sandgrubber

So how does the Dogo Argentino and the Presa Canario fit into this theory? Or the Corgi or Newfoundland (both subject to BSL in Italy), or the Rhodesian Ridgeback and Golden Retriever which are both included in BSL in areas of the USA. Lots of devils lurk in details. Sometimes there's a mind-dead political process making legislation based on some incident or strong opinions from a powerful person. Sometimes there's a specific reason. Sometimes there's a false report and it will turn out that 'BSL' is just some do-gooder legislation trying to help when they would do better leaving things be. Eg, the BSL on Goldies could say that people could be prosecuted for cruelty if the didn't groom adequately. Sometimes there's an intelligent decision based on study of the breed characteristics . . . resulting in the opinion that there aren't many of 'em in Oz now and it will be much simpler if we don't bring in more. Unfortunately, such things need to be studies on a case-by-case basis.

Are Labs easy to train? Do they offer no challenge to their owner? Or is it, that once trained / matured / raised, they are biddable to their owner, family? where biddable = to do what is asked and when; obedient, tractable. The breed standard specifies that Labradors should be biddable. Some are relatively stubborn or independent, but yes, in general they are tractable. But I don't think it should be a military-style obedience . . . rather a cooperative style based on some understanding of the job to be done. My mother never did any formal training and was not trained at training dogs. Her Labs picked up 'out of the garden' to mean 'stick to the path' . . . 'bad birds' to mean 'you can chase those birds [even though you are not supposed to chase birds]' . . . and they learned to walk on the floorboards and avoid the Persian carpets. Excellent recall. Horrible gutsers. I tend to think that most dogs have a higher emotional IQ than most humans, and Labbies have higher emotional IQ's than most dogs . . . my very biased judgement. The point being that 'gameness' is not what is valued . . . it's something much softer. I was told that blind obedience (no pun intended) was undesirable in a guide dog. Eg, if you command a guide dog to walk in front of an oncoming car, it should refuse to do so. Not sure if it's true, but makes sense to me. I can see the 'game' word making sense for the ancestral Labradors, who, legend has it, hauled in fish nets in the Bay of Fundy. That would require courage, spirit and tolerance of a potentially dangerous and bitterly cold environment. The derived gun dogs need to be highly cooperative. Strong, enthusiastic, yes. But able to be recalled at any point in the retrieve, and not so carried away by getting the bird that they ruffle the feathers. Not to be distracted by other dogs . . . or to scare away the game by getting into a fraccus with other dogs.

Completely normal. I feed a lot of raw to dogs in a boarding kennel. Lots of dogs eat the raw and ditch the biscuits. Get lots of reports that the dog won't eat its biscuits for awhile after it goes home. Have converted quite a few owners to feeding raw.

I'm very confused by this thread. Pup looks adorable, but quite young . . . young enough that its joints are still mostly cartlidge and not well enough formed to show well in X-rays. Also young enough that things might change considerably as the bones form. Almost looks like a late swimmer. Sometimes, given the right support, young pups with potential problems can be shaped to come out right without surgery. I'm no expert, but agree with suggestions that it's worth seeking opinions from a vet who knows a lot about skeletal development and/or bulldogs.

Puppy pickup day is Wednesday. The family had done the traditional trip to the pet supply place to load up on supplies. Yazmin can think of nothing else. Looks like she's going to sleep in the puppy bed rather than the other way around

Actually, I think you could possibly use 'game' with Labradors. They are also bred to be retrieve fallen game in cold water, adverse weather conditions and to go through brush and uncomfortable terrain to get it. That tenacious determination to retrieve could be called 'game'. Yup. And those with tenacious determination to retrieve often make great working dogs, but not the best pets. As with, say, herding in kelpies. Labs generally have very high pain tolerance and thick coats . . . I once owned a wooss of a Labrador who didn't hesitate to retrieve from stream while there was still a lot of ice and snow about. Tenacious determination . . . no. Willingness to try, definately. I think 'drive' and 'game' should have separate meanings, though I'm still confused about what the distinction is.

