Reviewing the dog news in New Zealand with editors comments. Someone needs to keep reviewing how our dogs are doing in society.
Hundreds of greyhounds met at parks yesterday to mark national greyhound walk day and international day of the dog.Greyhounds as Pets, the charitable trust that finds homes for ex-racing greyhounds, held walks in Auckland, Tauranga, Whakatane, Hamilton, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Wellington and Christchurch.
Since it was launched in 2006, the organisation has matched 320 greyhounds to families.
Koda, an Operational Air Scenting Search Dog, is one of ten community-led initiatives to receive a share of more than $80,000 in the latest round of funding from the Meridian Waitaki Community Fund.
Mark Allen says the new equipment, including an electronic mapping system, locater beacon and an all-weather tent, will enable a more immediate response when they are called on to search vast areas.
“The new equipment will greatly increase our effectiveness. The electronic mapping system provides faster and more accurate details of potential search areas. This means we can respond to emergency situations faster - and speed is vital when we are dealing with life and death situations,” he says. MORE>>
Should pet dogs be allowed to run off-leash in a cemetery? That's the question being asked around wellington's western suburbs. A dispute has broken out that involves dog walkers, the city council and member of the community
The rule is that dogs should be on a leash in the 40 hectare Karori cemetery - but dog owners say that's unreasonable.
A 25-year-old man is to plead not guilty to stealing a 14-year-old ridgeback cross and using it as dog-fighting bait for pit bull terriers.
Janet Cuthers' dog Lincoln was stolen from Titahi Bay and then left cowering with serious bite wounds in an attack by two pit bulls at Whitireia Park on Easter Monday. MORE>>
A 25-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the mauling of an elderly dog by two pit bulls on Monday.
Wellington SPCA spokeswoman Lisa Snow said police arrested the man for theft of a dog and further charges under the Animal Welfare Act were likely.
A 14-year-old ridgeback cross was attacked by the pit bulls at Shelly Bay after he was stolen from his Titahi Bay home.
A dog involved in the attack had been seized.
ARE you right to trust your instincts if you cross the street when you encounter a snarling pit bull with an equally forbidding owner? A new study suggests that the owners of so-called "vicious" dogs commit more crimes than those who do not own such a dog.
Laurie Ragatz and her colleagues at the University of West Virginia in Morgantown examined whether owners of vicious dogs - those classed by the American Kennel Club as breeds with a high risk of causing injury to humans - were different in personality and behaviour to others. Their online questionnaire of 758 students, 563 of whom owned dogs, revealed owners of vicious dogs were significantly more likely to admit crimes such as vandalism, illegal drug use and fighting than other dog owners and those without dogs (Journal of Forensic Sciences, DOI: 10.1111/j.1556-4029.2009.01001.x).
It's not just a dog's breed but also the character of its owner that may make the dog aggressive, points out Clive Wynne, a psychologist at the University of Florida in Gainesville. "It takes both nature and nurture to make a bully," he says.
Two dogs which attacked an elderly woman who was delivering pamphlets in Invercargill last week have been stolen from the city's pound.
The woman was not seriously injured.
The dogs were seized and taken to the Invercargill City Council pound on Saturday night, but were taken by thieves who broke into the complex.
City Council spokesman William Watt says the mastiffs were the only dogs taken in the break in. He says members of the public need to realise the dogs are dangerous if uncontrolled. He says any information about the location of the animals should be passed on to police straight away.
Come Monday Alister McKenzie will do just what he has done for the previous 63 Easter Mondays go dog trialling at the Mackenzie A & P show. For him that is where it all started. The 86-year-old retired Cannington farmer was only 22 when he and Mist went to the show for the first time.
And he just keeps going back.
Just because he no longer farms and doesn't need dogs, hasn't stopped Mr McKenzie competing at the show.
There's been the Bens, the Glens, Cloud, Mist and Rose, but come Monday it will be 3 1/2-year-old Pete that's in the ring with him.
Mr McKenzie quips about their combination "an old man and a town dog" and always asks the judge if there is any concession for such a pairing. MORE>>
Good dog owners will get a break when they go to register their four-legged friends in July.
Maata Waka Ki Te Tau Ihu Animal Control Services will, for the first time, reduce the registration fee for owners who fit into a Category One. Animal control team leader Candice O'Brien said the category was for non-working dogs that had been desexed and microchipped and had a clean slate with animal control.
Their owners will pay $48 to register their animals, compared with $72 for those that don't meet the criteria. Working-dog owners will pay $20 per animal.
The new category went some way towards appeasing responsible dog owners, said animal control officer Wayne Wytenburg, of Picton. MORE>>
Baby Jesus.
