Illegal Dog Fighting Rumours Believed To Be A Hoax

[minimax]

It must all be a hoax. I guess that why people are being arrested. (Insert sarcasm emoticon here)

http://www.theage.co...0621-2oopm.html

Last time I was in the Hawksbury, it wasn't in Victoria...

If you hadn't put the link in, I would have assumed that you accidentally posted in the wrong thread.

Hawkesbury is a Sydney regional council but was not mentioned in the linked article in any way whatsoever. If you're trying to confuse people or derail the thread it's probably working.

The original post was about police saying reports of dog fighting in the Hills and Hawksbury are hoaxes. You are saying it's not a hoax by linking to a Victorian article. The Hawksbury isn't in Victoria so your article has no relevance to the origin post.

And since you know Sydney isn't mentioned in the article, I'm wondering why you even posted it.

Edited July 25, 2013 by minimax

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

I am trying to help a small dog at the moment, owner had advertised on Gumtree. She kept getting text messages in the vein of "I will come and get the dog now".

What sort of person doesn't even ring up and enquire about a dog, arrange to have a look at it before deciding they'd like to adopt it? Ask questions, talk about themselves etc.

I also experienced this type of response when I took over the advertising of a dog for an owner, putting my own no. on the ad so I could help with finding a good home.

I ask the Texter some questions - where are you located? do you want to ask me anything about the dog? etc etc. Didn't get any responses that brought me any satisfaction that they weren't up to no good. I'm pretty sure there are people out there who would just hand the dog on, no questions asked.

:confused:

The majority of people looking for dogs on gumtree have never had to go through any sort of questioning as to their suitability as a pet owner, and most sellers on gumtree would happily let the person have the dog without any information. How does what you have just said indicate dog fighting in any way, shape or form?!

What it indicates to me - judging by the responses I got when I questioned the people, even in a simple way - is that there are people out there prepared to come and collect a dog at the drop of a hat and most likely not because they want to offer the dog a great home. Of course there are other reasons that they could want any dog, dog fighting is just one of them.

I actually know someone who is related by marriage to a person involved in fighting his dogs (this is in Sydney). She told me that he "really loved them" and I said how is that? She explained that he broke his own dog's neck when it was badly injured after a fight and it was hard for him to do as it was his favourite ... I asked for details of where this person is but said person wouldn't give them to me of course.

[RuralPug]

It must all be a hoax. I guess that why people are being arrested. (Insert sarcasm emoticon here)

http://www.theage.co...0621-2oopm.html

Oh, is that confirmed he is part of an organised dog fighting ring or is he an animal abuser?

Oh he must be an animal abuser because dog fighting rings are a hoax, right?

It must all be a hoax. I guess that why people are being arrested. (Insert sarcasm emoticon here)

http://www.theage.co...0621-2oopm.html

Last time I was in the Hawksbury, it wasn't in Victoria...

If you hadn't put the link in, I would have assumed that you accidentally posted in the wrong thread.

Hawkesbury is a Sydney regional council but was not mentioned in the linked article in any way whatsoever. If you're trying to confuse people or derail the thread it's probably working.

The original post was about police saying reports of dog fighting in the Hills and Hawksbury are hoaxes. You are saying it's not a hoax by linking to a Victorian article. The Hawksbury isn't in Victoria so your article has no relevance to the origin post.

And since you know Sydney isn't mentioned in the article, I'm wondering why you even posted it.

But I was not responding to the original post, but to Plan B's link to the blog post. Did you read that blog post and the geographical areas it referred to?

[Plan B]

Oh he must be an animal abuser because dog fighting rings are a hoax, right?

Have you read anything that anyone has written on here? Very odd responses.

[Plan B]

But I was not responding to the original post, but to Plan B's link to the blog post. Did you read that blog post and the geographical areas it referred to?

You clearly weren't responding to the article because nowhere in it did it say dog fighting was a hoax.

