sandgrubber

btw, I don't think anyone is saying shaving is necessary, or any replacement for doing a good job of brushing out the undercoat. The article in the OP has the science wrong. Shaving a dog will help it stay cool in hot weather. But brushing is also a good thing. Even if your intend to shave, your groomer will appreciate it (and probably charge you less) if you don't allow the undercoat to get tangled and matted up. Trimming off the guard hairs / outer coat and leaving a matted undercoat is an ugly thing to do.

I suspect strong sprays work. I've lived most of my life in places that have skunks. I've never heard of a dog that didn't retreat when it got skunked! or a skunk being killed by a dog. Aiming for the face is important. And frankly, I wouldn't want to do permanent damage, but if an aggressive dog gets a dose of pain after it attacks, it's all right with me.

The title of this thread should probably be changed to prevent spreading misinformation.

If you're going the white vinegar route, you might see if you can get your hands on some very hot peppers, stick 'em in the blender with the vinegar, strain the lot, and put it in your spray bottle. Pepper spray may be illegal, but I doubt they can outlaw putting some concoction in a bottle and spraying it at attackers. (I've just made some home made Tabasco sauce . . . mostly vinegar and Tabasco peppers. It's deadly and there's lots of room to give it more bite).

Drop FACEBOOK! It's more of a PITA than PETA!!!! Don't commercialize friendship!

Bonza's ninesome are thriving . . . cutting teeth has just begun . . . the big messy is on the horizon. .

http://www.telegraph...six-months.html One in five puppies bought online 'die in six months' Almost one in five puppies bought over the internet dies within six months of its purchase, research has found. By Claire Duffin 6:31AM BST 01 Sep 2013 The Kennel Club, which carried out the survey, said almost a third of puppies were now bought online and that it was concerned the trade was becoming dominated by "unscrupulous" puppy farmers. The organisation and other animal welfare groups say conditions on such "farms", where puppies are bred in large numbers for profit, are often very poor, with animals subjected to overcrowding and a poor diet, meaning diseases are rife. As a result, a large proportion of puppies are dying from health complications within months of being bought or require long-term veterinary treatment. The Kennel Club survey involved 2,026 dogs owners. They were asked about their experience of buying a puppy - including where they purchased it from - as well as about the animal's subsequent health and any treatments required. The report found that 12 per cent of owners who bought from sellers they had found advertised on the internet, on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, reported their dog did not have good health and required long-term veterinary treatment. see original article for more

You might add a de-tangler shampoo. If you go to a DIY saloon they may have one on hand.

The diagram looks pretty much like the diagrams we draw regarding thermal insulation for a house, EXCEPT they failed to show that the heat escapes more easily when the insulation is removed (ie, shaved dog). They show only the incoming energy from solar radiation. If a dog is too hot it will get out of the sun, so unless you're exceptionally cruel and give your dog no access to shade, that one is only semi relevant, and the yellow sun rays can be taken out of the diagram. Bottom line, heat flows from warmer regions to cooler regions. If the air temperature is below 38 to 39 C, the insulation of coat serves to retain heat for your dog. Think about your own comfort seeking behavior. A dog's coat behaves like a jumper or coat or blanket. Would you put on a coat to insulate yourself from the heat when it's 35 C? When air temperature goes over body temperature, we're in trouble, regardless of species. Cooling measures like sweating, panting, seeking cool shade, etc. kick in bigtime.

The only good thing I can say about out over-liberal gun laws in the USA is that they are good at preventing wandering nuisance dogs. If you don't confine an aggressive dog in my neighborhood, it WILL be shot by the neighbors. So....people don't let their dogs wander. Sadly, a lot of them end up chained.

So, is it legal to shoot one down if it goes low over your property ?

I've finally got a house with tile floors throughout, which makes it possible to let baby puppies out of the whelping box, eg, for feeding and toiletries. I've heard people talk about tile not being good cause dogs feet slip on it, but after a day or two, these little guys don't seem to be having much trouble, and they do seem to enjoy lying on the cool tile surface (my air con is set at around 25C). Here's my improvised puppy room. Wonder what others think of it. How can it be improved? What's a good thing to put out for a toilet area? And a second shot to show pups relaxing. Mum loves nursing the pups outside the box and is much more relaxed.

