mita

Your friend did good, NAO! Can be hard to catch one dog, spooked from being lost & among traffic. But 3 Tell your friends to phone the RSPCA Lost & Found to get the details on their data base, too. Some owners of lost dogs tend to phone the RSPCA first. 3426 9999

The Mods have written under Off Topic, the purpose of that section of DOL. Anything goes here (almost). A place for all non dog related chit chat. So that's what the threads will be about in Off Topic. Non dog related chit chat. If you have no interest in that wide range of non dog topics, then don't open the Off Topic section & read them. Stick with the remainder of DOL, which is dog related.

You're right! Maybe dog owners in Brisbane need to protest about this ban: Birds can do it. Bees can do it, So why can't well-controlled dogs do it... Visit outdoor cafes, that is.

Maybe someone went away for Easter, with someone else coming in to feed the dog once a day. Great time for breakouts. Here's hoping that an owner.....or a minder....realises she's missing. Onya for keeping a very pretty girl safe.

The permit covers number of dogs....not specific dogs. We've had our permit for many years....& over that time it's covered a passing parade of shelties & tibbies. It's the dog registration, which covers the individual dogs.

I was going to suggest a Tibbie, too.

Glad you got your 3 dog permit. We've had our 3-4 dog permit from the Brisbane City Council, for many years now. When we first applied & got the permit, we had no idea that a council officer had visited all our neighbours to ask if they had any objections. We only found that out, years later, when one of the neighbours told us. Obviously, they must have all been fine with it. It sounds from what you were told that the Council doesn't do this any more. Just checks for any potential 'bad' spots in documentation.

You're right, KitKat. There was a case here, where a little sweet-natured tibbie, the pet of an 89 yr old lady, was declared a Dangerous Dog by the council. He'd gotten out thro' a hole in the fence. At the same time, a report was made about a dog pulling feathers off someone's duck at a house in the same block. A witness described the offending dog as being nothing like a tibbie. But the council picked up the little tibbie & he got the blame for 'attacking the duck'. He was given the label Dangerous Dog & the elderly lady copped a huge fine. It was so outrageous that the newspaper & talkback radio picked it up. Which made the council back down on the fine, but they wouldn't back down on the label Dangerous Dog. As KK said, how could the owner prove a negative.....that the dog hadn't done it????? Only good thing was that Bunnings donated & built a new fence for the elderly lady.

Noice wun Ann. I'm sure BanksiaPark are happy to have you on board. 'Wats the difference?'...between a pet dog & a donkey or cow...asks Ann. I'll try to make it easy: A dog has been dom-est-ic-ated for a few thousand years to be a close com-pan-ion animal with humans. To make that work as well as possible, puppies & dogs need social-iz-ation & lots of ex-per-iences along-side humans. That's why it's not good for dog wel-fare for them to be constant-ly con-fined to a pen, like live-stock. Easy to grasp that dogs need a bowl of food.....takes higher cognitive ability to grasp the need for socialization.

The cafe might do that to get out of trouble. But is it legal to leave a dog tied up unattended on a public street? I refuse to tie up my dog metres away from where I sit. That isn't safe on a busy inner suburban street. The law is quite hypocritical when you consider that cafes seem to do nothing at all to remove birds and pest animals from outdoor dining areas, and never seemed to be fined when they fail to keep those animals away from dining areas. Yes, I agree that it just shifts the 'problem' into another grey area re the law & liablity. Not to mention the safety of the dog. No way would I leave our tibbies tied up at a rail. I guess that was just one way a cafe owner tried to accommodate the clients with dogs (& there's lots of them).

What I'm about to say, comes 2nd hand....so don't take it for gospel. Young couple I know who own a young lab, love to go, with him, to cafes in the Milton, Paddington area. They told me that the cafe owners had had to change things in view of the law. They said there's a distance set down....where the dog has to be, from anyone eating. So one cafe has put up a rail where people can tie up their dogs, at this distance. It means the dogs can no longer sit at people's feet & a table (inside or outside).

I was going to point you to the Golden Retriever Rescue folk in Qld. I popped in to their post in the Rescue Section for contact details....& guess who beat me to it! Onya!

