mita

Along with beautifully raised puppies.

There's also Doggie Rescue. http://www.doggierescue.com/adoptadog.htm

Interesting that a black & tan won Best of Breed in Tibetan Spaniels. http://crufts.fossedata.co.uk/Breed.asp?ShowYear=2013&GroupID=UTI&ScheduleID=105 ADDED: This B of B girl, comes from the Souska Tibetan Spaniels. I was just told that an Australian tibbie breeder has already imported a Souska tibbie. Now an Aus. Ch. http://www.swansford.co.uk/Tibetans/souska_its_magic.htm Last year's Crufts B of B tibbie was a P'zazz... and Australian breeders had imported them, too.

Two we've had a lot to do with re tibbies, , are Denise at PAWS and DABS. http://www.dabs.org.au/

The American Kennel Club's info was interesting. Especially origin in Sicily. Says it's generally related to the Pharaoh Hound....native/national dog of nearby Malta. Does look like someone shrunk a PH. Must be the only dog with a volcano in its name. :) http://www.akc.org/breeds/cirneco_dell_etna/index.cfm

My tibbie Annie loves to eat. I have to be so careful with her diet, otherwise she'd turn into a round golden ball & roll everywhere. She does amazing 'drive by' thefts if I let her anywhere near where the cat is eating. She can flash by like lightning & somehow manage to grab a mouthful of food as she passes. The puss hardly knows it's gone. Just feels a breeze. :) Only good thing is that she doesn't eat non-food items, like rocks.

Don, you have a good eye for talent. :) And he loves his dog, too. What else could you want. :) :)

Great photos. Wonderful to see such a big crowd watching. It's mesmerizing watching the video of Lani, the surfing dog. She's brilliant. Thanks.

Lovely photo, Katdogs. I've become addicted to that Goldie Rescue Facebook page!

Good topic to bring up, IMO. There's a website set up & managed by Tibetan Spaniel breeders. They have an international working party on health matters. Thanks to their efforts over time, there's great control of PRA which has been found in the breed. Each country has a representative on this working group (you'll see an Australian breeder listed). Bloodlines tested & cleared are listed... as are any dogs where PRA has been detected. Very useful info to know about. Only yesterday, I referred someone who's rescued a purebred Tibbie (pedigree known) to this site, to show how Australian p/b Tibbies are free of PRA. http://www.tibbies.net/itswp/

Do we have any data on how the puppies were sold? Or any data, long-term, on what happened with puppies that had been sold? Behaviour is incremental... so problems emerging after being masked by puppy stage would probably not even be thought of as relating to shaky base. This kind of operation fails in the face of what research knowledge would suggest as optimal. Frankly, the sooner there's consumer law that reflects this, the better for both the dogs and potential owners. As part of that law... every puppy would carry an identifying number that listed their original breeder (using the microchip), to allow for life-long tracking.

We have consumer laws that cover all sorts of 'products; which protect the public from unsafe items. Puppies sold as companion animals need to have socialisation in their background & in their mother dogs, if they are to develop the base for living alongside people in their lifetsyles. It's such an important factor for dogs living alongside people that consumer law ought cover it. And there should be serious questions in how to do that.

The question of socialisation hasn't been seriously addressed yet in terms of any legislation, either animal welfare or consumer rights. So there's been no serious attempt to formulate what it is .... and what would be minimum observable standards. It's the elephant in the room of breeding/raising/selling puppies... & the keeping of the parent dogs. In its absence, there's only discussion of material arrangements.... which tho' important... can be all in some kind of 'order', but there is no socialisation.

Yes. Sums it up well.

I'd like the laws to address what is needed to breed, raise and manage dogs as the companion animals they're intended to be. Frankly, doing so, without meeting those needs, is cruelty & also consumer fraud. Solid research shows that not only puppies must be socialised, but behaviours like aggression, excessive timidity are related to the extent of ongoing socialisation of the mother dog. Anyone selling puppies that are raised in conditions that do not meet those needs, should be charged with consumer fraud. And, concurrently, should be charged with animal welfare breaches for stunting the development of dogs as companion animals. Long time back, an RSPC Qld inspector wrote in the newspaper, that the stunting of a dog's social capacity was just as bad as physical lack of care. And was often the hardest.... if not impossible... to overcome, after dogs had been taken to safety. This approach fits both animal and human welfare needs. And can be backed by research. On the surface details available, I'm not impressed with the OP case. Can't see any indication at all of his meeting those welfare requirements. It'd be a case of double charges, if more insightful laws were in place.

