someone has already pointed out prevents accidental matings. Nothing affects a bitches development quite like having pups while she still is one.