Reviewing the dog news in New Zealand with editors comments. Someone needs to keep reviewing how our dogs are doing in society.
A hairy raid by the New Zealand dog agility team – the Black Paws – has set tails wagging after a Wairarapa duo were crowned Australian national champions.
Dianne Reid and her three-year-old border collie India won the open championship at the Australian nationals in Adelaide in late April.
No Kiwi had ever competed overseas in agility before the Black Paws set out across the Tasman.
Fritz the dog is back home recovering from surgery after impaling himself on a spiked gate.
The wandering mixed breed was hurt when he tried to escape from his yard in the Christchurch suburb of Parklands on Friday night.
(...)Emergency crews had used the jaws of life to cut through the metal. Fritz was taken to the After Hours Veterinary Centre with a portion of the gate still embedded in his groin.
He had spent at least an hour helplessly caught on the 1m high fence before help arrived.
(...)She said the family would be sawing off the gate's pointed tips."I definitely wouldn't get this sort of gate again," she said.
I betcha that dog is never going to attempt jumping over a fence, and if he does,... well...
A Rotorua high school is to use dogs to sniff out illegal drugs.Western Heights High School principal Violet Pelham-Waerea told parents in a school newsletter the move was about making sure the school was drug-free, the Rotorua Daily Post reported.
Can you tell all those stressed out teachers to NOT take their legally prescribed prozac? Can you tell all those ADHD kids to NOT take those highly sought-after Ritalin drugs? Drug-free?!?! What planet are you in? Your school is an education institute... Educated your kid with the CORRECT information, and NOT scare tactics. How dare you !
"I must emphasise that in no way does Western Heights High School have any kind of drug problem. We are merely choosing to be proactive rather than reactive in our strategy to prevent drugs entering the school gates," the newsletter said.
Hum... proactive?! What you are doing is 'alluding to the fact that kids do drugs. Young kids see or perceive that their peers are engaged in drugs, and all they, the young people, think... wow, drugs must be fun! Why do they think that? Because everything that their parents, teachers, grandparents say is the NO word around 50 times a day. Perhaps not the actually NO word, but the NEGATIVE word-- don't, shouldn't, mustn't, bad girl, bad boys, good boys don't do...
NO is the word that means "ya man, let's do it!'
....former police dog handlers and non-threatening dog breeds were used to sniff out drugs and explosives in schools, offices and factories.
I really really hate, as a dog lover, that these so called dog handlers use our nice breeds to scare the living day lights out of our kids! YOU CAN'T FOOL KIDS ! Doh!
Heartbroken sheep owner Karen Fray is sick of losing stock to wandering dogs.
The Henderson Valley resident says dogs have savaged several animals on her property and terrorised others in the area.
But she says that will be difficult as the attacks occur in the dark and she has yet to hear the culprits in action.
"There's just no noise," she says. "You can't get a clear shot."Mrs Fray says she and other landowners have even tried dog traps with no success.
They've also patrolled the area and kept stock closer to their homes - also to no avail.
She says the dogs have killed chickens in a number of daylight raids and fears they might turn on humans if confronted.
Maybe, they are looking for the wrong culprit. Maybe it's something else, or someone else other than dogs... just a thought. Sometimes when something is staring you in the face, you don't really see it!
A first aid kit for dogs is proving a winner for a group of Freyberg High School students.
The students - Anthony Burkin, Sok Lach, James Stewart and Jessie Brooker - won the written section of the Manawatu Young Enterprise Scheme.
They had to write a business plan about their idea for the competition, which involves teams of secondary school students setting up small enterprises.
Students create products, deliver services, implement marketing plans, earn money, pay tax and keep the profit.
Petaid's first aid kit includes bandages, scissors, saline solution, tweezers, cotton buds and rubber gloves.MORE>>
Staff at Wellington SPCA gave the little labrador-cross pooch and his sister, Lottie, baby pacifiers because they were becoming ill from sucking on each other.
Lottie and Hugo were just a 1½ days old and already weak when they were found earlier this month floating in a box in a rubbish bin, SPCA spokeswoman Lisa Snow said. MORE>>
Pakakura District Council has come up with a new way to get dangerous dogs off the streets - it's offering to put them down for free.
