If you are in the habit of buying whatever dog food was on sale that week, and never read the ingredients, keep reading, you are about to be shocked.

Poor diet in dogs could mean many things. Dogs with a poor diet don’t have high energy levels, they may develop health problems down the line, they can be overweight or underweight. They can have teeth problems, bad breath, infections… As a general rule, an unbalanced diet for your dog means a shorter lifespan for him. Read more »

I had a nice time last week in a village called Babbacombe, in Devon. We went round the shops and it was quite a hot day so the place gets top marks because lots of the shops had dog bowls outside. Then we found a pet shop with some very nice treats – minty centres and dog chocolate coatings. Mum bought me some of those and also a very nice new fresh dog food called Natural Menu. I have tried a similar food called Nature Diet before, but this new one is cheaper and it is made in Devon, so we are going to see if we can buy it in London. There are no artificial additives or colours and as you know I am always trying different foods to see if they help my allergies so I will see if there is any improvement. Then the highlight of the afternoon for me – we found a charity shop in aid of the local dog shelter. I went inside and I was really spoiled with biscuits and hugs! Mum bought some things to help the rescue dogs but she will not go to the shelter otherwise I might end up with a few little brothers …..

In a few days time the celebrations for the fourth of July will be in full swing and many people celebrate with fireworks so please make arrangements for your dog if he is nervous of the noise. If your celebration meal includes turkey, did you know this will help calm your dog down. Turkey meat contains L-Tryptophan, which gives your dog the same relaxed feeling in your dogs that you get when you finish a big turkey dinner. Feed him some turkey and plenty of carbohydrates for the evening meal and he should be sleepy while the bangs are going off.

Mum left me at home today for just over three hours because she had to go out and it was quite a hit sunny day. It was really too hot for me to wait in the car, even if it was parked in the shade. So I stayed home and followed the trail of biscuits that Mum left for me to eat. I barked for a while, but then I curled up by the front door. When Mum cam home, all was peaceful. Mum was very pleased and I got more dog biscuits as a reward.

As you know we have been trying different food to relieve my allergy and my itchy skin. We tried Burns’ Lamb and Rice, which is highly rated for its purity. Trouble is, I just did not like the taste! mum had to add gravy to the food to persuade me to eat it, which is not the idea! We bought two 2-kilo bags and this time we are trying out the James Wellbeloved Duck and Rice Kibble. This variety is specifically designed to help skin irritation, and it tastes good so that is a good start.

I started eating Burns’ hypoallergenic dog food about seven weeks ago. I haven’t been eating it for every meal, and I still get nice human food (that’s food for humans, by the way – not made from humans). I was eating the Lamb and Rice version which is meant to be the best variety of Burns’ for helping relieve skin conditions. I have not taken to it very well, probably I am too used to those spicy leftovers.