Now that Halloween has been and gone, it's officially okay to talk about Christmas as recognised by the British Society of Widely Acknowledged Unspoken Rules. Brace yourself for mince pies with every meal, "Driving Home for Christmas" blasting out of every stereo and chocolate bars so small you accidentally inhale three without even noticing. Only 50 days to go. Plenty of time to stock up on shower gel gift sets and novelty Justin Bieber calendars for your loved ones. Lucky, lucky loved ones. It is also the time when bored animals left alone at home get up to mischief.






Aaaaargh! my dog has eaten something and needs to go to the vet! 
The Chair Leg… The Rubbish bin… Your New Shoes!

Sometimes, an adult dog who has never done anything wrong may suddenly surprise you with an oral foray into the forbidden and when it does, anything it finds is fair game.
This may be a stress response to something environmental happening in your absence, such as a burglar trying to break into your home, loud equipment working in the street in front of your house, or stray foxes screeching, yipping and romping through your back garden and the dog can't get to chase them. Sometimes even something like a compelling need to urinate or defecate can stress a well-trained dog into inappropriate chewing. By telling them off for chewing your prized Jimmy Choos or leaving a gigantic puddle in the middle of the floor merely makes them more stressed.  Its hard, I know, not to bellow "Look what you've done? You wicked dog." You have to glare at them and not utter a cross word but dogs are intuitive and they can sense your disapproval.  Will it stop them? Nah! they will do it again when you least expect them to! 

If you can determine the nature of what is stressing him, you can perhaps control or remove the cause, and maybe your dog will quickly revert to his prior good behavior. That's easier said than done because I know of a 6 year old dog who will suddenly decide to munch on something inappropriate. His last munch was a pack of 21 tea lights left on top of a chair in the hall. We went out and said the usual phrase: "Now you be good and look after the house. We'll be back soon." When we got back 2 hours later, the floor was littered with little metal pins and containers but no tea lights. A panic call - half an hour before closing time on a Bank Holiday weekend - we whisked him to the vet who gave him a shot to make him throw up. The urgency for medical attention on this particular occasion was because, as the vet explained, is that when wax softens in the bowel it forms a sausage then can't go around the U bend in the gut. When that happens -without urgent medical attention- it is instant doom for the dog.
A return to inappropriate chewing may be a result of inactivity and pent-up energy. I see many dogs going out with a walker in the afternoon but I often see these people sitting on a bench making long telephone calls while the poor, frustrated dogs are sitting patiently under the bench. There are a good number of these people in the parks who get paid but don't actually walk the dogs. That restrained energy has to go somewhere - and for some dogs, it goes right to their jaws. The solution here is a renewed commitment to provide adequate exercise, with the addition, perhaps, of mental exercise into your dog's daily routine.
On the other hand, some dogs simply get a buzz from ripping out the innards from soft toys, eating socks, tissue paper and anything else that comes near the mouth. It just feels soooooooo good at the time. 
The best solution of course, is for you to put away all your prized possessions and make sure that there is nothing that looks interesting enough to chew.  A big tripe bone or a Kong toy stuffed with goodies helps until its time for a zzzzzzzz.

PUP TRIVIA....................................................................................................................................
Each day in the park, groups of middle eastern people scream, dodge and get agitated when they approach dogs going about their own business. Muslim reticence concerning dogs is perhaps due to the fact that rabies has always been endemic in the Middle East and they consider dogs to be dirty animals.

Now here's something you didn't know. The shape of a dog’s face suggests how long it will live. Dogs with sharp, pointed faces that look more like wolves typically live longer. Dogs with very flat faces, such as bulldogs, often have shorter lives.

                            Here's a nice heart warming video of animals hugging humans.                                                    
                                   

                                                                 
                                                                 You wanna hug?  


That's it until the next blog. Wrap yourself up warm, put fleece on all your tender plants and get ready for winter.

                                                                Dawn (''')

 DOES YOUR DOGGIE SUFFER FROM BOOGERS?
 

