spikey

I saw this on several news sites today, couldn't find it posted anywhere here already https://www.9news.com.au/world/balck-hawk-dog-food-product-recall-after-mould-found-growing-in-batches-manufactured-last-year/53ed71cd-f820-44cf-bab7-67a5c4e4f873 Black Hawk – voluntary recall of certain dry dog food. The quality of our products and the health of pets is paramount. As part of our ongoing quality control processes, we have discovered an issue with specific batches of Black Hawk that were manufactured last year, resulting in mould developing in some products. To date we have had no reports of illness in any animals and if product is affected the mould is very obvious to consumers. We have made the decision to VOLUNTARILY AND IMMEDIATELY RECALL all of these batches from the market to ensure that we can deliver on our own quality expectations, as well as those of our Black Hawk customers and their pets. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact our customer service team directly: For Australia: 1300 654 279 or [email protected] For New Zealand: 0800 738 546 or [email protected] These are the affected products – please check either the Black Hawk Australia or Black Hawk New Zealand website for the best before dates of each product that are affected. Black Hawk Adult Chicken and Rice (3kg, 10kg and 20kg) Black Hawk Adult Lamb and Rice (3kg, 10kg and 20kg) Black Hawk Adult Fish and Potato (3kg, 10kg and 20kg) Black Hawk Adult Large Breed Chicken and Rice (20kg only) Black Hawk Puppy Large Breed Chicken and Rice (20kg only) You’ll find the best before date on the rear of the bag towards the centre, stamped horizontally in black, near the ingredients listing. Required actions Immediate removal of all products that match the disclosed best before dates within your stores. Affected stock must be destroyed and disposed of and can be reconciled for credit. Notify your customers using the communication we have provided to return their affected product to your store for replacement. Please get in touch if your store hasn’t received this communication. Non affected stock is available for order and replenishment immediately as per your normal process.

The dog has now been put to sleep, thank goodness, so at least no one else is in danger. There's been plenty of news coverage of the attack here (along with plenty of graphic footage of the owner, covered in blood and gashes, being helped into an ambulance), and no, it's not the first time the dog had attacked his owner. I can't understand these people - no dog of mine would EVER get a a second chance if that happened.

Doesn't look much like a bull mastiff X to me either, but apparently that's how the owner herself has described the dog. My thoughts are with the poor young lad - he's probably going to have a very long road to recovery, involving extensive plastic surgery, not to mention the emotional and mental scars he'll carry for the rest of his life

Couldn't agree more. Some animals - and let's face it, some people as well - are simply born with something wrong with the hardwiring of the brain, which can be due to a number of factors. They can't be rehabilitated, or saved or "fixed", no matter what you do or how hard you try. It's not their fault, it's just a fact of life that needs to be accepted and sometimes hard (and unpalatable) decisions need to be made.

There's been nothing I've seen in the various reports about how old the dog is though. If he's a former abuse case - and who knows, maybe from a backyard breeder? - it's possible he wasn't microchipped until he went into rescue and/or until she got him. In any case, I'd assume she would have filled in the paperwork for his council registration (especially if she moved from another council area, as you can't transfer between councils here in Perth - not sure if you can in other places?) so she would have had to indicate a breed - or cross-breed - when completing that.

Some news reports here in Perth have described the dog as a Bullmastiff X (which is quite possibly correct, given the look of the dog), however both dogs were microchipped and registered and those who have spoken to the media on behalf of the local council have referred to the attacking dog as a Bullmastiff, so that may well be the breed the dog was registered as on council records.

"Ms Lindsey said she looked at the vision of the dog issued by the pound, and it was exhibiting signs it was frightened and anxious." Well, that's hardly rocket science, the majority of dogs I've seen in the pound look like that when they've just been brought in, it tends to be a very distressing experience for most dogs so of course they're "frightened and anxious" - it's more the reports of the dog's previous behaviour and past history that would account for it being "behaviourally unwell" rather than just seeing the footage from the pound, but maybe her comment was taken out of context or badly edited? And the comment "that has led to the inadvertent injury and death ..." I'm sorry, but no. A dog doesn't just "inadvertently" attack and maul someone, especially seriously enough to kill them. It's not as if he accidentally knocked her over and she suffered a head injury and died from the fall (unless that comes out later, and is a possibility I suppose, but there's no getting around the fact that she had numerous bites from the attack). I certainly agree there was obviously a trigger and that this situation was very unlikely to happen for no reason, but I think the use of the word "inadvertent" was a poor choice on her part.

