Greytmate

Leptospirosis? In a tropical wet environment they do. Doubtful in your Gippsland Dairy. But try to avoid having water pool in areas where you animals are, diseases like that can be best avoided by keeping everything dry where possible.

More likely than what alternative? Breeding with dogs that don't work well? Nobody here is advocating that at all. In performance breeding, you are more likely to breed good workers from proven (prepotent) producers that are also good worker themselves, than you are from breeding an equally good worker than has not yet been proven as a producer herself. Not all good working bitches are prepotent. Good breeding bitches are. They may even regularly throw ability beyond their own if the breeder is working to a long-term plan. That is beside the point of this thread. Yes it is important to choose the right male, but that has no relevance as to whether people should keep all their bitches entire.

How to help? Be responsible and don't sell dogs as pets unless they are of pet quality. Save any dog you want and take it home, but if you are planning on placing that dog with another family, you have to do things in a responsible way. That means not blindly ignoring the history you have been given.

Sorry, got confused by an earlier post that wasn't clear. Probably the dog that was fifteen, not the student. But swap "fifteen year old" for "TAFE student" and it makes no difference. You are still rehoming a dog with a history of aggression.

If a dog has been reported by its owner as aggressive, you have its history. It would be a really bad idea (reckless) to dismiss that on the word of a fifteen year old that spent a few hours with the dog. "Yes your honour, the owner said he bit people, but this teenage girl played with him for ages and didn't see him bite anyone. So we used her assessment instead, because we didn't want to put the poor little dog to sleep.."

Neither do I but I completely disagree with re-homing an aggressive dog and that's what my stance is. That is my stance too. You will always find somebody to agree to take on a little old dog, you will always find somebody to agree to deal with 'problems'. But the bottom line is, if the dog you rehome causes harm, and you have been informed that it has behaved aggressively in the past, (or didn't bother to find out history or assess the dog) you are legally liable. Even if you do inform the new owner of the aggression, that does not get you out of trouble. If there were not so many non-aggressive and healthy dogs needing homes, it would be worth putting all our rescue resources into dogs needing rehabilitation, and get them professional help from qualified people. But while these other dogs are dying, is it ethical to put so much into the one dog? There is no liability at all attached to leaving this dog where it is, and offering its owner assistance and education.

Statistically, you are more likely to get a good worker from a proven producer, not from a good performer that is an unknown producer. Proving a dog as a worker does not mean it is prepotent (is able to pass on that ability genetically), where it has already been proven that its parents can. Good breeding means that over generations you should end up with better performance, not worse performance or equal performance. If you find it is rare to produce better than the parents, you are probably not as good a breeder as the breeder that bred your dog's parents. Some of your breeding philosophies match those of racing breeders that overproduce with the stock they have on hand rather than ones that are looking to breed quality over quantity. If you want to breed, buy a pup and hope it turns out good to breed with, or buy a well-performed adult bitch and breed with that. But I see no reason to encourage pet owners to do the same, unless they actually want to become a breeder. And then they need to be considering a lot more than their own dog's performance before they breed. Please learn more about the science behind performance breeding before advising people to keep pets entire, or deciding to breed with your own bitch.

It would possibly be kinder on the dog not to rehome him at that age. If you are going to spend $400, maybe better to just donate some money for its operation and let the dog stay where it has always been.

Our old girl Goldie has to eat a kilo of meat a day, and she is still underweight and slowly getting skinnier. She has had cancer for the past three years, and I think maybe the cancer is using up her food. She is still happy and playful, although really lazy.

I would have them assessed before you make any decision to take one or all. Until you do you really don't know how much responsibility you are taking on. Your attitude of not wanting to pass on problems to a family is really commendable. Plenty of people say they are willing to take on problem dogs, few are able to cope with them. If you are selling these dogs (which is what rehoming is), they need to be of at least pet quality.

