Adrienne

I hope you do not think that I am anti-rescue. I am all for people acquiring a sound pet via rescue! I am not supportive of the guilt brigade who insist rescuing a pet is the only ethical way of acquiring one (and let's be honest true rescues have come from terrible circumstances which can have disastrous consequences for the individual dogs who may need specialised savvy and financial homes to allow the animal to be comfortable physically and emotionally for the rest of their lives). And as for pound dogs - we know what types are showing up the most - I have to wonder how much the whole rescue scene is actually just supporting these repeat offenders indiscriminately breeding their dogs for the whatever reason without regard for what they are turning out .... which by all indications are not very happy balanced dogs whether by their breeding or, inept raising or, indiscriminate selling to whomever comes along. Remember the article about a pound having to turn away lost dogs because they were being filled up with litter after litter of pups (10 litters from the same property!) I mean, who the hell is benefitting most in that situation, seems like the idiots that have been breeding and breeding and incurring no consequences ( an accidental litter happens once, not ten times!). I have had a pound dog, she was excellent, a cattle cross, but I was a good and suitable owner for her and so she thrived and was a delight to all who knew her. As for caring for dogs their entire lives, yes I think most people intend that when they buy... and sometimes LIFE happens and they simply cannot keep their beloved animal and need to find a new home for it. And here is a really good other reason for doing the hard yards with your dogs to ensure they are safe, friendly, socialised and healthy ... you know if they ever do need to be re-homed they are a solid candidate for another family or person. In about 15 years when I am of an age to be on my last dogs, - they will be rescued golden oldies. I have had people in their 70's want to buy a pup off me and I tell them, you really should get a golden oldie for yourself and make a BIG difference in a dogs life.

Yes. I love that I learned to 'speak' Dog and I learned to 'speak' Horse ... it has made me a better Human! And regarding people who fall about exclaiming how much they LOVE their dog; show me your dog - is it happy, balanced, responsive, joyful, natural, healthy? Any animal (not traumatised) kept in a truly loving manner will be all those things as a result of being connected in relationship with a human who bothers to understand the animal's needs and conscientiously provides them with what they need to have, and know, to be peacefully in the world.

Yes. Living things are not Things. For myself I have always understood I am in an interspecies relationship with animals I keep, and within that relationship there is no sense of ownership, however, in the world it is my legal ownership (as a property right) which protects my right to make any and all decisions regarding my dear dear friends. A huge responsibility, and one which I feel can only be appropriately apportioned to me for the animals I keep. In my own way of speaking I favour saying "I keep two dogs", or "I keep one horse" because "keeping" is actually what is happening. I keep them safe, I keep them healthy, I keep them with me.

Well this lovely dog is now being advertised on Gumtree so if anyone knows of anyone who might be suitable please search for his ad there (Brisbane City). As the ad states, price is negotiable, the home is not! I am rehoming him out of my breeding program as necessary, but WOW - very difficult and what a shame we can't keep them all .... ! I didn't breed him, but I've done the hard yards with him and he is still a very young dog and ready ready ready to fall head over heels for his new person

I just LOVE this! Fantastic empathy and understanding of a dogs life

The whole anti-ownership of pets is way wrong IMO, ownership of a thing = control of and responsibility for. I absolutely want undisputed control of and responsibility for any animal I keep.

It takes many hands.. . .. a bit of goofy is okay and just look at these random kids hands! Everyone has been told the rules for handling the pups and the kids are fantastic, touching the puppies along the sides of the body, keeping their hands away from puppies mouths, and keeping their hands open and soft, not gripping the puppies Beautiful strangers helping make beautiful pups!

