A few weeks ago, as an advocate for showing kindness to owners around the subject of canine obesity I was asked for an expert quote for the Sun, a UK national newspaper. And why????? Because a new weight loss drug is being brought to market next year ahead of a load of others. I have no idea when it will go to print but it'll be The Sun on Sunday I think either as a half or as full page spread. So who is bringing this to drug to market? Debora Meaden and Steven Bartlett What are your thoughts? Sock it to me !

Ok so as we know this is a safe space and quite frankly I judge myself far more harshly than anybody else ever could. I use a choke chain and I hate it BUT I have tried: A martingale collar ; absolutely no use A GenCon head collar; just pulled tightly into his muzzle and he pulled against it anyway A Dogmatic head collar, he will pull against this, then frantically paw at it, resulting in scratches to himself and also he knows he can swing his body around which has resulted in cracked ribs on myself. A slip collar - this was like hanging him, for me they are too much like a noose and I’m not happy with that. So I’ve made the choice to try a choke chain and whilst the majority of the time he has it on but emphasis is on his collar, if need be the choke comes into play. This has been the only thing that has worked and he seems to be becoming calmer with dare I say the majority of dogs we are meeting! So whilst it’s not ideal I have made a choice that may be deemed as potentially damaging but I’ve weighed up my options. I thought I’d share this post to show that we are open and that we have decisions to make that are not ideal.

I am forever in wellies or my leather walking boots once the weather starts to turn! I always used to have boot bags; but they tend to be messy as the mud gets on the sides; zips and collects in the bottom. Inside the boots get damp as they are then zipped up and left. I found this under my stairs a few years ago and was repurposed! Unless you have really big feet, one boot fits in neatly each side. They stay upright, you can carry if necessary. The boots can air, and the container can be hosed clean when it gets very muddy! Fits in the boot of cars, in the footwell behind the front seats etc. If I need to take out of the van for any reason they just sit in the porch as is!

I don’t know about your dogs but at times, since Leif had injury caused by another dog, he can be reactive. I have supported his behaviour to calm him and realised through our Tuesday chats in the Canine Advocate that is couldn’t be through fear and not aggression. it really made sense when we had the talk about anxious dogs. I felt I had let Leif down. Over the past few months I have seen a real change for the better with Leif at times completely ignoring dogs or just calmly watching. Today, we almost made a clear round! Coming into contact with 4 dogs, 2 of which were kicking off. Leif just wanted to go sniff through the long grass. Next 2 he sat and just watched go by. Next 1 started going at Leif so he responded and lastly, a calm dog walking past, and it was Leif’s turn to kick off! I wonder if that dog hadn’t gone for him would he have remained calm for the entire walk. It makes me think he would. What’s your thoughts? Do any of yours do this?

I try to take opportunities to do a little training on walks. So this morning we practiced weaving, (1 more successfully than the other!), walking in the wall to build confidence and hopefully build the awareness to use the see saw. Do you use anything that’s available to you as an extra training session. Oops and the little jumps too so we can promote following instruction, move those muscle a little more rather than just walking and trotting.