spanky

Steve is there a pacers group lined up for the area? I'm in Salisbury... about 5-10mins down the road and I'd like to help get one off the ground, I just don't know many people in my area to get others to help and with a baby I'm not sure I can do it all on my own.

I'd like to be involved.

I might be narrow minded but I am not naive enough to think that this has not and is not already happening...good grief!! Firstly I never called you narrow minded. Secondly at what point did I say I don't already think this is happening... that was my reason for stating ethical registered breeders in my posts. I agree with you that there are already dodgy breeders, I'm just saying that the people that are dodgy and not registered will just become registered. Cool ☻....... this is the dilema of the puppy buyer, in my breed anyway. Yes but part of the reason some of them are dodgey is because we gave them little choice if they wanted to breed. We didnt sell them good breeding dogs when they asked and we didnt help them or work with them and we didnt give them accesss to good stud dogs. If they hung on and wanted to breed anyway they had little choice but to breed with less than perfect dogs bred by people who didnt really have much knowledge to impart to them and because we treat them like crimminals and the enemy they dont mix with us and learn what is needed to help the breed. We have to accept that we have played a role in this too. I agree completely with that Steve. I'd love to breed, but I simply don't have time to make a massive commitment to showing and it seems that if you don't show you're not serious about your breed. It's sad because I love the genetics side of things and have chosen to study it at uni and I think I'd be able to make a positive contribution to my breed of choice. Instead I'll focus on cattle and rare breed pigs once we're on property (hopefully 6mnths).

The standard states that the dog must have a black nose... blue staffords don't. Well that's my understanding anyway.

I might be narrow minded but I am not naive enough to think that this has not and is not already happening...good grief!! Firstly I never called you narrow minded. Secondly at what point did I say I don't already think this is happening... that was my reason for stating ethical registered breeders in my posts. I agree with you that there are already dodgy breeders, I'm just saying that the people that are dodgy and not registered will just become registered.

I'm so very sorry for you and the family and Lola. Harry was an awesome dog... he made Callista's toy obsession look normal. Big hugs to you all.

I want to see the council to take more responsibility. We pay rego fees each year so use some of that to put the current laws into effect. I don't think the RSPCA should have the market on animal stuff, the council needs to step up to the plate and be actively involved in these issues. Yep so do I but I do think there is a difference between policing laws which are about compliance for some mickey mouse stuff - like where my dog sleeps and how many I can have in a house yard etc and the real stuff that impacts like not feeding them or throwing them against the fence etc too. I dont think its up to a council or a police officer or the RSPCA to tell me when I have to vaccinate my dog and make it a crimminal offence if I dont as is the case in NSW and Victoria. i dont think mandatory laws should dictate that my dogs should be kept on hard impervious floors when they have evolved to run on dirt and dig and sunbake either. When you get laws and the RSPCA policing them which turns an old lady into a crimminal because she took a dog to a dog show which was debarked by a licenced and very competent vet because she didnt ask some stranger first its time to say we have truly gone way too far. I guess that is where it gets hard, different state laws mean that it becomes harder for regi breeders in some areas. Yes I agree with this. It's the - I want a puppy and I want it now - attitude that keeps the sausage factories and pet shop sales in business. Buyer behaviour and community expectations and behaviour have been successfully altered for centuries with education and marketing campaigns. Think of major gov campaigns that you know of like the Grim Reaper. It actually educated and changed social behaviour. There are a million examples of how this has worked but that is the main one that comes to mind. Yes you can change these things, but lets be honest about the chances of this happen when relating it to dogs. How many purebred puppies were born through ethical registered breeders last year and how many dogs were actually bought? I don't know the answer to this question, but I'm going to bet that registered pups were a minority number. There simply aren't enough registered breeders to supply the market. All that will happen is dodgy people will become registered and start breeding poor quality purebreds and then you have to try and get people to figure out who is an ethical breeder and who isn't, because as has been stated on here before it is very hard for the canine orgs to boot registered breeders out due to trade laws. I understand how education campaigns reduce things that require behaviour change in society, but you are suggesting changing a society behaviour where the industry will be unable to meet the demand and so the behaviour change won't stick for the majority.