On walking pups for socialisation, I will clarify here that this means a very short walk which lasts around three to 5 minutes! It is not an exercise walk (which is never relevant to puppies) it is all about being on the ground in the world and not being carried around and importantly leash training must be done first in an environment pup is comfortable in. Learning what the leash is and having positive experiences of the leash as a connection to handler (think holding hands) is essential so that when pup goes for walk on ground in the world it is happy to be on the leash, understands not to pull against it and already knows that when the leash goes on what follows is moving forward together with the handlers shoes and legs. A couple of minutes a day doing this very brief activity means a bank of positive experiences to build on. My little loop in my community is max 100m long and involves pavement, a big driveway passing through an undercroft, some low walls to walk on, and a bench we sit at to watch the world quietly. We build up to completing the loop over a fortnight and they are doing it happily and competently by 9 weeks. Completing the walk and sitting at the bench takes about 15 minutes all up for each pup and they are TIRED after. It is a big session, they are 8 - 9 weeks old by then. Their new owners still need to continue on in the same fashion with as much care in their own environment and community, the bonus for them is their pup is confident and happy on the leash and noise generally and is willing to come to them. And, on being carried around. This very important too. I carry my pups around for a couple of minutes every day so they are not afraid up being up high, are able to relax in the arms. And VERY importantly this starts with how to pick a pup up! If any one has ever had a pup or dog who will come when its called but only so far (just out of arms reach) it is maddening and I think is a result of being picked up in a "smash and grab" with no consideration giving to the experience for the pup in that moment. When I pick a pup up 1. I get its attention 2. I ask it to come towards me into my hand, it has to move towards me into my hand! (praise praise praise) 3. I then pick the puppy up and hold it securely. This is how I pick my pups up every single time (unless a safety issue and then I tend to push pup away from whatever, or preferably call the pup away from whatever). Forget other dogs people when you are socialising, it is just not important - pup needs to learn how to be in the world with people. They are dogs already, they know how to be a dog. If you work with your pup like this above you will get the trust and bonding you need to undertake whatever you want to going forward. design your first walks carefully, repeat and repeat in same way until everything is going smoothly - you are creating and protecting positive experiences and building confidence in your pup. Then design another walk. Then design another walk. And NEVER pick your pup up without its cooperation!

I thought this a great program too. I enquired about joining up ... seemed like such a rigmarole though. One must attend and pass a behaviour/temperament test (of course, fair enough) and in addition your dog must be desexed, and in addition your dog must be "groomed to perfection". Mmm. And in addition you find your own schools to visit. I would genuinely have liked to be involved in this. When I was in primary school the mothers used to come and listen to kids read the readers individually. One mother used to bring the family dog (a complete mutt) and he used to sit alongside and listen. Lovely. Good program, but my dog not desexed and no sorry I do not bathe my dogs, they are clean and healthy and do not smell - their coats work properly!

I too am thinking this is for situations like the meter man tragedy where the owner just did so many things wrong in order to suit himself and the consequences were catastrophic. Even if this comes into law I doubt most owners will feel the full force of it - certainly not if their dog has not already been declared a dangerous dog. Unsuitable fencing is a huge issue for dog owners when they are trying to find a rental and I have spent thousands over thirty years of renting repairing and installing fencing (and I had never owned an "escape artist" dog so was able to get away with dog mesh and fairly flimsy affairs to keep my dog effectively contained). I cannot imagine how frustrating it would be to have a dog/s which truly need full on proper fencing (high enough and no dig paver strip under fence line) and have to make do with what is available in most yards. I wonder how many properties incurr damage to the house because owners do not have sufficiently secure yards to leave their dogs in? I live in a kinda posh area of Brisbane with large lot residential zoning (all very green and leafy and so on), my old dog used to go visit up the road to another house. Did this for years with no complaint and even local affection. Then a house on the street was sold and when the new people moved in they spotted my dog, took a photo, sent it to council and out they came to my home and warned me. I was cool with it all, I mean I knew it was wrong letting her do that so I had no truck with Council or even the people who reported her because they didn't know her. What I was surprised about was the alacrity with which Council responded! They did tell me now that people had phone cameras it was easier for people to provide evidence and identification of dogs repeatedly roaming. So maybe photos of repeat offenders Little Gifts? (mind you who the hell has the time to do this, and getting an identifying photo of a pooch can be trickier than people think unless the dog is very distinctive in some way) YES!

