Erny

I'm in the midst of a new letter and arranging for emails to take it to all MLA's and MLC's. Good work, people :D

Blissirritated - I agree the OP wasn't the most eloquent in its structure. At the start, I wasn't even sure about the proposed Bill and its status. Which is why in the heading to the thread I've referred people to certain post numbers. Links to the proposed Bill and also to another site where a Government Response has been prepared (and which in itself I think helps to make clear the wrongs of the proposed Bill) have also been given. This was kind of thrown at me and one way or the other I have tried to (a) bring people's awareness to it and (b) tried to make sense of it and of what was going on. Initially the Bill was reported as having been passed by Lower House, but that turned out to be wrong. So it wasn't completely clear sailing for me either. Bad timing for me - everything has come up all at once and I truly haven't had time to concentrate on this as much as I'd like to have, but regardless of that, something needed to be done as nothing much seemed to be being done beforehand. (ETA : What I mean by that is that some people were making the effort, but it seemed some help was needed to bring more awareness to it.) So I apologise to everyone who might have thought I could have done better - I could have, had I had more time. This wasn't a task that I wanted to take on simply due to other loads and commitments, but it was too important to ignore and attention and action was required. If you do this in this order : Know that the proposed Bill is there. (link supplied Post #1) (contrary to first reports, it is NOT passed .... yet) Read it. Read the "GoodforDogs" response. (link supplied Post #47) Read/scan some of the other posts which also raise a few good questions/explanations and demonstrate how the laws, if passed, could impact. I have to go out (running late, as has been usual for me over this past week) but please post back if posts #46 and onwards don't help to provide you the information you need to be able to make better sense of it. Hoping this has helped and I'm sorry I could not present the thread and following posts in a better manner than I have. This is not MY project. This is all of ours project. Mike Bailey is a good contact source to find out/clarify things as he's been watching this closely and working on it for longer than I. Steve (Julie) is a good contact as well (she always seems to be able to see through things and ask some really great questions that even in the asking, make very valid points), but I know that Julie is incredibly busy with a load of other urgent and important stuff also.

Thanks WhiteEagle. Looking at the Poll (other thread) I can see the letter writing effort has now been adopted by ELEVEN people out of the Victorian DOL community. Good on ya's ETA: It might be good to cross post/link this thread to the Breed Sub Forum area. I don't have permission to start a new topic there, so perhaps someone could? It would do well to make sure as much as we can that breed clubs know about what's going on and understand the possible impact this could have, and make the most of the opportunity we may have regarding the possible additional time available to be able to write letters in.

I believe the Doberman Club have a committee meeting on Monday night at which it is likely they'll discuss the proposed changes.

Nine Ten now, last time I checked, APBT .

I don't mind at all if you ring me but to be honest I think the best person to contact would be Mike (GoodforDogs) as he seems to have a better grip on the proposed laws than I. I never intended to be at the healm of this 'campaign' but emails and contact came my way and I felt like it just needed someone to kick start it - I am in the midst of another project not to mention trying to finalise some other plans that have been in the pipeline for ages for me, and are now close to needing to be completed. Consequently I don't believe that I have any more knowledge and understanding of the laws other than what's already been addressed here and in Mike's "Response to Government". I think the questions that Steve has written in her post in the 'other' thread (which I've copied/pasted below) are good ones as well and I already intend to formulate yet another letter to Government encompassing those, and to send them to the same pollies I have already addressed in this matter. ETA: Trisven13 ..... good on you for attending the meeting with A&J Steve :

Out of the 80 odd emails I have sent, Bill Sykes and Bruce Atkinson have responded/acknowledged. ETA: Sorry - Ted Baillieu has also acknowledged.

It's a bit like me. For several years running, I opted for the flu vaccine. And each year I copped a really bad head and then chest cold. I stopped the vaccines and I *touch wood* haven't had a cold since. I know 'they' keep telling us we can't get the flu from the vaccines, but .

