Crisovar

Vaccination does not give a 100% guarantee. There can be many reasons why a dog may not have sufficient immunity, the timing of vaccination for that particular animal, issues with the animals immune system etc.

A dog that merely chases - does and can kill stock! One and the same in my opinion. The aftermath of 'just chasing' can be just as deadly. Chasers don't get a second chance here.

Bali Street Dogs These folk do a lot of good work as well.

This is not really what you would call a dog attack if the facts are as in the above post.

Sheesh....just as well those girls were so closely bred, no telling how many they would have had otherwise

Once again, Dog Agressive does not equal Human Agressive.

I understand that we want to save as many animals as we can, but the reality is that it is not the Councils who have put these animals in the situation they are in. Our council blasts it's message on TV, in the press, in the monthly Council newsletter about responsible ownership. They offer vouchers and discounts for owners who do the right thing, fees are discounted for responsible owners, but still the animals roll in. The owners of these animals (and they all have owners at some stage) are the ones that need to take responsibility. Until then councils are left to foot the bill. It is great that some areas have rescue groups and shelters that will jump forward to save as many as they can, but the reality is that it does not happen every where, and I think it unrealistic to expect Councils to fill this need.

What would you like to them to do with all the dogs? Take a more proactive approach to animal welfare, for one. For example * link with an animal rescue/rehoming organisation * retain a list of breed welfare groups who will immediately collect and foster unclaimed strays In Melbourne, the Stonnington Council Pound is Save-A-Dog Scheme, which has a no-kill policy. Some dogs have been listed on their site for adoption for months. So clearly not all councils take the brutal approach of Ipswich. Not all councils are in the same situation as Stonnington either.

What would you like to them to do with all the dogs?

I've become a cynic and I'm very aware of that, and try to second guess myself when my mind wanders in that direction. But like you, Mum to Emma, I can't help but think that 'somethings up'. A purebreed BC puppy, and they can't or don't rehome it, only giving it minimal time before pts? Doesn't make sense to me. Puppys get PTS in pounds every week, there is nothing barbaric about it, Pounds cannot keep them all, if they are unclaimed, rescue does not take them on or a member of the public does not buy them, what do you propose Pounds do with them. You want a extra chance for a B/Collie pup, someone else thinks they should keep all the SWF, I'd like to see all the souphounds kept. Where does it stop. We are talking about POUNDS, not SHELTERS or RESCUE facilities. I can tell you that in regional pounds where the majority of dogs are working dog derivatives a B/Collie would have even less chance. The sad thing is over the early part of the year numbers of animals in pounds rise sharply, space is limited, and many many pups and kittens and worthy adult dogs are PTS. It is not reasonable to to expect a pound to keep them all, there simply is not the resources to. Every week something in the pound tugs someones heart strings and that someone will go to extra lengths to try and rehome it, to give it extra time etc, however at the end of the day there is only so much room, so much budget and they cannot all be saved. This time it was a border collie (so we are told) last week for me it was a huge souphound doofus cross. There will always be something. We also only know part of the story here, what condition was the pup in? did it cope well with being kenneled, if it continually barked or screamed whilst it was in it's chances are lower.

All council areas come on line with the new regulations by December 2010, until then the regulations are not state wide. I don't think Townsville has implemented them yet, many regional councils haven't as yet.

I think we could spend resources on more important things than breeding out rear dew claws. A Simple snip shortly after birth and they are gone.

We do not have a "Shelter" locally, we only have the Pound, which of course is simply a holding facility, that's all pounds are, they are not animal welfare facilities. Impounded animals have 3 working days, day of impounding, weekends, public holidays not included, after that they become the property of the council and may be sold or PTS. Interested persons may contact council with expressions of interest in the event the animal is not reunited with it's owner. All animals are photographed and entered onto the Pound website. All animals are scanned on pickup and checked for rego tag. If they are chipped, reg'd or wearing an ID tag the owners are contacted by phone. Many times multiple attempts have to be made to contact owners. Many times contact is unable to be made. A lot animals get extra time, but it is not possible to hang onto all unclaimed animals and attempt to rehome them. Space and costs do not allow for it. It is also seriously not in the best interest tof the animals to have them languishing in the pound for extended periods. Animal Control costs the ratepayers big time, the cost of 6 ACOs available 24/7, vehicles, phones and equipment on top of impoundment costs and disposal costs make it an expensive department to maintain. A lot of councils are working on improving the systems they have but it all takes time and it takes money.