I was in fear the whole time they had her that something would happen. We tried to persuade them to get rid of her but you know what parents are like! They can be a bit stubborn LOL and I think because she was a young dog, they wanted to persevere with her but yes, I am very glad they made the right (and the only sensible) decision in the end.

This tragic situation has brought back some chilling memories for me, of what might have been ... I think my in-laws were fortunate not to end up in a similar situation a few years ago. They've owned dogs for years so are pretty sensible people and absolutely adored our girl (sadly passed now) and it had been quite a while since their previous dog died, so they went to the pound and got a Mastiff X puppy from a litter that had been dumped. She seemed OK at first but as she grew, she had a very unnerving habit of just staring at people, not in a curious way, but almost in an intimidating fashion. I never felt at ease around that dog at all, there was just something "not right" about her and she soon started to dominate the household. You couldn't stand on a certain mat because that was the one she liked to lie on, she didn't like being corrected - she shoved her face towards some food I was eating on one occasion and I lightly tapped her on the nose and said "uh uh" - my mother-in-law immediately said in a panicked voice "don't do that, she doesn't like that". She certainly didn't, the dog literally glared at me and I just felt my skin crawl, and I don't think she would even have been 9 months old then. There were a lot of similar behaviours as well, which my in-laws tried to deal with, but she just didn't respond to the usual training, positive reinforcement etc, and I wouldn't have trusted the dog as far as I could throw her. I've done obedience for years and have handled and trained a number of large dogs, but I wouldn't have touched her with a barge pole. My father-in-law didn't have too much difficulty with her as he's got a very strong personality, but she had it all over my mother-in-law, who was becoming increasingly nervous around her and I was always terrified we'd get "that" phone call, saying that the dog had badly injured MIL ... or worse. They discussed the situation with their vet numerous times and she recommended they put the dog to sleep, which (much to our huge relief) they did when she was just over a year old. A necropsy revealed that she had a brain tumour, so all the training and love and care in the world wouldn't have made any difference to her behaviour, which was becoming increasingly dangerous.

Yes, it's a very very sad situation - it sounds like her heart was in the right place and that she meant well, but those same attributes may also have led to a massive error of judgment as far as this dog was concerned and it's now cost this lady her life. Such a terrible tragedy, and I can't even imagine what her daughter must be going through, not to mention the emergency services and council staff who attended the scene as well.

Some possible past history on the mastiff: Lee, a family friend, told Radio 6PR's Oliver Peterson that the dog was "well known for being aggressive," but that she loved it anyway. "Being a rescue dog, it doesn't matter what the breed is, any dog can be aggressive if it's abused as a young dog and any dog can be a dear, loving dog regardless of its breed. And this one was unfortunately abused when it was young and she rescued it. "And anyone knows who's been around abused dogs that they snap, just over nothing, over the smallest things, and unfortunately she was in the wrong place at the wrong time." "The best way I can put it is that she thinks every dog deserves a second chance and she just loved every dog that came through there. She was a very caring woman."

As you can imagine, it's been all over the news on every channel here in Perth tonight and yes, the mastiff was a rescue dog she'd had for 4 years - council have confirmed the dog will be euthanased. There have been numerous photos and video taken at the pound which clearly show both sides of the mastiff, and there don't appear to be any noticeable injuries on him. There's been no footage or photos of the staffy, which has now been returned to the family, so it's unclear at this stage whether the dogs were actually fighting - there's been no indication of that one way or the other. The staffy was supposedly the dog who was refusing to let police near the woman's body (although some updated news reports seem to contradict that now in saying that the mastiff was the one guarding the body), so it seems both dogs may have been in (or had access to) the same area/yard.

It only happened yesterday afternoon, so it's a bit too early to expect anything much in the way of details to be released yet. There's also the possibility there won't actually BE much information available as to exactly what occurred, as it sounds like the woman who was killed was at home by herself at the time and the neighbours apparently didn't hear anything, so there are no witnesses. There may be details which come out about the dog's temperament and/or past history, but it's likely they may never know exactly why the dog attacked her. ETA: In addition, she lived in a designated kennel zone area, so hearing yapping, barking, howling dogs is quite common down there (as I know only too well from dropping off/picking up our dogs from kennels there over the years), and even if other dogs in her kennels or yard were "going off" during this tragic event, it's likely people wouldn't take much notice. The neighbours obviously didn't hear any screams or cries for help, so it must have happened very quickly and she didn't get the chance to call out

Sounds like it was the owner who was killed - an update to the ABC article: Neighbour Greg, who did not give his surname, said he did not hear any signs of a struggle at the property. He said the woman's body was found by her daughter, who came to check on her mother after concerns were raised when she did not turn up for work at a local childcare centre. Greg said the dogs were very aggressive and had to be locked away when anyone came to visit the property. He said one of the dogs believed to be involved in the attack had been living with the woman for four years, when she first moved to the neighbourhood. Another neighbour, who did not provide their name, said the woman was passionate about dogs and dedicated her life to their care, especially rescue dogs.

