Generally, in Christianity the poor hedgehog seems to be depicted as the evil one or as doing evil. In Irish lore the Hedgehog is associated with witches that would take on their form and then suck dairy cows dry. In China, the hedgehog is one of five sacred, but not to be messed animals which also includes the fox, weasel, snake and rat. In Slavic tales the hedgehog is considered the keeper of knowledge and order and the embodiment of magical power.

It wasn’t always the done, recommended thing to take your dog to training classes. But when it first became popular to take your companion dog to training, the standards that were set were taken mostly from the military. Some of those exercises are still practiced today at some classes; but perhaps we need to be asking ourselves, are these exercises really appropriate for us and our companion?

If our dog is going to be a pet, do we really need to train them as we would a show dog, or a police dog, or a sheep dog? It is not always a positive experience for the dogs or the owners.
Now let us be clear, nobody wants a badly behaved dog, aside from he stress it can cause a badly behaved dog that is out of control can be dangerous. So what training is useful to both the companion and their owners and what perhaps should be left to the ‘professional career dogs’?
 

Pointer Treat Stick x 2 £1

These popular treats come in a variety of flavors, including: Tripe, Lamb and Rice, Chicken and museli & Peanut Butter. Loved by many of our four legged fur clients, of all different breeds!

Lily’s Kitchen for Dogs 150g Tray £1.10

These delicious Wet Food Trays are available in 9 different flavours! Giving you plenty of tasty options for your Fur Friends! All natural ingredients with no nasties.

Bottom Sniffer Dog Beer 330ml £2.99

Share a drink with your pooch, thanks to  a beer specially made for dogs (Non Alcoholic).  A great treat, rich in vitamins and minerals. With Nettle- good for coats and skin, Dandelion- a great antioxidant, all in natural Chicken Flavouring.

Beco Pod £2.89


A lightweight poop bag dispenser that fastens onto most leads. It is made from bio-hybrid material containing cornstarch and bamboo. Fits all standard poop bag rolls and 15 degradable poop bags are included.

True Hemp Dog Treats 50g £4.99

Natural Treats infused with hemp and plant based active ingredients. Every treat contains Hemp Leaf, Green Tea, Chamomile & Lemon Balm to keep your dog calm and relaxed.

Its 14th July 2020 and it’s shark awareness day! You might think of sharks as giant, blood thirsty killers of the tropics and the silver screen but did you know there are over 40 species in British waters!

Over half of them live here all year round, though you are highly unlikey to ever come across any of them when your out for a paddle. But you might find evidence of small-spotted catsharks or Nursehounds, also known as greater-spotted dog fish. These sharks lay eggs that sometimes get washed up on shore, sometimes called mermaids purses.

There are also at least 11 species of deep-water sharks Including the Portuguese Dogfish, Black Dogfish, Kitefin Shark and Gulper Shark.
Tragically scientist consider over 50% of British sharks to be threatened or near threatened. This includes the once common Angel shark which is now rarely seen and is listed as critically endangered!
In 2008 the Shark Trust helped to get domestic protections for the Angel shark and they are now some of the most heavily protected sharks in the Northeast Atlantic.
To find out more about the work the Shark Trust does with Angel sharks check out the link below.

Between May and October, when the weather is usually warmer, you could be lucky enough to see the second largest fish in the world, the Basking shark which filter feeds on tiny plankton likes to bask in the sun, hence the name. These gentle giants can grow up to 12 meters long, second only to the Whale shark; and weighs as much as 6 tonnes. The North East Atlantic population is classed as Endangered and are protected in the UK under the wildlife and countryside act.
Another seasonal visitor is the short fin Mako, the fastest shark on record, they can reach   30 mph, allowing it to catch fast prey like tuna and sword fish.

Sightings of sharks in British waters should a cause for celebration, not alarm.
Back in 2015 at the RSPB site at Medmerry, just up the road, in Chichester, hundreds of Starry Smooth-hound sharks up to 1.5 meters long were seen gathered together in the shallow waters to feed on crabs.

There are so many amazing species right on our door step and many of them really need our help. Check out the shark trust website to see how you can get involved or just find out more about the sharks and rays and British waters.