This would still be the case because it is about Land Use, not whether you are a member of an Association. Its about the LGA deciding what Land Use activities they want it what areas so that residential lots are not alongside Industrial uses or Rural uses (for example).Can you imagine a residential household having to live next door to a Dog breeder with no limits on the number of dogs they kept based on their membership of a club?

OMG I just spent ages replying to this and hit submit and it all disappeared and so....yeah. gotta go and tickle a puppy and will try again another time.

@Papillon Kisses, I did check them out this morning as it had been a while since I had looked at their gig ( I think when they first got up I had a look see because the owner of the stud I used had gone that way). And yes, still feel the same, however I thought the Puppy parent training program was good for buyers (and what a clever way to make $100 for every puppy sold using their payment platform!) . I can't imagine they have anything other than good standard advice/practice for new puppy owners and its great that for the buyers it is a complete package in that way. and they get to join a club. I do not like that the breeder has no control over the payment for the pup they sell, let's face it if something goes awry after the sale there is only the puppy and the money to work things out with. Imagine being a breeder with a returned pup (for a buyer side reason) and not being able to have any influence on whether a full or partial refund is warranted - or when no refund warranted at all but is given to the buyer by a third party whose only part in the gig is payment processing...No. From my breeder point of view it's not worth it for me because I breed so few pups so am not "juggling" and trying to keep track of "all my puppy applications", and the buyers of course are told to make their own assessments blah blah. At the end of the day, as a buyer you still gotta get on the phone, get in your car and go stand in the place with the breeder and the dogs IRL (In Real Life). Because I am just one person carrying out a very small breeding program and preferring to sell my dogs into my local area it isn't really necessary. I can manage to screen and talk to and support half a dozen pups sales a year. In my experience, when people want a puppy they compulsively look at all the online go to for puppy ads (Gumtree, Trading post, Rightpaw, RPBA, MDBA, Dogzonline) regardless because they enjoy it and you never know... its a becomes a bit like a treasure hunt and only stops when they get thier pup and are no longer looking).

Stick chewing can literally become a pain in the arse! Had to take a pup to vet one public holiday ($$$) because I let him chew away on a stick the day before ... little bit of stick went in and couldn't quite get out. Poor little guy. Very lucky vet nurse was able to push it back in and somehow get it out without any problem. Ball obesessed dogs are a complete pain (near constant demand to "throw it") and can be dangerous because they become completely UNAWARE of everything else around them, hyper focused on ball/stick. My girl, who I got as an older pup who had been kept on a verandah for her life and was thrown a ball for exercise and amusement is completely obsessed to the point where I have removed all balls from our environment...if she sees one she starts to vibrate! We do other things for fun.

Thank you! I am finding this a bit hard to follow.

I love a dog with a sense of humour! Some really do seem to have one, my boy is such a one and it is just completely charming. I didn't breed him myself but I really hope some of his pups have the same attitude. My girl is a sweetheart, she's funny in a sweet way and makes me chuckle - but the boy makes me laugh out loud. The girl is the HAPPIEST dog I have ever met - if her eyes are open her tail is wagging, he is not like that, very friendly and all but has more going on up in his head and is definitely comical and plays for laughs!

Well, now they know, they'll really will be in the sh*t themselves if something happens with that dog outside it's own home now! Prior to knowing about the situation they are only able to punish once something has happened, now however they have an opportunity to take preventative measures. I found that video very disturbing, that dog was not relaxed, was tail high, head high, shoulders squared and pushing the other dog, walking in tight circles around it and making the other dog very uncomfortable. The ignorance of the humans in the situation is the most frightening thing thing - with dog owners thinking their dogs are in good and knowledgable hands.

