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Reply With QuoteChris Flegler (03-20-2011), Lia Goldie (03-20-2011), Neville Patterson (03-20-2011), Robert Santori (03-20-2011), Shane Johnson (03-20-2011), Vendo Vincent (03-20-2011)
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Hello,
Some of you may be aware I am a veterinarian. I have just received notification of the following policy being drafted by the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA). Once this subject has been discussed a policy will be drafted and submitted to government to change the regulations on importing dogs into Australia. It is open to comments by veterinarians by 15 April 2011.
This will effect those of you who wish to import dogs(and semen) in the future for breeding programs. If you have concerns about this draft I suggest you let your local veterinarian know and get them to relay your concerns to the AVA.
This may turn out being something similar to the whole Victorian Schutzhund farce.
Draft policy below:
Importing dogs - behaviour considerations
Position statement
Candidates for importation should be subjected to behavioural assessment as well as physical examination before they are permitted to enter Australia.
Dogs should not be imported if they exhibit or carry behavioural characteristics that may inappropriately threaten the safety of human beings or other animals.
The establishment and enforcement of behavioural standards for all dogs whose owners apply for their importation into Australia is strongly supported. Such standards should also apply to any genetic material imported with assessment of temperament of donors of semen, ova or embryos.
If exceptions are to be made, e.g. for guard dogs, efence dogs and drug detecting dogs, then special conditions should apply to the release of those animals into Australian territories and these animals should be identified as dangerous individuals, in keeping with local state or territory laws.
The Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) calls on the Australian government to effect changes to the importation regulations and permit conditions to satisfy the need for effective behavioural assessment of imported dogs.
Background
Current behavioural restrictions on import requirements for dogs are based on specific breeds. A case-by-case assessment of individual dogs is a more effective means of prenting the importation of aggressive dogs and thereby protecting the community.
Reference
www.daff.gov.au/aquis/cat-dogs
Other relevant policies and position statements
-6.13 Aggression in dogs
-6.15 Breed-specific legislation
My concerns is who will do the behavioural assessment? Will it be someone who has significant experience with dog behaviour or will it be a govenment employee with a sheet of paper that puts ticks or crosses next to a box ie does the dog bark at people -yes = aggressive dog etc.
How will the aggression be classified? Fear aggression - a dog is in a foreign environment just after being in a cargo hold for a 20+ hour flight. Has the dog had security training prior and been trained to react a certain way when someone enters its domain.
I know for a fact that some well known and widely used sires of the police depts, RAAF and security dogs showed behaviour in quarantine that would deem them aggressive and either be rejected entry into Australia or several controls put onto them if this policy were this policy implemented at time of importation. This would be a shame if it prevented further dogs of this quality from entering Australia and our limited working dog genepool.
Please let your local vet know of your concerns if you have any and encourage them to comment on the policy.
Also please put comment to any further concerns here as well.
I will be emailing my comments by the end of the week to the AVA.
cheers
Jonathon
Last edited by Jonathon Howard; 03-20-2011 at 01:30 AM.
Chris Flegler (03-20-2011), Lia Goldie (03-20-2011), Neville Patterson (03-20-2011), Robert Santori (03-20-2011), Shane Johnson (03-20-2011), Vendo Vincent (03-20-2011)
Hi Jonathon,
thank you very much for this use ful info,
I will certainly pass this around.
I have a problem with that.Just as you say who will be doing the assessment?What knowledge of the breed in question do they have?If it is a pup being imported are they going to assess the parents?Too many what ifs.I guess we can kiss the working dog in this country goodbye.I bet they will make exemptions for the forces becuase its ok for them to have what ever type of dog they wish just not you no matter how responsible you are.Talk about hypocrites.
I suppose its time to start thinking about moving from this dog unfriendly country.
Neville Patterson (03-20-2011), Robert Santori (03-20-2011)
Shane,
I couldn't agree more.
Neville Patterson (03-21-2011)
Jonathan do you have a an email contact for the AVA.On their website there is none.If you dont wish to post it can you send it to me via pm.I will post it on every message board known to man and let people who have actually imported dogs contact them and let them have their say.I dont want to be counter productive to the argument but people who will be affected should be able to have their say with well written articulate responses.Otherwise once again the dog owning public will be left in th dark not consulted with and treated with contempt.To me this alienates vets and peoples willingness to seek them out over issues if this is the attitude held by many of them.
What also concerns me.. Will it end up going as far as dogs with dogsport titles (ie; IPO, SCH, etc) being classified as dangerous dogs? So if an assessor sees a dog barking at him from a crate, reads the dog has an IPO title..therefore assessing the dog as if dog wants to attack because of training... Crazy?, yes..will it happen?.. YES!
Last edited by Mark; 03-20-2011 at 01:36 PM.
Neville Patterson (03-20-2011), Shane Johnson (03-20-2011)
Shane,
The AVA is accepting comments from Veterinarians. That is why I have asked for people reading the post to go through the proper avenues ie. Talking to their local vet to express their concerns about the policy. The AVA is representing the vets. If you contact the AVA directly it will have little bearing on the decision as it is not veterinary viewpoint.
Once a policy is finalised it is forwarded to the Government as the Representative vets standpoint on the situation. The government will then make a decision on whether to implement change. In this process the government will consult the relevant stakeholders(how much I do not know). This is where the various dog groups can lobby and have their dealings directly to protest against change.
So visit your vet and tell them of your concerns. Tell them why you believe this should not be included in this policy and they will forward your concerns.
This is why I have asked of members to express their concerns so I can forward them.
cheers
Jonathon
Neville Patterson (03-21-2011), Shane Johnson (03-20-2011)
The current draft policy as above suggests that dogs deemed aggressive will be subject to the relevent dangerous dog laws of their residing state or territory. Therefore if you live in victoria and you import an new dog for security and they deem it aggressive then according to that state as I understand it means that the new dog will have to be desexed rendering it useless for its intended import purpose.What also concerns me.. Will it end up going as far as dogs with dogsport titles (ie; IPO, SCH, etc) being classified as dangerous dogs? So if an assessor sees a dog barking at him from a crate, reads the dog has an IPO title..therefore assessing the dog as if dog wants to attack because of training... Crazy?, yes..will it happen?.. YES!
"Dogs should not be imported if they exhibit or carry behavioural characteristics that may inappropriately threaten the safety of human beings or other animals"
This above is certainly most dogs! To threaten safety is as simple as a dog rushing someone....or growling at another dog!
Goodness gracious me!
Thank you Jonathon for posting this.
Does anyone know if there are actually any action groups working against Victorian law???. There is a lot of disharmony with Victorian law for good reason and a lot of talk, but is anyone doing anything officially???.
Behavioural assessments knowing what they are looking for to tick the right box is typical Labrador behaviour where a dog meets a stranger with a wagging tail and sloppy kisses. Even my least reactive GSD who is perfectly calm with me and will accept a pat from a stranger in my presence and control, he wouldn't pass a behavioural assessment in a crate in a strange environment with stranger interaction and would be deemed a dangerous dog for sure and certain, where in actual fact, he's not dangerous at all under handler control which would probably apply to most of our dogs that are trained for working roles.
It's a definite worry involving the assessment of imported dogs, the poor bloody dog as someone else mentioned has been on a massive environment change in transport etc and wouldn't know what was happening and is natural that a dog could be on the defensive when landing in quaranteen and personally I think some of these idots running around with a clipboard ticking boxes need to use their heads.
Cheers
Nev
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