Sandra, I can understand how you felt. Given your dogs are registered & secured, it was a shock for a council officer to arrive & quiz your OH closely about something your dogs had no chance of doing. And, as someone else pointed out, it's not easy to prove an event did not happen. You're right, too, that when your dog is registered... its details, like breed, colour, location are checkable against complaints. And, if some other offending unregistered dog fits the description & the location....well, your dog gets the spotlight, first. So I think feeling cranky, at first, was only human. But you've put your finger on a reality....one that puts a registered dog in the spotlight, while the unregistered go under the radar. With the benefit of hindsight, I can also see it puts the investigating council officer in as awkward a position as that of the totally innocent owner. I'm glad you've posted about a situation that could happen to any owner of a registered dog. So, if it ever happens to me now, I'll be saying to myself, 'Keep your cool!' And I'd be thinking if there are other neighbours, who know me & my dogs well, who would provide stat decs that they were kept securely. Thus, providing additional information for the officer, apart from my own word.

O/T, but that must be horrible for you. You are so right that life is too short to put up with stuff like that next door. We thank our lucky stars that we have a little bunch of great, long-time neighbours. In fact, a couple have said they've stayed because they wouldn't take the risk of moving & finding they had horrible neighbours. All our neighbours own dogs....& all pitch in to help if anything is needed for them.

A yep! to that. A shame because the mother did originally accept there was a problem. She's into denial now....as well as 'the best form of defence is attack'. Or, intimidation, by suggesting she might 'dob' you, re the dogs. No wonder the boys go out of control when she has lone responsibility. Parenting requires both authority & consistency. She's dropped the ball on both. If knives come over into your yard again, take up the local police officer's offer. And there's good updated advice coming from other DOLers.

Exactly, megan. Spot on examples of puppy farming....rolling hills or not, cleanliness or not. The full quid offered by the 'good', experienced registered breeder of purebreds, needs to be brought to public attention. As the standard. Oddly enough, the other group who provides the same standard in breeding/raising companion dogs, is the RAAF at Amberly in Qld, the source for military dogs. Which are first socialised & given full experience in the real world, living as companion pups....even spending time being fostered by families in homes.

What I heard about this idea of starting a 'clean up' group, sounded like another version where cleanliness, adequate food & shelter, & health care were seen as the essentials. But nothing was said about 2 critical issues re the breeding & homing of dogs as companion animals: 1. providing for socialisation & a range of experiences in the real world...for the dogs & puppies. Both essential to the development of dogs as companion animals; 2. breeder responsibility, at point of sale, to match puppies with owners, screen owners, provide settling in & maintenance advice & later support. Essential for the welfare of both dogs & new owners. Both 1 & 2 are standard basics done by 'good' registered breeders. Australian research even confirms that claim for 1. Absence of 1 & 2 demonstrates puppy farming, IMO.....whoever does it. Also this group would continue to mix purebreds with health aims in view. However, I recently posted an excellent paper from the Norwegian Kennel Club & School of Veterinary Science which set out breeding practices with health aims in view.....while still only producing purebreds. What is absent in Australia, is a public voice like that, representing the kennel clubs & another independent academic view.

Agree. I kept thinking, while watching the program. If only the commercial stations would show this... It's a start, tho', as you say. I'd also like to see purebred pride public events where our wonderful pet p/b dogs from the excellent breeders could just soclalise with people. These dogs are their own best selling point. I keep finding that it's meeting the dogs, in everyday events, that makes people ask the right questions.

Agree, schmauzer, & it's why I agree with the folk who want to contact the 7-30 Report so a program can be done showing what the good registered breeders do. And how people can go to them for pets. I'm still meeting piles of people who honestly think only show people can adopt puppies/dogs from the show people (which is what they call the registered breeders). We went to a public event at the weekend. And, as usual our 2 tibbies got so much attention from people, for their good looks & for their wonderful temperaments/socialisation. As always, I tell people that's how they came from their good registered breeder. Had nothing to do with me! You're right. Every single person asked, but how do you find breeders of dogs like that? They have no idea where to start.

