Alyosha

Gillmans looks like the one I was thinking of. We are lucky to have won a couple of these and they really stand out as special. They're my favourites.

Try PM-ing SkySoaringMagpie. She gets them for our club and they're really nice. I just can't recall the site she uses.

So glad to hear he's home. Hopefully both of you can relax just a little bit now you're in your comfort zone.

Lovely snake. Fingers crossed something can be done. Huge Kudos to you and your vet for looking after these guys.

I took in an older GR girl once who was a giveaway on the local noticeboard (she ended up living out her days with my mum). Beautiful, easy, loving girl. She was being given away because she was "too fat and ugly". Whilst casually avoiding the topic of her having been stuck in their backyard all her life, so whose fault was it that she was fat?! Mandimoore I think most folks know there are sometimes very real reasons. If the genuine cases were the only surrenders the numbers would be much, much less.

I think it can carry a scornful implication, whether breeders intend it or not. "Not suited to breeding / showing" perhaps? People in the dog showing and breeding world sometimes forget that our terminology is not so familiar to others, talk to someone outside the dog world about 'bitches' and they will usually do a double take. To many people, dogs are pets, to suddenly use that name to denote something less than perfect, or less desirable than other dogs can seem slightly offensive.

Yep. Mine are all pets first, it's the most important characteristic.

The judiciary can only work with what they have. The Bail Act in this case. And, despite how the Magistrate and community feels about the offence, if the defendant meets certain criteria, they are eligible for bail. Even murderers.

I don't think they ever give a reason. If you give them a call they might be able to explain their appeals process. I'm really not sure ow they choose sometimes. My first choice, like you, I cheked far and wide and couldn't find anything similar. Yet I got given my third choice, which I don't mind, but have since found out a European kennel in the same breed used to have it!

In NSW it's illegal, for anyone breeding dogs. It comes under the DPI enforceable guidelines for dog and cat breeders.

Gorilla, watch your pup's feet carefully. He has obviously been dragging his toes a little, which can be fatigue in a youngster, nutritional or a conformation fault. With those splayed feet as well however I would be supplementing with a little calcium, and some vitamin C. Kids chewable tablets are fine. Plus give him some tinned fish a couple of times a week to increase uptake of calcium. Minerals and vitamins work in conjunction with each other, like teams. And although commercial pet foods claim to have a balance included not all pups are the same and breed and individual needs will vary. Calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, vitamins A C & D are all interconnected. A lack f one will stop your pup's body from utilising another. Calcium liquid, from a good pet supplies store or your vet clinic, is the most effective and cheapest way to supplement calcium.

People often try to claim Ridgeback x to explain a red nose, which is otherwise considered a strong indicator of certain lines of pitbull.

I much prefer chicken to roo, and even beef. Roo is too rich for mine, and too little fat - upsets stomachs. If you have an indoor dog it can lead to flatulence of a fairly full-on kind... Beef in excess I don't like as I've had an allergic dog before. So bones only in beef except for weaning pups who have beef mince. My only preference to chicken is lamb - and chicken is usually more accessible and affordable. So chicken it is.

In some breeds, over frequent washing can increase the smell. As the skin is stripped of natural oil it actually produces more. Some breeds are best longer between baths as the skin /coat/oil levels will get into balance.

The bicarb will help but not cure the problem. The oils from dog coats gets into the underlay of the carpet - which is probably old foam. And there it stays. Bicarb is a good management tool but the only cure is getting rid of the underlay (and usually the carpet!).

Yep. The only constants in disastrous animal husbandry are humans and animals. Pure, cross, rural, urban, large scale or small. Any can be shocking, with no minimum standards. External appearances, awards, qualifications and whatever other credentials are involved don't mean squat sometimes. Like Espinay says, we need to stay involved in the consultation process. We need to be seen to be acknowledging and discrediting those who don't meet bare minimum standards, not trying to protect them as that will put the credibility of all breeders out the window. Yes pure breeders need to stick together, but we need to ensure that we are maintaining standards as part of that. Hence the email I suppose. :D edit - missed some words!!

