Recent research showed over fifty per cent of uk dog owners are not aware of the risk of heart disease for their dog.
One in four dogs over the age of seven are affected by heart disease, yet owners still lack in awareness.
Dog owners need to be made aware of the signs to watch for.
Results of a trial were presented at the World Veterinary Congress – the largest study to have been conducted.
Professor Jens Häggström, lead investigator of the QUEST trial from the University of Uppsala, Sweden, commented that “the QUEST trial is a significant milestone in our efforts to reassure both, veterinarians and dog owners, that there is compelling evidence to show that pimobendan is an effective treatment for CHF that prolongs their dog’s life and providing pet and owner with more quality time together.”
As far as I’m concerned, anything that would help my dog to maintain a quality of life for longer is great – just so long as the quality of life is good and she isn’t suffering.
Does your dog make you feel guilty? They seem to have an amazing knack of making you feel guilty. I’m not talking making puppy-eyes at you whilst you’re eating or anything like that, I’m talking real guilt here.
Most dogs love to chase rabbits, cats or birds, but they don’t get to see squirrels as often. Our local park, however, is full of them and although my dog has never been too bothered about chasing other dogs or birds, she absolutely loves squirrels.
Having said that, she’s a shih tzu – not the brightest of dogs at the best of times (or so they would have us believe, I think it’s a conspiracy myself), so when the squirrel runs up the tree, my shih tzu normally runs round and round the tree wondering where it’s gone.
Here’s a video of a dog that did realise where the squirrel had gone to and see what he does. Watch it to brighten your day up for 16 seconds!
Dog owner Pietro Forgione, 51, is a little bit angry having been fined £1,200 for failing to tag his three year old husky, Sheba. Sheba was picked up by a member of the public twice whilst roaming free. She had a collar on, but no tag.
Both times, the dog was taken to Whitminster’s Teckels Animal Shelter and picked up by Mr Forgione’s son.
Mr Forgione was fined £600 on two charges of allowing the dog to roam without identification and ordered him to pay £100 towards the council’s costs.
Mr Forgione, of Park Road, said:
“When I found out what I have to pay I felt sickened. The dog did have an identification tag but it was nicked. I then had to pay £75 at Teckels and they suggested electronic tagging. I then spent £20 on having him chipped, so he did have identification on the second time. It’s absolutely ridiculous. They’re really steep and just over the top.”
A council spokesperson said:
“Mr Forgione was served with two summons on July 1 to appear at Gloucester Magistrates Court on July 18 2008. As he failed to turn up, the magistrates heard the cases in his absence and he was found guilty of both offences. Mr Forgione was also found guilty and convicted of a similar offence, again in his absence, earlier this year.”
By law, owners have to make sure their dog wears a collar and also a tag with the owner’s name and address whenever in a public place, at all times, and the penalty for not doing this is up to £5,000.
I think this is ridiculous, they charge less for crimes and alcohol-related cases. Alright, he made a mistake, but surely it didn’t have to cost £1200.
There is an article in the Halifax Evening Courier where the Royal Mail plea for customers to keep their dogs away from mailboxes and away from their posties around the time when the mail is delivered.
They claim that men and women in Calderdale are being bothered when they’re trying to deliver the mail.
Apparently the rise in problems is because the school holidays has started and the dogs are outside playing with the children.
A spokesperson for the Royal Mail said:
“Owners need to be more aware beause attacks can have an adverse effect on their dogs and their mail as Royal Mail can suspend deliveries. People say their dog has never bitten anyone but there is always a first time.”
Royal Mail workers are issues with sonic alarms as standard and receive animal training. After an issue with a dog, the owner will receive a general warning letter and if it is serious, the police and local dog warden are also informed.
Alison Wright, Royal Mail’s area general manager, said: “Our priority is to ensure the welfare and safety of our people and increasingly we have to suspend deliveries because dogs are on the loose and it is not safe.”
One solution is for customers to install a large letter cage.
According to the Norwich Evening News, more than 400 stray dogs have been picked up by the city council dog warden in the last year, over 125 are estimated to have been deliberately dumped by their owners.
Dog warden Moria Ross-Dempster said:
“Because of the condition some of the dogs are found in, you can tell that they’ve been dumped deliberately. It’s not the case that they would have got into that condition during their time as a stray, because you can tell from skin conditions and other illnesses which take a long time to develop that they suffered from them before. Owners need to take more care in making sure their dogs have a collar as it is against the law now for them not to have one.”
A spokesperson for the council said:
“We are experiencing a growing problem in particular with Staffordshire Bull Terriers – they take a lot of attention in terms of training and walking, which people need to take the time to do. In these cases the dogs aren’t vicious but get bored so do things like chew furniture and people dump them. The state that some of the dogs that come to us in is upsetting, and there is no reason for that. If dogs are too ill to be saved then we would have to think about putting them to sleep which is not something anyone wants to do. We would urge people to take more care before getting a pet as well as when they have one. The space they are kept in must be suitable – for example gardens must be secure – some of the issues with strays in the city are caused by dogs escaping. Dogs that are found straying in Norwich are seized by us and will only be returned to the owner after payment of all costs incurred.”
It costs £65 for the first day and £10 for each day after for dogs that are picked up in Norwich, although costs do vary across the country from council to council. That makes me wonder how many owners do not collect their dogs because they cannot afford it.
The British Army’s SAS (Special Air Service) is planning to parachute police dogs into enemy territory. THey are training German Shepherds to parachute with cameras mounted on their heads, to sniff out insurgents and warn of ambushes.
The dogs will be strapped to soldiers for the parachute, and are earmarked to be sent to Iraq and Afghanistan. It is hoped the use of dogs will reduce the number of civilian casualties.
A spokeperson for the SAS is quoted as saying:
“The dogs will be exposed to very high levels of danger on these operations and you never know what’s going to be behind a door. Nobody wants to see the dogs get killed but if it’s their life or a man’s it is obvious which the CO would prefer.”
Apparently, two dogs have been assigned to each of the four regiment squadrons. The dog handlers are learning to parachute with the dogs from high altitudes.
It’s not the first time dogs have been used in way, ancient Egyptians used to use them. In fact, in World War II the British Army used to use parachute dogs to send messages behind enemy lines in North Africa and France.
Thing is, I don’t think that’s a good excuse. Should we be going back to the Dark Ages? Needless to say, some animal charities and associations are up in arms, what’s your opinion?
Today the papers are full of the latest ‘namby pamby’ police guidelines. This time, police dog handlers have been told to ‘avoid offending’ anyone who might have a phobia of dogs or allergies to dogs when they’re using police dogs in raids or investigations. What??!?
Apparently, this culture of compensation has caused fears that the police may receive compensation claims if someone suffered an asthma or panic attack because of the police dogs. Stuff that, let the dogs do their job.
There were also reports that dogs might be required to wear little boots on their paws Read the rest of this entry »
On Saturday, police, firefighters and the coastguard all helped to rescue a six year old German Shepherd-Husky cross breed called Kiko, who fell from a Pierfields cliff in Berwick.
Holidaymaker Constance Laidlaw was walking two dogs, when Kiko lost his footing and fell down the cliff, landing on the rocks. Paramedics were called out too when they feared 58 year old Mrs Laidlaw from Cheltenham had injured herself whilst trying to rescue the dog, however, luckily she had followed a path down to the beach and was quite safe.
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