Black Dog Syndrome

We all have favourite breeds and “types” of dogs and different dogs that catch our eye more so

than others. Unfortunately, dogs with Black coats are often overlooked.

So much so, this phenomena has been given the title Black Dog Syndrome or Black Dog Bias.

Rehoming centres across the globe struggle to find forever homes for Black dogs as they are simply overlooked by passers by, they just don’t stand out as much against the background of their kennels as some of the other dogs. Nor do they tend to photograph as well so we tend to skip past them when looking through books of dogs in need of a home or browsing rehoming websites.

Some people blame the association between Black Dogs and Demon Dogs from TV and film. People think they’re scarier looking and make the negative assumption that they’re aggressive!

It’s been said that the chromosome (part of their DNA make up) responsible for Black fur is exclusive to domesticated dogs only and that all Black Wolves are in fact Hybrids. So you could say that Black Dogs are like the “ultimate” domestic pet dog!

Other people say that they’re overlooked as they’re too plain and boring looking. PLAIN AND BORING? I think not. At Dogs Trust Ireland we have some of the most incredible and beautiful  Black Dogs who would make excellent life long companions.

Take Oscar for example, we always say if John Cleese was a dog, he’d look like Oscar with his hilariously long legs and debonair expression. Oscar is a BIG favourite here with the staff and wins everyone over.

Super handsome, clever Oscar!

Handsome mega athlete Rodger will play ball all day. Rodger doesn’t cope well in kennels, he’s too active and just loves to run after tennis balls. When he’s not training to be the next Aggasi, he just wants cuddles and LOTS of them!

Happy chappy Rodger just wants someone to play ball with!

We’re just stumped as to why Garvan hasn’t found his forever home yet! Garvan is an absolutely incredible boy. Kind, gentle and super loving. He just craves affection and cuddles so much. Our staff here regularly take him on days out (even on their days off) as he is just so easy going and adored by everybody.

Garvan - cannot say enough good things about this precious boy!

So if you’re thinking of adopting a dog or visiting our Rehoming Centre, stop for a second to spend some time looking at our Black Dogs and you’ll wonder how you ever failed to notice them!

If you have a black dog at home and think he/she is just pure fabulous - leave us a comment and tell us why!

An Intro to Training & Socialisation

We get a LOT of queries into us about dog training or issues that people are having with their dogs. Unfortunately we just don’t have enough time to give behaviour advice to each and every query we receive but we have compiled this blog to help point you in the right direction!

Socialisation means letting your puppy get used to other dogs and to learn proper doggy communication skills so that he can get on happily with other dogs in the future. If a puppy is not socialised properly from the time that you get him and throughout his first year, this can lead to serious fear and aggression problems in later life. It is therefore, very important. If you want a happy, friendly dog that you can take anywhere and meet anyone, then socialisation is the key!

If your puppy is not fully vaccinated then carry him around to see people, experience traffic noise, public transport, or meet other dogs that you know have been vaccinated.

After the first vaccination it may be possible to attend a local puppy party or class, so that your puppy can meet other puppies of a similar age in a safe environment. Your veterinary surgery may run these or know of a good trainer in your area. Make sure you visit without your puppy first, so that you are happy with their methods. Here they should go through a range of different experiences you should socialise your puppy in, as well as exposing them to people of different shapes and sizes, and of course other animals, some other examples are

·        Normal household appliances – the vacuum cleaner, washing machine etc.

·        Traffic

·        The postman / paperboy / dustbin men etc.

·        Travelling in cars, buses and trains etc.

·        The veterinary surgery / grooming parlour

·        Loud noises – fireworks, babies crying etc. (try to obtain a tape of these and play quietly to your puppy during enjoyable times, such as feeding – slowly increasing the volume over time until he isn’t bothered by even loud bangs).

We always recommend training classes for all our dogs and even if you have not gotten your dog from Dogs Trust, you should definitely consider some sort of obedience training with your pooch. It is never too late to start, it just may take a little longer with older dogs! It is a great way for both yourself and your dog to socialise and will help you build a lovely bond with your dog. 

