Curlybert

That is utterly extraordinary. I've stopped and picked up dogs wandering on main roads a number of times. If they have no tag I take them to DAS Pound Canberra where I'm volunteer. The rangers then scan for a chip and ring the owner. If the owner agrees, the ranger provides me with their address and I take the dog home. If there is no chip, the dog is impounded. Perhaps I'm only allowed to take them home because I'm a pound volunteer but regardless, DAS rangers are quite cooperative about members of the public bringing in stray dogs. Apart from anything else, it's one less job for them. And far better than some poor sod having to scrape a dog's remains off the road! I think you're right, Spotty Chick.

Calm down, mate. I'm done!

You keep editing your post that responds to mine. Stop it! I think if yiu re-read all the posts you will see everyone is on the same side. Not sure what your problem is.

Then you should have made that clear.

Gee Steve, sorry you missed my point. I was being ironic. Too subtle for you, eh?!

Remarkable. All pure-breds apparently!

Sorry my mistake. Should have said desexing is compulsory unless one has a permit. THis is from the Territory and Municipal Services website: Is de-sexing compulsory? Yes. However, people who wish to keep their dog or cat sexually entire for breeding and/or show purposes, or because their dog is a racing greyhound, can apply for a Permit to Keep a Sexually Entire Animal at Domestic Animal Services. A permit will be required for each dog you own and each permit will last the lifetime of your animal. You will need to provide proof that you meet the above criteria. The fee is $322 ($64 for pensioners.)

When I see these sorts of ads I take them down if they're not inside a window. I'm sweating on someone pullling me up on it so I can triumphantly inform them that backyard breeding is illegal in the ACT. But this policy is honoured more in the breach than in the observance, alas.

You beat me Odin-Genie! The same article is also in the Sydney Morning Herald with a couple of additional paras: "The frontal lobe is an area of the brain responsible for intelligence and problem solving, as well as social behaviour. Dr Valenzuela said examining the link between brain changes in dogs and their behaviour would be the next step in the research. ''The obvious step forward … is to do more sophisticated cognitive and behavioural tests in dogs and see if there is a relationship between brain rotation [and behaviour].'' The researchers hope to find whether a dog's sense of smell is affected by the repositioning of the olfactory lobe. "We think of dogs living in a world of smell but this finding strongly suggests that one dog's world of smell may be very different to another's,'' said the veterinarian and study author Paul McGreevy, an associate professor of the University of Sydney."

My source, Ozwords, is published by the Australian National University. It's the newsletter of the Australian National Dictionary Centre, and features articles by Centre staff and guest contributors on Australian English. It's not just any old internet article and, I suspect, has more authority than Melvyn Bragg! But we do agree about debarking!

Off topic, but I'm a pedant. This is from the ANU Ozwords site: "Gaol and jail are variant forms of the same word. They came into Middle English from two slightly different sources. Gaol found its way to England as gayhole (no jokes please ) from Northern or Norman French; jail came over from Central or Parisian French as jaiole etc. Thus in 1275 or so in a tract called The Pains of Hell we find: ‘In helle is a deop [deep] gayhole’. And in about 1300 in the Northumbrian poem Cursor Mundi we are told: ‘A sargant sent he to Jaiole’. There we have the two forms well nigh neck and neck. Gaol, the descendant of gayhole, has survived to this day only because it was the preferred form in English statutes and so forth over the centuries. It is now far less common than jail and jail is very much to be preferred: jail is eminently reasonable; gaol is puzzling and perverse. (So perverse, indeed, that there is a very long history of the word being spelled goal!) Though both forms are written, only jail is spoken, the hard g of gaol having grudgingly given up the ghost many centuries ago. That is why gaol has the same pronunciation as jail."

I think the majority of respondents made their points emphatically but not offensively.

It's labouring the point but for the record, in case you haven't seen the earlier "In the News" thread, Moselle described Michael Linke as "full of shit" and "a contradiction in terms". She also said he suffers from "foot in mouth disease" and that he was "shallow" among a a number of other unflattering adjectives. Mr Linke is well-respected in the Canberra community. Very few respondents have been as insulting as Moselle has.

On the contrary, Conztruct, I think she did deserve it. Doggedly ( ) expressing a fanciful viewpoint in the face of clear evidence that she was wrong, repeatedly criticising a respected RSPCA CEO who opposes BSL, and tweaking her position a number of times when painted into a corner. I admire her tenacity - Moselle was a willing and enthusiastic participant for the most part - but if it ended with her being angry and upset then she has no one to blame but herself.

In the original "In the News" thread you said Michael Linke was "full of shit". In this thread you have (among other things) called him shallow, so you HAVE been making a prolonged attack on him and an unfounded one at that.

Thank Dog for Logan! I'm old enough to vividly remember the Anita Cobby case. Very sensible decision not to walk at night anymore, k9A!

I think Blissirritated summed it perfectly with her free pony analogy (post 55 in this thread). Is it really all over? Shame - it's been very entertaining!

Hi Michael Good to see you on board and thanks for defending the much-maligned pitbull on Monday in the Canberra Times.. Are you able to explain, if opposition to BSL is RSPCA national policy, why Hugh Wirth is so vocal about pitbulls - shouldn't he be towing the national policy line? Thanks.

For those who may not know, this thread has taken a very entertaining turn as a new thread under "General Dog Discussion"!

No, you didn't. Anyway it is hardly a proper poll when you keep fiddling with the question(s), notwithstanding that the results thus far do not favour your viewpoint at all. No, not at all. I don't know what the heck is going on; I have been trying to rectify the problem and am not having any luck! Heck, I want people's opinion just as much as you do, no matter if they agree with me or not. I was, in fact, trying to reword the question to this poll as I worded it wrong the 1st time around. Looks as though the poll is back on and lest we forget that, as you said BST, 8 people do agree with Mr. Linke's statement. (post 7). Yes I did say that the original 8 votes in favour of Mr. Linke's statement will be added to the final poll results as my above post goes to prove. I haven't kept on fiddling with the question/s. I tried to make a change once and only the once! What are you up in arms about anyway given that the results to date are not in my favour? lol. Sorry but no, you didn't! And I'm not up in arms - actually I think this whole thread is hilarious!

No, you didn't. Anyway it is hardly a proper poll when you keep fiddling with the question(s), notwithstanding that the results thus far do not favour your viewpoint at all.

Yup. Sure looks that way to me!

I have to say I rarely see them being walked by their owners - my main exposure to them is at the Canberra Dog Pound where they are over-represented as strays. Obviously they are a dog that needs lots of exercise and positive stimulation and these pitties don't get it alone in the backyard, so they take off. Having said that, the vast majority of pound pits I have met are cheerful dogs and no more dog aggressive than any other breed that may be holed up in the pound. And I have never seen a black pitbull at DAS - they are usually tan or caramel - the red nose variety.

Time to put a sock in it, Moselle. You're just embarrassing yourself now.

Do pitbulls come in black? I thought they only came in dark brindle. Maybe these dogs were cross breds. In my experience Canberra ones are usually a sort of caramel colour.