Thank YOU, Aussie3. Or more particularly, all our Victorian DOGS thank you .

There seems to be some perception that these proposed laws are "likely" to impact only "certain" breeds. Please know that this is NOT the case. They have the very real and likely potential to affect ANY and ALL our breeds. Maybe that's why there don't seem to be that many people who have responded "yes" to the "Poll" thread. Are they sitting back because they think THEY are safe, because of the breed of dog they have (or because they don't have 'certain' commonly targeted breeds)? Don't be complacent. I don't want to hear of the heartache, stress and trauma that will occur when someone finds themselves and their dog/s caught under any one of the proposed law amendments. And we can only ensure against that if we work to stop the proposed law amendments being passed in the first place. "I didn't think it would or could happen to me ....... " is going to be when it is too late. If you're the least bit interested in doing that, you need to act NOW. Sorry for the caps but they are there for emphasis and this IS urgent and IS important.

Yes! Well done A&J . I'll be looking forward to hearing the outcome of the meeting. Trisven13 - many seem to think that these new proposed laws are going to impact only or mainly certain breeds. To the contrary, these new laws can and will affect ANY breed. ALL breeds. It affects us ALL !! This should not be a 'fight' just for certain breeds of dogs. This should be a 'fight' for all our dogs. Every Victorian dog-owner carries the same potential to be affected by these proposed laws regardless of the breed of dog they own!

Nothing wrong with straight regular honey, but it doesn't have the antibacterial and immune system support qualities that Active Manuka Honey has. When you do source the AMH, aim to get a UMF factor of 20+ or higher (the higher the better). But be prepared, because it is not cheap!! Incubation period is generally longer than that, so it isn't necessarily likely that your dog picked it up from them. Vaccination against CC (eg C5) only covers two strains. There's more than 100 strains of CC that your dog could contract. Good idea, because it is highly contagious. It can't hurt your other dogs to receive some AMH when you get it as well, even though they're not showing symptoms.

The home of 7 people????

:D x 100 Going by the "Poll" thread ONLY SEVEN Victorian DOL Members have written into the Government!!!! (Good on those seven people ... proud of you ) Come on Victorians. I know we can DO better than that because we ARE better than that.

Lordy!! I found this thread languishing on page THREE !!!! :D :D (that's twice as many " 's " as I gave when the 'other' related thread was found on page 2 !!! And going by this poll, only 7 Victorian DOLS have written into the Government !! That's worth 100 x 's !!! Come on guys. Please? I don't want to kick your butts into action (:D) and have you hate me for it, but we have to HELP OURSELVES. If we don't do that, how can we possibly expect anyone else to??? Just in case you don't know where the 'other' thread is ........................ Here it Is

Thanks Mike. And as you've mentioned elsewhere that the Procedures Office informed you, the debate could have been delayed in response to the public interest that they've been receiving. I hope that's the case and if it is, it is heartening. It is also very indicative of why the more letters we can get in the better it will be. I'm going to check on and *bump* the other "Poll" thread to see how many Victorian DOL people might have made responses to Government. REMINDER : If any of you haven't written in and are loathe to because you don't like letter writing; don't have time; etc. please refer to Post #49 on Page 4 of this thread. You will find there that I've put up a short template letter that you can copy/paste and send in to Government along with either a copy of Mike's "response to government" (refer the link that Mike has repeated above) or a printed out hard copy, if you are sending in by mail. In the said post #49 I also provided a contact list for MP's. (ie MLA's Lower House) Your letters can also be sent in to MLC's MLC (Upper House) Member List Please. NOW is the time we need to act. It won't take that much of your time but could save a lot more (ie time; money; and devastation) further down the track.

I don't know, Mike. I've puzzled over that myself. What agenda, if they have one?

That would be great provided it can be made clear and not twisted as though we are trying to suggest that dangerous dogs be granted freedom (that's how some media's could spin it if it's not worded carefully and with forethought.