According to a survey carried out by the Dogs trust in 2018: across the UK 56,043 stray dogs were collected by local authorities, this is at its lowest point for 21 years and 15% down on the year before.
However, this may not accurately reflect the number of dogs every year who end up - if they’re lucky - in the care of rehoming charities.
This week I visited my local dog rehoming centre, Clymping Dog Sanctuary. Since 1952 this charity has worked tirelessly to house and rehome thousands of dogs, over 2,500 in the past 20 years.
The team there were wonderful and I will absolutely have to do an entire blog on the work they do but for now I’m focusing on a couple of individual stories.
The first being a litter of seven Lurcher cross puppies, they are now around 8 weeks old are infinitely better off than when they were found. All seven squeezed into a cat crate and dumped in someone’s garden in the cold and wet. They were discovered and taken to a vet, where it was apparent from their condition that if they had been left out much longer, they most likely would have died. They were all malnourished, with rickets and needed treatment for fleas and worms.
Luckily Clymping Dog Sanctuary was there to take them in and give them a safe and nurturing environment to recover and find them all their forever homes.

At the moment they are still at the sanctuary, recovering their strength and receiving medical treatment but as I discovered on my visit, despite their awful start in life, they are loving, playful and as my note book discovered enjoy chewing! They have all now thankfully been reserved and once they are well enough and have received their vaccinations, they will all have homes to go to.

We will never know what those puppies went through but as Nigel the sanctuary manager told me it was just another example of the result of reckless backyard breeding for profit.
Which in practice is unregulated and without consequences for those profiting from it.  Even the few laws that exist are not enforced and with fewer and fewer dog wardens in districts, it is being left to charities like Clymping to pick up the pieces and foot the bill.
Nigel told me that in the past 15 years he has seen a huge shift in the sort of dogs that have ended up in their care. “15 years ago we looked like a staffie rescue, but now we see hardly any of the bull breeds, now it’s all Frechies, chihuahuas and pug and mixes, which as smaller dogs are more likely to get homed quicker but they often have all the same sorts of issues as the bigger dogs”

The most common reason that dogs were given up Nigel told me was due to a change in circumstance, which covers a range of events from, family break ups, moving abroad, job loss and deaths in families. All these seem like understandable reasons and often out the owners control. But what was more worrying was that the sanctuary sees a far greater increase in dogs coming to them in the winter months. When the clocks go back the kennels fill up! Could it be that in the colder, wetter weather and lack of sunlight, people don’t want to take a dog out in the dark, wet and cold and then have it tread mud through the house?  


Whilst I was visiting, I also got to meet Luna and Charlie. They were brought in as their owners had separated and one felt that the other wasn’t caring for them right but was unable to keep them. They are still really young (3 and 2 respectively) and as you can see from the picture, they are super cute (they are fashionable breeds at the moment, as Nigel mentioned before) normally this would work in their favour but they also need to be homed together and do not get on with cats.

No matter how long it takes, the team at the sanctuary will never put a healthy dog down (their record for the longest resident was 14 years) they will find good forever homes for the dogs in their care but all this comes at a financial cost. It costs around £50,000 a year just to keep the sanctuary open and they rely on support from the community.



Sadly, their will be many dogs in our communities and across the UK, that will not even make it places like this. In 2018 across the UK, it is estimated that around 1,462 were put to sleep. Reasons for this could be due to injury or ill health, behaviour problems, breeds under the dangerous dogs act and some that were unclaimed with no spaces at rescues available. It’s pretty depressing and we can’t change the country all at once but there are things that all of us can do to help the rescues in our communities. Raise awareness and start conversations with our families and friends. Consider donating your time or money. Every little bit really does matter, especially to smaller charities.
I will leave some useful links below including the surveys that I quoted and information about how you can get involved.


Useful Links:

• https://dogstodaymagazine.co.uk/2018/11/26/uks-stray-dog-numbers-decrease-but-more-needs-doing/
• http://clympingdogsanctuary.co.uk/
• https://www.arun.gov.uk/stray-dogs/
• https://www.arun.gov.uk/dog-control/

2  - Coco the 2017 Pixar film is a feast for the eyes and inspired by the Mexican holiday the day of the dead. A really heart warming story with lots of music and a great message without being too in your face about it. The main character in this film is accompaned to the land of the dead by a stray dog Dante. He’s a Xolo dog which is the national dog of Mexico!