The council is to offer an amnesty to owners of dangerous and menacing dogs, allowing them to voluntarily hand in their pets to the council's animal control contractors to be put down humanely.
The euthanasia service, which normally costs $25 to $50, will be free to owners and people with unregistered dogs won?t be hit with fines when they hand their pets over. MORE>>
Last week I was soaked, shivering and in sheer awe to have an injured kiwi's head nestled under my arm.
It was chattering and chirping a little and its heart was beating a lot, heavily and quickly.
After it was released from under a largish branch, the young kiwi hobbled off. It fell in the stream, I picked it up, then we both slipped in.
It took about 50 minutes to find home and help. This was a very timely experience for me.
Angry conservationists have vented their fury against the owners of dogs that are killing little blue penguins.
Dogs recently killed three adult birds and dug up four burrows on Camerons beach, south of Greymouth. (...)
Cotton said with recent bad weather, dog owners might have simply released their dogs to roam the beach unaccompanied.
From paw prints, volunteers believed two large dogs were responsible for the recent killings.
(...)
The dog owners are led by German visitor Heinz-Juergen Scheld, who says he was so distressed by his treatment, he encouraged other owners to come forward with their concerns.
Mr Scheld's dog, 'Sunny', slipped its collar in March in Riverside and chased some sheep, hurting one.Sunny was impounded over the weekend and the Schelds were not allowed to visit it in the pound.
On getting his dog back the following Monday, Mr Scheld says it was completely changed - suffering bruising, kennel cough and a frightened attitude."He was nearly dead," Mr Scheld says. "He was completely transformed, he couldn't walk and was stiff in the hip."
The Schelds faced fines totalling $700, an impounding fee of $170 and a vet bill of $240. I think that the Schelds should give the vet bill to the dog 'control' office.
Mr Scheld says he advertised for other dog owners who had also felt aggrieved, and got more than 50 responses. And remember that most people don't say much, so 50 responses is probably only a 1/3 of the aggrieved people.
"We were amazed with the numbers of phone calls and statements," he says.
Owners accuse dog control of being heavy-handed, impounding their dogs without reason and putting dogs down without notice.
In response to dog owners' concerns and a recent spate of dog attacks, the district council has agreed to set up a group to look at dog control processes and guidelines.
Well that's a good response, and I'd love to know the results. Can someone let me know?
Mr Thompson says Environment Northland has to strike a balance between the Dog Control Act 1996, dog owners' wants and complaints about dogs from members of the public.
And I can understand that this is a very difficult balancing act, especially in this climate of non-tolerance, in this climate of complaining, in this climate of fear and irrational fear.
Mr Thompson says all dogs are treated to a high standard and each case is assessed on its merits.
Well, my case wasn't assessed on its merit because if it did, the dog control office would have seen that they made a grave error (and not just on the fine!) but our circumstance. (how can you beat a dog having put a guy in prison!... and having your dog on the front page of The Press on a Saturday. )
The Schelds could have gone to court for their dog's actions but were given infringement notices instead.
One of their $200 fines was doubled in an administration error (hello !!! mine too, but they decided to re-issue the fine and NOT cancel it! ) and has since been cancelled, he says.
(...) Mr Thompson says he and his staff have been abused, threatened and bullied by members of the public for doing their job.Threats include someone recently pulling a knife on a staff member and staff vehicles being kicked and damaged. That's what you get when society treats its members like criminals. You get distrust.
"We have got to treat each other as human beings," Mr Thompson says.
Can you PLEASE tell YOUR staff that!
WAITARA pet owners are horrified after several frenzied dog attacks on cats.
Rangers have been on the trail of two dogs for six separate attacks on cats over a wide area last week.
They impounded one, an unregistered brindle mastiff female, but a black labrador staffie cross male is still on the loose.(...)
New Plymouth District Council enforcements manager Steve Crowe said some people would think the dogs were just doing what dogs normally do.
"But in this day and age we don't accept those sort of actions by dogs in any form or manner."
Someone forgot to tell the dogs that!