That is top of the list of names that are not a good idea.
And I am not jokiing. When Puppygirl had babies, one of them went to Hilary Ord, who used to own Cafe Verona on K Rd. Hilary has two wee kids and they were really small at the time and she turned to them and said in that bright, cheery voice grownups often use with kids: "Now what shall we call her?"
The little boy piped up really enthusiastically and said, without missing a beat: "Baby Jesus!"
The look on Hilary's face was priceless. She looked like she wanted to be sick.
They settled on "Tricky". MORE>>
Pooches get their time to shine when Devonport holds its dog parade.
Prizes will be awarded to the best dressed, dog who looks the most like their owner, the most clever, Devonport’s doggy idol and Devonport’s next canine supermodel.
The April 4 event is organised by Robyn Fond, an American who has been in New Zealand for 20 years.
(...)
Ms Fond decided she wanted to run a similar thing here, with costumes optional.
As well as a day to celebrate love of dogs, it is a fundraiser for the SPCA. Ms Fond has the backing of the Devonport Community Board and the North Shore City Council.
She is expecting that 300 to 400 people and their dogs will take part.
Chelsea Marriner is teaching one of her six border collies a variation of the "fetch" command before her birthday rolls around in a couple of months.
The 17-year-old's performances with her flock of collies have been one of the most popular displays at Auckland's Royal Easter Show, drawing thousands of spectators over the long weekend.
Some fans have come twice to see her bag of tricks.
This young lday has a great career in front of her!~
An elderly dog is recovering at Wellington SPCA after he was deliberately set on by two pit bulls yesterday in Porirua.
At midday, Lincoln, a 14-year-old ridgeback cross, was attacked by the pit bulls in Whitireia Park.
Lincoln was stolen from his Titahi Bay home early on Monday morning and it appeared he was taken to be used as a bait dog, SPCA animal welfare inspector Ben Lakomy said.
A witness who rang police said the two pit bulls were let off their chains and set on Lincoln.
(...)
Wellington SPCA was offering a reward for information leading to the conviction of those responsible.
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The SPCA is putting up a $1000 reward for anyone with information leading to the arrest of four men involved in the mauling of an elderly dog.
The fourteen-year-old Rhodesian ridgeback cross - Lincoln - was stolen from Wellington's Titahi Bay on Monday and used as a bait-dog in a fight.
A witness says when he bit back a man tried to break his legs by pulling them apart.
SPCA spokeswoman, Lisa Snow, says they need help from the public to get to the bottom of the devastating crime.A Whangarei man has been arrested after he allegedly threw a small dog at his partner.
Sergeant Graeme Povey, of Whangarei police, said officers were called to an Otaika Rd address late on Sunday after the woman reported her partner had become abusive.
Mr Povey said the pair had had a verbal argument and the man threw a small dog at the woman.
Neither the dog nor the woman was injured.MORE>>
The SPCA says it is determined to find the people who used an elderly dog as fighting "bait" against other dogs.
The 14-year-old ridgeback cross was stolen from his owner's property in Titahi Bay and badly injured in a dogfight with pit bull terriers in Whitirea Park at Shelly Bay.
A witness who rang police says the two pit bulls were let off their chains and set on the ridgeback. MORE>>
You can watch a video through clicking the MORE link
Police drug dogs were used to search a New Plymouth school after three students were caught smoking cannabis.
The year 9 Sacred Heart Girls' College students were in uniform when they were caught with the drugs last month, but it was out of school hours and off the school grounds.
They should have taken LSD. Dogs can't sniff that!
Pretty sad when the catholic school thinks that they are better than the rest. Oh my oh my... our little saints tried a bit of pot. Who cares...
They get the dogs in, and what? they found no pot at school. So, what's their point? All they did was make those students look cool, or dumb because they got caught.
New research from Vanderbilt University shows for the first time that the brain processes aggression as a reward - much like sex, food and drugs - offering insights into our propensity to fight and our fascination with violent sports like boxing and football.
The research will be published online the week of Jan. 14 by the journal Psychopharmacology.
"Aggression occurs among virtually all vertebrates and is necessary to get and keep important resources such as mates, territory and food," MORE>>
Some of New Zealand's top lawyers have offered their services for no charge to help the SPCA in its campaign to win tougher penalties for animal abusers.
Twenty-one barristers, Queen's Counsel and law firm partners have gone on the list of lawyers to take animal welfare cases for the Auckland Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. MORE>>
Well, it's about time !
Its customers, Tesco says, are worried that the dogs are unmannerly when they herd sheep.