You sound like you did your research & found that there's 'a cancer common in GSDS'. Seems you weighed up element of risk in getting a GSD? Did you ask the breeder if it occurred in the depth & breadth of your pup's background? I expect there's no genetic test for the cancer you're talking about? There's no magic bullet genetic tests for most human conditions either. There's also a complex interaction between a certain mutation.... what other mutations exist... & the environment. So someone can carry a mutation but the condition never arises. Dog breeders can't be held to a different standard of disease prevention than that which is possible for humans.

Why do simple posts always have to turn into pure vs cross breeds? I find the above statement to be a wild generalisation,and unfair f There's an underlying fact lurking behind that generalisation. There's more potential for control of outcomes with purebreeds because there's documentation of dogs not only back generations allowing for depth of pedigree search, but also breadth of search through the siblings of parent dogs. This unique position for pedigree dogs was highlighted, with great satisfaction, by a researcher in human medical science at one of our leading universities. Dogs and humans share many medical conditions. So that medical researcher pointed out how, uniquely, purebred dogs allowed his research to track conditions we share ... by depth & breadth thro' generations, in a way that's not so accessible with humans. And with a view to developing prevention & treatment. And BTW a comprehensive study in Denmark looked at longevity in mixed breeds and purebreeds. A bunch of pure breeds topped the list ( included poodles & dachshunds).

Previous article mentioned a grouping called Alliance for Contraception in Cats and Dogs. Found their website. List of their Organizational Partners is interesting. Also News & Resources. http://www.acc-d.org/Home%20Page

Made me curious to search. Found paper for shelter vets & staff on topic of search for non-surgical sterilant for dogs & cats. Goes thro' present means available . Only gets down to fact, at the end, that any permanent one-dose sterilant is still at an 'idea' stage. Research has a long way to go. Gives a good warning that, if such a product were to be developed, it'd need to meet the approval of a range of people, from vets, to welfare... and to the public. So it's important to bring up the kind of cautions that people have posted: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:5-FfV8YYk_kJ:www.arkcharities.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/shelter-medicine-chapter-nonsurgical.pdf+US+Veterinary+Association+one+dose+sterilant+female+dogs&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=au&client=safari

Agree. One of the recommendations UQ research made, after discovering that most dogs are dumped because they don't live up to expectations, was that pound/shelter authorities offer a first step of providing training/management help. So many issues relating to dogs are not always extremely difficult to 'fix' if owners have guides on what to do... & are willing to put in the effort. It'd be great if there was one dedicated website that specifically provided user-friendly, jargon-free guidelines on things like toilet training, preventing separation anxiety, barking, timidity ... etc etc etc. Easily printed out, too.

....Which is why it helps to locate exactly what credible sources in Japan say about current animal welfare laws in the country. I found the Japan Times article interesting in terms of where certain bodies wanted to see upgrading. It's not a matter of making comparisons. After all, the cry to upgrade is constant here, too. It's a matter of looking at actual information from Japan. Not greatly helped by the language barrier in accessing copies of any legislation.

Good thinking, The real life stories you're talking about give potential adopters assurance that there are things you can do to settle dogs in ... with some taking more time, perhaps, than others. But the ending to look forward to, is a well balanced dog who's a much loved member of the new family.

Interesting article from the Japan Times. There are concerns from some members of the Japanese public & organisations like the Japanese Veterinary Assoiation that animal welfare laws in that country need to be upgraded. But one planned law to regularise the ages of puppies in petshops, got scuttled. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2012/10/07/national/animal-welfare-law-left-neutered/#.UTa8Ixw_-yM

Sounds like she would be perfect to educate the future generation about how beautiful and placid bullys can be I second this. Here's hoping, juice, that your bully girl makes it into the program. BTW Great program ... congrats to all concerned.

What a great idea.