Recidivist dogs whose bites are as bad as their barks or cats that spray their owner's sofa may be offered fresh hope thanks to an animal expert who specialises in behavioural problems.
Professor Natalie Waran's Animal Behaviour Centre at Auckland's Unitec aims to get inside the minds of her four-legged clients to establish the root causes of antisocial animal behaviour, whether it is biting the children or destroying the furniture.
Professor Waran said research had shown more than 40 per cent of all pets have some form of behavioural problem but the clinic of five specialists, which includes two qualified dog trainers, was ready to deal with a range of issues and species. MORE>>
Pregnant dog attack victim Miriam Brooker feared the worst when a pitbull-cross latched on to her own dog on Lincoln Rd.
But fear quickly turned to terror when the crazed pitbull turned its attention on her.
The Henderson resident was walking Bronco, her german shepherd rottweiler cross, last Monday when the pitbull charged.
Animal welfare has destroyed 11 dogs involved in attacks and aggressive behaviour over the past year.
Three of the dogs attacked people while the rest savaged other animals.
Most were staffordshire or labrador crosses.
"You can't single out any one particular breed," Mr Wells says.
"Most dogs that have aggressive tendencies have a lack of proper socialisation."
A Pit bull terrier on death row for attacking and biting a courier driver - and a police officer who went to investigate - has been spirited away from Kapiti to prevent any attempt to set him free.
Snatch, described by police as an American pit bull terrier, attacked a courier driver at a property in Ruapehu St, Paraparaumu, early this month, inflicting two puncture wounds in the victim's bottom. MORE>>
A Hamilton woman cried yesterday as she described how she had felt a dog's breath on her face as it mauled her.
Tania Potter was the first witness in a two-day hearing that began yesterday in the Hamilton District Court against Hamilton couple Nicholas O'Brien and Tina Kahui. They are jointly charged with owning a dog which attacked, causing serious injury to Mrs Potter last May. She needed 50 stitches and reconstructive surgery. The couple are also charged with hiding the dog from authorities. MORE>>
Two dog attacks in a month have prompted a blitz on unregistered dogs in the Hurunui District.
Owners are being given a week to register their animals or face having them impounded and destroyed if registration and pound fees are not paid.
At least 10 dogs are known to be unregistered including a pitbull terrier, a pitbull cross and a staffordshire bull terrier, two labradors and a labrador cross, a german shepherd cross and a staffordshire bull terrier.
Environmental services manager Andrew Feierabend said the crackdown followed concern by the council at attacks on people in Culverden and Hanmer Springs. In both cases the dogs were unregistered. MORE>>
Constable Brent Homan, of the Kaikoura Police, said because the owners had volunteered to have the dog put down, they would not be charged.
No point volunteering your dog if you're going to get charged. Might as well run from the law as 'you've got nothing left to loose'.
He said the dog had obviously escaped from its yard and when he went to visit, it seemed like a jovial, friendly and non-intimidating animal. Of course, it's a border collie !!
The woman who was attacked was concerned it could attack again, and the owners were extremely distraught about the episode, he said. I would really be nice to see a picture of the 'victim's' leg. Not that I don't believe her, it's just that it is a little rare for a border collie to attack and I'd like to see what was 'attacked'...
A toxin never before found in New Zealand is the prime suspect in the deaths of at least five dogs in the Hutt River area.
A Greater Wellington regional council study has revealed the emergence of the toxin after investigating a toxic algae in the region's rivers during the spring and summer of 2005 and 2006.
From a tale of woe to a tail-wagging show – six dogs once dumped as puppies on a Christchurch building site were happily reunited during the weekend.
The litter of puppies featured in The Press last October after being left for dead near a Burwood rubbish skip.
All soon found homes and went separate ways until Saturday, when two owners thought it would be a good idea to get them back together.
The reunion was held at dog adoption agency Dogwatch. MORE>>
An animal lover wants tougher restrictions on dangerous dogs after having part of his index finger bitten off while helping an injured pitbull.
PLEASE read what happened before judging the dog....
Fred Jerschke ran to the dog's aid after it was hit by a bus on Great North Rd last Friday morning.
