Maddy

Mindblowing, isn't it, HA?

I think I may have to have a lie down

I think there are some uncharitable, judgmental people on DOL.

You can say THAT again!!

Are you for real? O.o

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/hit-by-a-car-man-run-over-while-fleeing-aggressive-dog-20111005-1l7rl.html

Hit by a car: man run over while fleeing aggressive dog Alicia Wood

October 5, 2011 - 7:36AM

.A man was hit by a car as he tried to avoid being bitten by an aggressive black dog, police say.

"We can't pin a "bad" breed on it so we'll make mention of the fact it was a scary colour."

I guess that's not much better, but at least then she's only smearing one breed instead of a whole group! I'm not worried about DOL as much as the general media, we've seen how they lap up anything with McGreevy attached.

The group could probably handle the bad publicity. Greyhounds already have misinformed reputations as being highly-strung, aggressive, nervy and they really don't need scientific "proof" that they're "timid" (or whatever word you want to use) dogs on top of that. Especially when the group selected to represent them are dogs more prone to temperament flaws owing to rearing methods.

The reality is, there are some that might have issues because of improper socialisation but they don't represent what the breed should be like at all.

Maybe change the title corvus to reflect what data you are talking about, greyhounds rather than sighthounds in general.

"Why Do Greyhounds Tend To Be Timid/sensitive?"

Because if you're concerned about causing damage, changing the title to directly mention one breed (that is already struggling to overcome misconceptions) is a good idea?

Looks a bit like they're using the established brand "Flight Centre" to make themselves seem more reputable.

One look at their website though and.. yeah, I wouldn't ship a pet rock through them. It looks very unprofessional.

The website itself is registered through a third party so can't use that to verify anything (contact details, etc.) I'd be staying well away.

The opposite of bold is not necessarily timid. Reserved might be a better description for sighthounds if that's what you're looking for.

Not clear on what you're calling timid, I've always had sighthounds and any visitors we have or people we meet when we're out and about are pretty much mobbed.

Bold for sighthounds is contextual as well. Many are bold on the hunt - because that's what they are tuned into. But may not be bold around people, as many sighthounds can take or leave people (other than their own ones that is!).

And the fine bones and coat thing is a bit general. A good many sighthound breeds are long or rough coated, and care not for what they crash into if they are enjoying themselves...

I'm trying not to be offended by the timid generalisation as it is so far from correct sighthound temperament, and seems an unnecessarily negative box to put them in.

Agree with all of this.

Our hounds are behind a second gate because otherwise, visitors can't get to the back door for the mob of excited greeters who seem to believe every visitor is for them :p

And as far as being wary about hurting themselves.. if they were, my vet would see a lot less of me One current foster has almost injured himself horribly a few times. One involved galloping directly into a door frame (he'd been playing with a toy and was having a bit of a crazy run around). He turned his head at the last moment and just bruised up his shoulder but it could've been a lot worse if he'd hit it head-on.

In my experience, their sense of self-preservation is a bit.. lacking.

Not sure why this is being posted five years after the episode first aired but.. whatever.

I didn't see it as anything other than a bit of a piss-take. His methods are questionable and results.. well, even more questionable.

I'm also not a fan of how his only excuse for aggression seems to be bad owners. In my opinion, this is creating a belief that dangerously aggressive dogs just need "exercise, discipline and.. [whatever the last thing was]", totally ignoring the fact that some dogs are dangerous and no amount of running them on a treadmill (or choking them with a leash) is going to fix that issue.

I have a mental, high-energy foster hound at the moment and honestly, I'd kill for one of those lazy, calm dogs that goes horizontal at any given opportunity.

Manic might be fun to watch when you first meet a dog but it wears thin very quickly if you don't have the energy levels to keep up with the dog.

Right now, Ru is doing crazy-pounces on his bed (jump on, try to kill the bed, run away again as if the bed is after him) while I'm still trying to get enough coffee in to function. Once the blood-caffeine levels are high enough, I need to go pick up all the things Ru got out during his nightly forage (which generally includes rubbish he's taken the liberty of "sorting" everywhere), clean up the stuffing from his bed/toy/undetermined source and once I've cleaned up after him, he has to be kept entertained because otherwise, he'll find his own entertainment (which would involve creating some kind of mess).

Obvious though.. if you don't want to foster another greyhound, just.. don't foster one? I honestly don't see the point of coming here and saying things like "I don't mean to offend but.." and then proceeding to say some stuff that plenty of greyhound people would take offense to when just not fostering greyhounds would solve your problem nicely.

Must... not.... squeeee

One of the small toys was a squirrel, it had a perfect incision down its belly just big enough for the squeaker to get out, like he used the most efficient method of removal because he still had to get to all the other toys!

One of my hounds does that, she's only interested in toys as long as there's a squeaker to remove. Once that's gone.. "Meh, gonna go rip stuffing out of one of the beds now kthnxbai" :rolleyes:

Not sure if she's still doing them but Huga did an awesome piece of one of my hounds.. http://www.freewebs.com/lovebirdanimalart/apps/photos/photo?photoid=45582129

I have seen a Grey that got attacked by around 4 other ( maybe more) muzzled Greys when they were out in a large yard and in the end he had to be euthed. The damage they inflicted on that dog was amazing. They had been at it a while and in the end he was euthed due to muscle and spinal issues that never resolved, but he had more wounds than skin.