Papillon Kisses (how to do that bubble thing around the name?) I don't get involved with those types of sites - like RPBA - it's a marketing gimmick and provides a screen of respectability to not very good commercial breeders. I have no trouble getting people to come into my backyard and see my set up and dogs/puppies first hand. I advertise on Gumtree and Trading post and its not hard to stand out on there as a breeder with clean, healthy, safe puppies. I don't have trouble selling my pups in my City. This was a thread about who/what is driving pure-bred breeders so sorry its gone off topic. My point was puppy buyers could be a force for change if they would step up to being more responsible buyers and so not reward poor breeding practices.

Yeah, I don't know. I wasn't calling you weird, just the whole situation is weird. I am a BYB by all accounts (I breed purebred dogs in my backyard and I am not involved with any association because I can't see the point for what I do) I have my ANCK application here all ready to submit, but I am also considering MDBA and can't decide. I think I can't decide because I can't see the point for myself, or my dogs, or my sales. I do health testing for my breed, I care for my dogs really well, and raise my pups really well and screen my buyers really well. There are enough horror stories about people having heart breaking outcomes with pups purchased from ANKC breeders not doing the right thing and the fact that many many people just get such hostile responses from some Breeders over the enquiries that they start looking further afield. I have sold pups of mine to people who have tried to go the "Right" route and have been frozen out by hostility or lack of response. I am not down on all the good breeders wherever they may be (we all know who we are), but I can assure you people will be getting a more sound animal from me than from a pet shop or the pound (where you can't get a nice puppy anyway). It matters to me that my purebreds are good ones: sound and good looking! I operate with the same ethics and concerns all good breeders have and I see evidence in the marketplace that there are good pups across the spectrum (in terms of breeds/designer breeds/mutts). oI think the most effective thing is for BUYERS to be better buyers and stop buying crap animals from crap situations because they are cheap, convenient, or because the seller asks no questions...

So like his Dad! The quiet one Contemplating the next big step in life - getting out of the litter box! The little one having her own private "Lion King" moment

MJ I think you will you find it comes down to the zoning of your property within your Local Government Area as to the number of dogs that can be kept on a property without a specific kennel licence. Do your research on your local council's website under Planning and Development codes. Generally households on residential zoned land can keep up to two dogs, and up to four may be kept on application for a permit. Assistance animals are not counted in the head count.

This is just weird. What is this saying? On the one hand ANKC breeders are the supposed to be the go-to for a great puppy with provenance, and BYB are supposed to be churning out crap pups with no provenance. But possibly BYB are breeding better dogs because they are not trying to match show standards (which in some breeds are not helping)?

I have never seen one either, so these dogs are probably never seen in public spaces, just kept at home or only taken to other peoples houses/situations who also crop ears.

After having a look at ear cropping on the web (yuck and eww)I ended up thinking banning this practice probably results in the procedure being carried out by idiots and butchers who don't know how to do it, or may know how to do it and do it without also providing good pain management to the poor puppy. Same with docking tails. I would never want to inflict these things on a dog, but if banning a procedure just drives it underground then it cannot be accessed in a safe and more humane way. This seems to be a case of deforming-a-dog-post-whelp to make it look how we want it to, as apposed to deforming-a-dog-pre-conception to make it look how we want it to. I would rather people be able to crop their dogs ears at the vet and the procedure be done with proficiency and the poor dog be supplied with pain management and proper aftercare. I did not dare to google "ear cropping gone wrong", looking at the cropped ears of the "SHOW" dogs was bad enough.

I paid $265 to have a 22kg female desexed last year and $235 to have a 7kilo male desexed a couple of months ago... so $650 seems a lot to me (perhaps other times were involved). I paid $500 two years ago for a teeth check and clean on a 12 month old dog - that seemed like a lot to me but I was seeking peace of mind, which I got. I once took a female with a phantom pregnancy to a vet for them to confirm she was indeed empty. I figured palpation would be sufficient to confirm, however I agreed to an ultrasound to confirm their palpation and then left when they wanted an X-ray to confirm the ultrasound!