"Boogers" is one of those slang words for eye gunge that collects around your dog's eyes every morning. The technical name for boogers is Rheum but since none of us go around saying "My dog's got Rheum!" we use terms such as yukky eyes, sleep, gunge, snoort and boogers.

Eye mucus in dogs is normal and can be caused by a number of things ranging from dust, viruses or allergies and apart from looking dirty and unsightly, is not harmful to the dog. However, excessive discharge (especially when it's yellow or yellow-green) could be a sign of an infection, glaucoma or other eye problems — and in the worst case scenario, it could mean a brain or nerve injury.

The most effective and easiest way to clean your dog's boogers is by using baby wipes every morning. This stops the gunk from congealing and becoming a hard crust at the corners of the eyes.  Sometimes if you leave it too long, it becomes hard and can be painful for the dog when you start using your finger to pick it off.  Warm water and cotton wool is the least painful way to get it off. 

Another way to keep your eyes clean is by smearing a light coating of Vaseline under the eyes and this stops the boogers from congealing into a hard crust.

Daily boogers are not harmful and since dogs are not kitted out with sun glasses, it simply means that the dog is picking up dust and other pollutants on its daily walk.

********************************************************************************
Pup yap trivia.................

The hot weather brings out all things jumping and itchy.  Creatures nearest to the ground, of course, are dogs, so fleas and ticks can sense a nice warm body passing by and hitch a lift.  Make sure you have dabbed Advantage or other flea repellents on your dog to not only kill off the fleas but the eggs too.  A good holistic way to repel ticks and fleas is by dabbing lavender oil along your dog's back down to the top of the tail.

Did you know that one of the best ways of removing a tick is to put a drop of lavender oil on it. It detaches itself off the body and moves away fast. Its probably the fastest you will ever see a tick move! That way you  don't run the risk of pulling it off and leaving the mouth still attached. Another good method is to put a blob of cooking oil on the tick. This suffocates it and it drops off but the risk is that you don't know where it ends up and you could find a squashy bloodied mess somewhere.

                                                     Something to make you chuckle!

If you enjoyed reading my blog, pass it onto other doggy people. Meanwhile stay fresh and cool! I'll be back with the next blog in August.

                                                        Dawn ("..")

ISN'T IT HEARTBREAKING WATCHING YOUR BELOVED PET GETTING OLDER AND OLDER AND DEAFER BY THE DAY?

   
If we're lucky enough to have them live to old age, there comes a point when most of our canine companions begin to lose their hearing and may eventually become deaf. It's painful to watch a beloved dog become less and less responsive to their environment because they are unaware of what's going on around them, and even more so when it limits your ability to communicate with them. The thought of a hearing-impaired dog wandering off and not being able to hear your calls is frightening and frustrating. I speak from experience as I am the owner of a 16 year old profoundly deaf and now going blind Cocker Spaniel. She frequently follows the first pair of legs that crosses her eye line and then goes after them at some speed. I then have to run as fast as I can to catch up with her and guide her back on the lead.

Here are some things you can do if your dog's hearing and sight isn't what it used to be:

Use hand signals. Now that my dog has reached the old-age-can't-hear stage I appreciate having taught her basic hand signals as well as verbal cues. Since dogs communicate primarily through body language, hand signals are easy to teach, especially if you do it when your dog can still hear well. As your dog ages, it's a great opportunity to expand your visual cue vocabulary.And, of course, a pocketful of treats goes a long way in the training session.

One of the more common sense ways to make sure they don't lose sight of you is by
carrying a little flashing light. I am currently carrying a flashing red light - the type that is used on a bicycle. It works a treat and the dog can spot me in a crowd of people.

Keeping them on a long extendable lead will stop them from wandering off and gives them the freedom and stimulus to sniff out and read those all important dog blogs and pee mails.

