Fussy about the taste and temperature of your drinking water? Well I admit I am and it appears our discerning labrador Toffee is no different!
Toffee recently went off drinking from her bowl in the kitchen. Initially I was concerned that the only drink she was having was from puddles in the park, in plentiful supply on this side of the pond!
it took our five year old who is training to be a spy when he grows up, to figure out what Toffee was up to...She wasn't going thirsty at all, and had simply taken to drinking in the bathroom out of what she clearly thought was a larger dog bowl!
How to discourage this new habit? Well the kids suggested we try putting ice cubes in her water bowl! This takes pet pampering to a new dimension! Of course it worked...Toffee likes her water served cold. I have since discovered that when on holiday with my parents this summer, Toffee preferred bottled mineral water to tap! what next? Perhaps a little slice of lemon?!
Just when you thought the fashion world had been forever lost to size 0 models and 'The Devil Wears Prada' otherworldly humans, pets are now just as likely to be found ON the catwalk as in the designer handbags displayed by the celebrity front row audience!
Tired of being just another fashion accessory for the likes of Paris Hilton, pets are now taking centre stage! Hot on the paws of New York's now annual Pet Fashion Week (held in August and lasting 2 days!), London and Tokyo will be staging their own canine glamour events.
The good news is that the Harrods 'Pet a Porter' show in London will also raise money for the dog welfare charity Dogs Trust, thereby guaranteeing the attendance of the fashion benefit glitterati!
The catwalk will be transformed into a 60 ft long dog-walk, where models and the four-legged runway stars will strut their stuff. The doggy designs will include diamante creations by renowned designers such as Vivienne Westwood! Let's hope she hasn't designed any shoes for their precious paws, or there could be a Naomi Campbell style down dog incident!
There will even be a doggy bag to take home brimming with canine goodies and the puparazzi will of course be covering the celebrity attendance...yes I stole that one and it is pretty bad!
Meanwhile back in my world, the thought of having to dress and accessorise Toffee before setting off (in my not-so-designer track suit) on the morning school run, is quite beyond me! I will leave that to the growing army of pet fashion followers out there! If you are one of them, please keep us up to date here at Paws Connect with your take on the latest trends!
I remember when, aged 12 I first went to boarding school, the heartache of leaving home and my parents was made even worse by having to leave our labrador Shandy behind too. After all, I thought, if you could take gerbils and guinea pigs to school, why not dogs? Somewhat bigger and in need of more exercise, but what better way to share a special friend while making new friends and therefore feeling less homesick? Well of course, head nun would never have entertained the idea...
I was delighted to read in the papers that an enlightened school head has seen the advantages of allowing a dog into the classroom...not to win favour with the children, although he must have scored huge brownie points, but actually with the idea that the nine month old puppy spaniel would help teach the youngsters about responsibility and encourage them to communicate better with their peers!
Apparently this scheme, the first of its kind in Britain, has been well received by child development experts and praised as 'an excellent idea'. According to the headmaster of Rough Hay Primary school, Mark Kleot, rather than distracting the pupils, Betty the spaniel helps them calm down and learn more!
The Headmaster goes on to say 'Betty sits in nine different classes and you can always tell which one she's in because the children are so calm. As teachers, we try to be there for all the children, but inevitably it can get very busy and sometimes a child feels they can't talk to someone. It's at these times that they can talk to Betty and feel she is listening to them and paying them attention. We have four autistic children at the school and she's especially helpful to them. They find it easier sometimes to deal with teachers through Betty.'
It is no secret that children benefit enormously from having pets around. At times a pet is easier to relate to and even confide in! Pets will love them unconditionally without judging or telling tales! They learn that this friendship comes without trade-offs, but with real responsibility!
The upside for the teachers? A happy and concentrated classroom!
Toffee, my 3 year old golden labrador hasn't lost any of her puppy-like social skills, be it with humans or other four legged friends. It is a joy to see her take on any size of dog in the park, in search of a good chase or rough and tumble challenge. Of course this can get her into trouble, as not all dogs (or their parents) are looking for social interaction! Dog speak for "Do you want to play" seems to do the trick most of the time, and to be fair, Toffee takes rejection pretty well.
At home with the kids she is docile, playfull, and endlessly patient and of course competes for attention! This is why I was taken completely by surprise in the park the other day when a seemingly friendly canine encounter with a Jack Russel turned into something resembling dog-rage! Clearly insults were exchanged, Toffee's hackles went up and the next thing I knew, JR went for a full on bite of Toffee's ear! Toffee growled and beared her teeth looking more like a wolf than a soppy labrador...for a moment I thought she would throttle JR...meanwhile the owner started screaming hysterically which didn't really help matters, and luckily I managed to separate them (the dogs that is!) At that point the woman turned her attention to me (not her dog) and delivered a deluge of verbal abuse until a witness came forward and intervened saying her dog had started the fight and mine had naturally defended herself...I decided not to persue the no-win situation and instead get Toffee to the vet for an ear inspection...All was thankfully ok.
I am now aware that even my docile family labrador can turn aggressive, all be it deffensively, and perhaps it is just as well that Toffee now seems to think twice about taking on the park's less sociable dogs! Judging by the reaction I got from JR's owner I should probably follow suit!
Toffee's Woof Blog:
Yes it's true, my hackles do go up at times...it makes me look bigger and I can impress my friends in the park..! By the way I just wanted to let you know that Mummy (i use that name because I am her fourth child you see) should not judge a book by its cover or a dog by its breed!
I know I got into a scrap with a rude Jack Russel the other day, but yesterday I had just the best time with two JRs who even volunteered to share their stick, log actually, with a brilliant tug of war game! Of course you know I didn't want to intimidate them too much, they being so much smaller than me, so I let them win a couple of times and suggested they stick to twigs next time and leave the logs for us big dogs!
So happy you've joined me on Paws Connect and I look forward to getting to know you!
