Bits for Pets Blog

Dogs in Great Britain will have no excuse for being fat, thanks to a fancy new dog park featuring tunnels, ramps, hoops and hurdles.

Southern Country Park in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, is England’s first public playground for dogs.

The impetus for the park was a study showing that half of the dogs in the UK will be obese in five years, according to The Daily Telegraph .

“The area has been designed to help dogs and their owners keep fit and active,” said local Councilwoman Linda Haysey, whose colleagues approved the dog park at a cost of around $11,000.

Some, however, have a bone to pick over spending thousands on dogs.

“The local council must have gone barking mad to spend thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ cash on this canine attraction,” said Emma Boon, campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance. “Of course dog owners should exercise their pets as part of looking after them, but a run around the park should be sufficient.

The Daily Mail reports that 5 million dogs likely will not live long healthy lives because of problems related to being overweight. The group People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals blames too many owners over-feeding their pets and not exercising them enough.

A study from People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals says the number of overweight dogs has risen from about one in five to more than one in three.

While adults debate the merits of the park, Britain ’s pooches are having a fab time at the site.

The animals leap through a paw-shaped hoop. They negotiate ramps. They zigzag between poles and squeeze through tunnels in the 30-foot play area.

The park’s obstacle course provides dog owners and their canine companions an area and facility where they can exercise and bond.

Click Here! For the full story

Don’t reach for a glass of wine or watch your favourite soap at the end of the hard day.

For research has shown that the most effective way to unwind is to spend time with the family dog.

It has been revealed that a dog’s enthusiasm is infectious and that simply spending time with them leaves owners feeling more relaxed, more optimistic and less preoccupied with everyday worries.

The survey of dog owners also found that walking the dog is the best quality time that can be spent with the family, beating family mealtimes and even holidays.

Television presenter and dog owner Ben Fogle, 36, says his relationship with his dog has brought countless happy memories and also led to him meeting his now wife, Marina.

He said: ‘Having a dog is rewarding in so many ways and I enjoy nothing more than coming home and being greeted by Inca, her daughter Lola, and Maggi.

‘Their enthusiasm is infectious and we feel at ease and more relaxed after spending time with them. They complete our family.’

The poll of 1,000 of the UK’s seven million dog owners, conducted for dog food makers Winalot, showed 55 per cent felt more relaxed after time with their dog, 44 per cent were more optimistic and another 44 per cent were less worried about life’s everyday problems like job security and financial troubles.

Psychologist Dr David Lewis, of Mindlab International, said: ‘You’ve had a tough and stressful day. The boss has been on your case, the children playing up, the shops packed and the traffic bumper-to-bumper.

‘Now all you want to do is relax and unwind. Actually, forget the TV and interact with the dog instead. The research we conducted shows this is a profound and effective stress reducer and increases feelings of contentment and relaxation.’

In addition the survey found that one in four people describe their dog as their best friend and one in six women share their deepest, darkest secrets with their pet alone.

Hundreds of healthy dogs are being killed at the UK’s oldest animal shelter because they are regarded as too dangerous to rehome.

The Battersea Dogs and Cats Home put down 2,815 dogs last year – a third of the total number it took in. The home said 1,931 of the dogs killed had been healthy.

The charity’s director of operations, Scott Craddock, said animal rescue centres were being left to “mop up” stray aggressive dogs. “What people are doing to some of these dogs and the state they are coming in to us is completely unacceptable,” he told the BBC’s Panorama.

Bull breeds and bull breed crosses – many of them Staffordshire bull terriers – account for more than half of Battersea’s long-term residents. The number coming into the shelter has soared from 396 in 1996 to 3,600 last year, a rise attributed to their popularity as so-called status dogs. They are prized for their aggressive looks and similarity to pit bulls, which are banned under the 1991 Dangerous Dogs Act.

Craddock said many of them had to be kept in individual kennels, cutting down space available at the shelter.

It is the first time since the mid-1990s that Battersea has released details of the number of healthy dogs destroyed.

The home does not turn away stray or unwanted dogs and rehomes or returns about 5,000 a year. But the RSPCA said the sheer volume of discarded dogs had forced it to focus instead on those at risk of cruelty.

The RSPCA’s Tim Wass told the BBC it killed 533 healthy dogs last year and blamed “uncontrollable breeding, the lack of responsibility and the lack of duty of care” for the problem.

A University of Bristol survey published this year found there were 10.5m dogs in Britain in 2006. There has been increasing concern over status dogs, with more than a hundred people a week admitted to hospital after dog attacks.

This year Labour while still in power abandoned plans to make dog owners buy compulsory insurance against their pets attacking someone after protests it would only be paid by responsible owners.

Battersea, the Metropolitan police and the RSPCA are lobbying government to introduce a dog registration or licences.

Click Here! For the full story

Dog breeders in Northern Ireland have called for proper regulation of their industry and for the Department of Agriculture to ban people convicted of cruelty from keeping animals.

Canine Breeders of Ireland, which represents 600 breeders, said government vets should be made responsible for animal welfare and given powers to deal with unscrupulous puppy farms.

