Pailin

Just a curious question, I came across a post on one of those awful FB Pet pages where an owner is trying to find a home for her Amstaff x bitch because she has been nipping her young children and has started drawing blood. Many people have recommended that she contact rescues in her area and it made me wonder if rescues would take on a dog that has been nipping/biting children?

If you are going to ask for assistance, it's a good idea to give the actual facts. I know this breeder and have been privy to interaction between the two of you. Firstly, the puppy murmur was diagnosed as 'probably innocent' - details you left out. Secondly, The breeder asked you to contact her if you had any queries or qualms when she provided you with the health certificate. When you contacted the breeder, three days later, you made if very clear that you wished to take delivery of the puppy and only wanted reassurance that the breeder would be there if the puppy's murmur had not completely disappeared. You expressed to the breeder that you were completely happy with the discussion. You also told her you wish you had contacted her in the first place instead of worrying about it all weekend. You were asked by the breeder to contact her again if you had a dose of the doubts or needed any clarification. This was a very calm, chatty, receptive conversation, as witnessed by a third party, it so happens. At no time did the breeder insist or demand that you take the puppy on time, nor did she demand final payment. At no time did you raise any form of delay in taking the puppy, in fact you insisted that you wanted to take delivery of the puppy. Two days after this, the breeder was advised by her vet that your vet had contacted her. You did not afford the breeder any form of common decency of contacting her, not even to advise that you still had some doubts and were intending to have your vet contact mine. The breeder readily gave her vet permission to contact yours. That evening, the breeder contacted you again, advising that she had been advised in regard to the vet contact and asking whether you had heard back from your vet, whether you still had any doubts or wished to discuss anything with her. You insisted no, that the vet contact was only as a result of a casual conversation with your vet while having your other dog innoculated. You said you had not yet heard back and had forgotten all about it. You insisted that you were fine with everything and all was well. The next day, you sent an email severing the purchase agreement and demanded your refund back. The breeder - again in a state of confusion about your duplicity, contacted her vet and ascertained that she had come out of surgery to phone your vet as as your vet was busy, she left a message with the receptionist advising what she had noted on the health certificate and also adding that she was 90% sure that the puppy murmur would disappear within the 12 weeks. It was at this point that the breeder replyed to your email exercising her right to retain the deposit by way of compensation. The terms and conditions are CLEARLY indicated on the breeder's website. In an effort to resolve the matter, the breeder has also made extremely reasonable efforts to resolve the matter of the refund while you barraged her with harrassing emails, changing tack with nearly every email and threatening her in the process. Frankly, I believe this breeder is well within her rights to retain the deposit when the facts are known. She has been communicative, understanding, receptive, resolving and honest. If that is the case then the breeder needs to understand that a potential health issue is quite a large thing for a prospective owner to wrap their heads around and what she sees as the buyers being "duplicitous" could merely be them trying to be polite and not cause a scene to her face whilst privately freaking out at the situation. After processing it they have concluded that they do not wish to take on this pup and the breeder, irregardless of the purchasers actions, should be ethically bound to refund. I do not believe that this breeder has any rights to retain the deposit when the whole issue is surrounding the possible ill health of a pup. Whether the potential purchasers are acting badly or not, it does not give the breeder the right to behave poorly in return. The breeder should , in my opinion, take the higher road, refund the money and wash her/his hands of the situation that is clearly angst driven on both sides and have done with it. The breeder has acknowledge to the family that a puppy murmur can be very scary to anyone who hasn't had the experience of them, as with the breeder and her vet - this was acknowledge when providing the health certificate in the first place. Please note that the breeder conducted herself in a manner to communicate, calmly and receptively and in an understanding manner with the family and was indeed ready to not only work out details that suited both parties, but stated that she would rather not provide a puppy if there were doubts - it was the family insistance they wanted to take delivery that set the direction of the discussion. If you had, as I have, viewed the correspondence between the parties you may have more understanding of why the off by the breeder to refund if the murmur continues is a very fair one. Frankly the harrassment she received and responded calmly to would have had other repercussions for the family if dealing with anyone else. Not only does she deserve compensation for what she has had to endure, but also a medal. I disagree. I have not read the communication, no, but the breeder refusing to complete the purchase OR refund the deposit is reminiscent of the actions one would expect from a BYB or puppy farmers and is not at all becoming, or reflecting well on, the community of Registered Breeders. If the breeder has handled this so diplomatically then I fail to see why they should stop doing so now. Give them back their money and be thankful to have avoided the near miss of having one of their pups in a home that they clearly disapprove of. Without knowing what breed of puppy we are talking about, going on a guesstimate price tag of say $1500, 33% of that is nearly $500! The breeder cannot honestly think that they deserve $500 for a few "harassing" emails! How ludicrous!

