Tempus Fugit

Goodbye old friend of many walks. You passed away on a beautiful spring day. Two big yawns and you were gone, running with the pack across the rainbow bridge.

My apologies if this has been posted previously: The Victorian Bill

Unfortunately, it IS the breed. They have been bred to fight over many, many years. It is imprinted into their genetics in the same way Retrievers were bred to fetch their masters' ducks, etc when hunting. No one, and I don't care how much of an expert they claim to be, but no one can control these dogs and stop them from attacking when they want to. Matthew B So you think because a breed was bred for a specific purpose they can't make wonderful family pets, if that was the case I shouldn't have a Rottie as I don't have cattle or a cart. I don't have sheep so I shouldn't own a GSD,you see how stupid your comments are. Selective breeding over a number of generations can alter character traits in any breed, eg the divergence between show line and working line GSDs. The dog that killed the child was reportedly not a purebred but a cross breed of the type often used pig hunters etc. Such dogs at least need to have a desire to stand up to and defend themselves against, if not attack, an aggressive quarry. I daresay out of a litter of such dogs 3 or 4 might go to hunting homes while the cast offs end up in the general community. If hunting with dogs was banned then there would be no need for such dogs but I don't think a government would have the political will to stand up to the hunting lobby. The owner of the dog has been branded as irresponsible for allowing his dog to escape, apparently for the first time. Well, the DOL Lost & Found forum is replete with cases of dogs that have escaped from their owners premises - yet these DOLers seem to get sympathy rather than condemnation. I heard the other day of a case where 4 sibes escaped from a backyard because a delivery man opened the gate. Was the sibe's owner irresponsible for not padlocking her gate? I have a 1.8 m back fence, yet I have had a cattle dog actually jump from the rear laneway into my yard (and get roughed up by my 2 gsds). Maybe I am irresponsible for not topping my fence with broken glass and razor wire to deter trespassers, like the railways do with their train yards. In the case of the Melbourne attack, I think the police and coroner should be allowed to complete their investigations before kneejerk condemnations are made, including by politicians.

I believe it is not uncommon for search dogs in Afghanistan to 'wash out' of the military after being traumatised by close artillery bursts. Not suprising when you consider the reaction of some dogs to fire crackers and thunder.

Apparentlly Sport Dog now make a combined training/ tracking collar.

Unfortuneately you can't quarantine flying foxes. The genie may already be out of the bottle, like with cane toads, a much larger and visible beast than a virus, which authorities so far have been unable to eradicate, and which are inexorably spreading. Eventually the disease will probably get into the feral horse and dog populations - and other ferals if the virus is good at mutating. Mandatory vaccination of domestic animals may be the future.

That's a pretty powerful dog. Trying to justify it with stating the size of the dog doesn't make sense to me.It's not your concern why they had their Police Dog with them....a Police Dog is a Police Officer. I don't think this is correct. My understanding is that a service dog is normally considered to be equipment, same as a gun, taser, pepper spray etc. Disabled persons' assistance dogs are legally medical appliances, not humans. Police dogs are not "service dogs" - they are K9 Police Officers and as such an assault on a police dog is the same as an assault on a police officer. I would be interested to see any law that defined a police dog as a sworn police officer, with power to enforce law and arrest persons. As far as I am aware, only a human police officer has such powers and is therefore qualified to be described as a "police officer".

That's a pretty powerful dog. Trying to justify it with stating the size of the dog doesn't make sense to me.It's not your concern why they had their Police Dog with them....a Police Dog is a Police Officer. I don't think this is correct. My understanding is that a service dog is normally considered to be equipment, same as a gun, taser, pepper spray etc. Disabled persons' assistance dogs are legally medical appliances, not humans. Dogs are territorial by nature and it would be normal for many dogs to challenge another dog coming onto their territory. They do not have the wit to discern the difference between a police dog and an agressive stray.

