Mags

Wonderful story, thanks so much for sharing. And what a difference a little love and attention has made - does not even look like the same dog.

Story is reported by many news organisations (suggest anyone interested do a search) not just the one in the link provided glad to see that it is not considered acceptable behaviour.

What century are we in - and why does our govt continue to support a country where this behaviour is considered acceptable.

sounds good doesn't it

We say thank you and we also say excuse me to both the cats and the dogs. And all of them know what excuse me means as they immediately stop any inappropriate behaviour and look at us. We had one of our dogs in the vet and I called in to pick her up and was horrified that she had been driving them crazy with her noise. Walked up to the crate and said in a quiet voice "Excuse me" and she immediately stopped. THe vet and his nurses started laughing and said if we had only known we just had to be polite lol. We also say sorry if we bump them or have to stand up when they are sitting on our laps. I don't care who hears and I see nothing wrong being polite to our cats and dogs after all I expect them to have good manners too.

Nice to hear. Will always try and give companies like this business.

Lines matter - you can not just put two dogs together and assume all will be well. Some lines just don't work together - there could be health problems or they can throw offspring that are not as good as the parents. If you are serious about breeding dogs you need to put the effort in and learn about your chosen breed. You have a boy you purchased to obedience trial - then go out and do do it. Get him titled, whilst you are doing that you will be meeting people and learning about your breed and hopefully then people will take you a little more seriously. Even if you aren't interested in showing yourself visit shows talk to people and watch and learn as much about your breed as you can. I understand people not wanting to sell entires to people who know little about the breed, the good breeders have the reputation of their lines to consider and the welfare of the breed. There is a lot more to breeding then just putting together 2 dogs that have passed health checks and who look unrelated on a 3 or 4 gen pedigree.

You are not doing anything wrong they only have 70cm coats in that style - other coats on the site have various size options.

My hubby was not all that keen initially, he was worried about the cats, but after doing some research agreed one might be just the right dog for us at this time in our lives. He has fallen for Katie, our rescue grey, hook line and sinker. What about fostering a grey so he can see how special they are and that they can fit into your life, you don't have to mention foster failures ;)

We have lost 2 beautiful cattle dogs to the injuries done to them by intruders trying to break in. They didn't get in but we lost our dogs which was not a good deal in my opinion. My disabled hubby and cats were in the house so I could have come home to worse than I did but what I found was one dog that looked like she had been kicked/beaten nearly to death and the other standing guard over her - scared and also badly beaten. We lost one dog very soon after to her injuries and the second we had to have put down because of her uncontrollable anxiety made worse by the loss of hearing and sight she suffered from the beating. I would much rather lose stuff than my dogs, stuff is just that - the dogs we lost were members of our family.

Why would you go to a Dog Cafe if you don't like dogs - don't know why but some people seem to think they own the planet. Would have been less than polite to someone that thought it OK to run over my dogs leg - stupid selfish cow. Imagine if the dog had jumped up and knocked the pram over that would no doubt not have been her fault either.

Rushed down to our local Horseland (Richmond)but they were sold out

Lovely, lovely dogs we just ducked out and came home to find ours had destroyed 3 rolls of paper towels that we had foolishly left on the table - she had pulled a box of tissues down but they were obviously not as much fun. Hubby tried to blame one of the cats - not possible as Katie was the only one in the family room!!!!

Bear is lovely thanks so much for sharing. Having cats I just love the pic of him with his feline friend and it is wonderful seeing him working sheep. A GSD doing a job they were bred to do What is he like with tiny annoying dogs lol

Our grey was like that when we got her too. Change of diet and regular grooming and it is nearly gone and she has been with us for 5 weeks (plus a few weeks in foster care).

Lovely puppy congratulations and thanks for sharing him with us

What an awful thing to happen. Hope you get them back soon and they are non the worse for their experience.

