Little Gifts

I am so, so sorry TwoDoggies. I am facing something similar with my heart girl too and it is terrifying. Plus we don't want our babies to go through something like this and to lose them in an emergency situation. It will take a while to come to terms with so go easy on yourself.

I lived in Hong Kong with my asian partner and some of his family way back in 1983. Dog meat was common in the restaurants we ate at and meat dogs were kept by families on boats in the harbour near where we lived. I never saw them in our local food markets but it was very common and I'd always have to check we weren't being served it if a local we were with ordered our meal.

Rescue Remedy did nothing here but it is still worth trying for your dog. Tempeh is not a coat fan either but we have another storm brewing this afternoon (she is wandering around crying already) so after I finish this post I'm hitting the big first aid bag for some wide bandages. When she is distressed I doubt she will even know she's wrapped up like a mummy!

I'm not really sure what to say about this one. http://www.smh.com.au/environment/animals/police-raid-finds-dogs-goats-for-human-consumption-20120201-1qtgo.html Police raid finds dogs, goats 'for human consumption' Claire Knox, Andria Cozza of Melton Weekly A ROCKBANK property housing animals, including dogs and goats suspected of being illegally slaughtered and sold for human consumption, was raided yesterday. A 26-member joint taskforce that included Caroline Springs police and detectives, the RSPCA, the Department of Sustainability and Environment, PrimeSafe and the Melton Council arrived at the property about 7.30am. They also found several goat carcasses hanging on butcher's hooks, and items of butchering equipment. These included saws, blowtorches and knives. Police said they seized about $200,000 worth of stolen machinery and cars from the premises, illegal firearms, ammunition and cannabis plants from a mobile home that was on the property. The raid was organised after police received a statement from a witness who reported seeing a dog being butchered and a blowtorch used to remove its hair before the carcass was hung on a hook. It was also alleged a man who lives on the property sold dog meat to about 100 customers for between $100 and $350. The witness said the dogs were found through public notices that advertised the animals as free to a good home. Two restricted breed dogs were found on the property. No dog meat was found on the premises. A 41-year-old Rockbank man has been charged and bailed on criminal offences in relation to the raid. MELTON WEEKLY

Interesting about the zencrate. That's what Tempeh tried to create for herself last night. At one stage she disappeared and I found her huddled inside my horn sewing cabinet (where the peddles are and the stool was pushed into). She also tried to get herself onto my bedside table shelf which is hard against the wall on two sides and the bed on the other. Once I put the soft crate up she went straight in and settled. It is overcast out there again now and she is under the computer table rubbing into my legs, crying and lightly shaking at times. I can't believe how quickly her anxiety has progressed. I'm going to bring the soft crate down to the lounge while we are up watching tv so she has somewhere to hide if she needs it. I'm going to make an appointment with my vet (and I'm going to buy a Thunder Shirt to try because she seems to want pressure on her body). I was wondering though if anyone has tried any essential oils or whether I can buy DAP and diffuse it myself? I have a pretty good diffuser so it seems worth a try. I can see she is quite confused about how she is feeling. She has never been big on full body contact and now she wants it all the time.

Our 5 year old pei girl has started reacting to storms since about a month ago. Last night she wanted a blanket all over her and then was trying to find a cave to sleep in. I went out into the shed and pulled out her soft crate (and a mattress so I could sleep on the floor beside her) and she finally settled enough to sleep. Her distress went on long after the storm had stopped. We seem to be having a very bad and early storm season so I don't see this ending anytime soon. The crate will stay set up and I will sleep with her anytime she needs it. We've been trying Rescue Remedy but it has made no difference. What are people's experiences with Thunder Shirts and Adaptil collars or diffusers? Based on her size she needs a large thunder shirt but what is the sizing really like on them? She is close to the maximum so I am worried I wont be able to overlap it enough. And how do the collars work? Can they be activated as you need them and removed when you don't or once you activate do they just kind of keep releasing until they run out? Or is a diffuser better because you can move it room to room? Tempeh is not into cuddles or being covered but she definately wants to be encircled when she is affected by an oncoming storm so I'm thinking the Thunder Shirt is a good option. It seems to be atmospheric changes upsetting her rather than noise. Any other product suggestions are also welcomed as this is a very new thing for her and we are willing to try anything as I used to have a boy who was so terrified of storms he would hurt himself to get to a human for comfort. We were unable to find anything that reduced his fear except being with a human (any human - he took himself to neighbours after busting out a couple of times, even breaking through their screen door to get in!). TIA.