I've seen one of those sorts of fights once in my life and I hope to god I never had to see one again. When the pack mentality kicks in, it's just brutal and no muzzle is going to make a difference. The victim (Blue, a very submissive, friendly little guy) suffered severe enough trauma to the area that the skin died, despite our vet doing an awesome job at patching his injuries back up. Blue was wearing a thick, double-layer wool coat at the time and in my opinion, that's the only reason he survived. So now, unless it's hot, my dogs wear coats (with the high neck) when out for walks. A coat certainly won't stop a fight but it'll at least protect some vital areas long enough for me to get a chance to react.

Fairly unpleasant picture below.

This was one of Blue's wounds, the skin was just destroyed (the white thing is a drain) and in the end, the dead skin had to be just cut off. The other dog also tore his chest open between his front legs (the third dog was mostly just jumping in and biting at anything she could grab on Blue so those injuries were minor scratches).

The third dog involved was actually my own FF, Sally- a usually submissive, quiet girl who'd scurry away at the first sign of anyone getting snarky. Although obviously, on that occasion, something kicked in.

A lot of people like to think they know their dogs inside-out but the reality is.. sometimes, they do things you'd never expect. If more people would acknowledge that fact, dog parks might be safer places.

Everyone except the muzzled dog that is. It will be unable to defend itself if its reaction to an offleash dog starts a fight. On leash and muzzled, it will be defenceless.

Have you seen a fight involving a muzzled dog? I haven't, so I'm guessing, but as I said before, I wonder if a muzzled dog in a fight is in any more danger than an unmuzzled dog. How are they going to defend themselves? By doing damage with their teeth? Is that going to make it safer for them? Is the other dog going to even notice? If they do, are they going to back down, or go in harder? If I have a leashed and muzzled dog fighting, I am in a pretty good position for breaking it up quickly, and there's one less set of teeth to dodge. What are the chances of the dog that starts the fight delivering uninhibited bites in the first place? It's not that common IME. And I go to dog parks everyday. I've seen a few fights, and usually everyone comes out of it upset, but with not a scratch on them.

I'm just saying, I would rather have a 'defenceless' dog than one with its teeth burried in another dog or someone's arm. As for whether they behave worse with a muzzle on... Presumably they have to learn that they can't defend themselves before they get worse, which means you've already had incidents where other dogs might have been in danger if it hadn't been for the muzzle, which kind of supports my opinion that it's not a bad idea to use one in the first place?

It's just my opinion, though. No one need get defensive.

The answer to both questions would be a resounding YES. All the muzzle does is stop the dog connecting. That's why they muzzle bait dogs.. the attacking dog gets all the hits in and the defending dog cannot inflict damage in return.

In canine defence, if flight's out there's only fight left. Teeth play a very big role if there's a fight on.

Talk to racing greyhound owners Corvus. They are required to walk their dogs muzzled. I've heard plenty of stories about muzzled greys having pieces taken off them by offlead dogs that attack them.

If you think you can protect a leashed and muzzled dog from an offlead dog or dogs in a dog fight, all I can say is you've not seen dogs that intend to do harm. It's a melee of movement and teeth and the dog restained cannot flee and if muzzled cannot fight. Your best chance is before the fight starts.. after that, chances are you'll be on your arse spilled by your dog's lead as it attempts to get away while leashed or requiring microsurgery because you got yourself too close to the bitey end of the attacker.

The result of unmuzzled dog attacking muzzled and restrained dog tends to be a vet visit or worse for the dog. Bait dogs don't have long lives.

If a dog or person gets close enough to a leashed dog under effective owner control to take a bite, then how in hell is that the leashed dog's fault. Dogs known to start fights might need to be muzzled by why any owner should leave their dog defenceless on the odd chance it might defend itself beats me.

I've had muzzled dogs fight and they've still managed to cause bite injuries (if they press their faces in hard enough, they can grab through the wire or plastic) so even with a muzzle on, the outcome (in my experience, anyway) depends on the type of fight and you still can't feel secure that no one will walk away uninjured.

Regarding walking muzzled greyhounds in public.. I think the issue is a little more complex than the dog simply being unable to defend itself. Some people see a muzzled dog, assume it's been made totally safe and so let their dogs run rampant. I think I may have actually mentioned before the owner of the staffy x JRT who was letting her dog mount my dog ( while I was trying to get some distance between it and Kiff). If Kiff had been unmuzzled.. I have a feeling that owner wouldn't have been quite so careless

I keep hearing that the contracts are not worth the paper they are written on but my old Law Lecturer always taught that every contract - verbal, written, implied or otherwise (regardless of what it is for, so long as the terms of the contract are not illegal) is still a contract under contract law and can be taken to court if not honoured. I know - you still have to take it to court - but isn't it time to test it? As animals are considered goods and chattel then the contract is no different to a contract for a car or a house.

