sandgrubber

The article says Wooltana St.6 Wooltana St sold in May for $1.25M, 11 Wooltana St. Is listed for $1.59M. It's a short street near Manning Rd, the Canning Bridge, and various parks. Most of us couldn't afford to live there.

I'll bet KAIT8 is one of those stations where every day is April Fools Day. Here's a clip from some discussion of their morning news anchor : 11 OMG, that Anchor Christina on KAIT8 just laughed when talking about Mrs Schmidt (fallen cop's wife) before the video come on. WTH! Did anyone else catch that this morning? I'm calling them today and complain about this. That was just wrong. I don't see what's so funny about a year anniv of the death of ANYONE! KAIT needs to fire that dingy blonde and get someone in there that doesn't act like alittle schoolgirl. How unprofessional is that? WOW, this makes me sick. What a slap in the face that was!

I should have put that differently. I meant to observe that aggressive escaping dogs aren't just a bogan phenomenon.As for fines, $10k is a lit easier to swallow with an annual income of $100 or $200k than it is with an annual income of under $50k.The dents in the top of the fence in the video show that the dog had been attempting the fence for some time. Leaving such a dog in someone else's care while going overseas is extremely negligent. The kid could easily have been killed. Reading subsequent stories, between hospital costs and lost time at work, the owners' irresponsibility has cost tens of thousands, perhaps over $100k, not to mention pain and suffering.

horrible! I hope both father and son recover well. Isn't that an area of million dollar plus houses? Not the usual place for a dog attack. $10,000 is an inadequate fine, and jail time should be considered. If reconstructive surgeries are required, the medical bills alone, are likely to be several thousand. The video suggests that the dog went over a high (1.8m?) colorbond fence that many of us would have thought adequate.

Yes. See http://www.havaneseforum.com/archive/index.php?t-12210.html Not sure if it has gone through drug trials for ticks, but people using it seem to find it eliminates ticks. There has been some scientific testing and the active ingredient in Comfortis has proven effective against some ticks. Here's an abstract from the journal Veterinary Parasitology. "Comparative efficacy of spinosad with conventional acaricides against hard and soft tick populations from Antalya, Turkey http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/19446398 They concluded: "Our results showed that spinosad would be a useful addition in a tick control program as an alternative for pyrethroids and organic phosphorus acaricides against both tick species."

Yes. See http://www.havaneseforum.com/archive/index.php?t-12210.html Not sure if it has gone through drug trials for ticks, but people using it seem to find it eliminates ticks. There has been some scientific testing and the active ingredient in Comfortis has proven effective against some ticks. Here's an abstract from the journal Veterinary Parasitology. "Comparative efficacy of spinosad with conventional acaricides against hard and soft tick populations from Antalya, Turkey"http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/19446398 They concluded Our results showed that spinosad would be a useful addition in a tick control program as an alternative for pyrethroids and organic phosphorus acaricides against both tick species.

Double post....oops!

Dog friendly jobs exist in Australia. I sold a pup to a message therapist who worked for a high end gym in Perth. She was allowed to take her dog to work. Dog friendly corporates are rare in the US, as they are in Oz.

Say, for example, the problem was hip dysplasia in a Labrador retriever. This problem is genetic, but the mode of inheritance is not clear. It is probably controlled by the interaction of several genes.The chance of getting HD is roughly twice as high if the sire and dam have mediocre scores than if they have excellent scores, but there is still a significant chance of ending up with a pup that suffers HD when both parents are screened according to best practices. To make things worse, the screening procedures are pretty flaky, and can be strongly affected by the skill of the radiographer and the idiosyncrasies of the person reading the X-rays.Unfortunately, there is no way to screen pups until around 7 mo., so the breeder doesn't know which, if any, pups are defective.So it is not reasonable to blame the breeder....and the way the matter is handled comes down to negotiation between the breeder and the puppy buyer. Sometimes this comes down to purchase contract, sometimes breeders will give refunds even if nothing was written into the contract.<div><br></div><div>On the other hand, if the problem were something like PRA in a Labrador, which can be unambiguously identified by genetic screening...and genetic screening is widely recognized as best practice, then the breeder is culpable. </div>

Sorry to be cynical, but it sounds very lucrative for the drug companies, and I doubt it will become an affordable therapy for dogs. They're just feel good guinea pigs. People would gladly pay tens or hundreds of thousands to be cured of late stage cancers. Meanwhile, antibiotics research is not sufficiently profitable and work to deal with drug resistant TB and infections that hang around hospitals is barely funded.