If you are going to ask for assistance, it's a good idea to give the actual facts. I know this breeder and have been privy to interaction between the two of you. Firstly, the puppy murmur was diagnosed as 'probably innocent' - details you left out. Secondly, The breeder asked you to contact her if you had any queries or qualms when she provided you with the health certificate. When you contacted the breeder, three days later, you made if very clear that you wished to take delivery of the puppy and only wanted reassurance that the breeder would be there if the puppy's murmur had not completely disappeared. You expressed to the breeder that you were completely happy with the discussion. You also told her you wish you had contacted her in the first place instead of worrying about it all weekend. You were asked by the breeder to contact her again if you had a dose of the doubts or needed any clarification. This was a very calm, chatty, receptive conversation, as witnessed by a third party, it so happens. At no time did the breeder insist or demand that you take the puppy on time, nor did she demand final payment. At no time did you raise any form of delay in taking the puppy, in fact you insisted that you wanted to take delivery of the puppy. Two days after this, the breeder was advised by her vet that your vet had contacted her. You did not afford the breeder any form of common decency of contacting her, not even to advise that you still had some doubts and were intending to have your vet contact mine. The breeder readily gave her vet permission to contact yours. That evening, the breeder contacted you again, advising that she had been advised in regard to the vet contact and asking whether you had heard back from your vet, whether you still had any doubts or wished to discuss anything with her. You insisted no, that the vet contact was only as a result of a casual conversation with your vet while having your other dog innoculated. You said you had not yet heard back and had forgotten all about it. You insisted that you were fine with everything and all was well. The next day, you sent an email severing the purchase agreement and demanded your refund back. The breeder - again in a state of confusion about your duplicity, contacted her vet and ascertained that she had come out of surgery to phone your vet as as your vet was busy, she left a message with the receptionist advising what she had noted on the health certificate and also adding that she was 90% sure that the puppy murmur would disappear within the 12 weeks. It was at this point that the breeder replyed to your email exercising her right to retain the deposit by way of compensation. The terms and conditions are CLEARLY indicated on the breeder's website. In an effort to resolve the matter, the breeder has also made extremely reasonable efforts to resolve the matter of the refund while you barraged her with harrassing emails, changing tack with nearly every email and threatening her in the process. Frankly, I believe this breeder is well within her rights to retain the deposit when the facts are known. She has been communicative, understanding, receptive, resolving and honest. If that is the case then the breeder needs to understand that a potential health issue is quite a large thing for a prospective owner to wrap their heads around and what she sees as the buyers being "duplicitous" could merely be them trying to be polite and not cause a scene to her face whilst privately freaking out at the situation. After processing it they have concluded that they do not wish to take on this pup and the breeder, irregardless of the purchasers actions, should be ethically bound to refund. I do not believe that this breeder has any rights to retain the deposit when the whole issue is surrounding the possible ill health of a pup. Whether the potential purchasers are acting badly or not, it does not give the breeder the right to behave poorly in return. The breeder should , in my opinion, take the higher road, refund the money and wash her/his hands of the situation that is clearly angst driven on both sides and have done with it.

my thoughts exactly. The need to understand the why's and how's of a situation is fundamental in the efforts to prevent it from occurring again. Example. An 18year old P plater smashes his car into a tree. The police don't just assume he is a bad driver, they look for WHY he crashed, WHAT he was doing at the time, HOW the accident played out and if there were any external factors that contributed to the accident happening- road conditions, another car, drag racing, alcohol, drugs etc. We NEED to know these things to evaluate and form opinions based in fact rather than just assumptions based on more assumptions. I for one, would rather have as much information as possible rather than none at all. Our world has evolved to what it is today due to the human need to understand the cause and not just the effect. CAUSE and EFFECT. The whole picture. If you want to limit yourself to only looking at the result then go right ahead but you may find your knowledge and advancement lacking in the long run. JMO

I was just generally thinking about this recently and wondered what other people do/feel about it all. I have noticed that I tend to prefer female dogs and it has never been a conscious choice but just that I seem to veer toward female dogs when I am browsing rescue sites/threads etc. I really don't know why but thinking back on it the main dogs that I had growing up that really left the paw prints on my life were all females so maybe that contributes. I own a female currently so have had to remind myself that if I was seriously considering getting a second dog (which I am not at this point) that I would most likely have to get a male and the very concept of owning a male dog, after having just my girl for the last 3.5years, seems really strange to me and I realised that rather than breed bias, I have somehow ended up slightly gender biased. I would actually prefer to own a desexed female dog over a male and I really don't know why LOL. Does anyone else have a preference or am I just strange? I don't think my current dogs gender was a choice really- it wasn't even a consideration back then, she was chosen for her personality alone and the fact that she was calm and placid as a pup and out of the pups I viewed (at the RSPCA) she was the only one who didn't jump on and knock over my young toddler and baby. So in the 3.5years of her being a part of my life (and I do happen to think she is pretty close to perfect!) I have become subconsciously biased for some reason. Odd.