Its been tested several times and contract law says you cant make someone promise something into the future once its their own property and you cannot put punishments on if they breach into the future because its no longer your property - basic contract law.

What about rights of first refusal?

That involves a transfer of property and I far as I know, can be enforced.

The sighthound scream of death is also not uncommon in having feet handled... Especially by strangers. Some need to be sedated to have nails trimmed...

Oh, yes.

One of my own greyhounds is an epic drama queen and I have to take him to the vet to have his nails done I teach new adopters how to cut nails without the greyhound pity party and yet I can't cut my own dog's nails (the last time we tried, he jerked his paw just as I was about to cut- blood everywhere, screaming, the neighbours must have thought I was killing him.

This is a serious turn of events for Victorian dog owners, and doing a Godwin in your introductory post won't encourage productive discussion. Sad as it is, this is not the same as exterminating millions of people.

Very true.

I'll admit I stopped reading at that analogy because frankly, I think it's pretty disgusting to compare the two.

Perhaps someone here can enlighten me on the joys of owning a dog that you can never let off the leash in appropriate places, and can never interact peacefully with other dogs, as I can't see it.

I have one of those dogs and honestly, it's never been an issue. She has zoomie time in the larger front yard, she gets interaction with dogs I know she can get along with (other greyhounds, although she also had an ACD friend for a while) and we find other ways to have fun and exercise.

It's obviously different to my other dog but Sally's dog aggression (and extremely high prey drive) doesn't impact at all on my enjoyment of owning her or her quality of life.

Besides the easily managable DA issue, she's a sweet, lovely girl and we've never been the cause of a fight or any injury whatsoever to another dog. DA dogs can be managed and can live great lives with responsible owners.

The obvious disclaimer..

I'd never rehome a DA dog but that is not because I don't believe they can still be good pets, rather, you cannot guarantee they will end up with a responsible owner.

Stuff..

I've written and deleted a few things here but nothing seemed to quite sound right (or Troy-safe).

The Cliff Notes..

Your wording is inflammatory and you make use of scare words that really have nothing to do with the issue- "drug dealers", for example. Your "research" could do with a little improvement and to me, your post sounds very short-sighted and misinformed.

As far as breed appeal goes.. I guess that's a very individual thing. It's entirely beyond me why anyone could possibly want to own a GR. I'd take a horde of staffies before even considering something with the temperament of a GR but that's me. I have no problem with people discussing breed preferences, I just think it's shitty to kick a breed when it's down because it happens to be one you'd never want to own.

30% of vegan pet food retailers fabricate statistics because hey, who's gonna check those numbers?

If you do get a furminator... Check eBay ;)

Definitely agree there. For the size I got, there was a price difference of about $50 between Ebay and most the pet shops I checked here.

Edit..

Turns out this was a derp thread, probably.

Re-edited to add..

It was sort of still Wednesday when I wrote it so that's my excuse.

Re-re-edited to add..

This can probably be deleted >.>

Up until now my pups' coat has needed minimal attention.

Just lately he seems to be shedding a bit more and the brushes I have aren't removing the old hair very effectively. I was almost convinced to buy a 'Furminator" but the only dog in the store we could test it on was a Labrador. It was effective but the Lab had a much thicker coat than my dog. I wasn't sure if it was overkill for my dogs coat.

My pup is a Boxer. Opinions anyone?

I use a Furminator on my greyhounds and I found it to actually be better than the Zoom Groom (which I'd been using ever since I got a greyhound).

It picks up dandruff really well so it's good for the lamington hounds I seem to get and it definitely gets a lot more hair than the Zoom Groom. I save the Zoom Groom for bathing as it is good for massaging in shampoos or coat oils.

I guess I'd probably recommend getting both :p

Probably they had complaints. Don't forget, not all people are animal lovers and resent having dogs around when they are eating and drinking and personally, I can understand why.

I have four dogs and I'd have a problem with people having their dogs in a place that serves food.

My parents were around when Tasmania was having some pretty horrible outbreaks of hytadids so we were raised to be very cautious about dogs and hygiene. There is nothing that grosses me out more than walking past a cafe and seeing some fluffy, little dog parked at a table, the fur around its hind legs and tail obviously soiled.

Tasmania fought hard to rid itself of the pest, which was rife in the 1960s, when 60 per cent of sheep had cysts and 12 per cent of dogs were carriers.In 1965, the Tasmanian Stock Act led to the compulsory testing of dogs and the abattoir inspection of sheep.

It also banned the feeding of offal to dogs and it remains illegal to feed dogs or allow access to offal from sheep, goats, cattle and pigs.

The programme was so successful that it led to Tasmania being the only State that was provisionally free of the parasite.

Experts say hydatids on the mainland cannot be eradicated because of high numbers of infected wild animals.

Down here, we're fairly safe (last outbreak was 2006) but obviously for the mainland, you have something to worry about (probably made worse by the fact it's perfectly legal to feed dogs raw offal there).

I wouldn't eat around my own dogs (who are all wormed every second month and never given raw offal) so I sure as hell wouldn't want to eat near a stranger's dog on the mainland.