A Dogs Life

06/07/2024

Any mobile dog groomers available to do a bath and deshed urgently for 70kg Good natured easy boy 🤞🏽

28/06/2024

One of our pawsome A Dogs Life🐾 house sitting team making sure that the kids still get some exercise when it’s too hot to trot ☀️🧘🐾😍

09/06/2024

Sound advice here 👍🏽🐾

03/06/2024

28/05/2024

🐾♥️🐾No wonder I'm such a Jolly Bean 😁 Come rain or shine
these are my colleagues🥰

04/05/2024

Barri aka The Ginja Ninja very almost 15yrs enjoying his new meds
🐾🧡🐾♥️🐾🧡🐾
Our Pawesome Foursome here have a combined age of 52 😍

24/04/2024

🐾🏝️♥️🐾💛🐶🌅🌄🐶💛🐾🏖️🐾
I’m not sure if y’all can see this if not on TikTok app? If you are give us a Follow and a 💚

Watch, follow, and discover more trending content.

22/04/2024

😍💭 When you’re in a world of your own ……..
🐾🐶“ Sorry, I didn’t see you right down there! 🐾🐶

15/04/2024

So both crap then!

12/04/2024

A few recent pics of our fun times with some of the totally and mutterly Pawesome Pack🐾❤️🐾

10/04/2024

Doing what Beagles do best 🐾♥️🐾 Pack sniff run/ posing for snacks❣️

09/04/2024

‼️ACCOMMODATION WANTED‼️

I have a client in need of a new home,
due to his current home being put on the market. If somewhere is not found fairly soon he will have to rehome his much loved companion of 5 years😢. Anything from a bed sit to 1 bedder considered as long as one small well behaved pooch can move in too🤞🏽 She is a quiet dog and won’t be left alone for long periods if at all, she spends 10hrs a day with us and has boarded for periods also, has never messed indoors or chewed.
Max budget 1.5k pcm. Please share🐾

07/03/2024

♥️🐾♥️ A few shots from over this last week❣️

03/03/2024

‼️🐾 NOTE FOR ALL🐾‼️

🐾 Waiting list - UFN we are closing our waiting list for all services to NEW clients as we are full, barring House Sitting (please make contact if required as we still have a few dates available in 2024). Please accept my apologies if you’ve made an inquiry that’s not been answered or followed up. We have been inundated so far this year and are struggling to keep up with this on top of our usual day to day workload.
We will publish details of an Open Day in due course where we would love to welcome you and your dog for a meet and greet should spaces within our Pawesome Pack become available ♥️

‼️🐾🐶 NOTES FOR ALL CURRENT CLIENTS 🐶🐾‼️

🐾 Let’s talk S**t - We can tell an awful lot about the overall health of our Pawesome Pack by noticing changes in what comes out of the back end.
I feel I need to raise this as it has come to my attention that there has been increase of local dogs with Giardia (https://www.vet.cornell.edu/departments-centers-and-institutes/riney-canine-health-center/health-info/giardia-infection-treatment-and-prevention) , please read the link and if your dogs have any symptoms please consult your vet as well as letting us know.
Most of your are awesome when it comes to informing me if things aren’t quite right , but there have been times when dogs have come in with upset tummies. Remember if your dog has no reason eg. not stolen food from bin etc for loose stools please inform me and keep them at home. You will NOT be charged for the missed session regardless of late notice as I’d rather have less money and make sure risk of potentially contagious complaints being spread amongst our pack is limited, not to mention the extra bio security measures we have to take if illness is suspected (extra disinfectant, water, electricity and man power don’t come cheap!).
If it’s the norm for your dog to have loose stools please also reach out as this is NOT normal and we may be able to advise some simple changes that will give your dog a happy bottom and quite often a happier mind and us peace of mind that something more sinister isn’t going on. Not only that but being able to pick up 💩in a satisfactory manner saves on us facing the ever becoming wrath of the general public whilst walking offsite and helps with bio security of our own premises. This advice/ plea also applies to potentially contagious skin and respiratory illnesses.

🐾 Updated price list - as I’m not certain if my emails reached all clients please find our updated price list pictured. This will come into affect from 1/4/24, no exceptions. We have held our rates the same for quite some time and feel that due to rising running costs a small increase was well overdue.

🐾 Monthly Invoices- we are concerned that some of you have a sizable invoice this month due to balances bought forward to account. As most of you are usually exceptionally prompt payers it’s come as a surprise to see many previous invoices remaining unpaid. It’s possible there is a glitch in our new system or simply invoices haven’t reached you, please check spam and junk folders as there’s been a few that have been found there by clients. If payments have been made and not recorded then please let us know details.

