sandgrubber

Have discovered a whole pile of newspaper articles relating to pets (mostly dogs) in condos. See http://www.petsincondos.org/news.htm http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/MI143284 Nice to see K9 legal battles taking the form of protecting rights to have animals.

Thanks everyone for input . . . I did find one dog numbers law . . . for Honolulu. You are allowed 10 dogs, two chooks, but only one camel. As for the tolerance thing (which is off topic) . . . I would hope that there are places where Hawaiins are intolerant of groups (mainland Americans) that have moved in with a lot of money, bought up land, and largely destroyed the way of life. Polynesians haven't had an easy time of it. I respect that . . . . white fellas (including some with dark skins who are hooked in to the same system) have a lot to answer for. . . .

Please don't get strident if you haven't read the posts in full . . . the dog was in the pound for 10 days, the owners hadn't chipped, registered, or put a collar on (or a 'coller', according to the Newspaper article), the dog was put up on the council website, and there was a problem with parvo going around. Dogs shouldn't have to die . . . but the fault is with the owners for not registering and not being more thorough on followup once the dog was lost. Yes. Sad. Very sorry for the kids and the dog. But the owners are to blame. Pound managers have to abide by Council regs and have to make hard choices. Councils must back them when this happens or no one will be willing to take on the job of Ranger.

In my younger years in the US I lived in a couple small communities where most people (exception, the neighbour with two rather ferocious Rottis) didn't have fences and most dogs were free to roam. The most memorable incidents were when the epileptic standard poodle had a siezure at our house, and when one neighbour's male doxie got stuck half way in another neighbour's cat door . .. couldn't get his willy over the bar. And there were a few unplanned litters of pups. But all in all, it worked out ok. I'd love to return to a place where it was ok for dogs to roam.

I'm a dual US/Australian citizen who has six dogs and lives in a kennel zone in WA. I'm mighty fed up with WA's dog ghetto legislation, and am looking for someplace -- preferably someplace warm and tolerant -- where I can live in peace with my little pack. At one point I was thinking NSW, but it looks like dog rules are getting worse there and there's a danger of going out of the frying pan, into the fire. I always ruled Hawaii out, thinking it's too expensive. Checking the real estate listings, seems to be a lot cheaper than WA, but I'm having trouble sorting out anything beyond the quarantine requirements (which are favourable for Australian dogs). Google isn't pulling up much that's useful. Found some ruling that said you could go up to 10 without a kennel license (which would suit me fine) but can't find the specifics about where the rule applies. Does anyone know any dog people in HI who might be willing to fill someone in on what's probably a complicated scene?

Might also be noted that in the US, animal cruelty was recognised in law before child abuse was. The first successful child abuse case was brough forward under animal cruelty laws with help from the ASPCA. (I can look up the references . . . the book was Pawprints in History . .. a fascinating historical look at dogs in various societies over time). Child abuse and animal cruelty have been linked in the US for a long time.

Sounds like Labbies. A breed that's great on moderation with anything EXCEPT FOOD. My mother's Lab (in California, in a neighbourhood where most dogs were allowed to roam and few people had fences) used to get sick every year just after Thanksgiving. She went down the street and helped herself to what was in the rubbish bin. IN EXCESS. Bad farts, discomfort, sometimes vomiting.

Curious. Can UK -> NZ -> Oz be a better option . . . say you have a friend in NZ who would mind the dog for a few months?

How many pups are there in the litter? I've recently had 10 with diarrhea -- thank God not ready to go to their new homes yet -- but if I had nine puppy buyers trying to contact me at once and I didn't have clear answers to give, I'd be at wits end and might give in to hiding my head in the sand until the situation cleared up a bit. It would be better to send a brief message saying "fingers crossed, will update you when the picture is clear" . . . but you don't want to worry people too much. It can be a difficult situation for the breeder. Note, also, the puppy insurance programs don't cover pups who are symptomatic when they go to their new homes.

AND investigating the system that let such a dog go to work in airport security. Guarding a junk yard is one thing. But serious temperament screening should be used to keep such dogs from working in places where people of all ages, cultures and states of fatigue are walking around. I thought shephard-types were generally restricted to law enforcement jobs where a 'shutz' type training was appropriate. Surprised to hear they're in airports.

I'd like to know who wrote the text and whether their interpretation of the proposed law is accurate . .. 'could be charged with . .. ' is not a strong statement. The text looks like the sort of thing that is ambiguous and will leave it to the courts to determine what is cruel. WI has a pretty large rural population and quite a few hunters, so its likely that the bill will be opposed. Here's hoping the Canine lobby gets wording changed so that it applies only to real cruelty, like beating, chaining, dog fighting, etc. and not to dog management practices that some people don't like. I have no problem with exposing kids to animal cruelty be treated as a serious crime.

Monterey California has an interesting program that provides subsidies for helping senior adopt and care for rescue animals . . . Opinions? http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/health/animal...5SeniorPets.pdf text reprinted below P.A.W.S. Placing Animals with Seniors Imagine living far from friends or family, being less mobile, or being independent but finding you have many lonely hours. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a loving companion who would be there for you? Pets can bring companionship and a sense of well being to anyone, but they may play an important role in improving the lives of senior citizens. FoCAS (Friends of Animal County Services) a non-profit organization that supports Monterey County Animal Services offers a program for seniors called P.A.W.S (Placing Animals with Seniors). This program matches pets from the shelter with seniors ages 60 and older, who currently do not own a pet. Under this program, there is no cost for the adoption and FoCAS provides a sizeable yearly reimbursement for veterinary and grooming costs. Monterey County Animal Services currently has several wonderful animals age 5 or over which would qualify for this program. If you or someone you know can benefit from this program, please contact 831-769-8858 for program information and criteria.