This part was really telling for me. She is fine when her world is predictable and as she can manage it. You have been doing everything you can to make life the way she enjoys it most but you can't control everything. Whether it is age, a health issue or just other subtle changes going on in her life, fear has crept back in. I'd get a medical assessment of course but your next step after that could be assessing what has caused her to move back into fear mode again and be so hyper vigilant for threats. I've got a similar scenario and made an eleventh hour decision to get in another behaviourist (this time it was Jane Harper) rather than pts and our girl is much calmer and happier now. Some of it is to do with age, some is to do with more mental stimulation and some of it is to do with her looking more to us for answers on whether something is a threat or not. We did similar to you not forcing her to deal with anything she didn't want but that didn't abate all her fears so others built and she was lacking healthy stimulation that a dog who leaves her property would be getting so things just kept building up for her and she became unpredictable with our other dog. Now we seem to have a better balance and it hasn't been hard, but we are always, ALWAYS vigilant for changes in her behaviour as I don't think there is a one size fits all response to these things, and how she feels will change over time and we need to change with it. It is hard to let a good dog go without knowing if you did the right thing. Exhaust all your options (if you can) and make your decision. Big hugs to you - this kind of a decision is a crusher.

Still allowed to breed. Gosbsmacked.

My issue is the price people are charging for what are simply cross-bred dogs is not reflective of the quality of the puppy they are selling OR of the quality of care the parents or the puppies have received. We don't need more of these kinds of dogs and we don't need more money to be going into this industry. I know several well respected registered breeders and they all have other jobs to make ends meet. Yet there are puppy farmers and back yard breeders making a pretty coin while their bitches do all the work. It's because they maximise their product and minimise their outgoings to make that product. What other product with no guarantee do consumers happily part thousands of dollars for just because it looks cute? You wouldn't pay $3000 for a Gucci handbag without knowing it was what it professed to be but you will buy a living thing that someone tells you is made up breed name? It's all kinds of stupid. So if puppy farmers and backyard breeders charged a cost that reflected the quality of what they were selling I doubt it would hold as much interest for either side. I think it is at the detriment of all dogs to encourage or further legitimise this kind of 'industry'. If it smells like dog shit, it's dog shit.

I'm sorry Moosmum but we will have to agree to disagree. All I see happening is the people already making a wad of cash puppy farming or backyard breeding will continue to do exactly what they are doing. The only reason they will join an organisation like this is to appear more legitimate. They are not interested in changing a thing about their practices unless it is to make them more money and seem less vulnerable to the fanatics. Then you will have the newbies who want to learn how to make money from breeding puppies and we will end up with even more puppies, puppy farmers and backyard breeders than we have now, all patting themselves on the back for a job well done. Not one existing, money generating business is going to become more educated about their poor practices through this organisation. If they were in it for the dogs they would already have educated themselves. In this article Mr Guthrie was quoted several times regarding providing education for appropriate breeding practices. Isn't part of that related to genetics and health and isn't this very issue already a problem within some breeds in the purebred community? How will you improve it by boutiquing it? Pure bred (but not papered) dogs end up in rescue all the time and the only way to change that is reduce the numbers that exist in the first place, not legitimise, support and increase it. And representing owners who have not registered their dogs due to cost and an unwillingness to desex is saying a lot to me too. If you can't afford to register your undesexed dog then what else can't you afford for your dog? Desexing is a personal issue but if you want to keep animals it costs money and there are requirements to be met. Maybe if these people took the same responsibility everyone's registration fees would be less and we would have more dog friendly places because it would be clearer to council how many dogs they had in their catchment area? If these same people are not willing to pay council registration or desexinng fees (because some people do claim they don't desex due to cost) then I doubt they'd pay a registration fee to this organisation either unless they wanted specific help. More puppies on the market equals a bigger burden on pounds, shelters and rescue organisations both from new animals that will be dumped down the track (for various reasons) and also due to an increase in purchasing a pet shop puppy over adopting a rescue. Education is definately needed at the buyer level so they don't continue to feed the negative side of this market. I am all for people choosing whatever breed of dog they desire but I am not for flooding the market with poorly bred, unsocialised dogs to increase their poor choices and I sure as hell will never support breeding bitches kept in kennels simply to pump out as many puppies as she can. This is all about money and people - people wanting to make more money breeding and people wanting to pay less money for owning. At no point is there indications here that any of that money will improve the lives of any existing or new dogs. Sorry, but same same from where I sit unfortunately. It sort of looks good but it feels like rewarding bad behaviour.