You are not the only one who has defined 'game'. And to quote you " true champion and the rest, one is a different temperament. It is a very, very strong will to win." Labradors are bred to be biddable. That has nothing to do with competition or a "very, very strong will to win". It has to do with trying to do what is asked of them and being pretty clever about understanding people. I'm not saying that all dogs should be Labradors. Just that dogs can be quite stable without being 'game' by any of the criteria that have been put forward on this thread.. . Just as some leading humans would be classed as 'game' by the sort of definitions put forward in this thread, and some would not. Moreover, some very 'game' humans are pretty unstable . . . those are ones I try to avoid.

“May the protest be out of love for the dogs and support of the families involved, not out of anger for the system,” the organizers state. While I can feel love and support, and would probably be in tears if I heard the full details, I think anger toward the system is ENTIRELY justified. There is no case against those dogs. It's irrelevant whether the owner is a pensioner or whatever. Something is really out of whack.

Hopefully statistics represent actual attacks. If there are 30k Labradors and 1k APBT's, and each breed had an equal propensity to attack, I'd expect 30 times more Labrador attacks than APBT's. That won't be shown in any statistics collected anywhere. Whether the stats are accurate, how to deal with X-breeds, and how to deal with the stats is a dicey question. Normalizing the number of attacks by the number of dog is commonsense and entirely justified by science. I wish to hell there were a better way to focus the law on irresponsible owners who enjoy violence rather than focusing on breed. So far as I can see, to quote Mr Bumble in Oliver Twist, 'the law is an ass'. I admire pitties; but I don't think anyone should have to suffer the consequences of a badly bred pitty or any other breed who ends up on the hands of someone who loves to see blood flow.

WRONG! Group 3 dogs, in general, are not supposed to show tenacity of bite or any HA or DA tendencies, and supposed to have soft mouths. Guide dogs, for example, are not insecure and unstable. Sadly, they tend to get bested when a DA dog under some idiot's lack of control attacks them. I agree with most people that focus should be on the owner. I think any bloke whose dog attacks a guide dog should be castrated and locked up for awhile . . . after that the dog issue may subside. But legal systems are not very good at targeting yabo owners.

You can't be serious. If you wanted every breed that had "aloofness", "dominance" or "guarding" in the breed standard banned; there'd be very few breeds left. You really want Huskies, Malamutes, Akitas and most spitz breeds banned? Most Mastiff breeds? Ridgies and some Bully breeds? Maremmas and CAOs and all the livestock guardian breeds? So what, the only breeds left allowed will be Labradors and Maltese (which happen to have the highest bite statistics, but clearly the actual facts don't matter!) The Filo's job description historically included tracking runaway slaves . . . dead or alive wasn't much concern. In some nations (eg, Brasil) it is acceptable, in a dog show, if they bite the judge (judges, for some strange reason, generally avoid feeling a dog's testicles), and a pup may be rejected because it fails, at 12 weeks, to show an acceptable degree of hostility toward strangers. "Aloofness" is a mis-translation. The Portuguese word means 'aversion/hostility/extreme distrust'. Quoting from Wikipedia .. . you can get better sources that say the same thing, and describe the tests used to decide if a puppy is sufficiently intolerant of strangers . . . if you take more time . .. Filas bond strongly with their immediate families and show extreme loyalty and protectiveness towards them. They live to protect their loved ones, including children and other pets. Very few will accept strangers. Many Filas will never tolerate any stranger. Despite their aversion towards strangers they are excellent family dogs, devoted to the children in their family. Sorry. I'd rather not have such a dog living in the suburbs with a macho owner who doesn't make sure the fences are up to the job. I can see it in Brasil or some other place where upper-middle class people have real and serious worries about their kids being kidnapped for ransom. Not in Australia. Please give your source on bite statistics. I doubt they are correct. Should be noted that Labradors are the most common breed in the English-speaking world and much of Western Europe. People tend to trust them too much with children, and you can expect to find some incidents of Labbies biting, especially children under conditions where there is no adult supervision (a local Labbie was PTS for biting a kid this year . . . after she got the green dream they found she had a bunch of staples in her ear). That's a very different scenario than maiming or killing a stranger who enters the yard.

