mita

She's so pretty, hilaryo. Who needs to use brains with looks like that? I think she's gorgeous!

Smooth Collie.

We had 2 shelties that were the opposite. Danny, the boy, was sweet, dainty & biddable. Shelley, the girl was bossy, self-centred & big. Strangers were forever thinking that Danny was a girl & that Shelley was a boy. Their nicknames tell the story, too....Danny's was Saint Danny and Shelley's was The Horse. But they were both much loved.

What a shock for the poor lady! Onya for trying to find ways to help out. Seems the location presents a transport problem. It'd be great if a few other people would also volunteer to do a supply run every few weeks. Would there be any way of finding out if there's someone who already regularly drives up & back to that area? Could the lady at the shelter ask around locals? I agree with your suggestion about checking out vet clinics. A local vet clinic once asked me for the names of rescues as they wanted to pass on their expired dry food stock. So maybe some people could volunteer to do a phone/visit around of vet clinics....& do pick-ups if any happy to do the same. A rescue shelter up here, has bins outside supermarkets in the area (with the full approval of the supermarkets), where shoppers can drop in pet food. Maybe posters could be put up at places where dog people gather (dog parks but with council permission, pet supply stores, obedience clubs) telling them about the need & directing them where donations could be left.

Lot of good quotable quotes in that article. The US Veterinary Association set up a task force to investigate dog bites & attacks. And quite a few of their conclusions would be the same.

'Tis indeed fascinating. I just read Traces of a Distant Past in the Scientific American, July, 2008. Their summary: DNA from contemporary humans can be compared to determine how long an indigenous population has lived in a region. The latest study surveys swathes of entire genomes & produce maps of human movement across much of the world. They also describe how people's genes have adapted to changes in diet, climate & disease. Even more fascinating, added info: The genetic record of human history may be bolstered by simply paging thro' a phone book for certain names. A team led by Mark A, Jobling of the Uni of Leicester reported last year that men in north-western England with surnames that had been used there before 1600 had high levels of Scandanavian ancestry on their Y chromosones, a legacy of a Viking heritage.

That's interesting TFN. Hope things work out well for you. It's a reminder that so many of the conditions being referred to, in pedigree dogs, by the bandwagoners, are manifest in humans (& other dogs) as well. So they're dramatic statements about the ills of purebred dogs, need to be tempered with, 'Compared with what?'

Many years back, when a uni's vet clinic was in cramped quarters, people with their pusses & dogs in the waiting room, were startled when an unconscious lion was carried thro'. Was with a visiting circus. Probably was aged & low on teeth, but who was counting.

I agree. Within the range of traits associated with a breed, there's always the individual personality.

Good on you for doing something proactive about it.

C'mon, sandgrubber, I'll join you in a scotch. I haven't read the book, so you'll notice I didn't review the review. Just picked up on the good Dr's quote that he was using 'humour'. So I helped him along with the fact that Uncle Wolf was Hitler's nickname. That might send him (the good Dr, not Hitler) chuckling on his way. It might even add an extra layer of humour to his Uncle Wolf character. Just a wee bit of history. As to the science re the good Dr's other stuff on pedigree dogs. I've commented on that elsewhere.

Uncle Wolf was Adolf Hitler's nickname. I wonder who life-coaches Uncle Wolf in the good doctor's book? Now that'd be tricky.

Maltese crossed with shih-tzu or tibbie. Tail upcurled, solid little body, parti colouring, & toes look a bit pointed. Good advice from Longclaw. Maybe share the settling in issues, to see if DOLers can help.

The researcher said: These are, of course, generalizations and don't apply to every individual. Surveys like this, ask questions which point to the marked expression of various traits (& then average that out). When most individuals sort of slide up & down on a continuum for a trait.. There's a story about a non-swimming statistician who drowned while trying to cross a stream the average depth he knew to be 4 feet. I thought the other study mentioned was funny.....that people tended to select dogs that looked like themselves. If so I must have lost a lot of my nose somewhere along the line. My previous loved breed was shelties, with their long noses. Now I love tibbies, with their short noses.

I saw some ridgie, too. Maybe with lab?

I'd agree with that. I found I had to use a different method with the tibs than I used with the working dog breeds. And among the tibs themselves, they differed on what was rewarding. For a couple, it's a physical hug....for the one next door, it's definitely food.

That's the one I was told about.