But the pitbull attacked the Mt Eden resident, biting his right hand and 2cm off his left index finger."I just saw the dog in the middle of the lane and I could see that he was in pain, and so I rushed over to help him."
So he RUSHED over to help the dog... and injured dog!!! hellooooo !!! why is the guy blaming the guy instead of himself ??
A spokesman says prosecution will depend on the actions of the dog owner before and after the incident.
How about the actions of the bitten guy??
"We will look into whether the owners could have foreseen or prevented the attack."
Doh, an injured dog should never be RUSHED at !!
Council service requests manager Jackie Wilkinson warns people to be cautious when assisting injured dogs."A dog in pain can be a very dangerous one," she says.
"A dog in distress can react uncharacteristically and lash out and although your natural inclination is to help, we don't recommend it.
I hope the dog owner isn't prosecuted, and that he apologies for blaming the dog~! I suppose that once Rotties are blamed in the media, it's all out to go on blaming the dogs....
"It is better to call Animal Control Services, a vet or the SPCA."
Mr Jerschke says he's not interested in the owner being prosecuted but wants people to be more vigilant with their dogs.
WHAT??
"It makes me angry that people don't have their dogs, especially dangerous ones, on leads," he says.
Obviously, from what I just read, the guy didn't understand the dog that are injured should not be RUSHED AT !
"I've learned a lesson. Once bitten, twice shy."
I think the article's title should change.... more media attacks to dogs.
A man has been injured and his pet fox terrier, Molly, is missing after the latest dog attack.
John McMecking and Molly were running along Dunedin's Tomahawk beach on Tuesday afternoon when they were attacked by a rottweiler and a staffordshire terrier.MORE>>
That's exactly what you get with unsocialised dogs... those left behind 6 foot fence and on short leads.
This is an opinion piece from the NZHerald.
It's time for clear thinking on dog control. We know that dogs evolved from wolves. They can bite, maim or even kill. Dogs are also great companions, are faithful and will work hard to help guard one's safety, especially if threatened.
Many dog owners are responsible. The messages I have received tend to focus more on dog safety, and not on abolishing dog ownership. Dogs are a permanent part of many Kiwi homes and our communities.
(....)
People must respect the law. It's the trade-off for the privilege of owning a dog. Hum... a privilege?! Not sure if I accept that word. I think that the dog is privileged to be living with us rather than the other way around.
Neighbours and community members also have a role to play if they know that potentially dangerous dogs are roaming, or not muzzled and leashed in public places. They are key to keeping the local council informed about dog behaviour in their neighbourhood.
It's called Dob-in-a-neighbour.
My dog was dobbed in. My dog was fined for peeing on a fence unsupervised. My dog is well-known in the community of helping out the community like catching a robber and actually putting them in jail.
My dog has been attacked by a pit-bull looking/type dog. What ever you call those ugly mutts. (apologies for those who love them, but this is my blog :) and that breed attacked my dog a SECOND TIME.
Now we actually NOW know who's dog it is. That neighbour just moved in, around a year ago. I desperately want to Dob-in-that-neighbour especially since we can't walk up to his house without the dog 'defending' itself. My partner doesn't want to. He wants to do the neighbourly thing and talk to the guy. I tell him... go for it, but if my dog is attacked a third time, that will be the end of the friendly neighbour.
Deep in my heart, I know that this is the best course of action because I understand how our dog laws have put our dogs behind 6 foot fence and short leads leading to unsocialised dogs. But my other brain says, just dob-him-in!
We need good enforcement from local authorities. Dog owners should respect the law and accept that their neighbours are acting as good citizens when they call the council to deal with problem dogs.
The problem with local authorities is that people don't trust them. If I would have called them up, all they would have done is fine ($300) some dog sniffing outside their gate instead of getting down to the problem. Bottom line, I don't trust local authority in using their judgment.
The authorities re-wrote a fine they sent me when they were told by us that it wasn't written correctly. Instead of wasting tax payers money and going to court to contest it, I pointed it out to them in a letter. They REWROTE the fine instead of cancelling it. Technicalities don't work with local council. They want your blood and money.
click on title to read the article.