Genetics and bloodlines is pretty much everything. You don't really think that successful breeders just chuck together two winning dogs and take their chances?? Some might, but note the word successful in there. It is a whole package, not a looks thing. Looks must conform to standard, but that is just one part of the package in successful breeding and breed custodianship. Books, photos, videos (in recent times!) personal knowledge of long term breeders, mentoring, networking - all of these things and more go into researching bloodlines. Just like any domestic animal. Poultry might be on a shorter time scale, and horses might be on a longer one, but the background records, research and knowledge put into bloodlines before considering matings is the same.

I too would be looking for other sources for the aggression at that age.

You're right Espinay. But if people are finding that the problems faced by breeders are not the specifications of this or similar Codes, but over zealous regulators enforcing them, that issue needs to be where dog people stand together and support each other. The Courts take a dim view of over-regulation and their time being wasted. I cannot see the majority of normal small time hobby exhibitor/breeders having any issue with compliance with this document. But I have to say, on a personal note, that I would want first hand physical knowledge of a situation before I sided with any dog owner or breeder on their standards, as I have walked into some nightmares both large and small scale. It's hard to say we should band together when some of us have experience that makes us wary of doing so. PS. In NSW RSPCA don't have powers in excess of what police do. Police have all the same powers under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. The difference lies in a different level of accountability - police are and rspca largely aren't.

Thanks SSM. I thought I was going mad... (er...) The nature of much regulation is that it can't fit every circumstance and situation. That's where discretion and reasonable come in. I'm not for a moment saying that all those who work in regulation are reasonable, and there are cowboys in every regulatory field. But people subject to stuff like this need to know it, apply it practically and reasonably, and challenge cowboys in a sensible manner if they encounter them. Most of us would have no qualms about lodging complaints about a police officer whom we felt had gone completely over the top in applying some minor regulation or law. So why wouldn't we do the same if challenged about our dogs when we have nothing to hide? I found Steve's example pretty disheartening really - why run off and desex all your dogs if you feel you can justify what you do and why you do it, and can demonstrate how it relates to this Code? Even if not word for word.

:confused: Is that facetious?

Mine is the same as an older one, in the same breed, from somewhere in Europe! I didn't know this when I put it third on my list... Yet I cannot find reference to anything similar to my first one... Strange...

Yet everyone seems to think that the entirety of this document provides for mandatory conditions? The only enforceable ones are the "standards" which are clearly defined in shaded boxes. Read it again. Carefully, and only the shaded boxes. The cause for alarm bells should ring much, much more softly. Anyone?

And, if I had an enclosure in my backyard, it would normally be kept at a sanitary level, so no issues there. How would an attending regulator possibly prove beyond reasonable doubt that I had not disinfected it within the last week?? If it was encrusted with filth it might be an issue. But again, if it was at a normal standard of cleanliness like we would all maintain anyway... It may have been disinfected yesterday. last week, last year if not in current use. Who knows? Only the owner/user. Sometimes people need to be a bit savvy when answering questions too. ;) If anyone here was questioned on any of these "standards" by a visiting regulator - council, RSPCA, whoever - they should be issued a caution (as in - you don't have to say anything and anything you say may be used in evidence etc etc). If that caution is not issued, the breeder needs to ask whether this information may be used as evidence, and either shutup or obtain legal advice. Like in any legal matter, you are not obliged to provide information or answer questions. Silence is a right, not an admission of guilt.

I think we are succumbing to doomsday feelings here. Maybe with my background I have less qualms about applying or even challenging something like this if need be? But I think the doom and gloom around it is unwarranted if it is read carefully and any cowboy regulators that may appear out of the woodwork can be challenged sensibly. With the bit like vaccinations for KC, heartworm regimes etc. They all specify under veterinary advice, or otherwise with veterinary advice etc. So me as an example: I don't vaccinate for KC, and I don't treat for heartworm. Both are on advice from my vet and supported by him. So those clauses wouldn't worry me. I would presume that most breeders are fortunate to have a vet available that they trust and interact with on a level that support would be forthcoming in these sort of instances?