[Jed]

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/#!/DogTheftTrackingAustraliaWide

[minimax]

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/#!/DogTheftTrackingAustraliaWide

Wish I could use the head bang emoticon from my phone.

Edited July 26, 2013 by minimax

[Jed]

And your problem is .........?

[minimax]

And your problem is .........?

Somehow they turn missing dogs into stolen ones, and link them to the same person stealing them. Based on... nothing but two missing dogs.

Seriously. Not every time a dog goes missing is it stolen. It's lazy owners who want someone to blame so they don't have to go looking for the dog that escaped from the yard.

Reading something on facebook doesn't make it fact.

Edited July 26, 2013 by minimax

[Jed]

I know it is not all fact. But some of it is.

Did you read the site, or only the first two or three posts?

[tdierikx]

I'll agree that dogs being stolen by those operating dog fighting rings DOES happen - but I don't believe it's the epidemic that some portray it to be on social media...

T.

[coogie]

I am torn on this one, I have always believed it was a media beat up, but a few months ago there was a spate of dog thefts in our area, a lot of dogs and enough anxiety from local dog owners to draw a fair bit of media attention and the following appeared in the paper:

Dog thefts

I am sure that sometimes when dogs are "stolen" they have just wandered off/been let out, also agree that some of the Facebook drama is probably just that, drama with no substance. But this was a sudden explosion in the number of dogs going from yards, and some were from behind locked gates where the thieves had to cut or break padlocks,nothing was taken except the dogs, so they were not inadvertently let out in the course of a break in. 2 of the 22 dogs mentioned in our area were from the top end of our cul -de -sac, which backs onto a huge run off. The dogs were securely contained and some effort was gone to in order to remove them. The dogs were not found or returned despite an extensive search by the owners, both were chipped and registered but have never turned up.The owners were not irresponsible or lazy and remain heartbroken at the loss of their dogs.

I don't think we are about to be over run with dog fighting rings but it has made me think, I would love to know if any of the dogs were returned or found but have never seen any follow up so can't comment on any of the other 20 dogs. It definitely made us even more security conscious which I guess can only be a good thing.

The owners did say that the police were very disinterested when they first called, and they had to be very persistent to get someone to come out and take a report and properly document the theft - it was low priority for them and the police's initial attitude was also that the dogs had most likely just wandered off - so ring the council/shelter etc. Maybe this contributes to a lack of formal reporting?

[Plan B]

There was quite a bit of media reporting about there being a dog fighting ring in the Hawkesbury area too, with people (on here too) saying police knew it was going on.

And now police are saying they believe it to be a hoax.

That's the trouble with most of this hysteria - it's a lot of people saying something, so it sounds like it could be happening, but there's rarely ever any evidence. It also takes away from the instances where it could actually be a problem.

[Alkhe]

I'll agree that dogs being stolen by those operating dog fighting rings DOES happen - but I don't believe it's the epidemic that some portray it to be on social media...

T.

Totally agree with this. Some of the things I've seen on facebook are clearly American, and when I have questioned the source of the pictures or info and it has emerged that yes, it's American, the general response is something along the lines of '.. well, maybe THAT is, but it's happening here too!'

I have no doubt that there are dog fighting rings in Australia, but not every dog that goes missing was wrenched from its backyard by a dog fighting representative, and I think people are a bit paranoid about "signs" that their dog/fence/friend's dog/fence/acquaintance's dog/fence etc was "marked" by someone who was going to go back and steal it.

[Remarkabull]

A few weeks ago one of my neighbours came over to let me know that she had seen a guy in my front yard shining a torch into my back yard at around 3-4 in the morning. She suggested they were after my dogs and I tend to agree with her. I have a breed that I worry about them getting stolen, not for fighting (although they are a bull breed they would be useless in a real dog fight) but for backyard breeding or reselling.

I assured my neighbour that my dogs sleep inside and I'd put up a hell of a fight if someone tried to steal them but if it was the contents of the shed they were after then they could go for it :)

I think that the majority of dogs that do get stolen are destined for backyard breeding more so than dog fighting.