The DogCast Radio blog

Don’t give the dog a bone, give him a coin!

Forget your usual piggy bank and get yourself a Doggy Bank!  Fully jointed, this adorable hound will excitedly gobble and chomp his way through coins deposited in his food bowl until they magically disappear.  In reality, they’ve dropped into his money box base.  It’s a great, fun way to save for that rainy day.

What’s more, Hawkin have taken the dog theme to heart and they’re trying to raise as much money as they can for Dogs Trust.  Founded in 1891, Dogs Trust is the largest dog welfare charity in the UK. Its mission is to bring about the day when all dogs can enjoy a happy life, free from the threat of unnecessary destruction. 

A bright future is predicted for dog stars as Springer pups join the Cancer &  Bio-detection Dogs team
Two working Springer Spaniels with star quality have been donated to the charity Cancer and Bio-detection Dogs where they’ll shine as pioneers sniffing out human disease.
The dynamic pups have been gifted to the charity by Working Springer Spaniel breeder, Enid Lake from the Isle of Skye and presented to the Charity by international broadcaster and writer on astronomy, space and science, Heather Couper. The pups have been appropriately named Rigel (after one of the brightest stars in the sky) and Sirius (the Dog Star), and the sky’s the limit for what these dogs can achieve.
Heather trained as a scientist and has spent the past 20 years working entirely in the media. She has hosted two

I've had a fantastic time today finding out about the dog sport of Schutzhund with the Leicestershire Schutzhund Club. I'm researching an article for Dogs Monthly, and recording interviews for DogCast Radio too. I was offered the chance to be the "helper" - the one who wears the glove. I jumped at the chance, and although as you can see in the first photo the force of lovely German Shepherd Susie's jump surprised me at first, all she wanted to do was play tug of war with the glove. If the glove is thrown on the floor, the dog picks up the glove and ignores the person who has thrown it on the floor. It's just like a game of tug you might play with your dog with a rope toy.

It's four days after Star's TPLO surgery for a ruptured cruciate ligament now, and it's been a rough four days for us all, but especially Star. She doesn't take pain well, and I don't blame her if I'm honest. She is normally such a cheerful dog and it's been upsetting to see her spirits and her tail down for so long. She refused to drink until yesterday, so we've been dosing her with water using a syringe from a bottle of children's medicine. She has objected to the procedure, but eventually resigned herself to it.

We wanted to get out and about recently to enjoy the good weather we were lucky enough to have in the UK, but we had a problem. How could we take Star out and about when she is only able to use three legs? Since her cruciate ligament rupture she has been completely lame in her hind right leg. Then we remembered the stroller we bought when she was a tiny puppy. We ordered it before we even brought Star home as we suspected she would never manage to keep up with or cover the distances that Buddy does. We were wrong; once she was about ten months old she has had no problem keeping pace with our Labrador. She did use the stroller when she was little, and we brought it back out to save

POUNDS FOR HOUNDS!

Local lady recruits her Dogs Trust Roden canine companion as personal trainer in run up to London Marathon

Lorna Crawford is all set to run the Virgin London Marathon on April 25th 2010 to raise money for Dogs Trust, the UK’s largest dog welfare charity. Her intensive sixteen week training regime is rather unique as her devoted training partner is Axel, an old Dogs Trust Roden resident!

I'm amazed - and horrified - at the statistics below:

 
Are we really a nation of animal lovers?
A quarter give their pets away when they move home
 

While our beloved pets are always said to be an integral part of the family, almost a quarter of people (24%) admit to getting rid of their pet when they move home.

Unfortunately, the news about Star is not good. She has ruptured her cruciate ligament and will need surgery. After her x-ray we had a difficult conversation with a very nice surgeon who took us through all the options. The good news is that he can give her a functioning knee joint again. The bad news is that it will be a long, slow recovery, and she will have to take things extremely steady over the summer. There could be complications like post-op infections, or problems with the cartilage in the joint, plus the cruciate in the other leg may rupture at some point too.

A ‘PUPPY DOG TAIL’ OF WAGS TO RICHES
Puppy stolen from Dogs Trust Rehoming Centre now resides in grand castle

It’s a tale that should belong in a story book; a puppy that starts his life homeless is taken in by an animal charity only to be stolen in the dead of night by thieves. The puppy is then found on the other side of the country after mysteriously managing to escape from his captors and is then rehomed by a kind family who live in a fairy tale castle.

The puppy in question is Munchie, a lovely Lurcher who was stolen along with his sister from Dogs Trust Evesham Rehoming Centre back in October 2009. Five

When I uploaded this picture of Star it was just because I thought it would accompany a blog post about how she makes herself comfortable and hogs the best seats in the house. However, since I uploaded she has somehow injured herself, so the photo is accompanying a blog post about that instead.

We walked both dogs on some forestry land on Tuesday evening and they both got excited about some exceptionally muddy water they had found. Both dogs raced around, full of the sheer joy of being alive - and being up to the armpits in muddy water. Star