My dog certainly dreams, not sure about the nightmares though I guess it is possible. My girl constantly suckles in her sleep. She is 3.5yrs old and I swear she suckles like a little puppy :laugh: and she can get quite loud about it too!

That was incredible to watch. Absolutely blew me away, WOW! So interesting, thanks for sharing!

If the father is from the QLD based "Bandogge" breeder I am thinking of (either Trublu or Southern Cross) then they should have enough information on the parentage and mixture of breeds to be able to "prove" the breeds that contributed to the sire and that they have not used pitbull. Then with the mother clearly being a Bull Mastiff, that should be enough to show parentage and that he is not a restricted breed. I would get started on acquiring this information now because if you manage to challenge the "Dangerous Dog" declaration, they are likely to turn around and try to slap on the "Restricted Breed" label. From what I can remember the landmark Gold Coast case of the AmStaff Tango was won based on the owners being able to prove that his mother was an AmStaff and then the State Gov declared that AmStaffs are a different breed to Pitbulls and so he was able to come home. I would also be demanding answers on WHY and seeking legal advice. I know there is a legal firm in Brisbane (perhaps you could give them a call?) called Couper Geysen who specialise in animal law. THIS IS THEIR WEBPAGE Good luck with it all.

Anyone?

Just needing a touch of advice or experience with a fence runner. We have a pathway that runs down the side fence of our yard that is quite high traffic, mainly with school kids/teenagers. My dog runs along the fence line barking at (almost) anyone who walks down the pathway. It is not always aggressively, although at times (mainly with one specific Staffy from down the road) she can sound quite aggressive. I am sure she must frighten some people or kids and I really want to try to scale back her reaction although I know I have let it escalate too far and should have been more proactive sooner. She doesn't have any issue with any of the other fences and neighbors, never barks at them at all, just the pathway. The fence is a 6ft high wooden fence that she can see a bit through the palings although they are quite close together. She never tries to jump it and is focused to the bottom portion of the fence. When out and about she is not dog aggressive at all and loves people so the barking at the fence seems to be very much habit/successes. It started off being just at bikes or skateboards, progressed to certain kids that tease and aggravate her through the fence and has escalated from there to be anyone that walks down the path. I don't mind the barking so much as I like that people know there is a dog in my yard because I live alone with my kids and in an iffyish area, but her intensity is increasing. Whenever I hear her barking I go out straight away and call her to her bed, she listens but the moment I go back in the house she is straight back at the fence line if there is still someone there. If she is in a higher escalation sometimes it takes a bit of a bang of the back screen door to snap her attention around to me. It seems to only be this one fence. If she is inside she likes to sit at the front door and watch everyone go past and she never utters a peep, although she is alert and watching them. I am going to get some weed mat and staple it along the bottom half of the fence and I am considering using some star pickets and chioken mesh to prevent her from being able to get to the fence line as she initially picks up that someone is coming down the path from the sound so I am thinking that simply blocking the sight may not do it. What I am wondering is, if all else fails, has anyone had any success with a bark collar (like the dogtra YS300) helping to stop a fence barker? Would it discourage the behavior or just the barking and still have her running the fence? It is just a consideration at this point and I wanted some opinions. Thanks in advance.

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This person is a registered breeder (listed on DOL) who is selling the pup as $2500 UNPAPERED (no limited register) or $3500 with papers...??? Registered with DogsQLD.

The person does seem to be a registered breeder on here.

I am not entirely clear on the lingo... can you explain what you mean by that? I am interpreting it as your pet pups that go on a limited register cost less than the ones on full mains register? Is that due to different fees or something? That is different from selling without papers completely isn't it?

Thanks, I thought so.

I don't know exactly how breeders and registering their litters ect go but is there any reason why someone would sell a pup for $2500 with no papers or $3500 with papers? Also how do you know if someone who claims to be a Registered Breeder actually is one? What sort of information can you ask for to verify? Thanks

Thank you very much everyone for your replies. Clover- I haven't treated for fleas as she has NEVER had them before and I can find no evidence of them on her. That being said, to rule it out I have ordered some Comfortis and will treat her with that. Until it gets here I have a Frontline spot treatment I will use JIC. Erny- I will definitely give that a try. Will head down to the health food shop tomorrow. She hasn't changed foods at all lately, and nothing has changed in her environment. I put the belly and underarm itching down to increased mosquito activity because my kids had made a "stew" of dirt, water and leaves etc and left the bucket where I didn't see it and there was a LOT of mosquito breeding going on in that bucket. I washed her, treated with the AC vinegar and got rid of the bucket and her belly and underparts healed up within a week or two. A couple of weeks later she started on the back and bum scratching. There is basically no real skin damage done and apart from the small amount of hair loss on two small parts of her bum, the skin isn't bleeding, red or otherwise inflamed....just itchy. I can barely pat her back now without triggering her itch and scratch reaction. Lavendargirl- My pooch is white as well but I feel so bad about the itching I wouldn't care if the treatment turned her blue, so long as it works LOL! I will buy some tomorrow and wash her in it and let you know about the staining if you'd like? I haven't tried any of the washes yet, I was actually wanting recommendations on them from this thread but I do love a natural solution best so will try the tea first I think. Becks- Thanks for the suggestion. If the tea and flea treatments don't help I will keep the Neem in mind.

