Episode 46 - Parvo panic, digital doggy TV, dog ghettos and more

The Dog News Show

If you like news and you love dogs, this is the podcast for you. Debbie Connolly and Julie Hill discuss their pick of the dog related news stories of the week - the good, the bad, and the downright mad in some cases. If you'd like to comment on anything you hear in the show or suggest a story for inclusion, get in touch with us or contact us via Facebook or Twitter.
Kicking the show off, Debbie has a story of a worrying Parvo outbreak in Wales. There have been suggestions from The Abandoned Animals Association in Denbighshire that it may be the cost of vaccinations that is putting people off - but surely that's one of the costs that should be taken into account before getting a dog? Vaccination is a complicated issue, and the discussion ranges over the fact that you don't really want to over-vaccinate your dog, but neither do you want to leave him unprotected. Then again if you believe everything you read on Facebook you may not even know what vaccinations are all about anyway - the debate rages!
Meanwhile dogs down under seem to benefiting from the change over in Australia from an analog television signal to a digital one. Julie has the story of how the lack of image flicker in the new digital pictures means dogs are more likely to be able to make sense of the television they are seeing. Dogs are reacting to television shows that depict dogs and other animals, although they don't seem to react so much to people on the screen. Does your dog react to the TV - and does his reaction shape your viewing choices?
According to the Kennel Club society is becoming less tolerant of dogs and creating dog ghettos by banning them from so many locations and only allowing them into a few. More dog control orders restrict where we can take our four-legged-friends, but what can we do about it, and - more to the point - is it the fault of those irresponsible owners who neither train nor clean up after their dogs?
What do you think of the latest Internet craze, which originated in China, of dogs in pantyhose - that's tights to us Brits! In this blog post Julie Hecht expresses her concerns about the fad, and neither Julie nor Debbie understand the motivation of owners who put tights on their dogs. There's absolutely no benefit to the dog, and in fact it may stop them toileting - or even moving. Is it the thin end of this unsavory wedge when we dress our dogs, or hunmanise them for comic effect in You Tube videos, or is it a harmless pastime? One thing's for sure; dogs in tights do not get The Dog News Show approval.
Back to Australia for the penultimate story, which is about a scheme pairing up rescue dogs with prison inmates to give the dogs a better shot at a forever home, and rehabilitate the prisoners. Do you approve of this kind of arrangement? - is it an effective way to get criminals back on the road to going straight, or is it just too pleasant when prison should be a punishment?
It's been a very downbeat dog news week, but there's a Schmaltz Corner to cheer you up with the story of a deaf Pit Bull who found and lost then found a home, and the patient foster mother who was there to pick up the pieces. Without a tireless army of devoted rescuers and fosterers where would we be? If you need help with a deaf dog, in the UK visit the Deaf Dog Network website, and in USA visit the Deaf Dog Education Action Fund website.