So it's not locking jaws . . . it's gameness . . . that makes dogs hang on 'til grim death. Not my cup of tea. Guess it's fine for guard dogs if they are under control. Not sure it's a virtue for the average family dog with so-so training and discipline.

From a breeding perspective, closeness isn't a valid reason to use a dog, either. Are you saying you need permission to do a chilled or frozen semen AI in the UK . . . so if you wanted to use a dog in, say Northern Ireland and you lived in, say, Cornwall, you'd be expected to drive and do a natural mating? What if you want to use a Scandanavian or Canadian dog?

Surprise! If she seems to be doing well with the pup and enjoying motherhood, she probably is doing well. A single pup won't be a big strain on her. My girls love being mothers . . . I wouldn't breed them at six months, but they would probably be good mums if I did. I'd say enjoy, and don't feel sorry for her . . . just give her support. You'll find plenty of people to give you answers if you have specific questions about puppy raising. Basically, you shouldn't have a whole lot to do for four or five weeks . . . with only one you can go for late weaning and she will probably do all the cleaning up until the pup goes on solids.

Press releases are open to question . . . but a few things bother me about this one on rereading the announcement. 1. it says A mate (singular). I'd much rather have a few mates selected, as the one that is best from a health perspective may be butt ugly. 2. it doesn't say whether reasons will be given for the selection. I would not be willing to use a program that didn't say why. 3. seems likely that there will be a few dogs that are outstanding for health reasons . . . .they will get first pick every time, ending out with narrowing of the gene pool instead of broadening it 4. I'd much rather have help eliminating dogs from my list of possible studs 5. doesn't say if the program will ever say "You should not breed this dog. Full Stop." Some people need to be given that message. 6. it says 'local' dogs . . . chilled semen AI is no big deal, so why limit yourself to local dogs?

I think all these events must be portents. Get right with God. The world is coming to an end!

Good on the little fellow. But . . . World's oldest? I had a 21 yr old dog live next door to me (a Scottie) some years back. He wasn't blind, deaf, or incontenent. He still walked to the markets with his owner regularly. I'll bet he lived a few more years. I think there was a discussion of this on DOL and some people knew dogs over 21.

Viva steals undies, socks, dishcloths, towels, more socks, toys, paperback books (including the yellow pages), junk mail, dustpans, more socks, the toilet brush, occasional bottles of things (she got my Sorbitol yesterday), to name a few. She doesn't steal shoes or bras, though.

I find it interested that we have English words for castrated sheep, pigs, horses, and cattle . . . but not for a castrated dog . . . I think that says that getting the dog done is a relatively new thing. My impression is that spey / neuter surgery has gotten increasingly common over the last 50 years, and so have Ceasars. . . . so have fenced back yards. Yet breeders still loose quite a few pups, and there are more than enough oops puppies to overflow the market and fill the shelters. What was it like in the bad old days? The dog surplus must have been awful. Did people casually drown unwanted pups? Did bitches commonly die when one pup was too big or got stuck?

oops . . . wrong forum.

Amazing! Hope it turns out to be functional and not a grand schlumozzle. It's sad how much health information is gotten only through whispers between friends, and that's unverified information.

I'm pretty sure that's a setting you have. Yes that is a setting issue. More information please. I posted a 'help' topic but no one seems to be replying. I've reviewed all the settings I can find in my user areas and drawn a blank.

People are saying some breeds are meant to be 'game' but not DA. As I understand it, a 'game' dog is a dog that will accept a challenge. Is that correct? Then how do you draw the boundary between DA and game? In particular, will a 'game' dog attack a dog, such as a typical young, boisterous staffie, who happens to have body language that could be interpreted as aggression?

BUMP. Note you have to register to vote, but there don't seem to be any restrictions on registration.

Just had a couple arrive at my door asking if I could board their dog, a miniature bull terrier bitch puppy. They had just been turned away by another kennel on the grounds that they don't accept 'restricted breeds'. Amazing that any dog professional could be so ignorant! The girl had all the hallmarks of a well bred bull terrier . . . no mistaking what she is.