🐾 Updated T&Cs / Info sheets - We are still awaiting a lot of our paperwork being returned. These forms allow us to care for your dogs in the best way possible and act quickly should an emergency arise. Similarly to above it may be that you’ve not received them by email so I’ll resend to all in due course, please return asap upon receipt. Please inform us by the end of next week if you’ve not received one.

🐾 Photo updates - I am aware that I’m not updating our page with photographs as often as I’d like and that it can be disappointing not to see your dog featured when I do.
As much as I love taking pics of us both at home and out on our walks the editing ( no one wants pics of half a blurred dog or Muffin giving Rover a piggyback, and we all know it happens!) takes up a lot of extra time. Due to the day to day care of your dogs taking priority, maintenance of premises, study, technical issues and personal health issues etc taking up much of our time I’m often relying on little “bots” in my phone selecting pics on my behalf and making slides. Please be comforted knowing we’re still doing all the great things we always did and if you’ve any concerns about anything at all, reach out to us along with anything else covered in this post or otherwise🤗
Do continue to check our page for important updates and to see some of the pics that make the “Bots” Final Cut.

🐾 Open day - we are very much looking forward to inviting you and your dogs to join us at HQ when the weather is more favourable, we’re currently thinking May. Please let us know if there’s any weekend you simply can’t make as we’d like to see all of you if possible.
We aim for you to come for a relaxed and informal afternoon session with your dogs.
We will hold sessions for small groups of your dogs “5” ( we have sub packs of 5 or less for group outings, taking into account individuals needs, temperaments etc) so that you can meet their playpals, pawrents , have a look round, chat with us about your dogs from training goals to diet and discuss how we can help you all and improve on anything going forwards. We also hope to take advantage of the knowledge and experience that some other professionals can offer us that will be here to help with anything that we may not be able to directly help with ourselves.

🐾One last thing. Drop us a reaction to let us know you’ve seen this post!

I think that’s all for now…😅
Thank you for reading and hope y’all had a great weekend.
What an amazing day for Do***ng today has been!
🐾♥️🐶☀️🐶 ♥️🐾
Georgie and Mischa

27/02/2024

‼️PUPDATE‼️
All collected and back at HQ. Mischa will take it easy and we’ll see how she goes. Horse riders always wear your hats. You never know what’s around the corner😳
L👀k at the granite rash on the front of that hat and the busted peak!
Darla the Horse is fine ♥️
Thankyou for your patience and well wishes 😊

‼️DAYCARE PICK UPS‼️
We are running late. Mischa had a tumble from horse this morning and has bumped her head. To be on the safe side I’m going to meet her and take over pick ups as she’s feeling queazy.
Dogs at home have had exersize etc and are at home safely. ( the beauty of crate trained dogs 😉)

25/02/2024

The Four Amigos out and about this week 🐾♥️🐾

16/02/2024

♥️🐾🐾❣️🐾🐾♥️ A bit of our week ♥️🐾🐾❣️🐾🐾♥️

11/02/2024

🐾 🙏🏽🐾

A new dog behaviour campaign is being launched with the emphasis on ‘Respect’.

11/02/2024

I’ve said all this time and time again. It’s often needlessly contentious, But I’ll share this just in case someone couldn’t hear the first time….please read the post in its entirety 😊
Happy Sunday y’all 🐾❤️🐾

🤬Crates Are Cruel 😠 - why would you buy a dog to put it in a crate!?!

"My dog is scared of a crate so I won't put him in one"
"Crates are ABUSE"
"I got my dog to love not lock away"

These sort of statements we hear all the time, so why do we believe that every dog on the planet should be crate trained?

Well if you look back at our fireworks post we state to create a den like environment for your dog to help them feel safe. We litreally had 100's of comments and messages from social media thanking us as for the first time there dog was not petrified of the fireworks. The answer the crate!

Dogs love a den like environment, it helps them feel safe, it is a place for them to go when the house is perhaps a bit too busy or someone new is in the house they are unsure of.

A few reasons to crate are:
✅Imagine the first time your dog goes in a crate is at the vets.. This won't be a great experience for them.
✅Recovering from surgery and the door goes. Crate saves their legs.
✅Fireworks!
✅A safe place for them.
✅It teaches them to switch off!
✅It reduces the development of separation anxiety
✅If your dog is destructive it keeps them and your house safe!

If your dog is always on the go and never seems to switch off they will end up with a broken sleep pattern and as we all know that is not a good thing!

If you think of a crate as a prison then you need to change your mindset, it is more like a cot for a baby.

Once a dog is crate trained you leave the door open and allow the dog to choose.. 9/10 times they will choose their crate.

