Diva

yep.

Sighthounds are the same! They sometimes decide they are deaf and know you can't make them come back and so they do their own thing. I have to make sure I have cheese on me if I take the giant fluffy butt out. Somedays he just say nah mum I can smell bunnies see you! I have attended lure coursing and LGRA racing in the USA a couple of times in the last year. The amazing thing to me is they have not been held on fenced grounds, but in open parks, often with the course running within a couple of hundreds of metres of internal park roads with traffic - not much traffic , but still traffic. As one of the Saluki people there said to me, they work on recall really seriously from a really young age if they want to compete in coursing. It was pretty impressive, even though my 'zoi recall very reliably I would still think twice about those roads! Godd luck with your new club :)

That is hard to answer as I don't get enough done to be able to list many prices, but I think SSM's post earlier in the thread is a good explanation. I doubt the medium to high end is any higher than elsewhere, but I haven't found the range of lower cost options I have known of in the other cities. Canberra average incomes are amongst the highest in the country, and prices tend to reflect that. Hard if you are on a low income though. The larger clinics in my opinion tend to be expensive and some have a reputation for putting a lot of effort into what i will call 'practice building'. My personal experience with one of them has been of poor diagnostic skills and not much concern for the suffering of the animal. Seriously poor, and so much so I would not risk using them again. The small suburban practices are mixed of course. But getting two small cysts removed from my cat was $550 last week at one close to me. Total of 8 stitches, no blood tests, no pathology, one course of ABs. I used them because they are close but I only use them for routine things. I would say they have average skills and prices, and maybe slightly less than average facilities. I think another poster said the emergency clinic starts at $190 a visit, upfront, and I know someone who paid around $500 there for an examination and single blood test, I would say that is a cheap visit. I have found two vets I am very happy to use for everything, but I drive past many others to get to them, and only one really takes cost into account. He, however, is excellent. I am sure there would be other great ones too, but they can be hard to find.

The chances of being noticed would be slim people in this day & age often don't notice many things around us & it would be very easy to place a ribbon & not have anyone think twice about what they where doing . I would imagine they are aware of the address but the ribbon confirms the correct house they would now where it is placed . There smart people when it comes to things like this. It is also common for burglaries people marking houses of those that work . As an example of people doing nothing. We had a roo in our street severely injured ,the council couldn't use there guns at that stage so they called the police in. An unmarked car turned up,3 gun shots & that car went off. The council guy & my mum & friend where in the bush placing the roo in a body bag. I was watching & it astounded me that something that was so obviously gun shots & if you looked out side the 3 people looked as guilty as anything & not one person phoned the police,rang neighbours to see if they noticed anything >zilch so infact come to our street to commit crimes cause no one does anything LOL, you need my neighbours. They would notice! I still think confirming an address with ribbons is very odd in this day and age. It does play into people's fears though, by leaving something for them to find. I wonder if that is actually the point.

Perhaps the ribbon is for another party to identify the address. It is possible that the ribbon 'installer' is out and about scouting. Yes but why not just wander around scouting, note down the addresses that have the dogs you want and text those addresses through to the other party? Why hang around in the street suspiciously on two separate occasions if you don't need to? Especially if you're involved in dogfighting which has big repercussions. Have you ever watched 'The Wire' - possibly to avoid traceability? I still think the risk of actually being spotted, either placing the ribbon or looking for it, would be much greater. My curious neighbours would have that spotted in an instant.

yes that is odd. How much easier would it be to just text an address, rather than physically place a little ribbon.

Sorry for your loss, I think perhaps the outcome was not in your hands despite all your care. New born puppies have no ability to regulate their body temperature, and once they get chilled they have little chance.

Don't spend a bomb, ask for a sample to test his acceptance. Or if you do buy something like Artemis and he doesn't like it, take it back. Most of the'super premiums' will refund under those circumstances, no need to be out of pocket.

Yeah, that was my first thought too.

If he is almost through the bag and has just started itching it doesn't sound that likely it's the food. One of mine doesn't do well on RC, but I have many friends who swear by it. I would check really closely for flea dirt, especially around his tail, cut out any treat type foods you are feeding, get him out of the heated house as much as possible, add a fish oil or omega 3 supplement to his diet, and wash him with something very gentle, even the Calendula tea recommended on here sometimes. Is he changing his coat? If so a good bath and blow dry to get rid of the old coat. Also check your garden for any of the common plants that cause allergies - wandering jew etc. If it is the food you will soon find out when he finshes the bag, but it is often not.

Trouble is some people just can't afford Canberra's normal prices, or can but find the 'credit card up front' attitude of the major clinics a turn off. Jan has some very loyal supporters, a few are friends of mine, and they support her because they believe she provides a service to those who cannot afford high local prices, think she has better diagnostic skills than the newly qualified vets they run into elsewhere, and because they prefer her abrupt no-nonsense approach. They know the trouble she has been in, but they judge her on how she has dealt with them, not the AVAs view. I have discussed it with them - they trust her obvious flaws more than those they see in other vets and clinics. It was not a suprise to me when she was voted Canberra's most popular vet in that radio poll. There is a disconnect somewhere between parts of the animal owning population and the Canberra vet culture.

