Ray27

So very sorry to hear about your precious Sooty. Definately heartache in losing her, but so , so, wonderful that she found you & that you could find a place in your heart for not just one but two girls to share their days with you & Shala. Wishing your new furry family many long years together! Shala & the Peke sisters look very happy indeed!

Well I have heard of outcrossing but this is a little rich surely. Someone will no doubt buy it thinking they have a very rare breed! It may have no issues whatsoever- but could just as well inherit all the potential faults of all the breeds at once. Indeed a very expensive price tag! Definately a hard mix to try & duplicate again as well! I like pure breeds & mongrels as well, but you are better off (at least financially) getting your bitza dog from a rescue organisation.

Congratulations little Emma- & Mark for all your work, care & training

Hmm I'm no dog behavioualist here (secret is I do not even own a dog at the moment so please take my info with a grain of salt!) but sounds like your Frenchie is loving his pack & wants to take both of you on the walk! I'm making alot of assumptions here, but as someone else from NSW, chances are you may have been in lockdown for a while and being only 5 mths old I am imagining your little one has seen quite a bit of the both of you together. Stepping out with just one of you may seem confusing and he may need to warm up to the idea. Perhaps time in a puppy pen indoors /or out if you have have access to a yard, whilst one of you sits nearby & the other one leaves the room or area for 10 mins ( or even less than than 10 mins at 1st!) may slowly help aclimatise him to the idea that just one of you can be fun. The puppy pen should include a snuggly bed, somewhere to toilet- or better still pop him in it after a meal & a toilet break-,water & a favourite toy or kong stuffed with a yummy treat. If yours is an active pup- and most Frenchies often are, you can even begin this exercise after a walk with the two of you so he is already de-stressed & perhaps ready for a nap. With puppy placed in the puppy pen, one of you calmly,& without fuss, leaves the room (or immediate vicinity if outdoors), & the one who remains sits calmly nearby doing something a little boring to your puppy, ( like reading), but sitting close enough to offer a presence for your pup.Try & ignore any whimpers as the other party leaves, then when your puppy is quiet , move closer & offer a little pat through the puppy pen- but without making an enourmous fuss. Repeat, Repeat & Repeat ( it may take several weeks given how long lockdown has been)- making the time a little longer until puppy can sit with just one of you for around 20-30 mins or longer. At first inside the pen, then repeat the same exercise with a lead with you holding the lead- and always with the distraction of the kong, favourite toy etc. ( Always ensure you do this in the shade if outside- it must never be stressful for your pup). Once your pup is relaxed & remains happy to lay by your side chewing at the toy & barely noticing partner leave the room ( If you repeat this daily you will get to this point believe me!), you will be ready for a short walk with your dog. Inside! E.g. partner leaves, dog remains calm. you stay by reading as usual & then stand up lead in hand & move off to look at something in the room- puppy by this point will be so used to your boring sit down sessions that moving off with you will seem like the most exciting thing- and guess what, you have managed a walk alone! Just add more repetition increasing the walk a little more each time until you actually move right outside & a walk around the yard. ( or patio or coutyard etc) If partner is in the front room whilst this is happening & you have the advantage of a front & back door, try & move off through the other so you are not walking straight past your partner. Short sessions & lots of repetition- you may well need the help of a behaviouralist to support the process. Once puppy can cope with sitting with just one of you, walking off with one of you will be easier &, with time you will even be ready to repeat the whole thing with both of you leaving- but don't rush the process! All the best!

It defiantely was terrible- according to partner people were screaming - in addition to the poor Shar Pei, & although owners were trying to separate their dogs, this was just strengthening the grip. I did get the story slightly wrong, it was allegedly another passer by who assisted with the "finger up the dogs butt" routine, not the owner, as he was just trying to talk his dog around- to no avail. Obviously am not advocating this technique- person could have been bitten by said dogs. My partner was worried whether this had been the best course of action & looked up advice on the internet about separating "locked on" dogs when we got home, but most were advocating a whole range of dangerous things like wedging a stick in the aggressing dogs jaws or picking it up by the back legs & flipping it over-which in this circumstance would have potentially taken the other dogs face with it! Obviously the best course of action is simply not let things get to this in the first place! Dogs can be just wonderful for peoples mental health & particularly through periods of stress like lockdown, but we all need to take some responsibility for our dogs. Perhaps parks should have signs with QR codes with links to reputable training organisations - for the owners not just the dogs!

