Little Gifts

Ams has previously taken in pei from the RSPCA up here, including ill ones. I think it is about the local relationships and people willing to work on them rather than the organisation, which I think has some concerning ways of doing things.

Aphra I've mentioned this before but rescue really needs to try and link up with statutory children's foster care agencies in each state (often this is outsourced to non-profit organisations and managed at a regional rather than central office level). They run recruitment drives for foster carers regularly, which include information nights. Not everyone is cut out for fostering children once they hear more info about the types of children they might get placed with. There is nothing stopping a rescue group arranging to give a 5 minute presentation at these info nights and leaving brochures so that if fostering children is not for everyone then perhaps fostering an animal is. Abuse and neglect of children, spouses and animals is often linked. If cold calling then I'd try the regional office foster carer coordinator and put the idea to them and see how interested they are. Many frontline staff are also animal lovers. Before things got a bit anal up here it was not uncommon to have people's dogs come into work. I know mine did on numerous occasions! One manager also used to foster care wildlife and would always be carting around a bird that needed feeding during meetings or she'd have a baby mammal stuffed down her top. I'll fill out a survey too.

Glen her mum was in long term foster care where she was very happy. She was very active still for her age but also had dementia. Sadly she has gone over the Rainbow Bridge now but was very spoilt and got to do some wonderful doggy things in her time with Peiradise and her amazing and committed carer. I got to play with her several times and my foster pups got to visit her as well (although only Dweeb tried to get her to mummy him!). Edited to add that the SnuggleSafe worked a treat last night! I put it in the middle, down the end of my bed (under the doona) where Tempeh likes to sleep and she slept on top of it all night and didn't wake me once! Nor did I wake up blanketless or covered in shivering dog!

I think she's had a wonderful day and tonight she gets to try out her new Snugglesafe warmers! I hope she's not expecting the same level of attention tomorrow!

Even though she is Tang style we doubt she is pure DD and there was some mention of bull arab in her. I always think she is very tall but next to other pei she still looks like a pup so apart from her freckles and odd skin colouring she looks like all the other Tang kids! Don't you hate how grotty your house can look in photos? My kitchen has not yet been renovated so it always looks super special in pics with its 70z cabinets and peeling vinyl!

It's kind of her own version of the butterfly - also an exhausting stroke! Very funny!

Minimax that is hilarious! I've changed it to toys.

And if you have ever wondered what all that extra skin around the face and mouth is for, it's for accommodating big balls!

One of the first photos taken of 'Dimples' and 'Dweeb' when they first arrived as our foster pups. Don't they look cute!

My foster failure Tempeh was surrendered to Peiradise along with two littermates and their 15 year old mother last August/September. Given the average life span of a shar pei is 10 that was terrible enough in itself. According to the original owner/breeder, the pups were supposed to be three months old but at a vet check Tempeh was found to have all her adult teeth which would've made her five months. We usually only foster young male pei but as Ams was getting her new dog Amnesty we took Tempeh (then Dimples) and her brother Roan (then Dweeb) to foster. I fell immediately in love with Roan while my sister thought Tempeh was beautiful. I carried Mr Sooky La-La everywhere while Temp was the more adventurous and independent one. Roan rehomed in October. Tempeh had some interest and went on a trial placement which she did not like one little bit. It seems she's already become very bonded to us and was not interested in living anywhere else! That's a shar pei for you! So she became our first shar pei foster failure and we love her very much. She fits in perfectly with the other dogs here and makes us laugh. We are constantly learning new things about her (she doesn't know how to keep herself warm) and she's learnt new things from us and the other dogs (last night she 'spooned' for the first time!). I often look at her and get a shock thinking 'where did that third dog come from'? She has not been here for long but also seems to have been part of our lives forever. And there was a time when I thought her legs would never stop growing! We don't know her proper birth date but we decided it would be 1 May every year, so today is her 1st birthday! She has spent the morning tackling some rawhide chicken drumstick thingy, surrounded by her new toys, on my bed of course! Perhaps later today she will abandon her endeavours and I can get a more joyous photo to commemorate the day! No party hats for her though - she doesn't do dress up (much to my despair). Photo taken this morning.

