Adrienne

Love this work! I was just googling the other day for Nose work groups in my area and found one; hoping to take Jilly along in a couple of weeks. Her favourite smell is a tennis ball .... I am amazed at the number of tennis balls she finds in parks and gardens wherever we go. I was watching a show on telly about sniffer dogs and the handler was explaining the "honing in on smell" pattern - like a cone/wedge narrowing down to the most intense smell. What surprised me next time Jilly and I were out at our favourite off leash was just how far out she actually began this behaviour - like an easy 20m from where she found the ball. Pity there is nothing very useful about tennis balls! She is bonkers for them and, I kid you not, will choose one over chicken.

Australian Terriers are awesome little dogs. Mine have been no nonsense, charming, hardy, fun, attentive, engaged, loyal and easy to live with. You cannot offend them, they are easy to maintain and cheap to feed and medicate (size). Of my two, one was more vocal than the other though not excessive in any way and he was responsive to a "Shush Shush". They really can live in any environment from an apartment... to a farm... to a swag!

Perhaps breeders of Registered Pure bred dogs could be less invested in being "Illustrious" and elite and get in behind their breeds as great candidates as family pets (if the breed is actually great family pet material - some are not) and so increase the number of them available through the year. The whole, "I breed only what I need for show" is supposedly the only ethical stance a breeder can take which is nonsense and a great shame. People want pet dogs. I believe best practice in managing the breeding of a bitch is breed young, back to back and then retire early. Some breeders will reckon that even a repeat mating is superfluous and unethical - if the progeny were great, what's wrong with repeating for the purpose of supply to pet buyers? If you want your breed to be more popular they need to be available, be seen in the community being great pets. They need to be out in homes where they are loved and promoted by their families to anyone who will listen... and lets face it today everyone is talking up their pet dogs across all sorts of channels. I really think one of the reasons hybrids are popular is because they are easy to buy. Easy to buy does not mean sell to anyone, it means there are enough to go into ready willing and able homes. As well, it might be helpful to point out "endangered" means in the Registered Show Sphere, and that population is not the be all and end all for some breeds - there are pure bred dogs outside of that world.

Extraordinary

Good to know about ACA, I will have a look at it! Just off the top of my head I am thinking there are already regulations in place across many areas and they are simply not being monitored and enforced. I don't think the answers are found in more regulation - certainly not before concerted efforts are made by way of sufficient funding and resourcing of those tasked with that work. Jeeze I'd like to see transparent longitudinal data on what is really going on with dogs and cats in Australia. Some things just don't add up.

Error! Should read "She was clear that veterinary practitioners did NOT generally suffer ill effects of being involved in providing euthanasia services...".

I watched this yesterday - thanks for putting it up, I had no idea it was happening and I will keep an eye out for the next one. I really appreciated the evidence of most of those appearing, in particular Emeritus Professor Jackie Rand and both of the Australian Veterinary Association members. And WOW, Emma Hurst... would not say the word euthanise, had to use the emotive word "kill". Would not use the term "behavioural decline" in relation to dogs being housed in Pound facilities, instead repeatedly using the term "Kennel Rage". Was heartened to hear that no one repeated her terms, choosing instead to use terms like 'behavioural decline" which encompasses a wider range of unwanted behaviours and mental states, such as depression. And I was pleased also that none of the qualified professionals identified 'over supply' of dogs as a problem to be targeted (by legislation). All of them hands down supported targeted measures aimed at assisting dog owners to keep their pets - noting that the housing crises and cost of living pressures and domestic violence were some of the most common reasons owners were surrendering their dogs. Worthwhile listening carefully to the evidence of AVA on emotional burden on Vets involved with euthanising pound dogs. She was very clear that veterinary practitioners did (not) generally suffer ill effects of being involved in providing euthanasia services to pounds when there was involvement from intake, there was context for the action being taken, and when they were not simply called into a facility to euthanise en-masse dogs which they had no prior knowledge of. She makes some very careful distinctions in her evidence and would be good for people to understand these. I was so pleased to hear that at least some shelters/ rescues were dedicating some of their capacity to supporting domestic violence victims and elderly people to keep their pets. To me this type of support is really valuable and prevents sound animals going into the system when they actually have loving owners facing hard times. Reputable Rescues are so important and they should be funded for facilities, consumables and training for their volunteers. RSPCA and Blue Mountains pound facility - what a rort! I am so glad they were questioned about that and will now have to provide further detail after taking a question on notice. Emma Hurst did not want to give more time to Emily Suuval, so funny to watch. State Governments definitely need to seriously invest in better pound facilities and qualified staff and adequate staffing ratios so that animals are not destroyed emotionally by spending time in the system. Animal Welfare League came off as absolutely amazing, sitting beside the behemoth RSPCA, AWL guy seemed to give evidence of staggering achievements and outcomes with their measly $5 million dollar grant compared to what RSPCA has done with their whopping $20.5 million grant. RSPCA defends their swollen coffers by saying it is only responsible to operate with a buffer of three years operational costs in case something happens to put their operations at risk... just can't think of anything that might do that.

