Page 3 - Dog News, Events & Dog Care Advice

Swimming is a great activity for dogs and most breeds love being in the water. Swimming is also fantastic exercise for canines.  It helps improve their cardiovascular health, strengthen their muscles, and boosts circulation.

On warmer days, letting your dog off lead to jump into a pond or lake is a nice treat and is an excellent way for them to expel energy. But there are a few things you should keep in mind for your dog’s safety.

There also might be restrictions in place for certain bodies of water or wildlife conservation areas you should be aware of.

See our tips below to safely and legally let your dog swim in the wild in the UK.

General safety tips and advice

• Strong currents and tides. You should only let your dog swim in calm waters. Even a small current can cause strong swimmers to struggle.
• Supervise your dog at all times. Never leave your dog unattended in the water, even if they are experienced in the water and the water looks calm.
• Your dog should know basic commands. It’s

Retired police dog Stella has won The Kennel Club Hero Dog Award competition at Crufts 2023.

Staffordshire Bull Terrier Stella and handler PC Claire Todd have been serving together at Gloucestershire police for eight and a half years in drugs, cash and firearms recovery.

Staffordshire Bull Terriers are an uncommon breed for police work. When Stella started with Gloucestershire police in 2014 she was the first Staffy to be taken into the UK force. The more common breed for sniffer work is the English Springer Spaniel.

Service dogs are taken in by their handlers as puppies and begin basic training from a young age. Stella’s owner and handler PC Claire Todd got her from a RSPCA rescue shelter and have shared an impressive nine year career together. Since 2014, Stella and Claire have found weapons and thousands of pounds worth of drugs and cash, helping keep their local community safe.

Outside of Stella’s work with the police bringing criminals to justice and keeping drugs and guns off the

The IDC® Longwalk harness is not only popular with our customers but is also the dog harness of choice for design judges over recent years.  Since 2019, the IDC® Longwalk harness has won multiple international design and innovation awards.

Awards include:

• German Innovation Award for Excellence in Business to Consumer in the travel, sports and outdoor goods sector
• German Design Award
• Red Dot Product Design Award

2021 German Innovation Award

In 2021 the IDC® Longwalk hiking harness won the German Innovation Award in the Excellence in Business to Consumer in the travel, sports and outdoor goods category. The award is accredited by the German Design Council.

What the judges said about the IDC® Longwalk harness:

“The innovative patented IDC®Longwalk dog harness includes the joint- gentle DuoFlex® system, which follows every movement of the dog unnoticed, while also relieving the strain of the leash on the owner’s hand and the dog’s joints when walking. The realisation and successful mass

There is a lot to consider when planning a hiking route with your dog. Even if you take your four legged companion everywhere with you, going on a long walk and trekking off the beaten path has its own unique challenges that you should plan carefully for. 

Although hiking in Britain with a dog may seem tame compared to backpacking aboard, you still need to be prepared and plan carefully to ensure your dog’s wellbeing. Plus you need to be aware of laws and restrictions on certain trails.

In this article we provide an overview of what you should know about hiking with your dog in the UK.

Is your dog suitable for hiking?

The first question you need to ask yourself is if your dog is up to the task. Long walks, lots of time outdoors, and being constantly surrounded by wildlife and new experiences all mean your dog needs to be physically up to the task and have the right temperament.

Breeds

Not all breeds are suited to hiking and walking for hours on end. Brachycephalic dog breeds (breeds

Search and rescue dogs are specially trained canines that find survivors after disasters or locate people lost in the wilderness. But how are they trained? And how do they manage to find people?

How search and rescue dogs find people

Dogs have an excellent sense of smell due to the extremely high number of olfactory receptors in their noses – the neurons that detect odours. Humans have roughly six million of these receptors but dogs have up to 300 million, nearly 5000% more. A dog’s nose also has the ability to separate odours, allowing them to identify a specific smell amongst a range of others.

This keen sense of smell can be honed through training to identify human scent and breath. This is how search and rescue (SAR) dogs are able to locate earthquake survivors under rumble. They are also trained to follow ‘ground disturbances’ where they follow footprints and scent traces which are how they’re able to track missing people in the wild.