"Don certainly knows what he's talking about when it comes to dogs and the values of crossbreeding and boutique dogs, in other words dogs that aren't a pedigree," Mr Guthrie said. This is the crux of it. Just because 80% of dogs in that state are not purebred doesn't mean we need to be encouraging more mass breeding of said dogs. How many dogs do we need in this bloody country anyway? I just can't support any encouragement for any en masse breeding of genetically poor puppies when so many perfectly good dogs are currently being put to sleep day in and day out around this country. How about we make a place for all of those first and reduce an unnesseccary death toll on living creatures if we love dogs as much as we claim? If we get those numbers down and keep them down then maybe there is a place to educate better breeding standards for the boutique fluffy. Because the people who breed and sell these puppies and the people who buy these puppies are all part of the current problem. How about a stat on that Mr Guthrie?

Exactly dogbesotted! This is not about anything other than making money. What a joke.

The more I hear the more sickened I feel for all the poor animals that might pass through this hellhole if it gets approved. Greedy, lying, money grubbing sacks of shit! What is wrong with people that they can't see how badly they are being ripped off by these businesses? How can they not tell the difference between quality and support from a good registered breeder and selling simply for profit? If people got wise, businesses like this would die a natural death. I want to bang my head until it bleeds right now.

"A statement of environmental effects [SoEE] lodged as part of the development application says it would include 15 kennels; a building containing 20 whelping (birthing) kennels; eight mating kennels; a grooming shed; and a number of dogs runs, outdoor fenced areas and dog socialisation areas." Yes and they will only employ 3 people to do all of that probably so we know it's all bullshit just like all the other puppy farms. Some very telling information here. If they need 20 whelping kennels you can imagine how many bitches they are planning on keeping and how many puppies they are hoping to pump out. Also it said they were breeding to supply to one specific pet shop. Bloody hell that means that pet shop must be some kind of puppy warehouse. Or they will also be selling online. It's all just smoke and mirrors. You can't use farming practices to raise a healthy and well socialised companion animal regardless of how much money you put into it, especially if you don't have a suitable staff to animal ratio. I just imagine the stress on the dogs of living in what equates to a flashy pound environment - cages, lots of barking from other stressed dogs in a non-home like environment and random human interaction.

Just checked out the news report "believed to be a pit bull." Why do they have to do that. They have so little information about what seems to be a horrific incident I doubt they have the breed of the dog confirmed.

Heartbreaking really. I remember a rescue dog, young male who became unpredictably aggressive. I think his owners were also expecting and surrendered him with a very heavy heart. At first it was thought to be behavioural and fixable, lack of training with a teenager kind of thing. I remember taking him out on leash to toilet and for walks and he seemed ok with me - no issues at all. He seemed fear aggressive if cornered in like say his crate so we avoided triggering that. But one day I was working up the hall and he jumped his enclosure and confronted me at the end of the hall with his teeth bared like a rabid animal. No-one else was there and I was shitting myself. I had not done anything to cause him to come after me like that. I yelled aggressively at him to get back to his area and pointed back up the hall. He softened, turned around and jumped back into his enclosure. There was definately something broken in that poor, beautiful boy. He didn't make it. My only advise to owners with dogs with behavioural issues is to not only go to one behaviouralist (or vet) - try several if you need to before making that truly final decision. Same way that sometimes we need to find the right Dr for ourselves and Dr shop or if we have chronic conditions we might change specialists because that particular specialist has exhausted options for us. If you truly love your pets give them your best shot, not just try once and think you are done. Don't give up unless you are at the actual end.

Interesting stuff Shel.