Run interference at home.
This is all about management. If you have a multi-dog household, one or more of your other dogs may get irritated when your geriatric pal doesn't respond quickly enough because they don't hear them, and therefore don't look and notice the other dogs' body language.

Try and prevent encounters that cause tension due to this lack of hearing and subsequent lack of response. This also includes keeping potential problem dogs separated when you are not at home. Like toddlers they can fight and squabble. They pick on the old one and it all ends in tears!

Food
Elderly dogs often get beaten up by fitter dogs at meal times. They will intimidate an older dog by  standing near by and staring intensely at them, making the old dog back away from their dish of food. This gives the other dogs a chance to gobble the food.  Separate the elderly dog from the others at meal times to give them a fair chance of getting something to eat.

Tender loving care
I don't need to spell this out but some TLC goes a long way in making your geriatric dog's twilight years as comfortable and enjoyable as possible.
 

Trivia..........belated Happy Birthday, HRH Queen Liz! (from the author of this blog).
 
There are lots of things to love about the Queen. 91 years, in fact. Which is a pretty lucky considering that last week on 21st April, she celebrated her 91st birthday. You can read the full list of her admirable qualities in all the newspapers and magazines but these are my personal highlights:
She always dresses like she's ready to crash a wedding
She's great at opening bridges and cutting ribbons
She has an excellent grumpy face
She can punish people for eating swans
She loves a good flutter on the gee gees
Tell me of any 91 year old who goes horse riding

This is especially for all those cat lovers out there who complain that I never post anything about cats!

Have an enjoyable April/May and if you are going on holiday, have a wonderful time.

                                                                 Dawn (...)

HOW FLUENT ARE YOU IN DOG SPEAK?
Your dog tries many times to tell you something but you are either not listening or just not tuned in enough to pick up the signals.

For instance, when your dog dog wags its tail in a circular fashion while seemingly smiling at you with bright eyes, that says "I really love you and I am happy with what you just said/gave me/showed me." Many times Ive heard people remark that their dog is happy when what I can see is a totally different message coming through.

If you are chatting and gabbing away to people in the park or the street, your dog barks incessantly. This is telling you to "Stop! let's get on with it. I'm bored. c'mon! c'mon! hurry up" and the owner usually pats dog on head and says "Shush! he always does this when I am talking to people." instead of putting up one hand, palm towards dog to indicate  "In a minute!"

Other Things Your Dog Does When He's Trying To Tell You Something.

It's common for dog owners to refer to themselves as their pets' parents, and there's a kind of logic to that. When you do this, you're telling people that you love and care for your dog as you would your own children.
But a lot of parents could tell you there's another element to this too. Much as with kids, you can love your pets and not understand them at the same time. But while parents might be confused about whatever hip new phrase their kid keeps spouting, they have the luxury of otherwise speaking the same language.

Not so with pet owners. So until someone finally invents a dog-to-human translator, you're going to have to learn to read your dog's body language.
With that in mind, here are a few common behaviours dogs will show around their owners and what they could mean.

Constant eye contact.  

Now, this one depends a lot on how the dog is looking at you. But if her expression is normal and she's staring into your eyes, it's a pretty powerful way of showing affection.  Researchers in Japan found a link between this eye contact and increased levels of oxytocin, a hormone that affects how we express attachment and nurturing qualities.

Bringing things to you. 

You might think that he/she wants to play fetch, especially if they are bringing you a toy. What your dog may be doing instead is giving you a 'prezzie'. It's apparently a leftover of the dog's hunting instincts, only he's bringing you something he thinks you'll like or need instead of dead prey.

Raising one paw in the air while crouching down. 

If your dog is doing this while focusing with her head down, you might want to get out of her way. It means she's getting ready to pounce on some prey, usually a bird or another on-coming dog.

Hunching over and making himself look small or rolling onto its back. 

This means that the dog is scared, showing submission and doesn't want to do something you have ordered him to do. If you meet a dog who does this without any good reason, there's a good chance he gets yelled at often or was been set upon by a bigger dog when it was a puppy.  (This sign is awful for the owner who has to constantly explain that they have never lifted a finger to the dog in anger or beat them!)

