Barking Up The Wrong Tree

Doggie walking to get fit

If you are anything like me and it seems most of my friends, then one of your New Year resolutions is likely to be to get fit.

Instead of incurring the expense of a new gym membership that you’re likely to use a few times then forget (and probably pay for over the next few months convinced Read the rest of this entry »

Don’t forget the vaccinations

A couple in Rustington have appeared in the newspapers pleading with people to make sure their dogs vaccinations are kept up to date after a husky-cross bitch and two puppies died.

They died from parvovirus, also known as parvo, which is one of the diseases that a dog’s annual vaccinations covers them for.

Your dog should have annual vaccinations and if you aren’t sure when they last had them done and cannot find your dog’s vet record card, then call your vet or just get your dog to the vet for a checkup and advice.

The vaccinations costs vary but I think when my dog had hers done last year, in May or June I think it was, the price was around £30.  Luckily, my vet is very good and sends us a reminder card just before she’s due, but I do have an idea of when it is anyway and I do have her vet record card in the kitchen drawer.

We don’t want another parvo epidemic.  Before the 1970s, it wiped out thousands of dogs and is highly contagious, being passed on through shoes, doormats, clothing and the fur and pads of other dogs.

Man punished for getting his dog sloshed

In the Telegraph yesterday, they reported how a man had been sentenced for getting his five year old bull mastiff drunk.  He gave the dog dangerous levels of alcohol and the RSPCA picked the dog up as he had an injury to his head and was staggering around rather strangely.

Turned out the dog had dangerous levels of alcohol in his blood and in a smaller breed, it would have most certainly killed them.

The owner admitted beating the dog, Bronx, and giving him two thirds of a can of Stella Artois.

Anyone who beats a dog should be hung in my opinion and as for the alcohol, hasn’t he seen the dog beer in the pet shops?

Do dogs remember their offspring?

As I have let my dog have three litters now, and four of them have gone to close friends, we often see my dog’s offspring when they come round for a drink or we go to visit them and this question is one that has been asked time and time again.

Do dogs actually remember and recognise their offspring, and vice versa, do the puppies remember their mother?

It certainly seems Read the rest of this entry »

Does your dog need a stress pill?

According to the Daily Mail today, this is the new craze from the US that is about to cross the Atlantic.  Americans, crazy as we Brits think they are, have in some people’s opinion gone a step too far in their wish to treat dogs as members of the family.  Americans can already buy pills for their dogs to treat them for obesity (stop feeding them so much), amnesia (how do you know what a dog has forgotten, my dog deliberately forgets her name when it suits her) and OCD (is it really OCD if your dog repeatedly chases his tail?)

Now a British pharmaceutical company has bought the rights to two of these drugs and will be running tests in the UK.  If they are approved, you will need a prescription to get them for your dog.  One is for depression and the other is for OCD.

These pills were invented by a vet born in Britain, Nicholas Dodman, who said:

‘People are bonkers about their pets, as they should be.  Most pet owners understand that animals are living, sentient creatures-that have emotions similar to our own. Pets face more mental health problems for the same reasons we do as we live increasingly constrained, pedestrian lifestyles.’

But Dr Ian Dunbar, a vet who runs a dog training programme, said: ‘I’ve never had to resort to drugs to deal with some quite serious mental problems. But the average pet owner wants a pill because he thinks it’s a simple solution.’

Personally, I think it’s a load of old poppycock… what do you reckon?