The DogCast Radio blog

Life has been very busy the last few weeks, and one of the things keeping Buddy and me busy has been rehearsing with the Safe and Sound team, getting ready for Crufts. Safe and Sound is an excellent scheme run by the Kennel Club to promote the correct and safe way to behave around dogs. We will part of the Safe and Sound displays in the main arena at Crufts on the Saturday and Sunday of the show.

Does your dog have a look all of his own? Does he attract attention for his appearance? If so maybe he could win himself and you some goodies:

BRITISH ECCENTRICS UNITE AS THE SEARCH FOR BRITAIN’S NEXT TOP DOG MODEL IS ON!

Forget Vivienne Westwood and Kate Moss, it’s Hawkshead country clothing retailer that’s causing a stir in the British fashion world, canine that is, as a nationwide search launches to find this season’s most fashionable and eccentric pooch.

Here's a nice idea from Dogs Trust:

AND THEY CALL IT PUPPY LOVE…….”
Sponsor a Dogs Trust rescue dog this Valentine’s Day

Faithful, really cute and remembers to send you a Valentine’s card. No, it’s not your knight in shining armour, but a Dogs Trust sponsor dog looking for the perfect partner this February 14th.

The snow seems like a distant memory now, but when it was here Buddy and Star had an encounter with a snowman. Just as they had got used to the field across the lane from us being covered in cold wet white stuff, the local children built a snowman. This was something new, an odd development in a usually flat area, and had to be carefully approached. It was interesting to watch their reactions.

They both noticed it as soon as we entered the field, and there was a slight stiffening in both their body language.

p>I've just received the email below from Dogs Trust. If anyone could offer Ivy a home the contact information is at the bottom of the text. What a poor little pup - hope she finds someone special to love her. Here's the email:

Staff at Dogs Trust Darlington, Co Durham, have launched an urgent appeal to dog lovers in the North East to foster a beautiful, partially blind and deaf puppy in their care.

Ivy, a white Whippet cross, was born at the rehoming centre in October. While the three month old pup’s six siblings have found homes, little Ivy was not so lucky.

I went to a training session of the Carry Ons Flyball Team yesterday to research for an article and get some interviews for DogCast Radio. It was fascinating and a lot of fun and I'm grateful to the team to having us there. One thing I noticed was how excited the dogs get when a race is on - the noise level went through the roof, but as soon as the race was over peace descended again. And those dogs are so fast. They race in faster and slower teams, but the difference between them is only around a couple of seconds.
 

You may have heard the interview with Lynn Jones in Episode 101 of DogCast Radio. I met Lynn, her husband Peter and their lovely dog Otto just before Christmas. Otto had been officially recognised as the oldest dog in the world, and they were all at Roden Dogs Trust to help raise funds for the charity.
 

Okay, this one is going to cause disagreement and discord, but will it do any good for dogs in the long run? Enforced microchipping is controversial, but I can't help thinking it would solve many problems - dog theft not the least of them. It would of course also allow the tracing of dogs back to breeders, so if health issues keep cropping up with dogs from a particular source, it will be evident and provable. Puppy farms are an obvious evil and must be stamped out one way or another.

Puppy farms or mills exploit dogs and inflict dreadful suffering on them in the process. There is no justification for buying from a puppy farm - it doesn't rescue dogs, it just lines the pockets of unscrupulous people. So how do you make sure you don't give your money to a puppy farmer? Dogs Trust has advice:

CHARITY WARNS PUBLIC IS BEING DUPED INTO BUYING ‘FARMED’ DOGS

Your dog can lose weight and have fun:

The Company of Animals’ Wins Award for Battling the Bulge in Dogs

Underlining The Company of Animals commitment to help battle the bulge in UK’s dogs its multi-award winning Tornado interactive dog ‘brain-teaser’ recently scooped another award as one of the “Top Pet Fitness and Weight Loss Products of 2009” by the Association for Pet Obesity in the USA.