I don't find any of these claims bizarre. Have had my dogs do similar things, fortunately without ending out at the vets. I guess they chew a bit more than some of the dogs described . . . cause the pieces of rubber ducky generally show up in the poohs. Medicine . . . had a dog eat a sheet of HRT estrogen tablets, and another had a good time with a whole 100 bottle of worming tablets. Called vet . . . in both cases was told to watch for signs of trouble . . . but there were no problems. Almost every dog I've owned has chewed up sticks / wood at some point.

Would be interesting to know more about the dog . . . like how it was trained and cared for or whether it had a veterinary problem. Given the increasing demand for scent-detection dogs, it could be that there are some shonky operators training them. It should be possible to screen for dogs with extremely low potential for aggression. Reminded of the Monterey case where a police dog (trained in Europe) got loose and killed a dog. Such things just shouldn't happen.

Now that this one has been thoroughly chewed over and the details are out, I would say the Council would be within its rights to sue the paper for libel. It's definitely inflammatory (not to mention, poorly edited) and misleading in its presentation of the facts.

Good on you for deciding to desex . . . but don't fool yourself that you could make 'good money' from pups. There are people that do so, but most of them have put a lot of study into the exercise and are highly selective about how they do it. There are a lot more people who end out in sad, expensive situations when they decide to have a litter and something goes wrong.

six dogs plus boarding kennel. Kennel zone (special rural which was renamed resource zone).

While the intent of the list is great, and its good to see some short description of 'why' foods are bad . . . I think it tends to cause unnecessary alarm by putting things that may be poison to some dogs, things that are poison only in large amounts, and things that contain toxins but the toxins aren't really available to the dogs. If we were to write a similar list for children we'd end out with Burgers, chips, coke, nuggets, etc . .. tend to lead to obesity Peanuts (and most other nuts) . . . known to cause fatal allergic reactions Booze of all sorts . . . may make them crazy and can be addictive Liver, in large quantities . . . fat chance this will happen Licorice interferes with the absorbtion of something (potassium?) Brazil nuts may result in excess selenium . .. Banana skins . .. . . . etc. Few people would read that as saying never allow your kids to have burgers . . . and most would understand that only a few percent of the population has nut allergies, but those can be quite severe. Never heard of a kid OD'ing on liver . . . Regarding the egg question, for a medium/large dog, a few whole eggs a week is fine. I wouldn't recommend separating out the yolks and give the dogs half a dozen whites on a regular basis. Pips (apple, pear, cherry) do contain cyanide, but they almost always go right through, and cause no problems . . . all my dogs have gotten apple cores . . . cherries are too dear so they rarely get them. My dogs (Labbies ... devoted gutsers all) all hate raw mushrooms of any sort . . . they grab anything that drops on the kitchen floor and if it's a mushroom . . . or an onion . . . they drop it immediately.

*scratches head* People actually have to ask the RSPCA to do this? They don't do it automatically? A-mazing. In WA (at least Perth) I don't think the RSPCA even handles missing dog reports. My neighbours adopted a stray and called around everywhere they could think of to register the dog as found. I remember being amazed that the RSPCA wasn't interested in missing dog information. Organisations that use a lot of volunteer help sometimes have procedures that seem strange, as well as people who don't follow procedures.

People love their pets as family members. In my book, allowing your dog to kill another person's pet is a felony, similar to rape or GBH, and should be pinned on the owner of the dog, with heavy fines and possible jail sentence. Especially where the dog has a history of attacking other animals. A dangerous dog declaration is not nearly harsh enough.

If you want a bit more bang for your squirt . . . spike the water with perfume or ammonia or something . . . not strong enough to hurt the cat . . . but enough to help it decide that your house is an EVIL place. My mother used to do this with neighbours cats who hung around her bird feeder . . . it worked pretty well and gave her great satisfaction. she bought something like an AK47 squirt gun rather than a bottle.

There are some great people who are naive about dogs. It's sad. Unfortunately, lots of oops litters have similar stories attached. The results are often the opposite of designer dogs . . . animals whose cross breed pedigree tends to turn people off, and which have a relatively poor chance of ending up in good homes unless the owners put a lot of effort into homing them. Lets hope its a small litter and causes them so much grief that they go for the spey job.

I found this out the hard way... very sick dog and he only ate 1 or 2. My Labbies have had a few Macas with no ill effects . . . but they're big dogs. At $30/kg I'm not about to offer them a big bowl full . . . and Macas usually disappear within a few hours after arriving in my house, so the dogs aren't in much danger. They eat melon rinds gladly, in pretty large quantities, with no ill effects.

Some of both. I have six Labbies at the moment. One swims in the fish pond at least six times a day. Most take the occasional dip, especially when it's hot. One pup, who had a scary experience with water when she was 8 weeks old, is cautious and only goes in up to her belly. My first Labbie in Australia did not like water, nor did her sire.

Personally, I accept the argument that the costs of a longer waiting period are hard to justify, given the stats on people claiming their dogs after 3 days plus. It would make far more sense into putting funds into a RELIABLE record-keeping system that ensures that dogs listed as missing don't get the green dream without their owner's being notified. Preferably, a statewide or national system, cause missing pets sometimes cross shire boundaries. Maybe a system that permits filing an ID photo along with the rego . . . I'm amazed to hear people complaining about dog registration costs. I spent some time in Germany. There people pay hundreds of dollars a year for dog registration, regardless of whether the dog is entire or desexed. I believe this is the case throughout northern Europe. Keeping dogs does have social costs, and it's fair that dog owners pay some of those costs. It would, however, be good to see a better connection between registration fees and services delivered . . . so that there would be a way for councils to say to dog owners "You want more services, are you prepared to pay?' . . . and dog owners to say to councils, "we pay $XXx/yr . .. what are we getting for our dollar?"