Little Gifts

t-time I have sent you a PM about Best Friends Rescue as they are also an option for this girl if Lab Rescue can't help.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! This is a huge relief for all of us with dogs that 'might' be considered Amstaffs as well as those who definately are.

I may be in these stats but one of my staffies was the victim. Across the road we have a yard full of feral chihuahuas. I was on the front lawn with my sister, a lady with a lab walked by, several chihuahuas rushed out of their open gate and attacked the lady and the lab. Problem was our 3 dogs thought my sister and I were being attacked and tried to bust through my front security screen door to protect us. (They bent it but didn't get out, plus we have a gate on our verandah because we are responsible dog owners!) My poor old staffy girl got slammed into the wall in the rush, into a ceramic pot that mum put there at xmas. The pot broke and her leg split open in 2 places and she had to get 8 staples. I was livid and contacted council and complained. They may be small dogs but they cause problems being loose all the time, scare people when they rush out and can bite so why should they not be held accountable? So when they say 'involved' in the article maybe they have twisted the info to include victims and not just the attackers.....here's hoping for the sake of my staffies!

I know BFR had a situation where a man in his 30s died (not sure how but some kind of accident). His 2 rotties (very well looked after and loved and not old) ended up in the pound (again I'm not sure how) and BFR was helping the family by finding a foster carer for them so the father and son dogs could come out of the pound, stay together and be rehomed together. They searched far and wide for a suitable carer. The dogs went to them but the family still decided the dogs should be pts. I didn't hear the full story behind that decision but I think it was linked to how the dogs would cope without their devoted owner. And the family were obviously grieving and not thinking how resiliant dogs can be. It was very sad for all involved.

All my dogs have been the ones no-one else wanted - too fat, too old, too sick and too naughty. They all ended up at my house and never left! HEY DOG (RIP) came to me to show me that even if you were only born with stumpy little legs you can still run and have fun! BUNDY (RIP) came to me to prove I can successfully care for another living thing RICKY came to me to show me the cycle of life STUSSY came to me so I could experience unconditional love and appreciate how simple and wonderous life can be

My sister (and her dog) now live with me (and my 2 dogs) so we made a pact that if one of us goes the other has to care for all three dogs. We share the care now and try to meet each other's idiosyncracies. My old girl is almost 16 and there will come a time when she leaves us for the rainbow bridge. I tentatively asked my sister if we could still get another dog (probably a foster) after that happened. She surprised me by saying she couldn't imagine us without a house full of dogs and expected that at some point we would head back out to acreage and have even more dogs than we have now. Awww she's a good sister!

My old girl has always hated the rain. In my old house there was a permanent track through all the garden beds around the house, right against the walls under the eaves. In my current house the back door is through the lounge/entertainment room where we spend most of our time. My old girl's trick when I force her out to toilet when it is raining is she walks till her butt is just out the door before going. I'm sure it is on purpose!

This is what I love about DOL - all the knowledge!

Rumour has it that mating of very white particoloured Whippets has seen deafness crop up in the breed. There is a definite link between black dogs and increased risk of some cancers and between black and tan dogs and susceptability to parvo. And of course the lethal white gene crops up in merle to merle matings.. in dogs and in paint horses. Poodlefan I am interested in this bit. I have a staffy who is black with minimal white markings. I don't know her full history but I doubt she came from a registered breeder. She was diagnosed with cancerous tumours about 3 years ago. They have not been treatable and they are everywhere all over her body. These have not negatively affected her in any way. A couple of months ago she was diagnosed with mammary cancer. Again no treatment is possible but she remains well. She's almost 16 so her quality of life is very important to me and her level of health and activity surprises me daily even though I know that will change at some point. I'd never heard about the link between cancer and black dogs so would be interested in what kinds of cancers are likely to see if she fits the profile.