Sorry I don't have mine on me, it's in storage. They are called Optivisors, or Glass magnifying headset. They have a little LED light and some come with different lenses. They are not expensive - I think I paid under $30 for mine brand new. I found it online by googling the product and my city. I was able to purchase and pick up from a warehouse. If you needed it posted they are not heavy! A very handy piece of equipment.

I love head lamps! Also, have you ever tried the magnifier head light? It adjusts down over in front of your eyes with two magnifying lens' and a little light. I bought one for trimming puppies nails (they are sooo tiny and sharp and must be trimmed but I was so scared of clipping their little toes). Works a treat and I imagine would be ideal for cutting tiny pills too.

So really just another load of crap put out by people sprouting crap ,, On a cold winteres night , a man and wife go to bed and both are cold and the lady says , come closer , put your arm around me . lets keep warm , , Then summer arrives and the man comes closer puts his arm around her and gets told , Bugger off your hot , get over there , guess thats EPIGENETICS Er, NO.

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0240787 Link to articles on Epigenetics in Dog breeding

Well coneye, have you considered changing your breed preference? ?You could give Spanner a go! An Aussie Terrier is a game little dog in a handy sized body. I could see him on a boat

Search engine history and terms influences results offered up by Google. I have copied this short (book) abstract from Science Direct, unfortunately the links are not active in it, I never copied and pasted a thing from online before, so I don't know. Just briefly, it contains some key words for increasing understanding of what epigenetics is and people could search those terms with the word livestock included which will push them towards results focused on Breeding animals, on which commercial livestock are having the most research done in the area because epigenetics hold very valuable understandings which will increase their productivity. Phenotype in layman's terms is what we can see about an animal - what it looks like, and what behaviour traits it displays. In the Pure-bred dog breeding world it is 100% about phenotype! Sourced from Science Direct. ScienceDirect Handbook of Epigenetics (Second edition) The New Molecular and Medical Genetics 2017, Pages 441-463 Abstract The animal breeding act has developed from visual assessment of desirable traits, use of complex quantitative genetic tools, animal breeding models and reproductive technologies to the genomics era and is potentially moving toward exploitation of the epigenomics phenomena. Current breeding schemes only account for part of the phenotypic variance in traits while the elusive portion could be due to other factors including epigenetics. Numerous lines of evidence have shown that epigenetic marks (DNA methylation, histone modifications, chromatin remodeling, and noncoding RNA regulation) profoundly influence livestock growth and development, and phenotypic outcomes. Thus, phenotypic outcome is a multilevel interaction between the genome, epigenome, environmental factors, as well as other nongenetic factors. This chapter will present an overview of the historical development of the animal breeding art, as well as that of livestock epigenetics. It will present evidence of the epigenetic sources of phenotypic variation in livestock traits, the role of epigenetic marks in production and reproduction, and potential impact on livestock genetics and breeding.

I thought pet shop when I read it, and poor practice having all pups in a p'laypen' unsupervised for 12 hours... how do they manage intake quarantine these places? Maybe they don't take it seriously. This is probably why pet shop pups are so often ill, imagine the imposition on them if they properly quarantined their stock as it came in.

I think this is why I was unaware of the garbage. There is a lot of serious science done and lots of good info available. I have never looked into it re breeding dogs, more just livestock in general and in humans - so mammals really. And while I haven't done in depth research I got the gist of the importance of an animals history and environment as being very impactful on phenotype. I actually came across epigenetics when researching about what breed of horse I should buy as a novice. I ended up getting an unhandled passively trapped Brumby from The Guy Fawkes Heritage Horse Association. I did this because being a novice I needed a horse that was a horse and nothing else - as in being sure of it's history and physical and mental soundness. I did have a quick squiz just now searching relating to dog breeding. Will continue looking, but on the face of it why aren't Kennel Clubs the world over jumping on this and participating because they (the Clubs) are a known pool of Breeders of all the breeds? (They may be and I don't know about it). In particular because epigenetic mechanisms are known to influence susceptibility to diseases such as diabetes etc. And there is a lot of evidence re maternal skills, early socialisation (or rather early isolation) having big hereditary impacts, along with diet etc on temperament and behaviours.

