~Canis-Equus~

Think this chappy is confused. Coursing the sport: happens in daylight and dogs wear red or white knitted collar to make identifying them - they need to be identifiable as the point of the sport is to score each dog on how closely he 'courses' ie follows the exact path the hare/lure makes. Y'cant do that in the dark! Lamping - method of hunting in the dark, dog runs down path of lamp to quarry light up by said lamp. Could be confused because the act of a dog chasing a rabbit/hare/lure/figment of his imagination is also called 'coursing' as in 'he coursed it'. Fink you are more likely to frighten the natives into thinking the aliens have landed though... specially if you get GREEN lights!

Ive frequently thought about changing to landywoods... and every time i think that, i read something else bad about them! Either delivery problems, missing or substituted order items (for not even similar stuff, more expensive stuff etc), and quality of meat.... off meat, meat that is 99% fat, etc etc... Despite the higher price, i use Anglian Meat Products and in nearly two years, I have had one problem delivery, where an agency driver has accidentally failed to unload two cases of meat. One quick phone call and it will be on the next delivery this way (this friday in all likelyhood). Their meat is always good quality, its always what i have ordered, and their customer service is above and beyond excellent as far as i am concerned (down to the extremely polite 'we must have taken your card details down wrong as its not gone through' when we all knew it was cos the card was maxed out!, drivers putting my meat away for me, taking the cash left for them and leaving the correct change!!!!!)... So for me.... nope, not the cheapest option granted, but I just cannot fault them!

Ello Kate, nice to see you here Fingers x for your homecheck Im sure it will all be fine.

I have got into a mahoosive rant about Wilson elsewhere because asides from the fearful snap at the vet i didnt think his behaviour was at all aggressive. That it was DANGEROUS, yes, it was purely becuase of his size and lack of training, but it wasnt intended to cause harm, his intentions were to grab attention because he was insecure. Poor boy.

I was extremely angry about the Am Bull.... not particularly that he was put to sleep, but because it wasnt ONCE mentioned that the reason for his behaviour was complete and utter lack of training or sensible handling. He wasnt dangerous because of his breed, he was dangerous because he was untrained,unsocialised, fearful, had taken play biting too far..... and because he was big. There are a lot of breeds that are taht sort of size and weight... they are ALL capable of that, but not once was it mentioned, so unfortunately it DID come across to the public that american bulldogs are inherently aggressive/dangerous.

Fingers x for you and Rosieposie then Hope you dont thikn im being a sod, but theres just one fing.. "But I'm sure she'd try it on and see what she could get away with with someone new." Re-evaluate that.... because i dont think any of her behaviour re aggression towards other dogs has been 'trying it on' (sorry my bugbear is misinterpretation of dog behaviour/dog body language). I dont doubt for a second if you handed her over to someone underconfident in whatever way, especially someone who was specifically nervous and anxious about her reaction to other dogs, shed go straight back to square one.. But its not about trying it on or seeing what she can get away with. Its about feeling that there IS something to be scared of, and feeling that she is alone and must deal with it herself. Clearly, with you, she doesnt feel the need to defend herself and on the rare occasions her confidence in you has slipped for a second, the 'situation' has not been allowed to escalate (because you put your foot down), and so shes not followed her previous behaviour pattern. I mention this not cos im a bumhole but cos theres a LOT of people who think a dog kicking off at another dog is doing it for kicks or to see what they can get away with and its really got nothing to do wtih that (i dont disagree dogs test boundaries, most sentient beings do) and everything to do with lack of confidence in themselves and their owner. Be interesting to see how you can boost Rosies confidence in herself so she doesnt rely on a handler as much in the future. Em

Oh oh where do I start.... * People who have absolutely NO idea of their dogs body language and thus cannot discern play from aggression, happy excitement from fearful worried panting.... etc. *People who yell 'hes just being friendly' at me when their totally unsocialised dog leaps on mine... I'll let mine off the lead shall I and he can show them how to be really UNfriendly as he pins the 'friendly' yet extremely rude and threatening dog down and threatens to rip its throat out? Ah no... that makes them complain. *People who think they can do exactly as they damn well please, let their dogs roam the street, never pick up any sh!t, and say 'ooh but hes under control' because he comes back, ignoring the fact that their dog is 30ft in front of them round a blind corner starting a fight with someone elses dog. * People who dont think they need to train little dogs, and think its SO CUTE when their little dog attacks a bigger one. Again these people get really stroppy when the bigger dog objects. * People who tell me that they 'know' rotties/dobes/staffies/gsds' have to be muzzled in public and you need a licence for trhem, and their pitbull is ok because they are going to get it registered cos you can do that, its fine... Theres more.. i have to go and breathe though!

Interesting. I dont doubt for a second her problems were and are very real in some circumstances, and i would expect those circumstances just havent arisen and may well not arise with you. I wonder if she does take more confidence from being in a bigger group of confident dogs, if you take her out of that context and allow her direct eye contact with a 'rude' strange dog... is she still 'cured' then. Actually... what happens if you give her to someone else to handle, a smaller person who isnt as confident as you are? Not having a go or saying you havent cured her, but knowing her previous owner and their 'lifestyle', i think things are so different you havent seen the real issues yet. Maybe you never will, fingers X because she is a lovely dog.

Im very interested to know what you have done with Rosie to cure the problem, I never actually witnessed her problem behaviour either at her previous home or in my house when she visited here.

