mita

Agree. You paid most of a $3000 price before the pups were born & an additional $1000 later. And there was an agreement it was to buy a pup. Which you never got. And you requested return of the money. But have never received it.

Accreditation does not turn everyone into the most brilliantly perfect practitioner that ever walked the earth. It simply requires evidence that a person meets basic standards of behaviour, for whatever's required to carry out that work. And set out in guidelines for behaviour. Each person still has to be judged by whoever uses their services... on how good they think they are. Joe Public does this all the time, as they shop around for people like doctors & vets. They may come across some they don't think are particularly good. But they don't then say that doctors & vets shouldn't be accredited. They either move on to find another, or, if the problem is serious, they may also lodge a complaint. In fact, because they are accredited... complaints can be directed to the body that manages the accreditation. Where a complaint can be investigated, to see if guidelines for behaviour have been contravened. And a variety of actions taken. Like, there may be found no substance in the complaint, or there may be counselling, or reprimands. In very serious examples, accreditation can be removed.

I'm with corvus that owning a less common breed took me straight to a reasonable number of registered breeders. All of them had interest in the breed as their major reason for doing what they do. I was also lucky that these Australian breeders have close ties with the best of breeders overseas... like New Zealand, Scandanavia, France, Switzerland, UK & USA. Communication with pet people is welcome & they're generous with help. An example: I recently was looking at a prize-winning children's author's website. And there she had gorgeous photos of her gold pet tibetan spaniel. So I told the breeders' list. Next thing, a UK breeder emailed to say she'd bred that little tibbie in 2000. She sent me her baby puppy picture. . She told me that the author had dedicated one of the books to her, as her beloved tibbie's breeder. Even gave me the name of the book series....'The Little Yellow Dog'. Which I'm tracking down, to buy. Now there's appreciation for a breeder! Click on the middle pic in the row of 3 to see a tibetan spaniel that the breeder & the owner can be justly proud of! http://www.francescasimon.com/about.asp

Greyhounds make excellent therapy pets in nursing homes. An aged care facility for elderly catholic nuns in Brisbane used to have a greyhound as a permanent therapy dog. The grey's size meant it could stand by beds & get pats. If the person was sitting in a chair, the grey's head was the right height to get pats, too. Great video. :D

Time will tell with this suggested voluntary additional 2 levels for teachers. This is a scheme where the teachers already have to have basic accreditation anyway. In that way, it's not the same as the CCCQ scheme, which wants to introduce basic accreditation. Tho' voluntary. There I'd agree with you, that systems working to get basic accreditation, generally start to pull in the 'customers'. Tho' they sometimes have a 'grandfather clause', where successful experience over a long time in the sector, gives some people automatic accreditation. As to the proposed extra levels for teachers, it won't mean automatically earning extra money. And wouldn't be automatically linked to promotion. They'll just be 'signs' that the registering authority's ticked off they have a certain level of skill & knowledge & practice. A lot will depend on what evidence will be needed to apply. And they're still trying to figure out what that'd be. So it's still a proposal.

Interesting parallel I heard this morning. The national body that deals with teacher registration wants TWO additional levels of accreditation of teachers...to be applied for, on a voluntary basis. Must-have 2 levels for basic accreditation already are graduate qualifications & a period teaching to prove proficiency. The 2 new, voluntary levels will be highly accomplished & lead. They say employers will 'know' teachers with these additional levels, could be used for things like mentoring. The big issue they're working on, is what evidence will be needed for teachers to gain these (on application), & how will it be gathered. Same question as the CCCQ scheme, about evidence. Same situation, too, where there'll be some teachers who apply to get these voluntary 'labels', & some who don't. Yet a good teacher could still be a good teacher, extra label or not. But accreditation systems try to push standards higher & require evidence. Tho' individuals will still have to be judged on their own merit. And, yes, this accreditation given to teach, can also be taken away. For a range of reasons...incompetency, not meeting standards of behaviour set. They even use old fashioned language like 'disgraceful or improper' behaviour.

Some time back, our vet commented to me what pleasure some of his clients got out of showing, even on a small scale (living in the suburbs). For the combination of social activity, and great interest in their breed. He was a great supporter of the dog show world & the variety it covered & what it achieved for purebred dogs. He would have agreed with your description. You're right about the price of progress. I've posted before, that some kind of accreditation is expected these days in all sorts of areas. It can present challenges. For good or ill.

My goodness, that's luck! I'm just listening to the story on ABC News Radio. One resident is saying that the plane nearly took her out. Everyone said they were amazed to see the 2 people & the dog get themselves out of the upside down plane.

I think there's a heap of difference between saying a dog IS a mix of certain breeds....& saying the dog has a LOOK like certain breeds. People I know in South Australia have a little dog whose background they know....from quite a few generations of mixed-breeds in their small town. Coco looks exactly like a tibbie, but there's not the slightest evidence a tibbie ever came near her known ancestors. It's still an uncommon breed, anyway. She even got the slightly bowed front legs, after an operation to correct some bone condition! Coco sure has the look of a tibbie. But she's not.

Your hubby is not alone. I saw vaguely a bit of cardigan corgi. He's a little like Biddy the cardigan corgi X we had as kids. She had a finer build than the p/b cardigan corgi. But where did that glorious colour come from!

That is just lovely. Talk about mixed messages. Our tibetan spaniel, Annie, who was born in Sweden, gets the nickname Abbaface. I was googling thro' tibean spaniel pics recently & came upon a pic which was the spitting image of Annie. Turned out it was another Swedish tibbie. Obviously, another Abbaface.