Yes. I said as much in an earlier thread that was looking at Victoria's draft of new rules & regulations. Which falls over backwards to legitimize large scale commercial operations. Seems dog breeding is being viewed as.... if it's business, then it must be good. Even tho' ... how ironical... they even listed a research article in their References which pointed to smaller, home-style non-commercial breeding establishments as those more likely to produce dogs with less problems. It is actually what most annoys me about the new proposals. If I thought it would end commercial scale dog breeding for profit only, I would just wear it. But they are all designed to enable the dog farmers and end the home-scale hobby breeder who treats their dogs like family.

No neither can I, all reads very implausibly.

I am in agreement with Steve on this. Short term supplementation to help with a specific problem is one thing, but if you need to daily supplement with a bunch of stuff, especially a bunch of stuff lacking rigourous analysis and quality control, you need to be looking at the basic diet instead. My only exception to that is the Omega oils, even then I buy human grade, and try to feed so it isn't necessary.

The OP has indicated it is an Australian Shepherd that she means by aussie, not the terrier.

I breed. Well one litter so far, but I intend more. I didn't just 'allow' my dog to breed. I tested her value to the breed in the show ring, undertook all recommended health tests, didn't make the final decision to go ahead until I had owners lined up, looked far and wide for a suitable stud, and eventually imported semen from the US for her. I feel every responsibility for her puppies and always will. I feel no responsibility at all for the dogs in the pound. I am sorry for them, but my being a breeder has nothing to do with them being there. Some of us are very specific in the dogs we want to live with. We are not a home waiting for just any dog. Take away our options and you take away that home, it is not going to filled by anything else. I really don't get why my breed should cease to be bred in this country because there are irresponsible owners who treat their dogs like disposable commodities and who are never held account for it, and irresponsible breeders who cater to them - it is that call for no breeding at all that has seen me drop all my donations to rescue organisations, which used to be significant. Back to the OP - I agree the RSPCA needs to be more accountable, and I will look at the petition in more depth, thank you for posting it.

Don't quite understand this, only the low Rally O levels are on leash. But good on you for understanding your limitations. I don't have a particular problem with bull breeds, but I have a huge issue with off lead or roaming aggressive dogs. It used to be that most loose dogs around here were indifferent or friendly toward other dogs being walked and I didn't worry about them, but not anymore, the default response around here in the last few years is aggression and I hate running into them on a walk. Those who think the problem is overstated are wrong in my experience. Attacks by loose dogs on people are very rare, but attacks by loose dogs on on-leash dogs are not rare at all. I would like to see leash laws rigourously enforced, with strong penalties for non-compliance and for owners with dogs that repeatedly get out of their inadequate fencing. I don't need BSL to make me safe and I don't need need new regulations. I just need the existing leash laws enforced.

Except, as I said earlier, this won't be a formal off leash park. It will be one of the multi use ovals common here - and have everything from off leash dogs playing, on leash dogs walking across, kids and adults playing ball, runners doing laps, people flying model airplanes.... It is not the same as a formal off leash park, we have those too and I agree, different expectations. But on the multi use ovals, people who have their dogs off lead can have no expectation other users are happy to be approached by their dogs. It is not first and foremost an off lead area, just a multi use area where off leash is permitted, under control.

I have keep entire males together and both entire and desexed females together happily, but my experience is confined to two breeds, neither of which is much prone to dog aggression it seems. If people experienced in your breed say male/male is likely to be fine they probably know best, but male/female almost always works so it is lowest risk. Just choose the second dog carefully to fit in with your current set up.

Nope. They sometimes run in their sleep or woof softly, but they never seem upset about it. Poor Bear.

I guess some of the stories are true, but a lot do sound like hysteria and urban myth. A lot of people who's dogs get out seems to prefer to say they were stolen rather than admit their yard isn't secure. It gets more sympathy and frees them of responsibility.

Get a friend to hold her while you disappear out of sight in bushland. When they let her go, does she just run towards where she saw you disappear, or put her nose down and track you? I had SAR dogs for a while - they would never mark/pee on a track, but I guess a pig finder has quite different rules!

I am curious as I have only desexed one dog, a female, and her coat texture changed dramatically and for the worse. Heard later that is not uncommon for her breed, the spay coat can be much harder to manage. But I know another desexed dog of the same breed with a normal coat, too small a sample to tell either way

Can it still be baby coat at 14 months or do you think his coat will always be different?

To be frank I have never neutered any of my male dogs and none have had any behavioural or health problems as a result of being entire - but it does depend on the owners ability and willingness to keep the dog secure, of course.