BarbedWire

Great news. The old staffy has a deposit.

There is an old staffy at DAS 10+ in need of rescue by tomorrow 5pm.

This is the link that tells you about how he ended up at the pound

And this is the link that tells you about his temperament testing

I saw him earlier in the day and he was afraid of my two small dogs and I have wondered if he was just trying to go home.

I so hope he finds safety.

Seriously, has anyone ever actually spoken to management and scientists at the RSPCA? I have. They love dogs. Most of them own dogs. I don't know where people got this idea that the RSPCA doesn't like dogs or people that own or breed dogs. I am only going to say this once because I doubt it will change any minds so it is just for the record. The RSPCA are not against dog ownership. They have not attacked sighthounds. They are not campaigning towards the end of dog breeding or purebred dogs or dog ownership. They are FOR dogs. They just want them to be safe and well cared for and not exploited. They are responding to what has been revealed in the greyhound racing industry by making proposals that they hope will protect both dogs and other animals that may be cruelly exploited in dog-related activities. It is a shame they have to do this and I'm sure they would rather not, but this is their role - to provide advice in issues pertaining to animal welfare. This coursing dog recommendation is not part of some bigger plan to legislate the life out of the pet dog industry. They are heavily supportive of initiatives to boost pet ownership and dog-friendly environments and housing, and some of the money they have at their disposal goes towards those goals.

I agree with the above. Also RSPCA shelters don't all have the same policies. NSW for example has eight separate shelters and they would all have their own policies re the everyday management of their shelters. My only contact with the RSPCA has been in Canberra and I have always found them ethical and reputable.

As Sheridan gently pointed out I am one of the despised "unethical". Labled by the likes of Sheridan, not me incidently.

I became tainted for life after becoming a breeder of Cavies as a teen. I saw and wanted a Pure Black Smoothcoat Cavy. They are stunning creatures, shinning blue black in the Aussie sun, happy busy little critters who scream "mee too, mee too" the second they see you with goodies.

Except there was a problem, in the 1950's and 60's there were pure breeding black Cavies, only problem was they were in England and import was banned to Australia.

The one I had seen was a fluke from tricolour parents, so with the enthusiasm of youth I decided I would create my own family of true breeding black guinea pigs. With the help of my best friends brother, Glen Roberts a (now) world famous geneticist, who mapped for me what I needed to work towards and the copies of books on their colour inheritance genetics from The Stack at Sydney University. I set about my self appointed task. On the way I met some pretty amazing people, the staff of CSIRO Animal Health. Where else would you find the expertise than the men and women who kept this huge organisation supplied with healthy lab animals to conduct and sustain all the research work done that led the world in so many fields. (until our successive governments continual funding cuts have eventually ground to an almost standstill). I got to meet Hugh Gordon, Alec Lascelles, Jim Tyre, Jennifer MacDiarmid, Ph.D. & Himanshu Brahmbhatt, Ph.D.(justCLICK http://engeneic.com/ to see what these two genius's have achieved in cancer research, including the first mesothelioma patient in remission. link to relevant article: http://www.prnewswir...-300098861.html) To name just a few.

Jim donated three mainly black cavies from their Castle Hill facility, he and three mates (One of the four became my long patient hubby a decade or so later) went on to design, implement and teach the TAFE ANIMAL CARE COURSE. That is the course all Lab workers undertake as part of their training along with all the RSPCA Special Constables.

I added another 4 seemingly black Cavies from other members of the NSW Cavy Club and the challenge began. It took 6 years and 12 generations before I had entire litters of pure black baby cavies. (Gen had estimated 12 years and 24 generation, so I was lucky)

Along the way I discovered some of my cavy club purchases obviously carried a lethal gene. A percentage of babies would be born with misshapen ears, some with no eyes?

With such a small gene pool to work with, what to do? That is when I learnt why old time stud masters bred father to daughter, mother to son. It was not just to fix traits. It was also a tool to learn what if any deleterious genes they may carry. I did as tasked and soon found which original animals carried the disaster genes. Once i knew which lines might carry it, the next stage was to deliberately keep all females who had produced affected offspring and mate them to any young males I had intended using for the next generation, prior to him siring anything to the females of his generation. Female cavies breeding lives are too short to test breed them to known carrier males to see if they carry the gene. As Glen explained i needed a minimum of 16 from known carrier parent to an unknown carrier status parent to ensure a valid carrier or non carrier status to the unknown. Ideally 36 preferably 100 is the ideal figure but that just wasn't feasible. So using Glen's advice test breeding all potential stud males to carrier females eliminated the defective gene in 6 generations. Remember these were the decades before dna testing existed. As well the method, occasional father daughter, mother son mating's did a full sweep for possible hidden genes. Pretty necessary for an original gene pool of only 7 individuals.

Breeding is a hard game. Plenty of opportunity for tears. It is pretty distressing when the inevitable happens and you get babies which have to be put down because you know they will have no quality of life if left to struggle to survive. The flip side is knowing you are doing all you can to ensure future generations will be free of this.