My girl has suddenly started scratching ceaselessly and I would like suggestions on how I can help her stop. It started about a month ago and before that we have never had an issue with scratching at all. She doesn't have fleas and the main areas that seem to be bothering her are the top of her bum/lower back and the middle of her back. The itch actually started under her belly and her front leg underarms (for lack of a better term) and she was really red and sore to the point of scabbing. I washed her and treated the area with a dilution of apple cider vinegar and water and put some antiseptic cream (doggy stuff) on it and it cleared up within a week or two. Now she has two patches near her tail that are becoming bald. There is no broken skin etc but I feel like she is just constantly scratching and itchy and I really feel for her! Any suggestions on a wash, powder, cream or something that could help her? I just noticed on the calendar that she is overdue for her worming, could that be a factor at all? Thank you in advance.

And how exactly do you know that Matthew? Or are you merely jumping to conclusions based on something you know absolutely NOTHING about. A good friend of mine is in the Dog Squad and I can guarantee you they get bitten quite regularly.

Thank you for your views. I have rang Jane up already this morning and am going to sit down and document everything I think is relevant and email it to her. I am going to have to juggle a little to see if I can find the money (which is an INCREDIBLY reasonable amount based on the support she said she gives) and then get this all started. Thank you again for your time and Nekbet thank you for your response. It gave me some points to think on.

Bumping for some insight.

Thanks very much Huski. I will give her a call tomorrow and have a chat. I'm off for bed now but will come back in tomorrow to check the thread.

I have a lovely crossbreed dog. I won't even try to hazard a guess at breed because she isn't easy to pick. I have had her since she was a puppy and she is now 1yr 3months old. She is a medium size, almost a small large... I have not had a problem with her until recently. She is submissive, listens well on most occasions (recall is a bit hit and miss so she isn't let off), she has been socialised well and gets along well with other dogs and people. She has never been mistreated by anyone and is a loyal companion to my two children and myself. She doesn't seem to have any dominance issues with the family and definitely views me as pack leader. Now I have noticed in the past (once or twice) she has taken a while to warm up to some men but her behaviour is escalating and I do not know how to address it. She seems to be reacting to men in a fear aggressive way and it needs to be dealt with. It is not all men because she likes my brother and my ex (kids dad) but I would have to say that they are the only men she has had a regular contact with. It is mainly whilst out for a walk with me and the kids (in their pram) and it generally tends to be if we are stopped. If we simply walk past someone she gets alert but will bring her attention back to me with a sharp correction but if we are stopped (say at the local shops) she tends to have a more serious reaction. The other night I left her outside with my Mum and the kids and came out of the shops to find her acting VERY fear aggressive with a young man (about 20, big built). He had apparently approached to say something to my mother in a non threatening way and she went off. Not snapping at him but certainly a LOT of growling, hackles raised, tail tucked. She tended to sort of skitter round the pram, would take a step towards him and then duck back again. I corrected her and put her in a drop and then asked the man if he minded me walking her past him. I put myself and a far bit of space between them but she was still fearful and even after correction from me she still didn't quit it entirely. I am VERY concerned and taking it very seriously. Her behaviour is UNACCEPTABLE and I have to admit to being out of my depth with dealing with it. She is literally the perfect dog in nearly every other way. I don't understand it and am looking for a recommendation of someone local who is qualified to help me deal with this as well as any insight or advice that anyone can give. My mother had the lovely pearl of wisdom when I mentioned having to get a trainer that it's good she reacts like that and it is protecting the children :D and OMG I nearly ripped her a new one trying to explain how NOT good it was and that it was very serious and quite dangerous if not stopped. I am so concerned though. She is such a sweet dog and I do not want her to come to harm (or anyone else) because I cannot stop or teach her out of this behaviour. Please any advice or recommendations would be so thoroughly appreciated!

I am not sure if it is standard but I have had 2 bags of Artemis sent to me (different times) through http://k9katzkitchen.com.au/store/index.php and they split the cost of postage with me both times (went halvies) and so postage only cost me $13 instead of $26. Their prices are good, service is FANTASTIC and you can't beat a company that'll pay for half of the shipping :cry: :cry:

OMG thank you all for all of your replies, it has been so incredibly informative !! FANTASTIC!