I think there would have to be a factor of seniors no longer being able to care for themselves let alone their senior dogs being part of this situation given our ageing population. We've talked on DOL in General about making arrangements for your dogs if you could no longer care for them. I think a lot of retirees don't do that and not all extended family are animal lovers or able to take on a pet themselves due to renting, etc. There is a lady up here that I sometimes see at jewellery making classes who works with elderly people being admitted to care facilities and she regularly needs to contact one of the rescue groups about rehoming their pets. It is one of the reasons they delay going into a facility for so long and causes them a great deal of distress. Of course neglected senior dogs ending up in pounds and rescue is another story. It could be an elderly owner who has been incapable of continuing it's proper care due to physical/mental health issues who has slipped through the system's aged care cracks or it could simply be yet another uncaring bastard who should never own a pet.

That sucks! There has to be oodles of dodgy old tracksuits out there needing a better home! Hope thing still go well for you on Sunday.

Catherine Tate lover by any chance? I use that line all the time!

Slightly different approach here - I use fluro armbands (also from Kathmandu!) on myself and the dogs harnesses so that if a car is coming from behind us we will be easier to see at night. Mine are fluro green and you push a button and it either flashes a red light or shows a steady red light. I don't tend to use the flashing side of it because my dogs would never be running loose at night. I just use it to be more visible to cars. This is the newer version of what I have - I got mine very cheap during one of their sales: http://www.kathmandu.com.au/active-armband-light-green-white.html

I want to ask an honest question. Why would you work for the RSPCA if you didn't have an affinity for animals? The pay can't be great and the working conditions are not necessarily temperature controlled or always hygienic. You would be dealing with some unpleasant and some emotional people. You would also be seeing some ugly things (injured, neglected and dumped animals and ones being pts). Based on this you'd have to think the staff were animal lovers and passionate about the wellbeing of animals or they wouldn't stay in the job long. So is the issue really with the 'organisation' and how it operates rather than the staff? It's policies, the amount of money it raises and how it raises it? How it spends it perhaps? What exactly are people unhappy about because when we lump it all in together I don't think it helps those staff who are trying to make a difference and do the right thing. I'm only asking this because nothing will change if we aren't specific about our concerns. I stopped volunteering with them because the staff at the centre back then were not as responsive to the animals needs as I was happy with. I felt I was there to provide back up support to staff but ended up with my hands tied by stupid rules about what we could and couldn't do and the staff didn't seem to care that those rules impacted on the animals. For instance I could arrive at daybreak and clean cages, change bedding and change water but someone office based decided volunteers could no longer be trusted to feed the animals (despite a fairly easy to follow guide in the runs). So I was supposed to socialise young, very hungry puppies or walk rabidly hungry older dogs, all who would not have had food for 17 hours. They hardly put their best face on to prospective adopters in that condition. Things may well have changed so I'm not going to hold that against them unless I have personal experience again that it still occurs. But I am also unhappy about their very high euthanasia rates and don't accept that they are the only rescue body that takes on the worst cases. Anyone working in rescue has seen what they have seen. I am unhappy about their use of dogs they have euthanized in advertising material unless they also note that the dog has not survived its abuse. Do not mislead to make money. And I am not happy that as our key body there to protect animal abuse for all creatures great and small, with their millions of dollars of incoming funds each year they still don't seem to be fulfilling their main purpose - following up complaints, identifying animals at risk and prosecuting offenders. The other stuff they dabble their fingers in which dilute their mandated role should be outsourced. If they are our peak body then I want them to stop being a toothless tiger. I also think they have become too top heavy as the organisation has grown, same as what happens with federal, state and local govt bodies as they broaden their business scope. As individuals I'd like to think they try but as an organisation if they have money to put ads on prime time tv then they also have money to do something practical about our two biggest problems - the crime against dogs that is BSL in Vic and puppy farming throughout this country. Companion animals being bred in farm environments is abuse on a mass scale. It costs the RSPCA a fortune in vet and rehabilitation work (without even considering what it does to the dogs) so how can that not be a priority to stamp out? BSL is abusive to innocent dogs in so many ways I can't even go into it. Why are they not being the voice for those seized dogs with no history of aggression? Why are they not ensuring they are being cared for adequately while they await their fate? Where is that informed voice that is needed for animals in this country?

