🐾 Dog owners – a quick local reminder 🐾

Planned PAPP baiting will be occurring in parts of our area over the coming months as part of routine wildlife management programs. While this is council-approved and carefully managed, it’s a good time to take a few extra precautions when out and about with your dogs.

Especially during this time, please:
• Keep dogs on lead, particularly in designated baiting areas
• Avoid letting dogs sniff, scavenge, or eat anything while walking
• Take extra care in the following locations:
• Bittern Coastal Wetland (Warringine Park Bushland Reserve), Bittern–Hastings
• Yaringa Foreshore Reserve North, Somerville
• Yaringa Foreshore Reserve South & Gordon Rolfe Reserve, Somerville
• Woods Bushland Reserve, Tuerong
• Rye Landfill & Resource Recovery Centre, Rye

Possible signs of PAPP ingestion can include:
• Lethargy or weakness
• Fast or laboured breathing
• Vomiting
• Pale or blue-tinged gums

If you think your dog may have ingested bait, please head to your closest veterinary clinic immediately — early treatment is critical.

If you have any questions or would like advice on keeping your pets safe during this period, feel free to contact us. 💙🐶

#WesternportVetClinic #DogSafety #PAPPAwareness #MorningtonPeninsulaDogs #ResponsibleDogOwnership #LocalVet #PetSafety #DogOwners #OnLead

Sometimes it waits.
Behaviour doesn’t always appear at the moment of change.

A new environment, new routines, new expectations.
There’s a lot to take in and for some dogs the way they cope is by going quiet.
They rest more.
Move less.
React less.
From the outside, it can look like they’ve settled quickly, like things are easy. It looks like the transition went smoothly.

As the days pass, the environment becomes more predictable. Sounds are less startling. The routine starts to make sense. Safety begins to form.

And that’s often when behaviour starts to change.
Not because something has gone wrong.
Not because the adoption didn’t work.

It’s because the nervous system finally has enough space to process what’s happened.

It waits until the body isn’t bracing for more, until the world feels steadier and holding it together takes less effort. That’s when reactions can look bigger, more noticeable, harder to ignore.

When you weren’t expecting it, this shift can feel like a setback, especially if the early days felt calm, hopeful or easy.

This isn’t a step backwards.
And it isn’t a sign that things have failed.

That early calm was often a dog holding it together while they worked out where they were, who you were, and what was expected of them.

Sometimes behaviour waits until that safety is felt.