The warm wet weather contributes to the Hookworm problem that is common in tropical areas. It actually does not take much for a young pup to have a serious burden in the weather we have been having. Walking barefoot in the tropics is enough for a human to be affected also, the larvae actually migrate through the skin.

RIP Jan, condolances to her family. May she be greeted by a pack of happy hounds on the other side.

The reality is any dog can be born with rear dew claws, it just happens. Breeders of those breeds that do require them, remove them shortly after birth. Some breeders may never have seen them, some have seen a few it is just one of those things. I see them lots on a wide variety of pet shop and byb bred mutts that I groom, there are a PITA if you don't know they are there on the fluffys. Using rear dew claws as a form of breed ID would be pointless. ETA we took rear dew claws off 2 PB Kelpie pups a while back, any breed can have them pop up.

Yep, I actually went onto her forum once as a PB breeder, what a joke. There was no respect for the PB world at all, none, not even a faint whiff. So unless someone has taken her hard drive and reformatted her she is the same anti PB (unless she needs to buy one to breed) Mutts are superior campaigner she always has been. Read her website.

It may come as a surprise to you petal but GOOD breeders are already doing it. We don't need a puppy farmer who has bred (god I can't even write that) that many puppies tell us how to do it.

Any experienced breeder of Afghan Hounds, or other breeds for that matter, don't need a test for 'amicability." They have the experience/knowledge to see their dogs/puppies temperaments. In fact, in Afghan Hounds there has been a move in recent years to make them less aloof and more amicable. (If this is desirable in the breed or not is a whole other debate.) I can see the need for this test with dogs of unknown origin but not for purebred dogs. Oh dear dog, I agree Keshwar, but I'm thinking that they just don't get it. Good breeders already do this folks, it is all about the BREED and its essence, its very being is inclusive of all this, good breeders understand the breed its history its purpose, they understand how they grow, how they go through changes with maturity. Seriously folks if you want a stuffed dog, pop off to Kmart and buy one, if you want a real dog be responsible for your own choices and buy the Breed that suits you. Yep too right for the rest of the dogs life we keep it in the freezer, don't interact with them just thaw them and show them then pop em back in again. FFS this is getting sadder by the hour.

So, choose your breed carefully, yep, all breeds have different characteristics. Good breeders know this, and do this, again though choose your breed to suit your lifestyle and ability. Breeding true to the breed standard not to extremes is what good breeders already do.

This subject has come up before when the topic of mandatory desexing has been desexed, the removal of dogs from the gene pool is a concern. I'd be interested to hear where this went today.

CRAP! I am sorry Crisovar, I don't see it that way and more to the point, people here are talking about dogs barking and acting scary frightening away unsavory characters which many dogs will do successfully I agree, but that is not stepping up and defending for real where the dog will take someone down which is a big difference. Nobody has actually given us an example of their dog going for the bite, only a perception that it would???. The only untrained dogs that I have ever known to attack in defence for real and maintain their nerve when pressured with a history of taking down offenders were guard dogs that would bite anyone other than the hand that feeds them, totally aggressive out of control and completely unsuitable for a family pet. My choices of dog over the years have included breeds that will step up when the need arises, and yes they have had cause to and have done the job. You wont hear a lot about dogs biting and stopping a threat when they need to because it is frowned upon, and assumptions will be made as to the dogs character, just like you did, but yes mine did. Would I have a dog that did the same again, yes in a heartbeat. A well bred confident Boxer will be able to do it, A Dobe will do it and yes a sound minded GSD will do it. Nothing fearful or unsociable about them, simply of sound mind and capable of doing their job. If barking causes the threat to vanish for many well so be it and good stuff but I have seen dogs in action that have had to do more and have been more than capable.

Well Nekhbet there are a lot of fools out there who have been protected by their UNTRAINED dogs. CRAP!

Sounds like true Boxer colours showing in just the right way to me, what a good girl you have there Miss Molly. I have had dogs step up to the plate when need be, and I'm damn glad they did. That is all you can ask of them.

Are you talking about his front dew claws? The claw higher up on the inside of his front legs? If so that is normal, they are supposed to be there. As for the feet turning out, from those photos I would not be too worried, he is a growing pup and many do go through stages where feet turn out and they go down in pastern.