Delayed desexing isn't recommended for competitiveness CW, but to give the dog the best possible chance of obtaining full structural maturity - this assists with maintaining soundness. Some dog sports folk have their dogs growth plates x-rayed to ensure they have closed before desexing or serious training over obstacles. Growth plates can remain open for far longer than some folk think. It's less of an issue in the smaller breeds though. Racing dogs of both sexes are kept entire for two reasons. It is thought to increase competitiveness, and if the dog is really successful it should be used for breeding. You will not really know that until the dog is at least two years of age. The issue of structural maturity is not as important or unimportant to many participants unfortunately. That is serious dog sport. If the dog is being purchased as a pet with sport only as a hobby, the owner may have different priorities.

I agree with this, and also agree with what Pesh said. In the interests of the overall design of the quilt, it wouldn't be a bad idea to add a few more guidelines. For example - For every 'picture' square, we need an abstractly patterned or plain square to balance out the whole quilt and enable the 'picture' squares to become noticeable. Too many painted or printed pictures on the quilt instead of sewn squares may look a little 'muddy' when viewed from a distance. Is anyone here good at quilt design? Are there other quilt design guidelines?

Poor Jed. Please get better soon Jed.

So sad. You have my sympathy Baifra.

Ohh, I bought some flowers for Jed too. Anyone got a vase?

Our dog stuff is mostly under the house. We have a full height cupboard with double doors that holds towels, grooming equipment, medications etc. We have a big rack of 20 hooks along a wall that has all the leads and collars and grooming apron. A 90 Litre storage tub holds coats. A 32 litre storage tub holds costumes. Fridge and freezer for their meat and big tubs for their dry food. A cane basket for toys. Inside the house we keep treats in a sealed container in the pantry. On top of the bookshelf is a big black box. It contains the Forbidden Toys. Those toys are only allowed out of the box under supervision.

We got pet greyhounds exempt from BSL that required them to be muzzled in QLD last year. It was great to be able to get that law changed. No whinging or bitching from me. Five years of work and lobbying, and we did it. Now our dogs are treated like normal dogs.

It just amazes me that somebody got up and convinced a court that an AST is the same as a APBT. This puts AST really behind the 8 ball. If this isn't proof of why the AST people should completely and publicly disassociate themselves from the APBT, I don't know what is.

Sending you my best wishes Jed. Stay strong brave lady.

It depends on why you have imported the stud. Just because the progeny doesn't always win doesn't make the bitch line inferior. Importers are often looking at second generation and beyond, and the quality of what the daughter of the import produces when bred back to the line. Do you show dogs? Do they give you a ribbon for last in show? History is what determines great imports. Not the sales figures of the import's pups.

I didn't realise you were using the bogan definition of X, and not the breeding term. I don't agree with it as an excuse for indiscriminate breeding though, Shaar. "Yeah, he's got the X factor, and I've got his main reg papers. X-treme, let's pimp him to the maxx." Good breeding involves a proper analysis of the pedigree taking ancestry into careful consideration. Not just putting good dogs to other good dogs and hoping for more good dogs.

X-Factor is a breeding term referring to the damline.

Rubbish. You show us the figures before you expect us to believe you. What is the statistical likelihood exactly? Define what you think 'X-factor' means as a dog breeding term. You are clutching at straws to try to prove a point. All you are proving is that you don't know enough about breeding to understand why some breeders are unwilling to allow just anyone to use their lines. Much has been proven in racing animals and working animals about breeding practices and what works to produce quality. You seem to have no inkling about how out of your depth you really are.

Not true. The registration has no bearing on a dog's usability or even its suitability as a pet. Which is the purpose that most people buy dogs for. Registration does have bearing on a dog's usability regarding showing and breeding. If you are buying it as a pet that means it isn't being bought for showing or for breeding.

Not true. The registration has no bearing on a dog's usability or even its suitability as a pet. Which is the purpose that most people buy dogs for.