Dogs & hot weather

Boy, it's been a hot weekend! My owners have scaled my walks back a lot - & they changed the time we went walkies as well. She's been changing my water bowls regularly, chucking the old water that's left over the garden as her attempt to be Green & replacing it with fresh stuff. I've really enjoyed my late evening walks in the cooler weather - & I've really had lots of frisbee fun then.

The RSPCA apparently have lots of advice for people caring for dogs like me in hot weather. All you have to do is to go to their web site & you'll find out what to do if you find dogs in a hot car, for instance. (Dial 999, according to the charity, as there may not be an RSPCA in your area), but some of the things they suggest include:

• Make sure your dog has access to cooler, ventilated places. If your dog is outside, he must have access to shade at all times of the day (remembering that the sun moves around)
• Never leave your dog alone in a car - check beforehand to see that there places you're visiting are dog friendly. And don't leave them in caravans or glass conservatories, either. These places get hotter than we can cope with quickly.
• Always take lots of water with you and make sure your dog has a good supply in bowls that won't tip over. This is a key point. I can't turn a tap on with my paws, even if I can open the pedal lid bin in the kitchen, so I can't pour myself a nice glass of water or fill up my bowl, like you people can
• Groom your dog regularly to get rid of excess fur & get his coat trimmed in the summer if he's got long fur
• Don't exercise us too excessively in hot weather and try to fit our walkies in when the day is coolest - early morning & late evening
• Dogs with light coloured coats can get sun-burn - so ask your vet for advice on sun protection & don't forget some for yourself!

So there you are. Now, I'm off walkies - today is much cooler in Sussex and better still, we've had some rain overnight at last. Hopefully we'll be able to have a bit of frisbee fun!

I've got epilepsy

Well, I haven't done a blog for ages, because shortly after my last one, my owners & I discovered I had epilepsy. It's quite common in dogs - 4 dogs in 100 get it. It gave us all quite a shock, though. When I had my first fit, my owners thought I was choking, which apparently quite a lot of people do. A week later, I had two more fits about 3 hours apart, so my owners booked me in for an appointment with my lovely vets straight away. They took some blood, and confirmed that I've got epilepsy, so now I'm on medication. Phenobarbital or something like that. It made me feel very drowsy at first, so I couldn't do some of my usual stuff, like agility, until I'd got used to my tablets.

My owners watched me like a hawk - they still do - and the vets have kept an eye on me too. I've had a couple more fits since all this started, and to help the vets monitor my progress, if I have a fit now my owners make notes on things like...

• how long the fit lasts
• what my behaviour was like beforehand - was I unusually quite or agitated?
• how much I salivitated
• whether I kept control of my bladder & bowels
• what my body movements were during the fit e.g. paddling of my paws
• how long it took me to come out of the fit
• whether I was hungry afterwards or drank a lot

When I have a fit, they turn off the lights so I'm in a darkened room, switch off the TV & mobiles and anything like that so I've got peace & quiet. They try to make sure I can't injure myself on anything nearby, and they put a towel under my head to protect it, as our floors are wooden. They just stay with me and talk quietly & calmly to me, during the fit & afterwards, to reassure me. The one thing they don't do is to put their hands anywhere near my mouth, in case I bite them. I would never normally bite them but when I'm having a fit, apparently I wouldn't be aware of biting anyone and my jaws may clamp down on things. It's good having them stay calm & reassuring, it's what I really need. Shouting and panicking owners doesn't help us woofs at all.

I've been back and forth for blood tests to monitor things, and now hopefully things have settled and I won't have to take any more medication than I do now. Time will tell. My quality of life isn't really affected - I'm still having a really good life, lots of ball, and frisbee fun, and walkies & agility, which pleases my owners.

Apparently, epilspy is also quite common in German Shepherds. My owners spent a lot of time sitting at the computer looking at what they said was a very helpful site, Canine Epilepsy. It's got stuff for vets & owners about canine epilepsy & my owners read out to me all the stuff on "living with epileptic pets"

They also found the Phyllis Croft Foundation, which exists to help & support owners of dogs like me who've got epilepsy (that rhymes), to bring comfort & support to owners, to raise public awareness & seek further knowledge & understanding. And there's a picture of a beautiful German Shepherd right on the front page!

My owners are very fussy about feeding me at the right times so I get my medication at the right times; but they say the one good thing about giving me tablets, is that it's a heck of a lot easier to give them to a dog like me, than it is to give tablets to a cat!

Me and my kong frisbee

Well, tonight we had a great game of Frisbee. I love my kong frisbee - it's my favourite toy. In the past 4 months I've been with my owners, I've had 3 frisbees. The first 2, I went through in a week - they didn't last long. The last one was a Kong frisbee which my owners bought from Pets at Home.

My Kong frisbee is red - so easy for my owners to spot if I drop it when we're on our walks. I love to carry my frisbee, and while we're walking, my owners throw it ahead of me, for me to catch. They ask me to sit and wait, and then they use the frisbee as a training aid. If I wait nicely, I get to play frisbee. If I don't, then we go through the command process again until I do sit properly - and then I play with my frisbee as a reward.

