Bits for Pets Blog

ANYONE who has bought a puppy in the last three years is being invited to take part in a national online survey organised by the RSPCA.

Questions include where the puppy came from, how it was advertised, how much it cost and if you’d buy another puppy from the same place. Results will enable the charity to identify if buying a puppy is generally a positive or negative experience.

Justine Pannett of the RSPCA said: “You can pick up a puppy from a newspaper advert, a neighbour, pet shop, farm or breeder, so we’re trying to get a grip on how successful people’s experiences actually are.

“It’s obvious to say, but a puppy is a living creature and this survey will help us determine whether or not these dogs are suffering throughout the experience, or if in general they are treated well.”

Anyone who has bought a puppy in the last three years is encouraged to take part in the survey, which runs until Monday, May 12. It can be found at www.rspca.org.uk/puppysurvey

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Animal welfare organisations expressed concern about a rent-a-dog service introduced in Britain which allows busy people to own part-time pets.

Flexpetz is an American concept enabling dog lovers craving canine companionship to borrow a pet at a cost of £279 for once a week for a month.

Gucci, an 18-month-old Pomeranian, has been the first canine recruit to Flexpetz’s London operation but more are expected to be available in the future.

According to Flexpetz, checks are carried out on potential part-time owners and visits are made to their homes to satisfy them the dog will be cared for.

The introduction of the service is intended to appeal to people who are too busy or who cannot afford the full-time commitment of looking after a dog.

Pippa Woolard, Flexpetz’s UK representative, told the Times: “I like to get to know them before they are accepted and would not allow a dog with anyone who gave me cause for concern.”

But concerns have been raised that passing a dog from one home to another could prove distressing to the animal, leaving it with no routine.

A Dogs Trust spokesman said: “We don’t agree with the principle of renting or loaning out a pet because an animal, and dogs in particular, have a certain bond with its family.

“To remove it from that environment by putting it out to rent is quite distressing and we would actually say detrimental to the well-being of the dog.”

The RSPCA has also registered its disquiet about the scheme, saying that not giving a dog a secure routine could leave it unhappy.

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A world-class guide dog training school has been officially opened in Forfar.

Dogs will come to the new centre at about one year old for initial training before going out to teams around the UK for finishing touches.

There is an outdoor area where dogs can get used to different paving types, traffic lights and obstacles such as bollards, road signs and even a puddle. An indoor section will allow obstacle and agility equipment to be set up for the animals when the weather is bad.

Operators of the centre have said that the design of the kennels is also innovative.

They are set in an “L” shape so that the dogs can see and interact with each other and staff.

The official opening has been carried out by HRH Princess Alexandra.

Guide Dogs chief executive Bridget Warr said: “This is a fantastic day for Guide Dogs as we celebrate the opening of our world-class guide dog training school that supports our position as a world-leader in the breeding and training of guide dogs.

“We also cement our commitment to Angus, and thank Forfar and its residents for all the support they have given us in our 43 years of training guide dogs here.

“Guide Dogs’ top priority for the future is to improve and expand the guide dog service so that it is accessible to everyone who could benefit from a guide dog, in Scotland and across the UK.

“The Guide Dog Training School in Forfar will play a huge and important role in this for many years to come.”

Guide dogs are in constant demand as their working life is only about six years and an owner could have about seven dogs during their lifetime.

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Beechwood Veterinary Hospital is not only helping save the lives of sick pets, it could help save their owners too. The surgery is the first and only place in the country where dogs and people can give blood.

The Doncaster vets has teamed up with the National Blood Service (NBS) and Pet Blood Bank UK (PBBuk) to offer the community the chance to help with these worthy causes.

Mark Straw, veterinary surgeon and associate director said: “I’m a regular blood donor and know how important it is to give. I thought it would be a great if I could do it at work, luckily enough so did the other staff and the owners of our patients. I am proud that Beechwood is now a people and pets lifesaver.”

Mark added: “Once we were on the way to arranging our first NBS visit one of the dogs we were treating needed a transfusion so we made some calls and our first canine session takes place in May.

The NBS sessions take place on the organisation’s bloodmobile which has three beds, health screening booth and the all important tea and biscuit area. The bloodmobile travels to various companies and organisations around South Yorkshire.

Craig Taylor, spokesperson for the NBS, said: “We would thank to thank everyone who gave and remind anyone interested that if you give you will be helping ill patients. Our thanks also go out to everyone at hospital for making us so welcome.”

“This is a real first for the country and it is happening here in Doncaster. It just goes to show how generous all it’s residents are, I’m sure they will have as much support from their doggy donors as well.”

The first visit saw 28 people attending and 22 rolled up their sleeves and gave a pint, including 13 brand new donors. The next for people takes place on Tuesday, 8 April. Four legged donors get their chance on Sunday 18th May.