We have done it three times with the older ACD (or kelpie on one occasion) being about 8. Our older dogs were all females and had been well socialised to puppies over the years our house being were friends brought their puppies to safely socialise them to other dogs. The older dogs were also socialised to small animals and regularly had helped look after small animals we had rescued or brought home. Our dogs were also socialised to sheep, cattle and poultry and would gently work them. They would heel cattle if they were resistive but without causing damage. Since they loved puppies introducing a new puppy to the house was easy as they were sure the puppy had been brought home just for them and they took it upon themselves to care for the puppies and teach them house rules. QUESTIONS 1. What is my relationship with the breed? (ie breeder, first time owner etc) We have owned cattle dogs for the last 25 years. We currently do not have one having lost our last ACD in January this year. We still miss the wonderful dogs that have shared our lives. I have previously owned kelpies and had family members that had bred and trialled BCs, and had working line kelpies. 2. Where and why was the breed first developed? Anyone interested in this breed will find A dog called Blue a must read http://www.adcb.au.com/ 3. How common is it in Australia? Stated to be very common however many of the dogs called ACD's are in fact cross breeds 4. What is the average lifespan? Whilst our dogs regularly live to 14-15 yrs we lost our last ACD at 6.5yrs 5. What is the general temperament/personality? I always have thought that the temperament is good but they are a dog that needs to be trained and have boundaries set and need to be part of the family. Not a dog you can stick in the back yard and ignore. Do best if they get to help with all parts of their persons life. Do have very clearly defined personal space and do not appreciate other dogs acting aggressively towards them but then the same could be said about the working line kelpies I knew. both breeds if well trained will ignore aggressive behaviour from other dogs. 6. How much daily exercise is needed for the average adult? At least one long walk a day plus play time and do even better if they have another dog to play. Are good doers so can get overweight if they do not receive enough exercise. 7. Is it a breed that a first time dog owner could easily cope with? Would depend on the dog and the support the new owner had. An older trained dog could make a wonderful companion for a first time owner and teach them a lot. Would also depend on how much effort/work/time the new owner was willing to put in. 8. Can solo dogs of this breed easily occupy themselves for long periods? No, not a dog to leave isolated in a small yard. They are smart and can easily get bored and up to mischief. 9. How much grooming is required? I feel they have quite an easy care coat but it does need regular grooming to stay looking its best particularly when they are changing coats. 10. Is it too boisterous for very small children or for infirm people (unless the dog is well trained)? My husband is disabled and the ACDs were terrific companions for him but our dogs are always trained. An untrained dog imo would not be a good companion for anyone. 11. Are there any common hereditary problems a puppy buyer should be aware of? Late onset PRA - DNA test available - parents results should be made available, deafness (puppies should be BAER tested) 12. When buying a puppy, what are the things you should ask of the breeder? (eg what health tests have been done (if applicable) and what is an acceptable result to those tests so the buyer has an idea of what the result should be) See above also some breeders do a wonderful job with confirmation and health but seem to forget temperament so please be careful. Our working line cattle dogs have had wonderful temperaments, our show line was not so stable. Also check that parents have been tested for HD & luxating patellas.

anniek that certainly sounds the best for the grey so glad they are taking him with them. Really hard for people when they move overseas - have known a lot that did it (going out is easier than in as you can generally just pick them up from the airport and take them home with you) and all worked well and some that did it with not the outcomes anyone would have wished for them or their animals and some that just couldn't after they realised there dog would be in quarantine for a long time. Rehoming to a wonderful home is not the worst thing and is not always the second best option, sometimes it is the best option for the dog/cat even if it isn't for the owner and we have to realise that too. Personally we would have trouble moving o/s, or just going on hols for that matter, as we have quite a few companion animals that are all part of our family.

Thanks great link

The video is now available for those that missed it http://7pmproject.com.au/video.htm hopefully it will help a few more greys find their forever homes.

The right grey can be fine around other dogs even small fluffies and cats. We have recently taken on a rescue grey and she is wonderful around our fluffies - we have cats and a tiny (4kg) rescue dog who is short on manners though he is slowly getting there. Our girl is on the smaller size so will be around 27kgs when she gets to the right weight - she is currently a couple of kilos under weight. Very sweet, gentle dog that is very smart and easy to train. I have a friend in Canada whose mum breeds Tollers and she regularly has them in her home without problem and she is a raggie breeder. Some one has already commented on whippets with small animals. Goodluck in your search.

Really sorry to hear about the piggies but as others have said not the dog's fault and pointless to be correcting him and putting him outside after the event he won't have a clue why. Many people have dogs and other pets the best rule to remember is never let the dogs have unsupervised access to other animals - after all they are dogs. wWe wouldn't ever leave them unsupervised with children either.

What an awful thing to happen - so very sorry for your family.