Sad news this week about one of the older dogs in our town, who has a place in the hearts of most of the local people. Lola is a Newfie and she lives in a traditional grocer’s shop, where she lazes for most of the day in the delivery van. The sliding door is left open and Lola collects cuddles from almost everyone who passes by. At the end of last year Lola had a growth in her neck but that was cured. Now she has another malignant growth and it is not responding to treatment. There is no logic to the occurrence of cancer, apart from Mesothelioma cancer. She is nearly eight years old – a good age for a Newfie – but I am afraid there will be some sad news quite soon.

Buying a puppy from a breeder is something that a lot of families see as the obvious way to get a dog. But a recent survey by RSPCA inspectors reveals that more than half of all puppy breeding establishments in England in Wales do not meet the animal welfare needs. The number of complaints about animals and pet purchases, have almost doubled in the past two years. More than 4,600 calls were made to the goverment complaints service in 2008.

The RSPCA wants to work with local authorities, who license animal breeding establishments, to ensure the animal welfare standards are raised. Thay also want to clamp down more and more on rogue puppy traffickers who are routinely peddling sick puppies imported from Ireland. Round here that animal rescue centres are full of unwanted puppies from Ireland, so you can see that by using a puppy breeder you could be contributing to puppy trafficking. This is where puppies are bred in large numbers for profit, often with little regard for animal welfare. Many puppies fall sick, and some die.

These are the facts – RSPCA undercover staff bought six puppies. Of these, two were seriously ill. Frank, a mastiff, had parvo virus, but was fortunately saved by vets. Chardonnay, a cavalier King Charles spaniel cross, was diagnosed with pneumonia and, despite constant care, sadly died two weeks later. Read more »

We invited a friend from the area, having no knowledge that he had a Springer Spaniel, Molly. After the wedding was over he realised that dogs were welcome, and rushed home to fetch Molly. She is a delightful Springer Spaniel, who was very well behaved and made a beautiful addition to the wedding party.

I did not want my wedding photos to be like everyone else’s, where the guests line up like a series of cardboard displays. As you can see from this picture, the dogs made sure the pix were much more interesting!

As I have been dog sitting for our vicar’s dog recently, it was agreed that she should act as doggie maid of honour, and also represent our own dear departed Kev. On the day, Primrose appeared, resplendent with a beautiful cream bow tied to her collar. True to form the Standard Poodle took the proceedings in her stride and posed graciously for photos with the happy couple and guests. Some might say the ceremony was rather camp but any bereaved dog owner will understand that the presence of primrose and the other dogs helped to ease our grief that our own dog could not be with us on the happy day.

After the service we escaped to a Stratosphere hotel, something we could not have done while he was alive. But I would be very happy to trade holidays abroad for the companionship of my dog again.

I always hoped that my dog, Kevin, would walk down the aisle at my wedding, but in the end this was not possible. We lost Kevin five months ago and past week the wedding took place on a fantastic sunny day in Sussex. Fortunately, we scattered Kev’s ashes near the church so we were able to visit the site and remember him before the ceremony. Here is a nice picture of the spot, beneath a holly tree. We have planted wild flower seeds for a permanent memento of our lovely dog. We did manage to have some dogs at the service, and I will be posting some pictures of my ‘dog bridesmaids’.

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When I was on holiday in Turkey last week we stayed in small hotels in country areas, and all of them kept hens, who clucked around the garden eating leftovers and any insects they could find.  Two of the hotels also had resident dogs, who lazed around during the heat of the day.  When we arrived at the first one I wnated to say hello to the dog. My husband warned me to take care in case the dog was snappy.  Not a chance, he simply rolled over in that great dog tradition to allow me to rub his belly – this was the only dog in the whole trip who maybe needed a fat burner. All the others were really skinny.