Steph M

Maybe... and if people want to push it or argue with the way my dogs are raised and trained my standard response is "show me your dog" ;) Haha. I wasn't saying I'm one of them, I often take note of your posts with awe, but we certainly operate differently and we go OK in our own way!

I assume you mean 'mud spattered' haha.

And i'm sure in lots of circles that could all be construed poorly. Whatever works for you and yours! It'd be kind of like condemning a person for having a set of beliefs to say flat out 'no, you're doing it wrong' It was obviously correct in their eyes at some point, perhaps not mine or yours but if he's happy enough and healthy enough what the hey. Dogs live on much worse and much less in many households.

Man. This makes me look so slack, puddles are made for drinking and running through, always have towels in the car for a dry off and if not it falls out as they dry, they eat anything and everything under the sun, always trying new meat and they sample most veg and sniffing and playing at the park are all encouraged where appropriate. Ah well! Each to their own and we certainly get by!

I was baffled! Haha.

Mine have two meals a day, Anne. And a bone during the day.

Where did the time go? That's amazing! He is beauuuuutiful!

I often wonder what I'd do, I can only carry 40kg.of dog so far and sometimes we walk for miles. We did 5ks today along the river ages from the road. Would be horrible and Ijust ddon't want to chance it.

Can you really ever be too cautious about snakes, Snook? Awful things.

2.5 mil would be a drop in the ocean but I hope they lose and the publicity hurts.

What an expensive habit that is! Hopefully he decides to live the quiet life from now on...

http://yhoo.it/NVbCmh A Coburg dog owner has been left counting the cost after his beloved beagle was bitten by a Tiger snake. Lachlan Scully paid the price of a new car - almost $23,000 - to keep one-year-old Pierre alive. The playful pup was struck by a tiger snake while out for a walk a fortnight ago. The venom took hold quickly and the pooch fell into a coma. "His tongue was blue, there was blood coming out of his mouth," Lachlan said. Lachlan rushed Pierre to an animal emergency clinic in Essendon where he spent the next 11 days. "I just said 'do whatever you can'. As long as he wasn't going to give up, I wasn't going to give up." Pierre's life support and 24-hour care cost almost $2,000 a day, while medication, blood tests, and IV fluids helped push the final bill up to more than $23,000. The law student has been forced to fundraise to help cover the costs, but he does not have any regrets. "They're basically like a family member and you'd do anything for them," he said. Pierre is just one of the dogs needing life-saving treatment, including blood transfusions for infections, stomach bugs or ongoing care after surgery. The Canine Blood Bank is where the red blood cells and plasma comes from. It is calling for potential donors to help sick or injured dogs. For more information on the University of Melbourne's Canine Blood Bank email: mailto:[email protected] The blood bank is located at the University of Melbourne's Werribee Campus: 205 Princes Highway Werribee. Phone: 03 9731 23 28 You can donate to Pierre's cause by visiting his Facebook page or via his fundraising page.

Sheena I'd imagine the case described would be one where the owner/handler has put in a lot of work conditioning the dog before hand. Whereas if I showed up and expected Gus the distracto dog to work in front of all these people and fun things I'd likely get a different result.

My bad. Haha. Clarity isn't my strong point today.

But its just a large decorative tattoo, if it I believed for a second it was for ID that'd be different. Partner of the girl who owns it is a tattoo artist and seemed like a bit of a moron. I'm sure the stamp in the ear or small mark/brand is less painful and difficult to do than a big old decoration done on a wide awake dog on the couch for show.

I was at a friends house yesterday when she had a friend drop by with their little amstaff bitch and lo and behold, these people who seemed relatively nice have tattooed their dogs inner thigh with a skull and crossbones for 'ID purposes' I didn't ask why any more than that, I didn't get into it because it just infuriated me. Has no one ever heard of a microchip? I'm just in awe this is even a thing. I had no idea.

Oh wait. I could be wrong (and likely am!) Found this on the qld lure coursing assoc site "In an official Lure Field Trial, the dogs are released on the Huntsmaster's call of "Tally Ho" and they follow the lure around the course. Each dog is scored on it's enthusiasm, follow, agility, speed and endurance. After the scores are totalled a the end of the day (each dog is run twice) prizes are awarded to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd dog in each breed, with the overall winner of the day getting special recognition. These points allotted go towards the title of Field Champion and for those dogs that already have that title, the title of Lure Courser of Merit." Sourced from here http://www.qldlurecoursing.com/whatis.php You learn something every day!

I don't think so, I could be wrong but I think its just recreational. That little guy sounds awesome! Haha.

Unfortunately we are out too! Gus has a little infection in his stitches so we are off to have that cleaned tomorrow and he won't be allowed to swim. He would be shattered!!

That's quite impressive! Haha.

The op described the area as: It was a shared area and not specifically an off leash dog area. Well the word shared still leads me to assume you'd be sharing it, in this case with dogs. We have a similar area which is off lead, large oval in the centre where kids often kick a footy and a bike path. Dog walkers are generally aware bikes will be present and know to stay to the left and allow them to pass and the bike riders generally know to look out for dogs as its off lead. I'm running on the assumption the park in the situation described IS off lead, and if that's the case I think its reasonable to expect there to be dogs.

That's a little different in my mind. An off lead park is a place designated for dogs to play. One would expect to see and find dogs playing in a park. A parked car is no place to leave kids, any reasonable person would expect the kids not to be left unsupervised in the car.

Yes! Where the eff does the dirt go?!

Dirt from.shoes, dirt from tyres. Its far too easy spread for such an awful thing!

Probably about half an hour to do, I have a couple the same size that took about that long. Dog looks to be no spring chicken either, which makes it more irresponsible to have the extra half hour on an already fairly extensive operation. Some people...