Rileyroo

Kevin has a loofa dog - we have learned to remove it from his bed last thing at night, otherwise when he wakes up and decides tjat everyone else should be up too at 4am loofa dog begins a dawn chorus RIP Loofa dog. Your life was short, but full of joy

He is such a handsome boy. Riley sends respectful good wishes (unlike her recent swearing at Bertie) and hopes that Indy enjoys his time in France.

I hope you get good news soon

Every young lady needs a lurchery-type in her life

We've used Tranquility from Hilton Herbs in the past, and it seemed to help with Riley when she was wound up / anxious. CSJ also do a relaxing / stress mix of herbs too although I haven't tried it. S&V didn't help with our old dog but his issues were physical and mental so it was probably not going to anyway. Also, we've used flower remedies - I'm trying to remember the name of the person who did a consultation for us, but she put together a combination based on Riley's needs at the time which also helped.

It's lovely, isn't it? Did you have a cadwallader's ice cream from the cafe? Do they allow dogs in if you're staying in the village - I now they're now banned as day visitors but people that live there can have them.

Aww - he's very handsome

We are very pleased to tell you all that Kevin is staying with us forever. It was Riley's 'birthday' on Friday and she got a younger brother as her present - she's mainly very happy about that although she wishes that he didn't take up so much room at times Sorry, no new photos as my camera is playing up, but I will rectify that shortly. He's really coming out of himself these days, learning lots of new things and loving clicker training. He has a real fan club amongst the other owners at training classes, and someone stopped me in the street on Tuesday and told me what a beautiful pair of dogs I had We're very lucky.

Happy Birthday, Birdie

So sad - lifelong friends divided by swine flu Stories here: http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gen/77627/original.jpg and http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/matt/?cart...&cc=5085616

Hugo is adorable - I hope it's good news for him and he's a brave boy during all his tests. Does Fi have a special line in large brown labrador puppies

Him, and Riley who would end up the size of a small shed

I've tried cheese spread inside the kong, but not fish paste. That's a good idea I should try peanut butter too, as he was bouncing all round the kitchen the other day when I put that on my toast.

Thanks for the ideas - we've already got the nylabone with the rubber middle, but the other two are definitely worth investigating. I am starting to think he just has the attention span of a goldfish and that nothing will keep him occupied for long

I'm glad it appears to improve things for you, Nettie, and I've already put a call and an email into Mark to clarify a number of points on the information from Wandsworth Council. I'm waiting on a reply. Mark is sensible, however the councillors are not and many of them are vocally anti-dog because it helps them win votes in some areas where they have a bad time with locals who use dogs for intimidation etc. Those dog owners won't pay the slightest bit of attention to the new proposals - whereas the responsible ones will follow them to the letter and in many cases end up with less than before. I wish I had your faith that things won't get worse in the future both in Wandsworth as a whole, and on the Common.

Thanks - I will contact them. I don't expect to stop it happening but I would like to try and rally the dog owners in the area to get their voices heard with the council in the same way that the anti-dog brigade are doing.

Kevin is a hound who likes to chew - although currently favourite things to chew include the corner of the wooden toy box and the wicker linen basket. We have kongs, orbees, nylabones, tug a jugs, treat balls, soft toys with and without squeaks, fleece tugs, rope tugs, tennis balls, rubber balls, frisbees, air kongs, kong wubbas - pretty much one of every kind of toy I've ever found, not all out at the same time, I hasten to add . All of which are interesting for a couple of seconds to a couple of minutes but none of which keep his attention and chewing activity for any longer. For a greedy greyhound he's not terribly motivated by food in kongs etc - I've made them very easy for him to ensure that he gets lots of rewards for playing with them but he often leaves them half eaten. Has anyone got a chew toy or an attention-holding toy that's not on the above list that might be worth a try?

Not sure what happened to my edit just then, but I added something about the fact that there are people on my local website applauding these proposals, calling for dogs to be banned altogether and using Giles Coren's article from the times a few weeks ago as evidence that all dogs should be outlawed. These people constantly write to their Councillors and they are heard. If dog owners don't do the same thing and remind their councillors that they're voters too then we have only ourselves to blame when owning a dog becomes as socially unacceptable as drink driving.

But the towpath becomes an on lead area, as do all public footpaths. That's going to majorly and negatively impact upon the lives of a large number of dogs and people in Putney. Plus, as I said in the first post, there are plans to ban dogs altogether from a number of parks once this first round goes through. The park at the end of my road is planned to become a total dog free area, as is the laneway which leads to it, according to our residents association, which means there's nowhere for a quick walk for the local dogs, many of whom belong to elderly residents who won't be able to walk them elsewhere. What are they supposed to do? I'm sorry if you all think I'm overreacting, but I really do think this is the thin end of the wedge and if we wait until it directly affects us then it will be too late. Yes, we can all head up to the Common and be OK - but there are more dog-free areas there this year thanks to their new powers. I can see that's only going to increase with time too.

It puts dogs on lead on the thames towpath and on all spaces with public footpaths - that's going to massively impact anyone who lives in Putney as there will be nowhere other than the Common to walk dogs off lead. How are people going to get there to do that? Not everyone has a car, or the additional time to get there on foot, having to walk their dog on residential or shopping streets in order to do so if they live around the river area. The new law doesn't impact the dog walker license so they will still be able to walk 8 dogs or however many they are licenced for, but it does impact the dog owner who happens to have more than 4 dogs.

If you live in London and are able to write opposing this then your help would be gratefully appreciated. http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/Home/Environm...gs/dogscons.htm Obviously some of it is entirely sensible - the poo picking and putting dogs on a lead if asked - but dogs on lead on every footpath in the Borough not just those alongside roads is a nightmare, and banning dogs from parks altogether also. My husband works on the riverside, and counted over 50 dogs being exercised by their owners along the towpath this evening - most off lead. They would all have to be on lead from now on. In some parks dogs are allowed in some areas but not others, although I have heard that moves will be made to increase this to ban fully over the next two years. This may be hearsay, obviously. Please help . Consultation ends on 8th May. The Kennel Club KC Dog gives some ideas on what grounds to object, although for some reason they don't seem minded to oppose this one themselves. Could it be because Mark Callis the Wandsworth Dog Warden is a stalwart of the KC? Who knows

Cecil is very handsome, and housetrained already which has to be bonus

Riley is an ITNG fan - or more specifically, the Pontypines. She will watch them with her head on one side, absolutely fasciniated. Kevin is too young to be exposed to such things yet though

You know you were surprised at Riley being quite small - I have the opposite thoughts about Flora. I thought she was smaller in real life than she actually is.

He is a lovely boy - even Riley was persuaded of that