Barking Up The Wrong Tree

Happy New Year

It might be a little early I know, but hey-ho, I’ll be in no fit state tomorrow, so happy New Year to everyone!

New Year’s Eve is always a strange event I find. Everybody builds it up into this great big event and then feels let down that it wasn’t as great as they thought it would be. Many people I speak to share this view and it seems a surprising number of people are choosing to either stay in and celebrate or at least go to a house party instead of the pubs and clubs.

Wherever you choose to celebrate, consider what you’re going to do with your dog. People forget that New Year’s Eve can be just as bad for dogs as Bonfire Night with all the fireworks and people passing by, shouting and singing.

Look after your dog tonight the same way you would at Bonfire Night, whether that means giving them some tablets to calm them, turning the TV up and closing the curtains or maybe even taking them to a friends or relatives where the night might be calmer.

Make sure your dog has a happy New Year too.

Happy birthday

Well I may be a little early in this one but tomorrow is my birthday and I will be unlikely to be in any fit state to be writing about anything.

When it comes to birthdays, most children would love a puppy and it can be tempting to surprise your child with a birthday puppy.  However, before you do, be sure to take a little time to consider whether your child is responsible enough to help with the care and training of the puppy and whether you are able to properly look after them.

Consider what breed is best, do you need a non-shedding breed to avoid allergies or what size of breed will you be able to manage?

For my birthday tomorrow, I’ve got my little shih tzu with me and I’m glad those puppy days are long behind us.

Merry Christmas

Well, the turkey has been eaten, the gifts exchanged and unwrapped, the Queen has done her speech and now everyone’s chilling out, watching the Christmas films and feeling stuffed from eating way too much food.

My dog has happily munched her way through Christmas dinner – she loves a bit of turkey, vegetables and gravy with her dog biscuits – she’s played with the new toy and eaten her fair share of dog treats, no more for her today.

Now, she’s exhausted and is lying happily in amongst the Christmas wrapping paper, which she’s always loved to do every year since she was a puppy.

I figured it about time to wish a Merry Christmas to everyone who has visited this site during its first year and hope to see you again in the New Year. Give your dog a hug from me and count your blessings. Happy Christmas!

Should you dress your dog for Christmas?

This is a question I got to thinking about over the weekend, because I went to the local Pets at Home store and there were several different Christmas outfits for dogs, including reindeers outfits, santa outfits, elf suits or if you didn’t want to go the whole hog then there were little elf boots and reindeer antlers or santa hats.

I guess the answer to the question depends on what breed of dog you have, whether or not your dog minds you dressing him or her up and what the occasion is.

Personally, I’ve never liked the idea of dressing dogs up, no matter what breed they are, but I appreciate it can be a bit of a giggle at Christmas or Halloween.

Boots at least have a practical purpose and can protect your dog’s paws from bits of toys on the floor or picking up bits of twigs in their paws if you take them for a winter walk in the park.

Each to their own I guess. Mind you, I do have a little red cloth Christmas collar with bells on it that I let my dog wear when she visits family at Christmas – but that’s more to wind my brother up than anything else!

Dog Allergy Testing?

When it comes time for you to welcome a new family member into the home, particularly if you have kids you are quite likely to consider buying a dog.

However, before you do so – and I’m in no way trying to put anybody off buying a dog! – you might want to check if anybody in the family has any allergies.

Many people are allergic to pets, but not everyone is allergic to dogs.  And just because you might be allergic to cats or cat hair doesn’t mean that you’re automatically allergic to dog hair too because dog hair is completely different.

To check if you are, you could go and visit a friend and sit with their dog for a while, but that’s not always possible or practical, and it’s also not always the straightforward answer either because different dog breeds have different types of hair and skin.  For instance, a work colleague of mine is allergic to cat hair but only certain types of dog hair, so the best way for you to tell might be to use an allergy testing kit or see somebody for allergy testing.  It isn’t usually the dog hair you’re allergic to anyway but the skin cells that are shed when the hair is shed.

If it turns out you are allergic, it’s not the end of the world.  There are certain types of dogs that do not shed hair at all so if it’s the skin cells that you’re allergic to when they shed, you might be alright with these.

Useful Promotional Items

Promotional items are an ideal way for any company to raise their profile and increase awareness of either their products, services or brands with the general public or even a targeted audience and companies working in the dog world are no different in this respect.

This weekend, I paid a visit to a certain national pet store in order to purchase some Christmas presents for my dog and my mother’s dog (yes, the dogs get presents too as all true dog lovers will know!)

I bought my dog a large reindeer soft toy, a selection box and some treats for normal day to day use too, and I bought my mother’s dog a smaller version of the same toy and a raincoat – that might seem a little extravagant but it’s what my mum wanted for her dog so it’s for her too in a way.

Whilst I was wandering round I saw several promotional items, including free sachet samples of dog biscuit food, free dog treats at the counter for your dog and some free 2009 calendars, which are ideal because the customer will no doubt keep them for a whole year and constantly be reminded of the company.  Plus, I got some freebies, hurrah for promotional items!

The optimum length for training sessions

When it comes time to train your puppy or dog, whether you are doing it in a class or on your own, you will always need to reinforce your training in between.

Training sessions should be kept short and kept fun for the dog, which in the case of young puppies might mean as little as three minutes.

Little and often is the key here.

Practice every day and if your dog is getting bored, then vary the little titbits you use as rewards or change the toy you are using.

Always end the session with something he can do well and with lots of praise and avoid becoming frustrated at all costs.

Christmas shopping for your dog

When you do your Christmas shopping, I hope you don’t forget your little four legged best friend!

My little shih tzu is pretty spoilt when it comes to Christmas. Every year, she gets at least one if not two Christmas-themed toys plus a load of treats. This year, I’ve bought her Good Boy selection box, which has plenty of treats in it and I’ve still got to get the toy but I know I’m going to get her a reindeer soft toy from Pets at Home as I’ve already spied it.

I try to avoid the dog stockings because they have a plastic toy in them, which she’ll never play with so it makes them a waste of money.

Even my friends are daft enough now to wrap up a little gift for her when they come round at Christmas and my dad loves to treat his grand-dog to a packet of treats from Asda.

After all, dogs tend to appreciate their gifts much more than children and they’re there for you all year round no matter what your problems, so I reckon they earn it.

Dog Advent Calendars

Well it’s taken about a week but my dog has finally got the idea of the advent calendar.

For the uninitiated, yes there are actually advent calendars for dogs out there and I buy one every year for my dog.

However, if you aren’t aware, the chocolate inside is made especially for dogs as real human chocolate can be very dangerous, in fact poisonous to dogs.

Every year, I buy my dog an advent calendar and on the 1st December I put it on the floor, try to find the number one as she sniffs around the calendar and generally gets in my way, then we open the number one and I lift out the chocolate onto the calendar and she picks it up.

It generally takes about a week before she gets the idea and starts getting excited when I pick up the advent calendar each night.

I highly recommend getting one for your dog and they’re only a couple of quid. You can get them with biscuits inside instead of chocolate if you want.

100 St Bernard dogs rescued

The RSPCA successfully rescued one hundred, yes one hundred, St Bernard dogs from a kennels in Northants after the breeder-owner went missing.  Her whereabouts are still unknown.

It looks like the dogs had been left there for days without food or water and unfortunately some of them have since died due to lack of nutrition.

RSPCA Justin Stubbs stated:

There was faeces everywhere and upturned bowls. Something has gone wrong.

Because they are such big dogs you wouldn’t expect to see so many dogs in such conditions.

I’ll be going home and having a stiff drink tonight. But it looks like we can do something with them.

Fifty-year-old Mrs Collis, the owner of the kennels is well known in breeding circles and her whereabouts are of the deepest concern for the Kennel Club.