Thanks have signed the petition! Some of the laws seem (at first glance) to be in favour of animals,such as record keeping, but there are so many confused & downright dangerous pieces of legislation, such as the numbers of "staff" required, that once again seem to be enabling puppy farms yet penalising smaller more intimate breeders & family homes. There are people granted that do the wrong thing, but pieces of legislation that seem bent on supporting large scale farm like establishment breeders of dogs and cats, yet penalise smaller breeders that want to give their animals the run of the family home, are not doing anyone any favours. When I choose a new puppy and future family member,I want the benefits of socialisation that a smaller scale breeder can give- a dog that is used to all the sights & sounds of a family environment- not behind doors of a barn or kennel at the back of a property- no matter how many staff or vets that have been involved.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Partner was relaying incident to a dear friend & owner of a little powder puff Chinese crested & she also suggested reporting it so we are taking this advice on board. Friend has also related her anxiety when unleashed dogs rush & lunge towards her dog whilst out walking, often across roads, & she has no idea what they will do, so is forced to change her direction-even though her dog is a trusting & friendly little dog. We do not even have a dog at the moment- but as dog lovers and animal lovers this ( the dog park) situation seemed intolerable, so we will be going ahead & phoning council. Park was still in action today, but with a vastly decreased number of dogs, & not those involved in the dog fight, so for now at least some have obviously finally realised the dangers & voted with their feet.

Yes defiantely foolish. (Sorry for rediculously long post & spelling errors in previous post). Owners are all very young & I am suspecting "lockdown" puppies have been purchased with many completely unaware of the potential size & strength of their chosen breeds & the need for proper training & adequate socialisation - and not in the crazy overcrowded tiny park. Poor bull arab's owner seemed surprised by his dogs behaviour (although not making any excuses for him)- but I think it's a case of not having done any homework before purchasing the wrong breed as a first time dog owner.

Yet another very preventable incident happened at a local dog park today. During the pandemic my partner has been picking me up from work each day & regularly parks across the road at a small park. Not deignated as a " dog park" as such and sururrounded on three sides by high rise flats and on one side by a road, the park is a relativly small square of grass with some small mounds and rose bushes at one end & a few park benches surrounding the level grassed area at the other. The park seems to be frequented by a steadily growing number of what appears to be first time dog owners who all seem to have relatively new puppies from around the 3 mth & upwards age range. There are a gang of the oodle doodles, a dachund, who holds it's own with all of them & does the occasional "woof" & jumps up on the park bench when things get too much; a grey & white Am Staffy that is gangly & goofy & the little ones lick at its face trying to play; a few Frenchies of various sizes that gallop about, & a giant young Rotweiler that is suprisingly good tempered when all the little moodles & similar combinations try & tackle it. It simply does gentle play bows & runs about with them patiently. The various owners stand around smiling, sometimes offering treats (seemingly for just existing), but there is no training, no recalls &, it seems, it is rarely time to leave- even when their dogs are obviously trying to get away from some of the more rambunctious larger & older dogs by looking at them pleadingly for assistance or hiding between their owners legs. The number of owners and dogs keeps seeming to grow in size, and although at first glance the park appears to offer some kind of "puppy heaven" with lots of playing and gentle "bitey face " and "zoomies", after watching a little more closely recently I noticed that things were getting more & more out of control. One miniture poodle had to be removed after repeatly trying to hump one of the smaller dogs like there was "no tomorrow", one young shepard had to be placed back on the lead when it began a game of chase that was becoming predatory towards an older pomeranian, & some of the younger puppies were obviously becoming nervous & not wanting to play at all. I recently commented that although things looked "cute" from a distance, things were potentially about to go horribly wrong. Unfortunately today was that day. On leaving work I noticed that said partner was standing in front of the car &, as this was unusual, I asked what was up. She outlined a quite horrific incident that had unfolded in front of her & actually caused her to jump out of the car & run full pelt towards the hapless dog owners to try & save one of their own dogs. Today apparently all the dogs and owners were there at the same time, so the park was a muddle of different sized dogs. A terrible screaming of a dog in pain had rung out- a half grown shei pei was standing & literally screaming in terror & on the side of it's face a larger bull arab type breed had totally latched on! Nervous dog owners stood around & at the same moment the young shepard, unnoticed in the shananigans, had lunged towards one of the smaller dogs & was about to grab it over the back. Ploughing towards the shei pei & bull arab, whose owner seemed to be gently trying to call it off with a repeated "release" command & some other gentle but unheard words that the bull arab was obviously not familiar with, partner had yelled at the shepards owner to "put it on a lead!" & then tersley told the owner of the bull arab to "shove your finger up it's arse!" Bull arab owner keep trying to pull the dog off instead but after another person known to the dog owner yelled out the same thing, he did just that & his dog immediately released. It was still an effort to drag his dog away & by this point he was bleeding- him not his dog. The Shei pei's owner organised their partner to call the vet & my partner had to offer a clean tissue to allow the bull arab's owner to apply pressure to his (thankfully minor wound) to his arm. All he could repeat was that "it was ok as his dog did not have anything!" (As if a doogie form of HIV was the shei pei owners biggest concern!) Hopefully he has had a tenus shot. After this my now shaken partner had actually stood & announced to the dog owners that she had noticed "alot of roughhousing" happening lately and these dogs needed to be on the lead. Very brave of her I thought given what had gone down, but a no-win situation for everyone least of all the poor dogs.

