Meet our pet of the week - Percy

Tell me a little about Percy, he looks like a very cheeky fella.

· Percy comes and goes in an out of the house when he feels like and whenhe gets a bit tired he will take himself off to his bed in one of the dogs houses.
He loves to sleep under the sofa too, or on the comfy pallet furniture outside.

How does he get on with the rest of the pet family?
· He loves to play chase with the dogs and runs to the gate and fence if any ativity. So when the dogs bark he grunts, something he has done since he was a baby. He fancies himself as a little guard pig!

Does he like to be petted?
· Yes he loves to have his belly tickled and flops on to his side to enjoy it. He brings a lot of fun to our home without a doubt. He is such a charater and incredibly intelligent.

What would you give a little piggy like him as a treat?
· A favourite treat of his in the summer was water melon and figs from our tree. We also made him a mud bath in the summer to help him protect himself from the sun. Once he got the hang of it he loved it!

Note: Percy has his own instagram account : percypinkerton2020 - Thank you to Vikki Maughan

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Meet Simon
· This lovely little chap’s photo captured my heart this week, he just looks so cheeky. He was sent in by his human Vicky Lou. He is 4 years old and thinks he should be given his every whim where food is concerned. What do you think he is thinking here? Just for fun post your caption ideas under the post when it appears on line.

Readers Pets

Major and Kyra
· Major is a Self Styled Neighbourhood watch Great Dane, his human Liza Moore tells me nothing not even an ant goes by un-noticed. While Major might be the neighbourhood watch, Liza tells me his pal Kyra, a Doggo de Bordeaux, is a bit of a tom boy and keeps Major in hi s place. She really doesn’t care about the neighbors.

Milo, Gizmo & Luna
· This lovely trio was sent in by Lynsey Dennis.. she tells me that the three are very chilled and friendly. Lynsey tells me they also have two soft guinea pigs in the family.

BIRTHDAYS (let me know your pets’ birthday)

· This handsome fella is Olly and his owner Helen Elizabeth tells me he will be turning 10 years old this year. Happy birthday Olly.

· Happy birthday to Clicquot the 70kg Newfoundland who turned 3 last week. Thankyou Mary Petley who says ‘stand back if she shakes her head!’

Is My Dog Stupid?

(Joachim Sommer: FB: perrocador. info@perrocador.com)

Sometimes we ask ourselves “Is my dog stupid?“

Well, unless the dog has certain mental conditions (similar to humans) there is no reason to think they are “stupid” (I actually prefer the term ‘talent’ rather than „intelligence“ anyway).

Now a dog may have more or less talent for learning one or the other trick or necessity (like loose leash walking) but in general they are eager to comply, if (and that is a big IF with some dogs):

· the handler(s) is (are) consistant in their approach to teaching
· undesired behaviour is not (inadvertantly) reinforced
· the dog is not expected to learn in places or situations that are unsuitable (i.e. they are not set up to fail)
· the dog is not too stressed, fearful or excited to learn
· the handler(s) is (are) patient and not too desperate (i.e. do not put themselves and their dog under too much pressure)
If our dog seems „too stupid“ to learn we have to re-think our approach to what we are trying to teach them…….. and probably relax a little when we are doing it.