The rule of thumb is that when a tibbie is missing, look up! Sounds like the same for papillons. Visitors are forever remarking that our tibbies are doing something cat-like. Like. cleaning their faces with their paws. They're fastidious little dogs. The only small dog that used to be in the Pal Superdog Team, was a little papillon.

When my Tibetan Spaniel, Gracie, was clipped, people would say she looked like a 'pretty miniature bulldog'.

Which may explain the self-possessed intelligence I see in tibetan spaniels. They've been described as 1/3 cat, 1/3 dog & 1/3 monkey. They're a very cat-like breed in their traits. Right down to liking to sit on high places with front paws folded underneath, in that 'boneless' way cats do.

I got a question from a family who'd been put on to me because they wanted a special breed of dog. It was a Disney Dog, they said. All they knew was that it had something to do with the Himalayas. Some bright spark knew we have Tibetan Spaniels, so had put this family on to me. I showed them pics of Tibbies. No, that's not a Disney Dog, they said. Showed them a Tibetan Mastiff pic. Nope, they said. Showed them a Llhasa Apso. Nope. Then I showed them a pic of a Tibetan Terrier. Yes! That's a Disney Dog. So I told them how to find registered Tibetan Terrier breeders & off they went, thrilled pink. To this day, I have no idea what led that family to identify a Tibetan Terrier as a Disney Dog.

Someone asked about my gold tibetan spaniel, Nina Zena, 'Did someone shrink a golden retriever?'

Couldn't agree more. We've owned border collies & shelties, and family members own ACDs. But the most independently smart dogs I've owned are the tibbies. They're good at weighing up situations, but they keep their responses firmly their own. 'The point of this is...?' They're capable of doing very sensible things, off their own bat. I found I trained the herding breeds, but I have to convince the tibbies. But they often have to convince me....like, a stranger has come thro' the gate, there's a burglar sneaking across the back deck, a lost toddler is on the road outside... But once a tibbie has 'agreed' to learn something, it never forgets & doesn't have to be reminded. Like, I teach the tibs to 'Sit' to get pats. Penny drops, 'Bottom on ground gets a pat'. So I'll be walking up the hallway & a passing tibbie's bottom will hit the ground with a thud. Face up, expectantly, 'Right, pat comes next!' Who needs the word 'Sit'? Try to train a tibbie not to eat random food & it'll say 'Your point, if you have one, being...?'

Agree about possible submissive urination. Tho' not uncommon in a female puppy for there to be a bladder 'leaking' problem. Worth checking any such physical basis, with the vet. Or as a straight behavioral issue, submissive urination. She's having to adjust to a new environment with you & hasn't a strong sense of confidence around the world of people. So she does 'submissive'. I'll bet my bottom dollar she was not bred & raised in a situation where she was handled by humans & stayed close to humans in everyday life....in her early weeks. The fact that she's an 'oodle' raises questions about her origins. Unregistered breeders selling puppies are far less likely to socialise them around humans (UQ research). While it's understandable that her urination problem has led her present owners to make her an outside dog....that actually takes her further away from learning close, confident contact with humans. Which would make her even more likely to the 'submissive' behaviour. So I'd suggest a help from a well-informed dog behaviorist. Not just a dog trainer. The nature of her problem needs to be understood.

Glad someone else did the same. We were telling our tibbie girls to watch very carefully how the dogs jumped out of the helicopter. Never know when that skill might be needed.

And what followed...any symptoms flaring up. The keeping of daily notes in a diary was what helped the vets & me, figure out exactly what went well....& what brought on symptoms. I also included any signs of Annie being listless & uncomfortable. So couldn't agree more.

I found the home-prepared finished up the only & best option for Annie. She had no history of bowel problems (nor her rellies) when bouts of runny, urgent poos came out of the blue. The vets tried all the specialist kibbles....those for allergies & digestive problems. They cost a lot, but the introduction of each one, brought the problem back worse. Finally, the vets thought the problem might be any processed foods, whatever was in them. And that it might be a food intolerance, rather than a food allergy. So with advice from tibbie breeders (even one from Canada!) & some DOL'ers, I went straight to a natural, home prepared diet. Combinations of chicken breast fillets, sweet potato, tuna, basmati rice, yoghurt, pinch of physillium, some Farex baby plain rice cereal (because it's got some iron, Vit C & antioxidants in it). I've kept strictly to this, & Annie's never looked back.

Man at the back owns a very elderly Border Collie that he rescued many years back. Molly was looking really poor, couple years ago...back leg problem and signs of deterioration. Everyone believed that was her last times. He took her to a very experienced vet who'd been good with our tibbies. Molly perked up, with the treatments given, to go on living a more comfortable life. And looking far better. She's still doing so. Jennifer White, The Glen Veterinary Surgery, The Gap. By coincidence, we first went to Jennifer to get a 2nd opinion... after one of our dogs had been prescribed a medication which had awful results. We stayed with her. Wished we'd gone there, in the first place.

Someone just asked me can the episode be watched online. And you popped up with the answer. Thanks! Stormie, looks like those beds are tibbie-sized. I really like the way, the program explained things, like how dogs run, using computerized modelling. And dogs' physiology relating to exertion, which they showed was so different from humans. Gawd, no wonder we get worn out before they do.

They've got a competition that goes with it. People can write a short piece why their own dog is extraordinary, add its pic & then get it rated. Prizes of food & dog beds. http://www.eukanuba.com.au/en-AU/extraordinary-dogs.jspx I thought the program was great. Turned TV on early for 5 pm & it was already going. The preview in this weekend's Australian, seems to be what's in next Saturday's program.

Info on their Facebook wall, 1 hr ago, says all the cats & dogs are safe and dry. And gives details. http://www.facebook.com/VictorianAnimalAid