In this blog, as well as the topical WildPaw podcast, we look at dog identity tags. What is the law? Why are people ignoring it? What might happen to you if you get it wrong?

Listen to the WildPaw Podcast here:

or subscribe to the WildPaw Dog podcast on iTunes

Happy New year to everyone!

Thank you for all the lovely good wishes and hope you enjoyed the advent calendar, and are full of great New Year Resolutions for you and your dog. I have been contacted by a lot of people for training and help so it looks like people are getting ready to really give their dog some effort in 2011. Hopefully with the help of the podcast you will be able to do that too!

“My dog kneads and sucks on a favourite item – is this normal?”

I promised to answer this some time ago and I didnt, so now is the time

Charlotte sent us a lovely email about her little Cocker Spaniel George. She also sent me a photo and he is absolutely gorgeous. Here he is ‘in action’ with one of his friends!

George has a habit and Charlotte is wondering if its a worry or not? Listen to the podcast to find out more…

Dog Law – part one. Dog identification (ID) tags

Yesterday I went on a training course all about the law appertaining to dogs and dog ownership. It considered the law in England and Wales only I’m afraid. Nevertheless, there is enough for me to be going on with in just these two countries. Those of you in other countries may be amazed at some of our laws. I’d love to hear about yours, so do get in touch on podcast@karenwild.co.uk

The most well-known law over here is of course the Dangerous Dogs Act but I think it is very useful to know other laws that affect you as a dog owner. To be honest, by the time the day-long session was over I was beginning to think that owning dogs, especially larger dogs, can be a very risky business indeed!
Now, I should point out that this is opinion and interpretation of the law, I are not in a position to dictate the law so you should always aim to act lawfully and investigate if you are not sure with proper legal advice.

The Law states under the Control of Dogs Order 1992 ‘If a dog is in a highway or in a place of public resort the dog has to wear a collar with the name and address of the owner inscribed on the collar or on a plate or badge attached to it’

This means a collar must be on your dog, and visible identification of the type described above must be on that collar. I did check for all you harness lovers and the opinion is that a harness is acceptable in place of a collar, again as long as it has an id tag on it.

The ID tag itself. Now this is where we really run into problems. The tag has to have YOUR NAME, YOUR FULL ADDRESS. No mention of telephone number, but of course that is the first thing most people would put on, along with mobile number these days.

Imagine the size of the gong on a small dog! You can of course have two tags.

Nevertheless I do know an awful lot of objections to this, some of which were raised on twitter yesterday.

- Oldies Club said we would be amazed how many people do not know or do not follow this rule.
- One lady said that she was told specifically NOT to add her name and address because this would mean her house could be burgled
- On the dog law course, a lady commented that dogs were stolen to order and then ransomed, with the thief knowing the owners name and address
- Another listener has commented that their house number and postcode is on the tag, and does this constitute an address? The answer would be, no. The law is intended to reunite the dog with its owner and opinion is, there is opinion that a postcode is not going to support this.
- Microchipping alone is not enough because your average neighbour doesn’t have a microchip reader…!
- The paper roll inside metal cylinder is not considered to be within the law (opinion again!) because the law specifically states ‘inscribed’ – again, open to interpretation perhaps?
- I made the point that the tags would have to be pretty big – the point returned was that you can engrave both sides of a tag, and can use more than one tag. I accept that but I also made the point that you would have to keep your Chihuahua away from water in case they got dragged down by the weight…

What do you think? Have you got a tag that supports all this info and is still really lightweight? Ideas? We want to hear from you!

We did find a lightweight tag that may help for those of you with smaller dogs. Thanks to Kay Attwood at K9 services for this one

More dog law next week.

and finally, as they say, a story about a dog…the world of bizarre

Australian Man Marries a Dog
An Australian man has surprised friends by getting married — to his pet dog of five years, a golden labrador called Honey. Twenty-year-old Joe Guiso said the “marriage” ceremony performed by a friend in the Queensland town of Toowoomba was simply a creative and light-hearted way of bringing together family and friends.

“This was just an event for my friends and I to get together,” he told AFP on Friday. “It really was fun. We all dressed up in suits and everything.

“But you can’t actually marry a dog.”

Guiso, who revelled at a stag night at a friend’s house before the event, says while he loves his dog, it is “just Plutonic love.”

“There’s nothing sexual,” he said, adding that he hoped no one was offended by the unconventional pooch partnership. “It really should be taken lightly.”

And on that note, I will see you next week, same time, same place!

Karen

P.S. If you have any questions you would like answered about your dog, or comments on the podcast, please leave your remarks below or contact us on podcast@karenwild.co.uk Your feedback is very important to us, we enjoy making these podcasts and love to hear your views.

How about during training when you might be making it wait for its toy when it is desperate to play?

Ever ask yourself how you know the dog is ok with you doing this? How can you tell? More importantly, is your child able to judge the same things as you are?

A BBC report has today highlighted the continuing dangers involved when kids mix with pet dogs.

Often, news reports on dog attacks give impressions of a slavering mange-ridden hound that has somehow mauled an unsuspecting child. We look over at our snoozing pet dog and we somehow ‘know’ they would never be like that.

Nevertheless bite statistics indicate that children are bitten most often by their own family dogs compared to an unknown stray.

The BBC report states that research which examines how children “scan” a dog’s face shows that younger children focus on the mouth and teeth, and that under-fives are far more likely to “lean in” to have a closer look. A single bite, intended to make a child ‘go away’, can easily cause permanent scarring and does not necessarily mean that the dog has turned into a vicious animal! Nevertheless the child probably failed to read the signs.

So, what can we do right now to reduce the risks?

Dr Kerstin Meints, from Lincoln University, is helping to assess the bite prevention interactive DVD called “Blue Dog” which aims to teach children about how to play safely with dogs and when to leave it alone. The DVD gives the child a chance to decide whether or not to approach the dog or play with it in different scenarios. It is aimed at children even as young as 3 years old, to give them an insight into reading dog cues. The research, to be presented at the World Safety Conference in London, indicates that even two weeks later children still show that they have learned the rules presented on the DVD.

The Kennel Club have a free interactive site for their Safe and Sound scheme, which again aims to show children how they might learn to read the signs. My advice to you is to take that test and see how well you fare as an adult!

Dogs are, by and large, hugely tolerant creatures. Nevertheless if they are continuously under stress, it is not surprising that one day they will be pushed too far.

If you would like to take steps to really work on this with your own dog, don’t forget you can read more in one of our Intellidogs dog manual chapters ‘Kids and Dogs Safety and Sense’ available for download for just £2.99. You can just download that chapter, no need to buy a whole book!

As a dog-owning community, it is within our power to spread the word and to smash the myth that ‘only bad dogs bite’.

I’d love to read your comments and discussion points, so please feel free to air your thoughts below

Karen