3 - Corpse Bride Tim Burtons 2005 corpse bride might not seem like an obvious family choice but with great music, a sinister villain and great visual effects by London’s Moving Picture Company, including the use of puppets it’s really enjoyable. This film also features a host of bizarre animal characters, including Scratch the skeleton dog, a sarcastic green maggot that lives inside the Corpse bride, who kind of acts like a conscience and black widow spider dress maker.

This week's blog is a little different a copy of the little press release for the new Pop-Up Shop, just to give you all a little idea on what I've been up to.

Dear Rebecca,
Thank you for your enquiry. For your pets’ safety, examine the toy from time to time for wear and tear and replace it when appropriate – is referring to replace the toys when necessary.
With regard to - no information about what the product is made from or how it should be disposed of – We don’t believe we legally have to declare what the product is made from or how it should be disposed of for pet toys, unless it contains batteries. However, we are looking in to doing this for future products and packaging.
Recycling symbols etc are put on some customer specific products, as per customer specific requests.
We would advise to check locally regarding recycling of the toy. Generally, a plush toy is polyester and squeaker and a vinyl toy is vinyl and squeaker.
 
Kind regards,

Thank you for getting in touch with us,
In regards to the dog toys, if they are in reasonable condition and you think they can still be used by another pet, i would suggest donating it to a rescue center for pets.
If they are too damaged, I would suggest throwing them in the bin.
If you have any more questions, please let me know.
Thanks

This year I came across a company called True Leaf Pet. They make Hemp based products for pets, out of British Columbia, Canada. I was quite intrigued by the different functional treats that were available for both cats and dogs, from calming to joint care.

Given the rise popularity of cannabis derived products for people I thought I would have a look at some of the potential benefits and the differences between cannabis and hemp.
Although often confused and conflated, Cannabis and Hemp are Not the same. They are part of the same plant family, relatively small, is it made up of 11 groups that overall contains around 170 different species of flowering plant (and I thought I had a big family!).
This family called, Cannabaceae, are upright or climbing plants, with one seed fruits and flowers that have no petals. This plant family also contains another commercially important plant – Hops!
Family aside, the important differences; the mind-altering substance found in cannabis, THC (the part that gets people high) is almost nonexistent in hemp, less than 0.02%.
Humans have been growing and cultivating hemp for centuries and yet few people seem to know very much about an amazing plant it is! It has a huge number of properties and applications including but not limited to: paper making, textiles, fireworks and nutrition.
Hemp production requires very little maintenance, watering or fertilizer, producing a very high yield with less input than conventional crops. So, hemp is far better for the environment.

What your dog benefits from is found in the seeds of the hemp plant. These are packed with omega 6 omega 3 fatty acids. Your dog can not produce these essential fatty acids themselves; they need to have them in their diet. These fatty acids form parts of hormones in the dog’s body that aid the process of smoothing out muscle contractions, additionally the control of swelling and even the regulation of body temperature.
By helping your dog to maintain a good supply of omega 3 and 6 hemp treats can contribute to better joint health and reduce the risk of skin problems. It’s great to know that there are treats available that can contribute to the health and well being of your pets and be environmentally positive. I haven’t started using these products yet, as my jack Russell, Ella has pancreatitis, but more on that at another time.
I have started, just one of the True Leaf Pet products at the moment, Calming support for dogs with hemp, green tea and calming herbs: lemon balm and chamomile.
They are grain free but also quite pricey, with an RRP of £4.49 for a 50g bag. It is important to remember however that this is not some “throw away treat” and it does serve a beneficial function to your pets health.

It is also worth noting that the calming treat contain chicken and turkey, so would NOT be suitable for any dogs who are sensitive to poultry. Additionally due to the high content of omega 3 and 6 content in the hemp seed that makes them so useful, the crude fat content is high and therefore may not be the right treat for some pets.
I’m looking into whether the product packet is recyclable, which would be a great win if they are!

I wanted to get some feedback from some of the companies that supply some of these dog toys, so I sent a few emails to some different manufactures and suppliers. They went a bit like this: