D'smum

Years ago, in the US,apparently a batch of pet food was found to contain traces of lethobarb. The most likely explanation that was found for this was that a cow/horse had to be euthd by a vet that for some reason used lethobarb instead of their normal methods of sending sick cattle on their way. Using cats and dogs is a bit way-out. And as for all the other crap, i doubt it. But if youre that worried just make your dogs food yourself.

Most people are fine if you approach them right. Walking up and giving people an unsolicited lecture might earn you a deserved slap in the face. I am a vet nurse and have no hesitation in giving a big cuddle and belly-rub and making a joke that fido mustve been in a good paddock or something similar and most peopke respond with an inquisitive "really? We were wondering if he/she was a bit on the heavy side". Be careful judging complete strangers though. I had a woman follow me around a pet store making snide comments about my neglected and emaciated dog and how someone should report me. She was right about her being neglected and emaciated-thats how she was surrendered to the organisation that i foster for, along with a fairly advanced case of demodex. But when we apply logic, does it really make sense that the person walking the dog around a pet shop with dog coats and premium food in hand would neglect the dog. I was happy to talk to anyone that asked about her obvious poor health but the sniping bitch making judgements without knowing the facts got the VERY pointy end of my temper. Just talk to people and dont mount your high horse and most people are very happy to talk about their dogs.

Antibiotic would be one of the less worrisome "ingredients". A lot were found to be tainted with rat poison. I read a report that it is layered between the jerky in the warehouses in china prior to being packaged to keep the rodent numbers down.

Its quite interesting. I seem to develop immunity. I dont react at all to my own dogs saliva anymore. When i get a new foster dog, I react to the saliva for a while then the reaction diminishes. And im allergic to most cats except my mums.

Yes!!! I get this all the time. The groups that I have fostered for request that foster dogs not be allowed off-leash in a public area. And to be honest, I'm not comfortable letting a dog I dont know all that well off-leash anyway. I try to explain this and am usally told i should take my dogs elsewhere. Apparently this makes them feel better about their lack of effective voice control. One person was even kind enough to remark that the staffy x that i had with me (emaciated with skin condition) should be PTS anyway because there are too nany of them and nobody wants them. I was having a bad day and told him that we had millions too many stupid people on this earth, no-one really wanted them and we arent culling them yet....

I work at a vet hospital and I own one and am fostering another amstaff cross. Both lovely dogs with other dogs and with people. Its not what is said, its what the looks say. "Not sure if staffy or loaded gun..."

It cant be the price difference putting people off. I've met clients that have spent $1400 on a "purebred" schnoodle from pets parasites. And the backyarders are calling themselves "registered" breeders because the dogs are registered with council. I think it confuses a lot of people.

On the surf movie theme, dont foget point break ...

Strapper, Rojo, Bells..will add more if i think of any.

I am sorry to hear of your situation. Have you found your boy a new home yet?

We race 4wds (as well as just going out for social drives/camping). Obviously the racing environment is not the best place for a dog. You would think that the camping part would be great for a dog and owner, but when you are owned by someone as delicate as prince Diesel-he who shall not sleep on dirt and gets scared and does nervous wees when the roads get a bit rough, not so much. Safe to say the kennels make a fortune out of us.

Its usually the old farmers trying to feed and breed working dogs on the cheap that recommend the weet-bix and milk. Supercoat and Pedigree are, IMHO, crap. I would go for somerhing like Royal Canin or Eagle Pack largebreed puppy food with some good quality meat/ meaty bone chucked in. Ditch the cereal and dairy products for sure.

I read his book a long time ago. Amazing!

Funny that someone made the comment that advantage is hopeless and only frontline works. I have had clients telling me the reverse for years! I use advocate or revolution and never see fleas so i personally wouldnt know. Weird. I suppose its a matter of trying and seeing which one works for you.

Aloveen, epi-soothe or PAW. Anything with the slightest fragrance seems to get them chewing at themselves.

I knew that. Was early days in the relationship and i wasnt around to police it. He never left it on again.

Despite my repeated nagging, my ex used to leave a check chain on his bullmastiff. Til his housemate asked us one night what was wrong with the dog-she had not gone to greet him as she normally did. To our horror, when we looked, we found that the ring had slipped between palings on the deck and turned sideways, fixing her neck to the decking. Who knows how long she'd been stuck in that position. On a 35 degree day, unable to get to her water. Poor angel. I cant help but cringe when i see check chains left on now. We were so lucky she was ok.

Do you mean the $5 stick-on ones or the ultrasonic (?) ones? I've had the stick-on version on the bullbar for years. Hard to gauge effectiveness since i dont know if i would have hit one had they not been there. The noise of them doesnt seem to bother dogs (fire an air compressor into them to get an idea of the noise they would likely make at high speed). I am interested also in hearing opinions on the more expensive and hi-tech variety.

You are interested in knowing about costs. So the breeder sends you an email outlining how much a puppy costs to maintain. I don't see what your gripe is. Be thankful you've chosen a breeder that cares this much about what happens to her dogs. Id be more worried about a breeder that didnt question you on anything. If theyre all about "customer service" and the financial side of thingdand barely any discussion on the quality of life you can provide for their puppy, i'd have alarm bells ringing in my head.

No offence taken whatsoever, Steph. What i said was more a statement that it shouldnt matter and no-one really has the right to knock anyone else's choice of purebreed or rescue. But wow...some people do take forum life very seriously dont they? Never had any intention of knocking purebreed dogs, nor have i or will i ever. But point taken...i'll take my common pound dog and try to be seen and not heard. Cheers.

Hmmm. Several years ago, i had a DA pound rescue staffy x. I now (through hard work and training) have a sweet tolerant (previously DA) staffy x that enables me to foster dog after dog (yep, even purebreeds) with his lovely tolerant nature. Dont knock the pound adoptees and i wont knock your pedigrees. Sounds fair to me. Extremists at either end are not useful. A dog is a dog to me.

I've met "show" breeders and "rescuers" that i wouldnt entrust with the care of my houseplants. You simply cant judge the suitability of an owner by one aspect of their lives.

Agreed minimax. Obvious names on animals p*ss me off as much as personalised numberplates that state the effing obvious ie: redwrx on a red wrx. Duh.

If the registered breeders stop breeding, what will we be left with? Nothing but poor bloodlines and substandard puppies bred in a backyard by a feral that forgot to desex his staffies ( most likely brother and sister). Im all for "incentives" to desex-i very often see the ugly, ugly side of undesexed pets (bitches left to die because owners couldnt afford a consultation, much less a caesarian, puppies fed on aldi adult dog food and suffering chronic malnourishment, the disgusting list goes on). Its easy when you are involved heavily with this stuff to cry out for mandatory desexing. If it werent for a few good friends i have that breed responsibly I may have by now completely lost my plot and become a crazy campaigner for desexing everything almost at birth. We need a happy medium. A way that encourages quality dogs but keeps the "accidental" numbers down. I wish i had the answer. I wish i had the answer every time some bogan brings in their bitch thats had a puppy stuck for 2 days then tells you to let her die because they dont get paid til thursday. It breaks my heart into smaller pieces every time.

There are way too many of them around but my Diesel deserves his name. Anyone with a bit of mechanical knowledge agrees....he's laggy, his emissions are potentially toxic but he has plenty of low-down torque and can pull like a freight train. Working at a vet clinic does make me quite opinionated on names. Ceefa cat and Deefa dog stopped being funny 45 years ago. Dogs named lucky are almost never lucky. People that name their dogs obscene words deserve to be bitten every day for being hideous bogans. And really-another chihuahua named killer? Wow.