As for education... Bunnings do free DIY sessions... what do you think would be the chance of getting a major pet store chain on board that would run free pet care sessions? One day a weekend with a couple of topics conducted at different times and have kid friendly ones. If it was supported by MDBA or ANKC with their input to develop the training material it could work.

I want to see the council to take more responsibility. We pay rego fees each year so use some of that to put the current laws into effect. I don't think the RSPCA should have the market on animal stuff, the council needs to step up to the plate and be actively involved in these issues.

How does education stop people from breeding in sub-standard conditions? It's been stated on DOL often enough that there aren't enough pups from ethical registered breeders to supply the market and that the number of pups born is dropping each year. Since most breeders only breed when they want a new pup for themselves, the only way the numbers of pups available will increase is if more people start breeding and would that just shift the problem from dodgy byb to more dodgy registered breeders. The average person, regardless of how much education / info they are provided with, isn't going to be willing to wait x number of months for a pup and there are a lot of people that want dogs that a ethical breeder probably wouldn't sell to, so there will always be a demand for dogs from pet shops / puppy farms / byb. The challenge is regulating the breeding conditions of all dogs without negatively impacting registered breeders, because they are the only ones easily identified and therefore more likely to be targeted for inspections. This is why I think it comes back to councils getting info from pet shops on who they purchase their pups from. If a big establishment they can inspect, if byb they can check and see if the dogs are registered with council and if not they can pay them a visit and check conditions at the same time. Beyond that I don't know enough about the laws to know the extent of councils inspection powers and whether tweaks to those powers may be the solution over all new laws. I'm all for education, but I think the primary focus should be on how to own a dog (health care, food, exercise, training etc) as that will have an impact on dumpage rates.

One thing I'd like to see is that pet shops be required to provide the info on who they purchase their puppies from to the council... this way council could check for appropriate licencing / dog rego and do a visit to see what the conditions were like. Microchips being required to record the info of the breeder permanently... this could then help councils (via pound info) to know if there are lots of dogs coming from a particular breeder and do an inspection. Stopping the dodgy backyard breeder would be a whole lot harder. I'm not sure how you would find them or inspect them.

I won't be able to make the party... we'll be on our honeymoon / first family holiday. Hope it's a lovely day for the girls and that they celebrate in style!

So sad for your family. Thoughts are with you. They are a brilliant breed that really takes over your heart... to loose him so young is very sad.

A lot of people might be away for Christmas though. :D Well not right on xmas, but maybe early December.

I'll have to skip this one. I'm sick and my weekends are becoming all about the wedding. We should do a christmas meet up though.... I'll be away for most of November.

I thonk start a new thread. I'm getting narried in under a month and don't really have the time to update this thread for a meet in the near future.

I say we cancel tomorrow. Even if it isn't raining it will be muddy and cold. Should I change the poll to new dates or start a new thread?

So, are we postponing if the weather stays like it is? Either way I won't be bringing Noah... Inlaws are coming to visit and even though I said I was busy at 10am, they are still coming at that time

I'm still coming with Callista.

Details updated in first post. The dog park is on Stackpole Street at Wishart. Pretty easy to access from the gateway for anyone coming from the north.

We tried... we failed.

So the 10th appears to be winning for morning at wishart. Would the following weekend - 16/17 be better for people?

I'm in. Will be me, Callista and Noah. I'll bring food of some description... maybe cake or some cookies.

Calling all Brissie DOLers! It feels like forever since I've had an outing with the dogs, so I figure it's about time we all got together for a play. Location: Southside (Wishart). Date: Sunday 10th October Time: Morning - 10am So, who's interested?

Steve, I'd like to be involved in this, but not sure what I have to offer as I've never been involved in an established club before, so have no idea how to help set one up and get it started. I'm based in Brissie, would there be one club for Brissie or would you be looking at doing areas... say northside / southside or maybe by council shire?