Thenpoor woman is still alive in critical condition. As for the dogs: "City of Houston animal control manager Chris Glaser told KHOU 11 News, 'Most of the time you won’t have them acting out in an aggressive manner like this.” 'It’s a pack mentality. That can happen when there’s an aggressive act by one and it continues. With that many dogs on her, she was being dragged up and down the street,' he said. Officers were able to trace the dogs to their den underneath a nearby mortuary by following their foot prints Glaser said one of the dogs, a Pit Bull mix, appears to be the leader of the pack. He believes at least ten dogs are still hiding underneath the mortuary. Animal control officers have trapped the dogs in, leaving only one exit, and are now trying to lure them into a single large kennel-type trap using food as bait. So far they have captured five of the animals from underneath the mortuary, two of which are puppies and only about four months of age, Glaser said. Officers are visiting up to five times a day to check on the trap. Glaser told KHOU 11 all of the dogs would be tested for rabies and then possibly destroyed. Oscar Reyes says family members are keeping a constant vigil at his stepmother's hospital bedside, praying that she will live. VIDEO: http://www.khou.com/news/local/Houston-woman-in-critical-condition-after-pack-of-15-dogs-attack-216692361.html"

I would be equally wary of a behaviour expert who thinks breed explains everything and one who thinks breed is insignificant. Of course there is a lot of variation in any breed. AmStaffs have some very strong inclinations. They also have extremely high rates of getting into trouble for behavioural reasons (eg, the Finnish KC database shows 10% of pedigree AmStaffs dying due to euthanasia for behavioral reasons, at an average age of around 3 years, and another 10% dying of accidents, also at a young age). It's as much of an error to assume all behaviorists are alike as it is to assume all dogs of a given breed are alike. I've watched miracles from a behaviorist. I've also watched a bunch of people getting fleeced with consults that did absolutely nothing to improve the dog's behavior or the owner's understanding of the dog's behavior. The pup in question is a pup. Worth noting that it's a good time to get behaviour on track, cause the problems at 5 mo can escalate significantly in the next couple years....and the powers that be aren't very tolerant of misbehaving AmStaffs.

I think some public perceptions are justified. Many breed standards have come to be interpreted in the extreme by show ring judges. Breeders who breed for healthy pets, with conformation as seen, say, in 1950, as opposed to show winners, are likely to be ostracized by 'the fancy'. If people want to breed for thick, grooming-intensive coats, extreme bracycephaly, or the flying trot (in GSD's) fine, they are welcome to do so. But they are not serving the needs of people who want a low maintenance family dog, and it would be good if certain people would stop screaming BYB at anyone who breeds but does not participate in the show ring or performance competitions. The average bloke on the street reacts to the modern sloped back GSD with a WTF reaction, and will go for a more squared up, classical conformation every time. The message that the wheezing pug is not a natural or healthy dog has sunk in to a large fraction of the population. We also need to pay attention to breed specific longevity, morbidity, and mortality. It would be nice to be able to advertize, not that we do all sorts of tests, but that we have selected our dogs from bloodlines that have lived to a ripe old age with minimal veterinary care. If we want to change perception, it behooves us to look at where public perception is coming from, admit that there may be some truth in allegations against the pedigree world, and have a word with those who act like snobs toward breeders who put health and temperament ahead of physical appearance in their breeding programs.

Given how wonderful (not) most Councils are about dog management, I would try confronting the owner as a first step. Common law gives people the right to confront their accuser, so reporting the dog doesn't give you anonymity, and it's much more likely to provoke fights and resentment than approaching the owner personally. That is, if the Council doesn't just ignore the complaint.

