Who's your favourite dog owning celebrity?
A sad story in the news today is that more than forty Greyhounds are still waiting to be rehomed over a year after the track where they raced shut down. When Walthamstow Stadium was closed, the dogs who raced there for public entertainment suddenly found themselves out of work, and since then have been languishing at Whittingham Kennels, near Waltham Abbey, Essex.
I've just heard the sad news that Gibson, the world's tallest dog has died of bone cancer. You can find out more about Gibson at his website, and you can hear his owner Sandy Hall talking about him in Episode 18 of DogCast Radio.
Sandy Hall was one of those interviewees who really touched my heart. I just felt connected to her somehow. She'd had it rough, with various family members dying, and she'd been poor and lonely. Her dogs kept her going. She clearly adored her dogs and was telling me about some toys she'd bought on sale
How do you spoil your dog? And when is your dog happiest? And what does your dog do that makes you laugh? A new website is celebrating dog being dogs - and they want to hear your stories about your dog. Twenty winners will have the pleasure of seeing their stories in print. If that appeals to you read on:
WANTED: REAL DOGS!
National Survey Reveals More Common Sense Approach to Pooch Pampering
If you love songs about dogs this is for you:
SPOT THE DOG: DOGS TRUST PROMOTES CANINE TUNES ON SPOTIFY
Dogs are often the forgotten casualties of divorce. Obviously the couple splitting up has a lot to deal with, and their priority should be any children involved, but then spare a thought for the dog. He's got used to how things are, and life with his pack. Then all of a sudden for no reason his pack is in pieces, and he may find himself moving house - that's if he's lucky enough no to find himself in a rescue shelter.
How much do you love your dog? Okay, I love my dog more than chocolate - and that's a lot! A new survey (see below) has discovered just how much we do love our dogs - and what it is about them that endears them to us. It's good to know our dogs are so well loved, but we do sometimes run the risk of losing sight of the other humans in our life.
The moves to publicise the dangers of buying a puppy farmed dog are to be warmly welcomed. In the UK the Kennel Club has had a bashing - and I do think that unscrupulous breeding, whether of KC registered dogs or in the squalor of a puppy farm should be exposed. BUT if you discredit KC registered dogs, how are people to know who to trust and who not to? The only answer is to get as much information out there about how to spot a good breeder, and how to recognise a "baddun".
Marc Abraham is on television tonight talking about this issue, here's more detail:
Isn't technology wonderful? (when it's working anyway) Through Twitter I met Paul Keevil, who with Hilary Cheyne, has started the Heritage Dog Breeds website. There is concern at the Kennel Club amongst other places that certain breeds are dwindling numerically.Many of these breeds are long established British breeds, which people are forgetting about with the lure of newly imported foreign breeds. For example, here are some statistics Paul sent me regarding puppies registered with the Kennel Club in 2008:
