25 May 2019
Sniff it out – dog detective finds lost Cats!
I was interested to read in Waitrose Weekend paper today that a dog has been trained to be a feline’s best friend.
Molly the cocker spaniel was rescued by ex-police officer Colin Butcher. The originator of The UK Pet Detectives, Colin thought it would be a good idea to train a sniffer dog to locate missing animals. But he wanted to get a rescue dog and he looked and found Molly, as the previous owner could not cope and was advertising her on Gumtree under the heading: ‘Owner cannot cope!’
Working cocker spaniel Molly needed a great deal of stimulation. As we’ve found with all the spaniels we’ve looked after previously for their owners during our house-sits. Most dogs need the daily stimulation of some sort of activity, searching for things, playing ball, retrieving as well as a lot of outside off lead walks and play too, preferably with other dogs. If retriever type dogs are under stimulated they’ll find something else to keep them occupied themselves, usually something destructive and disruptive!
So Molly spent 8 months training at Medical Detection Dogs charity who specialise in teaching dogs to recogise the scent of illness. Once trained Molly went out with Colin to search for missing pets. Molly firstly scents the cat’s fur and then she sits still when she has found the scent so that she doesn’t frighten the cat!
Molly now has over 100 finds under her collar. Colin is a busy man with over 30 calls a week and with Molly, by his side, it’s an enjoyable experience for them both. You can read their story in his new book Molly & Me which is out now (Michael Joseph, £12.99) thepetdetectives.com
I am, loyal, loving, fast and energetic I like to run after balls, runners and cyclists too! If I’m not stopped in my tracks with a whistle I like to mouth runners and cyclists bottoms which can be a problem as they think I’m biting them, this is not true as I simply want to catch them and caress their anatomy with my soft mouth! Needless to say Adrain and Christina who have looked after me often, like to whistle and stop me in my tracks when I’m chasing someone! Other than this annoying little habit I’m the loveliest softest, kindness dog you’d ever hope to meet. I can’t help the running you see as I’ve been bread for it.
29 May 2019
Pussycat pussycat I love you – but do they love us?
Dogs have always been my passion and wild animals too, but cats have always been somewhat of a mystery I must confess. Although they have been domesticated for thousands of years, first by the Ancient Egyptians who might have first domesticated them over 4000 years ago! So the ‘Felis catus’- cat to you and I have had a very long relationship with us humans.
With rodents in plentiful supply, cats were deemed necessary to most ancient peoples. However, recent studies show, and I’m sure most cat owners would agree, that they have remained unchanged for thousands of years. In fact, Casey Smith who writes for National Geographic says that – In a new comprehensive study of the spread of domesticated cats, DNA analysis suggests that cats lived for thousands of years alongside humans before they were domesticated. During that time, their genes have changed little from those of wildcats, apart from picking up one recent tweak: the distinctive stripes and dots of the tabby cat.
Researchers surveyed the DNA of more than 200 cats spanning the last 9,000 years, including ancient Romanian cat remains, Egyptian cat mummies, and modern African wildcat specimens. Two major cat lineages contributed to the domestic feline we know today, they report in a study published Monday in Nature Ecology & Evolution.
And so I can only conclude that cats have chosen to be domesticated, and have us running around them, feeding, stroking, tickling and waiting with anticipation, all be it with hesitation sometimes for that flick of the tail which signifies that they’ve had enough of your stoking and would now like to be left alone. But, don’t forget to feed me!