Hearing Dogs for Deaf People

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Dogs are amazing, right? You wouldn’t be reading this blog if you didn’t agree, so let me tell you about some particularly amazing dogs that you could play a part in helping them on their journey to brilliance.

When I saw a plea for people to take in Hearing Dog puppies and socilise and train them for a year, I nearly forgot I have a newborn baby to look after and signed up. Seriously, if I won the lottery, after travelling around the world I would train puppies in my sprawling mansion. So please read on and if you’re lucky enough to be in a position to offer your services, I hate you (click on to their website).

Hearing Dogs for Deaf People offers life changing independence and confidence by training and providing hearing dogs that alert deaf people to important sounds and danger signals. Hearing dogs also offer emotional support and companionship by helping to reduce the feelings of stress, isolation and loneliness that deafness can often bring.

Hearing Dogs Shoot 48Hearing dogs are easily recognisable by their distinctive burgundy jackets and lead slips, providing visibility to an otherwise invisible and overlooked disability, giving confidence to their deaf owners when in public.

Almost 10 million people in the UK are deaf or have a hearing loss, which is one in six of the population. With hearing loss on the increase, demand for our life-changing service is growing. They do not receive any government funding so rely on the generosity of the general public to continue their important work.Hearing Dogs Shoot 55To find out more about Hearing Dogs for Deaf People and to discover the many ways in which you can get involved, from volunteering to making a donation, please visit www.hearingdogs.org.uk.

Keeping your pet parasite free

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Keeping your animal free from ticks, fleas and worms is very important to their overall health.  If your dog is afflicted by fleas or ticks they will be really uncomfortable and will itch a lot and there is a chance they will scratch their skin to the point of it breaking and becoming infected.  Worms can be equally debilitating and some, like the Heartworm, can even be fatal.

How to tell if your dog has fleas, worms or ticks

The most common symptom of fleas is excessive itching and if you look in the dogs fur you may be able to see the flea or flea droppings.

Ticks do not display many symptoms so the best way to check for fleas is to frequently check your dogs body. The tick is visible to the human eye and will feel pea like when you run your hands over their body.

Worms are sometimes visible in the dogs faeces but common signs of ringworm in puppies is a bloated stomach.  Other symptoms might include blood in stools but symptoms range depending on the type of worm your dog has.

Treating your dog for ticks, worms and fleas is really simple and cheap.  There are many different treatments available from most good pet product suppliers. The best way to keep on top of fleas, worms and ticks is to treat them regularly and keep them away rather than treating once the fleas or worms have  taken hold.

Frontline spot on is a good treatment that will help in the protection against fleas and ticks.  It is a simple pipette that contains the medication, you apply it on the skin on the back of your dogs neck and then your dog is protected for around 6 weeks.

Drontal worming tablets are a good choice for dog worming treatment.  They are readily available and are in tablet form.  Some dogs might not take tablets easily so if that is the case these tablets can be hid in food or treats to ensure that your dog takes them.  It is recommended that dogs are wormed every three months.

Felix and Fido Pet Boutique

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Set up in November 2012 by Helen Shorrock, Felix and Fido stocks ‘beautiful things for beautiful pets’. Helen spent her time in the run up to launching her website trading at markets, fairs and shows to fund the start-up of her business. Through this hard work she has gradually built up her stock and suppliers to increase the choice on offer for her customers.

Helen comments, “It’s really important for me to stock items not found in your average high street store and to ensure all items are beautiful as well as practical.”

This is exactly how I came across Helen’s website, as I was searching for the elusive brand of collar we bought Lupo over 3 years ago at Crufts. Felix and Fido are a stockist of the Italian Linky dog collars, and she kindly popped one in the post, addressed to Lupo of course. Here are some snaps of him modelling the Linky Evolution Flat Collar.

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So what’s the website like for a customer? It has a simple and clean layout which lets the products speak for themselves. You can easily search by type of pet, or something more specific using the search function. All the main categories are down the left hand side, I do recommend a browse as even as a large dog owner, it’s rare that there are ‘beautiful’ products suitable for our pets, but you can be sure that Felix and Fido will have found them.

The majority of the brands are UK-based, a great plus point for those who like to support home-grown businesses. These include Ditsy Pet, Mutts & Hounds and even one specialising in unique hand-knitted dog jumpers, the brilliantly named Willieratbag.

As well as collars and leads, pet owners can shop for grooming products, treats and accessories too. There is also a link to read about the charities that Helen supports, offering them the chance to be featured on the website and her social channels for some extra exposure.

I’m looking forward to watching Felix and Fido grow over the coming months, as for a relatively new website they seem to have carved a niche in the market, which isn’t easy in such a competitive industry. I’m now just wondering if Helen could source a bow tie collar for Lupo, for my up coming wedding! With her great supplier contacts, I’m sure it would be no challenge at all.