I remember when The Canine Council, long before it became Dogs NSW, did a survey and discovered to its surprise less than 20% of new members were still members and breeding 5 years after registering their prefix. Something like 80% of their membership were the few who survived the initial traumatic first 5 to 10 years and mainly pensioners.

So many years later when I acquired my first pedigree puppy I came from a totally different background and mind set to most of you here on Dogzonline and the ANKC memberships.

I bought my first puppy from a lady named Phil, she was an unashamed ANKC breeder of family pets, who believe it or not ARE the real job of our dogs, its no accident the manual for breeders is compiled under the COMPANION ANIMALS ACT.

Dogs ARE companion animals, even the working breeds make great companions at days end. The dog show scene is the newcomer to the block, just read up when Dog shows first began for yourself.

So the day I read my first Breed Standard for my new puppy, I spotted a sentence that I found concerning. The words ran something "in the case of two of equal merit, the more diminutive preferred".

Nancy had long been a family friend before I acquired my first puppy, and I knew she loved showing, so took the new baby to see her. She was horrified at my choice of breeder who I had bought her from, but had to concede she was a nice puppy. I began to go to some shows with Nancy but soon noticed many judges were not bothering with the equal merit part of the standard, simply calling in the smallest in the lineup for the placings. Even in those early days (1978) many breeders considered surgical delivery to be normal. It was pretty obvious why. After acquiring Hillary Harmer's book The Complete Chihuahua, complete too with photos of her original Chihuahuas from Chile. Including the unforgettably named El Pis.

https://www.amazon.c...r/dp/0668029102

I began to question, what are they doing to the Chihuahua? What is trotting around the showrings in 1978 is not the dogs the Incas had bred vet free, surgery free for thousands of years. The "improved" version wasn't the self whelping dog of the Inca's anymore.

Any throwbacks to El Pis and his kennel mates were derided now as the Bambi type.

It didn't make me popular and I became an embarrassment to Nancy and her friends, but the darling never gave up on me and tried for decades to re-educate me, just as I tried to re-educate her. She never in or line bred, and and rarely kept a bitch or dog for breeding unless it had acquired Ch before its name, but she did begin selecting her bitches for pelvis as wide as the shoulders and checked for width between the pin bones and yes they self whelped beautifully.

To defend me from the puppy farmer label she began to show some of my dogs to their CH certificates as I had lost interest in showing by then.

Remember too this was before Animal Rights began asking similar questions.

The fuel for Pedigree Dogs exposed. Was long in the making and the ANKC breeders had members like me asking awkward questions long before the animal rights groups began collecting the ammunition for that doco. They had decades to listen and act before they were ambushed by the disaster of their own making. The biggest failure of the ANKC'S as I see it was to belittle the question askers instead of working to become proactive in the reduction of breeding and health problems in their respective breeds instead of sticking to the mentality that this is how they are , see how we have improved on the dogs of 40 years ago and ignoring those who questioned the 'improvements" and now reduced to reactive only to the challenges now being directed at them. As proven by the sudden deletion of that very sentence I had queried so many decades before from the standard after the airing of Pedigree Dogs Exposed.

As a side note, Phil put friendly temperament towards strangers one of the tops on her list, her dogs were unmissable in that department, I agreed with her. People used to be amazed to see such friendly Chihuahua's when they came to visit me.

Footnote: how successful were my Cavies? Some 15 years later in think 1987/88 not sure the exact year, the Cavy Club could advise you, Sydney Royal hosted two firsts, the First Cavy Exhibition at the Royal and the exhibition of English Imported Show Cavies. So who bred the first Sydney Royal Supreme smoothcoat Cavy? Percy Short with his pure Asal line Black and the Supreme Long Coat , I was thrilled to discover was also a Pure Asal line cavy. Sadly I cannot remember the name of the lady who Bred him but I hope some one can spot this and tell us some day. They were thrilled almost beyond words to have so beaten the English imports with their all aussie blood line cavies. (I dabbled with some of the early long coat lines as an aside to the main mission)

Asal you don't need to justify yourself or why you or anyone sold to Mcdougall back then . Mcdougall advertised a big two page spread in the Canine Journal and a printed notice for Dogs NSW members was circulated telling all of their members how great it would be for them to proceed to sell their puppies to PIAA member Transpet who was an agent for Mcdougall.No one who sold puppies back then to them breached any ethics or regs and some of the biggest names in the business were involved. It was actively encouraged by the canine councils.

That was then this is now and what ever you did or did not do 20 years ago simply isn't something you need to feel you should have to answer for on a public forum especially in a thread about banning greyhounds. Better to ignore the bullies when they start.

Great post Steve especially the bolded part.

Is Moosmum just trying to say all dogs have value to someone no matter their origin?

That too. Unless you keep telling them different.

You couldn't have just said so?

Your point is?

Good point about the OHS Westiemum

Lovely story. Thanks for sharing. It has saved what has been an awful day.

Why shouldn't I be one a dog forum? I am not against dogs as pets. I am against animal sports where there is gambling and people are there just to make money, and the same goes for live exports. It is just about making money and the welfare of the animals doesn't matter.

