Little Gifts

Horrible, horrible human being. Why?

No peace going to the loo with dogs either unless you shut them in a room first. Sometimes I wonder do they think the toilet will swallow us up & make us disappear forever. I think they realise we are trapped in a confined space and at their mercy! I've given up even closing the door properly because it is simply not safe to get up mid pee to try and stop all the scratching. I'm going to take a video camera in with me one day and film all the heads that poke in and the furry bodies all splayed in the hallway when I finally choose to exit. Who knew my toileting habits were so interesting!

I remember reading a book about Giant George who held the title before Zeus and he was also a beautiful boy who was well loved. He died when he was 7 (last year I think). What shocked me most in the story (which would be the same for Zeus) is the size of the beds these gentle giants need to sleep on! RIP Zeus - I'm sure your parents wished you were around for far longer than 5 years.

I'm loving all the stories!

I just came home from choir. Walked in the door, locked it and turned the outside light off. Said hello to a blur of fur then I went and put all my music stuff away then my bag and water bottle and got out of my jeans into my jammies. I was sitting at the computer sending an email and wondered how Tempeh was after her dinner tonight as she'd vomited up her brekkie this morning. Looked. No Tempeh. Called. No Tempeh. Scrambled madly through every room in the house, lighting the place up like a Christmas tree. No Tempeh. Got the torch and went out the back. No Tempeh. Calming myself I turned on the front light and opened the front door and there she was sitting quietly on the front door mat like this kind of thing happened to her all the time! I was so proud of her! No idea how she walked past me while I was coming in as it is not a usual thing for her to do. The front gate on the verandah was closed but not properly latched so if she was so inclined she could've gone for a late night wander. But luckily she is a homebody like her mum! What have your fur kids done lately to make you proud when you have done something stoopid?

I'll have to check the page out again next time I'm on FB.

Yes - you can't help where your heart takes you! Possibly - I am likely to be looking at rescue dogs so this is not always possible. If I was purchasing a pure bred dog from a registered breeder than absolutely yes. I'd want to see their breeding bitch and history (pics of dad and his history if he wasn't with the same breeder) before I even saw any puppies. Yes - if it was a rescue and in a difficult circumstance then this could sway me to act quicker (a dog in a pound with limited options or a surrender living in poor conditions elsewhere). If I was purchasing a pure bred dog from a breeder then living conditions and its socialisation are important in whether I even decide I'd like a puppy from them. I want to know they consider all litters and all dogs in their care equally as important and don't just put on a special show for potential customers.

Can't believe I put Snoopy instead of Spoony! Apologies!

That is just magic for so many reasons!

Snoopy you have taken some amazing photos! I've also seen Ken at work in his studio so was quite interested when I came across his free e-book for photographing pets with your iphone through a link on a digital copy of Dog's Life mag. The reason I mention it is because he had some great tips on the rule of thirds that you might find useful in your compositions. I can't give you a link to it unfortunately but Ken and Bec are so amazing that if you call them they might email you a copy. Or you can PM me your email addy and I'll send you a copy of mine. It was free so I don't think sharing is breaching anything with Zoo. But you, your camera and your furry companions are making some beautiful images together.

There is no one, singular right way - training techniques are about what works best for you and your dog.

43.5 socks! Bloody hell!

Sandra is zinc based nappy cream ok if the dog is able to lick it off? I've been meaning to ask someone for ages. Sorry to go OT.

Been in the same position as you. I made the decision to pts about three months before a 17th birthday. I know my girl would've kicked on a few more months but her mobility had become a little unpredictable (nerve issues rather than arthritis), which is fine if someone is home 24/7 but my greatest fear was I'd come home and find she'd been stuck somewhere in the back yard for a couple of hours and gotten distressed. She was a tough cookie and only made moderate changes to her behaviour and routine as she aged. But with her body not keeping up with her mind I worried a lot for her safety. What if she injured herself jumping the retaining wall? What if she got caught up in the frame of one of the outside dog beds? What if she got stuck in the garden foliage and it started to rain? What if she went to do a poo and her back legs went wonky and she fell in it - she would hate that! For the last six months of her life she had a 'is it time?' visit to the vet each month. I'm still not sure I made the right decision at exactly the right time but I definitely know I loved her far too much to let her suffer unneseccarily and in my gut I knew that was where things were heading for her. She was not going to be the kind of dog who just lay in a sunny spot and never woke up. So part of your decision making has to be around what you are capable of doing for your dog and for how long. Her mind might continue to be willing but her body might fail and at 45kg you may not be able to carry her if her legs are failing. We currently have an 11.5 year old large breed dog here with arthritis and she is doing really, really well on Sacsha's Blend. I would talk to your vet about injections and supplements that might keep her mobility up as long as possible as there are a few different options on the market.

Totally agree. I don't think this is the last time poor Hugo will come to the attention of council officers - it will just be a different council.

I used to work with a man who assessed all the fatal road accidents on state controlled roads (ie the big highways). Some things I learnt are seat belts are designed to keep people safest when they are upright. Children under a certain size cannot safely sit in the front seat because of air bags and projectiles in cars kill and maim. So with that in mind, whatever option you choose for you could keep those three things in mind. If you seatbelt your dog in use a quality brand that wont snap under pressure, keep it short enough so the dog can't fly too far in the air if there was an accident (could break it's neck and hit you with their legs) and don't clip the dog into the front seat because of the air bags. If you use a cargo barrier then be aware anything loose behind it will go flying in the air. Same with a crate. If the crate is not secured in place (my car has things in the wagon's boot for securing items) both your dog and the crate could become a projectile. Hopefully a clever DOLer will have a link to a study about this very issue.

Oh Dodge, what a beautiful foster brother you are!

