Fenriswolf

...I believe that's exactly what I said.

You've got some gorgeous photos! Still remember catching the train from through Arthur's Pass with school when I was young (I was brought up in Christchurch) and being amazed at how beautiful it was. And Kea are so cool! Annoying, but awesome :lol:

Hey, they're lovely dogs, but a lot of them aren't the sharpest dogs out there. Doesn't mean they're all thick, and I think a lot of people mistake not wanting to do what you say for stupidity but from what I've seen a lot of them are pretty goofy and dumb

Oh, stuff that. They'll be raking it in!

Oo, how could I forget wolfhounds! Awesome dogs. But with a 9 year life span and a good 4 years of that being no/minimal walks (same with Great Danes) it's a bit sad

Ah no, when I said giant I was thinking of Great Danes and Dogue de Bordeax. Certainly, they're wonderfully trainable if you know what you're doing and hell there was a woman I worked with who was ~52kg, both her dogs were 50-60kg (mastiffs of some sort, can't remember) and she handles them easily. OTOH we have a client who has two malamutes, girl's about 35 boy's not quite 50 and he has no control over them. Yular (the male) has been in a lot more, sweet dog, likes to lean on you and get chin rubs but he leaps all over the place, dragging his owner with him, and apparently he's food-aggressive with him owner :roll:

Yeah, the problems are (a) crap or well meaning but half-arsed breeders outnumber good breeders 10:1 in most breeds, and (b) I agree that we are too small I think (not that we can't import dogs for most breeds). GSDs have sooo many problems, not just hips but enlarged hearts and crap skin and a couple of others. I think the average hip score for a GSD in NZ is something like 12 or maybe worse? There are Schutzhund working GSDs in Germany with hip scores of 3 and 4. So it is possible! Just not enough people breeding for love over money. There's nothing wrong with a dog that wants to kill cats so long as it's controlled (one of my girls is totally fine with all my cats but would LOVE to eat a strange cat)... Boxers do tend to be a bit gormless but it's part of the charm :lol: Ill-bred Daschunds really annoy me because there is no reason to let them get to the stage of having crap backs. That happens 100% because of show "fashion". There are still Daschunds out there working, bloodtracking, no health issues to speak of and incredibly long life spans. It makes me angry that any breeder could produce dogs who end up in excruciating pain because it... looks nice The thing with hybrid vigour is it's only true to and extent and with a breeder who health tests (many still don't) you know what you're getting. A mutt can get none of the health issues... or all of them. I've seen and heard of plenty of x-breeds with torn cruciates, luxating patellas, displastic hips, terrible skin allergies, you name it. Having said all that I can't see myself ever getting a purebred because since I only want pets I'd rather have a rescue and just couldn't justify a purebred to myself... as much as I'd love a staffy or a GSD. Moot point, with one middle-aged and two young dogs!

Wow, beautiful

$199 is incredibly cheap though

Hell no. Never ever ever want an i-anything. I have an iPod that was a present and I hate the navigation system, the whole thing just irritates me. The idea of a flash-bang-whizz touch-screen phone horrifies me. I <3 Nokias! I don't want fancy schmancy graphics, just an intuitive menu and a camera I can take pictures of animals on

Wow, what make's that? lol @ "aerodynamics of a brick". I'd really like a double-cab with a decent length flatdeck so potentially we could take all 3 dogs and actually go on holiday some time in the next 10 years but then I do live in Wellington, god knows how I'd park it :lol:

OR you could have a mind for the good of dogs everywhere and either (a) buy a temperament tested, desexed and vaccinated mutt from the SPCA/a rescue for $250 OR (b) pay $800-2000 for a purebred with a tested (not just "good") temperament for generations, good hips, good skin, a good heart, no inherited diseases, good conformation and preferably working parents. No need to waste a ton of money on a backyard bred, potentially-a-genetic-mess dog that's gonna cost you another $400-500 just for basic care. Sorry, I just think this is important. Back to fish :oops:

