Woof – the blog

We seem be be living in an, increasingly, stressful world. We worry about what people are saying on Facebook, Twitter or any other social media outlet. We worry about what people think about us in any circumstances throughout the day. When considering dog owners, I see more and more people out with their dogs showing […]

Once again, I find myself having to talk about owners not doing the best thing for the dogs in their charge. A couple approached the group of dogs I was with, socializing with Ziggy (my pooch).  The approaching dog was a Setter on a 9 foot, or so, lead.  The owner was, continually, yanking hard […]

‘I don’t understand. My dog is really friendly. Why did that dog try to attack my dog?’  I’m sure, we have all heard similar comments from dog owners. I met a chap with his lively Labrador yesterday.  He used similar phrases to describe an interaction with another owner.  But first, picture a common situation. His  […]

There are thousands of, unfortunate, dogs that need re-homing throughout the U.K.  Many organisations put up dogs for rescue; many are destined to remain in rescue centres for long periods of time. This is a question that troubles me. I wonder, WHY is this the case?  Rescue dogs are of particular interest to me.  I […]

I was chatting to a lady today who was out with her young pup – around 6 months old.  She had been trying to train her dog and to do the right things at home. However, it was proving difficult. Her situation is one that is all too common. Whilst, she was trying to do […]

Over the past week or so, I have met a number of  owners of ‘reactive dogs.’  Two different examples follow. The first person had 2 dogs, one of which was a nervy, mildy reactive terrier.  He’d been attacked a couple of times and now snapped at other dogs.  Therefore, the owner tried to keep him […]

Parliament has just debated whether or not Staffordshire Bull Terriers should be placed on the dangerous dogs register (16/07/2018) . Fortunately, sense won the day and, the petition was rejected. In my opinion, rightly so. This debate was forced by a petition from The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).  They argued that […]

I am staggered by the number of dog owners I see that think it is acceptable to hit their dogs. (I will not be using any pictures in this post — they will be too upsetting for most caring dog owners). I would recommend ‘How dogs learn (Burch MR et al, 1999)” as a good starting point […]

So, we have a bit of a heat wave in the UK. Unfortunately, there are, as usual, many dog owners that do not understand that extreme heat and dogs don’t mix well.