I dont think 'in general' that greyhound rescue props up greyhound breeding/racing.... although it may ease the concience of one particular trainer if he knows he has somewhere to offload dogs... Ditto puppy farming although again, for the individual puppy farmer who knows he can offload 'useless' animals to a specific rescue that might be a consideration in them continuing to breed (not much because they could just bash them all on the head, but they MAY say 'well i am nice, when my bitches cant breed i send them to rescue for a new life' and there ARE people who would think that was nice)... I do wonder if in the eyes of 'Joe Public' though.... that certain greyhound rescue makes racing more acceptable, i think there definateyl ARE those people who think 'well they all get new homes in the end so its ok' who perhaps wouldnt think that if there were no greyhound rescues. (Telling them 'only some get into rescue' doesnt really work because 'some' is easily transformed into 'all' in their minds when its far harder to contemplate the reality - its the same stupid human reaction to knowing that smoking kills, but some people dont die of it thus its ok, i know, i am a smoker!). I dont think that means we should stop rescuing though!

Mmm.... you can make statistics say anything you want though really. My maths is unfortunately rubbish but id bet there are more pedigrees insured than there are mongrels which skews things in favour of mongrels for starters. Then, i wonder how many pedigrees got treated for conditions their owners were aware they are at risk of, compared to mongrels whose owners were unaware of such conditions and didnt think they were serious .... for instance... limpy sore leg in a 7 year old Deerhound.. Id be thinking 'eek, bone cancer'...... limpy sore leg on a 7 year old mongrel, that owner more than likely wouldnt. (im not for a second suggesting mongrel owners dont treat their dogs as well as pedigree dog owners).. I have to say the fact Emma Milne is involved does put me off.. thats not sensible of me, but BOY has she got an axe to grind about pedigree dogs and how horrific they are (coming from a person who thought it wise to buy two working collie type litter brothers from a farm with no health checks, and then let them get fat..... she doesnt talk 'dog sense' to me!)

Ive only skimmed it I'll admit... it seems to say that pedigrees are vastly unhealthier than none pedigrees - which isnt really the truth, because any non pedigree is the product of its parents, who are products of their parents and so on... and since we have no idea what Mongrel A has in store, genetically for his new doting owners.... you really cant say 'ooh mongrels are healthier'... A typical 'mongrel' youll find in any rescue, collie x gsd with varying degrees of collie, gsd, the odd splattering of retreiver or terrier... Highly unlikely to ever be the product of Mr Posh Extremely Healthy GSD and his lady love Mrs Terribly Conformationally Correct (for soundness, stuff the breed standard) Collie... My own 'im nearly a collie sort of with a gsd daddy and some spaniel'... Has horrendous hind leg conformation, he is cow hocked (his hocks point at one another and mostly touch), he walks with a waddle that suggests highly to me that his hips are horrendous, he has little lung capacity or heart room due to his extremely deep and painfully narrow chest, which leads to his front legs appearing to come out of the same 'hole', his front pasterns are very long and sloping which will long term cause front leg problems.... he has a wonky eye v similar to those seen in badly inbred collies (especially in merle to merle matings despite the fact he is not merle)... I would expect him to suffer eye problems later in life, i will guarantee he will get some degenerative hind leg problem or hip problem... Thats just one, if i list the rest of MY dogs, plus my best friends dogs... 1: Leela, collie x probably spaniel Poor hind leg conformation leading to cruciate ligament damage, she will likely need both operating on soon. Several thousand pounds worth of surgery for that. Rapidly going blind due to dry eye and some as yet unknown eye condition. On going treatment needed to keep her pain free, cannot halt or reverse the damage done. Shes 2. 2. Rocky - lip fold infection due to conformation (short blocky face, long wiry fur). Requires on going medical treatment, possibly expensive surgery in the future. 3. Dilly - life time treatment required for various allergies. So far, Abby is the healthiest dog... if we excuse the repeat removal of possibly cancerous lumps. I dont doubt that narrowing gene pools, highly contradictory breed standards, bizarre ideas from breeders... all contribute towards unhealthy pedigree dogs. But I will say that the idea that pedigrees are LESS healthy than mongrels is flawed, simply, we know what to expect from our pedigrees where we we are more or less in the dark with our mongrels.

Poor Sprogget. I have to say though... well done to everyone who has given up time voluntarily to attempt his rescue. I personally know members of caving and mountain rescue times (dont know if anyone i know was involved in this one) and I have to say its heartbreaking to see (not here i must add) people implying that the rescuers dont 'care' enough to try harder, or havent made enough effort. Rescues like this are often extremely dangerous, extremely hard work (you cant actualy dig through rock without heavy machinery, often the way cave and mine systems are opened up is via explosives which obviously werent safe in this situation) and to see these people being slated is horrific! They dont do these jobs for money and I know of people who have risked their lives to rescue dogs in similar situations. It is tragic that Sprogget couldnt be rescued and Id think no one is more aware of that than the people hwo have tried so hard to save him. Hopefully blocking up the sink hole he vanished down will prevent any other dogs suffering the same fate.

Oh Jackie Im so sorry.

Without a doubt this is a fantasy he has cooked up for the police/papers... The dog was SO savage that in the time between him being alerted to the 'attack' and him getting there and dragging the dog off, the child in question had NO injuries (because if she had we all know theyd be in the paper). It was SO savage he COULD drag it off and then take it into the bushes before stabbing it 55 times.. He then suffered NO injury at all whilst slaughtering the dog.... despite it being already in a 'savage' frenzy according to him, and then him inflicting untold pain upon it.... what it just lay there? How convenient that all the rest of this dogs litter mates were put down due to mental problems... Im amazed he can track down all the litter mate owners and find this out. All my dog Rockys litter mates live in the same town, ive spent nearly 7 years trying to track down them and have found 2 out of 7. He can track them ALL down in a week? His first reaction to being alerted to his child in danger is to grab an illegal weapon, and not phone the police. mm.