So I went looking for trendy garbage on epigenetics and... well yes, ARGH! Seriously though it is easy to ignore that guff (If you think hard enough you can cure your cancer through epigenetic FFS is there nothing that Kooks won't grab onto .. it seems not). There is no doubt about our environment impacting our genetic expression, that's pretty standard I would think. Genes turning on and off in response to environment happens every season when animals get a winter coat, or shed their coat for summer. Perhaps what is less understood is the potential heritability of epigenetic markers.

Absolutely agree. I just haven't been approached by one ... yet, that is suitable in those ways. And if I met an old codger who would give Spanner a good home I would be over the moon! Well this is exactly what I intend to be doing when I am an oldie and my own dogs have died of old age. I would consider that both a service and a privilege, not a sorrow. It is difficult when our pets die, but they do die and I am okay with that.

And I would consider epigenetics a very good reason for not buying a puppy from a situation where sires and dams are not living an ordinary full and enriched life. I don't think enough is said about the life of breeding animals to puppy buyers and who it really does matter a LOT.

I just started a new topic on epigenetics, this sounds relevent!

I am suggesting this new topic after viewing the muster dog topic. Epigenetics is the study of how the environment impacts the expression of genes within DNA, it can be a reversible turning on/off of gene expression in response to environmental factors, but relevantly to keeping and breeding animals, changes in the expression of genes can potentially be passed on to subsequent generations. So perhaps this has something to do with the look and type and behaviours of an animal which is conceived, whelped and raised in the environment for which it was bred? I try to keep my animals in ways which allow all their behaviours and physical attributes to be fully engaged. For instance, all my pups are outside all day and over night also from 21 days. They have a cosy bed of course, but their little coats and ears and eyes are subject to the air, weather, changing natural light etc. I think it makes a difference to how they grow and behave. Do any other breeders consider epigenetic factors?

I love the Koolie! I have friend past Bourke who turns out the odd litter from her working dogs and they are highly sort after by those in the district and in SA. Hers are almost slight to look at, but WOW, their eye is incredibly and they can and do move move move all day long. It seems to me like all the working dogs breeds you see in the city are getting bigger, does anyone else think that? I remember kelpies being smaller, cattle dogs were shorter and border collies were also smaller.

Thanks! I have been using a kind of a pumice thing from horse land. I will get this and try. The knife which I saw and held and liked was metal and had a kind of pumice type head, it was curved. No teeth. She has had it for years and was still using the same one.

I don’t know what ‘all championed up or something’ means, but with a pretty rare breed I would sometimes find myself with the only breed entry. However, you still get to contest for best in group/class in group/class in-show. I haven’t shown for several years but when I did I often had the only one of breed but still had my dog placed above 40 or 50, or sometimes a lot more, other dogs by winning an age class in show, or a best in group. Even rarely a best in show. That can be a good reality check on your judgement of your own dog, especially if you have a group or breed specialist judging. it’s easy to get kennel blind in a rare breed and that is the value of shows to me, exposing your dogs to the judgement of others is a good discipline if you intend to breed them. Not essential. There are certainly other ways. But a discipline nonetheless. Harsh handling is unforgivable. But I wouldn’t fall too much for the derogatory comments. If they were about their own dogs they may be a bit of game play. I hadn't thought about rare breeds and it makes sense because of course the Breed Standard is what each dog is being judged against in the first instance and so there need not be any other dog of the same breed in the ring. And yes the eye can get used to seeing what it sees every day, I experienced this with my own dogs which are same breed but different types, when I got the second I found myself favouring the first type I had..then for a while my opinion flipped entirely ... and now I seem to favour different things in each dog and I can't stop looking at my puppies trying to tell which one has which things, (a pleasant pastime). When at the show I saw both my dogs ears are too big, which I already knew but seeing other AT's IRL just made it really stand out. I also think one of my dogs is a bit long in the body and seeing the very neat AT's made me that that even more so. And finally I thought out of all the ATs I saw one of my dogs had the best tail! The derogatory comments were all directed at the breeders own dogs. The man handling wasn't rough, no dogs were cowering or vocalising, I just don't like seeing it. I did see one person slap his dog in the snout. Yuck. You see this in the horse world too, people slapping and jerking their animals around. I saw a Standard Poodle crossing the way with his handler, moving with energy and pride, kind of dancing a bit and so on but keeping himself on a loose leash, WOW so beautiful - power and grace. The lady I spoke to was very helpful re the stripping knife, taking the time to show me her collection of tools and giving me the details of the supplier she bought the knife I favoured most from. I am glad of the chat because not only did I find the knife I will buy after holding her in my hand (which is why I would not buy off the internet previously) but I will also feel braver about really pulling all most all of one of my dogs coats out.

