PUB ETIQUETTE FOR DOGS (AND OWNERS)

So you recently moved and were very surprised to notice that your local pub allows dogs. Immediately you thought this was a wonderful idea (and another reason to go to the pub…).

The next thought was how would your dogs react to other dogs close to you as, of course, they are very protective.

Being the responsible owner you are, you made a couple of trips to the pub, without the dogs, just to suss it out, of course. You quickly realised a couple of things:

·      Of the four dogs you regularly saw, three roamed freely and one was on a leash. The couple of others that popped in from time to time were also on leashes.

·      There were no fights, all the dogs seemed to get along quite well.

·      Alarmingly, there were no “poo bins”, not that you saw any dog requiring its use, but what do you do if your dog has a little accident?

Well prepared, at least on the research front, you took the big step and took your dogs with…

About five minutes after sitting down you realised you made a huge mistake – your dogs did not react well to the new surroundings, they growled at everybody and seemed afraid of the two other dogs there. You decided to beat a hasty retreated before it became embarrassing, especially in a smelly way (you already smelled the tell tale signs of imminent solid depositing).

Now what?

The above is loosely based on our own experiences and we had to decide whether to try it again or do we resign ourselves to leaving the dogs at home?

The first step we took was, of course, back to the pub a few evenings later. We then started chatting to the other dog owners (by this time we were on nodding hello terms.)

From these discussions and our general observations, we took the following steps:

·      Firstly we had to come to terms with the fact that we were probably ten times as nervous as the dogs and they picked up on that, which made them more nervous and protective.

·      We took the dogs back one afternoon when we knew that it would be quiet and there would be no other dogs

·      Luckily we have a dog friendly park across the road from the pub, so we took the dogs for a nice long walk first. This gave them the opportunity to “do their business” before going to the pub (this is Cape Town and the park even have dedicated dog poo bins.) We have a little container of small poo bags permanently clipped to the one dog’s leash, with spares in our bags.

·      A small packet of treats went with and as soon as we sat down, each dog got a few treats and a bowl of water was put down close to them

·      Next time we took the dogs was early evening, again on a quiet night, but with at least two other dogs there. By now our dogs was over the excitement of a strange place and only had to get used to other dogs. Guess what, they all got along and the others even got treats from us!

·      Keep your dog on a leash if it tends to wander off.

Like all things in life, a bit of planning and forethought goes a long way to alleviating stress, yours and the dogs’. Relax and enjoy the pub with your dogs! We made a lot of new friends as a result of our dogs being with us, take the opportunity!

As I mentioned, we are in Cape Town and we have an annual list of Ten Best Dog Friendly Pubs, but we are not the only lucky ones, see EatOut’s list below for a place close to you.

EatOut has a list of <A HREF=”http://www.eatout.co.za/article/dog-friendly-restaurants”>65 dog-friendly restaurants:</A>

Cape Town – 25

Jo’burg – 19

Pretoria – 13

Durban Area – 12

Winelands – 3

#pubdogs #dogandcatpad

The Sad/Happy Story of Pippa (and puppy mills...)

On one of our regular Monday evening outings to Café Verdi with our dogs, we spotted a little puppy with a hind leg heavily strapped.  Of course, Gerda had to investigate…

Turns out it is a sad story with a happy ending, but it goes beyond just this puppy’s story, it is also an attack on back street breeding, or puppy mills.

The puppy was introduced to us as Mia by her foster mother, Daina. This is Daina’s story.

“We heard about the puppy (her new family has named her Pippa) from my boyfriend’s mom. A colleague of hers knew of a couple in Mitchells Plain that had a few puppies to sell.

Little Pippa was hit by a car and her back leg had been broken in two places. Because of this, she was unable to get to her mom for milk and as soon as we heard about her we went to go pick her up.

We took her to the vet immediately and were told that she was in a very bad condition, not only due to the broken leg and lack of nutrition, but she had also lost a lot of blood from ticks and fleas that she was covered in. The vet dewormed her and gave her a blood transfusion to increase her blood count and two days later she was ready to come home with us for rehabilitation at just 8 weeks old.

We immediately fell in love with her as she had the sweetest little personality and didn't let her bandaged leg stop her. Each day she got stronger and stronger. She really is a little fighter and once she seemed healthy again we started looking for a home. A month went by with little interest.

One day I went to Forrester’s Arms in Newlands and Pippa would not leave one group of people alone. She was obsessed with the table. There was some interest so I gave them my number and the next day I received a phone call that Pippa would finally have a forever home.

I took her to the vet again and her bandage was removed. Due to the fact that the new parents had two other dogs, I was asked to keep her for another week (I didn't mind at all - she was my baby!) for some more rehabilitation to increase her mobility.

By the time I dropped her off at her new home, she was able to walk on her sore leg even though it isn't very strong yet and she was so excited to meet her new brother and sister.

Her new family loves her so much and the second I handed her over I could see the adoration in her new mom's eyes.

Her new mom and I are still in contact and Pippa is doing extremely well and is having a ball with her new family.

I am so glad that I was able to have helped this little girl and gotten to know her gorgeous personality.

I will miss her dearly but I know she is now well looked after and is so happy at her new home!”

Young Mia, rather, young Pippa, is one of the few happy stories when it involves puppy mils. These are unscrupulous sub-humans that breed dogs purely for cash with absolutely no care for the mother or the puppies’ health. Far too often the mothers are literally dumped when they can no longer breed or becomes ill – mastitis is a common ailment that goes untreated and will result in death. Less than perfect puppies or ones that do not find buyers quickly suffer the same fate – abandonment or death, often by drowning.