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A Californian dog-lover has agreed to pay $150,000 to have her dead pit bull recreated in the world’s first commercial pet cloning project.

The dog, named Booger, died a year and a half ago but his owner kept part of his ear in cold storage and South Korean scientists will now attempt to create an exact replica of the pet.

RNL Bio, based in Seoul, said it is already working on the order. The work will be carried out by a team of Seoul National University (SNU) scientists led by professor Lee Byeong-chun, a key member of disgraced stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk’s research team.

Most of Hwang’s well publicised breakthroughs in cloning human stem cells were discovered to be fake last year. But the SNU team was successful in creating the world’s first dog clone, an Afghan hound named “Snuppy”.

Bernann McKunney, the American who really misses her dead dog, is thought to have become especially attached to it after the pit bull saved her life when another dog attacked her.

Specific breeds of pit bull are banned or restricted in several countries including the UK, New Zealand and Canada.

Cho Seong-Ryul, RNL’s marketing director, said the company’s success rate for producing dogs by cloning was high with around one out of every four surrogate mother dogs producing cloned puppies.

Cells have been extracted from Booger’s ear tissue and inserted into ova which were then implanted into eight bitches.

Since Lee and Hwang cloned Snuppy no other scientists have succeeded in creating cloned dogs.

“This will mark the first time that a dog is being cloned in a commercial contract,” Cho said. “The cost for cloning a dog may come down to less than $50,000 as cloning is becoming an industry.”

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Rusty, the obese chocolate Labrador, who hit the headlines a year ago when his owners were found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering, has reached his target weight.

Rusty weighed 74.2kgs, more than twice his ideal weight, when he was removed from his owners in March 2006.

Between March 2006 and January 2007, Rusty lost 24.6kgs in RSPCA care. He was returned to his owners in January 2007 on condition that he did not put the weight back on and remained under the treatment of his veterinary surgeon, Alex Wylie of Eastgate Veterinary Group in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

In December 2007, Rusty finally reached his target weight of 40kgs after receiving a special Royal Canin diet.

Rusty had also been suffering from untreated arthritic conditions, which have eased since his weight loss, and he is receiving arthritis medication donated by Meriel Animal Health Limited.

Rusty’s vet, Alex Wylie, said, “Rusty has made huge progress. We can now feel his ribs and he has a waistline at last. He is a much happier and healthier dog now, his pain is well-controlled and he walks much better than he could before. He can stand for long periods of time and doesn’t tire as easily.

“Prior to his treatment and weight loss Rusty was the most disabled dog I have ever seen in practice. However, he now has a proper life again.

“I honestly think that without the help of the RSPCA, Meriel’s donation and Royal Canin, Rusty would have been put to sleep by now.”

Give your pet a new lease of life and visit: www.petsgetslim.co.uk

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Actor Neil Morrissey has helped launch a national adopt-a-dog campaign which highlights the plight of animals abandoned in rescue homes.

The actor, best known for his role in the TV series Men Behaving Badly, owns a dog from a shelter.

He joined 100 dogs and their owners in a walk from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home to Battersea Park at the launch.

Some 7,800 dogs were put down in the UK in 2007 when homes could not be found for them, the Battersea home said.

Morrissey, whose dog Tiggy was adopted, said: “Tiggy was taken from the Mayhew animal centre in Kensal Rise, she was dumped once, obviously as a pup and then dumped three years later as an adult when we got her.

“The extraordinary thing was she was already chipped and when the shelter phoned the family and said we found your dog, the family said well we don’t want her.”

The actor said more dogs are abandoned during the Christmas period as many new owners abandon the dogs when they get “feisty” or they are unable to take care of them.

In other cases dogs become homeless when owners either move or die, leaving the animal to fend for itself.

“All dogs need training and attention. Never be afraid of a pooch, they can always have their behaviour changed, there are no bad dogs, just bad owners,” said Morrissey.

Helen Baxter from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home said: “We had about 270 dogs coming in just over 10 days over Christmas.

“We would ask please just go to a rescue centre, they are all over the country, take on a dog that is no longer wanted anymore rather than going to a breeder or a pet shop because there are so many great dogs out there at rescue centres.”

The campaign aims to raise £500,000 by the end of March for dog rescue centres across the UK.

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Click Here! to visit Battersea Dogs & Cats Home

A greedy dog who wolfed down 20 competition pies was entered in the eating contest put in jeopardy by his raging appetite.

Charlie, a bichon frise, raided the fridge of 1995 champion Dave Williams while his owner was distracted by a pigeon flying up his chimney.

The contest was saved by frantic calls to bakers for a new batch for the World Pie Eating Championship, in Wigan.

