Barking Up The Wrong Tree

Take care of your new best friend

Owning a pet can really make a house a home. And when you have a dog, you will instantly have a new best friend.

While people can get grumpy and can sometimes be not so welcoming when you arrive back at home after work, your dog will always make a fuss and be happy to meet you. So it’s important to look after them properly and hence make sure you remember that like humans, they too need regular trips to a medical professional when they are not on top form.

Vet bills can be expensive, so it’s imperative that you invest in a good pet insurance policy if you own a dog. And make sure that you keep up with their yearly inoculations, as these can prevent a wide range of diseases.

Horse and Jockey pub in Chorlton named best dog friendly boozer

The Horse and Jockey pub in Chorlton-cum-hardy has been named the most dog friendly pub in Britain.
The pub which serves beef flavoured beer and ‘bark’ snacks won the accolade in a nationwide Kennel Club competition.

The Function manager at the Horse and Jockey, Emily Fisher, stated:

“We get loads of dogs in every week – they go for a walk on Chorlton Meadows and then drag their owners inside for beer and dog biscuits on the way home. One of our customers suggested the dog beer and it’s been a hit. We’ve had to restock it five times. All the staff here are dog lovers and we like giving out dog biscuits while we go round collecting glasses.

“The Jockey has been a community pub for 500 years and everyone is welcome – families, children and dogs.”

The beef beer is of course non-alcoholic so the dogs can still lead their owners home after they have partaken in a pint or two.

Dog calendars

It’s depressing that the summer is all but gone and Christmas is just around the corner. Many shops are already gearing up for the Christmas rush and have even started to display Christmas items.

We always try to make a start buying Christmas presents early to avoid the rush in December and so we can spread the cost across a few months. And last year we found a brilliant type of Christmas present that we gave to loads of our friends – a personalised calendar.

Personalised calendars are great. All you have to do is upload the images of your favourite things online and use your design flair to come up with a brilliantly designed calendar.

The calendars we made featured our favourite dogs in different comical or interesting situations. In January we choose a Schnauzer playing in the snow, in April we had a Boxer trying to open an Easter egg and in December we choose a picture of a Yorkshire terrier complete with Santa hat playing with a box of Christmas presents.

We ordered the same calendar for all our friends but you can make specific calendars for the different people in your life. We choose dogs because we love them.

Watch your children around dogs

I had a conversation with my friend once about dogs being around children. Her opinion was that it is fine to leave children alone with a dog because the baby will learn not to wind up the dog eventually. For example, if the baby pulls the dogs tail and the dog growls at the baby the baby will not do it again. I completely disagree with this, I couldn’t believe she had said it, babies should NEVER be left alone with dogs – they are animals! You can never predict what they are going to do. You would have the most placid dog in the world but one day it could just turn round and bite you.

My advice is to be on your guard constantly and never leave a child alone with a dog – no matter how well behaved you think the dog may be.

Do you agree with dressing dogs up?

When you are walking down the street and then you see a dog wearing a big stupid coat – how does that make you feel? I completely disagree with it! Dogs have fur coats – therefore they do not require a coat made of man-made materials. Further to this, it really makes me angry when you are walking down the street and you see a person carrying a dog rather than letting the dog walk itself!!! Dogs have FOUR legs which are made for walking – they do not need a human to carry them for god sake!

Let your dog walk – if you are worried about him running away – put a lead on him!

Can you teach an old dog new tricks?

My boyfriend’s mum and dad have a little Jack Russell dog called Brian. This dog is extremely well trained as my boyfriend’s mum took Brian to dog training lessons when he was only a puppy so he has been brought up knowing what was acceptable and what wasn’t. However, what happen when you get a dog from a dogs home and this dog is older and needs to be trained to be a well-disciplined dog?

Can you really teach an old dog new tricks? I believe if you have patience and belief in your new dog that you can get him to behave correctly then yes you can teach an old dog new tricks!

Nuisance dogs – barking all the time

I have just bought a new house, it is a quasi-semi which means that it is four in a row and I have the end house. My neighbour is not the most high class woman in the world ie. she is common and we can hear her shouting at her daughter or doing unsavoury acts with different men.

Having said this she must have a good heart because she has taken in a dog from the dogs home. However, this dog is STUPID! When no one is in the house to look after the dog, it just barks continuously and doesn’t even stop for breath. This dog is a noise nuisance as you cannot watch TV or have a sleep or read a book because of the continuous noise.

What do you do if your neighbour’s dog barks all the time and it is making living in your own home a nightmare?

What happens if you are allergic to dogs?

When I was growing up my mum and dad had a dog called Chispa, I am not entirely sure what type of dog she was but I was able to live with her with and had no health problems.

I have asthma and since my childhood dog died when I was 12, I have not been able to be in the same room as a dog without my chest getting tight.

I think some of the issue comes with people who do not regularly dust, vacuum or polish their houses. If I visit a house which has a dog or a cat and they are not cleaning and airing the house out, that is when I feel uncomfortable sitting in the living room, because i struggle to breathe!

Cheryl just wants her dogs

News of Cheryl Cole’s divorce from footballer Ashley Cole has been splashed across the papers and magazines.

As soon as it was announced, there was speculation as to how the couple would split their fortune. With millions of pounds between them and a luxury property, you would think that there would be months of arguments to come.

But Cheryl has revealed that the only thing she wants out of the divorce is her pet dogs.

She wants custody of Coco and Buster and is not worried about getting her hands on anything else. She is letting Ashley have the mansion and will not ask for any of his fortune so long as she gets her pooches.
I can’t say I blame her.

The dog and bone

We all know how clever dogs can be but one pet pooch has stunned his owner by developing skills of his own.

The poodle-terrier cross called Nemo has been trained to act as the ears of his owner Irene Henderson as she is deaf. But as well as alerting her when he hears the doorbell or alarm clock, Nemo also paws his owner when she gets a text.

Nemo wasn’t trained to do this; he trained himself, but Irene is really grateful as she says texts are really important to her for keeping in touch with her friends.