I'd really love to hear how you go with this. Is the house old? Do you sense or feel anything yourself? I have had strange psychic 'epiphanies' all my life but only in relation to either people I am very close to or people somehow linked to people I am very close to (if that makes sense). Basically not strangers or co-workers. Not all come true but I pass them on if the image is persistent enough, just in case! Anyway a close friend lives in the UK and she and her husband renovate old houses. I was last there in 2006 when they had just finished an old farm cottage. From the minute I walked in the door I could sense someone in the kitchen - a young girl who had worked in the house and who had stayed there in spirit because that was really the only 'home' she'd ever had. It was like she just belonged there as part of the house. I told my friend (she is used to me) and the wierd thing was she had someone else tell her exactly the same thing when they first bought the house and it was all gutted and empty. I can still picture this girl today even though my friend and her husband have since sold the house. She actually gave their kitchen a sense of warmth and it was a real gathering spot for the whole family. The dog used to sleep in there too. That has been my first and only spirit experience and I don't know how I would've coped if it felt like a bad spirit. Hence my interest in your situation. I always reckon truth is much stranger than fiction so I'm not suprised by what might 'exist' out there!

Behavioural and psychological issues are different from mental health issues Rommi - that's what I was thinking when I read this. Some people can have both of course, but mental health issues are those that can be clinically diagnosed like schizophrenia. Often people with mental illnesses act in ways they simply can't control - there is no intent to harm or kill. Think of animal hoarders - some of their animals die from neglect because they can't cope, not because they wish harm on the animal. Conditioning and having an abusive background are behavioural issues and can be changed. Just because someone comes from an abusive background does not mean they have to go on to be abusers themselves, whether that be directed at other humans or animals. Likewise with conditioning - it doesn't mean a person can't at some point think for themselves and make their own decisions. Particularly in today's society where education is the norm in most countries and the Internet exposes us to so many different world experiences and perspectives. So a decision to continue being part of something that might be considered morally wrong by general society becomes a personal one at some point. That could be because you like it or because you want to fit in or because you're scared of not doing it. That isn't a 'mental illness'. And "I didn't know it was wrong" or "I didn't know any better" is not a mental illness either - that's more commonly known as ignorance and denial. "I didn't care" is also behavioural and not the kind of person I'd want to know.

I had a boy with very debilitating epilepsy for several years. Long story but he always had problems working out where he was and who was with him afterwards. It was like he couldn't see or hear. He would be sniffing the air like he was trying to work it all out that way. Hopefully this is the worst it will ever get for you and Tag. It is manageable.

OMG - I made the mistake of checking out other abuse clips on You Tube and now I feel physically sick. The neglect and abuse of some dogs is more than I can imagine any living thing suffering through. There is a pit bull on there called Loius Vitton who was set on fire and survived. Their will to live and trust in humans must be incredibly strong. I'm not sure we deserve their love after seeing those images. No more for me.

I missed the show so was checking out clips on You Tube and the arsewipe who was kicking the small dog in the elevator was arrested for what he did. The dog had no broken bones or internal damage from the kicking. I hope the girlfriend dumped him too.

+1 I worked in statutory child protection for many years there is plenty of evidence that children who torture animals go on to commit other serious crimes like murder. It is also true that if the animal is being abused by an adult in the house then it is highly likely that there is dysfunction amongst the human family members like dv between the parents or abuse by one or more parent upon the children. It is all linked.

I've never seen the Rescue Ink show but found a book by them in the library and even wrote down some of the stuff they said about how a dog becomes conditioned to neglect or abuse and will lash out at a rescuer because for all they know they might be taking them somewhere even worse. It made a lot of sense to me. And wouldn't you love to be so intimidating you could just turn up at some arseholes house and get them to hand over their abused dog to you? I would! "Yeah buddy, if you don't want to book yourself in for knee cap surgery then this is how we are going to do it....."

MM those photos were HILARIOUS! I hadn't seen them before. I always think of swf's as not enjoying a dirty face. I was wrong!

