ellz

This!!

I have heard of it, know of a couple of dogs who had the issue from a particular line. BUT, that said, I wouldn't say it is common OR a major issue.

Yep, you're wrong. There isn't anything in the cocker standard that specifies a black nose. You may be getting mixed up with the blue coat colour in Staffordshire Bull Terriers. A black nose is required in the standard but genetically a blue Stafford cannot have a black nose.

Cut into strips, put on a dinner plate. Sprinkle with garlic or whatever. Cover with upturned bowl. Nucrowave for about 5 minutes or so (depending upon the power of your nucrowave). Allow to cool. Cut into cubes. The bowl stops splatter and a lot of the smell.

Have suggested this at least once previously....look for a homeopathic product named Frageria Vesca. Friends of mine in the USA use this for plaque removal.

+9 for me. I've recommended him to many as well.

No I agree, you shouldn't have to child proof it. Dog proofing is usually enough to keep a small child out. Well given that I have a very gregarious and athletic Stafford that I manage to keep quite comfortably and safely at home, one would think that my yard is essentially dog proof. I'm certainly not in a position to make any great changes to my yard as it is now (fully fenced front and rear - separated with secure gates so even if front gate is left open the dogs are still completely contained, regulation height fences and gates, padlocks where possible, chains and metal bars where not possible). If my neighbours cannot keep their child in their yard, then that's their problem UNTIL that child comes into my yard and then I get pretty sh*tty! And that's the crux of this whole thread. The neighbours need to take some responsibility in childproofing their back yard, supervising their child adequately and if they can't do that, they need to teach the child that it shouldn't go into a backyard with strange dogs without permission and they could perhaps feed it fresh fruit once in a while so it doesn't have to resort to hunting and gathering for itself.......

I have never been anything BUT realistic about kids AND dogs! And I've never said that I would be held unaccountable if one of my dogs did attack a kid entering the yard. That, if you recall, was my main concern. I'm not naive. I class myself as a responsible dog owner and a responsible parent as well. My dogs are healthy and well-socialised and in so far as they can be, childproofed. My fences are regulation height and well-maintained, my gates lock securely and yes, despite what others may think, my yard IS secure....for MY needs and those of my family and my own dogs. What other people (ie neighbours) do with their yards is their business and I class the kid next door as being their problem so they need to do something about THEIR security issues!!! It surely isn't however too much to ask that I can have a bit of a whinge about people who don't apparently even attempt to instill values of not trespassing, not stealing and not approaching strange dogs into their children? I have certainly had more than my share of battles with my own children and their behavioural issues and learning disabilities over the years, yet have still managed to lay ground rules for all of the above, so why would it be unreasonable to wish that other parents would/could do the same???

I'm wondering that too. Must be a very nimble 5 yr old! My 7 yr old can't even manage the lower gates :laugh: Assisted by the trampoline and swingset that the parents have kindly installed in their yard, right on my fenceline and the fence struts being on their side of the fence as well. But believe me, it is secure under "normal" circumstances and gates kept locked as well. But that said, I also have teenage children so why do I have to "childproof" MY property??

Something that I have always found useful for my Staffords is to teach them how to "catch" their goodies. This helps them to stay on their toes, anticipating your hands and what might be in them and in doing this, helps them to use their ears better when they see a hand in front of their faces. Once they're catching I then find it relatively easy to teach them to walk into their stack and stand four square.

Keep it somewhere safe. When they total 100 points (and assuming enough of then have come after the dog has turned twelve months) you will need to provide them and enter all of their details onto a form to have the dog's Champion title issued. And then the Grand Champion when/if you get to 1000 (plus 4 BIG or a BIS). What if all records and certificates are lost e.g. fire/flood? Does any registry exist where points can be verified? Thanks. Short answer is no. BUT, the various state controlling bodies retain marked catalogues and some will allow these to be searched to have wins verified. BUT, some of the controlling bodies are very rigid and will not accept anything except the original challenge certificates so it is necessary to check with them if something should happen to the original awards. I've just been through this recently myself. All CCs for a dog born and shown briefly in Tasmania were lost and he went to his new home with 63 points that could have potentially been lost. Half an hour spent at the Dogs Tas office with their catalogue collection and they were then able to send an email off to Vicdogs to verify the points. But if the shoe were on the other foot, they (Dogs Tas) would not have accepted a letter from another controlling body.

Why does someone need to play child's advocate? I've said all along the child was welcome to the fruit. Trespassing and entering my securely fenced and locked backyard by way of a fence however is a completely different thing (and placing my dogs in danger by entering their turf without permission is a different thing altogether). Just quietly though, I have a feeling that if somebody was caught trespassing and rocked up to court and said "oh but I was only stealing fruit and didn't YOU steal fruit when you were a kid?" they wouldn't get a warm reception. Child's advocate or otherwise...the child was WRONG to climb the fence and enter my back yard. It placed itself in danger with strange dogs and placed my dogs in danger with a strange child. It stole from me (which is really just a very minor side issue). It could have been injured by falling off the fence or out of a tree and then I would have been liable. And all because it had not been taught a few lessons that other children have drummed into them concerning manners, safety, safety around animals and simple common courtesy. AND, because WHOMEVER was supposed to have been supervising the child at that time, dropped the ball in a big way!! Bottom line. I don't have aggressive dogs, my dogs are raised and well-socialised with children, but I DO object to strangers entering my yard uninvited for ANY reason and I have a right to be upset about that. And I would be EXTREMELY peeved if one of my boys did the same thing to anybody else. Hopefully I have instilled better values in them than that.