Oh boy! what a bunch
What's more, Poms they've sent here to observe our sheep- handling came over all faint when they saw working dogs barking and running about, and definitely detected that the sheep had hurt feelings.
In short, they don't want to buy our lamb and mutton unless they're sure it's been herded to slaughter by pixies and elves with magic wands, which is good news for the fairies, but bad news for our sheep dogs.
But what do the English farmers think about this? I mean, that where we got our working dogs from !!
And let's not forget that the famous English Cruft's dog show lost RSPCA and Pedigree pet food sponsorship in March, along with BBC coverage, because of their dog breeders' shocking practices.
A BBC documentary, screened in Britain last August, told how in order to meet show standards, dogs were forced to suffer debilitating diseases. It showed boxers with epilepsy, spaniels with brains too big for their skulls, and told how prized bulldogs - once the very symbol of Englishness - can no longer give birth or mate without human assistance.
There's the nub of the problem, surely. It's been too long since Tesco customers saw healthy dogs leading fulfilled lives. They've got used to freaks.
MORE>>The bark of New Zealand's sheepdogs is indeed worse than their bite and it has proved to be very stressful for the sheep as they are herded into line for the slaughterman at the country's abattoirs.
That doesn't just worry animal lovers. It is also a concern for discerning diners, because it makes the lamb coming off the production line a bit tougher and less succulent than the premium meat on which NZ farmers have always prided themselves.
(...) The National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee is recommending that to reduce the stress, dogs should be banned from moving sheep from the holding pen outside each slaughterhouse to the killing area.
Chairman Peter O'Hara said that the animals were already pretty stressed after being trucked from the farm to the abattoir and being rounded up by a pack of barking dogs and forced to head for the slaughterman did not improve their condition.
Traditional abattoirs were not well designed and dogs were often needed to move the sheep along, he said. 'But now, it is certainly possible to design yards and races so that stock will tend to move of their own accord and don't need a whole lot of pressure.'
The committee's recommendation to Agriculture Minister David Carter follows news that a visiting delegation from the British supermarket chain Tesco - one of the biggest buyers of the 300,000 tons of New Zealand lamb exports every year - was concerned that dogs were 'quite aggressive' towards the sheep as they moved them to the killing area.
(...)
Silver Fern Farms, New Zealand's leading meat company, which exports to about 60 countries, has announced that it is phasing out the use of sheepdogs at its plants, in favour of humans waving sticks and rattles, in response to growing international concern about animal welfare.
'It's very sad in some respects, I think,' spokesman Brent Melville saud. 'It's the end of an era.'
Shepherds and traditionalists agree, seeing the move signalling the beginning of the end for the dogs that have been an integral part of the industry since New Zealand started sheep farming in the mid-19th century.
Shepherd Mick Petheram told the New Zealand Press Association, 'Sheep have had dogs around them from the day they were born. It's the New Zealand way.'
Without dogs, people would end up having to push the sheep physically, he said. 'I know from my experience - to shift stock, the frustration will build up and these sheep will be inhumanely handled.'
OPINIONS
Dave Eastlake, secretary of the Meat Workers' Union, said, 'The sheep are brought up with dogs around them and they'll probably miss them when they're not there and they have a whole lot of people yelling and clacking little clackers at them rather than dogs, but that's not the way some market people see it.'
Bob Kerridge, of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said an untrained dog could stress stock, but those used in farming were generally well-trained.
'I can't imagine for one minute the quality of meat or stock is altered in any way, shape or form by use of well-trained dogs,' he said.
He became the voice for the feathered, furry and fluffy and has spent a lifetime trying to protect them. For 25 years Bob Kerridge has walked the sometimes heartbreaking but always hopeful halls of animal welfare. However next month will mark the end of an era for the SPCA, with the animal crusader stepping aside as chief executive. But if you think he's going to slow down, think again.
Around New Zealand, blind people live independent lives thanks to their guide dogs.
The Foundation for the Blind provides the dogs for free, but each pup takes two years to train at a cost of nearly $23,000.
The Rouvi siblings of Dunedin are blind, but even they can see how lucky they are to be the only family in New Zealand with three guide dogs.
Aerenga has his alsatian jomai, a black lab for sister Tangi, and Api has his dog. Garner. MORE>>
Methamphetamine was found in a pair of sandals at Auckland Prison in Paremoremo yesterday when a drug dog sniffed out the drug in incoming mail.
On searching the suspicious courier package, staff at the prison found a new pair of sandals - each with a heel full of methamphetamine. MORE>>
Perhpas the guy should have brought in LSD as dogs can't sniff that!