You do mean to condescend, or you would not have responded how you did. Stella has pointed out in rebuttal to your original post that: (a) Shortjaw kokopu are no longer in the "threatened" category and your reference is 13 years out of date. (b) She did not intentionally catch them, but when she realised what she had, "professional" (that it, not amateur) freshwater ecologist Dr Mike Joy whether she would be best to return them but due to the population being much larger and healthier than previous data had shown, he saw no problem with her keeping them © The tank is no longer 23 deg, it is 16.5. Permits for mudfish notwithstanding, she has been asked to assist in breeding programmes by Massey University. Amateur? Sure. "Ameteurish"? Not so much. Your first post was fair enough, your second just a cheap shot :evil:

That's about right. Our markup is more for fish than other retail simply because it's so time consuming, and time is money. 8)

Hmm. That is exactly what one of my female bettas looked like after I stupidly added a juvenile male who despite blowing bubble nests at his last home was useless for my girlies. She ended up getting terrible infections and it seriously looked like she'd "exploded" with a huge gash in her belly and fungus all over it. I treated with tonic, she died overnight. BUT she was well shredded by Romeo so hopefully you get a better outcome!

Ah yeah, she's not too big. Pretty average for a bitch, yeah? Nice weight IMO, our American Bulldog is ~42 and I'm quite happy handling him but I don't know about a 65kg dog like one of the male Malamutes who comes into work. As much as I drool over giant breeds :lol: OK, back on topic :bounce:

Have you re-read the Belgarian/Maloreon? It was one of my favourite series as a teenager, now I can't read it for irritation at the controlling female characters and transparent racism (well, racism may be a bit strong but certainly very Tolkien-esque in his portrayal of "the east" etc) Must read Orson Scott Card! I'm getting really picky about books and I'm sad from lack of selection these days, but he looks good. My favourite series of all time is George RR Martin A Song of Ice and Fire. Never read such complex and three-dimensional characters. Would also recommend all the Katherine Kerr books, The Nine Princes in Amber series by Roger Zelazny (sp?) and the Assassin's Apprentice series by Robin Hobb. For sci fi you can't go past Ben Bova in my opinion. Any books who still stand up as well as his 30 years later deserve praise, and they're lovely to read. Oo, and David Gemmell writes wonderfully if you like hero fantasy, though it gets repeatitive if you read too many in a row. For a change of pace I love Dick Francis, his novels flow wonderfully. OK, that was a rambling post. But there you go

Ohh, pretty girl. She's made for snow! What does she weigh (sorry for the OT)?

Good posts Caryl and whetu. Personally I use public transport but I don't care what anyone says, Wellington public transport is only good if you live in the right area. Where I live it's 10 minute drive to my work, to get there without a car I have to allow an hour including 25 minutes to walk to the bus stop to wait for buses that have been known to not come at all :evil: I shall be getting in the next year a gas-guzzling ute to lug my dogs about with me. I may not be able to afford to drive it much though :lol:

Well, belatedly as much as I'd like to avoid breathing in smoke in public I wouldn't support a ban. My feelings: (a) Extreme irritation with becoming asthmatic every morning walking past the smokers on the way to the bus stop. It's total crap that you can choose not to inhale other's smoke when on a bad day it travels a good block. (b) I hate sanctimonious prats who take it upon themselves to chide smokers (who aren't being rude or anything) as much as the next smoker © The times that I DO choose to breathe in smoke is at pubs as half my friends are smokers. Would I rather be warm and able to breathe without feeling smothered? Yes. But if your friends smoke it's the way it is. (d) I love no smoking inside in pubs but actually I would support smoking rooms at workplaces so long as there's an alternative for non-smokers, smokers don't get "smoke breaks" (WTF is with that anyway?), and the smoke doesn't go right through the building. So yeah, I get angry and bitter breathing other's smoke just walking on the street, but I wouldn't ban it

I'm no use to you as I haven't a clue but gorgeous set up anyway

I have to say these super-giant ones are pretty weird looking but they're such cool fish! We have some biggish ones at work and they're such clowns (pun sort of intended :lol:); it's their personality that makes them cute to me

Bah, the coolness of clown loaches is swaying me somewhat but you'll still keep some so overall there's another B from me

I'm guessing she died... I haven't seen her for 3 days, and we have one cave you can't pull out or get into properly but I had a poke around and no show. I'm pretty sure our pleco munches any dead fishies. I guess it was bloat though I'll never know. The rest all seem healthy so it obviously wasn't bacterial/fungal