Aussies, tell me about the dingo

[CDSmith]

Not the dingo that ate yo baby.


You never hear about anyone over here in N. American owning a purebred dingo pup, and I got to wondering why. Anyone know? I know they are like Aussie wolves, but surely they must be ownable and trainable from pups?


Tell me what you know about the dingo. Thanks.

[r-c-e]

There's quite a few people in .au with dingo / half dingo pups. No idea why they aren't exported though. Probably due to the fact that they can be quite psychopathic.

[CDSmith]

Originally posted by r-c-e
There's quite a few people in .au with dingo / half dingo pups. No idea why they aren't exported though. Probably due to the fact that they can be quite psychopathic.

Well, to my knowledge any breed of dog can be quite psychopathic. I'm sure it's all in how they are trained, cared for, and loved.

If they are indeed ownable and trainable, I should think they would make for a great pet and protector, no? Yes?

There may come a day when I would want to own one.

[wdforty]

I've lived in AU my whole life and the only place I've seen a Dingo is at the zoo. But I'm sure if you raised them properly they'd be great pets!

[uchase/webpry]

[CDSmith]

Look, they're making my new dingo pup for me right now!

[The Other Steve]

I'm not sure that there is such a thing as a pure bred dingo because that would imply that the dingos were a distinct and separate breed to your ordinary dog.

I think I read somewhere recently where DNA testing has shown that the dingo is actually descended from some domestic dogs that came across from Asia many thousands of years ago.

[The Other Steve]

Originally posted by wdforty
I've lived in AU my whole life and the only place I've seen a Dingo is at the zoo. But I'm sure if you raised them properly they'd be great pets!

That's probably because of the dingo fence - if you live in eastern Australia the only place other than zoos to see dingos is just over the water from here on Fraser Island

[CDSmith]

Originally posted by The Other Steve
I'm not sure that there is such a thing as a pure bred dingo because that would imply that the dingos were a distinct and separate breed to your ordinary dog.

I think I read somewhere recently where DNA testing has shown that the dingo is actually descended from some domestic dogs that came across from Asia many thousands of years ago.

This is the kind of information I'm talking about. Thanks. I'll see if I can find out more about this.... dog. I always thought it was a separate breed unto itself, they sure seem distinctive in certain ways. But what do I know? About the dingo, not all that much.

[Blondie23]

Originally posted by r-c-e
There's quite a few people in .au with dingo / half dingo pups. No idea why they aren't exported though. Probably due to the fact that they can be quite psychopathic.

pyschopathic lol


if they are potentially baby munchers.. there are probably more favorable breeds out there..

[CDSmith]

HERE we go....

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/reuters20040802_289.html

Dingoes and closely resemble dogs, but full domestication of the dingo has proved difficult. "As a pet it is generally more independent-minded than other dogs," the researchers wrote.

Dingo remains date back about 3,500 years and no dingoes were found on Tasmania, which separated from the rest of Australia about 12,000 years ago, the researchers noted.

And there is no way for a large animal to have reached Australia from anywhere else without help from people, they added.

"The dingo ancestors were therefore most probably introduced to Australia with the aid of humans traveling in boats," they wrote.

Some interesting stuff in that article about DNA testing too.

[CDSmith]

The dingo is one of about a dozen animals that were introduced to the continent of Australia by English settlers. These animals have mostly been very bad for Australia's ecology, and many of Australia's native animals are in danger of becoming extinct, or are already extinct.

The dingo is nothing more than a pet dog that has returned to the wild. Australians refer to these introduced animals as "ferals."


How many dogs and cats were there in Australia 500 years ago?
None.

Some animals were brought by the settlers on purpose, such as rabbits to hunt, foxes for the fox-hunt, deer and goats to eat, and dogs and cats as pets. Others, like rats and mice, snuck over to Australia as hideaways on the boats. But only one has proved to fit into Australia's eco-system without causing any harm at all.

Very cute - but VERY destructive!

What "feral" animal has not caused any troubles in Australia?
The camel.

Dingos have been so vicious in attacking Australia's indigenous animals, like kangaroos, wallabies and koalas, that the country erected a fence thousands of miles long to keep the dingos from continuing the slaughter. The government also pays people who bring in proof that they have killed a dingo.

But most of the problems with "feral" animals continue to exist. Goats and deer eat the grass that kangaroos need, and their hooves cause erosion of the soil. Wild pigs destroy many native plants. Rabbits, rats and mice have grown in populations to epidemic proportions.

Only the camel creates no problems in Australia. Its padded feet do not erode the soil, and they find their food by browsing the trees, leaving the grass to the kangaroos and other marsupials. They can go without water for extended periods, and the hump of fat on their back allows them to exist when food is scarce.


The health and strength of the camel population in Australia is now better than anywhere else in the world. It is too bad that this sort of success story is the exception to the rule: Men should not fool with Mother Nature.

There are camels in Australia? I knew there was some great camel toe there, but camels too? I can't recall if I ever learned that back in grade school.


Looks like the notion of owning a dingo pup is a bad one. I may have to choose another breed of dog and just name it "Dingo".

Then I can go around saying "The dingo ate yo babay" :D

[PissFunny]

it is illegal to own a dingo or a dingo cross breed. (unless you are a licensed wildlife park etc)

dingos are actually becoming a problem because the normally shy and not very big dingos are breeding with german shepards, rotties, mastiffs etc and then you get some pretty nasty feral puppies.

