The DogCast Radio blog

I met and interviewed Dr. Roger Mugford at his Train and Behave Week. He’s a real character who’s lots of fun and not afraid to speak his mind. He’s also passionately committed to dogs; his own and those whose owners appeal to him for training or legal help. He is extremely likeable in person.

Roger invented the Halti, and sells many variations on a Kong theme. You can find his website at www.companyofanimals.co.uk

Here’s some thoughts from Roger about Crufts and the contribution of showing to the development of dogs:

Sometimes you encounter a person who restores your faith in human nature, and Emma Foxall is such a person. She is the woman who heard about a Golden Retriever puppy with a heart condition. His name was Alfie, and his owners knew they couldn’t meet the costs of his treatment, and advertised him on the Internet. Emma knew she had to help him, and she did.

Episode 78 of DogCast Radio is now available. It includes the second part of veterinarian Paula Terrifaj’s interview about how you can spend less on your dog at the vet. Do you know what the single most significant step you can take to do that is? Paula does! – and she’ll let you in on the secret.

Usually when you're walking your dog, any thoughts of a toilet nature are concerned with what the dog is doing. Sometimes, however, the "call of nature" is speaking to you, and at that point if you're out alone with your dog, just what do you do?

It's Buddy's birthday today. He is six years old, and I can't believe that the tiny black bundle we brought home, it seems like not so long ago, is definitely all grown up. Well, physically anyway, at heart he is still a mischievous puppy, and is still full of energy, and I wouldn’t have him any other way!

In the last year he has tried many things for the first time – agility, heelwork to music, and obedience classes and competitions, and taken them all in his stride. He has also passed his Bronze, Silver, and Gold Kennel Club Good Citizen awards.

I’ve just spotted in the news that John Schneider – remember him as the blond brother in the original Dukes of Hazzard show? – has had his two dogs stolen.

He had bought two puppies as Christmas presents for his children, and he had left them in his car, which was then stolen. Though the car has been recovered the puppies are still missing. The puppies are ten week old Yorkshire Terriers.

How many dogs do you walk? I’m usually accompanied by two, which I can just about manage, except when I have to juggle two leads in one hand, and open and use a poop bag, and at the moment avoid dropping my gloves in the aforementioned poop!

Sometimes blogs should carry warnings. Last Saturday I was catching up with my blog reading, and was working my way through my “favourites”. I was bemoaning the fact that one dog blog I regularly read hasn’t been updated since mid-October, while I opened the next blog, which was Stephen Foster’s. (http://walkingollie.wordpress.com/) I found myself looking at a post titled Leaving Ollie, and immediately alarm bells rang.

Keeping an eye on dog-related news items is part of compiling DogCast Radio, and it seems there have been some unusual mishaps recently.

If you have a dog with a penchant for running away, the Retrieva collar might be of interest to you. I remember interviewing a representative of the company at Crufts 2008 and thinking what a well thought out product it was. Not only does it let you track your dog, it is tamper proof, and will withstand water should your dog take a swim while wearing it.

So not only will it help if your dog simply wanders off, but it should help cut down on the number of dogs stolen. And that can only be a good thing.