The differences between Labs and Goldens can only be discussed as averages, as there is a lot of variation in both breeds. Im a Lab person. I'll probably get flamed by Goldie folks for this list, but that will at least give you a few perspectives .1. Goldie's have longer coat and require more grooming. Labs offer a wider selection of colors . 2. Both breeds have working and show lines. But, especially with Labs, 'working' can mean Guide dog of sniffer dog or various other sorts of work. It always requires rock solid temperament and biddability, but may not involve water obsession. Look for lines that have the sort of disposition you want...not necessarily show lines...though many show lines produce great working dogs. Goldie's have been more affected by selection for show/looks and puppy farming than Labs, and there are lines where temperament has gone bad. Watch out for resource guarding in Goldie's and aggression in Labs (rare, but not unknown). 3. Exercise requirements are moderate; I walk my Labs for 45 min/day and they do fine. I know many owners who exercise their retrievers (either breed) a lot less than I. 4. Labs tend to be more robust and a bit less nervous/flighty than Goldie's...which is not to say Goldie's are nervous, just to say Labs are the opposite of nervous. I think that's why they do so well as assistance dogs...it's very hard to rattle them. This also makes them relatively safe around children....a kid doing something loud or stupid, or stepping on the paw of a sleeping dog is unlikely to provoke a nervous bite. 5. Both breeds are very people oriented and tend to be more sociable than some people like. Be prepared to work on training a pup not to jump up on people if you go this route. 6. Both breeds tend to get along well with other animals of all species IF they are socialized to do so. I encourage mine to kill rats, mice, rabbits, etc, and they cannot be let loose around small mammals.

I'd recommend looking at a paper on "Breed Typical Behavior" by Svartberg. You can find it by googling if this link doesn't work. homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/group/.../Svartburg%202006.pdf‎ Everybody always says this or that dog or this or that breed has lovely temperament. Svartberg worked with behavioral assessments of 13,000 dogs and tried to boil the results down into four dimensions. He ended up with what he called 'playfulness, curiosity/fearlessness, sociability and aggressiveness'. Breeds end out with very different profiles when stacked up along these dimensions. (Note, his definition of aggression is a bit weird . . . it does not seem to mean proneness to attack). If I were looking for a dog for living with kids, I'd want a playful and social dog. If those dimensions are important to you, I think you might want to consider a flatcoat or retriever rather than relatively more formal and less playful breeds.

I would look at Comfortis, which is based on a toxin produced by bacteria that seems to be highly selective for insects and arachnids and non-toxic to mammals. Also, consult your vet to figure out what active ingredients to watch out for. See http://pets.webmd.co...tments-for-pets extract . . . The NRDC offers these suggestions in its Green Paws Pocket Guide: Avoid all organophosphates, including amitraz, fenoxycarb, permethrin, propoxur, tetrachlorvinphos (TCVP) Use other topical products sparingly, particularly on pets that are around pregnant women or small children. These include fipronil (Frontline), imidacloprid (Advantage), metaflumizone (ProMeris), pyrethroids (pyrethroids are found in many insect control products; they are toxic to cats and should be used on dogs only), selamectin (Revolution) Consider orally administered products, as exposure to other pets and children is minimal. These include lufenuron (Program), nitenpyram (CAPSTAR), spinosad (Comfortis, for dogs only)

and Cattle dogs are very popular now in the US. Very popular! I met quite a few whilst there and my friend has 3 of her own in Wyoming. so popular that they're beginning to push the pit bull for elbow room in rescues.

You can find kelpies in the US, and there are people breeding them as working or agility dogs. See, eg: http://www.kelpiesinc.com/kelpie_registry/working_kelpie_breeders.htm The ACD is another matter. Here in Florida ACD's, and ACD X's are readily available in most rescues, or cheap in local newspapers.

The pedigree American pit bull terrier emerged from a land race, called pit bull, or simply 'pit' in the US. The land race is especially common in poor areas of the South. If you do a web search on 'pedigree pit bull' and look at the resulting photos, you'll find that there is a lot of variation in pedigree pit bulls. Some are broad and muscled like they are on steroids. Some are lean and not overbuilt. If you're talking about a free roaming urban dog pack in Texas, you can count on some of them coming from the land race, though the wankers who keep pedigree fighting pit bulls almost never desex them, and their genes (which are hard to distinguish from the land race dogs) do find their way onto the street. Staffies are not common in the US, so staffy mix isn't expected., as it might be in Oz. You're right, the breed of the pack leader doesn't matter. BFD, pit bull. Good thing it wasn't a mastiff. Unlikely it would be a chihuahua (the other common breed-type in those parts). The notable thing is that dog management has disintegrated to the point where there are large roaming packs of dogs in a major metropolitan area.

