mita

I repeat. Good on you. You've shown every indication of having the best interest of the puppies in mind. You've been unfailingly polite to people who've made suggestions. And you're very wise to indicate you're closing the debate. Best wishes for the puppies.

Good luck to the chairperson. It'd be like herding cats. :) Janey, good questions you asked. I suppose someone is trying to do something to get a 'combined' public voice for rescue. But it seems to be coming from the top, down. Cooperative organising usually starts from the bottom, up. Like if a few rescues get together & nut out how & when they might speak with one voice. And 'grow' a cooperative association from there. Their known identities & track record supply the foundation.

Good on you. You're doing all you can to explore safe options for the puppies.... both physically & in terms of welfare. And good on you for bringing up the topic, anyway.

Bats, megabats, fruit bats and flying foxes – it's all the same animal. Do micro bats belong to the same family & equally carry the Lyssavirus? A cat could so easily wrangle a micro bat & bring it inside. A real worry. Seems they do. NSW Dpt of Health: In Australia, only bats have been found to carry Australian bat lyssavirus - both the larger flying foxes (or fruit bats) and the smaller insectivorous (or micro) bats.

yeah its a good idea - thanks. should be doable as its really only the 2 pups that I need to keep a really close eye on. thanks :) You're welcome. I nicked it from one of the rescues! :)

It's not just an issue of pre-paying .... actually make sure the owner has made an appointment date for later on when the desexing will be done At their local vet. That's a condition for the pup leaving you. And it gives you an opportunity to send a reminder notice a week or so before. Just saw that you'll be going overseas. Arrange then that someone else will send that reminder notice for you, when the time comes. This all is the best you can humanly do. In general... there was a paper about early desexing prepared by UQ (Prof Jacqui Rand). It said there was support for early desexing for shelter/rescue animals. BUT the concern was high risk for safety. If vets had assurance of safer techniques, they would be for it. Prof Rand concluded that the techniques which would make early desexing safer, should be taught to vet students. A good read: http://www.uq.edu.au/ccah/docs/15309finalreport.pdf

I've heard of a rescue where the negotiated contract has been that the appointment for the later desexing is made before the pups leave for their new homes. So the date is set. A reminder note can be sent out a week or so before that appointment. Not sure if pre-payment is made when the appointment is made. But if it were at your own clinic, maybe give a discount if & when the new owner honors the agreement. That could be an extra incentive.

The Victorian Dpt of Sustainability & the Environment says no record of a cat acquiring the virus from catching a flying-fox. But that's no comfort if a pet cat come inside (as they do) & drops the bat on a human foot. And horribly stressful & dangerous to try to wrangle it outside. Is there a health risk to my dog or cat if it catches a flying-fox? Occasionally, cats and dogs catch flying-foxes and some people have expressed concern that their pet could contract Lyssavirus. No cat or dog has ever been recorded as having contracted Lyssavirus from a flying-fox. The best available evidence suggests that there is no need to vaccinate pets against Lyssavirus. One dog from Queensland has been found to have Hendra virus. It is thought that the infection was probably passed to the dog from an infected horse, not from a flying-fox.

Doesn't seem so, Aussie. No mention of that by CSIRO. They just say: A pre-exposure course of rabies vaccine should be taken by high-risk category people, such as: bat carers veterinarians wildlife officers.

The CSIRO says that a classic rabies vaccine can protect against the Lyssavirus... but only if the person's been vaccinated before exposure. http://www.csiro.au/en/Organisation-Structure/Divisions/Animal-Food-and-Health-Sciences/Infectious-diseases-overview/Australian-bat-lyssavirus.aspx

I've always thought Roo was photogenic but that pic is the best! No wonder you love her so much! Adorable.

Agree, juice. It's socialisation across people and the environment that prepares a dog to be a family companion dog. Not living mainly kenneled.

Nilofresh. Available from stores & sites which stock specialist cleaning products. http://www.cleaningshop.com.au/contents/en-us/p4438.html

I know this is a rescue forum, but have a look at the mature GSDs presently available from registered breeders, listed in the Breed Pages of DOL. I'd be looking for a breeder who includes children in how she raises her dogs. Most breeders who do so, tend to say if this is so, in their notices. And I notice that the very first entry has a pic of the GSD adult & puppy with a child. http://www.dogzonline.com.au/breeds/mature/german-shepherd-dog.asp Just my opinion, but I think registered breeders who raise their dogs well, especially with good socialisation & matching with suitable homes, are preventing the dumping of dogs. And there's evidence to support that.