Trivia ............
Hands up if you already knew this! 
In Iran, it is against the law to own a dog as a pet. However, if an owner can prove the dog is a guard or hunting dog, this restriction doesn’t apply. Muslim reticence concerning dogs is perhaps due to the fact that rabies has always been endemic in the Middle East.  (So that's why, middle east visitors to the park run a mile when approached by dogs).

Every dog owner will relate to this video clip. Dog doesn't want to leave park. Have you noticed how your own dogs suddenly looks brow beaten, shoulders down, with a hang dog expression as they trot back to the car?

Have an enjoyable March and wrap up warm as Spring hasn't been told that we have more freezing weather to come!

                                                              Dawn (.^.)

HAPPY NEW YEAR! (albeit a bit late).

Welcome to the end of the second week of 2017. How is everyone feeling? Bright and bushy of tail? Or much more scowly and with a thinly repressed urge to punch everyone in the face? This fresh, frigid, brave New Year has taken me, for one, by surprise. I have been sleepy and stumbling about, feeling dazed and unsteady of limb; liverish, odd, in a weird and fuzzy sort of fog. Inertia did set in big time hence no blog until today. There was nothing to do but wait for it all to pass. In the meantime I have nibbled on leftover selection packs, turkey and ham sandwiches, crimble cake, mince pies (they never taste the same do they after Christmas?), while watching old black and white movies, the wonderful musical, "Singin' in the Rain" and other films made in more innocent times.

Just as all New Years - 2017 is no different - have to start on a health kick, here are one or two that could be good for your dog. And I bet they had many a delicious scrap of food fall off the table that's not done their digestive systems any good!

DID YOU KNOW THAT HONEY CAN BE GOOD FOR YOUR DOG?   

Those little bees certainly know a thing or two about the health giving properties of the sweet, gooey stuff that they manufacture. Ive never heard of a bee suffering from coughs and colds or getting the itches, so let's learn a thing or two from them.

Honey is terrific for humans but it is also known to improve allergies in dogs, soothe kennel cough, help dogs' digestive systems and more! There is the argument that raw honey is better than processed honey. The only difference is price and the fact that raw honey is strained to remove debris, but that's it. Yes! of course, processed honey, is manufactured with heat, that thins and dilutes many of its beneficial attributes but having said that, honey is honey and still has magic properties that shouldn't be ignored.

Here are some good uses for giving dogs honey.

Coughs: I have often used diluted honey to cure my dog's cough caused by a collapsed trachea,when she does a late night revolting sounding"Citizen Khan-clearing-of-the-throat" noises.  I make up a solution of teaspoon of honey with warm water to thin it out, a couple of squirts of lemon juice and administer it at the side of the mouth with a plastic syringe (you can get one from the vet). Keep this solution in a small plastic tub and use whenever you need some.  Best to keep it in the fridge as the natural sugar in the honey mixture goes mouldy with a green skin on top if left out at room temperature.  If this happens, just skim off the skin and give the mixture a stir. Its not harmful to the dog.

Itchy skin and feet:  If your dog is allergic to house dust, grass pollen, flea bites or dry skin and is scratching or biting its feet or other parts of its body frequently, giving them some honey twice a day for a week will see an improvement in their symptoms. You can squirt a syringe-ful into their food.

Shampoo:  You can make a watery solution of honey and water and use that as a shampoo but you still have to use a conventional shampoo to wash off the stickiness. The end result is a very soft and shiny coat. (Of course, you can also go the easy route and buy a honey based dog shampoo!)

Next month I will tell you some more useful hints and tips on something totally different for making your dog's life healthier.

Here's an amusing clip of a Husky throwing a tantrum because he doesn't want to leave the park.
                                           
                                          Until the next blog, have an enjoyable January.

                                                               Dawn (."-".)