How search and rescue dogs are trained

Search

9-12 March 2023, The NEC Birmingham

The greatest dog show on earth is back for 2023 and here at JULIUS-K9® UK we are very pleased to be in attendance at Crufts this year.

We are in the same stall as last year: Hall 1 Stand 1-8. So if you are The NEC Birmingham for the event than make sure you stop by and say hello.

Please remember that if your dog hasn’t been invited by The Kennel Club they are not permitted into the Crufts show.

The Show

This year will see 18,000 dogs competing across ten exhibitions over four days. As well as the competition there are various shows and displays that the whole family can enjoy, including the West Midlands Police Dog Display and the always popular Puppy Foundation Display.

The Good Citizen Dog Training scheme (GCDTS) also has a variety of shows across all four days. The GCDTS is the largest dog training programme in the UK and sets out to teach responsible dog ownership for everyday situations

Highlights

There’s a lot going on this year at Crufts,

Dog Liability Insurance is a policy that provides financial protection to dog owners if their pet causes accidental injury or damage to a third-party and their property. It can be included in regular pet insurance policies, or it may be an additional add-on for an extra fee.

But what does Dog Liability Insurance actually cover and do you actually need it if you’re a regular pet owner?

What does third party dog insurance cover?

As the dog owner you are legally responsible for their behaviour. If your dog injures someone or damages property you can have Civil Action taken against you and be taken to court to pay for any costs your dog has caused.

Common reasons why a civil action might be brought against you:

• Your dog injured someone
• Your dog injured harmed someone’s pet
• Your dog damaged a third-party’s property

Dog Liability Insurance, also called third-party dog insurance, varies between policy providers and the terms of the individual policy, but the insurance typically covers:

• Legal

A story recently appeared on the ITV News website about a man who was fined almost £700 for walking his dog off lead while on the Barton Path Riverside Walk in Dover, Kent.  The riverside is under a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) which are put in place by individual UK councils to protect certain areas such as high streets, playgrounds, high streets, sports fields, and nature reveres.

PSPO’s include keeping dogs on leads while in the area at all times, usually to safeguard children and wildlife. These areas have to be signposted to inform dog owners that they are in PSPO area and that they must keep their dog on leash.

In this Dover case, a Dog Warden working for Dover District Council had spotted the man walking his dog off lead and asked him to put a lead on. Local newspaper Kent Online reported that the man ignored the request and walked away. He was later identified and the case went to court where he was fined £200 and an additional £375 for court costs, plus a victim surcharge

In early January 2023 BBC News reported on a guide dog shortage for the visually impaired. The article highlighted that The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association (also known simply as Guide Dogs) reported that the average wait time for a guide dog increased from 12 months to 18.

This increase in wait times was caused by the Covid pandemic which put a pause on breeding, training and socialising for five months. Socialising is an important part of guide dog training as developing the dog’s senses in their early development greatly affects their perception and behaviour around people.

Socialising guide dogs starts in basic training and puppies can start between 12 and 15 months old. Basic training usually lasts nineteen weeks before Advanced Training begins, which places dogs in real world environments. However, the number of puppies making it through the training process has recently dropped from 65% to less than 50%, which the Guide Dog Association have said is the lowest in decades.

We have

Walking your dog daily is an important part of their routine and keeps them fit, healthy and helps reduce stress. But in freezing conditions it can be easy to make excuses not to take them out. So when is it actually too cold to take your dog for a walk? And what should you do to help them keep warm in sub-zero temperatures? Below we have a brief guide on helping you decide.

How cold is too cold to take your dog out?

The breed of your dog will be the main determiner for when it’s safe for it to go outdoors in very cold weather. Small and medium breeds with thinner coats will struggle in -4°C conditions. Bigger dog breeds with thicker coats can withstand temperatures of -6°C.

At -7°C dogs are at a risk of developing hypothermia and frostbite and going in these conditions is not recommended for most breeds.

If you need to stay inside with your dog to avoid extreme weather, see our How To Keep Your Dog Entertained Indoors article for ideas on keeping them active and stimulated.

How long