The Lakeland Terrier is quite close in appearance to the Welsh Terrier, but the Lakeland comes in a wider variety of colours. One advantage of the Lakeland terrier breed is the fact that it is a dog breed with minimal hair shedding.

The Lakeland was devleoped in Cumbria and Westmoreland – the English Lake District – to catch foxes that would otherwise kill young lambs. Despite this breed characteristic, the Lakeland Terrier is also a gentle and loving pet. These are energetic dogs, though – like most Terriers they cannot be trusted off-leash. They will take off, regardless of your frantic shouts, after anything that runs.

Lakeland terriers have a varied appearance. Some are like the handsome show dog pictured above, and others have the rather unkempt look of the little chap pictured on the right.  At least this is not a dog breed that tends to put on weight so you will not be likely to need diet pills for a Lakeland Terrier.  There are a good number of Lakeland Terriers available for adoption through animal rescue charities, especially those devoted to terriers.

I think it is good that Police dogs in South Yorkshire are going to get specially made dog body armour to protect them from being stabbed while they are working. But Mum thinks it is sad that they need the protection. The dogs’ protective jackets are made from woven metal mesh and they were designed by PC Rick Harrison to protect the force’s firearms support dogs. PC Harrison said that police dogs are more at risk from being stabbed than being shot. He said: “Fortunately we have not had any of our dogs hurt in this way but prevention is better than cure.”
PC Harrison used recycled police uniforms to test and develop different styles of jackets before deciding on the metal mesh design. He said: “Previous styles of body armour have been impractical for the dogs to wear even though they provided protection. “The vests were uncomfortable because of inflexibility, insulation and weight. The best defence a dog has is its speed and manoeuvrability.” The jackets have been tested on German Shepherds, Malinois and Rottweilers without any problems. The dogs will be wearing their protective jackets from next month.

Here is a great story about a poodle who has been trained as an assistance dog to help and protect a young woman who has epilepsy.
A specially-trained dog is helping to transform the life of a young woman who has epilepsy. Hannah Baker, 20, from Dedham in Suffolk, has severe epilepsy, brought on by a non-malignant tumour diagnosed when she was six years old. Poodle Milo has been trained by the charity, Support Dogs, to spot changes to her pupils or skin tone before she has a seizure. He then stares at her until she knows something is wrong. Before she had Milo, Hannah used to have up to 80 seizures a day – now she has about 10 seizures each day, and most of those are small. “Milo is like a security blanket for me,” said Hannah. “He’s made a huge difference to my life and to my family’s life.” Milo alerts Hannah about eight to 10 minutes before she has a seizure and she then sits down on the floor or with her back against the wall to make sure she is out of any danger. Milo stays with her until she regains consciousness. Hannah’s mother Nicola Baker said: “I’ve gone from worrying about her every minute of the day to worrying about her half a dozen times a day, which is a significant difference.” Hannah says she is now more confident in doing ordinary activities such as going for a walk or making a trip to the cinema because of Milo.
You can watch Milo and find out how he helps his owner.

Here we go, I will need to go to a health farm after this stressful adventure. We moved this blog on to my own domain, www.top-dog-tips.com, a couple of months ago, we are still using a blogger template but we wanted to host the blog on the servers at our web host. Every time Mum tries to move it the blog ‘cannot be found’. Then yesterday the blog went down completely for over three hours, just at the time that someone was checking that one of our reviews was being displayed. Two years ago I didn’t know what a laptop was – now I am a veteran dog with a blog.

My Dad said my new year’s resolution should be to get a job and earn my keep, after someone mentioned working dogs to him. Collies normally herd sheep but there is not much call for that in Muswell Hill, and I think I am a bit old to become a model. Simba asked recently whether he could become an engineer but I think the oil and grease would stain your fur. Laura sent me a picture of a Truffle Dog, this is a good job for a dog as you get to root around in the woods and dig holes. Most of us do that already so we could earn our keep – Simba could pay for damages around the house, I could buy more dog beds, as I only have four.