You wouldn't be able to get a GPS dog tracker into an implantable RFI chip because you need a device on the dog with enough power, which means a rechargeable or replaceable battery, and sufficiently sized antenna to transmit the dog's GPS coordinates to a remote receiver, depending on type, a special handheld receiver or a mobile phone tower. Also the dog's device needs to be able to resolve the weak signals from the GPS satellites, which again needs are larger antenna than what can be put into an RFI microchip sized device. (Remember a typical RFI reader needs to be very close to the dog to read the data - since the RFI chip doesn't have its own battery, the reader needs to supply the power to the chip so that it can transmit its data back to the reader). You can get short range wristwatch sized locating devices to put on children that might wander off at a picnic ground but that is about the smallest. Because of the short range they wouldn't be suitable for dogs. GPS dog tracking collars have been around for a number of years and are commonly advertised in hunting magazines. You can also Google on them. The most popular brand appears to be Garmin.

Don't forget ACT night-time temps often get below zero this time of year. In a worst case scenario you will be chipping ice out of the dog's water dish in the morning. For a grey, a warm coat might be advisable.

You may like to add this publication to your website links page: "Bush camping with dogs"

Reading the judgement, CAA and earlier posts: I am confused as to what is a vermin animal: wild pigs apparently are not vermin; rats and mice are; so what is the case with wild rabbits, cats and foxes? Are they small enough to be classed as vermin? If not, are livestock protection dogs that kill say, a fox, at risk of being declared dangerous? - It would appear that whilst the CAA protects a dog owner from being sued for damages if their dog attacks a trespasser, the dog could still be declared dangerous by a ranger or court if they chose to do so?

From the Wagga council website: There are six designated off leash areas around Wagga Wagga, including an enclosed agility track. These are the only areas dogs are allowed off leash in public. Existing fenced dog run area located at Narrung Street on the southern Boundary of the Wiradjuri Golf Centre driving range. Eastern side of Wilks Park North Wagga Wagga, area bounded by south of Parken Pregon Lagoon - east of Hampden Avenue and north of Central Island Road. Boat Club Reserve Lake Albert, between Plumpton Road and Boat Club Carpark on the southern side of Nelson Road. Willans Hill, area bounded by east of Captain Cook Drive - south of Beauty Point Avenue and all of Willans Hill Reserve south of Leavenworth Drive. O'Halloran Agility Park. Forest Hill; The area at the intersection of Cypress St & Kurrajong Ave & adjoining the western side of Wagga Wagga RAAF base. West of Wagga, on the northside of the Sturt highway adjacent to a rest area is the Berryjerry State Forest. At Hay,off the Sturt Highway heading west, before the roundabout, turning right at Shiel St leads to a regional park beside the river, (although last Christmas it was under water with lots of mozzies). South of Balranald, if you keep an eye out, there are some areas where there is a wide reserve (stock route?) between the highway and farm gate.

If you are willing to buy from overseas, Dog sport gearand All K9 have harnesses with handle and you can also get 'in training' and 'do not pet' patches that velcro onto the harness.

If you want to read more on the incident that is the subject of this thread google on 500只狗狗屠刀下的救助 . The website at news has some more videos and pics of the incident.

If you want to know more about chinese meat dog farming google on the chinese characters 肉狗 (edible dogs). A number of meat dog farms have websites: Fankuai Yalongquan Henan Xiang Oron Yongxing Beacon Bishan

