DogsAndTheMob

Agreed

Regrettably, there are people who see nothing wrong in giving bows, arrows and knives to children. Of course, they think (or at least say) that their children will only use them to hunt feral animals, thus protecting the environment and native species. It is possible that the children went in there to retrieve a stray arrow. That's still stupid and very wrong, of course - not to mention the extreme carelessness that it would imply!

I think the only thing we can be certain of is that dogs and children can behave unpredictably. i detest the concept of allowing children to carry "hunting equipment" (AKA weapons) and those children should not have been unsupervised. But it happens, and we can't know how our dogs will react when things go wrong. This thread has made me think about how I manage my animals to keep them safe from people, and foolish or even malevolent people safe from them.

One of my dogs started climbing onto the couch while we were asleep. We disrupted the pattern of behaviour by putting plastic blanket boxes on there when we couldn't supervise him.

Friends who live beside the Hunter River near the northern outskirts of Maitland told me they see dingos travelling through their paddocks down to the river. The dingo I saw yesterday was near the intersection of Seaham Rd and Brandy Hill Drive.

I'm sorry, Persephone; I didn't mean to distress you. it is really a horrible lose-lose situation. I wish somebody would find a humane solution.

That must have been devastating, Rozzie. I don't think I'd get over a loss like that. Scrappie&Monty, it might be worth checking with long-term-residents of the area. I know there are dingos as far down the valley as Maitland, and I think they would be in the Watagans as well. Lake Macquarie landholders are being encouraged to join the program Aerial baiting is being undertaken in the Merriwa, upper Hunter, Singleton and Dungog areas. I also feel sad for the dingos, although I sympathise with farmers who lose livestock in such a cruel way. The wild dog I saw was a magnificent animal.

Jennywren does this - or tries to. She's a 13 year-old German Shepherd, so she usually falls over in the attempt.

I'm so sorry for your loss , Persephone! Thank you for the information. The local baiting program is partially aerial. Participating land-holders are supposed to post notices and most do, but I strongly suspect one neighbour has put out rabbit baits without notice; on one occasion we found dead king-fishers and crows, the local magpie family disappeared and his rabbit problem went away, all within a few weeks. what brand of muzzle do you use?

I saw a very dingo-like wild dog yesterday morning. The local (Hunter NSW) wild-dog baiting program started last week, so I wonder whether this dog came from a pack which was dispersed when the older pack-members were poisoned. Years ago, my parents lost a pup after she ate a bait or carrion from a baited animal. They were on their own property, several hundred metres from a boundary, and they hadn't put out any baits. They saw her eating something, but were too late to intervene. I'm now worried to walk my dogs in my own paddocks, in case they pick up a bait dropped by a crow or other bird. What do other people do in similar circumstances? Walk their dogs on-lead only? Muzzle their dogs? Don't walk them at all? And for how long after the baiting program ends will the risks persist?

Sometimes, what we think we're saying - with voice and body language - is not what the dog "hears". Is it possible that your poodle is reading subtle, unintentional cues from simple things you do? Videoing your successful and unsuccessful interactions may help you to identify things you do that make him switch off. No matter how experienced we are, it's difficult to spot our own mis-steps, so reviewing the videos with a dog-savvy friend might also be useful. I wonder if your poodle interpreted your lack of response to his greetings as a correction; I'm sure my border collie would. I think of dog training as a conversation, and experiment with posture/position, eye-contact and touch to see what makes each dog respond happily. Getting as close as possible to the dog's eye-level helps; sitting on the floor or ground is usually less intimidating than standing or sitting on a chair (although I have seen a dog spooked by this). Eye contact can be threatening, but denying eye contact can be seen as a rebuke. Context is important,too: my German Shepherd enjoys gentle stroking from stop to ears - but didn't when I was teaching her to retrieve. To train a happy retrieve, I had to reward her with a scratch on the chest.

I'm posting this in case anybody has tins of this cat food I their cupboards: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-20/weruva-best-feline-friend-cat-food-still-under-investigation/8540552

Look for a good quality, low salt, low filler dog food. Many dry dog foods use salt as a preservative; as a result, the dog is thirsty, drinks more and wees more. Cheap dog foods tend to be bulked up with cereals, beet pulp and other fillers that produce more frequent, more voluminous stools.