Pyretheroids caused one of my dogs to have seizures....almost killed her. She licked off a spot on product applied to the back of another dog. <div><br></div>

Chances she's preggers are very high. Bitches only permit mating when they're in their fertile time of the heat cycle. There are two sorts of injections that can be given to abort. One can only be given soon after the mating. If I remember correctly, it's an oestrogen compound, like many morning-after formulations, and a lot cheaper than the Alizin injections. So far as i know, both are very low risk, though there may be some bloody discharge. Obviously, the longer she carries pups, the greater the effect of the pregnancy on her body, and the more the embryos will be like little dogs, as opposed to small masses of cells. See your vet ASAP.

The author doesn't understand physics. Coat only protects your dog from heat IF the air temperature is above the dog's body temperature (38-39C). Otherwise it retains body heat. Putting hot coffee in an insulated cup won't speed it's cooling The outer coat is a bit like wearing a parka over a jumper ... It protects the inner coat from the effects of wind and rain. Semi-waterproof shell...reduces convective cooling. This is why double coat breeds are found in cold climates or places where night temperatures are low, while dogs from consistently hot climates tend to have thinner coats. Removing outer coat should make a dog better able to enjoy cooling breezes. Dogs thermoregulate in hot weather primarily by 1) panting = evaporative cooling; 2) finding a cool shady place to lie; 3) getting wet=evaporative cooling. Add, digging a hole in a moist place in your garden to lie in, preferably a valued flower bed.

I think the article was an exaggeration. If it were 'highly contageous' it's a miracle that there haven't been a lot of further reports. There is a canine influenza virus that has appeared a few times in the US that seems to have come from an equine virus. First appeared in 2004 in racing greyhounds. It has been studied and does not appear to be very contagious at all. Here's a link to a highly technical paper. http://downloads.hindawi.com/journals/vmi/aip/874521.pdf

Would it be correct to sum up by saying behavioral problems that have to do with timidity and avoidance of people MAY correct naturally with change of environment (eg, getting away from bullying siblings) but may also be deeply programmed, and bad enough to warrant pts. However aggressive babies are bad news and should be culled?

There's been a lot of talk about brachy breeds and health issues since Pedigree Dogs Exposed came out. A lot of it hot air. The Swedish KC seems to be doing some great stuff instructing judges....based on calm veterinary based understanding. You have to put up with subtitles, but I found this a really good video. Warning, it's half an hour long so if you don't have broadband, don't bother.

Boston's are usually great with other animals. If you can find a good Boston, I'd say go Boston. If you don't own your place and are likely to be changing residence a few times in the next 10 to 15 years, you're much better off with a smaller dog. BUT do be careful. Boston's have a lot of health problems. Do your research and ask a lot of questions.

If you can't find anything, give me an address and phone number and I'll see if I can find a company that will ship to you. zzzhttp://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=ring+zinger is the URL I used. I don't know if it will divert elsewhere if you try in Australia, but it came up with four or five merchants....likely that one of them does ship to Oz. Amazon US says they do generally ship to Oz at standard international shipping rates.

You can get them on Amazon in the US.

Lets say you have a largish litter of pups, say more than seven, and one puppy consistently shows signs of relating poorly to people. Eg, doesn't come running for attention with the others, won't make eye contact, and struggles when picked up. By eight weeks you are worried that the pup is not going to grow up being a dog you'd want to own: nor could you feel good about passing it on to someone else. What do you do? Cull? Sell at a discounted price with full disclosure of why? (I was worried about one of my present litter going this way, but he's turned friendly....maybe just tummy aches or something...but it made me wonder what I would do if I ended up with a bad pup....and what others would do).

