DogsAndTheMob

This is a news story from the BBC, about organised crime and “bully” breeders in the UK. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-64346415

It’s probably worth noting that it wasn’t a Dogs NSW club or event. The mention of a banner made me wonder. (My guess is that it was an advertising banner.)

I’m not sure about that. About 60 years ago, my parents fostered two dingo pups for Eric Worrell, founder of the Australian Reptile Park. One was extremely timid around people and would leap across the furniture to its hidey-hole if anyone came into the house. The other was highly sociable and greeted everyone as a friend. I also have a photo of my mother teaching one of Eric Worrell’s adult dingos to retrieve a ball. She said it was similar to a dog in its play drive and sociability.

I’m not a breeder but I’ve spent my life around the “dog world”. I’ve had three puppies come home with health problems and spent thousands of dollars treating those problems. I didn’t ask for refunds or help with vet expenses, although I was relieved to get a refund for the puppy that died of congenital kidney disease. Actually, thinking back, I was too distraught at the time to be relieved about anything, but I was thankful later. The breed standard is someone’s ideal of perfection. Most dogs, not being machines off a production line, are not perfect. That’s why breeders spend decades striving for that breed-standard-perfect puppy. Ears often don’t align with breed standards and semi-prick ears are particularly problematic. They shouldn’t be up, they shouldn’t be down, they should fold the right way and they should stay that way all the time. Owners in search of perfection often tape the ears, as described in this blog. https://www.theink-stainedgypsy.com/2021/12/the-struggle-is-real.html

She’s a very nimble little dog who comes running at any hint of food, chases my dogs and rolls herself up in her blankets, so I doubt if pain is interfering with her housetraining. I think she was anxious outside when she first came to live with us but she’s now very keen to go outside whenever we do and she’s happy to explore or to rest in the sun outside. She’s also quite assertive when she wants to come inside again. Maybe, one day, she’ll be as assertive when she needs to go out to toilet.

That’s my goal. Yesterday, she was restless when she needed to go out, so maybe I can convert that to a request to go out.

I’m not sure that she’ll ever be 100% reliable. Unlike the puppies that I’ve housetrained, she seems to be indiscriminate about where she toilets… carpet or tiles, concrete or grass. She’s usually not fond of getting her paws wet but yesterday, she toileted on wet concrete about a metre from dry concrete, then rested in the sun on wet grass. On a more positive note, she had obviously been “holding on” later yesterday when I was out shopping. (My husband, who is usually very good with her, hadn’t thought to take her outside.

I have been caring for a relative’s small dog for several months. My relative took her in three years ago as a young adult dog and quickly discovered that she wasn’t housetrained. She made a little housetraining progress and lapses went from daily to a few times a week. Now that she’s living with me, we mostly avoid lapses by monitoring and management but I doubt if she’ll ever be reliably clean in the house. This is outside my experience. My puppies graduate from the management stage to being reliably housetrained very quickly. Google (that fount of all wisdom) tells me that this breed and several other small breeds are notoriously difficult to housetrain. Is this true? Are some breeds more difficult to housetrain or is it because people manage their housetraining differently? Do housetraining tools like pee-pads, for example, send the wrong message?

Looking at their scale of charges, the discount is substantial IF the fee is paid before the first of August. For a desexed dog, the RDOL drops the fee from $124 to $74 before 1st August but is $162 with no RDOL available if paid on or after 1st August. I wonder if it means that anyone who acquires a dog during the other 11 months of the year can’t get the RDOL discount for that dog. I agree that their fees are steep. The enforcement process seems even more harsh,,, two months from sending out initial notices to handing over the infringements to the court system for enforcement does not allow much leeway for people who are in hospital or struggling with homelessness, for example. In either case, it might take more than two months for the initial notice to catch up with them. I also wonder about the cost/benefit ratio. I don’t see how it will enforce responsible dog ownership, or even payment of fees, by irresponsible people. Some responsible people will hurry to pay overlooked fees but will those payments come close to covering the enforcement costs for those who don’t pay?

