Your Dog February 2023

Those of you who have had many dogs over the years may be well aware of how challenging adolescence can be. Some dogs sail through it, but some don’t and as trainer and behaviourist Jackie Drakeford says in her article ‘The terrible teens’: “most of us have etched in our minds the day when we put our sweet puppy to bed, and the next morning found the fairies had swapped him for a canine monster…” For those of you new to dog ownership, Jackie has lots of good advice on how to weather the storm, and if you’ve been lucky enough to avoid experiencing any teenage tantrums yet, good luck. But you might want to keep Jackie’s article to hand, just in case! Read it on page 10. Other highlights…

HELP SOUGHT TO BOOST VITAL FOSTERING SERVICE The UK’s largest canine welfare charity is appealing for more foster carers to ensure its important work supporting dog owners fleeing domestic abuse can continue. Demand has soared for Dogs Trust’s Freedom Project, its specialist pet fostering service, which provides temporary accommodation for dogs belonging to survivors of domestic abuse. Between January and September last year, there were 1,213 dogs referred to the service, compared to 782 during the same period in 2021 — a rise of 55 per cent. Working collaboratively with three specialist pet-fostering services — Cats Protection’s Paws Project, Endeavour, and Refuge4Pets — the project has fostered 2,400 dogs and enabled 1,900 survivors to access safe accommodation since its launch in 2004. Because many refuges are unable to accept pets,…

A traumatised dog, who was saved from drowning in the Grand Union Canal in Brent last summer has finally found her forever home. Poodle-cross Lilly was fished out of the water by two passers-by and taken to London-based animal welfare charity Mayhew, where she was assessed by vets, spayed, vaccinated, and microchipped, as well as having her teeth scaled and polished. “We won’t ever know whether Lilly ended up in the canal by accident or if she was thrown in,” said Merryn Walker, Mayhew head of kennels. “She was covered in putrid, muddy canal water and was very nervous and traumatised.” After receiving expert care from the Mayhew team and her foster carer, Lilly — estimated to be around eight years old — made a slow but steady recovery and…

A study by the University of Oxford, Yellowstone National Park, and Penn State University, has finally solved the mystery of why black wolves are absent in some areas of North America but common in others. Researchers believe that black wolves are more likely to survive outbreaks of canine distemper virus (CDV) than their grey counterparts because the gene responsible for black coats plays a key role in protecting them against respiratory diseases such as CDV. They tested this theory by analysing 12 wolf populations in North America and discovered that wolves with CDV antibodies — meaning they’d already survived the disease — were more likely to be black. Meanwhile, black wolves were more common in areas where there had been CDV outbreaks. The team also found that in areas of…

Labrador Jess needed emergency veterinary treatment just before her first birthday, after getting a doughnut-shaped bone wedged around her lower jaw. The panicking pup had started playing with the bone at bedtime but when owner Ben Prince went to feed her the next morning, he was shocked to find the bone stuck tightly over her tongue and bottom teeth. “I don’t know how she got it on, and I thought I might just be able to slip it back off,” said Ben, who couldn’t budge the bone so took his increasingly distressed dog to the Driffield branch of Priory Vets, part of the My Family Vets network. There, vets anaesthetised the black Labrador with the aim of drilling through the bone to remove it. But instead, they were able to…

• PETS AND PEOPLE ARE BETTER TOGETHER, THANKS TO 40K DONATION Pet-care company Purina has contributed £40,000 from its Better Together Fund to the RSPCA in a bid to support struggling owners amid the cost-of-living crisis. The donation will be used by the charity’s inspectors and rescuers to offer help to those most in need, via pet-care vouchers issued directly to owners in their homes, so they can pay for urgent costs such as vet care. It’s hoped these on-the-doorstep interventions will not only provide pets with immediate relief and prevent their condition worsening, but enable animals and their owners to stay together and avoid added pressure on charities. The fund aims to support around 450 dogs and cats and their owners. • RISK OF RABIES IS RISING, SAY OFFICIALS…