I was reminded by a friend today of how the real despair of loosing your pet, can be soemtimes miraculously reversed with the help of the microchip tracker.  This story is incredible but true!  A veterinary nurse was reunited with her lost dog, seven years after it went missing! She had moved to a new house 200 miles away from where she lived with her lurcher puppy named Rhia, and had all but given up hope of being reunited with the lost puppy. Luckily she had remembered to register her new address with the microchip tracker data base. Out of the blue the nurse received a call from staff at Battersea Dogs home in London after the dog was handed in at the shelter. Needless to say she rushed to London to be reunited with Rhia, how emotional that must have been, but after such a long wait, who wouldn't have shed tears of joy!

Well this is the latest news about British breeds.  According the the Kennel Club. some of the most well known types could become extinct in the U.K. The Club's 2007 Endangered list is quite surprising since it includes some real classic breed such as the Bloodhound, the Irish red and white setter, the field spaniel, greyhound and the Cardigan dorgis, the latter being closely related to the Pembrokeshire corgis favoured by the Queen.

Who to blame, well if dog owners really do copy celebreties, and how sad is that, then look no further that the likes of Paris Hilton and her chihuahua! With many such as Spice girl Geri Haliwell opting for a small dog, it appear that registrations of traditional breed puppies have dropped enough for the Kennel Club to warn about a real danger of extinction in the U.K.  The trend for the pint sized pooch that fits in a designer hand bag is quite different: The Chihuahua's popularity has sent prices soaring so that a puppy can cost up to £2.000 (not far off $4,000) which is about five times the average for a pedigree!!  Other so called teacup breeds such as the pug,pomeranian and the shitzu are also enjoying high popularity stakes.  How real is the celebrity impact? Well Caroline Kisko of the Kennel Club is quoted as saying 'Celebreties seem to have a huge impact on which breeds are deemed popular each year, we are working alongside breed clubs to keep these great British breeds from extinction. It's essential that we do all we can to protect these breeds so that people can discover what great characters they are.'

One British classic is fighting back from the 'big dog' corner: the bulldog it seems is considered a fashionable canine companion! 

Most of the time, animal shelters around the world are desperately looking for  adopters who can give a good home and plenty of love to an abandoned pet or one that needs to be rehoused for whatever reason. Luckily many fantastic people out there, you may be one of them, follow this path and adopt!  This is why an ad with the headline 'Dogs needed' caught my eye. the ad went on to ask 'Could you donate a puppy or a young dog to become a hearing dog.' This ad was for a U.K based charity called Hearing Dogs, that trains dogs between the ages of eight months and three years to alert deaf people to everyday household sounds. The majority of dogs in the scheme come from rescue centres but many are gifted by people who for various personal reasons were unable to keep their beloved pets but donated them to the Hearing Dogs charity knowing that they would have good homes and become the invaluable companion to a deaf person.

The demand for hearing dogs is increasing and because of the specific requirements for training, up to three years of age, and of course a suitable temperament,  organisations like Hearing Dogs can't only rely on shelters! They need to recruit suitable candidates from a broader field of pet owners like us!  Spread the word and check if you have any local organisations or charities doing this kind of fantastic work with dogs. A hearing dog clearly can transform a deaf person's life by boosting their security, confidence and independence. what an incentive!

Bye for now! Catrina

 

 

 

 

If you love chocolate like me, then the chances are your dog will never be far away when you give in to that need for emergency chocolate! (An enterprising marketeer even brought out a bar called 'Emergency Chocolate', even better when kept in the fridge! ) Anyway a useful health reminder is that you should never feed a dog chocolate as it is toxic to their systems- I read that 3 oz of chocolate can kill a medium sized dog and white chocolate is particularly poisonous!  So that's one treat you should keep to yourself...not so difficult!  Just as well then that Toffee our labrador,eats apple as if it were the finest Belgian chocolate!

Would any avid readers out there be interested interested in a Paws Connect book club? With so many pet related books and magazines being published throughout the year, it would be great to know what's worth reading...so fact or fiction, or just fun, let us know what you would recommend or avoid for that matter! I have finally got around to reading "Marley and Me" by John Grogan, which was a #1 New York Times Bestseller. Couldn't resist the cover when passing through the airport...a very scientific approach to buying a book! Look forward to reading your reviews! Catrina