But instead of being in the doghouse for his antics, Charlie was entered.

The dog saw his chance when Mr Williams was busy attending to the pigeon at his home in Preston, Lancashire.

He wolfed down 20 pies and damaged a further 10, organisers said.

Tony Callaghan, owner of Harry’s Bar which stages the competition, said: “Charlie could have jeopardised the whole competition but luckily we managed to get a fresh bake this morning.

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“The twist is that Dave has turned up this morning saying he wants Charlie to enter the contest.

“We’ve nothing in the rules to say dogs can’t compete so he will be lining up against the other pie eaters and judging by his performance yesterday he’s got a great chance of winning.”

However, it seems that Charlie was still full from Wednesday’s mammoth eating session as Mr Williams revealed that he did not even finish his competition pie.

Rescue dog

The winner was 42-year-old Adrian Frost from Wigan who downed his pie in a record-breaking 34 seconds.

Mr Williams said: “Charlie was a rescue dog and has habit of picking food up from the street.

“We think this trait has stuck with him because he never knew where his next meal was coming from as a youngster so there was no way we could be angry with him for eating all the pies yesterday.

“However, it seems that he didn’t have much room for anymore today when the competition was staged.”

Past competitions used to be judged on the number of pies eaten by competitors in a three minute period but after falling victim to the “healthy eating lobby”, the format was changed last year.

A separate vegetarian competition was also introduced after “relentless pressure” from the Vegetarian Society, Mr Callaghan said.

A blind dog that was dumped when he was just five-months-old has been voted the nation’s RSPCA Dog of the Year.

Bullmastiff Oliver fought off stiff competition from five other rescue dogs in the RSPCA Dog of the Year final stealing an impressive 23 per cent of people’s votes.

Oliver was thrown out onto the street by an unscrupulous dog breeder when he was a puppy simply because he had an eye infection. He was found by a dog warden just before Christmas 2005 - thin, distressed and in severe pain from his eye.

Bullmastiff Rescue came to his aid but despite urgent veterinary treatment the infection spread and Oliver ended up losing his sight, and one of his eyes was actually removed. But his luck changed when, after reading his distressing story in the local paper, Julie Harkess and her family decided to give him a chance of happiness and offer him a home.

Now aged two-years, Oliver has overcome his disability and lives a fulfilling life with the Harkess family and their other dog Simba. He even has a special artificial implant in his one remaining eye to give him a normal appearance, even though he cannot actually see through it.

Julie, 38, said: “I can’t believe that Oliver has won the competition! He’s a true inspiration and clearly the rest of the country think he is too. We’re so proud of him. Oliver has been through so much but he’s made such good progress that we forget he’s blind. No matter how down we might feel Oliver always lifts our spirits.

“I just can’t believe that he lost his eyesight simply because his previous owner didn’t want to spend the money on vet’s fees. He’s a huge dog now, weighing 50 kilos, and he’s a huge part of our family. He really deserves to be the RSPCA’s Dog of the Year.”

Commenting on his incredible story of triumph over adversity RSPCA chief vet Mark Evans said:

“All of the finalists are winners but Oliver’s story particularly captured the heart of the nation. He had such a tough start to life but despite everything he’s been through - even losing his eyesight - he’s now such a happy dog. Oliver really does deserve to be the RSPCA’s Dog of the Year.

“Over 17,000 dogs are rehomed from the RSPCA each year and Dog of the Year is a chance for dogs like Oliver, who were once unwanted, to really show just what fun and loving pets rescue dogs can make.”

Sarah Alexander from Dog of the Year sponsor Butcher’s Pet Care said: “We are delighted that Oliver is the winner – he’s got so much character and is a great example of what joy rescue dogs can bring to their owners.

“At Butcher’s Pet Care we believe very strongly in ensuring that dogs lead a fit and healthy life, which is why we are delighted to be working with such a worthwhile charity like the RSPCA. The Dog of the Year competition is a great way to recognise the hardship many dogs have to go through before they find a happy and secure home. We hope that our support can help make a difference.”

Oliver will receive a whole host of prizes including a year’s supply of dog food from Butcher’s Pet Care, RSPCA pet insurance cover for one year and he will get to star on the front cover of leading dog magazine Dogs Today, plus much more.

For more information about RSPCA Dog of the Year or for an RSPCA spokesperson please contact the RSPCA press office on 0300 123 0244/0288.

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The Forestry Commission is running a special event for dog owners in Devon in a bid to encourage them to use its land more sensitively.

The Commission is working together with the Kennel Club after it was estimated that around 30% of visitors to the countryside bring a dog with them.

The event, to be held at Holden Forest, near Exeter, will include dog agility, obedience and fly ball demonstrations.

There will also be a pooch parade featuring an award for “waggiest tail”.

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