mita

It's a 'Wow', from me. Ipswich Council couldn't be working along with a finer partner than AWL Qld. AWL has used every shred of evidence & the experience of many at the frontline of dog/cat management, to come up with the best of animal welfare programs. If you want to influence the next generation of dog owners, the AWL is famous for its education programs to school children...including on-site visits at their shelter. Also good use could be made of the mobile education unit which the RSPCA takes to schools. So both already have programs, materials & resources which could be tapped into. Is Wacol in the Ipswich Council area? If so, in 2010, University of Qld is opening a new specialist small animal hospital & diagnostic laboratory at the new RSPCA Animal Care Campus in Wacol. I hope lots of well-informed PR gets to the community in the Ipswich region so they can get behind it all. The Brisbane City Council has K9 Capers Days throughout the year, at various dog parks. People can bring along their dogs & be informed of all the council's initiatives. Animal welfare groups are also invited to set up information stalls. A good & informative time is had by all. Maybe the Ipswich Council could do something similar to strengthen ties with the dog-owning community in their region.

The man next door's just set up a possum box in his front garden. The possum had been going across his back deck to get into the roof. Their small tibbie would bark.....but only if she was on the deck. He sealed up the spot where the possum was getting into the roof. He also bought some black plastic snakes to dangle in strategic places. Last I heard, he was encouraging the possum to go into the box using a trail of fruit. A possum that sounds like it's as big as an elephant thunders around on top of our roof sometimes. But thank goodness our tibbies ignore it. And when the tib next door is staying, she doesn't bark as usual. Her attitude seems to be, 'It's your possum. Your problem.'

Well, there is data for the reverse. Research in Denmark, covering thousands of pure breeds & cross-breeds, found that a bunch of pure breeds came out tops for longevity. Poodles & dachshunds were among that bunch.

I remember there was a littlie who went lost not long back in country Qld. The parents....& the police....said they were keeping high hopes because the family dog (ACD or cross, I think) was with him. And hadn't returned. Sure enough when found, the little one had been kept warm & protected by the dog.

We had a porky sheltie who once dug under the house from the back....& then barked her head off, because the slight slope meant she couldn't get back again. Then we had to do the digging, to get her out. There's lots of good ideas from others. Like setting up an OK place to dig, with treats buried to keep her at it. On farms, they used to keep foxes from digging into chicken coops, by attaching the long side of chicken wire about 18 inches up the coop wall. Then stretching the wire back across the ground & securing that length with a line of heavy logs or rocks. To get to the coop wall to do some digging, the fox would not only be faced with walking on chicken wire...but uphill, too. So, no go!

Smarter than the average dog? Or a cross-dresser?

Underwear & socks have the owner's scent strongly on them....to a dog's brilliant nose...even when they've been washed. So carrying around those items, for dogs it's like how humans carry photos. It can get embarrassing, tho'. Lady I worked with had a golden retriever named Oliver. One day, a carpenter was working in her kitchen while she was at work. When she arrived home to see how he was going.....the work was fine. But, in the middle of the kitchen, was a great pile of her underwear. Hard to miss because she was a large lady. Seems that Oliver left alone with the carpenter, decided that his mum should be supervising the man. So he spent the day going to her underwear drawer &, one by one, taking items to put in the kitchen with him. Tibbie next door used to do the same thing with his dad's socks when he was away. He'd take the socks from the drawer & build a pile in the living room, near his dad's chair. Then he'd go to sleep with his nose buried in them.

the perfect set up. I guess your tibbies at home forget the mastiffs aren't right behind them for back up!!! Didn't the spaniels give warning, and the mastiffs did the business? Hope they never look behind them to check for mastiffs when they are chasing someone ;) Jed, it's not very flattering....but our tibbies think we're the mastiffs!

Onya, Aphra & Howl.

The value I've found with our small tibbies is that they'll pick up something is wrong....& will give an alert. So we can look into it. And they've never been wrong, when they show the signs of 'something is really wrong'. Lass in our family who lives not far from Bundaberg... where a child's been abducted from her bed & killed... gave me a good example. In the middle of last night, she padded quietly down the hallway, to check on her 8 yr old son. In the darkness, so she didn't disturb anyone. As she came close to his bedroom, she heard the strongest, deepest, 'I mean business!' growl. It was coming from Rosie, an elderly mini-foxy that they'd adopted years ago from the AWL. Rosie sleeps on the child's bed. No way a stranger could have got into that room, before little Rosie made one hell of a racket. She had to reassure Rosie, 'It's OK, it's Mum!' Tail wagged, then. But she said she's never heard a sweeter sound, than the little dog sounding a threat & an alert to protect her 'person'.