I agree with you about a first visit to a vet. Our vet not only does a thorough exam & weighing on the first visit, but she also takes a complete history of the dog, recording it all. She's got me so well trained that I'm collecting info from the breeder from whom I'm taking a new adult tibbie, before the tib even comes. Can't help you with the name of a SA vet. Our friends who own tibs live in the Adelaide Hills. But some time back I was given the name of recommended dog trainers in Adelaide. Shall check if I still have them.

I think Wally now looks cool in more ways than one. Re the 'pug' look, when I got our tibbie girl clipped, people would say she looked like a pretty little golden bulldog.

I've no experience with eye ointment, but have to put ear drops in a tibbie girl (who doesn't like it at all). Treats work to hose down her 'I Don't Want That Stuff in My Ears!', a bit. Because she loves them. When I come with the medication, I let her see I have treats in the other hand. Bit awkward all thro' the application, but she keeps one eye on the treats. That distracts her just enough from full- blown rebellion.

Dont most purebred breeders select for temperament as part of what they do? I'd also suggest that the registered breeders of purebreds, who were found to significantly socialise their puppies/dogs more, were thereby more aware of individual temperament traits.....in doing so. The two things are interdepedent. I'd expect most of those breeders would translate that awareness into their decisions re breeding. And they are dealing with dogs that, by & large, have been selected for breeding (& close cohabitation with humans) for a long time. But I'd agree with sandgrubber that, in circumstances where these standards do not apply, there could well be a breakdown. Like puppy farming & BYB for profit....where selection for breeding does not consider behavioral goals. Nor does raising of the animals take any interest in socialisation. The horror of the puppy farm approach is not just the possibility of physical neglect & ignorance of health issues....but also the breakdown of the process by which dogs become socialised. And the UQ study showed the critical period was in the early weeks. The worst thing about this current bandwagon of untested premises about pedigree dog breeding.....is what they keep leaving out. In the forum following the showing of the infamous Pedigree Dogs Exposed program....Dr Peter Higgins kept saying the critical thing is the decision-making about selections for breeding (& why). And it was a matter of using the best of existing knowledge to do that. But this bandwagon keeps rolling on... throwing out to the public, untested premises about all purebred dogs & all registered breeders. Suggesting that all the ills of the companion dog world seem to come down to them.

Not that I've ever seen. Levels of human/dog interaction were measured for effect, in the U of Q study that looked at extent of socialisation. Registered breeders of purebreds came out significantly higher than non-registered breeders, in providing that socialisation. And it was concluded that their puppies would be more likely to make good companion dogs, as a result. Would have been great if living conditions for puppies had been coded into that. Would be interesting to track health, too. I wish an Australian university would do similar research to the Danish study which looked at causes of death & lengevity across thousands of dogs.....purebreds & mixedbreeds. With results which should put at least a minor brake on the bandwagon. But, also a study that included the variable of conditions which puppies were bred in.....&/or dogs raised in.

It's not the family's face that needs rubbing in it.....it's their brains, in setting up this situation, that need some remediation. The woman's account of the situation, quoted in the article, shows she's learned little from it. It's no greater rocket science not to leave young children alone in a car, than it is not to leave the same young children alone with a strange dog. Both are foolish & neglectful. One brings the law....the other brings a self-serving account in a newspaper. Classic case of it's everyone else's fault.....including the dog's... except mine. I'd sit the parents of the young children down, to complete this exercise: "It's my responsibility, when bringing a new dog into the family, to (1)...................., (2)...................(3)................. (4)..................... & (5)................." If they can't do it, go out & find some answers. If they won't, then don't get a dog. But if they still do.....& something bad happens....they couldn't complain about being labelled neglectful.

That's fantastic. And a good example for the rest of us....we really should take the time & trouble to write a letter or make a phone call to support good info that's got out to the public.

The mother says they had just taken this new dog home. But doesn't say from where. After the incident, she issues a warning about not taking an adult dog in, with no knowledge of its behavioral patterns. Well, I'm sorry to tell her.....but that was her responsibility to find out. In what circumstances was it raised & what evidence did she look for re how it behaved with people, especially children? Dogs have to LEARN how to get on with people (including children). And the evidence is, that should commence from the time they're baby puppies. So dogs aren't born socialised, ready to grow up behaving like the perfect dog of TV ads. Or, in this case, like the family's previous 14 yr old staffy....who likely had a much different upbringing. Then there's the golden rule of not letting young children be unsupervised around dogs. Especially so in this case....as the dog was new. And by the woman's own admission, she had no knowledge of the dog's behavioral patterns. And also because these children were in the highest risk group for dog bites. With an additional risk marker for the boy. Ignorance caused this problem. And the newspaper account just spreads the ignorance. I'm too charitable to add '& stupidity'