DogsAndTheMob

What a wonderfully thoughtful response! The few wild dogs I’ve seen here have looked like dingoes. My sheep used to take refuge among the cows when I walked the dogs in the paddock (not that the dogs would have chased them) and the wild dogs left the sheep alone until I put them in a paddock away from the cows, so perhaps running a mixed mob of sheep and cattle might provide protection for some herds.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-16/dingoes-protected-wild-dog-control-ends-in-north-west-victoria/103591516 I have mixed feelings about this. I would hate it if dingoes became extinct but I remember how devastating it was when my sheep were mauled by wild dogs. I chose not to keep sheep any longer but that’s not an option for some farmers whose livelihood depends on their livestock. Here’s an industry article on the topic. https://www.sheepcentral.com/silence-on-research-and-advice-behind-victorian-dingo-decisions/

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-23/police-ask-or-ban-on-pigging-dogs-for-hunting/103499460

That’s only true of Dogs Australia/ANKC pedigrees. There are now some alternative registries with pedigree verification processes which I wouldn’t trust at all.

It looks somewhat like a halti-type device I have seen recently. The extra bit gets pulled through further to run from the junction at the back of the neck beside the dog’s cheeks and over the muzzle. The clip on the extra piece is used the tension the muzzle strap at the back of the neck. This is the brand I’m thinking of, although the one I saw looked more like yours than the ones on the website do. https://sporn.com/shop/sporn-head-halter/

That would certainly apply to businesses like pet transport companies. However, hobbyists may offer goods or services related to their hobby but may not be entitled to an ABN. Many dog breed enthusiasts would fall into that category, particularly if they only bred very occasional litters. In fact, I’d be more wary of dog breeders whose profit from litters was sufficient to qualify them for an ABN.

Mine was a border collie who was puppyish until he was 15 and died just before his 16th birthday. Or maybe the miniature poodle I rescued from living under a school building in 1999 (at a time when rescues were struggling to rehome even fit, pretty “small white fluffies”.). He looked like an older dog, he went blind with cataracts within a year and deaf a few years later, but he lived into the mid 2010s.

This from 9 News seems like sloppy reporting or reporting with an agenda. “And medium-sized flat faced breeds, such as English bulldogs, had the lowest median life expectancy…” English Bulldogs were number 9 on the list, behind some large to very large breeds and, for some reason Affenpinschers. (Speaking as an advocate for accuracy, not for brachy breeds.)

Here is the information from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home https://www.dogstrust.org.uk/downloads/shortest and longest table_for webpage PDF.pdf and the research paper. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-50458-w I was surprised by some of the statistics; for example, the median longevity of the Brittany (11.1 years) in comparison to Golden Retrievers (13.2 years) and Pekingese (13.3 years). In the Brittany and Golden Retriever forums in which I participate, I see more reports of Golden Retrievers dying young (usually due to cancer) than of Brittanies dying young. I think this statement may explain the odd statistic for Brittanies and I wonder if the converse is true for Pekingese. “Furthermore, the growing popularity of certain breeds may result in an over representation of younger individuals within the data, which increases the risk of underestimating their lifespan“ I ‘d take the study with a grain of salt because of the range of data sources… rescues, vets, insurance companies and the Kennel Club. From my observations, breed identifications by rescues are often inaccurate. I’m not sure about vets and insurance companies, but I guess their information is only as good as what they’re told by the owners. The Kennel Club breed identifications should be good but, if the UK is like Australia, notifications of dogs’ deaths may be spotty and some breed clubs may encourage their membership to be more diligent than others. Finally, I wonder how much double-reporting occurs from that spread of data sources.

I’m so sorry to hear about your experience. I hope you have your dog safely with you now.

I also initially thought there was something fishy about this post. However, I looked more deeply and there are red flags about the supremepetmovers website. The website is marked as copyrighted 2024, which seems odd this early in 2024. The contact information and other supporting information on the website seems sparse in comparison to known legitimate pet transport companies, with just a phone number and a link to get a quote. I ran a reverse phone number search and found this information … “Believed to be a fraudulent/scam pet adoption courier”. Text boxes on the website, including those for “book a travel crate” and “get pet itinerary” don’t have working links. I was unable to find the business name on the ASIC Organisation and Business Names Register. I could find the names of known legitimate pet transport companies.

