The Kennel Club UK - http://www.the-kennel-club.org.uk
Dogs Trust - http://www.dogstrust.org.uk/
Founded in 1891, Dogs Trust, formerly known as the National Canine Defence League, has always campaigned on dog-welfare issues to ensure a safe and happy future for our four-legged friends.
It has rehoming centres throughout the UK. You can search their website to see what dogs they have available for rehoming from your local centre.
Our local centre (open 12 noon - 4 pm) is in Ballymena:
Fairview, 60 Teeshan Road, Ballymena, BT43 5PN ( Tel 028 2565 2977 )
Join as a member (£25, or £12.50 for over 60s) and get 3rd party insurance for your dog – up to £1,000,000 per claim if your dog causes damage or injury to another person, their property or pets. (An excess applies.)
http://www.dogstrust.org.uk/giving/membership/default.aspx
DogsTrust has a useful HELP and ADVICE page for anyone wanting to know about getting a dog, dog care, behaviour and training ... https://www.dogstrust.org.uk/help-advice/
They also offer training classes at various local centres (e.g. Duncairn Community Centre, BT15; Skainos Centre, BT4; St Ignatius Parish Hall, BT8) https://www.dogstrust.org.uk/help-advice/dog-school/
Sirius Dog Training
Named after the Dog Star, Sirius, this is Dr Ian Dunbar's excellent website. Visit it for training and behaviour advice for new puppies and for older dogs. Useful articles are available from the drop-down menus at the top of the screen. A trustworthy site and well worth visiting. Highly recommended.
http://www.dogstardaily.com/
http://www.dogstardaily.com/training
Dog Walking/Sitting/Grooming/Playing
In South and East Belfast, FurryPals offers a dog walking, dog minding and pet taxi service. Call Janice on 077 6318 0896
Happy Tailz offer dog walking and pet sitting services in North Belfast & Newtownabbey.
Call Lisa or Pauline on 074 4540 7587 or 077 7578 6417 or email happy_tailz@hotmail.com
The Groomer, https://www.facebook.com/ThegroomerNI Tele. 07763 684271
Unit 2, St John's Court, 734 Upper Newtownards Road, BT16 1RJ
DogsBuddy Grooming, http://www.dogsbuddy.com Tele. 02890 701212
20 Lisnabreeny Road, Castlereagh, BT6 9SD.
Dog Play at DoggiePlay Tele. 02890 458 988.
Not "doggy day care", more "doggy play care", Doggieplay is situated beside Connswater Shopping Centre in east Belfast and offers a safe, enclosed, indoor area for your dog to play with other similar-sized pooches.
You can't abandon your dog there and clear off to do shopping, but you can sit and have a coffee while watching your dog playing with others, or you can accompany your dog in the play area.
Veterinary Surgeries
A full list of veterinary surgeries in Northern Ireland by County ,
http://www.any-uk-vet.co.uk/nireland.htm
The nearest practices to the club:
Ashwood Vets, 71 Comber Road, Dundonald. 028 9041 9374; www.ashwoodvets.com
Gortlands, 162 Gilnahirk Road. 028 9079 6005; www.gortlandsvets.com
Flynn Vets, Commons Brae, 188 Saintfield Road. 028 9079 9500; www.commonsbraevets.co.uk
Cedar Grove, 132 Upper Knockbreda Rd. 028 9079 8457; www.cedargrovevets.com
Earlswood, 193 Belmont Road. 028 9047 1361; www.earlswoodvets.com/
City Vets, Ravenhill Business Park. 028 9073 1958; www.ravenhillcityvets.co.uk/
Of these, City Vets appears to give the best value (when I checked - do your own checking for updated prices.) They also publish their prices up-front on their site; not many do that!
Pets at Home have a store at the Sprucefield Shopping Park, Lisburn. It is right beside Boots and M&S at Sprucefield, and also houses a grooming shop and a vets that is open 7 days a week with no weekend surcharges.
Other Local Training Clubs
Our club meets on Wednesday evenings. If this doesn’t suit or the venue is too distant, there are other dog training clubs that you can contact in the Greater Belfast area. (Google them!)
Castlereagh and District Dog Training Club
Venue: Band Hall at junction of the Ballycoan/Upper Mealough Roads, Wednesday nights 7pm.
Down District Dog Training Club
Venue: Hillsborough, Monday and Thursday evenings.