I got some velour covered stairs from Deals Direct a while back as my old girl can now longer get on the bed without help. She refuses to use them and the younger dog ate the corner off so we continue to do the 'tuck the bum lift anytime she wants up on the bed.

You have a plant still alive on your verandah and the pot seems to be in one piece still - your dogs are not doing there job properly!

One of mine can't even recline unless it is on top of me or the other dog. She has no sense of personal space and has been like that since she was a pup. She wont touch a dog bed unless the other one is already in it.In winter she gets in under the doona (in the middle of the bed) and the other one is on the top of the bed near my head snuggled in her blanky. I lie on my side and scrunch us altogether and we all fall asleep like that every night. My sister's dog doesn't like anything touching her - not even someone else's pillow. She will get on the bed with us but only if a whole quarter of the bed is totally free. Same on the lounges - we bought an extra lounge so she could have her space. You can't even go and sit beside her.

Geez that was a close call! And I don't think it was the dog they were after either. They were trying to assess how vulnerable you were and whether the dog would go for them if they tried anything. I'm glad Logan was able to sense the trouble and let them know where he stood on things. Dogs seem to sense this stuff. Sucks though when you have to adjust your walking time to that kind of thing but I doubt they will be back - they wanted someone then and there and they already know the dog will protect you so they wont bother trying again. They go for easy targets unfortunately. And why don't you get yourself one of those small hand alarms? They are only about $10 and give off the most god awful high pitched scream. I keep one next to my bed but can take it anywhere with me.

Nic your words reflect how precious Ray was to you and your family and by the looks on his face you were all very precious to him. Those wonderful memories will always be with you - he will live on in your hearts. This kind of thing makes me cry like a total girl. One of my rescues is 16 on 10 August and every day I come home worried it will be bad news. She has cancer but is doing very well still but I hear people say the older ones deteriorate very quickly once it is their time. Even when the time is right to say goodbye it is still heartbreaking to have to go through. So I'm feeling your sadness tonight but am also feeling the love you all shared. Alyson

Harness and soft lead gives me a better feeling of control as I have had dogs slip their normal collars before. I've also had a dog who yanked on a retractable lead quickly and it broke injuring my hand and letting the dog run off. I wont use them again. I have bought a martingale but am yet to try it, mostly because I can't remember where I put it.

I am hyperventilating even responding to this thread! Our 3 dogs are very social so we (stupidly) decided last year to go to a doggy camping event with them. It was a freaking nightmare! The youngest dog was just in a panic the whole 3 days and had to be leashed on a run. She'd go crazy and wrap herself around poles and camping gear and everything would just topple over. The middle dog kept doing runners. The oldest dog is mostly blind so would just follow one of the others or be getting in the way. The only peace we had for 3 days was when we were all in the tent at night. I was so stressed out - I really expected our dogs to have a bit of a play with the other dogs there, to engage in the organised activities but also happy to be with us swimming, exploring and lounging around. Nope. We had the crazy dogs who kept running into other people's camp areas, running up into the mountains in the heat, raiding bins and fighting with each other. Everyone else's dogs seemed like they were on valium compared to ours and few other dogs were even tethered or leashed. We so didn't expect things to go that bad as we also love camping and put a lot of effort into creating a dog friendly set up. I'm still embarrassed thinking about it all. And even worse, the youngest one still gets into a panic now at large dog events like millopn paws walk and bark in the park. It is like she has lost her confidence in doggy groups. I suspect she'd run screaming if she saw me pull the tent out as well!

We have had a husky x, a teensy toy style dog, a mature staffy and a staffy pup living together here. All four played so roughly together I used to panic, but it was just how they wanted to play - the teensy one was the worst! The husky x did have a tendency to discipline the others, to keep them in line when things were getting too boisturous. The teensy dog lives elsewhere now but still visits and the play is still the same. We never had problems at meal times and if anything the slow eaters learnt to eat at meal times or miss out. As ellz said - it is about the dogs personalities and the supervision you provide.