Keira&Phoenix

Hi Poodlefan, Thank you. Several others that I am aware of are - Staffordshire Bull Terriers Doberman Pinscher - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doberman_Pinscher (they don't even know they exact breeds that went into Dobes) I am sure if I looked up others there would be more outside of this.

Not at all still here. That was quite rude. Clearly you have nothing more sophisticated or educated to say then some smart ass remark. I am trying to be friendly and have a discussion with you and because I don't share your views you are being absolutely rude. Grow up. What is rude about the term "hybrid vigour" ? I think you are being naughty telling another poster to "grow up". I might have a word with Troy about that. I didn't say the term was rude it is the way you constructed your sentence. Especially after I posted what I did explaining that I wasn't in this for a fight I just wanted a healthy discussion. Report me that is fine. If telling someone who I feel is acting childish instead of participating in a adult discussion is "naughty" then I am happy to cop it on the chin.

Not at all still here. That was quite rude. Clearly you have nothing more sophisticated or educated to say back to me so you have come out with some smart ass remark. I am trying to be friendly and have a discussion with you and because I don't share your views you are being absolutely rude. Grow up.

What sort of "knowledge"? Knowledge of dogs and dog breeds. Knowledge of what is going to enhance a dog. Knowledge of how to breed, ie: looking after pregnant bitches, whelping, puppies etc. Knowledge of health issues to be aware of and test for. The list goes on. As I said Souff I am not here to fight I am here to express my opinion like everyone else and have a healthy discussion on people's views. You and I don't share the same views and that is fine, I don't want to make this out to be bigger than it is or end up making an enemy. I just wanted to express my opinion re: cross breeds.

Pixie - I have absolutely nothing against purebreeds and no where in their did I say that I did. I said that purebreeds can have the same issues ie: defects, health issues, disabilities. And I support registered (caring) breeders of pure breed dogs I have nothing against them. When I say proper cross breeding I mean cross breeding for the betterment of a particular type of dog done by loving, caring breeders with knowledge. Not cross breeding by BYB idiots. As I have said before many of your pure breed dogs would not be around without crossbreeding. Some would be but many dogs were bred for a particular reason and as such were cross bred with other dogs to create a more suitable dog, many NOT all pure breeds were developed this way. I was not attacking anyone, I was not attacking pure breeds. I was pointing out facts. And I didn't write what I did to get into a verbal, p**sing match with anyone. I enjoy spirited discussions involving everyone's opinion, because this is how you learn something new.

Some would say they are ugly because they are hairless Chinese Cresteds!! Lets just say that some breeds age more gracefully than others. Can you identify a 'birth defect' other than their hairless skin? Warts, sun spots, cataracts and tooth removal have done the rest. I'm no expert so I will give up on that tangent, but I am sure there have been many pedigrees born with birth defects, disability or bad health. Just like there are many children who have perfectly healthy parents born with defects or some form of disability. It still doesn't take away from the fact that most of our pure breeds today are all here due to crossbreeding in the past, if everyone had the attitude don't crossbreed many of our loved breeds would not be here today at all.

http://google.blognewschannel.com/archives...liest-dog-dies/ http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/features/m...for_worlds.html http://www.lulu.com/static/pr/11_23_05.php You cannot say that those dogs are all just ugly from old age.

Actually if you read through the article again you will find that the ugliest dog contest IS an American contest run out of California. I have seen enough who have jaws almost as bad as this dog's, where they cannot close their mouths to eat and chew food properly, where there tongues hang out of the side of their mouth permanently, and have the teeth outside the lips smashed off because they run into brick walls and things because their balance is bad probably because something else is twisted in their head ....... and that is only part of their problems in the head area! The body and joints are disaster areas as well usually. Nature intended teeth to be INSIDE the mouth where they are given protection by a hard bony jaw - teeth were never meant to be OUTSIDE the head of any mammal. This dog is a VICTIM of CROSSBREEDING. This dog is a VICTIM of CRUELTY. Neither situations are something to be celebrated - they are a both a sad reflection on humans who are supposed to be responsible for the welfare of animals. Even if he is the result of an accidental mating, there are humans walking around who could have prevented that accidental mating. We have an obligation to ensure that badly contorted bodies like Doug's NEVER HAPPEN and we can do that by either desexing non-breeding dogs or selecting the correct genes for the puppies. Probably this jaw and skull is a mix of a brachy breed (and there are a number of breeds to choose from) and a non-brachy breed. That people are celebrating the ugliness of this poor unfortunate dog says to me that we have more sick minded people in the world than I realised. Souff Souff that ugliest dog contest run out of California has a pedigree and crossbreed section so there are many pedigrees out there that come out with many horrible birth defects also. All of the pedigrees were originally crossbreeds of different dogs to produce particular traits. So there is nothing wrong with PROPER crossbreeding.

