Christina

I am so sick of all this dangerous & menacing dog stuff Yes I know some attack & some have idiot owners & are a nuisance but the greatest danger in this world is dangerous & menacing people, even just behind the wheel:driving: I would like to see more attention & media & society interest in this & the human species then maybe people would not be so phobic & hysterical about dogs. Never met a paedophile dog, sex offender dog, one that is violent & irresponsible due to drugs or alcohol, one that breaks into houses, one that commits theft & fraud & on & on. If we diverted only half the time & money used on dog control & rules & laws into more people control, rules & laws the country would be somewhat better. Dog is not mans best friend in Australia. Its too banned & confined to be anyones friend. More like guilty & sentenced if it doesn't look "right".

As above. Vets are businesses not charities & can & should be allowed to charge whatever they want. Its not a matter for government or any other bodies control. The customer needs to educate themselves & research & use some common sense as to what seems to be needed in the way of food, vaccines, parasite control etc & ask questions about other things like tests, procedures etc that they may not understand. If the vets doesn't respond in a way that they understand they need to go to one who will. Asking for a quote first is sensible too. Being pushy for extra sales of surplus & sundry stuff would put me off going there. It can be on display as most people will look around while waiting & ask if interested. Sometimes the cheapest is not always the best but for basic things like a vaccine/microchip for a young, healthy animal as long as they do a standard check any vet may be fine & cost for this varies heaps. For breeders, those with multiple animals or special needs health wise or emotionally it is best to base the choice on meeting your needs for them & a good relationship rather than cost alone.

OK my slow brain has got it now :) It is so sad.

This all sounds normal & is part of having a puppy. She is still very much a baby & they don't train perfectly in a few weeks, it can take months. Pups are silly generally however I have noticed the difference between a working dog pup I was helping to train one time & my toy poodles & other small dogs I have owned. The working breed ( Heeler ) made mine look stupid :) despite them being an intelligent breed. I find around 6 months old it all starts to happen & they are better. Patience & time & getting your message to the pup is what is needed. Persist as you are with the biting thing. A dog has to understand what you want for it to obey & maybe she just hasn't got it yet. She is teething too. Putting her on a leash or rope outside is not a good idea. It needs to be a fun place she like to go to. Try a fake grass toilet for her inside. They are great for small dogs. Fence of parts of the garden you don't want her in. Some of those wooden stakes with a pointed end & chicken wire should do it temporarily for a tiny dog. Throw a heap of toys & chews out there for her. Ordinary dog obedience classes will be fine to take her to & are very cheap in comparison with puppy classes & do more actual training. Visit a few first & watch a session without committing to join & check that the dogs there are in control, if there are mixed sizes & that you like the way the trainer runs the class. They are variable in methods. Pups cry, pee, make a mess, dig, bark when you don't want them to & all sorts of normal things. She will get better as she learns & matures. Kind but firm sensible persistence will work eventually. Basically if you feel uncomfortable or not sure with anyones suggestions or a way of treating your pup then don't do it. There is no exact right way to train, gospel or 100% perfect, many methods work, but there are wrong methods.

The whole lengthy post is word for the word the exact same apart from the last couple of sentences & the breed & dogs name. I find it absolutely incredible that 2 totally different people could write of this experience using every single word the same Are they both the same person ?

Vet check is a good idea however even in people when they get very old & frail the voice may not be as strong as it was with some. Knowing them all their lives its a thing that may not be noticed but with a dog having a shorter lifespan it is more noticeable when it occurs. Hope its just the way she is aging, she is doing well really many don't make it to 14 years old.

The crate size is about a pp20 & I wouldn't leave or advise anyone to leave any pup in that for any longer than needed, as in travelling. Dividing it to a 12 inch space & leaving it in for hours is unimagineable Puppy farmers keep them in those kind of spaces & areas. The pup will be fine left alone for the day but be kind & buy 2 packs of Bunnings compost panels, join them up with plastic garden ties & make a nice big pen. Only cost about $25 a pack. You can find these in the garden section. They are metal panels about 3 foot x 4 in a pack of 4. Put food & water & a warm bed in there & some paper, fake grass or puppy training pads at the end, close to the bed but away from food & water. Leaving a tiny pup outside alone is a big risk, theft, snakes, prey, accidents & if another dog or even a feral cat got in you will come home to a dead puppy. Another alternative is a safe & puppy proof room where puppy can't jump up on furniture, get electrical cords etc. Kitchen, laundry & bathroom are usually tiny breed safe. Young animals need to move, run etc to make their bones & muscles strong & they can't do that confined in tiny spaces. I breed toy poodles, don't let then go to new homes until 10 to 12 weeks & never confine them in this way however due to their small size a large pen until they grow & get sturdier & learn about feet is a good thing to have when you can't watch them or have younger children or their friends over.

