DOG DAY AFTERNOON

Recently I turned 53 and became a Grandfather for the first time. Does that mean I am now officially old? Old age affects people in different ways but how does it affect our dogs? It is really difficult to comprehend that as your dog gets older you have to make changes to how you communicate with him. Both my black labs are now nine years old. Ben, the male, has gone through two major operations in his life, which most people tell you add to your years. Mentally and physically they have always been very active. They have always gone to training school and are part of a demonstration team that carry out demonstrations throughout the summer at local agricultural meetings on obedience and fun agility. The club we are with has an agility night once a month which they go to. We have a holiday home in Berwick-Upon-Tweed, were we go twice a month and for all our main holidays. At Berwick they go for even longer walks and swim in the sea, regardless how cold or rough the sea is, wouldn’t

In April of 2012 the BBC ran a story on the proposed scheme of compulsory micro chipping of every new born puppy. The idea behind this proposal is so that it makes it easier to trace and prosecute owners of violent dogs. Northern Ireland has already introduced a law on Microchipping this year. At the moment Scotland has no plans, but that may change. There are two voices on this proposal, firstly all the major charities welcome the idea stating that in addition it will be easy to reunite dogs with their owners should they become separated or worse stolen. Well that’s not true is it? If you read July’s issue of Dog’s Today magazine they have done a piece on the subject of micro chipping and in it they highlight a case where a woman ,Faye Moore, had her Pug stolen from the garden a few years back and had been searching frantically for it ever since. To their amazement they were contacted by the micro chip company to be told the dog had turned up somewhere near Somerset . The new owne