The good thing about what you're doing along with Nek, is looking precisely at what Roo does... and working from there to come up with strategies that fit her. Not from some pre-packaged 'recipe'. Nor from slavishly following what might have worked with another dog. Each dog is different. Our 2 dogs with SA, were not alike. One did well after low dose valium was added, the other did well with just the behavior modification strategies. And I know damn well that I could get another dog tomorrow with a separation anxiety problem that could really baffle & challenge me. Same if you were working with a behavioral problem with a child. You have to work with exactly who that child is & exactly what that child does & how they respond to anything you do. If every child (& every dog) were the same, then pre-packaged recipes would be all we'd need. I think you've gone miles ahead in the last week or so. Roo's being comfortable in a crate .... & actually choosing to go in there...is so interesting. And who'd have thought it! Tells so much about her that wasn't known before.

The moment a dog is left unsupervised at the mercy of the best & worst in the passing public, I get concerned. Someone earlier posted how they'd seen unattended, tied-up dogs being poorly dealt with in some way. This afternoon, I was walking past the large St Vincent de Paul's store & saw a beautifully cared for Dachie X little dog. She was tied up, securely, at a post right at the very edge of the footpath. She had about a metre & a half free lead length. Right next to her was the busiest road in our area ... at the bottom of the hill where cars come down, thick & fast. School children & lots of other people were coming off the train & streaming down the footpath beside her. All it would have taken, would be for someone to spook the little dog away from the footpath & the lead length would let her onto the road, straight in front of the cars in the outside lane. She was already on the edge. This was a high risk situation. So I stopped and waited beside her, as cars whooshed by with great noise & crowds of people came along the footpath. After 10 minutes her owner came out of the store, untied her & went on her way.

Fingers crossed, Rosetta, that Annie's story has a beautiful ending, too. Her coat is still glorious.

What a nice outcome for princess Tibbie and her owner! But I agree with you, that not all circumstances come together so well for the golden oldies. And sometimes there's not anything left but a hard decision. This Tibbie girl is called Charlie (after the perfume). Only yesterday I got a letter from her elderly owner .... so hard to read the writing because her motor skills have deteriorated. But it's all about how much she loves Charlie & how happy she is to see her happy. By coincidence, the lady owned Golden Retrievers as pets before she had Tibbies. And she would've been the kind of person who'd have shown interest in adopting Annie. A pic of Charlie:

Say what? If you listened to the video, he said we are going to be famous. That beautiful dog was obviously no threat, so why did't he pick it up after half an hour, or call a Vet? Such a beautiful big boofa, who got exploited by people who wanted internet fame. The rescuer was talking about the dog, Troy, and highlighting the perils for homeless dogs on the streets ... and what a good future can be secured for them. That's a key reason for what that rescue, Hope for Paws, does. I not only listened & looked, but also did some thinking. It's why I made a point of then doing some research & finding their website to establish this. And it's why I then posted a second example of retrieving a German Shepherd from a 20 ft deep river channel. It's what this rescue group does. (You would have noticed that German Shepherd Rescue Inc added their name to that effort.) The work is not that different from the RSPCA Rescue which used to screen on our TV .... dogs and cats being retrieved from danger & a better future worked towards.

So much depends on the circumstances. There's an 18 year old p/b tibbie girl in Sydney, loved pet of retired lady for many years. Vet hospital has looked after her whenever the lady's had to be hospitalised. Staff love this little dog & she loves them. Finally the lady's gone into a nursing home. Vet staff happy to care for the tibbie indefinitely. A staff member takes her to visit the lady in the nursing home which is nearby. The little dog doesn't show her 18 yrs & is quite healthy. She's the star 'practice dog'. Annie deserves to be loved in her golden years, too. Fingers crossed for her.

Annie is beautiful. A true Golden Oldie!

The International Working Party on Tibetan Spaniels maintains a data base. http://www.tibbies.net/itswp/pedigrees My own Tibbie, was imported from Sweden. She has Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish & UK prefixes in her pedigree. And one from the southernn hemisphere. Her Swedish breeder took out Best of Breed last year at Crufts ... and her Tibbies are known throughout Europe for their quality (& good temperament and health). The breed was first brought to the UK from Tibet. So there are classic UK prefixes for their development in the West. It's interesting to see the UK contribution to my girl's line. But there was one Australian Tibetan Spaniel the breeder imported to Sweden, some time back .... from Lynandra Tibetan Spaniels. So it's fascinating to see these top European Tibbies with an Australian dog in their pedigree. My girl from Sweden has that 'Aussie' dog in her background. By sheer chance, the other pet Tibbie that I own (retired showgirl) is a Lynandra.

Another rescue video from Hope for Paws page (lots more, too!). German Shepherd named Biggie abandoned in a 20 ft deep river channel. Wonderful watching the man gradually winning his trust, too. And all the others getting him up to safety.

I looked up the Hope for Paws website. They aim to rescue dogs off the streets, like Troy was. They have a gorgeous photo of Troy in his new home .... sound asleep on an expensive looking leather sofa, with head on soft cushion. Where he deserves to be.

What a lovely boofa! The rescuers were so patient gaining his trust.