A vet friend was going on about this yesterday. Owner of a small poodle.....which got out & accidentally impregnated, by heaven knows what dog. But she'd intended to breed from it, anyway. Even tho' she'd had no experience....or, as it turned out later, any knowledge... re breeding/whelping. Just thought it'd all go 'naturally'. Then came the reality check, big time. Everything that could possibly go wrong with pregnancy happened. That's how it came to the vet's attention. Huge costs & huge anxieties. Then the owner set up selling the puppies for $500 each to recoup expenses.

That's really interesting that it's something some dogs do. All I can think of, is that the skywriting looks like trails of smoke. Aren't dogs supposed to react to smoke.....because of where there's smoke, there's fire? Which is why dogs are so good at waking owners when a house is on fire. But I'd always thought it was the smell of smoke. Could just the sight of what looks like spreading smoke be enough to set some dogs off? But how to stop those dogs seeing the skywriting, I don't know. Maybe, thingies like horse blinkers, but to prevent upward- looking. ;)

Alerting to strangers was one of the reasons, tibbies were bred in Tibet. When they're good at it, they're great. I've been delighted with our new adult tibbie, because she shows all the signs of being alert & 'figuring' strange noises & things. She's as sharp as a whip. I agree that size alone can be a deterrent. It's one reason why our builder friend has a dobe....even tho' a stranger isn't to know that he's actually a big softie.

deelee, what a great story. I think your dog's a genius, not a nutter. 'Reading' skywriting! Our puss, Hopeless Kate, used to react to planes. The big jets fly low here as they come in to or out of Brisbane airport. She'd flatten herself on the ground as if the plane was about to fall on top of her. It'd make visitors a bit nervous. They'd say, 'Does that cat know something we don't?' But she had many odd ways. Which explains her name, Hopeless Kate.

Our tibbies have been great alert dogs. I've noticed they figure out who's the regular OK people like tradesmen & visitors & welcome them. But they will alert if it's a stranger.....& they seem to pick up 'weird' vibes. Like, they found a burglar who'd entered the back part of our house & went growling after him into the night. They tracked him, onto the driveway next door. So I got a good look at him. They did the same another night....deep growling from inside the house. When we switched on the outside lights, couldn't see anyone. But next morning we found someone had been breaking into one of the cars. The dogs' noise, & then the lights, had scared him off. They got much praise from local police, on the first occasion, because this same burglar had broken into houses in the area on the same night. Our tibbies had been the only ones to suss him out. We know a builder, who has valuable tools & items on his property. He owns a pet dobe & his wife owns a tibbie. They say that's the perfect watchdog team. The tib is good at picking up weird stranger vibes....& sounds an alert. Then the dobe (who's really a big softie) ambles out to take a look...providing a scare factor.

The tibbie girl at my feet was imported from Sweden by an Oz breeder. Sorry, I don't know time in quarantine. But the Oz breeder told me she put her name down as the dog's groomer, as a groomer is permitted to visit while it's in quarantine (under strict conditions, of course).

Sounds like a great program. There's strong evidence coming from research at U of Q, that dogs bring great health & well-being benefits to the elderly. I like how this US program follows up with help re vet care & grooming.

An older kitten was found in Cairns' airport terminal, a couple of years ago. Folk from Melbourne on their way to holiday in Port Douglas found him. Sweet, feisty little bloke. Signs were put up around Cairns & no one claimed him, so the Melbourne folk flew him down to their mother's home in Melbourne. Meantime, a young man & his wife who lived just outside Cairns wondered where their puss had disappeared to. Someone told them about the signs up re the found kitten. It was theirs! Quite distinct markings. But how the heck did the kitten get to the airport? Young man's job took him to delivering things to the airport. Best guess was that puss stowed away in the car somehow....& got out at the airport. Local newspaper took up the story & the Melbourne people, still up at Port Douglas, accepted the evidence it was the couple's puddycat. Airline offered to fly puss back from Melbourne for free. Which they did. We heard the story first-hand from the young wife's parents....a retired couple who live 3 doors down. I hope there's a happy ending for this little dog. And here's hoping lots more people microchip their pets!

