The British Kennel Club has come in for a real mauling recently, and consequently more and more organisations have bailed out of Crufts 2009. I think the real question here is not can we live with the Kennel Club, but more can we live without it?

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.