You don't need paperwork to register your dog with the council. Go in & say you want to register a dog & they will give you a form to fill in. You don't have to say where you got him from. The rule is that you must register a dog over 3 or 6 months ( varies )living on your premises not state where obtained from or similar. Sounds like the poor dog has landed in heaven with you after its previous life. What about keeping him inside with you & when he needs to go out you go with him. Maybe pop him on a lead at school times & firmly tell him no & to sit when he wants to lunge at the fence, treat if he likes them, & try & train him out of it. On lead outside at the end of the alley so he can see the kids coming down it out of school may help if he is friendly. No use if he isn't. Put a camera on top of the fence where the brat kid kicks, even a fake one may scare him off. Good luck. Hard situation.

Perhaps other parts of the world actually enforce rules and laws around dogs? (just a suggestion, no actual evidence or anything nor time to look it up, but it is an interesting question) No. They don't concern themselves much with dog laws & don't have anywhere near the trouble, fuss & complaints we have here in proportion to population & dog ownership. I don't think dogs even have to be registered in the UK although they do require a licence to use a TV in their own home :laugh: However I was at a community centre with a friend recently where they valued any antique for a small fee & I asked the most interesting or valuable one they had in for the day. It was a dog registration tag from the Adelaide Council from the 1800's, can't recall the exact date. So they were at it with dog laws even back then

& this is a huge contribution to the problem we have with dog attacks, adults & children being scared of dogs, dogs being scared of adults & children & imagined breed hysteria. Dogs need to go everywhere & this was a perfect example of a good chance to socialise the dog which was made unpleasant by someones uncalled for bad attitude.

Is there any info on what percent of puppies die in the first 6 months that are bought or obtained by other methods ? It may be more ? Do the remaining 83% all live ? Another different 2000 people interviewed may yield a different result. Needs much more research to form a true opinion despite online without a personal visit not being a good way to buy. Online with a personal visit is fine.

It works because they have a whole different concept of dog ownership & management. Probably little problem in the way of dog attacks too ? Dogs are probably not required to be registered, no limits on numbers & are not required to be contained. Providing they are desexed they are likely to be more social, be comfortable around people & part of the community & have the huge pack order sorted out. Different rules for different parts of the country can work & I do hope all states will not be under a one fits all law, rule or legislation.

Love it May be the present for the man who has everything this xmas on my list too.

Go to your dog & have a blood test. Its a simple thing, results back in about 5 days & it will tell the severity of the allergy & any others. Then you can take it from there. As a cat breeder I was horrified to develop a bad cat allergy out of the blue about 5 years ago. A few changes, some steroids for a month & it settled to manageable. Not bad at all now I never get those enormous 4 inch welts anymore. It was the last allergy I ever imagined I would get or have. Allergies can also fluctuate & come & go according to the state of your immune system so it may not be forever.

With current problems & hysteria I wouldn't put the word bull anything in the breed. Could be anything but the colour is sort of Ridgeback. Shape looks like a Corgi as in short legs, long body. Make up some breeds that people have heard of just in case she goes wandering by accident.

I wouldn't leave a pup outside when out. Theft & pups can wriggle through places or get stuck in places you would never imagine. What about a safe, pup proof room that's blocked off or has the door closed like the kitchen or a spare bedroom. The alternative is a large pen. 2 packs of Bunnings compost panels will make a nice spacious safe area & only costs around $50. You will need to set up paper, training pads or a dog loo for him as he is too young to hold on for hours but that doesn't mean he won't be house trained. I could never relax going out & leaving a young puppy outside alone.

There is no harm done & the money would be a small amount not grand larceny. Magee obviously neither loves nor wants this dog so if he was a decent person he would return the dog to the vet & say keep it. End of the matter. Callous & stupid man. Not what we want to portray to other countries at all. Foreign affairs should have advised him to drop it to save face.

When my little dog got hard & lumpy when only nursing one puppy I got a damp warm flannel & put it on the lumpy teat every hour or so. Had a hot water bottle on my lap so I could keep warming the flannel instead of jumping up to the sink. Settled it down quite quickly.

I would only walk one dog at a time & have a big stick in the other hand. Would never go to a dog park either. It never used to be like this.

Not understanding the 5 year ban surely someone like this would not be allowed to own animals again. Is there a legal maximum time that they can order a ban ? Sickening & disgusting situation.