An outstanding contribution to animal welfare on a national level has earned Jim Boyd the Royal New Zealand SPCA’s Gold Medal.
The former police officer turned SPCA Inspector received his award during the Society’s annual conference in Wellington this weekend.
Mr Boyd, who is based in the Bay of Islands, is renowned for investigating and successfully prosecuting some of the toughest and most significant animal abuse cases of recent years. His efforts have also prompted a number of death threats with, at one stage, a price being put on his head. MORE>>
Maggie Campbell enjoyed her last stint as secretary for the Kaikoura Collie Club during the Tux Marlborough Nelson Dog Trial Champion-ships held last Friday and Saturday.
The bright and quick witted woman has given the club 19 years, with 12 of those as secretary.
Dog control costs should be borne by all ratepayers, according to the owner of 10 dogs Heather Tee.
The Pleasant Point dog breeder believes dog owners who register their dogs are unfairly carrying the burden for all dogs.
She is upset the Timaru District Council's long term plan has signalled dog fees will increase in the future, especially after a rise last year.
(...)
Ms Tee only pays $20 per dog, cheaper than what she would pay if she lived in town as she lives on a farm near Pleasant Point. The fee increased in 2006 from $12.
"It was $12 for the first dog and then a smaller charge for each additional dog. Now it is a flat rate of $20 per dog.
The increase in fees had benefited responsible dog owners "not one iota" she said.MORE>>
Catwalk beauties are dressing their dogs in our wool, writes Liz Smith.
Furry friends of some of the world's supermodels - including Elle Macpherson and Cindy Crawford - are wearing Kiwi jumpers from a Wellington designer. MORE>>
The Mangere man offered to look after his sister-in-law's dog at his former partner's home in Otahuhu over a weekend in February.
Now he's facing a $300 fine for keeping an unregistered dog, $200 for failing to control a dog and $750 for wilful obstruction of a dog officer.
This is exactly how bullies act. You get a law that says that dog pounders have more rights and enforcement, and you get this circumstance.
The dog, Wairua, was bought in Rotorua and was staying at the house on February 11 while Mr Adams' relatives were away helping friends.
Wairua wasn't yet registered because he had only been in Otahuhu for two days. He was registered with the Manukau City Council the next day, February 12.
The staffordshire-bull mastiff cross had also been microchipped and neutered because the owners did not want him wandering.
When animal control officers visited the property on February 11 one officer allegedly put a rope around the dog's neck and tried to pull him over the fence. Yup, i can accept this as fact as they tried to do the same thing with our dog. Thankfully our neighbour witnessed the whole thing!
He was shocked by the fines, especially when he saw one was dated January 15 - when neither he nor Wairua were in Auckland. The dog was still in Rotorua then while Mr Adams was in Cable Bay, Northland, and has a bank statement to prove it.
The council says the dog control officers who visited the Otahuhu property in February were responding to a complaint received on January 15 about a dog that jumped the fence and attacked another being walked by its owner.
Council animal control contract manager Clare Connell says it could be another dog that looks similar to Wairua because the person who laid the January compliant described the dog as a bull mastiff.
Can you believe that !! they fine a dog owner without PROOF! This is insane!
"I hope the council own up and admit they're wrong. Hopefully things will change for dog owners who are trying to do the right thing."
Ya right~
Wairua now lives happily with his owners in Mangere and Mr Adams regularly takes him for runs.
CARTOON character Dog, of Footrot Flats fame, was magnanimous in victory after learning he had pipped Fred Dagg to the post in being named New Zealand’s Greatest Fictional Character.
In a letter to television arts programme Frontseat — which organised the on-line poll — Dog said that upon hearing of his success he "tore a Fred Dagg-style black singlet from the washing line and piddled on it".
And of Dagg’s creator, Kiwi comic John Clarke, Dog said the only "Clarke" he had ever heard was the sound the chooks made after they had laid an egg. MORE>>
Snoopy of New Zealand !!
"It should be a privilege to own a dog and (you must) have it under control."
