Living
Regular readers to my column will appreciate the diversity of items, artistic and utilitarian, on which the dog appears and will also know that whenever possible I like to feature something new.
As a few comments about vaccination have reached my ears in the past few weeks, it would seem appropriate to comment so readers have a chance of understanding the underlying logic.
A frantic plea for help has just come from Dawn Inett and her mother, Rosemary Harrison, of the Carradine Cairns about their two-year-old bitch, Florence.
It’s play time! All dogs, young or old, enjoy the interaction of play either with other dogs or us. Play is a great way to enhance training and, with thought, many issues of poor behaviour or unwanted physical contact, such as jumping up, face...
A response to a couple of readers’ questions this week. The first is about coccidiosis. A reader has kept chickens in the past and they experienced outbreaks of coccidiosis.
The paintings which form the subject of my column this week are of two Basset Hounds, father and daughter, that helped define the breed in the 1950s. Both were owned by the late Wendy Jagger, one of the post-war breeders who helped re-establish...
A new groomer has asked about prices to charge clients. This is a big question. There are so many breeds to trim and each dog can vary so much in the time and effort required to make it look good.
Crufts, our show of shows, is over for another year and this was a good one with the accent firmly on how wonderful dogs are in all walks of life with health issues firmly in the background – and this not before time!
Crufts is already fading in our memories as preparations begin for next year! I really enjoyed talking to those rescues invited to the Kennel Club stand on all four days to meet and greet the hundreds of doggy visitors.
As a pregnancy enters the last couple of weeks a breeder’s thoughts will turn towards whelping. It is unlikely the whelping will begin on the calculated date. The 63-day landmark is only an average figure and it is influenced by several biological...
I make no apology for revisiting Craigie Aitchison and his work. Along with David Hockney’s Dachshunds and Lucian Freud’s Whippets, Aitchison’s Bedlington Terrier pictures are some of the most iconic dog images of the late 20th-early 21st century.
Nobody can deny one of the most stunning breeds to fill the eye is the beautiful Irish (red) Setter. Recently I had the honour to judge varieties and BIS at an open show. Trotting into the veteran class came the most exquisitely turned out Irish...