I’m sceptical. I doubt if they’re targeting the people who never bother to register, desex or properly care for their dogs because there is no easy way to identify those people and their dogs and it might be challenging to enforce payment. The fact that they’re able to quote such precise numbers and their stated goal of “helping ensure they had the most up to date information for dogs and dog owners” lead me to suspect that they’re targeting dogs which were previously registered but haven’t been registered this year. That’s fair for those who haven’t bothered to re-register but it seems a harsh outcome for those who are grieving but have failed to notify council of their dog’s death. I also feel sorry for those who, in these harsh economic times, may have to skimp on necessities to pay the annual registration fee. With this group, the enforced payment of the annual registration fee may backfire if the owners can’t pay so are forced to surrender the dog to the council pound. Edited to add: The substantial discount for holders of a Responsible Dog Owner License is an excellent idea. I hope they make it accessible for people who are not literate in English. https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/dogs-animals/responsible-dog-owner-licence/Pages/apply-responsible-dog-owner-licence.aspx

I’m open to correction but I think that’s coincidence. Murray River Retrievers have been a breed in development for many years and are now recognised and registered by Dogs Australia. Here is the Dogzonline listing for them. https://www.dogzonline.com.au/breeds/community/murray-river-retriever.asp t looks as if Dogs NSW took it seriously. They posted a link to the announcement on 2nd April. https://www.dogsnsw.org.au/members/news-and-updates/murray-river-retriever-requirements-for-registration-press-release/ and here’s a registration form from Dogs Victoria. https://dogsvictoria.org.au/media/6374/registration-of-murray-river-retriever-2025-form.pdf

Dogs Australia has announced that it will accept re-registration of Murray River Retrievers. https://dogsaustralia.org.au/media/10316/da-press-release_murray-river-retriever.pdf

That doesn’t sound like a good idea to me. The fact that he worked well for you at home doesn’t mean that he’ll work well for someone else in a very different environment. Also, a different style of handling could adversely affect his confidence and his understanding of your handling style. Many years ago, I lent my obedience competition dog to a very skilled handler to handle in a display. (The handler went on to become one of the top obedience triallers in the country.) Despite her skill, it took me a long time to fix the problem she created by correcting him for actions she’d inadvertently cued with her body language.

I think the Crufts Vulnerable Breed Competition is a great idea, but I wonder whether the more popular breeds are almost as vulnerable. In terms of breed preservation, the most important factor is not the number of dogs born or even the number of breeding dogs but rather the number of dogs that will contribute to the breed in the long term. This number reduces generation by generation and has now done so for well over a century. Firstly, in most breeds, only a small proportion of puppies are registered as main register. This protects kennels’ reputations but I don’t know how much it protects the dogs from careless breeding outside the registry. It DOES reduce the effective population size for these breeds within the internationally recognised registries. Secondly, only some of the main register dogs will be bred and a few amongst those will contribute disproportionately to the next generation. There are sometimes very sound health, temperament and conformation reasons to exclude a dog from a breeding program but often the decision to breed one dog in preference to his equally sound sibling is based on chance. A show dog may be preferred because his flashier markings have caught the judges’ eyes or a working gun dog may achieve success because he has been trained more skilfully or campaigned more heavily. Breeders overlook the big contribution that his sibling could make, if bred selectively alongside his more successful brother - the potential to increase breeding population size and reduce inbreeding in future generations while retaining traits valued by the breeder. Thirdly, only a small proportion of kennels contribute to the breed in the long term. A lot of small and midsize kennels are dedicated to improving the breed and produce excellent quality dogs but lack the “name” and the success that would attract interest from other breeders. Their dogs are excellent ambassadors for the breed but don’t contribute to the gene pool in the long term. Finally, even the popularity of very successful kennels and bloodlines may wane over time, as breeders age and participate less in the dog world. If the breed is lucky, some of their dogs may make lasting contributions to the genetics of the breed. However, as preferences change, the qualities inherited by the descendants of their dogs may be overlooked by other breeders. I’ve seen that happen and it makes me sad… so much dedication to the breed just going to waste in the long term. The long term effects are a loss of heterogeneity - and arguably a loss of vitality - in individual dogs and a loss of genetic diversity across even popular breeds. After more than a century, I fear that I’m seeing the consequences of these genetic bottlenecks. I’m not saying the popular breeds will die out. Most won’t. They’ll be maintained by dogs bred outside the internationally recognised registries. But I think problems will increase within the popular registries. I’ll give you an example. I recently saw a discussion about Golden Retrievers in North America. Golden Retrievers have a high cancer rate, with a frightening number of very young dogs succumbing to lymphoma and slightly older dogs dying suddenly from haemangiocarcinoma. In this discussion, someone asked where they could find a puppy that wasn’t descended from a particular kennel whose dogs were rumoured to be at higher risk of cancer. They were told that it would be difficult to find a puppy whose pedigree didn’t trace back to that kennel. Whether or not the rumours about that kennel were true, I find it frightening that one kennel could contribute so disproportionately even to a very popular breed in one of the largest registries in the world.

Some beautiful colours in dogs and other animals may be associated with illness and discomfort. I’m saddened when aesthetic appeal is given priority over the animal’s wellbeing. I occasionally see dogs which look like homozygous Merle koolies, with extreme white colouring and pink eye-rims. They usually look uncomfortable in bright sunlight. I have seen a few with micropthalmia of one eye.