Little Gifts

She's looking so good!

ZOOOOOOOM!

I am on a sewing page. One of the regulars has posted pics today that include a 2 year old female surrendered from this breeder. She is being fostered. She has commented that the dog is very sweet and has come a long way in the past couple of months - terrified of everything, people in particular, when she arrived. A dog can be good to look at but being raised appropriately by whoever bred it gives it a better chance for a positive and secure life. So as sad as it is this situation came to this for that breeder, it is still the dogs who have suffered the most.

Absolutely devastating and that is just one farm and family. We went through something similar as a kid with the '74 floods, although I recall we had time to move cattle to higher ground so probably had more land damage (I know we lost a massive dam and water supply source) than stock loss. I do remember the impact on native wildlife too and it went on for months afterwards. They just had nowhere safe to go/live. The flood water also got us cut off from our house and farm for 3 days. We were trying to get home from an emergency trip to the hospital (me - broken arm) and ended up sitting on the roof of our jeep surrounded by rising water needing to be saved. I see these pics and can now imagine how stressed out my parents must've been not knowing what was happening back at their property for those 3 days.

*WARNING* Graphic images of the effect of the recent extreme weather in North Queensland on a Brahman farm. Very, very sad but it will give you some insight into the extensive impact of something like this on just one farm and family in that area. https://www.facebook.com/jacqueline.curley.969/media_set?set=a.2304320376259409&type=3

She's looking so much better!

Look at them all! So cute!!!!

I agree T. Those 3 pei had no chance of a new life with the RSPCA. Maybe fate did the right thing?

Having worked in statutory child protection where investigating notifications of abuse and neglect are the core business, if you attend the premises you see it through because there has to be enough concern to even raise a notification and whilst there might not be enough to intervene this visit, it starts a documented history that might end up being useful later. So to attend the premises and not even sight the dogs - well I'm calling bullshit on that. Those particular owners are allegedly known drug users or drug dealers so that also forms part of the history about their abilities to care for animals. I bet you if you looked at the property it would show signs of neglect/damage, which is also a reason to just double check and sight those 'well loved' dogs while you are there. There was also that case on the Gold Coast last year where a person filmed a man standing behind his ute, punching the head and kicking the stomach of his staffy for being over excited (they were going to the beach). His partner had the other dog and didn't react to his beatings, which indicates to me that it was the norm. Anyway the RSPCA said that footage was not evidence of anything and they would not be following it up. The footage went viral on the internet and suddenly they decided to investigate. What a crock. Even if something doesn't end up as a prosecution that abusers details are on file for the future and those officers can inform them that treating an animal in that way is a punishable crime. That 'education' is an important part of the intervention system too. When will they get the balance right? Go too hard on some cases and do f*** all in others? If malnourishment and medical neglect aren't grounds for doing 'something', what is?

You can freeze water in an empty ice cream container and upend that block into an empty second water bowl large enough to accomodate it. It will defrost slower than ice cubes in water and provide cooler water for longer. If the bowl is metal you might find the dog also wants to lie near it so leave some space for that to happen too.

Here's another (current) one for you. This is bullshit. It is clear the dogs got like this under their owners care but apparently the RSPCA have no evidence! Do they want to just spend no money or do they want to protect all creatures great and small from being abused? Because without some kind of punishment these abusers will do this again! https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/he-s-so-ugly-he-s-cute-pup-marvin-found-malnourished-and-mutated-but-his-perth-owner-has-not-been-charged-20190123-p50t2j.html?fbclid=IwAR1BfRHNFQLWK9KVDBaeUYZYtmNgnw2194jJSCF4snMuw0jqFKr6NXWkTRc

Go gently beautiful girl with a belly full of treats and a heart full of love.. I'm so sorry T. Very sad for you.

LMO I had the video on You Tube but they revamped the site and it is not there now. It was taken so long ago it's probably on one of our old hard drives. If it turns up again I'll send you a link. Stussy is waggling a tug toy in his face encouraging him to grab on to it. He grabs on and runs off with it and Stussy is all no, no, no, that's not how you play tug! It's very sweet!

Here you go! https://www.rescuenetwork.com.au/

I still remember very fondly the shar pei Oscar we fostered here. He was malnourished, very shut down and due to heavy wrinklage unable to see and very mishapen. Ams said to me she wasn't sure he would make it and thought we'd have him for a while. He was eating every couple of hours to put weight back on and I had to put a mattress on our couple of lounge room stairs so he slid down rather than fell. He did a lot of pacing around our house and yard, mapping out everything in his mind so eventually the mattress went and he was safe. And of course it was the other dogs who helped comfort him. I don't think he'd been around many other dogs and he had certainly never played with toys. I took video footage of my girl Stussy teaching him how to play tug and photos of him lying on the floor surrounded by toys and floor mats and other things he was coveting. I was so in love with his ability to recover and he went to an amazing home with children after only a couple of months with us so his life was far from done by ending up in rescue. Oscar is who I think of every time there is a seemingly desperate case. I hope Sooty gets the same new life.

Just amazing!!!!

Glad to see media coverage of this issue. I read the full article and felt it was fairly balanced in that all sides had the chance to say their piece. It is the same fundraising the RSPCA use to do less and less. I have no issue with fundraising as long as you are spending the money appropriately. Paying your coordinating staff more and more when you are representing a not for profit sector is not appropriate.

What a tragedy. I wish she'd been able to see the escalation in Simba's behaviours because even if you don't think your dog would attack you, you can still get badly injured trying to break up an aggression episode. What kind of a life was he having when he needed to be locked up all the time to keep everyone else safe. And lastly, all the poor people who were involved in this incident as victims or responders - those are things no-one wants to experience. No winners here.

Well I'm glad she has found you. She gets to live her best life now, even at 12. And I wish we could be more resilient like dogs. There she is blind, elderly and with mobility issues and yet she wants to explore and take advantage of her new surroundings! Us humans would be lying in bed whining over our troubles!

Twigs! Twigs in my eyes dammit!

Yep Virgin. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6538933/Virgin-left-couples-beloved-bulldog-Bruno-die-blistering-temperatures-tarmac.html

The silky bantams!!!!!!

Yes I have. I had a very old stafford girl who was incontinent from both ends. I bought nappies as per weight (she was 21kg so I bought from memory up to 25kg) and cut a cross for her tail at a spot a bit less than half the nappy. I found the cross much easier to get her tail through than a hole and would just fold the nappy in half and it was a quick two cut process. You put the nappy on so the tabs go across their back, not across their belly like a human baby. When she went to the toilet the nappy would sag straight off her body and I'd change it (she was mobile so never toileted lying down but dementia meant she would toilet wherever she was standing). Due to the sagging and immediate changing we never had any skin irritation and didn't even need to clean her up between toileting either - it just all dropped down away from her body (even poo).

Apologies Rascal - I didn't mean to sound judgemental at all. You have been through something very significant and important and I would expect that was and should be your top priority. You can only pull yourself so many ways. I was just wondering whether there has been a different mood in the household over the last few weeks (particularly while you were in hospital) that he is picking up on without understanding what it means? Some dogs can be very sensitive to the little nuances. I hope some of the supplements work and that he settles in again.

Dog, imagine what $360,000 could do for cash poor rescue groups. Vet bills across Australia could be significantly reduced for a start but instead they will probably be Christmas bonuses for Pet Rescue staff.