I can see why this might be useful information to a potential adopter but it sort of makes it sound like some groups are unnecessarily bureaucratic and will take much longer (which many people say they don't have). From the other side of the fence I know that stricter adoption policies are totally necessary for some dogs and some breeds of dogs to ensure the adoption is a long term and successful one. Groups that have stricter policies tend to take on the harder to rehome cases too. I wish there was a way Pet Rescue could reflect this, helping people make the link to it being about the dogs needs rather than the groups needs. They seem to be upselling the flexible policy too, like why would you choose an organisation with strict policies when you can get all of this in an instant! Not sure it's on the mark.

It's all about ears and wrinkles at our place!

I suck! I only got 11! I spend everyday watching both my dogs body language to ensure we have no issues but I still only got 11! I blame some of the poor photographs and lack of history about each and every dog and their breed and the inferior context provided around each scenario presented!

My little take on this is there are so few off leash sections of beach where you can legally take your dog (well on the Gold Coast anyway) that I am dumbfounded people without dogs even want to go there. There is miles and miles of beach that dogs aren't allowed to set foot on up here so I have little sympathy for people who carry on about dogs being dogs in the small sections of beach they can use. People are idiots (dog owners and non-dog owners). Dogs don't know council or police laws. They pee and poop and run and jump and stick their noses where they shouldn't and hump and shake sand and water over all your stuff and, well, the list goes on. There are risks being in an off leash dog area surrounded by dogs cutting loose. You shouldn't (and hopefully wouldn't) put your baby on the ground in an off leash park so a measly section of beach dedicated for such use should be just the same. Use your common sense because by the time a law has been broken it could be too late.

I had a situation with an unpredictable dog. It was actually at the vets after yet another dog fight while I was trying to decide whether it would be pts or stitched up. I made the decision to pts due to the unpredictable behaviour. Two hours later I changed my mind. I just couldn't do it and decided we would try one more time. So I got in yet another behaviouralist who was highly recommended. It has been almost 2 years and we've only very recently had another issue. BUT, my relationship with both dogs is now so much stronger that I was able to stop things before they escalated into any danger. I have reviewed what prompted it and we have gone back to some of the original training again too. I know my dogs so much better now and I believe I am leader of their pack and they pay attention to what I want from them. It keeps us all safe. If you want to own a dog with behavioural issues it takes a lifelong commitment. One with human aggression needs extra special care because unlike dog aggression it still needs to interact with some humans for its food, etc. Steve Courtney at K9 Pro does amazing work with aggressive dogs but if the owners aren't committed to the dog post training then there is no point. I doubt a dog wants to be aggressive from fear or what have you and I doubt they want to be confined because of their behaviour. I've also met rescue dogs that were unpredictably aggressive due to something going on in their brains. How confusing that one minute you were getting pats and the next you were being yelled at but safety has to come first and some dogs are broken. If they love the dog they will get a professional assessment and make an informed decision. If my last behaviourist had said my dog was not manageable we would've returned to the vets straight away, but we put the work in then and continue with it today and we have a lovely, calm household. But we are always watching and we are always on hand.

So much love...too many tears....make sure you come back again Bubby....

We've got new neighbours up the street - corner block with not a skerrick of fencing and one side the road that goes to a busy school so lots of traffic. Yet it is always filled with renters with dogs, usually left to roam or confined on a line of some kind. The current neighbours have rigged up a portable fence against the side fence and initially I thought good on them for caring about their dogs. But everytime I drive by 1 large and 1 small dog are in that pen. No shade except for the 2 kennels taking up pen space and just metal bowls lying on what still is some grass. We are already getting in the high 30s here. My car is getting repaired so I walked home this morning and the larger dog was crying and barking at the house. The people were home sitting in the shade under their front verandah. I saw how little the run was for 2 dogs that seem to be permanently kept in there. How little shade those poor dogs had at only 10.30 on a moderate Spring morning. I saw how small that metal water dish was with nothing stopping it from tipping over. They were desperate to be with their humans. It made me so sad because this is just so common for so many dogs! I wish people would put themselves in the same position as their dogs and see how comfortable and comforting their set up is. Then you have people who use the opposite argument for not containing their cats - their cat wouldn't like it! But apparently it is perfectly fine for a dog?

Willow is so cute! And I always love your adoption updates. You should be so proud of yourself for what you have achieved for these dogs cause you rock!