WoofnHoof

I bought a couple of tins of natures gift for when I've run out of other stuff and the stink that came from the dogs was unbelievable

Our old family dog (bitza) died at 16 she just got tinned food and scraps from memory.

Purebreds haven't been promoted as pets to the extent that DDs have, that is why they are gaining popularity. I agree with sandgrubber that breeds are changing to suit more of an urban lifestyle, some people are seeing that there is a need for lowering certain drives and are breeding towards that. Very few of the breeds look exactly the same as they did 100-200 years ago so it's logical to suggest that if the breeds are still around in 100-200 years then they wont necessarily look or act the same as they do now.

Really interesting research I hope you let us know your results even if they don't get published Are you going to do seperate analyses based on the differences between breeds/types? Given that there are differences in vision and eye structure according to the morphological head characteristics I would think that this might also affect their perception of what they see in the mirror? Eg such as short nosed dogs able to better recognise faces than longer nosed dogs?

That's totally understandable I recall recently on the radio where there was a lot of controversy as part of the Kyle Sandilands debacle a fundraiser he was involved in failed to chase up monies promised to a family in need. The station I was listening to pointed out that that is why they never do telethon type stuff because it's way too difficult to chase up and people don't always follow through. Personally I prefer fundraisers which are run through a product or service like the chocolate and pie drive type stuff, that way people view it more as a purchase rather than a donation and it's easier to track because people have to pay when they put in their order. I know when EI was on a lot of clubs ran online shows as a way of raising money that was something that seemed to do quite well also although I wasn't directly involved in it so don't know for sure.

My sides hurt!

Gotta love the original TV dog - Lassie :D All the sibes and mals in 8 below were utterly gorgeous

My boy had PSS and he was fine on Hills l/d, he went through a lot of it it cost a fortune I think he was just happy to finally eat something that didn't make him sick

I saw that segment yesterday despite the serious topic that guy was an absolute hoot! Hard to take the whole story seriously after that.

My girls first chip no longer works so she had a 2nd one done. I've been meaning to take her back to them and get them to rescan her, but the time this happened she had been scanned only a few days prior because she escaped from my parents place (that's one of the reasons I took her on for a while) and the pound had scanned her and found the chip.

What's the bet the nappy was dirty? Dogs seem to be attracted to dirty nappies and other sources of stinky things. Fancy leaving the bub on the floor with the dogs, in the past kids had playpens - safe kid, safe dog everyone's happy then someone decided they weren't PC because they look like little jails, they are still around though I think they are making them without vertical bars these days edit SNAP Rosie

I am always having an internal battle with this subject, at the moment mine have their collars on I haven't gotten around to getting ID tags organised I'm trying to find a really little one for the Chi he hates anything hanging off his neck took me ages to find a nice light collar he tolerated. My parents dog is here with me at the moment and the first day I had her here and I had to work she escaped and took off down the road, luckily the people down the road took her in and put signs up to say they had found her. Funny thing was that they told me they took her to the vet to get her scanned for a chip and the vet DIDN'T FIND THE CHIP! I know for a fact she has one because she's escaped a couple of times from my parents place and they've scanned her and found the chip and as far as I know it's just in the usual spot on the neck between the shoulderblades. So even though my lot are all chipped I am a bit worried that the chip may be missed Like anything there is no perfect solution I suppose but I try to minimise the hazards around the house when it comes to objects they could get snagged on.

D4DOGZ that sounds like you had an excellent setup, that is the problem with the food safety laws they are so inconsistent and largely based on what someone perceieves as a risk rather than actually doing a proper assessment of actual risk on a case by case basis.

Yeah I'm inclined to think it's a spitz thing too my sibe is exactly the same, he's happy to see me when I get home but happy to go back to his 'spot' on the couch as soon as the greeting is done. The only time he gets really clingy is when there is a storm and he tries to sit in my lap which isn't really ideal He's improving in that respect though. Obedience is hard work since he is only mildly food motivated and couldn't care less about toys so at least you have that going for you with your little girl I tend not to worry too much about whether my animals are 'bonded' to me, although I'm more used to horses who are generally pretty disinterested in their human unless it's dinnertime As long as they are happy and healthy that's what matters :p

Good to see dogs qld getting involved hopefully they can get the qld government too see the gravity of the situation.

My chi's LP improved with a better diet although it's not all raw it's more raw and higher quality other stuff than he used to get he's 6 now and hasn't skipped for a couple of years now.

I'd advise getting your vet to do run a blood test and check for liver function beforehand if you can, just to make sure that it's not stemming from a liver issue.

Great to hear everything went well

Yep I've heard you can ask Troy to block your access to OT then you don't need to go there Sometimes people like to talk to other like minded people not everyone in your circle of friends looks at everything from a dog-lovers perspective I think it's nice you can talk about other stuff with fellow doggy/animal people

Great to hear you have had a great first impression, hope it continues!

I have a werthiem with a power head it's great! I also have a rubber broom which is awesome too! ;)

What a lovely looking girl! Hope she has a caring home that will be happy to have her back.

Me too. But if we cant speak about what we each feel are solutions and think through possible adverse consequences we wont get it right. This forum is a great place for sorting through the issues and seeing things from the wider or different perspective but that means we each have to begin by assuming we all have the same goal - to stop dogs suffering. I believe there is a time for talk and a time for action and the time for action is now while the negative attention is on puppy farms there is a clear opportunity for the promotion of ethical breeding practices. I also believe that what one person feels is 'getting it right' smells very much like 'trying to please everybody', while the former might be possible, the latter is most definetly impossible and neither matters in the end if the opportunity to put things into action has passed. At this present time it matters not which laws people are in favour of, what matters right now IMO is getting the message out about ethical dog breeding, no point hammering out the 'perfect plan' if no one's listening anymore. The heat on puppy farms is on, they are already responding and presenting themselves in a 'cleaner' light, it's time to show people what ethical breeding is really about.

No, I mean get the law changed, not take the dogs to a cafe in Ippy. You seem to know all about food safety, what is the board we need to lobby to to get a regulation changed? I don't want to be booted from a third venue with my dog. ;) But we can still have our picnics in off-lead parks (even if so many people think its a stupid idea) so we should have one soon. Definetly! I need to get Sonny out and make sure he doesn't have any mental scars from his ordeal at that other park. I'll PM you My knowledge of food safety is from a practical and microbiological perspective so I'm not entirely up with which departments are responsible for that although it may come under Safe Food Qld? From my experience with them they aren't all that clued up on micro stuff either, they made a rule that all small butchers had to get a sample of each product tested but then failed to elaborate which particular tests they were after (there is a multitude of tests you can test meat for some of those tests are really expensive and irrelevant for most applications), it's a stupid rule anyway since once sample is unlikely to tell you much but hey as long as it looks like they are doing something they don't care if the poor old butcher has to fork out for pointless bacterial testing.

In Ippy? Have to do it before I move then. It'll have to be Sonny though Zen is nowhere near civillized enough