I don’t feed chicken necks because I’ve noticed they’re often smelly and I worry that the high surface-area-to-volume ratio means that they have a high bacterial load (it’s a thing). Once a week, I buy a whole chicken, cut off the drumsticks and breast meat to cook for my husband and myself, then feed the remainder (raw) to my dogs. That provides an inexpensive meal or two for all of us. I ensure that there is some skin and meat in the chicken I give to the dogs. Here’s a balanced blog about feeding bones. https://www.bentonsroadvet.com.au/feeding-bones-to-your-pet/

I’m not a breeder but I know breeders who have had unexpected difficulties placing puppies and I’ve noticed an big increase in dog sports people using social media to help breeder friends to find homes for their puppies. It’s not just an Australian trend. A North American breed forum I follow has switched from advising people to expect a two-year wait for a puppy of their very popular breed to saying “The puppy market is crashing and buyers now you have better options more readily available - Be picky”.

In UDX, you will also need pairs of UD-style scent discrimination articles for the seek back. A good starting point for teaching any of the scent-based exercises is to go for off-leash walks with your dog and toss a ball or toy into long grass or scrub for your dog to find. In the house, put your dog on a stay then stand where your dog can see you and toss the toy around a corner. Gradually build up the difficulty until you can leave your dog on a stay, walk to the other end of the house and leave the toy, then return to your dog and send him to find.

My dog has her UD title and I’m now training for UDX. I like to have three sets of UD articles for 3-trial weekends. They’ve proven sufficient for the few 4 -trial weekends in which I’ve competed. You will need to decide whether your metal articles will be unknurled or knurled. For UDX, you need five pairs of cloths. The cloths are rolled up and each pair is marked with elastic bands (e.g. hair ties) of the same colour, but different from the colours on the other pairs. The cloths must all be the same colour. I don’t think I’ve seen any colour but white. I’ll probably have 3 sets of UDX articles when I trial.

I agree, and the differences in purpose or “environment” can be quite subtle. A dog working Suffolk sheep may need different traits from one working merinos and dog working 3 sheep needs different traits from one working 300. The environments of lowland England and highland Scotland are different from each other and from (for example) western NSW. Given the problems of heat and burrs in much of Australia, I find it ironic that, for so many years, the UK Kennel Club breed standard allowed short coated border collies but the ANKC standard did not. I’m sure there are similar regional variations and variations in purpose affecting even the traditional retrieving work of labradors. I would expect the hobby hunter to have different requirements than those of the professional hunter or the competitive sportsman and I wonder if the size and behaviour of the game species would also affect the characteristics of a “perfect retriever”. I follow a US Golden Retriever group and I sometimes wonder what Lord Tweedmouth would have thought of the Golden Retrievers bred for competitive field work over there. Would he have been impressed by their drive and energy or would he have found them too edgy for a quiet afternoon of hunting?

This is an interesting opinion piece. https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0xvc5ZawtmCCkTimAgQ9EfpBWVNdERNCjcbGirSuE3YfxB1zZj6jxMASHPkyrJTs5l&id=100064451033652 From my own observations over the last 40+ years, the meaning of “breeding to type” seems to have changed. At one time, consistency of type was considered important at the level of a kennels. Different kennels had slight differences in type, all within standard, and it was often easy to identify the kennels from which a dog came, just by looking at the dog. Now, the term “breeding to type” means that all “good” dogs of a particular breed should be of uniform type. I’m not convinced that is best for purebred dogs.