Tell Jacqui to contact YAPS, the large rescue place in Cairns. Contact details on their site: http://www.yaps.org.au/

I agree. Add on AWL Qld, too, because they have so many dog/cat ownership projects & materials as well.

Agree.

I'm thinking in that direction, too. Except I'd try something that the UQ Adoption program suggested when I was taking a cat home to live with 2 small dogs & 1 next door. That was, to make something good happen for the dogs, whenever the cat was in sight. Like, if your beagle is a sucker for treats....do some training where the cat hoves in sight, & the dog is directed to Sit, with his eye on the treat. Don't give him any treats when out in the yard for a while. ONLY when the cat is in sight. You might be able to get the cooperation of your neighbours in setting this up. Because it's for the good of their ears, too, to stop the barking. It's hoped that the last thing the dog then wants is to bark & send the cat off. Rather, sight of the cat is a good thing because treats get associated with it. (Worked in our case. Put the new puss in a crate....then brought in the 2 dogs. Exact moment their eyes hit on the cat... a liver treat was waved above their heads & they were told 'Sit'. Yum....they did. Full interest went to more liver treats. Cat stuck head out of crate door & a third head joined the liver treat queue! )

Maybe if costs can be modelled to see if, by making dog rego more affordable & a once only matter.....it would eventually lessen dog management expenses? Are you talking about registaring dogs with the council? Have you looked at the costs of this on the Ipswich City Council Website? I don't know how much cheaper it can get...yes complete dogs are more exxy than de-sexed ones but so they should be IMO! Brisbane City Council call centre just told me the rego cost for a desexed female is $37 (one year, not lifetime). Still reeling from that shock & we're reasonably well off. So I'm off to make a comparison of the costs throughout Qld, before getting back to them. I want to double check & to have some other costs to quote. Costs are relative. I'd like to see some data on owners' income & the cost burden of rego fees. Also the costs to reclaim. From what I've seen so far, they must be beyond low-income earners. We're always talking about the numbers of dogs PTS in pounds. I'd like to see data collected on how many had a major cost factor looming in the background.

Far, far too dangerous for mine, even with breakaway collars. They way they play I won't take the much greater (compared to the fences and gates failing) risk of one strangled dead dog and one with a broken foot or jaw. Of course we have very different breeds you and I. I'm sure it is safe with some dogs. Prudent risk management dictates that mine can't wear collars at home when I'm out. That I don't leave them on is responsible, not irresponsible. I won't be the only one in that boat. Who's them? The people down the road who come across your dog, newly escaped? Obviously not, because you've said you expect them to run a scanner over the dog. The Joe Blow Publics who come across that lost dog don't have a scanner. In fact, they have nothing to visually go on re tracing the owner....so either they call the pound or think 'too hard' & leave the dog roaming in the hazards of traffic. My dog, that I've made certain is wearing a collar with ID disk.....has the first easiest option open. There's the phone no. And that's exactly what happened the one time my dogs went missing. A phone call within 5 minutes. I even make sure my small dogs have brightly coloured, larger than normal disks so a potential finder can see they're ID'd from a distance. Bit more inviting to help. With the rego tag as well, I'm lucky to live in a council area (& adjacent to council areas), where one phone call from a finder to that council....& they contact me, the owner, to come get the dog. NO stressful trip to pound required for a microchip scanner to need to be used. If worst comes to worst....& someone has removed the collar....the microchip is a back-up. But involves.....at the best.....a stressful impounding (if the dog hasn't been killed by traffic first). It's risk management. I label my own behaviours in that context as fully responsible as I can be towards my dog.

The policy trend towards 'encouraging' desexing of pet dogs, seems to be, at first base, designed to prevent the dog (& cat) population from increasing at a great rate of knots. Makes for very simple modelling, that one. There's an excellent overview of research about dogs & regulation....& any effects re neutering or not neutering on behaviour & confinement....in the marsden report prepared for the Dpt of Primary Industries Qld. As the views expressed are based on the research literature....it's a very well balanced report. With information & recommendations that might surprise....because it doesn't fall into black & white positions. These issues are dealt with mainly ...pp49-52+. http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/documents/Biosec...eport-Part3.pdf Yes, government is accountable. So it helps greatly for citizens to do some research to get a grasp on what they want the government to be accountable about.