Easter | AniEd Ireland

This is the last week during which you can get you and your dog compliant with Ireland’s new microchipping laws; more here.

I’m afraid there’s no chocolate for you two beggars!

Biting is normal, natural, necessary dog behaviour but when it happens (and it is a when and not an if) it is very distressing at many levels. Understanding biting and related dog behaviour is a pretty good step toward preventing it: Why Dogs Bite, Part I and Part II.

A common cause of bites in pets, is pain and they are pretty good at hiding their pain and discomfort. Download a straight forward poster here and here.

Pain may mean a trip to the vet’s and unsurprisingly many dogs find this upsetting and distressing. Not only that many pet owners appear unable to assess their pets’ distress, given that many of the signs can be pretty subtle and easily misinterpreted: Canine Stress in the Vet’s Waiting Room.
This piece gives an in-depth run down of stress and things that can be done to help reduce your dog’s distress: Fixing their bones, but breaking their brains.
More and more veterinary practices are becoming aware of ways to reduce dogs’ distress before, during and after procedures; here are five tips for handling dogs and cats in a caring manner – it’s a poster that you can download and share 😉
We can work together to improve your dog’s comfort, not only with the vet team working to reduce stress, but at home preparing our dogs for handling with two simple of ways of helping your dog enjoy this type of contact in this clip.

With Easter only a few days away and the temptation of chocolate too much for some dogs, let’s avoid that vet visit by being aware and careful of poisons that you dog might ingest:

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Here’s a list of the Top 10 Toxins of 2015 and poisons to protect your dog from. With Spring springing, it’s a good idea to take note of the Top 10 Plants Poisonous to Pets too.

Remember, no Easter Eggs for pets; the Chocolate Chart!

Instead, get your dog a fun and challenging puzzle toy – the joy will last much longer than your Easter Egg: Brain Teasing Toys for Dogs Who are too Smart for their Own Good!

Even we though we might not have too much self control around all that chocolate, our dogs can: Clicker Training Doggie Zen exercises!
Doggie Zen exercises are some of our favourites, and even though this is an older resource it never really gets tired!

Congratulations to Purin the Beagle for her new Guinness World Record: fastest 10m on a ball by a dog!

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Again, we are appealing to people to give chocolate bunnies rather than real ones. But if you are thinking about getting a rabbit pet, watch this clip before getting one…

Or maybe just watch this somewhat terrifying clip…

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The long weekend is beckoning…enjoy this clip of an agility round that doesn’t go quite as planned…

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Hope you had a great St Patrick’s Day – even the Swedish American Staffordshire Terrier was Irish for a day:

There’s been quite a bit of canine related drama around the web this week…

Crufts always inspires much internet uproar. Almost 30,000 dogs attended to compete and the vast majority experience a pretty good standard of welfare but the intense coverage of this show highlights where progress must be made in terms of breeding practices, selecting for anatomical extremes and temperamental qualities.
A very sweet, young Westie called Devon won Best in Show and lots of fun was had by many hundreds of thousands of competitors and spectators.

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One of our favourite moments was this Freestyle routine from Irena & Layla, which, believe it or not, took third place in an obviously highly competitive International Freestyle competition:

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You can watch the whole thing plus years gone by too on the Crufts YouTube channel.

Controversy surrounding Cesar Millan and his dog whispering ways have catapulted him and his actions into the headlines again, after a period of relative peace and quiet. This time things have got serious with he and his team being investigated for animal cruelty relating to the treatment of a pig involved in one of his “dog rehabilitation” pieces. A LOT of social media pieces have appeared, some can be found here: Cesar-Gate and Beyond Cesar Millan.
No other dog-person inspires so much controversy and so many polarised views points. Discussion is good and this piece is a nice summary of this particular situation and links to further information.

Concerns in the UK have been raised after a number of dogs have died of a tick-borne disease, Babesiosis. More on this disease in dogs here.

Wow! Time for some good news I think; a tale of a Robinson Crusoe dog who fell off a fishing boat but was found alive five weeks later!

At this time of year, bunnies and other pets are considered but in most cases a chocolate bunny is better (but not for your dog!):

From Friends of Unwanted Rabbits

Old dogs are a joy but getting older ain’t easy: It’s Only Money
And living with an older dog often means considering that most difficult of decisions; some advice here if dealing with canine dementia in your older dog: Dementia in Senior Dogs

The dog-child mix can be amazingly successful or down-right disastrous; some good advice from Roger Abrantes: How to avoid problems with children and dogs

Tissues are required for this beautiful, touching and heartbreaking piece: Goodbye to my owner

For the cat owners, but some tips useful for dogs too – 5 Purrfect hacks fur cat owners:

And some much needed comic relief as this handy dog owner admires the fence he built to keep his dog in…

MUD!