We had less attacks 50 years ago because the dog breeds around then were very different. No SBTs, Pitbulls, Amstaffs, Rotties, Mastiffs of any kind, or crosses of these, were owned as pets and many of those breeds had not been imported. There were GSDs but the public were scared of them due to the notion of them crossing with Dingos and owners tended to keep them well confined. The only terriers around were Foxies and Scotties and the bulk of other breeds were Cockers and Labs in the city and Cattle Dogs and Kelpies in the country. There were lots of small/medium heinz 57 variety mongrels but no large powerful dogs available to moron owners. Unfortunately the reason for these attacks is the type of dogs being bred and sold to the public who have no idea what owning them entails. They are all powerful agile dogs that have no trouble escaping the average suburban yard and have the tendency to attack with no provocation. I do not buy the notion of not blaming the breed, it is too late after an attack to blame the deed. We need to stop the deeds from happening in the first place. Any dog can bite but there is a huge difference between a warning nip or bite in play from an overexcited dog, to a full scale attack by a powerful dog that grabs and shakes their victim, leaving them dead or scarred and traumatised for life. This made me think about my recent trip to Tahiti and Bora Bora. Lots of street dogs in Tahiti and lots of owned, but poorly cared for dogs in Bora Bora. In Bora Bora most of the dogs were bull breed types and there were also a lot of pure looking APBT's. The dogs all roam, a few tense moments when they stepped in to another dogs territory, but no fights. The local kids get right in the dogs faces, doing things which would make me freak out. The dogs dont always knows the kids either (we had a 9yr old cousin with us who was shoving her face right in to dogs) and the dogs just take it all in their stride. I mean, these dogs were everywhere - they follow their owners in to the village, owners go in to shops, dogs wander off and find their own way home later. However my other cousin who lives there, said there is never a problem. Makes you wonder that all that roaming makes the dogs more social with each other and people, whereas here, our dogs are all confined, not socialised as much etc etc and we are starting to see more serious problems. Not that I'm saying open your gates, but I think it says something about the way we keep our dogs these days. Exactly. No we can't let them roam & be part of the community. We are past that now. As a child in the UK in the 50's I saw lots of roaming dogs too. People often opened their door & let the dog out & it came back unless it got run over. We knew not to annoy them & which ones were most friendly. Its not a thing I would ever do, its not safe for the dog. More worried about what people would do than what my dogs would do & obviously not an acceptable practise but I do wish dogs were not banned from so many places due to hygiene phobias or whatever other reasons. In the UK as a young adult my dog went everywhere with me, clothes shopping, in the pub, on the bus, train, even some food shops let them in. It was up to the owner it seemed.

Fair comment :laugh: Of course there is more to it than the breed. I don't know anyone who has been bitten by a bull type dog but know 4 who have been bitten by heelers The dogs were shown on last night TV. The smaller one didn't look anything like an american pit bull to me. It looked like a staffie that could have been crossed with anything, even a corgie, kelpie or whatever, absolutely no idea. Bull anything remotely looking causes the media & public to go overboard on breed guesses. Irresponsible ownership was the main cause of this attack, probably irresponsible upbringing of the dogs played a big part too. Reared by someone else they may have been very good reliable dogs. Who honestly knows ? Seems a certain type of person is attracted by a certain breed a lot, but not always. Very frightening experience for the lady. She must have been terrified for her baby.

As above. We have enough in place already it just needs enforcing. Your ideal world sounds like a communist country or dictatorship. What comes next ? People cause a lot of harm & trouble to other people & damage property & destroy land & attack & kill millions of other people. Maybe they should all have genetic & temperament testing before being allowed to breed. Then be licensed, have a home check & of course face severe punishment for infringement. Decisions could be made by childless people in positions of power. The future of dogs is that they will only be bred as a business because it will be too complex for most people passionate about their breed with a genuine interest & knowledge. There will still be as many dog attacks, dogs abandoned & surrendered & euthanised & dogs with health & temperament problems. Education & trying to get people to understand the reality of dog ownership realistically is what is needed more than laws. Many think a dog is a disposable item or comes already programmed to fit their life. Then they can't be bothered when they find out they thought wrong.

Sounds like a dominance issue with it being on the lounge & in the bed. Accidents would be more likely to be done on the floor. My year old entire boy here has a dominance thing going on with my desexed bossy 8 year old girl here & will pee in her bed sometimes. He is at that age where he wants to challenge her but doesn't dare so he does this instead. Its so annoying. Try some Napisan for your lounge. A strong dilution in some warm water may do the trick.

This is an awful event but regarding comments about enforcing dog laws etc I still wonder why we had less dog attacks 50 years ago as an example but we didn't have all these laws & controls ? Dogs were welcome almost everywhere & not confined & isolated as much. Obviously the laws & the way we rear & keep our dogs in society is not working. Having a dog registered does not alter its potential to attack. The genetics & owners lifestyle, treatment & handling of the dog have more influence. Hope the poor lady is ok. How terrifying for her.