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The holiday season is upon us, and this can have a big impact on the lives of our dogs. It’s easy to forget how they might be coping with all these changes, especially when we get caught up in frantic preparations! Some of our PDTE members have shared their top tips to make sure dogs stay happy and healthy during the holiday season. Pennie Clayton from the Horse and Hound School in the UK suggests the following: Christmas can be exceedingly difficult for dogs as there ca

The primary way dogs dissipate heat is via panting. There are sweat glands in the ears and on the undersides of the paws, but they have only a limited capacity to cool a dog down. Symptoms of heatstroke can include heavy panting, weakness, uncoordinated gait, collapsing, darker than normal appearing tongue and gums, vomiting, diarrhoea, loss of consciousness, and seizures. Drinking lots of water helps, but it will not prevent heatstroke for dogs who work too hard in the he

1 in 6 people admitted to hospital for a day or more, as a result of a dog bite, is a child under the age of 10. In 2012, over half of these children needed plastic surgery, and over a quarter needed speciality facial/oral surgery. At least three times as many people are bitten by dogs they know than by strange dogs. Many children love dogs and play with them the way they play with a Teddy bear. However, children can be quite frightening for dogs. They are often not good a

With the current warm temperatures, here is a reminder of the dangers of leaving dogs unattended in cars in the hot months. High temperatures are intensified through car windscreens and windows, and even with windows open, it can take just 20 minutes for dogs to suffer from heatstroke and die an agonising death. Even responsible dog owners can make the mistake of not realising just how lethal travelling in the heat with their dog can be. The soaring temperatures only intensif

Just remember that when you have your ‘Easter Egg Hunt’ this weekend, you need to make sure that your dog does not participate and that all chocolate is found by the family and NOT your 4 legged friend – why? Because chocolate is LETHAL for dogs. Many think it is because chocolate contains caffeine, but this is not the problem. The cousin of caffeine, also a natural stimulant, is theobromine and our dogs do not have a specific enzyme that metabolizes theobromine (17 hours