Sorry Diana but I don't totally agree. Stats are always going to be tangible performance indicators regardless of what organisation you are talking about. But to me a bottom line is still a bottom line. 1000 dogs in. 800 dogs out. Then you keep breaking that down and making sense of those numbers. Of the 1000 dogs in if 200 of those were returns then it indicates a problem area that could be addressed with other operational programs (if that organisation was so inclined). If of those 800 dogs out 400 of them were euthanized then you would be drilling down further to identify the reasons for pts to see where changes could best be targeted (if again, you were so inclined to seek improvement). I'm also big on looking at overall figures against overall incoming and outgoing dollars as that will often tell you how closely an organisation is to working against it's own organisational goals. Are they about animals or money? Animal and social welfare organisations always face a dilemma in how they reflect their preventative work and how they can predict 'service growth' in stats. That's why most annual reports for large orgs are not just statistical. And that's why they happen every year so you can see how the preventative programs and other operational changes may be positively impacting on those bottom line figures. And of course those bottom line figures should also be reflective of the values an organisation espouses. So if we are talking animal welfare and a reduction in kill rates then if I am not seeing that in the bottom line and in the money I'd be wanting to know why. Don't pretend you are about animal welfare yet have a big fat bank account and appalling stats (looking at you RSPCA). I used to work in statutory child protection for many years and as you can imagine, making our stats look pretty wasn't an easy task. Constant growth in all the stats you wouldn't want to see partly because of population growth, partly because of socio economic factors in some geographical areas (which will skew overall stats) and never seemingly improved through all the money thrown at prevention. But it is what it is and like animal welfare it can simply be a reflection of social deterioration. We can justify bad figures all we want but if we don't know what it looks like then we can't ever hope to find a solution. And if the stats aren't easy to understand then you have to ask yourself why, what are they trying to hide or have misinterpreted? I'd like to think the general public are horrified by scary and unacceptable stats but I doubt the majority actually care a whole lot as it doesn't affect them on a day to day basis. But they are important to other animal welfare groups when thoughtfully considered (along with the corresponding break down stats and background text) and quoted sensibly.

I think someone in Cairns made an offer to take him for them. It didn't sound to me like she actually knew them but who knows what the truth is - it seems to be flexible at her house. A pei owning DOLER gave her BAWP's info very early on in her campaign but she took the public media pressure route at the time. BAWP might choose to have a say in whether they choose to represent this nutter. I love how she doesn't trust council unless she has it 'written in writing' when in fact they have been the biggest liars all along! They have not done one thing they have agreed to since Hugo first came to council's attention. I bet they haven't even made their fences escape proof. I still remember the most beautiful bull terrier boy that I was trying to get out of a pound a couple of years back but the council weren't willing to work with me because I was interstate. At the last minute a rescue had their name on him but someone broke into that pound and stole all the dogs they could use for fighting or bait. I can still see his face and wonder what happened to him. People are ar*seholes.

How do they not get splinters in their mouths?

I no longer have a back door frame (thank you Tempeh) for my screen door to sit in. I know if I replaced it she would just chew it off again. Timber just seems to be her thing - my inside stairs, the coffee table, dining table and one of the bedside tables seem to taste pretty good too. She has been known to bring tree limbs into the house and lie on my bed with them for a nibble.

Once (and only once) has this happened to me and I did not handle it well. My heart girl Stussy is a love bug so if you are at her level and looking her way then she will do whatever it takes to coerce you into sharing some of your love with her. We were all sitting on the ground at the park after a group doggy play date and Stussy could not sit still and was licking and flinging herself on our laps for belly scratches. She was a bit hyped up still (the other dogs were pooped) but my sister's friend pinned her forcibly to the ground with her body trying to force her to just lie still on the grass. Stussy's eyes were bulging, she was struggling and she looked in fear. It was totally uncalled for in my mind and I flipped. I would never, ever want Stussy to lose her zest for life and people she is comfortable with by being physically forced to behave in a way unnatural to her personality. Of course there is a time and place for this kind of doggy exuberance and I would never let her behave like this to strangers or people who are scared of or don't like dogs but this person also has a tiny dog that happens to do exactly the same thing (but in a smaller package) so I saw red when she decided she needed to physically discipline my dog for me. I still haven't forgiven my sister's friend for this. She no longer visits and there have been no more group play dates.

I've mentioned this before. My older sister is part of a fairly large constitutional law movement here in Australia and many council by-laws breach our constitutional laws. So Darren is sort of correct. Animals are considered our property. No other person is allowed to take our property (unless we are breaching a constitutional law and causing harm to others with that property). Technically Hugo, the property of stupid owners was causing harm to others while he was loose. With many laws there are discretionary powers and someone at council clearly had a heart and decided (using these discretionary powers) Hugo shouldn't pay for his life just because he had crappy owners. If Hugo had not caused harm to others then these owners would've had to retain legal counsel and take council to our highest court to fight the decision. That's how I'd be fighting BSL if it ever affected me directly and I knew my dog was being targeted for its breed and not its behaviours. But no point trying to explain this to Darren or Hugo's owners. Dumb and dumber. I doubt either of them would be capable of filling out the relevant 'papper work' to take anything to court so we can all sleep safely tonight!

That statement was it. The bomb. It said everything I felt. Thank you Team Dog.

I actually think it is far more useful to everyone involved in animal welfare to provide clear and honest stats. How can things ever improve if we don't? You'd have to be an idiot to think every single dog that came in to a shelter or a pound was capable of finding a new home. You have injured dogs, ones with terminal health issues, as well as dangerous ones and ones with serious behavioural issues. It is like a hospital aiming to be a 'no death' facility. It simply isn't possible. But when they have clean stats on the number of rehomable animals that are pts then they have a bottom line to work against and improve. I'm far more impressed by honest and improving data than dodgy showing off stuff.