Giving evidence to the assembly’s agriculture committee, the canine group said ‘puppy farm’ was a derogatory term which the public associated with unregulated breeders who treated dogs cruelly.

The group said its members were proud of the pups they produced and that their premises were open to inspection by councils.

Committee members were invited to inspect a breeding establishment in County Fermanagh where pups are reared for the market in Britain.

Dog welfare

Owner David Hamilton said it was time government recognised the financial contribution made by the dog breeding industry to the local economy.

“This is a licensed breeding establishment and I think people need to understand that a puppy farm is somewhere where animals are treated badly, where there are welfare issues and where they are exploited.

“That is certainly not the case here, and I’d say that is not the case in the vast majority of licensed breeding establishments.”

The breeders group said the introduction of new animal welfare legislation provided an opportunity to place the responsibility for dog welfare with Department of Agriculture vets.

The committee asked whether breeders were contributing to welfare problems by producing so many pups and thereby adding to the number of strays councils have to deal with.

More than a third of all the UK’s stray dogs are in Northern Ireland, where 7,400 animals were recovered by wardens last year.

The breeders group said pups produced by its members were high-value animals which were mostly exported to Britain and that few, if any, end up in dog shelters.

Click Here! To view the full story

A dog from Shropshire has been crowned the world’s oldest canine, which his owners have put down to a “wholesome diet of Sunday dinners and vegetables”.

Otto Jones, a Dachshund terrier cross from Reabrook, Shrewsbury, is 20 years and eight months old.

He has been recognised as the oldest living dog by Guinness World Records and despite his age still enjoys playing ball with neighbours’ children.

His owners Lynn and Peter Jones said he was a “loveable, affectionate rogue”.

The couple have had him since he was a puppy.

He is a bit deaf, but apart from a few grey whiskers and a touch of arthritis they said he was fit and healthy.

“The only thing I can put it down to is plenty of good wholesome food. He loves his Sunday dinners and his vegetables,” Mrs Jones said.

His owners said the children in his street regularly call for him to play.

“Nothing seems to faze him,” Mrs Jones added.

Otto, who is a single bachelor, is due to be feature on the Paul O’Grady Show on Channel 4 next month and has also been invited to open a dog show.

Click Here! For the full story

A family have thought of a novel way to find their dog by trying to lure him home with their urine.

Louise and Jonathan Baltesz are squirting their own smells over trees and lampposts in the hope Simon will smell it and follow the trial home.

Mr Baltesz, 44, an Interior designer, admitted they would do ‘anything’ to get their beloved black Labrador back.

The desperate couple consulted a canine behavioural expert who advised them to ‘mark’ neighbouring territory with their own wee.

The pair and their children Henry, 15, and Clara, 13, have begun filling bottles with their diluted urine before sprinkling it in the streets to lay a trail back home.

And Incredibly, a small army of friends and volunteers have helped them spread the scent around the upmarket suburbs of Redland, Clifton and Cotham in Bristol.

Teacher Louise, 43, said: ‘He’s been a little bit of a rogue just lately and we think the reason he’s gone missing is that he’s started to get greedy around bins and picnics and barbecues.

‘The whole family is really worried about him and it might seem bizarre and a bit embarrassing but we’ve started laying a scent trail on lampposts and trees.

‘That’s worked for other people in the past we are so desperate to find Simon that we are willing to try anything to help him come back home.

‘We have laid out a map of our local area and marked every sighting of him on it. Then we lay a scent trail back home from each point.

‘Our urine is diluted because dogs have an incredibly powerful sense of smell but he hasn’t come back yet and we miss him so much.’

The Baltesz family have had Simon, who went missing on Saturday, since 2001 when he was rehomed with them after being abused as a puppy.

The dog, who has never gone missing before and is microchipped, has been spotted in the Clifton, Cotham and Henleaze areas of Bristol.

Mrs Baltesz, who has two other pet dogs, reported the sightings to missing pet website www.doglost.co.uk who suggested using their urine to help him find his way home.

Louise, added: ‘The house is so quiet without him. He’s a bit of a special dog because he was a rescue animal and it took us ages to rehabilitate him.

‘He’s unusual for a Labrador because most are friendly and approachable but he was so badly treated he doesn’t trust anyone except us. We are really attached to him.’

Jane Hayes, founder of www.doglost.co.uk, today recommended mixing water and urine in equal parts to create the perfect scent trail.

She said: ‘A dog’s sense of smell is 3,000 times more potent than ours and where we recognise each other visually they do it by smell.

‘That’s why when dogs meet one another they start by smelling behinds and even though we aren’t aware of it they recognise humans in the same way.

‘Even though people are often shocked when they first hear about it laying a urine trail really works because if a dog is lost they rely on their nose to get home.

‘As soon as Simon picks up the smell of his owner’s scent he will know he is not far away from home.’

A spokesman for Avon and Somerset police today revealed they have not yet received any complaints about the unusual search for Simon.

‘Urinating in the street is obviously an offence but a major part of that is the whole act of exposing yourself in public – it’s not just the spraying of urine.’

Click Here! for the full story