The Lapphunds I've met have been wonderfully calm and loving. I considered the breed when I was looking for a puppy, but I didn't think I could give the coat the care it needed.

It may be best to look for a young adult dog rather than a puppy and think in terms of the right dog instead of the right breed. Temperament varies in every breed and you can't know whether a dog will be suitable until it is mature. Also, puppies can pick up fears from the owner and the more responsive the puppy the greater the risk of this happening. It is probably worth considering longevity; As a rule of thumb, the smaller the breed of dog, the longer the average life expectancy. Miniature Schnauzers and Cairn Terriers may be worth considering. Although many miniature and toy poodles would be too sensitive, I have known individual poodles that would not be, and their intelligence would be a positive.

My Siamese cat's chip migrated from his neck to the shoulder, just above the elbow. I saw him chipped as a young adult animal, so I know where it was injected. From memory, the vet scanned for the chip a few months later and found it on the shoulder. The migrated chip was easily palpable and I don't think it shifted much in later years.

Thanks for sharing the report, Roova. It's certainly food for thought.

I wonder if experienced breeders' predictions would be more reliable. I suspect so. From my observations, there are subtle behavioural cues that might be missed by a test. Also, puppies' behaviour varies from hour to hour and day to day, so a single test only provides a snapshot. Hmm... only 50 of the 134 puppies tested were re-tested as adults. There's a risk of sampling bias in that; why were the other 84 dogs not tested as adults?

I second ness. I recently bought a Brittany pup, and I'm delighted with her. She's smarter and more cooperative than many of the GSDs and BCs I've owned, and she has an incredible off-switch for a puppy. I'm not sure whether that is typical for the breed - apparently they can be go-go-go - but I was prepared to compromise on that, for a puppy that was dog-friendly and people-friendly - and she loves everybody.

Please post some here. I'd love to see her.

I usually capture stills from a video.

Here's my girl:

I have a three-month-old Brittany. She's my first Brittany, but I've owned and trained quite a few dogs - mostly Border Collies and GSDs - and competed successfully in dog sports. Of all the puppies I've trained, she's the easiest. However, I wouldn't leave her unattended where she could destroy anything. She has an outdoor run as well as a crate indoors, and if I'm likely to be distracted when she's with me, I put her on lead - even indoors. When I had a highly energetic border Collie, I used retrieving games to occupy all that intelligence and drive. I'd hide a ball in the back yard, then send him to find it. I also trained him for and competed in advanced obedience; exercises such as scent discrimination, directed jumping and directed retrieve challenge the dog's intelligence and the handler's communication skills. (Frankly, unless taught skillfully, basic classes in sit, stand, down and heel can be a bit of a yawn for a dog.) If advanced dog obedience is not your thing, there is a wide range of alternative activities... including agility, noseworks and tracking, to name just a few. By the way, dog sports are a great way to meet people and make friends.

I agree. We wouldn't have dogs if we didn't believe we could give them a good life. It's not always obvious when that's no longer the case, but everybody seems eager to voice an opinion. I've sent dogs over the rainbow bridge earlier than others would have done - my heart-dog most painfully; her degenerative myelopathy was not advanced, but she was terrified of falling. I've also kept dogs alive, knowing that they had a quality of life that other people didn't recognise. My heart-dog's grand-daughter lived happily with more advanced DM; she learnt to prop her hindquarters against the clothes hoist while she showed a puppy how to dig. My oodle rescue lived a vibrant life in the world of smell, still able to track me through the paddock long after he lost both sight and hearing. Too often, I've prolonged my pets' lives against my better judgement, at the urging of vets. I've seen them die harder because of it, when their circulation has become too poor for rapid administration of the final anaesthetic. Most recently, my elderly Birman developed unexpected kidney failure. The vets sent her home, knowing that they'd been unable to get her to eat or drink. After a day of forcibly administering food and water, I returned to the vets. They talked about dialysis, and made me feel cruel when I opted for euthenasia. Her blood pressure was so low that they had to inject the anaesthetic directly into the heart. People are too ready to judge others for their decisions.

It is lovely to see her coming out of her shell. I wondered if it was an oestrogen affect. I've just read some articles on its affects on women but I think any possible risks are outweighed by the benefits for my GSD.