10/02/2024

Hi Oobs 🥰 she told me later that she’d said “Eat not Meet” 🙄

10/02/2024

Gary and Harper 🥰 although brother and sister they had not met until they came to school together, they hit it off straight away at first meet and then after almost a week apart they were so happy to see each other again. ❣️🐾

29/01/2024

Does anyone have a clue as to what’s going on here? iPhone 12, connected to WiFi or mobile with good signal. Pics shouldn’t need downloading as they were taken on this very phone🤷🏽‍♀️ I can’t update my do***ng clients while it’s behaving like this 😤

15/08/2023

The Revolution🇫🇷⚔️🇬🇬 may not be televised but it is on Instagram!!
The 🇫🇷French🐾 must be halted🚫
G & M victorious🇬🇬👣✌🏽

11/08/2023

Someone was very happy with themselves today just before home time 🐾😱🤣🤯🐾

10/08/2023

🐶🐾Small Photodump from earlier in the week 😍 let’s hope summer is finding its way back! ☀️🤞🏽

09/08/2023

What is cognitive decline? 🐾

As your pet ages, changes occur across their body. Their coat may start to grey, their joints may become stiff, their hearing and sight may worsen, and their cognitive function may decline. It’s often the last which can be one of the most distressing for dogs and their owners.

While cognitive decline occurs in all pets as they age, the decline will be accelerated in some. This is often termed canine cognitive dysfunction syndrome (CCD), or ‘doggy dementia’, and is surprisingly common – thought to affect nearly 1 in 3 dogs over the age of 11.

What are the signs of cognitive decline?

💜 Memory loss
💜 Restlessness
💜 Agitation
💜 Disorientation
💜 Altered behaviour and sleep
💜 Increased barking
💜 House-soiling

It’s easy to see how it can really impact the quality of life for the whole family. Read our blog for more information on cognitive decline and how our NEW herbal supplement, BrainCopa® can help support your senior pet through these changes...

https://www.dorwest.com/blog/cognitive-decline/

29/07/2023

When the Doggy Daycare girls want me to stop the Walking Bus so they can have a cheeky tipple 🍷on the way home from School 🤣

28/07/2023

It’s time to drop the phrase ‘adopt don’t shop’.

And I say that as the behaviourist who works for Cardiff Dogs Home, The Rescue Hotel

Adopt don’t shop is a LOVELY sentiment. Three of my five dogs are rescues themselves, but the phrase is alienating people from good breeders and in turn, lining the pockets of bad breeders. I just read a post on a local community hub where someone (admittedly misguidedly) was asking if there’s any puppies for sale as they wanted to raise a pup from the start. 29 comments, most of them shouting GET A RESCUE DOG and the others commenting were backyard breeders with unsold pups. I can guarantee this person will end up with one of those puppies.

Instead we should be advocating for adopt or shop responsibly. It’s okay to get a purpose bred dog! My two well bred dogs came from health tested, proven, working lines and it shows in their health, temperament and reliability. They are exactly what they should be. My rescues are healthy dogs but all have their issues stemming from poor breeding and poor genetics.

If you want a puppy, then that is absolutely fine. If you don’t want to get a rescue dog then that is also absolutely fine! However you MUST follow some guidelines to make sure you’re getting the right pup for you.

- Research your breed. Obsessively. A cocker spaniel and a staffie are both medium sized dogs with vastly different temperaments and needs. Look into a breed of dog that suits your lifestyle not just going on size or looks.
- Chat with breeders of your chosen breed and expect to be on a waiting list for a while! Waiting times for well bred dogs are often over a year.
- Make sure mum and dad have the relevant health tests. This does not mean ‘mum has seen a vet and is fine’. At a minimum you want BVA hip and elbow scoring and breed specific genetic tests.
- Meet both parents if you can! It is common to only meet mum but ask questions about dad. What is their behaviour like? Are they social or withdrawn? How is the dams behaviour with her puppies? Behaviour is genetic!
- Puppies must be at least 8 weeks old before they leave mum. They must also be microchipped.
- How many litters does the breeder have per year? If it’s a lot then stay clear! Most hobbyist breeders who are breeding to improve their chosen breed will only have a litter a year maximum.
- Does the breeder have a contract in place? Do you get on with them? I am in contact with Aaltos breeder most weeks and she follows his progress online. If for any reason I couldn’t keep him she would take him back.

I’ve been there. The NEED for a puppy NOW is sometimes really strong! But trust me, do your research, choose a breed that suits you. Don’t get a working dog if you don’t plan on working them. Don’t choose the wrong breed then add to the load on rescue centres.

Getting from a breeder is OKAY and we need to stop shaming those that do or want to, but do it properly and don’t line the pockets of people who just mash any dogs together and flog them unhealthtested, unproven, money making machines.

Adopt OR shop. Just do it properly.

Post your well bred dogs below! ⬇️