#PuppyWelfareRulesOK ?

Photo courtesy of @banpuppyfarmsuk

We've been talking on twitter about different hash tags that could pull together #banpuppyfarming with the #banpuppymills and #stoppuppymills campaigns.

Do we want to ban puppy farms or make sure animal welfare laws are enforced? If we do the second will the first fall into place?

Part of the problem may be its an issue that crosses departments and silo thinking and working makes these sort of issues someone elses problem.

I havent heard much from DEFRA on this issue but surely its a DEFRA issue?

Our main problems seem to be that either the animal welfare laws aren't clear enough, aren't well enough drafted or they aren't being enforced

So how about this as an alternative we can all get behind on twitter?

#PuppyWelfareRulesOK (without the ?)

After all the only reason to try to get it trending on twitter is to help educate people about how to solve the problem.

What do you think is the best way to educate people?

How best can we use twitter work towards this aim?

Be good to hear from you, talk to us @wellbalancedpup on twitter.

@jenkirby @banpuppyfarmsuk @marcthevet @GalwaySPCA @DanDare6 @banpuppyfarming @susankramer #PuppyWelfareRulesOK ?

wellbalancedpup 2nd Aug 12.44 via TweetDeck

All life is training

I've been realising that I've been getting rather sloppy about basic routines that in a way can then have a knock on effect upon everyone's safety. Its one of the things about having a pack, keeping everyone on board all the time is a bit of a juggling act. Two out of three is not good enough when you are talking about number three chasing a distraction off lead. The slight hesitation or lack of concentration while you are dealing with one of the other dogs can be long enough for an accident to happen.

It was all brought very close to home when a friend's dog was run over on a busy road at the end of an off lead walk. She was putting the lead on one of the two as she entered the underpass and at that exact point in time, her very sensible gorgeous girl must have caught a scent, rushed off up the embankment and jumped a barrier right in front of a lorry. It happened so fast. Its the sort of thing none of us could ever forget and such a shock particularly as she was such a well trained and responsive dog.

So Archie's bid to catch up with another dog walker and friend recently as I lifted the hatch back of the car made me think I needed to take this very seriously. WE could be an accident waiting to happen if I don't get my act together. As I've mentioned on this blog previously we have been working at a mix of more controlled off and on lead work as well as long down stays in the back of the car.

We're all working well at it, the strange thing is that its Lilly who is breaking the down stay in the back of the car at the moment. But I have realised that her breaking the stay is linked to a routine for feeding the dogs that I had been following.

So I am working on rethinking what I do so that our routines are strengthening positive patterns. At the end of the day everything we do or expect or allow is part of conditioning our dogs behaviour. Training isn't just when you decide you are going to practise something or when you specifically go to a class, it is all the time you spend with your dogs and all the time they spend with each other without you taking an active role.

So Archie I'm not going to let you sit at the back of the class putting in minimal effort; Lilly just because you are gorgeous doesn't mean you can get away with anticipating what I am going to say rather than waiting for the command and Daisy , hmmm, you need more time on your own stretching you, as you just eat up everything I throw your way (metaphorically speaking).

I need to plan our time together more carefully so we can build solid foundations that will keep us all safe. Build emergency routines into our playtimes so when things do go wrong we can pull them back, build safety nets that help us enjoy our freedom. Routines that can cope with the unexpected because in the words of John Lennon "Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans".