icedmice

LOL, I meant at the other end of a heel. When you come to a stop, is there a right and wrong foot to stop on? The reason you use your left for to go into a heel is because your dog is heeling to your left leg. It's for that reason I said to stop on your left foot. But even if you stop on your right you still bring your left foot up anyway. Obedience .... the sport for those with OCD!

Question: Does it matter which foot you halt on? Is there a right and wrong foot? Why? I was instructing a class tonight and corrected by the chief training instructor. I just want to make sure I give the correct information. I've actually found resources that contrast that opinion and have trained my own dogs the way I instructed. I've made a point of researching, I have no problem instructing a particular way if it helps people that want to take training to a trail level. BTW: Both dogs (and handlers) that went for graduation tonight from my intermediate class after me pointing out footwork and posture, which was a bit sloppy, graduated :) ! I'm a proud mamma hen :) . They can start earning titles and learning more advanced stuff now :D.

I also use the term 'evidence' loosely. It's what AA considers to be proof anyway.

I doubt the AA video evidence will have anything to do with the case. For that matter, it's not clear what the charges actually do relate to. True, still, the footage is public now. What has been seen cannot be unseen :/ .

The concern here the way the 'evidence' was gathered was unlawful. If she does loose in court what sort of precedence does that set? Is the AA footage going to be used in court? and even if it isn't, has putting it on national television compromised the integrity of the jury? I breed small domestic animals, they are kept in my house, does that mean a home invasion is justifiable to provide evidence to court? A lot of people have puppies raised in the house, would you like people breaking in just to make sure your practice is up to their standard? By the way, their standard is that nobody should breed any animals. Whether or not people agree with what they see and how her establishment is set up is not the issue, if there are problems, there are lawful avenues that can be pursued. Unfortunately, outcomes aren't always what you would have hoped, but the world doesn't revolve around your personal ethical standards. The issue is the media supporting criminals and what doors this opens for copy cats.

My comments on AA were before I saw the sons footage. They were a vicious and vindictive bunch. I stopped commenting, apparently if you question their precious AA perspective be prepared to Don a flame suit! Originally they said they had 50 dogs but I only counted around 30 in the sons shoot. It could have been an exaggeration or maybe she did rehome a few because it was getting a bit much. It didn't need to get blown out of proportion whatever the case. Cruelty is a bit much to claim considering they're in better condition than most pet dogs that show up at the pound. Still no news as to what the exact charges are and from one of her daughter's comments on Facebook there is no court case that she knows of. Maybe they've been a bit slack at raiding properties and so had to drag up an old story? We might as well just not own any pets or eat any animal products or live in a house because everything is cruelty. Shame some people can't be so passionate about how they treat other people. It's just a story I've been following for curiosities sake since it first showed on Today Tonight. I might be out of place commenting because I'm not a dog breeder. But thought I'd share some material I've found.

This is a video Stephen Thompson (son of Carol) submitted on facebook. I found it by chance after commenting on Animals Australia. I actually found some of the horrific comments more offensive than the condition of the dogs. Clearly these people don't have much compassion for human beings. Yeah it's not how I'd keep my dogs, I don't necessarily think this set up is ideal for collies, but if you use your common sense, they wouldn't win shows if they were that badly neglected. They aren't a puppy farm like AA is advertising. I don't see rows of kennels with pregnant or nursing bitches with nipples dragging on the ground from being bred over and over. As I said on AA, I'm not supporting this persons actions. At the same time I don't think she is the spawn of Satan and there is more to the story. Just a warning (rated 18+): there is pretty crude offensive language in the video. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=650933848250950

LOVE IT... great photos! This is my favorite: A wild juvenile eastern brown snake, I was very privileged to get that close, I had to give it some space when it had enough of being paparazzied.

Local dog behaLocal dog behaviour experts say shocking attacks could be prevented by increasing owners’ awareness of aggression. Melissa Wildy reports. http://au.news.yahoo.com/video/national/watch/17396706/dog-behaviour-can-t-be-cured/

LOL :D . I bet your lab would sooner savage a sausage. Actually - she has savaged my Pittie cross girl a couple of times... we keep them separate now, as we know that the Lab is most likely going to be the victor when they scrap. But, as for the sausages... well... she's a Labrahoover, what else should we expect? *grin* T. That's no good . I hope that your girl wasn't hurt. My staffy is made of rubber, she runs smack bang into a pole and will come back with a big grin on her face. She chipped a tooth being a berk. Funny thing though, she got bitten by an ant once, it wasn't even a big bush ant, just a regular sized one, and you'd swear blind she was being tortured!

OOPS, called myself a bogan ROFL.

LOL :D . I bet your lab would sooner savage a sausage.

I commented "particularly", perhaps "notably" would have been a better word. Meaning a growing proportion of..people that own them are less than reputable. Never said ALL. I've seen more American Bulldogs in pound than should be there. A lot of people that own American Bulldogs are doing the breed no favors. The term bogans was used to refer to crossing breeds for a particular mean look and nothing more, and I stand by that generalization. Nobody with an ounce of common sense would do that. I also own a staffy and there is nothing I despise more than people that own one to improve their tough guy image and breed them randomly.

Thats a good point Jules, most people want you to perform miricles with their dogs with just one training session a week. For my class I print up training notes on the lesson of whatever I am trying to teach them, hoping that they will go home & read the notes & practice. I find this works quite well with most. I strongly agree, all my best training happened at home. There's just too much going on at training that distracts you and the dog. We have so many dropping out, but I also notice some instructors loosing patience with handlers. I prefer to point out when a handler did something really well over when they made a mistake. Most people know when they make a mistake, I prefer to ask, if they'd like to attempt it again, like the stand for exam. Or I make a general statement to the whole class, don't forget XYZ. I have two left feet and when I started training, plus I'm a naturally anxious/sensitive person. I remember being in tears more than once by insensitive comments like "Oh look, she's a bad example". I felt like handing over the lead and saying, well if you think you can do a better job, be my guest. I have also heard insensitive comments made to other handlers and they haven't returned. It's all beside the point, I don't think cold is a huge issue to this dog, but it could be one of several factors. I think I'm more insecure being a new instructor when others say, you should have done this or that. I'm not instructing trial level classes, only intermediate ones.

There are two white American Bulldogs at Campbelltown pound currently. They definitely exist and growing in popularity rapidly particularly among less reputable owners. There are quite a few out there that have been crossed with other bully types too, no doubt by bogans who want a mean looking dog.

You are referring to a different incident on the Gold Coast where a man tried to break up a dog fight involving his own two Bull Terriers when they attacked another dog. His own dogs then turned on him and he was taken to hospital. It was reported that one of his dogs was tethered to a tree after the attack and strangled itself. What was interesting in the news report was that the reporter referred to the dogs as "pitbulls" when they were clearly Bull Terriers. They obviously do not have a clue about dog breeds. I don't care for the bull breeds myself but I really wish the reporters would at least try to make some effort to correctly identify the breed involved - just lazy reporting IMO. Cheers Sounds like they don't know the difference between a fence and a tree either :/ . You're pretty spot on about lazy reporting. A lot of dog bites don't need hospitalization so a lot does go unreported. A lot of people also don't seek medical attention if it was their own dog. Where people are given privileges, people will abuse those privileges .

Wonder how the first bloke's dog died if it was only tethered to a fence? Sounds like only half the story with that one. I hope the kid is OK .

That's a possibility ZugZug. I know it was mentioned to her to have her dog vet checked because I have observed the dog drop under a previous instructor who said just that, it did roll to one side a bit which had me thinking too. I don't know if she ever did. Lately the training grounds have been dark, cold and wet too so my staffy doesn't like to stay in a drop for long. Will have to dust off her winter jackets :p . I know that's why a lot of dogs are breaking their stays and putting them out of sorts lately. I'll suggest a few of the methods mentioned like luring under something or under the leg. Worth a shot. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't giving the wrong/bad advice, sometimes I think a few people expect too much too fast of handlers and their dogs. I worry it discourages people from training.

I was instructing a class with a standard poodle who is reluctant to drop. I can see it's stressing the handler out which is in turn stressing the dog out, I told her to give the command but not to make too much of a fuss if it didn't. The dog also sits a bit awkward, like it's about to fall backwards. Of course forcing the dog to drop leads to the handler giving multiple commands and her hand signals become less clear with every attempt. I know from previous lessons that luring with food or manually putting it in place hasn't worked that well. I suggested for homework that when the dog offers the behavior at home to reward it, like giving it a drop command just before it lays down to go to bed and rewarding that. Then try it in the home, somewhere where it feels comfortable. Sometimes it can become a matter of too many cooks spoil the broth and getting loads of input from all different instructors actually does the opposite of helping. So I'm wondering weather I gave the right advice because some instructors believe you should persevere. You probably could, but I worry then that the dog will associate the command with something negative and it isn't really fair to the rest of the class either because in the time we wait for one dog to drop, others have moved out of position when it wasn't a stay exercise. I'm new to instructing, would appreciate some advice. Also if you know any videos and books (I've watched a lot of kikopup and tab289).

I haven't attended a dog training class in years, puppy or otherwise. Yes all the dickheads will be flocking to class so they can get full registration of their dogs - not! I agree with Wobbly in theory and would have no problem with a large dog management class, I've tossed around the idea of licencing for breeds over a certain weight/size. I'm just sick of people giving owners of bull breeds a bad name. I've been attending obedience with my dogs for years, more recently I have become an instructor. I've seen reactive dogs make a full turn around. Our membership and ground fees are next to nothing, you can't even buy a cup of coffee for our ground fees. I've passed out cards and encouraged people to come along, the only person I've been able to convince is my brother, who also recently became an instructor. A lot of dogs that end up in pounds aren't even micro-chipped, I'd go as far as saying more than half of them easily aren't micro-chipped, and of those that are a high percentage have not been registered with councils so there are no owner details. We already have laws, but with light or no penalty nobody is going to care. Problem is if current laws aren't enforced, new or changed laws/regulations will make little if any difference.

I'm pretty passionate about the topic. I've been to court as a witness to an attack of this nature in Belmore and my friend was a victim of an attack by Amstaffs, they were registered with dogsNSW: http://www.theherald.com.au/story/116216/teenager-mauled-in-savage-dog-attack/ You'd think the owner would be not allowed to keep dogs after an attack like that but then this happened: http://www.theherald.com.au/story/1317743/poll-dog-attacks-terrorise-family-a-second-time/ I have a big problem with people breaking the law and getting away with a slap on the wrist and being allowed to re-offend. They demonstrated they were incapable of keeping the community safe. They give responsible owners of bull/large breeds a bad name. The MAJORITY of people that own them can do so without their dogs going on a psychotic rampage. You don't give a loaded gun back to the shooter! The disregard the owner showed for the safety of the community resulting in such a savage attack on that poor jogger is truly disgusting. I think harsher penalties should be imposed, there should be NO excuse. We don't want these sorts of people owning dogs, period. If it were up to me I'd probably confiscate their butter-knives.

Give it a rest. Think of the poor victim. Well that is a charming response. But cheers for reading and acknowledging it all the same.

Now, according to the media, the dogs are American Staffords *facepalm* . Dogs change breed now!

In the heat of the moment, many people couldn't differentiate between a Nissan Patrol or a Toyota Land cruiser in a hit and run. Funnily enough if people can't identify them the media doesn't report that all 4WDs are Land cruisers, just because it's a large vehicle fitting that description and that's why I hate the term pitbull being applied to a particular appearance. Not all people that drive 4WDs own Land cruisers, not all people that own bull breeds have a 'pitbull'. Not all people that own one of both of these things are irresponsible. Large cars like that do more damage in an accident, even though the road laws are the same owning a big car comes with added responsibility. Owning a big dog, especially a bull breed comes with added responsibility. True fighting pitulls aren't really a dog with one definite look about them, they range in size, conformation, colour. Unless you know the dog's origins even someone from the dog community would have difficulty positively identifying one. I worry when people start calling them nanny dogs and getting all defensive about how their pitbull is gentle, reliable and great with kids. Because not every individual one will be great with kids and it's not necessarily how all about how you raise them. You may raise them spot on to be a family pet, but they still may not be great around kids. It's about knowing your dog and knowing it's limitations and only putting it in situations where it will never be a risk. Some people that defend pitbulls are doing them no favors by making inaccurate generalizations. I have a staffordshire bull terrier that is not dog park material, she gets on fine with our other dogs, cats and small animals is even doing off lead exercises at training. But the dog park excites her way too much to keep her under effective control. You put any random breed in a situation that excites or frightens it you are setting yourself up for failure.

This advertisement is designed to sell the property. They are designed to show the best of the property. If passionate animal activists had a go they'd show photos of a dog with an abscess on it's face, or cheery eye, a corner with a poop in it, some wire with a bit of fur or spider web on it, maybe even a junk pile which has nothing to do with the facility .... but in saying that I can also appreciate their concerns, which aren't always unjustified if you see things through their eyes. Some are way too extreme and very unreasonable, and that can happen at both ends of the spectrum. I don't breed dogs, however, I take great pride as a registered rodent breeder, I have an entire room dedicated to mice and my rats share my lounge room. I also own a pet snake (who, "shock horror" - eats rats ), so people trying to make me look bad would take photos of my pet snake or rusted corners on my cages. Maybe even a bit of poop in the corners. They won't be showing how spacious my enclosures are or how few are raising litters, how my snake eats rodents that are humanely euthanized by myself or a trusted supplier of reptile food, how a proudly show my rodents in public displays, how I stay up all night if I'm worried about a labor, how dedicated I am in providing owners with accurate information, how much I've spent on vet bills for animals that give absolutely no financial return, giving medication to rats with respiratory infection just because they ARE my pets, my enormous food storage. A lot of ups and downs .... and I love every bit of it, you'd be MAD not to, you'd have to be, there's nothing there unless you actually believed in their value as companion animals. In saying that, that looks like an awesome property to keep fancy poultry! Few modifications of course (like fox proofing etc). I could imagine geese or chooks having an absolute ball on that property! You'd have to have to see it in real life. I think the facilities are OK, they don't look like my idea of a puppy farm where facilities are best torn down and removed because they are beyond use for any animal, you'd even be pushing it as a storage shed. This one just needs a face lift, it's not unusable. It would be most unfortunate if an owner took over without full access to information regarding the animals. Including any health records, vaccinations, pregnancies, ancestry ect ... chances are there aren't any, but I don't make any assumptions. One can only hope, following the sale of this property, the dogs have the opportunity to be actually be pets, instead of just producing them. The next owner may not have an interest in producing dogs for profit. Re homing all dogs would be difficult, so I feel sorry for the next owners, in reality it isn't their responsibility. Would it be worthwhile to allow the next owners to know there are options and networks to re-home and rescue the dogs? It's not something you could force on someone, or even should make them feel bad about, but it may be something they may think about, and having that option may make make all the difference to the dogs there currently.