Absolutely understood and appreciated. Have to say though that my dogs are well accustomed to me "telling off" the junior members of the pack (ie the skinkids) and it really doesn't phase them in that way. They're more likely to slink off with an "oh s**t am I next in line" look in most cases than they are to jump on board the discipline train! ;)

Perhaps in some breeds but I'd be literally mind-blown (as in, you'd be having to dry-clean my brains off your clothes, from all the way over there) if a greyhound responded that way. I have little doubt that even if I actually grabbed someone, started shaking them and screaming for my dogs to help, the most help I'd likely get is them frolicking giddily around, enjoying the exciting sounds and the movement. That kind of response simply isn't normal for the breed, in my opinion- guarding instinct should not be there. Yep, agree entirely. About the only time Fang shows any kind of anything more than an "enthusiastic" passing interest is if a neighbour's cat happens to appear on or near the gate or fence.....despite his advancing years, creaking bones and grey muzzle, this event engenders a demonstration of the term "greased lightning". Where people are concerned however he'll bark quite enthusiastically at the gate if a person appears there, but this is more of a vociferous welcome bark with lots of bouncing and chortling, rather than a guarding-type bark (although I don't think many people would wish to intrude to ascertain for themselves which bark it might be! ;) ) But if on the other hand, they are actually IN his yard, he seems to assume that I've let them be there and either follows them around with his long cold nose stuck in all manner of soft warm places or he'll just lay down and assume the sleep position. The Stafford on the other hand is a true representative of his breed and just cannot get enough of people, firmly believing that all humans in his yard are there for his sole entertainment and adoration. When I yelled at the kid to remove itself from my yard, he stood there with a "WHAT, you're sending my new friend away???" look on his face.....

Great expression Can I borrow it? :laugh: :laugh: Course you can....I did! ;)

No, they have not mentioned it. Come to that, we've never actually spoken. And I'm really quite thankful. I will not go into details here but I believe that the best thing in this situation is to keep my distance. If it happens again, I will rethink the situation but until then, I'm not going to shake a can of snakes just to see if it will hiss.....

I've been back in suburbia since June last year.

The point is that a) SOMEBODY should have been watching the child...none of my business who that somebody was meant to be...clearly whomever it was....wasn't, b) the child should not go into other people's backyards without their knowledge or permission (the fact that he was stealing fruit was neither here nor there, as I sad, had he asked I would have cheerfully given him as much fruit as he could carry), c) although I didn't share here the exact words I used when I told the people next door that the little bloke was in my yard, I didn't make a big thing of the fact that he was "technically" stealing from me, in fact I didn't even mention it, I just told his sibling that he was in my yard and had climbed over the fence and made it clear that my biggest issue was him being in my yard, with strange dogs and no supervision. To be perfectly honest, if I went over for another "talk" with them, I doubt very much whether it would achieve anything because I SERIOUSLY doubt that the parents either give a toss, or that they would take it in any way other than accusatory and given what I've heard coming from their property since the start of the school holidays....they're much better kept at a nice distance!!

+1 +2 and you don't know the half of it. Definitely not contenders for Parents of the Year....

Yes, it wouldn't have been the parents of the child who were at fault . It is his right as a child to go into other's yards and steal. I totally agree! However in the eyes of the law and the anti-dog doogooders if a dog attacked a child in this situation you can get your bottom dollar it would be the dog and the owner who are at fault with the dog being PTS Nope. Read the law. A dog that attacks in its own backyard is not generally held to be at fault. Just did a quick check on this and from what I could see the law in Tasmania doesn't differentiate between a dog bite in public or a dog bite on private property specifically. It does however say that a dog is not considered to be "rushing or chasing" if confined securely behind a fence but the laws given for actual bites don't seem to make any distinction between public or private property. Kind of ambiguous really...

Yes, it wouldn't have been the parents of the child who were at fault . It is his right as a child to go into other's yards and steal. I totally agree! However in the eyes of the law and the anti-dog doogooders if a dog attacked a child in this situation you can get your bottom dollar it would be the dog and the owner who are at fault with the dog being PTS Nope. Read the law. A dog that attacks in its own backyard is not generally held to be at fault. Under normal circumstances I'd agree...however given that one of the dogs is a Staffordshire Bull Terrier....the media would have a field day, the anti-dog lobby would join in and the end result would be the same.

Mine too. So much for the safety of your own backyard. That said, my dogs are also very well socialised, brought up with children and have impeccable temperaments so I am fortunate in that regard. But the potential was certainly there for a tragedy.

Recently a friend was visiting and I went to the sink to put some dishes on it. Looked up into the backyard and to my utter shock, horror, amazement and absolute disbelief there was a very young (ie probably not much more than 4 or 5 year old) child in my backyard stealing fruit off my trees. And jumping up at him, asking to play were my Stafford and my Greyhound. I immediately yelled "oi, get out of my yard" and he scuttled across the yard and jumped the fence into the next door neighbour's yard. My friend and I discussed it a bit and I decided that I couldn't let it go and went next door to speak to the neighbour. Unfortunately neither of the parents were available and what I presume was an older brother said a few choice words and said he'd tell his father. I'm hoping that the child didn't get into too much trouble but he needs to know that it is NOT ok to climb a fence into a stranger's backyard, especially when there are dogs there and especially when you're going to steal something. If he'd only knocked on the door and asked, I would have cheerfully let him in and helped him to load up on the fruit but it would have been on my terms and I would have been able to introduce him properly to the dogs. Am just thankful my dogs are fine with strangers because it could have ended very badly. Upon reflection, I also have to wonder what the parents were doing and why the child wasn't being supervised.

That's interesting...somebody just posted a comment to Facebook about 17 litters of a particular breed and colour in the "latest" Vic Dog...sounds like they have theirs????

I emailed a question to DogsVic via their website late on Sunday night and had a reply when I turned the computer on at 8.30am Monday!