LOL thats just tooooo funny! Not the part about him almost drowning but that last part. Silly Major. Glad all is ok though, Quick thinking on your feet!

All in All I think the topic started out friendly enough the OP posed a reasonable question and many of us gave her reasonable friendly responses such as my original one, basically don't have pre-conceptions, try to go in with an open mind, talk to your new neighbours and if they are reasonable explain what has happened in the past, hopefully they will then be helpful. I don't know how it turned into a discussion on breed bashing. I don't think that is what the OP intended s/he was clearly nervous and needed some sound advice from other dog people. I hope that the OP read some of the posts and will follow through by making contact with the new neighbours

Glad to see that people are watching this. The OP did not post it because she condones dog fighting but because we live in a world where these atrocities happen everyday and pretending they don't is not going to help those poor dogs, or put those sickos in prison. This video does not condone dog fighting but instead covers the background of the Pit Bull, the background of dog fighting, interviews "dog men" and gives you an insight into what is actually happening and why is can't be stopped, it also speaks about the ineffectiveness of BSL in the United States and gives you informative stats, it also has caring owners talking about their family pit bulls. A disturbing, heartwrenching but worthwhile watch. That was one of the hardest bits for me to watch also. Heartbreaking.

Thank you for sharing. Although this is one of the most disturbing things I have ever seen and made me feel sick to the stomach I also do not believe in "ignorance is bliss" and this was informative at the same time. To see how bad it actually is makes you want to go over there and do whatever you can to help and hopefully when i travel over in 2012 I will have that opportunity to volunteer in the rescue programs. What a poor misunderstod mistreated breed. Those "dog men" read sick twisted sociopaths need to be culled not the poor dogs. How could you.

Naww too cute!!

Yeah that was my thoughts. When I see her doing it I redirect so hopefully that will catch on. Yeah I think it is partly she wants them to play and they just don't care for her type of play lol, they are quite happy to play/romp with each other. I don't think so, if we are letting the cats out to go toilet etc Keira goes on the chain to stop her from chasing and frightening them, so she has never seen Keira chase the cats. Also whenever Puppy is outside she is either supervised or in a play pen so she can't just do whatever she pleases.

Hi, My puppy Phoenix is an 18 week old Amstaff X who I have now had for 9 weeks. Phoenix was introduced to our 4 cats pretty much as soon as she moved in. At first she was quite cautious around them ie: wouldn't get to close etc. As she grew more confident and familiar with them she has started to bark at them when they are laying around the house (I think this is mostly trying to get them to play with her because she is down on her front legs with her butt wiggling in the air) and sometimes will chase them when she first sees them, sometimes she gets up in their face licking and carrying on and just seems very excited to see them, the cats will give her a smack (no claws) when she is too in their face and yowl at her but sometimes this seems to spur her on. She hasn't bitten them or hurt them in anyway. My question is do you think that this precipitates her chasing them and not getting along with them as she gets older or do you think the longer she is with them the more she will calm down and eventually they won't be exciting anymore? If its the 1st choice, what should I do to counteract this? I really really don't want another dog who chases cats (Keira chases cats) and cannot get on with them as where I am currently living has cats when I move out I wont have any but that is then this is now, and I like to take her places with me like my Mum's and it will be hard if she wants to chase everyone's cats Thanks in advance. *EDIT* Just thought I would add that although this is her usual response to the cats Mum has told me that she has also seen her once just lying on the grass in the backyard with one of the cats.

My first dog Keira started as an inside dog, ie: sleeping in the non master bedroom bathroom and staying in there while we were at work during the day and as she got older and bigger was moved into a kennel outside which is where she started to live during the day also. We had no problems with her at all in the transition. As long as you make sure your puppy is trained to sleep and be on its own (ie: no separation anxiety) the transition should be fine, especially if your OH is home most of the time.

maybe big as in muscular??

Bec love your work just looked at your website. Wish you were in Brisbane so I could get some done! Also your Staffy's are gorgeous! Sorry for the topic hijack Dream!