For me the issue is not so much about pig hunting but firearm safety. As a child I used to go bushwalking with my dog along fire trails in what is now the Kosciusko National Park. As I grew up, more and more national parks were created. Since national parks are closed to domestic dogs that leaves state forests where one can enjoy bushwalking with one's dog(s). (Frankly I dispute Gwenneth1's assertion that 'state forests are locked up from public access'. I think the only people who would want to promote that idea are those that use the forests for their cannabis plantations). However since Morris Iemma & Co opened up state forests for unrestricted hunting in order to kiss the backsides of the Shooters Party MPs for their electoral preferences and votes in the Legislative Council, (as Curlybert mentions), when going into a forest I am apprehensive about either my dog or I being fired at by a bullet from a high-powered hunting rifle or even an arrow, thereby getting into a "Deliverance" style kill or be killed situation, since you wouldn't know whether the shot was accidental or deliberate. Obviously projectile weapons must be dangerous since services such as the military and police have very strict rules about handling weapons and civilians are not allowed to go wandering around firing ranges, which are delineated by flags and warning signs. On private properties, no farmer would want hunters coming onto their land unannounced without agreeing with the farmer where and where not to hunt, yet in state forests there is apparently open slather. Given that state forests are supposed to be a primarily a resource for timber and secondly a recreational facility for all citizens, then for safety's sake hunting with projectile weapons should be restricted to specific periods when the forest is closed to the general public with warning signs and flags erected, as for a shooting range. As to the purpose of the hunt, Sandra777 said "feral pigs should be exterminated". Tim's Mum said "how can you support their (wild pigs) continued existence as a feral animal that.......has no place here in Australia" Well, supporting the continued existence of exotic feral animals is precisely what the 'conservation hunting' mentioned by Katrina M is about. The aim of 'conservation hunting' is not to eradicate a species, but to maintain a healthy controlled population for sport hunting, in the absence of natural predators, e.g. in Australia we don't have wolf packs to control the wild deer. (In America they killed the wolves as well in order to provide enough deer for hunters to kill). Anyone who thinks sport conservation hunting is going to eradicate feral pigs, deer etc is in cloud cuckoo land. "Conservation hunting" continues the work of the 19th century Acclimatization and Game Societies mentioned by Eric Rolls in his 1969 book on the history of exotic feral animals in Australia, "They All Ran Wild" (Angus & Robertson). Sure, I would not like myself or my dogs attacked by a wild pig in a state forest either but: a) let us have hunting and firearm safety policies, b) if feral pigs have no place in Australia, let us hunt to eradicate, not conserve.

Could the dog have been a blond Hovawart rather than a goldie? The two breeds look similar.

I think raising the issue of a dog's health is a red herring as far as this thread is concerned. In regard to behavioural assessment would the present Protocol for assessing aggression in dogs by veterinarians on behalf of animal welfare groups apply? In respect of imported ova/ semen, how would you get the sires/ dams tested to this standard? Is any dog or their sire/ dam with proven ability (titles) in dog sport (Schutzhund, French Ring etc) having a protection component going to be regarded as dangerous, (based on existing Victorian law)? What about livestock guarding breeds?

Wait a moment - are we going off half cocked? According to this AVA web page we are talking about an AVA policy that was ratified by the AVA in January 1997? Is this policy something the facists in the Urban Animal Management movement (an unholy alliance of vets and dog catchers) are now trying to push through the Federal Minister for Ag, Fish & Forestry or is the 1st post a furphy?

If I understand the policy correctly, assessment would not only apply to a dog/ puppy being imported, but also to the foreign sire/dam? Such standards should also apply to any genetic material imported with assessment of temperament of donors of semen, ova or embryos. Given the anti-schutzhund law in Victoria, would the proposed AVA policy mean that any imported puppy or puppy born locally from the semen/ ova of a dog/ bitch with a Sch title would automatically be banned or import restricted? If exceptions are to be made, e.g. for guard dogs, defence dogs and drug detecting dogs, then special conditions should apply to the release of those animals into Australian territories and these animals should be identified as dangerous individuals, in keeping with local state or territory laws. I never realised drug sniffing dogs were aggressive.

I was bemused by the scene where the litle girl eats a pack of potato crisps next to the dingo.

Try doing a search on this forum as the topic of containment systems has been discussed previously. I believe the weight recommendation is because the stim from most containment systems is a 'one size fits all' so when the dog goes up to the fence it gets the same level stim irrespective of whether it is a big dog or small. For a dog under 5 kg the stim therefore would generally be considered too strong. Also you should never leave an e-collar on a dog for longer than 10 hours max, otherwise you will get necrosis of the skin under the electrodes - probably shorter in a hot humid environment. For a bark collar, a citronella spray collar that works on vibration may be better if it has to be left on for long periods. An alternative is an electric fence type system called a 'Pingg String'. Try this site: Sureguard

I recently discovered that in NSW, along the Murray and Murrubidgee rivers, many former state forests, where one could take dogs, have been turned into either 'National Parks' or 'Regional Parks'. While both are administered by NSW National Parks, you can still take dogs into a 'Regional Park', which incidentally, are also free from hunters and shooters.

Don't forget the risk to the dog from an air bag going off in a minor collision, especially in the front passenger seat. Such air bags are designed to protect adult humans only.