What Daina did for Pippa is unquestionably wonderful and was certainly done with the interests of the puppy in mind. The problem is that she, unwittingly, supported the back street breeder.

Daina should be rewarded for her compassion and the breeder must suffer for his/her heartless and cruel actions. Unfortunately the is little that can be done under the law to prevent this behavior. The breeder can be reported for cruelty against animals, but if his kennels are clean and the animals healthy, the SPCA cannot act.

This has to be changed and the only way is to not support these so called breeders, who are in fact animal farmers with no hint of conscience.

PETS FOR THE ELDERLY

My mother lived in a centre for the elderly for the last almost twenty years of her life and attained the ripe old age of 94. She was very happy where she was and got the care she required towards the end, neither she nor we ever regretted her decision to move to the centre.

She did have one regret, though, she so much wanted a cat as a companion. When she moved into her flat in the centre, the then manager lived on the same floor and they had a cat that used to visit my mother almost daily (an exception was made for them, nobody else was allowed to keep an animal). I think that the day they, and the cat, moved out was one of the saddest days for my mother.

So much research has been done on this subject that I cannot understand the attitude of the management of care centres for the elderly in not allowing them a companion animal. Look at some of the research cited at the bottom of this blog.

Two studies, in particular, must be noted:

In the case of elderly people suffering from Alzheimer's disease or other dementia-related syndromes, the presence of pets, and particularly cats, could bring a potential benefit. This was underlined in a research "Cats in psychogeriatric nursing homes": a blessing for residents, caregivers and cats", Marie-José Enders-Slegers (University of Utrecht, Netherlands)

A nation-wide study led in France among retirement homes showed that the presence of an animal has a positive impact on residents. The most frequently mentioned qualities are affection (92 %), keeping guard (72 %), mobility (57 %). Ref : "Animals in Old Peoples' homes as a Symbol of Quality of Life" (Pascal Champvert, president ADEIIPA).

Obviously, in the Netherlands and France, it is permitted for the elderly to have companion animals – why do we still resist the notion?

As animal lovers, we all know the benefits – we must all remember that we will also become elderly and how will you feel if you are deprived of a cat or dog?

P.S. Having a companion animal is also beneficial to the younger ;-)

Some interesting reading:

The Pets for the Elderly Foundation - http://www.petsfortheelderly.org/index.html

Psychology Today - https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/iage/201305/pet-therapy-older-adults

Science Daily - http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/06/150623141736.htm

AgingCare.com - https://www.agingcare.com/Articles/benefits-of-elderly-owning-pets-113294.htm

WHEN TO LET GO

This has recently been doing the rounds on Facebook again, attributed to a six year old:

“People are born so that they can learn how to live a good life. Like, loving everybody all the time, and being nice. Well dogs already know how to do that, so they don’t have to stay as long.”

The sad fact is that we will all probably outlive our pets and throughout our lives will have to say goodbye to a number of loved animals.

The question of when to say goodbye and let them go is one I’ve had to make more times than I care to remember, and it doesn’t get any easier.

When I realise that it may be getting to decision time, I ask myself, “Why am I keeping the animal alive? Is it for my sake or the animal’s?”

If the answer is, “For my sake,” then it is time to let go, as difficult as it may be.

I far to often see loved pets suffering because the owner cannot bear to say goodbye – this is not fair to the animal. It is also not fair to others who loved the dog; they may wish to remember it as a healthy loving pet, not a disease-ridden or old dog bearing no resemblance to the beloved pet.

We decided to play god when we started domesticating animals and took dogs and cats into our homes as companions. We cannot now abdicate our responsibility because it doesn’t suit us or is too difficult. When you take on a responsibility, you have to carry it through.

Talk to your vet about it, ask his/her advice about the quality of life the dog or cat has, what does he recommend? Good vets will love your animals, but has an objective view, unclouded by years of love and companionship. Listen to their advice.

Please do not let any animal suffer - it is not necessary. Let them go with dignity and love when the time comes.

They never really leave us, they stay in our hearts forever and we will always remember their love, joy and devotion.

HARNESS or COLLAR?

The debate continues, which is best, harness or collar? This can be as touchy a subject as religion at a bar and right up there with the Apple versus Microsoft debate – everyone has an opinion and they are adamant that they are right.

If you are hoping for the final answer, skip to the bottom of the page and read the ads, I am only going to try and shed some light and personal insights on this murky subject.

I tried to research this question and found that pro-harness people say collars are a no-no, always. The pro-collar people, vice-versa. End of discussion.

Luckily there are some experts that agree that both have a place and use. Collars can be worn all the time and there is no better place to hang the dog’s ID tag. On a side note, dogs must have ID tags if they are going outside the property, even if they are micro-chipped (which they should be).

On the down side, collars are not really an effective way of keeping your dog under control. A few days ago I saw a dog get out of its collar at the vet and take to the street with owner and vet in pursuit. A couple of cars had to take serious evasive action. In defence of the vet, he was assisting the owner in loading three dogs into her car after their consultation.

A well fitting harness gives much more control over the dog and it is virtually impossible for the dog to get out of it on its own. Have you ever tried to stop a dogfight if the dog is only wearing a collar? I have had to do that with a dog wearing a collar and a dog with a harness – trust me, I’ll take the harness every time!

Personally, we prefer harnesses as our dogs are already wearing flea collars and they never go anywhere unless attached to us via harness and lead. (Yes, they are micro-chipped and the harnesses have ID tags.)

Next blog I tale a look at the safety of our pets when travelling - watch this space.