It's a system. Empiricism needs to be coupled with causal understanding. High correlation may confuse cause and effect. Or two variables may be connected in a feedback loop, and cause and effect may be obscure. The feedback behaviour may be affected by changes in boundary conditions. Eg, over, say, 20 yr time horizon, do changes in dog breed ownership explain changes in aggressive episodes, or does social pressure to reduce aggressive episodes cause breed selection? Or have breeds, themselves, changed? Or all three...operating under pressure from higher population density, more indoor living, and less exposure to livestock and wildlife. We won't ever have good enough good numerical data to test these hypotheses via study of statistical correlations or cluster analysis. There's as much need for historians as statisticians.

Judges are more likely to look to statutes and prior rulings than to the dictionary. Legal terms often depart widely from common usage. I suspect, however, that this is a sterile argument, cause the number of dog owners prosecuted under this clause is zero, or close to it. I suspect that the UK law under discussion is, like the Calgary Bylaws, multi-faceted. Some reporter has jumped on one section and created a tempest in a teapot. Maybe I'm naive, and I know there are injustices in the justice system, but I generally think that prosecutors are willing to look at the circumstances, and can generally tell the difference between a truly dangerous dog and one that does minor damage. On the other hand, I do think that societies have become much less tolerant of dogs being used as protection, and dog owners who defy that social trend do so at their dog's and their own risk. Many places are approaching zero tolerance for dogs that attack children.

It is, or would be if the data were available, important to note differences between, say, the 5 year trend and the 20 yr or 50 yr trend. I would guess, based on personal experience, that over the long term, dog aggression has gone down because, with progressive urbanization and decline of 'country ways', dog aggression has become less tolerated. I'm in my 60s. I got bitten a few times as a child and that was viewed as ok. No one took action or was shocked or talked about law suits. Many people of my generation have had similar experiences. And then there's James Thurber's famous short story titled "The Dog That Bit People", written ~1939. The dog was a standard size Airdaile. It bit people, particularly guests, indiscriminately. The response, at Xmas, give boxes of chocolates to those who got bitten, and try to confine the damn dog. This was funny at the time. The only stats I have come across that show this are some I came across trying to figure out whether the famed Calgary model of dog control was working. (These show a long decline in dog aggression over the years before the new, much acclaimed, laws came into effect, and a small rise after the new laws were implemented). See graph below: source: http://www.calgary.c...Over%20Time.pdf note: the famous Calgary Bylaws were passed in 2006. If anyone knows of any other long term stats on dog aggression, it would be great to see them! I suspect that the most important long term trend is in people's preferences for guard dog breeds (shown by the huge declines in dogs like the GSD, Rotti, and Doberman) and the rise in popularity of relatively playful and friendly breeds (or DD's, or Xbreed types). The increase in popularity of small molasser / large terrier breeds, some lines of which are aggressive, bucks the trend. My very subjective reading is that in urbanized situations, particularly low income urbanized situations, many people feel threatened, and want a dog that can be both a companion, and a guardian. And some parts of youth culture go for aggressive posturing, or in the extreme, dog fighting. This goes wrong a lot. Hence BSL focussed on bull breeds.

Even with the increased number, it's still an incredibly low number for the size of the city. What I find surprising is how drastically the dog aggression indicators dropped from 1985 to 2005 in Calgary. Ie, the new laws came in after the problem was greatly ameliorated. See http://www.calgary.ca/_layouts/cocis/DirectDownload.aspx?target=http%3a%2f%2fwww.calgary.ca%2fCSPS%2fABS%2fDocuments%2fAnimal-Services%2fAnimal-statistics%2fReports%2520of%2520Dog%2520Aggression%2520Over%2520Time.pdf&noredirect=1&sf=1

Calgary's model provides a defence for the dog if the victim was trespassing on the property. The dictionary definition for "Trespassing" is: Unless there is some clause in Calgary's bylaws that state that trespassing does not apply if the person is under X years old, then I would imagine there would be no prosecutions for such a situation, as the dog/owner has not committed an offence. The reason their bylaws specifically mention being on the owner's property is so that the Council can still take action even if the attack doesn't happen on public land. But that would only apply if the person (adult or child) was on the property legitimately and with permission. This comes from. Legal-help FAQ that seems to be Canada-wide. http://www.cliapei.c...ations/CRI6.pdf If my neighbour's children wander into my yard, are they trespassing? The Trespass to Property Act says that no child under the age of twelve may beprosecuted for trespassing. Children often wander from their own yards, and usually thesituation can be dealt with by asking them to leave or by calling their parents.