Actually you need to make sure your dog is in compliance with the management requirements of a particular area first and foremost and be in a position where anyone would reasonably believe an incident shouldn't arise in other words, a leashed dog walked on the street is not responsible for the result of attack from a dog at large escaping someone's property regardless of the dog's size as the dog at large has breached the management requirements to begin with, that is had the owner of the escaping dog complied with the management requirements the incident would have been avoided.......the dog on leash is not the menacing dog regardless of the outcome. This has been tested at law a few times where large dogs on leash have injured small dogs off leash in a public place who have mounted attacks on the large dog or it's handler. One case where a small dog was PTS from result of injury inflicted by the large dog was appealed twice and on each occasion the large dog owner escaped prosecution. But in many cases, the larger dog's owner hasn't had the funds to mount such an appeal - and thusly their dog has inevitably been euthanaised fro reacting in kind to an attack by a smaller dog. Being a large dog owner (2 of which are bullbreed crosses) I am distictly aware that if my dogs WERE to retaliate when attacked, they would be the target of some serious action - regardless of any facts showing that my dogs were not the initial aggressor. Therefore, it is MY job to make sure that they AREN'T prone to reacting in kind when set upon by another dog - but look to ME to get them out of that sort of predicament. It's all part of ownership of a larger dog really... having some responsibility for the fact that if they were to bite something, it would have a much greater impact than if a smaller dog bit something, yes? Personally, I don't think ANY dog, regardless of size, should be "allowed" to be nasty in public... but the "rules" seem to be applied more along the lines of how much damage the individual dog can do, as opposed to the fact that they ALL can cause some form of damage with their teeth. I'd rather not be bitten by ANY dog, thank you very much. T. If the attacking dog is off leash, that is it's in breach of leash regulations in a public place and the leashed dog defends itself and injures the attacking dog, provocation is a statutory defence and had the attacking dog been on leash as it should and under effective control, the incident wouldn't have happened. What's been tested in court is the owner of the attacking dog mounting a case for loss against the leashed dog because it nailed the attacking dog. Scr#w the letter of the law. If you have a reactive dog, try to prevent it from killing or maiming the stupid little sh#ts that may attack from time to time. Letting your dog deliver punishment is inviting trouble it would be simpler and easier to avoid.

I'm surprised this thread is still spinning away. BAD IDEA! Government does a rotten job of dog control. No way I want to involve government deciding who can breed what. Targeting cross breeds will never fly. The public knows most cross breeds are harmless and a democratic government would laugh a generalized ban on X breeds out of court as a stupid, elitist move by the snobs in the pedigree dog community. The only variant I can see is a good, well-enforced dog registration system that is able to track problem dogs back to their breeders -- and measures taken for breeders who produce large numbers of problem dogs. But even that's a big ask, given how awful most governments are at enforcing the most basic registration systems.

I doubt you will be proven wrong when a smaller dog attacks a larger dog and gets whats coming is it the large dog's fault? or the small dog's owners who think its funny that it snaps at the big dog?,....from experience and luckily I had my dog on lead It is the owner's fault. In the case you describe, BOTH owners. Btw, 'Gets whats coming' suggests a bloodthirsty attitude. not really my attitude, I never let my dog off lead in the park if there are new dogs present and if someone is entering I and most others put their dogs on lead till the dogs are introduced,if there are any signs of aggression from either dog they aren't let off,I don't want my dogs becoming aggressive,but in the case of someone walking straight in and releasing their dog which runs up and attacks another on lead then call it inevitable if you prefer,if someone has a large dog which will defend itself if provoked how can it be their fault when another attacks it???? I had my two Labbies at the neighbor's, off lead. A mini Daschund, who was visiting one house down, came flying out at my dogs, snarling, yapping and biting. My dogs looked at me as if to say: 'what do we do, this little idiot is attacking us?' Someone picked up the little yapper and the scene passed. The problem with a large dog 'defending' itself against a small dog is the small dog often ends up badly hurt, or sometimes dead. It is extremely irresponsible of people to allow little guys with small dog syndrome to run free in places where they will encounter large dogs. But large dog owners who take their dogs in public places all know this happens much more often than we'd like. A stable dog with a high bite threshold will realize it is in no danger and not react. If you have a reactive dog, you need to be prepared to react in a flash and get your dog off, should a little guy come out snapping. Simply allowing your dog to deliver the punishment you think the little guy deserves is highly irresponsible. Even if, in your heart of hearts, you would like to see the little bugger dead. If you take a reactive dog out in public, you need to be prepared to curb its reactions.