Luah practices his "sit" with John.
Luah is actually deaf and has learned to respond to hand signals which help him live a normal life!

Dogs Trust strongly support positive reward based training and we don’t believe that any dog should be hurt or scared whilst being trained. A reward could be a yummy treat or even a quick game with your dog's favourite toy - just make sure it's a quick game as it will lose it's value otherwise.

If you are based in Dublin, do check out Dog Training Ireland, who are based about 10 mins from our centre in Ballycoolin. They run all types of classes as well as a behaviour clinic, daycare facility and a fabulous grooming parlour. Here’s a link to their website - http://www.dogtrainingireland.ie/home.php

If you are not based here in Dublin, check out the Association of Pet Dog Trainers who are all accredited dog trainers here in Ireland – their website is http://www.apdt.ie/

Training really helps to stimulate your dog's brain which really benefits your dog's well-being. Clicker training and agility training are great ways to get your dog thinking for themselves. When your dog is stimulated mentally, it is less likely to get bored, which in turn makes it less likely to be destructive or have poor self control.

If professional training classes are out of your price range, then check out some of our training videos on our website http://www.dogstrust.ie/az/t/trainingvideos/ and remember to reward your dog for getting things right! We also have launched an app to help you with your puppy training so you can download that onto your iPods, iPads etc - here's a link http://www.dogstrust.org.uk/az/a/apps/default.aspx for more info :)

Treats have been hidden in this laundry basket for Bingo to sniff out!

Bingo pictured above is a Beagle, and just LOVES to sniff things out so our Training and Behaviour advisors devised some really basic games to keep Bingo stimulated. Bingo is a fabulous young man who had a bit of a rough start and is currently looking for his forever home, where he deserves to be absolutely spoiled rotten!

Please note that if you notice that your dog has suddenly started getting a bit aggressive, or out of character - please do make sure to bring to be checked out by your vet. Your dog may be in pain or be sick which is causing it to behave strangely.

Well that's the end of this week's blog. If you guys have any suggestions of things you would like to see us write about, please do comment below or on our Facebook page! :)

xoxo

March Summary :)

Wow can you believe it’s nearly April already?? Feels like just yesterday I was writing a January round up blog! And what fabulous weather we are having too! Make sure to keep an eye on your dogs when the weather is so nice, give them plenty of water and access to shade. Do not leave your dog in a car whilst you pop into a shop etc, this can have fatal consequences!

Anyway - I think the biggest story in Dogs Trust of late has been the tale of Bronx. Bronx is a teeny Staffordshire Bull Terrier who went missing whilst out with his owners well over a year ago. Nobody knows where the little guy was, but he found himself in a rescue centre in Cork, who then sent him to ourselves to try and rehome.

Within 24 hours of arrival at a Dogs Trust rehoming centre, the new dog will receive a full health check by our centre vet. This check includes scanning the dog for a microchip. If the dog is found to be chipped, Dogs Trust will contact the original source of the dog (e.g. local authority pound) to determine whether the details on the chip have been followed up. Every rehoming facility, rescue group, and dog pound may have a different intake policy but at Dogs Trust, one of the first checks carried out is to scan the dog for a microchip.

Luckily for Bronx, he was microchipped and we were able to contact the O’Connor family in Cork to let them know that we had their dog. To say they were overjoyed is an understatement! They were straight up to Dublin to collect their missing boy and couldn’t thank us enough.

We issued a press release with the details of this story and the attention it received was unprecedented! We had calls here from journalists (both TV and press) looking for more info on this amazing story. It ended up featuring in the Irish Mirror, the Irish Examiner, the Irish Independent, the Evening Echo and then the RTE news too! Last night, he was even invited to be a guest on the Craig Doyle show where he got to meet Nicky Byrne from Westlife!!! So I think it’s safe to say, he’s quite the little superstar these days!

I think the most important thing to take from this story is the importance of having your dog microchipped. This can be done at your local vet and will prevent so much heartache if your dog happens to get lost.