Please visit Felix and Fido: www.felixandfido.co.uk and chat to Helen on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/felixandfido

DogBedSpot.co.uk

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When you have a large dog like a Dobermann, size matters. I’m talking about dog beds, collars, bowls, everything has to be supersize. It makes me laugh to see the tiny versions of everything on the pet aisle in the supermarket, they’d be more suited to our dutch rabbits than the dog. So if you own a large dog, be prepared to part with a lot of money, compared to the average Yorkshire terrier owner, especially when it comes to dog beds. But it’s not always easy guessing just how big things need to be.

So when I was introduced to the concept of www.dogbedspot.co.uk, it made perfect sense. This is the first site I’ve come across where you can choose a dog bed by the breed and size of your dog. Genius. Especially if your dog is anything like mine and has no concept of how big he is – running full speed into you or squeezing himself into a bed made for a Parson Russell Terrier:

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The site is super easy to navigate, offering you the chance to choose your dogs breed, then the type of bed you want. Who knew there were so many choices – fibre, quilted, luxury, snuggle, you name it. You can then choose by fabric if you really know what you are looking for, or just browse the images for one that matches your furniture or decor.

We opted for a Hunter Tweed Snuggle bed. It has raised edges and a removable cushion for ease of washing. Even at the right size, Lupo tends to hang off the edge or sit with his front feet in it, and boy does it take some re-arranging to be just right. He will dig and scratch at it until it’s in just the right heap of a mess for him to plonk himself down on.

As well as dog beds, you can also pick up car seat covers and blankets, handy for road trips and saving your furniture. Delivery in the UK is just £4.50 which is reasonable for the low priced beds you can choose from and you can even pay by PayPal.

Where do you get your dog beds from, any tips?

Pet Photoshoot from Buyagift.co.uk

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There are certain trends that come to the UK from America, especially when it comes to babies and parenting. The latest craze is for newborn baby photoshoots. But if your pet is the one you want to adorn your walls with, (I have two canvas photos of Lupo in our living room) then what are the options?

Online gift experience retailer, Buyagift.co.uk, has just the solution. And a very affordable one at that. For just £15 you can purchase a voucher for a pet photoshoot to take your chosen pet along to a local studio. You’ll get time with a professional photographer, who will coax your pet into posing so you can get some great images to take home.

The pet photoshoot would make a great gift or something to treat you and your pet. We’re going to have buy Lupo a new collar to smarten him up a bit before we use our voucher. I’ll be sure to share the photos when we do!

In the dog house: Smelly dogs blamed for fights with friends

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Byotrol reveals its Pet Proud Report

They’re dubbed man’s best friend, but the dog might be your only friend if he isn’t suitably groomed. A new report reveals that over two thirds of Brits (65 per cent) believe dogs to be smelly and unhygienic. Even dog owners responded negatively to the question, which formed the basis of the report; with a nearly quarter of dog owners (24 per cent) saying that their beloved pooch packs a pong.

 

The report, conducted by hygiene technology brand, Byotrol, also revealed that over a quarter of Brits (27 per cent) risk friendships due to pet politics. These people actively avoid the homes of their dog-owning friends, hating dog hairs on their clothes, wet, muddy paws and smelly fur. Neither do they invite these friends to their own homes; for fear that they might bring the dreaded dog. A staggering one in twenty Brits (5.5%) even admitted to splitting up with a partner or falling out with a friend for good, all down to dirty dog disputes.

 

TV vet Joe Inglis commented: “Britain’s dogs really are in the dog house according to Byotrol’s Pet Proud report. It’s such a shame that Brits are losing their dog owning friends, just because they’re worried about a lingering doggy smell. Unfortunately, dogs aren’t entirely to blame for their smelly reputation and homes they visit not smelling fresh…dog owners can make just a few small changes to their dog’s hygiene and grooming regimes to ensure they smell of roses and so do their homes.

 

“Byotrol technology is now being used to power pet hygiene and grooming products from both Pets at Home and Petface, which is available in Sainsbury’s. The hygiene sprays have been specifically developed for use in areas where pets live, sleep and feed and are the only products that keep on working after they have dried, protecting against germs and odours for up to 24 hours.”

 

Byotrol, has also revealed the smelly dog hotspots of the UK*, as voted by the 2,000 respondents to the survey. Dogs in Northern Ireland were shamed as the stinkiest:

 

The Byotrol smelly dog hotspots

  1. Northern Ireland (11.5 per cent)
  2. South West (10.2 per cent)
  3. Wales (9.8 per cent)
  4. North West of England (8.4 per cent)
  5. East of England (8 per cent)

 

But it’s not all doggy doom and gloom. Women are more forgiving of smelly dogs than men, with ten per cent more women than men (39 per cent) thinking that it’s unfair that dogs are branded as unhygienic.

 

Byotrol’s report also found that dog owners are more likely to have a long term partner than those who don’t own a dog, with nearly 80% of dog owners in a long term relationship.

 

Joe added: “So it’s not all bad news for dog owners, who seem to be living happily ever after. It really is love me, love my dog, which is great to see!”

 

For more information, please visit https://www.facebook.com/petproud