Glandore Dog Training Club of Ulster
Venue 1: The Orange Hall, Mallusk, Monday nights, 7pm.
Venue 2: The Redburn Community Centre, Jackson's Road, Holywood, Friday nights 7pm
Glencraig Canine Training (Lisburn & District DTC)
Moneybroom Road, Lisburn https://glen-craigcaninetraining.co.uk/
Belfast Dog Show Society
Not an "obedience" training club. Ring-craft classes for showing your dog at breed shows.
Animal Training at Seaworld
At Seaworld all training is based on reinforcing desired behaviors. When an animal performs a particular behavior and the consequences of that behavior are in some ways reinforcing (rewarding) to that animal, the animal is likely to repeat that behavior. You can do this with your dog! Reward the good, ignore the bad. This is where Karen Pryor, the author of "Don't Shoot the Dog", developed the idea of clicker training.
http://www.clickertraining.com/
Dog Owners Guide
An American site with many free articles organised alphabetically (index) or by topic (topic.) Well worth a look! http://www.canismajor.com/dog/topic1.html
Dog Origins
For an excellent summary of the current thoughts within academia about dog origins:
http://darrennaish.blogspot.com/2006/10/controversial-origins-of-domestic-dog.html
This cites a paper The Origin of the Dog Revisited by Janice Koler-Matznick that concludes ...
“The hypothesis that (best) fits the available evidence is that the first domestic dogs descended from a species of medium-sized generalist canid, ... that voluntarily adopted the pariah niche and remained commensal for an extensive period before some populations became truly domesticated."
For a good introduction to science and evolution generally, see the National Academies site: http://nationalacademies.org/evolution/ Why not download a free copy of their ebook?
Dog Spies
This resource is an extensive set of dog-related articles (blogs) from Scientific American magazine.
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/dog-spies/
100 Silliest Things People Say About Dogs
Alexandra Semyonova’s book "100 Silliest Things People Say About Dogs" is one that you really really should read. It explodes the 100 most common myths about dogs, their nature, their behaviour and how to treat them; dispels the dominance theory and the dire consequences this has had for dogs, and replaces it with conclusions drawn from twenty years of researching and directly observing real dog behaviour.
Seriously, as one reviewer on Amazon said “this is a book to be evangelical about.” It’s that good!
To see more visit Semyonova’s site, http://www.nonlineardogs.com/
How to buy a pup?
Always see the pup with its mother and other pups in their home environment. Ask about the health and longevity of the adult dogs. Look at the temperament of the adults. You want a good companion dog - a cross or mongrel might have the better temperament, but is unlikely to be able to breed in this world of show-focused dog-breeding.
"Once a breed is acknowledged as a breed, the gene pool effectively closes."
Moneysaving and Dogs (October 2019)
The Martin Lewis website, MoneySavingExpert.com , has produced a page that you might find useful: Moneysaving for dog owners
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/how-to-save-money-on-dog-costs/
DOG FOOD
What's the best dog food?
Most dog-food brands are owned by a few major manufacturers.
- Mars: Pedigree, Cesar, Chappie, Frolic, Pal, Nutro, Greenies, James Wellbeloved, Royal Canin
- Nestle: Bakers, Bonio, Winalot, Beta, ProPlan, Purina One, Purina Veterinary Diets.
- Colgate-Palmolive: Hills Science Plan, Hills Prescription Diets.
- Proctor & Gamble: Eukanuba, Iams.
Are the well-advertised premium dog-foods worth the money? Are there better alternatives?
Compare dog foods and rank them from highest to lowest rating and see how the big-name varieties stand at the excellent "All About Dogfood" website: (Their nutritional rating "shows how beneficial we expect a food or treat to be for the majority of dogs.")
https://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/the-dog-food-directory
For example, Jollyes own-brand... "Lifestage grain-free puppy" has a nutritional rating of 82%, while Hills Science Plan scores in the 50's and Royal Canin scores in the 40's. No contest! (The percentages shown here may differ from those now shown on their website - they refine their algorithm so the values can change over time.)
https://www.jollyes.co.uk/
(January 2025 update: Lifestage products now score from 77% to 62%; while Hills and Royal Canin score from 56% to 13%, with many of their breed-specific foods scoring very poorly, and all while costing more than twice that of Lifestage products.)
Some supermarket brands score as low as 2% and are mainly carbohydrates. Might as well eat the packaging!