[CDSmith]

Originally posted by PissFunny
it is illegal to own a dingo or a dingo cross breed. (unless you are a licensed wildlife park etc)

In all countries? I live in Canada.

[CDSmith]

Pissfunny, looks like you're wrong about that.....

Dingos given dog status in NSW
Wednesday, 25 November 1998

Dingos have been granted the same status as other dogs by the NSW parliament, giving householders the right to keep them legally as pets for the first time.

Here's the link: http://www.abc.gov.au/science/news/stories/s17380.htm

Some of them are damned nice looking dogs.

[MissEve]

A little off topic but....there are a lot of wolf/wolf hybrids that are kept as pets here in Alaska. The ones Ive seen were sort of pitiful, very shy, didnt like being inside and constantly paced the perimiter of their yards.

[born4porn]

I have lived in Australia my whole life and only seen 1 dingo. I have heard more about the aussie dingo from americans making jokes!

[CDSmith]

Looks like there are in fact "purebred dingos" being offered by breeders now. Not sure if any in Canada are doing so, but there very well could be. I've also seen some articles on something called an "Australian herding dog" of which looked like pretty nice dogs too. Not too huge, but still big enough to be considered "not a dog for wimps". ha ha

[bhutocracy]

Originally posted by CDSmith
Looks like there are in fact "purebred dingos" being offered by breeders now. Not sure if any in Canada are doing so, but there very well could be. I've also seen some articles on something called an "Australian herding dog" of which looked like pretty nice dogs too. Not too huge, but still big enough to be considered "not a dog for wimps". ha ha

gotta be careful of those, they are bred to be cattle dogs and as such are very nippy - they'll nip people on the ankles and what not especially when cooped up on a normal quarter acre block - they're meant to be on farms.

[CDSmith]

Originally posted by bhutocracy
gotta be careful of those, they are bred to be cattle dogs and as such are very nippy - they'll nip people on the ankles and what not especially when cooped up on a normal quarter acre block - they're meant to be on farms.

I'm more interested in the dingo.


(not the one that ate yo babay)

[The Other Steve]

Originally posted by CDSmith
There are camels in Australia? I knew there was some great camel toe there, but camels too? I can't recall if I ever learned that back in grade school.


:D

Don't laugh but we export camels to many Arab countries .

[CDSmith]

Originally posted by The Other Steve
Don't laugh but we export camels to many Arab countries .

I've noticed you export camel toe over to Canada sometimes too.

[The Other Steve]

Originally posted by CDSmith
I've noticed you export camel toe over to Canada sometimes too.

We always keep the best for ourselves

[CDSmith]

Further to: dingos as pets,

I'm finding a lot of sites and pages where it becomes clear that dingos are indeed raised as pets, sold as pets, trained, etc.

http://www.dogpage.us/california-carolinas.htm

http://www.gotpetsonline.com/cgi-bin...i?fcad_id=5539

http://www.wwwins.net.au/dingofarm/12.html

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/dingo.htm


I like the look of this dog.

[OzMan]

Originally posted by The Other Steve
Don't laugh but we export camels to many Arab countries .

Yup the small town I lived in in Australia for a while had a really wide main street. Reason being to allow enough space for the camel drivers (jockeys?) to turn around.

I worked in remote desert areas with helicopters for a couple years and saw lots of camels from the air and two dingo's one from the air and one on the ground.

The one I saw on the ground came running around the corner in a dry river bed and when it saw me the look on its face was priceless. It was about 10 feet away and looked at me like "what/who the fuck are you??" like I was an alien. I can guarantee it had never seen a human and it took off as fast as it could in the opposite direction.

[CDSmith]

"Dingoes can be kept as pets if they are taken from the litter before 6 weeks of age. At this young age they can be tamed, but once over 10 weeks they should not be taken out of the wild. If properly trained and cared for the Dingo can make a very nice unique pet.

They are said to be able to perform agility and general obedience. The dingo has some unusual traits - a great tree climber and at times a bit aloof, but these are interesting traits and are in the same category as the dingoes nearest cousin the New Guinea Singing Dog and the Finnish Spitz, but displaying the same characteristics. They do not have the same degree of tooth crowding and shortening of the jaw that distinguish other dog breeds from their ancestor, the Indian Plains Wolf. Also like the wolf, the female Dingo has only one breeding cycle each year.

Unlike other dogs, the Dingo chooses a mate for life, sometimes mourning itself to death after the loss of its partner."



Interesting stuff.

[Hands]

Interesting stuff... Fraser Island has heaps of dingos. I have gone on camping trips there before, and the dingo population used to be timid and not really try to interact with people, but over the last few years they started a dingo cull on Fraser Island because dingos would walk right in to your camp and go straight for the food and they were attacking people that were there. Now, I don't know the finer details like where the breed originated from and that sort of thing, but they are a wild animal with sharp teeth. The wilderness is in their blood, yeah. Like, the same question could be asked about Timber Wolves, lions, tigers and crocs. Like, how come they don't export wolves, or lions as pets? If you train them well why couldn't you? Geuss it's hard to predict how they are gonna turn out, and if they lash out even once, then that could mean the end of you, or even yo baby, LOL.
Anyhoo, that's my