The DogCast Radio blog

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. 

It's a slogan that is repeated each year, but sadly it needs repeating:

CANINE CHRISTMAS AT DOGS TRUST RODEN
A reminder that “A dog is for Life, Not just for Christmas®”
Thirty one years on from the birth of its famous slogan “A dog is for life, not just for Christmas®” Dogs Trust, which has 18 Rehoming Centres in the UK and Ireland, is bracing itself for another busy Christmas. 

Well I met Otto the world's official oldest dog today at the Dogs Trust centre at Roden today. When I phoned my Mom and mentioned that, she asked what he was like, and it made me think for a moment, because he was a dog, what did she expect? She clarified - "Was he like an ordinary dog?" I laughed, because yes he was just like an ordinary dog!

He wagged his tail and ran up to his "mom" when she came into the room, and he had a fuss from anyone who wanted to fuss him, and he was generally great -

I'm hoping to meet the oldest dog in the world soon, and if you're anywhere near Shropshire you can too - just for the price of a donation! Here's more info:

WORLD’S OLDEST CANINE, OTTO, VISITS DOG RESCUE CENTRE

- Shropshire’s most famous doggy resident (and Guinness World Record Holder) pays a visit to Dogs Trust Roden