I too can't come to terms with the idea that an abusive childhood results in the need to perpetuate violence on others - human or animal. I abhor violence for that very reason. And to find rope and take the time to tie an animal to a clothes line so you can beat it like a piñata shows some level of conscious decision making was happening to me. He needs help while he is in prison. OT but linked - my sister told me a story of someone who has endured years of domestic violence and her partner recently found out he suffered a serious health issue and has blamed the pain of his (previously) undiagnosed condition as the reason he was violent to her. She believes him. Sure, I could imagine a person being grumpy and anti-social in response to continual physical pain. I can even imagine some shouting/yelling when it all gets too much, but violence? How does hurting someone or something innocent make your physical or even psychological pain feel better? Even if you have actual mental health issues and black out or disconnect during the abuse then it doesn't and once cognisant again the person is likely to feel even more traumatised by what they have done. Violence against an innocent party is just an excuse for unacceptable behaviour that needs to be learned to be controlled or you don't get to be free in our communities.

Fantastic photo and yee-ha Trixie!!!!

Just magic!

Stussy has an arm scratching/dragging technique to remove my arms from the keyboard when she thinks I have been on the computer for too long. She also kind of huffs or pants while she does it and the sound causes her to look like she's smiling (an evil smile). If Tempeh doesn't get fed according to her schedule she could wake up a person in a medically induced coma and they would feed her just so they could get back to sleep! The sighing starts, it gets louder and louder, higher and higher and is first accompanied by nose nudges to various parts of the body, with a few paw taps thrown in. The nose nudges turn into little nips if ignored and the pitch of the loud sighing just keeps getting higher is combined with yawns and normally takes place next to your ears. Then she jumps on and off you (if you are lying down or reclining). It really is so pathetic and irritating that you can't ignore it. It sounds like she is going to die if not fed immediately. She uses the same technique whether it is to me or my sister and whether we are asleep or sitting at the computer or on the lounge or hanging out washing or....

I had an old incontinent girl with dementia and she wore nappies for this very reason. She'd just stand up wherever she was and pee or poo. I would take the nappy off straight away of course so it's not like she lay in it. She got used to the nappies (kids ones with a cross cut in for the tail) and it meant she could still sleep on the bed. Before the random toileting she was always a farter. She liked to sleep with her butt right near my head and I'd often roll over to stick my face in it so had to develop the 'fart pillow' as an absorption buffer between her bum and my head.

Looks good! Hope it is a great success!

The original poster was LDH but here in QLD. Do they operate as very separate entities? Am I wrong to assume if they are using the same name they support the same organisational values? Why then would they not be simply contacting their Victorian counterparts for advice on this dog and how BSL might affect it? I'm confused now.

That's an amazing update! Good on you for taking the initiative and diverting Lottie and your loss to doing something together. I'm sure it has benefitted you both.

Aphra I just looked through that link and felt sick. Those family pets have been traumatised by months in a pound type environment simply for how they look (which is not something they can change). So happy for the owners who kept going but also sad for the families who may have just given up. It is the most ridiculous law and way of enforcing it. I really can't believe that the govt thought this would work.

I think you could go two ways. You could do a serious routine, trying to get say audience members to distract your dog while you are giving it commands. This would show the audience how strong that bond can be and how it is possible to have your dog do as it is told if people persist with what they have learnt. Or you could make it funny and do a skit perhaps like say you were trying to walk but your dog kept weaving between your legs almost tripping you up, dropping your car keys and your dog keeps taking them and putting them in the bin. Does he take his cues from you verbally or in hand signals? If in hand signals then you could verbalise 'sit' but give a different hand signal so he plays dead or tries to shake when you tell indicate to fetch. Could he fetch multiple things like say you were almost doing a juggling act together? Make it look fun and silly but it would also show how possible that bond is between owner and dog and you would be showing basic commands that anyone can teach their dog, so you can verbally talk about how simple it is but how it can be made fun for both of you. Just ideas as I'm trying to think of how to wow the audience while keep it to things your boy already knows.