Definately all the points above re alerting council of both the dogs coming onto your land and the puppy farm's existence, plus keeping a paper trail. Also not sure what terms you are already on with your neighbour, but if you had some evidence of the situation -those sensor activated outdoor cameras may be useful for this-your neighbour may be persuaded to opt for paying for an extension to your fence - say with wire mesh, to block the gap between your fence and the ground, or even building a whole new adjoining fence to keep their dogs safe. ( After all you have had the biggest outlay of the initial fence). If not, I think your neighbour would be at fault if the dogs were straying and they would need to bear the consequences.

So sorry to hear. Pickles was indeed and is still perfect! Thinking of you in your loss.

There must be something about some dogs that seem to naturally protect infants and young children at all costs, and others for whom things go horribly wrong. The ACD stories above made me wonder if this guarding instint was common to other "working dogs" too. My first dog as a child was already around 5 yrs old when I came along.I am not sure what mixture of breeds he was, but the closest thing looking back, by his colouring, shape and form seemed to be a Bordie collie Kelpie cross. He had been adopted from a shelter at around 18 mths, and my parents had no prior knowledge of his background. There were also no formal socialisation programs for dogs and babies back then. Despite this my parents must have have trusted him alot as I was placed outside in a pram for the " sun kicks" that were all the rage for parents to do with infants back in the 60's! Fortunately for me he immediately took on the role of guarding my pram. In a secured backyard he didn't have anything to"guard" me from, but Mum & dad used to show me photos of him sitting by the side of the pram & if guests were in the yard he became quite alert if they came too close. One particular day however, my mother recounted what could have been a disaster. I was about 18mths and was outside alone with my beloved Sebastian whilst she looked on to the backyard from the nearby kitchen window whilst she washed up. ( Obviously all the things you should never do with a dog and an Infant!). As my mother watched me interacting with the dog, she suddenly realsised to her horror that she had forgotten to take last nights lamb bone off our dog Sebastian before I had ventured out in the yard! Filled with natural anxiety for what would happen, she rushed outside to see me gently taking the lamb bone right out of my dogs mouth whilst he sat there patiently waiting. It was too late for her to do anything and she didn't want to rush in and startle him. Sure enough I gave it back to him, (after having a chew on it myself!!), and he calmly continued knawing on his bone! He was one amazing dog.

This is a great idea. A family dog- a little Shih Tzu many years ago had a terrible accident from falling into a pool. I had left home a few years before and my family had moved house to somewhere with a pool. There were no fencing requirements at the time-external only not from the pool to the house. She did not pass away- but they phoned me to say they had come home to her swimming around and around the pool trying to get out! They had been gone for three hours so goodness knows how long she had been in there! There were steps into the pool but nothing a little Shih Tzu could climb out of with those tiny front legs and a coat heavy with water. They told me they had rushed her to the vet but she had water on the lungs- and a cough for the rest of her life. A the time they were pensioners so I think the option of getting the pool fenced straight away was not an option for them. This idea may have prevented this from happening!