I love pawing my frisbee on the ground & tearing it in my teeth, but the Kong frisbee is pretty strong, and it bears up to my canines pretty well. It also has terrific capacitiy to fly through the air - more so when he throws it than she does. It's light to carry, fun to play with and easy to catch when I'm in mid-air. All in all, it's a big success - I highly recommend it.

The thing is, that when we go to my box of toys & food, and I know a game is in the offering, more than any other, I hope my owners will take my beloved frisbee out so that we can play with it. It's fun for dogs & owners - great exercise without thinking about the dreaded word. Find out more about the Kong frisbee!

Woof for now, I'm off to dream of my frisbee

Doyle

Settling in & feeling at home... I'm wagging my tail!

I was thinking this morning how much has happened since I came to live with my owners, just four months ago, and how much I feel at home here.

I know where my water bowl is, and that there will always be fresh water in it for me to drink; I know where my toys are kept, and that if I really wanted to, I could probably open up the basket they are kept in. I know where my bed is, and that I'm allowed onto my owners bed for a cuddle in the morning. I also know where the cats around here tend to hang out, so I keep a good eye out for them on my walks.

The days have settled into a routine: walkies, breakfast, a game of frisbee in the garden. The postman comes at 10:30ish every morning and I'm ready to grab the post as it comes through the letterbox. I try to be helpful by opening up the mail for my owners and eating their credit card statements, but that doesn't go down very well. My teeth are just too big

When it's very wet, we play Hunt the Toy inside. My owners keep me inside a room, and then they go off and hide my toy. I then have to Hunt the Toy. It's great fun, and I love having a good sniff about to find it. I wag my tail all the time I'm searching.

Today, though, it's agility. My usual owner who takes me on this can't go - she has been at home with a rotten cold - so I am going with my other owner. He & I do obedience classes, and I must say, he's coming along very nicely.... So am I, until I see one of the cats or hear the post come flying through the front door...

But the biggest thing of all that I know means I'm settling down is that I'm wagging my tail a lot more. When I first arrived, I didn't wag my tail a lot. But now I feel settled & at home, I'm a lot happier. Life is good.

Dog friendly holidays in Wales

This morning, I was thinking back to the wonderful holiday we'd had in Wales - Pembrokeshire, to be precise.

It was a very exciting time for me, given that it was the first time I'd seen the sea - I ran along the beach barking excitely next to my owners. We played frisbee & had lots of fun catching my ball; and I went swimming!! There was lots of space to run around in and go mad in - here's me having a go at my Kong frisbee

Wales is a wonderful place for dog friendly holidays. The people were really friendly - I went off the lead on the beach and came back every time my owners called me - a rare event, it must be said. Apparently there are some beaches where us dogs have to stay on the lead, but my owners had a really helpful dog friendly holidays sort of guide to Pembrokeshire, so they choose our beaches well.

The people we stayed with just outside Amroth were lovely and very welcoming; they lent my owners towels to help dry me off when we got caught in the rain - and oh woof, did it rain. It didn't matter to me - when we got home, I just lay in front of the fire to dry off all my fur properly.

There were many dog friendly pubs, too, and my owners had done their research from Doggie Pubs to find pubs which would welcome me as well as them. But they also found a couple extra, such as the Stackpole Inn just outside Stackpole Quay and Barafundle Bay, where the food was fantastic (it wasn't my meal time, so I had a bowl of water instead), but my owners tucked into their lamb curry & hamburger & really enjoyed the food.

So if you're looking for a dog friendly holiday, then take a look at Pembrokeshire. You'll find there's lots to do for dogs & people. They've even got a section of their site dedicated to dog friendly holidays!

Save stamps for animal charities

Now, there's a small thing each of you can easily do to help charities such as Nowzad & the Oldies, both of which work tirelessly for dogs like me. You can save used postage stamps.

Nowzad bring dogs back from Afghanistan & Iraq to the UK. The Oldies work to help re-home older dogs - so often overlooked in rescue centres. Both are utterly deserving causes, as is the PDSA. This year, the PDSA will give 1.8 million free treatments to sick and injured pets and more than 200,000 preventive treatments

Get more info on how to save used stamps for animal charities - and start gathering used postage stamps.

Woof for now

Doyle.

World Animal Day

I am reliably informed that 4th October is World Animal Day, in which people all over the world make a pledge to help animals.

There are some amazing pledges already up on the site, from people all over the world - Peru, Mexico, Spain, the US, the UK, Guam, Canada, India, Australia, Denmark, South Africa, Iran, Italy, Ghana, France, Pakistan - it is wonderful to see so many people who are committed to helping animals.

Please, please make a pledge. I know that my friends in the animal kingdom need your help as never before. I don't need to go into the reasons why - you and I both know that animals are facing challenges as never before, be they wild, working, pets, marine or countryside based.

We can all do our bit to make life better. Every action counts. Please take action to make life better for animals.

Make your pledge today.