Living
Recently I have had an email from a young groomer asking about the importance of grooming competitions. This takes some thought. Are grooming competitions important, necessary or beneficial?
What is the best advice to give potential owners in choosing the best breed for themselves?
White Rabbits, White Rabbits, White Rabbits… It’s the first of March and tradition says I have to utter this mantra. Goodness only knows why, this piece of folklore has been recorded as early as the First World War and not just in European...
I am delighted to have been asked to speak at Crufts in the new seminar pod that is being organized by KCAI (Kennel Club Accreditation Scheme for Instructors in Dog Training and Canine Behaviour).
Bonhams annual sale of dog art in New York is always judged by the quality, commercial appeal and provenance of lots at the top end, so this year’s sale will not go down as a vintage one. Nevertheless, with 82 per cent sold by lot and 73 per cent...
A reader from Wales chides me mildly for failing to mention hydatids when writing recently about the risk of importing various diseases into the UK following the relaxation of some of the rules related to pet travel.
Returning once more to the subject of the Pug and Bulldog bitches who both, completely separately, went through such frightening unexplained traumas a few days after whelping, Juliet Shaw of the Badlesmere Bull Terriers and Minis sent an email to...
I’ve had a welcome email this week from Mo Jefferson regarding breed rescue and the responsibilities of a breeder. She begins by saying that she has always given a guarantee to take back any dog she has bred.
Why does an apparently successful mating fail to produce puppies? This is a relatively common question, although it may be asked in a variety of ways. The answer, however, is far from simple as there can be many reasons why a pregnancy does not...
This week I feature another picture from the collection at the Kennel Club painted by one of this country’s most popular dog artists, Reuben Ward Binks. Although he was born in Bolton, Lancashire, Binks spent a lot of his time living and working...
I used to groom a Westie for a farmer friend of ours. George was a little softy in the normal way of things, but when the owners got a brush out of the cupboard the fangs would show with vengence.
When we discussed simple inheritance over a year ago, it was apparent that when there is one gene controlling a characteristic and that gene has only two alternative forms that relate to one another in a dominant:recessive way, there is clear...
