The DogCast Radio blog

A family from Bletchley, Buckinghamshire has come to the rescue of one of Battersea Dogs & Cats Home’s most mischievous mutts after seeing his story on ITV’s award-winning series, Paul O’Grady: For The Love Of Dogs.

Animal lovers and happy hounds bounded to Battersea Park for Battersea Dogs & Cats Home’s Annual Reunion on Sunday 8 September.

Battersea Ambassadors David Gandy and Dame Jacqueline Wilson joined around five thousand owners and dogs at the free family Fun Day to show their support for the South London animal charity.

I spotted two headlines in newspapers this week that made me stop and think. The first was a piece saying that a new documentary, Home Alone Dogs, has revealed that one in four of Britain's eight million dogs are depressed due to being left alone at home for several hours while their owners are out at work.

Dogs with the bow wow factor can show off their home-grown talent at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home’s Annual Reunion next month.

The world-renowned rescue centre is inviting dog lovers to bring their clever canines to Battersea Park on Sunday 8 September to showcase their four-legged skills and practiced tricks in a new Battersea’s Got Talent competition. After three heats, the talent contest’s winner will be crowned in front of the thousands of spectators in the main ring at the annual family fun day sponsored by Petplan.

Prime Minister David Cameron visited Battersea Dogs & Cats Home today to mark an historic milestone for the 152 year old animal charity, so synonymous with the mighty chimneys of Battersea Power Station - a celebration of its one thousand volunteers.

I know many of you enjoy Ted Kerasote's books as much as I do, so here's the latest news from Ted and Pukka, and some great news about how you can buy e-book versions at a bargain price over the summer:

Dear Friends and Readers,

I hope you're having a good summer. Pukka and I have been working on new books, riding bikes, hiking, and running rivers. You can check out photos from these adventures on our Facebook page.

Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Lily, made a dash for the outdoors, only to leave her owners frantically worried as to her whereabouts. Luckily she was reunited with her owner from Pimlico at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home because she was microchipped.

The six year old Staffie was found at Pimlico Station and brought into Battersea where staff carried out a routine microchip scan that showed up her owner’s details.

Lily’s owner Karen Viera said: “Because the weather was so hot we had the door open with the baby gate closed, but we just didn’t realise how easy it would be for her to escape. Our other dog accompanied us as we searched the area and I put out updates on my Facebook and Twitter so people could help me search for her. We are so grateful to Battersea for looking after her and contacting us. I’m so glad we had her microchipped, we might never have seen her again if we hadn’t.”

Karen and her mum noticed Lily wasn’t in the dog bed where she was last seen and began searching in and around their home. It soon became clear that Lily had jumped over the baby gate that was locked by the open door and made a leap for outside.

As the warm weather continues across the UK, Battersea urges pet owners to be extra vigilant when doors and windows are left open in case their pets go missing. More than 65 per cent of all dogs arriving at Battersea are not microchipped with their owner’s details, making it difficult and sometimes impossible to successfully reunite lost pets with their worried owners.

Liz McWalter, Head of Intake at Battersea said: “It was fantastic to be able to reunite Lily and Karen so soon after she went missing and really highlights the importance of microchipping. Battersea offers free microchipping for dog owners at our three centres in London, Kent, and Windsor, and if you haven’t already got your dog chipped we’d urge you to take this simple step to ensure you can be reunited with your pet should you get parted.”

Earlier this year, the Government announced that all dogs in England must be microchipped by April 2016. To support and promote this vital initiative, Battersea Dogs & Cats Home is working with Lambeth Council to offer free microchipping, name tag engraving and advice about responsible dog ownership on Tuesday 6 August at Stockwell Gardens Estate.

We will be at The Pet Show at Stoneleigh Park next weekend (20th and 21st July) helping celebrate how pets enrich our lives. If you're at the show do come and say hello - we'll be on the Pet Education Trust stand, and we'd love to meet you.

Here's more information from the show's organisers:

The UK’s largest pet show set to open its doors with headline performers

The Pet Show will become the UK’s largest multi-pet event when it opens it doors to some 20,000 people, in a 21,000 square metre event location, over the weekend of 20th and 21st July.

As the heatwave (by UK standards anyway!) continues in Britain, our dogs are feeling the heat just as much as we are. Here are some lovely photos of a couple of Battersea residents cooling off.

Lucky Max, a Rottweiler, is cooling off in a paddling pool, while mixed-breed Indi is tucking into an iced dog treat. It's unbelievable that while some of us are going to great lengths to ensure our dogs don't overheat, some irresponsible owners are still leaving dogs in hot cars.

Dogs die in hot cars - surely the message should have got through by now? Here's a link to a blogpost I wrote