OMG, what a dreadful thing to happen. According to this ABC article, it occurred at Barko's Boarding Kennels (don't know if anyone here has used them?) but no details yet as to who the woman was (I'd assume she was an employee or perhaps even the owner?). The article also says the dogs were registered to the owner of the kennels. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-02/woman-mauled-to-death-by-dog-at-boarding-kennel/8766934

I was absolutely gobsmacked when I read this news story today on the ABC website: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-13/perth-woman-scammed-for-almost-6000-dollars-buying-puppy/7930050 Seriously? Are people REALLY so gullible these days that they would fall for something like this? Although I guess you'd have to say "yes" when you read the neverending stream of "love rat" stories that seem to keep popping up. I mean, don't get me wrong, the people who ripped this woman off are absolute scum, but wouldn't the alarm bells have been ringing in her head long before it got to the final transfer of money for the "crate"? I dearly miss our old girl who died a year ago, and know how exciting it would be researching and subsequently buying a new dog or puppy (although that's not going to be on the cards for a long time for me), but there are so many red flags in this story, I'd be running in the other direction so fast I'd leave smoke trails!!!!

Because the legislation in many council areas in WA is bl**dy useless. Try getting someone prosecuted and/or dogs seized and destroyed over here after an attack - been there, done that and it was all a complete waste of time, even though the owners had been in trouble with council before over the dogs roaming and displaying threatening behaviour. The owners ended up being fined in the end, so at least that was something, but then they just moved house to another council district and took the dogs with them, where they'd no doubt be free to attack someone else and their dog again.

Not my own dog obviously, but to those of us who live in Perth, we always felt Rumble was OUR dog. He and his handler patrolled our streets and protected us from harm for 6 years - Rumble almost lost his life more than once in the line of duty but always fought his way back not only to the land of the living, but back on to the beat where he continued to chase down the bad guys. As Perth DOLers would know, Rumble was recently struck down by a serious "mystery" illness, which was eventually diagnosed as meningitis. Valiant Rumble wasn't giving in without a fight and made it through, finally going home last week to start enjoying a well-earned retirement with his handler and family. Tragically, it wasn't to be - Rumble couldn't win this final battle and sadly succumbed to his illness today. RIP PD Rumble, our brave, brave boy. Sleep in peace, you've earned it.

We were out walking our girl a couple of years ago - heading along the home stretch on the footpath next to our local park with her on the lead, when I saw a woman and young boy of about 8 coming towards us with a massive black Great Dane. The dog was on a lead which was being held by the boy ... who was riding a BIKE. I'd seen the dog before and always avoided it as it was quite aggressive towards other dogs - sure enough, his body language changed immediately to an aggressive posture as soon as he saw our dog and I thought "oh crap", no matter how this goes it is NOT going to end well. The safety of ourselves and our dog is our priority, so we decided to cross the road to put as much space between ourselves and them as possible. And yep, you can probably guess what happened - the dog charged forward, pulling the kid (and bike) with him and then dashed out on to the road - the kid and the bike went sprawling, luckily still on the footpath, but the lead was obviously wrapped around his hand/wrist so the dog was effectively "tethered" to him and was almost dragging him out on to the road as well. The mother (who was also on a bike) was screaming at the top of her voice, it was absolute chaos. Thankfully she managed to grab the dog and haul it back in before it either (a) dragged her kid under a car or (b) got loose and attacked our dog - and she then proceeded to get an earful from me about what what a stupid thing it was to do to allow such a young child to have sole charge of a dog that size ... and whilst riding a bike FFS. You really have to wonder whether some parents have any brains at all. Luckily the kid wasn't badly hurt, apart from some grazes and bruises, but he got a very bad fright and was extremely lucky to get away with such minor injuries.