Can we also have these rules for humans too! I'm sick of seeing out of control teenagers, drunk, causing harm...
(...)
* The story of the little Jack Russell who took on two larger and stronger dogs has captured the hearts of people around the world because it was a David and Goliath battle, says a senior psychology lecturer.
George took on the two dogs to save five children from being mauled in the Taranaki town of Manaia on Sunday.
The story has appeared on more than 300 websites around the world.
A woman savaged and killed by a pitbull and a staffordshire-cross while out walking in her home town of Murupara last month didn't create such a worldwide stir.
That's not really surprising, is it? We get that all the time. We see actresses go to jail, or do community service, and the whole world knows... That's the media for you.
A Police dog that startled participants in Taupo's Anzac Day Dawn Parade when it lunged at a woman and bit her arm is back on duty after being recertified to return to duty.
The dog, Roc, and its handler were part of a contingent of 23 Taupo police officers who took part in the parade.
Witnesses say the black german shepherd's handler was struggling to control the dog prior to it attacking the woman.
"It was leaping around all over the place and it just latched to this woman below the elbow," says John Hill, who was in the parade with a group of Scouts.
The woman was nearly thrown to the ground as the handler tried to get the dog to release its grip, he says.
(...)"The only way he could get control of the dog was to have hold of the choker chain right at the dog's neck and have the front feet lifted off the ground."
And THAT's CONTROL !! that's ABUSE !
Mr Hill says if a member of the public's dog had bitten anybody in such a public place it would have to be destroyed. "It needs more bloody training."
Read my blog and this is the third one this year !! Not good enough. Once a dog smells blood, very very difficult to get that out of his brain.
Senior Sergeant Tony Jeurissen says as far as he knows this is the first time the dog has bitten a member of the public.
And it won't be the last !
He says it's "not unusual" for this type of incident to occur. WHAT !!
She has not laid a complaint with the police. Why not? Was she bullied into NOT complaining? Just like the cops did with the rape case?
Owners of already fierce dogs sometimes give them methamphetamine to make them more aggressive, an animal controller says.
Stratford animal control officer Kieran Best said he had heard of P, as the drug is known, being fed to pitbulls, making them very unpredictable.
Mr Best told the Taranaki Daily News he had not encountered this problem himself, but had "heard about it from drug squad police at conferences."
So a story unfolds because someone has "heard about it". He's a dog control officer, and he can't talk from his own experience, so how can what he says be true?"The pitbulls I've had dealings with are naturally aggressive because of the type of people they are with," he said.
"They keep pitbulls around because they don't like visitors and one can only presume they have something to hide -- that they are into crime and drugs.
Oh gee! That's the argument for taking away your civil liberties. "If you've got nothing to hide, what's wrong?" they ask. Plenty wrong!
In New Zealand, the government spent around 10 million (give or take a few millions... ) promoting the NON LABELLING of our mental health people. We have commercials on TV and radio saying that people with bipolar disorder can do great things if they are supported by a loving family and friends (I'd hate to wonder what happens to those who don't have that support)
And what this dog "control" officer is saying, is exactly that... labelling those dog owners who have pitbulls. No wonder we have a mental health problem in New Zealand !
"They are paranoid about officials visiting and the dog emulates the owner."
Ya and why not?! you keep harrasing them, I betcha!
The comments come after a dog attack in the region on Sunday when two pitbulls rushed at children walking to a dairy in Manaia.
So now you are suggesting that that dog had P in his system... that's quite a large leap you made there!
The children were accompanied by George, a nine-year-old Jack Russell terrier. When the pitbulls rushed at the group, aiming for a four-year-old boy, George started barking and rushed at the pitbulls as the children ran away.
George's owner, 69-year-old Alan Gay, said the pitbulls savaged George until a passing motorist intervened and managed to separate the dogs.
George was later put down because of his injuries.
While there was no suggestion the Manaia dogs were on "P", an armed policewoman was present as they were cornered and loaded into a dog van. The dogs are to be destroyed today.
DID YOU READ THAT !! no suggestion that the dogs were on P, but the title of this article is just that... the media who wanna sells paper on the back of prohibition !!