A few years ago, I would have agreed with you but I’m not sure that’s true any longer. From what I’ve seen, and from my limited experience, vet charges have increased almost exponentially over the last few years, to the point where I’m now reluctantly considering insurance. In my area, few general practice vets treat veterinary emergencies. Most will refer you on to a specialist or emergency vet, whose initial consult fees are likely to exceed $500 and will escalate very quickly once diagnostic testing starts. In a non-emergency, it’s worth shopping around. A specialist vet quoted me $6000 to correct an entropion (eyelid rolled inwards) but my dog’s breeder referred me to her very experienced vet, who performed the surgery at a fraction of the cost. In an emergency, shopping around is not an option. In an emergency last year, my options were to euthanise or to pay a minimum of $12,000 for ICU and specialist care before disease treatment even started. My choice was simplified because the diagnosis was known and the likelihood of treatment prolonging the puppy’s life was very slim, so euthanasia was the obvious choice. However, I don’t know what I would have done if the choice had been less clear. On the other hand, my perspective may be skewed. For example, pet insurance statistics show lower average tick treatment costs than I would have expected, maybe because the average is reduced by those dogs who have had a tick removed without symptoms and are sent home after a consultation only: “According to PetSure claims data from the 2022 calendar year, the average claim cost relating to tick paralysis for dogs was $2,402 with the highest claim cost being $53,331.“

Somewhere (maybe on another thread), I saw the statistic that 0.4% of bulldogs have Excellent hips. I would be very interested to see what the bulldogs with excellent hips look like.

The Irish Kennel Club is taking a proactive approach to respiratory issues in some brachycephalic breeds. https://www.ikc.ie/important-notice-for-breeders-of-bulldogs-french-bulldogs-pugs/

Most of my dogs have either died at the vets or been euthanised at the vets and the other dogs have shown surprisingly few signs that they’ve noticed their absence. On the two occasions when dogs have died at home, my other dogs have been obviously distressed and reluctant to enter the room where they died. On one occasion, we actually switched bedrooms because the dog had died in our bedroom and we wanted the other dogs to sleep happily in the room with us. My cats, however, always missed even the cats with whom they had squabbled, calling for them for days.

I agree that most of the “oodles” I’ve met are delightful dogs. I also agree that some purebred dog aficionados are appallingly rude about “oodles”. I have two concerns. Firstly, I worry that many oodles are bred in puppy mills. To check whether this was a misconception, I googled oodles in Australia. The first breeder website that I opened had information on their 93 (!) breeding dogs and 16 potential breeding dogs, all born in 2019 or later. Hopefully, many of these dogs live in guardian homes, although even that means that many dogs and owners are stressed when the dogs are taken away for breeding. Secondly, I worry that the “oodle” purchasers may be misled about the (lack of) thought and care that has gone into breeding their puppy. With over a hundred dogs, how can the breeders make thoughtful breeding decisions and how much individual care does each puppy receive? I also worry that the people who provide guardian homes may be misled about their contractual obligations or the sadness and inconvenience that may result from their choice.

I highly recommend this group as a source of accurate information about Australian snakes. https://m.facebook.com/groups/1842921039241229/?ref=share They have various useful guides including one on snakes and pets and another on what to do if your pet may have been bitten. One interesting fact I learned from this site is that there is a large disparity in snake bite risk between men and women, simply because men are so much more likely to try to kill or otherwise interfere with snakes. .

In theory. In practice, I wonder how much inbreeding occurs in most profit-focused enterprises producing “designer crossbreeds”. Buying unrelated dogs for breeding would be a drain on profits. Those enterprises would make larger profits if they kept dogs from early litters and bred them to each other or to their parents. Just yesterday, I saw a post on another forum, asking for advice. The poster’s “designer crossbreed” dog had just been diagnosed with NCL5 (Golden Retriever variant), a fatal, neurological, genetic disease which occurs in Golden Retrievers. Responsible Golden Retriever breeders DNA test for NCL and the gene is rare enough that it’s likely that the affected dog was inbred to an NCL carrier. Unfortunately, because the dog was a crossbreed, nobody thought to check for NCL until after 6 months of scans, specialist vet visits and deteriorating health and behaviour.

It might be worthwhile to consider this online Fenzi course, which starts on the weekend. The instructor is knowledgeable about canine behavioural science, dog training and dog sports and has some very useful insights on managing our sensitive dogs for optimum performance in dog sports. However, it looks as if all the working spots have filled and only audit spots are available now. https://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com/index.php/courses/33389