My dogs’ reactive – it’s a thing…
My dogs’ reactive – it’s a thing… I have touched on ‘reactive dogs in the past. I am prompted to touch on the subject again. Increasingly, people are asking on social media for places were they can exercise their dogs away from other dogs. The reason usually given is that their dogs are ‘reactive’ so […]
Training worries
Training worries… or when training becomes coercion or dominance of our dogs I’ve touched on current training practices on a number of occasions. One or two things in recent days prompted me to write a few words. The use of treats is an issue for me. The ‘modern’ trend seems to be too bribe a […]
a dog’s life…
A dog’s life… We lost Ziggy to cancer last week. Over the past few days, I have been thinking about her life with us. My conclusion is that it was fantastic, both for her and us. She lived life to the full. In the six years with us, Ziggy had a ball. There was never […]
Ziggy – beautiful life…
The ‘Prettiest Star’ shines bright in the sky tonight. My beautiful, furry, companion Ziggy, passed yesterday. She was spared the ravages of suffering from a malignant tumour. She was nine years old.
Raw diets – worth the risk?
Raw diets – worth the risk? I’ve written about this subject before. More and more I meet owners who extoll the virtues of raw food. However, this is a controversial area with little research done into the safety of this approach. My vet, for instance, would not dream of it. Unfortunately, there is much written […]
Tell tail signs…
Tell tail signs… This is a subject that I have touched upon before. It is, however, worth looking at again. I witnessed a situation, today, escalate rapidly into a multi-dog melee. I stopped to chat with a lady with her two dogs. We saw another couple approaching with their young Border Collie. She mentioned to […]
Harmful ‘training’…
Harmful ‘training’… I read this article on the BBC news site – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56351693 It talks about the growing number of youtube channels that focus on ‘dog training.’ Many of these promote outdated and harmful methods of ‘training’ our dogs. Indeed, many of the methods employed are just cruel. There are also a number of mainstream […]
A quiet approach…
A quiet approach… My better half Sue, First in the Q, works with highly stressed people. We often discuss elements of our work. There are, often, striking similarities in how we approach humans and dogs, in my case. Sue holds an MSc in Mindfulness and is always seeking to develop her skills further. She sent […]
Impact of lockdown on our dogs…
How has lockdown affected our dogs? I touched on the subject of lockdown and our dogs awhile back. I was interested in reading a piece by The Dogs Trust ((Christley et al., 2021)) published in Animals. It makes some interesting points. Although it is based on a questionnaire covering the first lockdown during March-May 2020, […]
When is it too old to have a dog?
As we get older, we need to evaluate our capabilities and, think carefully about the type of dog we can cope with.