Dogs can indeed be "wired wrong" - I've owned one. He had major behavioural issues, including aggression towards dogs (even other puppies) and people which developed when he was about 5 months old, and he would also have instances where he didn't seem to recognise us or familiar things around him and would become absolutely hysterical. NOTHING we tried worked with him - I was convinced that it was something I was doing wrong, or that I wasn't an experienced enough dog owner (and the breeder actually encouraged this line of thinking) until I spoke to our vet in absolute despair and he told me that it wasn't me, there are just some dogs that are born with something wrong with the "hard wiring", it's simply the way they are and unfortunately even copious amounts of training, behavioural therapy etc usually doesn't help. It wasn't the poor dog's fault, but I was relieved to know that it wasn't my "fault" either and I didn't make him the way he was. Later we found out that there was a strong incidence of epilepsy in his bloodlines (which we hadn't been told previously), which we think may have been a major contributing factor as several puppies from the same litter turned out the same way.

Exactly - our local council does little or nothing when it comes to enforcing leash laws, let alone doing anything about roaming dogs. I saw the same guy on his bike this morning - he was riding along the footpath alongside the park/football field, and the 5 dogs were roaming freely all over the park as he just blithely cycled along. I was just thankful I didn't have our dog with me. Came across another woman walking her border collie off lead this morning - she was about 20 feet behind the dog, pushing a stroller and glued to her phone. The dog barrelled straight towards me and immediately started jumping up at my face. Luckily the dog was friendly, but way too exuberant, and I was trying to keep walking, half turning away from the dog and trying to block it jumping at me, whilst telling it variously "no", "off", "down" - all of which it either ignored or had no idea what they meant (which was more likely, as the dog seemed completely untrained). The woman made no attempt whatsoever to call her dog or interrupt it's behaviour or even say anything to me when she drew level - she was still glued to her phone, never even looked at me and walked straight past, just saying "don't" to the dog in a really-can't-be-bothered voice. WTF is wrong with people? If it had been an elderly person or a small child the dog had jumped on like that, they'd have been knocked to the ground, and quite possibly badly injured. There's just way too many people have this "I'm all right Jack and I don't give a f*** about anyone else" attitude when it comes to having any sort of control over their dog.

Yep, heaps of people around here walk their dogs off-lead, often along busy roads, and most don't even bother carrying a lead with them. The worst offender is the guy who rides his bike and has five - yes, count them, FIVE - dogs running loose. All medium to large size dogs too, a variety of Ridgeback, GSD and Bull breed X's. I recently came across one woman walking two Golden Retrievers off lead, and one of them became extremely aggressive as soon as it spotted my dog. She had no leads with her (of course) and - I'm not joking - literally had to tackle her snarling dog and pin it, using hands/knees and her entire body weight, against a tree trunk until we could get past and get a safe distance away. FFS!!! I've lost count of the number of times we've been rushed, harassed and even bailed up by aggressive, off-leash dogs - taking our old girl for a walk is becomingly increasingly stressful both for her and for us. As she can't walk too far now, her favourite outing is to go up to the park at the end of the street and we walk around the edge on the footpath whilst she potters along (always on-lead) sniffing and peeing on everything. But even that's becoming impossible to do because of these idiots either walking their dogs off-lead along the footpath or allowing their dogs to just run wild in the park. It's now reached the stage, sad to say, that when our girl goes (in probably the not too distant future), we will not be getting another dog for a very long time, if at all. There's no pleasure in talking your dog for a walk and constantly having to be on the alert and make regular changes of direction to avoid being menaced, and even attacked (as has happened on two occasions), by loose dogs, or having to experience some quite terrifying "close encounters". Even getting in the car and going further afield doesn't help, the problem seems to be everywhere - and anyway, why the hell should I have to go elsewhere to exercise my dog? Why should we not be able to walk along the streets in our own suburb and have an enjoyable, safe experience?????

Thanks for posting the Channel Nine segment Raffikki - there's a pretty clear shot of the vehicle in that footage, so hopefully someone will recognise it. My heart broke as I watched him walk away with the dog - Beau's obviously a very good-natured dog and seemed happy to be out for a walk, although obviously a bit uncertain of the person who was taking him away. I hope and pray that he's found and returned to his owner.

Have just seen this on Yahoo News - a neighbour's security camera seems to have captured someone walking away with this young GSD last Thursday, around 11:30am. Here's the link to the story https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/25149569/did-security-camera-catch-dog-thief/ The security camera footage has been posted on Facebook (which I'm not on), but maybe those who are could share it? Fingers crossed that he can find his dog, and the scumbag who took him.

Those are the ones I was looking at as per my original post in this thread, but it was mentioned that they looked like they might be quite slippery, which is a concern with an elderly dog.