Sorry about appearing down on elderly owners! If I was approached by one who had no mobility issues and good family support for possible pup outliving owner I would consider it ... but still think if an elderly person is looking for companionship in their golden years an older dog who also needs companionship in their Golden years that makes a nice match... Anyway, went off to Dogs QLD Show this morning to see the Terriers and to buy a stripping knife. Found no stripping knife on sale (the lady who had been running her stall for 12 years didn't even know what it was). Damn, I was sure I would find one at the Show because so many breeds need hand stripping! I found the Terriers and there were just two exhibitors of Aussie Terriers. I loitered nearby and then asked a lady about where she got her stripping tools. She was fairly helpful and showed me hers and one I really liked and I will try and buy the same. Talking about coat types I mentioned one of my dogs had a kind of fine silky coat, lovely colour but texture finer than my other dog whose coat is a deep rich red and very coarse. The lady told me some of the older lines had the finer silky textured coat and I immediately told her my dog was from old lines because the breeder was elderly and they had been breeding and showing for 40 years but stopped some years ago. Anyway, she told me that Dogs QLD had rescued 50 dogs from the Kennel in NSW (I knew it was the same one because she mentioned the lady was keeping spaniels and Aussies together - the son bred the spaniels, the husband bred the Aussies). I am intrigued, because I knew from taking the breeder down that things had gone pear shaped with the kennels I think as a result of Husband suffering dementia and a feature of that being he refused to sell any puppies whilst continuing to breed - I mean, who knows really. It sounded very sad. Anyway! What happened to the fifty dogs? Where did they go? Anyone know? PM form privacy please. I came home and tried calling the breeder to catch up, unfortunately she has fallen and broken her hip and is in the hospital. She is in her eighties .. very sad. She was going to send me a book on the Breed in which their dogs appeared but froze up when I asked her to put a return address so I could send her photos of my dogs and pups. She was a wealth of knowledge, but seemed very wary of speaking to people about dogs which is a shame, but now I understand the hell she must have been through both with the reality of the breeding getting out of hand, her husbands demise and I am SURE the total vilification of herself by the breeder community - even after 40 years of being involved. I don't know the facts, but I'd like to. Also, the Australian Terriers I saw were just LOVELY. ALL the dogs I saw were fantastic and what a pleasure to walk around seeing them all, I caught the Staffies in the ring and honestly they were so beautiful and nothing like what you see walking around the streets! The most lovely thing I saw was an elderly man with a Fox terrier pup ... he was so quiet and gentle with the dog, and the dog was lovely, alert, willing, and attentive. I listened to two men talking about their terriers, one was saying "If they don''t have a bit of fight in them, then they're not a terrier!" Second man agreed "Yeah, back in the day they'd be fighting each other in the ring! But its not allowed now, People don't let dogs be dogs anymore! " I also saw people just treating their dogs like objects, manhandling them, talking about them in derogatory ways... I guess that's what can happen when you are sick to f*** of travelling around to all these shows to get that ribbon or whatever - sometimes there are only one or two exhibitors and I'm guessing these are the people who get all championed up or something. Look, I don't really know how it works so correct me if I am wrong!

That's terrible! I am not on social media so I have no real idea just how far looney the whole thing is. Though when I was out with my pups the other day a lady started questioning me in a rather pointed way, Are you a breeder? Yes, I bred this litter. Why on earth are you breeding dogs? Because I enjoy it. That's not a good reason! Well the people who buy my puppies are glad I do. That's not a reason either, there are too many dogs needing rescuing, there are too many puppies being bred! Puppy farms are disgusting! Yes, terrible aren't they, so sad for those poor dogs. But you are doing the same thing! I am definitely. not doing the same thing ... can you imagine a puppy farmer having so few pups and so much care to be able to pop them in a trolley and walk down the street to socialise them? Well, no but you still shouldn't breed dogs. Thanks for your input have a nice day. The lady had a problem with the puppies being too cute, with my enjoyment of partaking in the activity and with my puppy buyers being happy with their new dog. I am not part of the problem this lady is walking around with in her head, but she thinks I am "taking up" buyers who would rescued a dog if they don't see my puppies.... What a shame your puppy buyers didn't feel able to be proud of the origin story of their pup or themselves as Savvy Puppy Buyers! Too WEIRD