Lisa Lindsay, RSPCA NSW did good....going straight to the producing of 'designer dogs' for profit. And the horrors they're seeing with their own eyes. Debra Tranter, Animal Lib Victoria, also made a good point that big numbers of companion animals, like dogs, being kept as 'farm' animals, was just not on. Greatest find was Meg Dobson, former puppy-farmer who's seen the light. She nailed the central point that the puppy- farm life institutionalised the dogs so they lacked any socialisation & were timid with people. But the bloke from the Puppy Farm was totally unaware of that as he faced the cameras saying how good his place is. Shelter & food & reasonable cleanliness were his criteria. There was not one word.....or provision....for socialisation of the dogs to have close experience with people or with the outside world. I agree about contacting the 7.30 Report with the suggestion of showing breeding & homing when it's done well, like by the good registered breeders. I have at my feet 2 brilliant tibbies, in temperament & how well they're socialised. They came from their registered breeder like that. The very opposite of the dogs from puppy farms. The pet buying public need to see the best breeding/raising/homing of dogs. And I agree with Danois that the national website of the RSPCA needs rewriting on the topic of breeders.

I think you explained it well. And I agree with you.

Hi, & welcome to the forums. I agree with the person who said breeders wisely make their 'calls' on whether their puppies/dogs will go to homes with young children, or not. There are some cases where a breeder has raised puppies & keeps her dogs with her own small children. We owned a tibetan spaniel (tibbie) who'd been born & bred as a housedog by a breeder whose small grand-children lived on the same property since they were babies. This tibbie was passionate about human babies....a real 'nanny' dog. She'd actually carry on when someone was holding a baby as if the bub were a bag of sweets. Once, a tradesman left 2 doors & 2 gates open & both this tibbie & her 'sister' escaped from our yard...the first one was definitely the leader. I got a phone call from a lady down the road who was a day-care mum.....with a bunch of littlies. The tibbie girls had come to her front door & scratched to get in. The little ones thought they'd got a gift from above when 2 little golden dogs arrived for cuddles. A small procession of children came down the footpath, to bring them home. It didn't surprise me that the tibbie who'd been socialised with babies & small children, headed straight into a day-care mother's home. Can you find a registered Cav breeder who raises her puppies alongside her own babies & small children? There's an experienced registered tibbie breeder in Brisbane that I send people with children to....because she's also a day-care mum.

Yay! It's good to hear about this program. Great....not at all airy-fairy & based on research that shows it works. There was a major study into boys who became anti-social & it showed kids heading that way could be picked out by age 5 yrs. The recommendation of the medical researchers was to make the triple p program available to parents. Yes, it seems to be one of the more useful things around at the moment. Actually empowering parents and teaching them, not just berating them. Another thing worth mentioning is the book "Raising Boys" By Steve Biddulph (perhaps not for this lady as her English might not stretch to it), wherein the author makes the point that BOYS NEED DADS. It is a useful, constructive and not at all wishy washy read which lays out pretty clearly what boys need, and doesn't really pull any punches about where our society is letting boys down. And PPP doesn't have a fanatical line..as in, everything must go perfectly, every time. Interesting your comment from Steve Biddulph's book, BOYS NEED DADS. One of the number of 'at risk' factors for boys developing anti-social problems, was that there's no dad in their lives. Doesn't meant all boys brought up by single mothers will have problems. Many, in fact, do well. It's just when 'no dad around' is combined with other risk factors that things can go very pear-shaped. Hopeful thing for the OPs case, is that dad is around some of the time. And the boys respond well then. Mum just needs strategies to keep them in line when dad's not there.

Few years back, in our NW Brissie suburbs, the police put a warning notice in the local newspaper. A gang of dog-nappers was active in the area, targeting small, attractive purebred dogs. The police said the kidnapped dogs were being sold on for profit. They warned owners to keep their dogs out of front yards....& keep them from view from the street. Around the same time, couple I know who lived up in the Brisbane Valley, noticed a stall-holder selling small, adult attractive dogs each week at their country markets. Wife confronted the stall holder & asked where all these small dogs were coming from. Reply was...'They're from family members'. Wife answered, 'Well, you must have a mighty big family!' Very suss the source of those dogs. Here's hoping the greater emphasis on microchipping in more recent years, would put a damper on such thefts.

Yay! It's good to hear about this program. Great....not at all airy-fairy & based on research that shows it works. There was a major study into boys who became anti-social & it showed kids heading that way could be picked out by age 5 yrs. The recommendation of the medical researchers was to make the triple p program available to parents.