Keep your dog’s microchip up to date

According to Dog’s Trust, a charity in the UK, between April 2015 and March 2016, 37,283 dogs were left unclaimed in shelters. One in eight had chips, but couldn’t be returned to their owners as the chips had not been updated.

Dog’s Trust carried out a survey of local authority kennels which revealed the findings and also found that 3,463 dogs had been destroyed during that time.

Micro-chipping is now a legal requirement in most countries, and there is little argument why people who proclaim to care for their canine friends wouldn’t microchip, even if it wasn’t law. How else is your furry friend going to find his way home especially if you move or visit an unknown area? Gates are sometimes unwittingly left open. Fences blow down. Be aware and safeguard your furry friend.

BBC Radio 4 spoke to Jon Gerlis at Dog’s Trust who said that only 9% of dog owners saw updating a chip when moving as a priority, this compared unfavourably with updating a television.

Although the total number of strays, handled by councils in UK, had decreased by 21% to 81,050 there is still a lot of work to be done.

Chief Executive of Dog’s Trust, Adrian Burder said that with over 37,000 dogs unclaimed last year, the local authorities just don’t have the resources to care for every dog.

Did you know that chips can move? They have been known to travel away from the place they were implanted. Vets will usually scan a large area to locate a chip, but not everyone is thorough. Chips can also, for no apparent reason, become unresponsive.

Next time you visit the vet, ask him to check the chip is still active, and check the details are up to date. A chip is not a set it and forget it electronic device. Things do go wrong, and your dog’s life could depend on it.

Stay safe,

Pippa Pennington

 

Talking to your dog

Dog lovers the world over talk to their dogs, and now studies have found that they do understand what you say, and if you are sincere.

Dogs love genuine praise, and researchers in Hungary proved this by scanning dog’s brains. When praised sincerely the reward centres lit up, but nothing changed when the praise was given in a neutral tone.

My own brain cells lit up at this revelation. When walking, and throwing balls for my clan, it’s quite often Bodie, my Belgian Malinois, who races ahead and gets the ball. I react with well done, come here and let’s throw it again. He dutifully comes back with the ball and we repeat the exercise. When one of the others manage to outwit him and get the ball, I’m overjoyed and give rapturous praise. They leap in the air and are so proud as they race back to me with their catch. Since reading the article I’ve reacted in the same way to Bodie and now he bounces around with much more exuberance.

Back to the study. A positive tone and meaning the words you say activates the brain reward centre. Scanning the dogs found that, as with humans, the left side processed the meaningful words, while the right side could differentiate between tones. Combining these two elements ignites the reward centre.

Humans might have invented the words, but it seems that processing is not unique to man. Communication is not solely speech, it’s all about body language and it seems our four-legged friends can read us well.

The study used meaningful words such as ‘well done’ and ‘clever’ and tried them against words dogs wouldn’t know such as ‘yet’ and ‘however’ in neutral and praising tones to confirm the understanding.

The researchers noted that domestication could have been a contributing factor in a change of brain function, but concluded that such a change over a short space of time is unlikely and therefore suggest a brain function exists in dogs and humans which links sounds to meanings. Read more about the study here.

It would seem that when dog lovers proclaim that dogs understand, we are right. This could also account for the paw or head that lands on your knee to give comfort in times of need.

I talk to my dogs all the time, and I’m convinced their understanding goes a lot further than this study suggests.

What do you think?  Do let me know by leaving a comment.

Happy chatting,

Pippa Pennington