mita

There was a young honey/white border collie living in bushland around a dead-end suburban street on the North Coast. No one could catch him but people in the street left food & water for him. Can't draw too many parallels with the maremma. Too many different factors .... like breed characteristics, length of time , range of roaming. But interesting thing was that everyone agreed the border collie was at huge health risk & if anything went wrong for him in that bushland he could have a horrible death. Dog trainer in that area said he'd adopt him if & when caught. Can't remember how he was finally caught, but he finally went to live with the trainer

My first response is that there's a lot of difference between minding a dog because the older person has a health-related emergency.... like going into hospital for a week... & going on a cruise for a month. Good luck to her that she can have that pleasure ... but it's nothing to do with a rescuer whose offer was more in relation to medical/health emergencies. I notice she says she doesn't want her dog to go into kennels when her arrangements with neighbours can't happen. With our smallies, we have first off the rank mutual arrangements with neighbours & friends re minding. But we always have the fall-back position of having sourced the most reliable kennels that have proven to be fantastic, so our girls love going there The lady needs to do the same .... re her holiday periods.

Totally agree with all of this. That's exactly how we got our first Tibetan Spaniel. Phoned around the breeders, who were all lovely & helpful. Followed up, with those who might be interested in adopting to us, a summary of our history of owning dogs & the living/caring conditions we could offer. We finished up with a gorgeous young Tibbie. Wish you the best, too.

That was an amazing story! The long arm of a microchip reached over 13 years! And to think I'd just been talking on the Tibbie list about how great it was that a microchip brought a Gold Coast tibbie home.... after 8 months. But you were ready to help the Pei, even if there'd been no owner located. Thank you for posting. Rescue, with all the will in the world, has many sad endings. So good to be reminded that some happy endings happen against the hugest odds.

Yes. That's also a behaviour management technique used with young children. Observe them carefully or even set up a situation where they're likely to do some specific thing of their own accord.... & promptly praise/reward.

Agree with that, very sensible. All my Tibbies have been ex-showgirls. It's never been difficult to teach them 'Sit'. No hands on the dog needed. They've loved treats & I've held the treat over their heads & a little to back while saying 'Sit'. The bottoms automatically go down to the ground to get into that position of 'eyeing' the treat. Trick was not to hold the treat too high or they'd stand on their back legs. As soon as the bottom touches the ground, I've said, 'Good girl!' & given the treat. They soon connected bottom on the ground, with 'Sit', with reward.

The 'Tibetan' part of Tibetan Spaniel is self-explanatory. They were a native Tibetan dog breed. The 'Spaniel' bit is more complicated, given that they are not spaniels in the sense of 'nose' dogs. Tibet had always been closed for thousands of years to Western influence until a British army battalion came from their base in northern India & occupied Lhasa. When they marched out back to India (& back to the UK) in 1904, the men took dogs that'd become their pets. The diary of a witness to the actual marching out is still in the British Library in London. A British officer describes the men taking 'their' dogs .... he said the mastiffs were 'as big as Welsh pit ponies'. And he said it was touching to see big, burly men carrying much loved little spaniel-like dogs in their arms. He said they resembled King Charles spaniels a bit. So that's how the 'spaniel' bit got in .... 'spaniel' in the sense of a pet lapdog. But the little dogs already had a label in the Tibetan language ... which meant 'scissors dogs' in English. Because they were small as if they'd been cut down with scissors. The officer in charge of the expedition sent 4 'tibbies' back to his wife in England where the English version 'Tibetan Spaniels' prevailed. All Tibetan Spaniels in the western world are descended from those 4.

I love the pic around the Christmas tree. Beautiful dogs.

The University of Sydney is doing research on this condition in dogs & has had success with an elderly cocker spaniel..I think they're still recruiting suitable dogs for their trials. But I understand you're not in NSW. However, you might find it interesting to read their description of the condition: http://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2015/12/04/world-first--university-of-sydney-scientists-cure-dog-of-dementi.html

Maybe the police can get authority to access phone records etc when it's vital to prevent likely fatal neglect (thro' no one's fault) of animals??? The police seem to be included in the search because the Daily Telegraph gave the phone number of the Summer Hill police station. Also one idea raised by someone on the vet page ... was checking if gps available on the phone or car. Another person suggested using the data base of families in the area from the schools. But I don't know how that would sit with privacy, either. Families only signed on to the data base for school matters. Just found a Facebook page that's been started to coordinate all efforts to do something or think of ideas. And to update: https://www.facebook.com/groups/534994619997067/

Summer Hill Vets have a post on their page, with a little extra information. Says the gentleman's son, named Sean, called them. It was a dog and a cat being looked after .... & it's known the family had one cat euthed in the past few months, so a trawling of vet records might turn something up. Also known, the family make pretty frequent trips to the south coast. https://www.facebook.com/Summer-Hill-Village-Vet-188990791147232/ I notice people are posting some ideas on that page. The Daily Telegraph gave both the Summer Hill Vets & the Summer Hill police station phone numbers for anyone to ring with information. Maybe if it was mentioned on the evening TV News, it might help, too.