Because once the momentum builds it will just be a matter of time before pet dog breeding is banned.

That's your opinion and I disagree.

Yes, it is my opinion. After all, I wrote it. Why do people write that?

LOLs at the above.

Why shouldn't I be one a dog forum? I am not against dogs as pets. I am against animal sports where there is gambling and people are there just to make money, and the same goes for live exports. It is just about making money and the welfare of the animals doesn't matter.

Because once the momentum builds it will just be a matter of time before pet dog breeding is banned.

That's your opinion and I disagree.

Why shouldn't I be one a dog forum? I am not against dogs as pets. I am against animal sports where there is gambling and people are there just to make money, and the same goes for live exports. It is just about making money and the welfare of the animals doesn't matter.

You can't knock them all over at once but hopefully one day they will all fall. I hate animal cruelty and exploitation and that includes horse racing, harness racing, and live export.

Thankyou I got a free download. If anyone else is interested this was t he address.

Thistle that poster about socialising is brilliant. How can I get a copy? I especially like that it mentions familiarising your dog with the elderly and people in wheelchairs

Tor I have had six boxers over my lifetime. Now that I am older I did look for a smaller version but it just does not exist. I have two hairy black rescue mutts. :) If you do get a second boxer make it a different colour so that it is different from your boy.

It sounds as if you are doing a great job with your boy if he is well trained at eight months. They are a challenge to train but it is worth it. They are fantastic dogs. Reading this thread has had me thinking that maybe I do have room for just one more, a little red bitch. Oh I wish :D

It could be the soap. QV skin wash (soap free) has sorted out my itchy dog's problems.

I also have had a dog PTS for aggression many years ago. He bit a child and I knew I would never trust him again and he would never leave my yard. I was also concerned that the police would come for him and I thought it was better for him to go in my arms than be held in a pound. Today I still wonder about the child that was bitten. He would now be a man and I hope he is okay and not damaged by what must have been traumatic for him.

My dog was a Dalmatian, a rescue from someone else who found him uncontrollable. While large he was not as big as a mastiff. A mastiff could do a lot of damage if it wanted to.

How about a Brittany? Gorgeous dogs. In my next life I want one.

Great post Scottsmum. Wish I could express myself so tactfully and thoughtfully.

I am not happy with a dog going from a pound situation to a long term kennel instead. The only rescues I am familiar with do not take a dog from the pound unless there is a foster home already lined up and I think this is how rescue should operate.

A beagle. My daughter has one that goes running with her. It is a beautiful dog and would play nicely with a boxer.

People kick and scream if rescue determines a dog is not suitable for rehoming or even that one dog would take up too many resources better directed at dozens of dogs rather than one and over look it for their rescue group or PTS when it becomes obvious.

There is a very large section of the "rescue' world that believe everything with a heart beat should be saved and if resources are spent that could go to other places that's O.K. as long as their no kill policy is adhered to'

The fact that this group has hung in so long and stuck to their no kill policy means that they are more likely to be given donations and seen to be the good guys by many. There is also another side to this - if I choose to donate to a rescue group because I like its policy of no kill and I like the idea that they havent given up , that I agree if its alive it deserves to be safe then Im going to get ticked off if after they take my money they change their policy and make exceptions.

Unless there is some cruelty issue and being in a pen most of the dog's life isn't counted automatically as cruelty at law then one group who believe its better for the dog to be treated differently simply don't get to call the shots or change things because they dont agree.

I wouldnt donate to them or help them because I dont agree with their policies just as I wouldnt donate to some others for a variety of reasons but seriously they have taken donations BECAUSE OF HOW THEY WORK AND THEIR PHILOSOPHIES and they do have supporters who agree with them - just because some others don't beating them up. Just takes rescue in NSW closer to being slugged with laws and new codes.

My donation would have been for a particular dog not because of the rescue's philosophy. I do have a soft spot for mastiffs.

I agree with you and I was not referring to you personally. It is just some of the comments in the other thread are contrary to what is being said here. I am interested because in the past I have made donations to SOS and I am now wondering if I donated wisely.

I am finding it hard to reconcile what is being said in this thread http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/266937-sos-needs-help-with-long-term-dogs-in-kennels/page__st__30__gopid__6830087#entry6830087 with what is being said here.

Well done Jodie and Ziggy

Not just the ACT looks like "the breeding, racing and presence of Greyhounds in NSW" is to be banned.

Sad day indeed.

--Lhok

Who'd have thought greyhounds would be the ACT Government's first act of BSL.

They haven't legislated against the breed. They have condemned the activity.

See this graphic, this is legislation against the breed.

That is NSW

http://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/no-future-for-greyhound-racing-in-act/news-story/a6b1057bd68796409de60a09d093f645

Extract:

"It is untenable for the ACT government to continue allowing, and financially supporting the practice of greyhound racing."

Who'd have thought greyhounds would be the ACT Government's first act of BSL.

They haven't legislated against the breed. They have condemned the activity.