Hi Dream, I would make a point of meeting your new neighbours as soon as possible. I understand your concerns but you may find that these people are responsible dog owners who have well trained, well balanced Staffy's. Try not to put them in that category with the one who attacked your dog when you are yet to meet them, they may be wonderful dogs and they may be able to help your Scotty get over the prior attack. Go into meeting your new neighbours with an open mind and if they seem like reasonable people it might be worth telling them about your prior experience so they can do what they can to lessen the stress on you and your dog

Thanks for asking such a great question - its always a fine line between your dogs wanting to play and other people being threatened by their manner. I'm sorry if she was aggressive herself, but I can understand why she might feel that way. Different breeds of dog play very differently and they don't always understand each other and unfortunately it is usually the smaller dogs that end up hurt. To answer your questions - unless she knows who you are and where you live then you don't have too much of a problem. Also - without some sort of proof that it happened and that it was your dog involved it might be difficult to get anything done about it. In terms of the second answer - I'm not sure that I would call it aggressive, but I would call it inappropriate and with the potential to start a problem. My boy will not go near another dog and will actually go out of his way to avoid them, but if your lab behaved the way you have described to him and did not read his signals to leave him alone then your dog would be told off in no uncertain terms. One the weekend I had an incident like this at the beach and the people who owned the other dogs were nice enough, but just didn't understand their dogs' behaviour. I saw their two boxers running towards us from about 300m and decided to put 2 of mine on lead - the puppy would go to play (and risk injury from bigger dogs - a similar incident with a GR is why I have to be so careful with my boy/and I don't want her learning that running away from me is rewarding) and my boy would be protective of the puppy. The two boxers were at least 200m from their owners when they got to me. They started out polite enough and my boy was happy to say hello, if a little bit put out by the game being interrupted by strange dogs. This escalated into the other dogs trying to incite my three to play. By this time the other owners had reached us and said, 'Oh, what a shame, you can't let your dogs off lead.' 'Ah, no, I can let them off lead, but there is a reason that I don't like them annoying other dogs and getting in their faces (hint hint).' They came back with ' Oh, that's a shame you can't control them.' Hmmmmmm............. My dogs weren't the ones that had bolted 300m to get to other dogs, weren't the ones starting to jump on a much smaller dog and weren't the ones that had to be dragged away up the beach. I have to make myself stay very calm in situations like this one - it annoys me more than I can put into words, but I know my boy feeds off my frustration which is never a good thing. perhaps this is the situation that the poodle lady was faced with and she just didn't keep her emotions in check. Bottom line - it is rude for your dog to race up to other dogs that she doesn't know and at some point it will end up in a fight You need to work on being able to recall her from ANYTHING and check with other owners before letting her bound up to their dogs. Very informative and polite post. Thank you!

Oh my Thats what I was thinking even the least dog savvy people tend to know that dogs can/will bite, yes those pointy white things in her mouth are teeth, they hurt Keira wouldn't carry on if someone tries to take her food or bone but still wouldn't be keen on having someone do that. That's shocking to say the least! Um......the weirdos you meet in the city I guess. What an idiot. I would have followed him to yell at him (or maybe I wouldn't have lol, I probably would have thought of that afterwards). Hi Esky, Here is a quick one I found. You can probably get them from a lot of good pet shops (ie: the ones who don't sell animals just products). http://www.callicoma.com.au/accessories1.htm You can often find them in $2 shops. The Warehouse (or what used to be called that, think it's had a name change?) carries them regularly. Oh cool, see I have never bought one so wasn't sure where to get them but there ya go. I just included that link because he/she wanted a picture

Your very welcome. Good luck! Let me know if there is anything else I can help with

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/WE-OFFER-NOW-NEW-54...=item2c5854c068 That's a bigger one with a steel tray. I will see if I can find his number, if you contact him and tell him what it is for he may be able to give you a discount on the crate or on the postage. Ahuh here is his number - Phil 0418 783 555 Edit - Quality is very good. I believe I have the one with the plastic bottom but I have never noticed it is plastic lol.

More like gladiators, who also gave no consent and were forced to fight for their lives. Hear Hear!

http://stores.ebay.com.au/PET-HOMES-AND-AC...d=p4634.c0.m322 This is the guy I got mine from. Huge crate, collapsible for easy storage and very very reasonably priced. The 48'' is probably the size you would need http://cgi.ebay.com.au/XXLARGE-48-COLLAPSI...=item230b19b12a