Sensible comment. France has tried to target dodgy owners. They ban people with certain categories of police/criminal records from owning certain categories of dogs Don't know how useful that's proven to be.

Friends adopted a gorgeous rescue tibbie, Zou Chai. For months, he didn't utter a sound. Then, one Friday night, the family was sitting around eating pizza. Suddenly, there was one percing, loud bark. The family got such a fright, that pieces of pizza flew up in the air. It was Zou Chai wanting some pizza , too. That's when they knew he now considered himself 'family'. Loved your post, persephone! :)

I follow the evidence. University of Bristol is a great centre for studies on dog behaviour & the consequences of different approaches to training.... including the 'balanced' approach. They use rather blunt language ... 'correction' is put in terms of 'punishment' either verbal or physical. So a heck of a lot rides on exactly what trainer-behaviour fits what the OP article means by 'correction'. Results of this Bristol study provide useful evidence. Even just the Discussion of the results & Conclusion, at the end, provide a useful read. http://img2.timg.co.il/forums/1_149537364.pdf

I found the stuff used for weed matting better because the dogs can't see shapes thro' it, as they can for shade cloth. Weed matting is thick, black plastic which comes in rolls.

Fantastic for the sheltie girl... with loving homes lined up. Our rescue sheltie boy became a wonderful pet ... a true heart dog.

Indeed you do. I'm delighted when a tibetan spaniel comes into your care .... CRQ is both highly professional & extremely caring. You do the right thing in every possible way. Hope things go well for the sheltie.

The Shetland Sheepdog Club of Qld, with contact phone number & email, is listed among the affiliated clubs on Dogs Qld site. Scroll down to find it I'm sure they would help you in your search. http://www.dogsqueensland.org.au/Club/?id=1135 I found them very helpful people when we found a little straying Sheltie boy, in poor condition & badly neglected state. Two members of their Committee spent over 3 hours cleaning him up. I've never forgotten their care & generosity. They have a great heart for a Sheltie in trouble. Little bloke was unclaimed .... & we were delighted to adopt him.

So wonderful to hear 'good dog' news stories like this. There was one recently in Qld .... little 31/2 yr old boy in bushland area. Missing with his 2 dogs whose barking led to finding him. They'd stayed by his side. The protective bond between children & their dogs can be life-saving.

I'd also take him to the vet. There's sufficient symptoms of concern to warrant the vet checking him out.

RSPCA Qld has a Behaviour Helpline run by behaviorists they employ. Long time back I used it to make contact re a dog problem & was impressed. Since then, I've referred others to it. But I've sometimes had to reassure the person that it's not a judgmental service as if the RSPCA will call you a 'bad owner'. In fact, for all the expert knowledge & advice, the behaviorist I spoke to, had an attitude of a fellow dog owner who just tries to do their best.

paws-patas have basic accommodation on site and take lots of overseas volunteers - I've often thought I'd like to spend a couple weeks there and help with the dogs while improving my Spanish. Now that's a dream which you should make come true! We have a young friend who'd learned Spanish well, just for love of it. For the last year of his journalism degree, he spent it at a uni in Spain. At the end, he was asked if he'd like to stay on & teach English. Would he ever!!!! Just loves living in Spain.

I agree with persephone. Get another vet. The present advice is neglect & overlooks the point that the yeast infection provides a breeding ground for bacteria, so it really is an ear infection. I have a small dog who's had a life-long tendency to suffer from yeast ear infections. We have an excellent vet who has said that 'yeasty ears & the consequent infections are notorious for being persistent. I won't go into the means we've been given to manage her yeasty ears because a vet would advise in relation to your particular dog. Interestingly, our girl only get is in one ear & it can be severe & nasty if not treated.

Sensible post as usual, mel, basing what you've said on evidence. AWL Qld, which is a brilliant organization, has just done the same thing. Reduced costs of their dogs & cats to help clear the shelters for the Christmas/New Year period. The screening, interviewing & return processes remain the same. And that's the key. Best predictor of how someone will treat & care for a pet is past behaviour .... their track record & expressed attitudes. AWL does it each year & it's always been a success with 237 (so far) pets being adopted from their Gold Coast, Brisbane & Ipswich shelters. Their check of data shows no spike in percentage of pets returned in the months following these lower cost drives. Which supports the study you quoted as well as demonstrating the benefits from screening. An opinion .... over the holidays can be a good time for people to settle a new pet in. When we were working, we always timed our new pets to coincide with holidays so we could do this. AWL Qld has just posted a photo of exhausted staff & volunteers after a hard few days in working to see 237 pets rehomed at reduced price:

Double post.