Thanks for your post Steve. I think all the points you raise would be good points to raise, ask and discuss in our letters to Government. And how did this thread make its way to Page 2 !!!!! :D :p :D *bump*

It depends on the strain of virus and whether your dog has caught a mild or more severe dose of it. I believe the cough can continue for 7 - 10 days or so in the heavier cases. When my boy was a young pup he contracted Canine Cough. I expect it was a mild dose, but at the very first sign of it I began dosing him with Active Manuka Honey. This has natural healing and soothing qualities to it and helps to support the immune system. (If you want to know more about AMH visit my website and click on the "Links" tab at the top. Then click on the Active Manuka Honey link.) He had a bit of a sore throat with his CC and the honey definitely helped with that. I used some honey in a little bit of water, to encourage him to drink, when I felt that he hadn't been drinking much. I kept him indoors in a draft free environment and didn't do anything to tax him (eg. I didn't do any training that would have him too active and anything I did do was only on the easy stuff he already knew well - and only then it was because he needed the mental stimulation. Any activity we did do was passive, as exercise will usually bring on a coughing fit.) Within 24 hours his cough had stopped and within another 24 hours he was back on top of the world. I continued with the honey (although I backed off on the amount I was giving him) for the rest of the week. Even though he had no residual signs of it, I treated him as though he still had CC for that week and a little bit more, in that we didn't go out for walks, down to the park etc. So it can vary from one dog to another. If my dog was still coughing without signs of it diminishing inside 7 days, I would have him to the Vet. I watched for signs of secondary infection but in his case he didn't even get the nasal mucus that often affects dogs when they have Canine Cough. If you're not sure, take him to the Vet in the meantime, but I wouldn't necessarily go for the antibiotic trip that many of the Vets put people's dogs on straight off as a matter of course. Canine Cough is a virus and antibiotics don't do anything for it. If your Vet suggests antibiotics ask why. Does your dog have a secondary infection? If the answer is yes, then your dog will need the antibiotics. In my opinion, antibiotics are dished out far too often for "just in case" reasons.

You mean here on DOL? Yes they do. Lots of them. I don't know if any/many of the executive committee members read them though. Although I presume they do, even if just quietly. In the conversation I had with VicDogs (when I was suggesting 'we' need to be stronger against this Bill and even to the other of the laws that have been allowed to be passed and that stifle what we can do with our dogs) it was implied that we have to be nice to Government and that 'we' (VicDogs) can't go in too hard because they wanted their relationship to be kept 'nice'. This was not verbatim and in fact the mention of it was only one small moment in time during our conversation. I don't see why a relationship can't be kept 'nice' but yet still have the strength of conviction expressed by saying "no" and still being polite and factual to explain the reasons behind "no". I don't like bargaining with rights, fairness, democracy. It feels like a sell-out.

My highlights That was a mistake that should NEVER have occurred. A double check on scanning for microchip; a cross-check on correct ownership to dog and dog to ownership. Regardless of being "human", THAT's what should be done. This was not just a simple mistake. There was, IMO, negligence involved. The dog is dead. It's not a matter of saying "oops, sorry, I made a mistake, I'm only human". If the Government gives this sort of authority, and if the Council is going to accept that authority, over things such as taking life, then there MUST be checks and balances that no matter how certain a person is when they go to collect that dog for its last and final walk, those checks and balances MUST be confirmed. And the Government here want to give even more unaccountable power to Council authorities to make more and easier decisions about whether our dogs will live or die. By suggesting the "everyone makes mistakes" route ..... then what about the argument that any one of us could have, when something similar occurs? Why can't we say "I'm human and I made a mistake" and get away with it, without penalty, without the loss of our dog's life? Nup. No way. What happened here isn't right and it is unforgivable. :D:

I don\'t want to put a fine point on it either - we\'ve done that before in other threads, LOL. Are you able to provide a simple training example of negative punishment? I agree. And it would probably surprise many as to how that stress would and could compare with other training methods.

Thanks Echo - and yes, everyone, please write in if you haven't done so already. Numbers .......... we need numbers.