For more info on microchipping, here’s a link to our website http://www.dogstrust.ie/az/m/microchipping/default.aspx

We have also had our TV3 slots on IrelandAM again this month! Did you all see the time where Jedward joined us? Those guys are crazy but super sweet and big doggy lovers! Here’s a link to the past two shows we have been on!

http://www.tv3.ie/ireland_am.php?video=46402&locID=1.65.74

http://www.tv3.ie/ireland_am.php?video=45685&locID=1.65.74

Of course, we are obviously busy rehoming dogs, with 192 gone to forever homes already this year! We have approx 164 dogs in the centre at the moment, 53 of those being puppies. We love to hear how all the dogs are getting on so any of you who have adopted, please do send in pics or post on our Facebook page!

If any of you have been thinking of doing the Flora Women's Mini Marathon this year, please think of sup
porting Dogs Trust. We are completely reliant on fundraised money to keep the centre up and running, which helps us to help so many unwanted Irish dogs. We have lovely yellow t-shirts and sponsor cards, as well as Waggy Walk hats to give out on the day. If you have registered to do the mini marathon, email us with your registration number, name, address and t-shirt size  to minimarathon@dogstrust.ie and we can get a pack out to you! If you have any queries, you can email or call (01) 879 1824.

Just to finish up, some of you may have read an article recently in the Irish Examiner in relation to Dogs Trust's plans to open a centre in Cork. It is very early days and we really do appreciate all your support in our efforts to open up in Cork in the future!
 This is our current statement on the issue -
" Further to the article in Friday's Irish Examiner we would like to clarify that Dogs Trust has made a formal offer to the CSPCA Committee to take over the operation of the Mahon facility and run it as a Dogs Trust rehoming centre. Dogs Trust will not be applying to run the Dog Warden service on behalf of Cork City Council. It is our understanding that this function may be taken on by Cork County C...ouncil. Recent comments in the media by a Cork City Councillor that the City Council must provide their own dog pound is incorrect. An example of this is the shared dog pound between Kilkenny and Carlow which is situated in Co.Kilkenny. Dogs Trust sole concern in this matter is for the welfare of the puppies and dogs in Cork city and county. We have been inundated with messages of support which we hugely appreciate - we hope to be in a position in the near future to welcome you to Dogs Trust Cork. Thank you - Dogs Trust."

We shall leave you on that note. Enjoy the fabulous weather whilst we have it!

Molly, Sparky & Jamie playing in the sun :)

Tried and Tested - Dogs Trust Grooming Range

So there are definitely some perks to working at Dogs Trust! When the boss here in Dogs Trust asked me if I would like to sample some of our new grooming products on my beloved Bailey, I jumped at a chance. Being a long haired dog (he's a Japanese Spitz), Bailey requires quite a bit of grooming and was well overdue a wash!



My beautiful boy, Bailey :)



The range of products covers both puppies and adult dogs, with "no-tears" formulas for puppy eyes! I chose 4 products for Bailey and off we went to the bathroom.

These are the products from the range which I chose for Bailey.
Anti Odour Basil and Rosemary Shampoo, Detangle and Enhance Palm and Jojoba Oil Conditioner, Aloe and Papaya No Tears Spritz and the Paw Protection Cream.

The shampoo smells really refreshing, with it's Basil & Rosemary scent. I wet Bailey's hair first and applied the shampoo. It lathered really well and it doesn't need to be diluted down like some of the other shampoos on the market, which was super handy and made the product easy to use. Bailey gets quite dirty in certain places, usually the long hair at the backs of his legs, so I gave those areas an extra shampoo and rinse to make sure he was squeeky clean!

I was quite intrigued by the conditioner as this wasn't a product I'd used on my dogs before. For those of us humans who use conditioner in our own hair, you will know that the aim is to make your hair soft, silky and more manageable, so I was hoping the Dogs Trust product would have the same effect on my long haired pooch.

I'm not going to lie, I smothered him in the stuff!! It smelled AMAZING - it's Palm and Jojoba oil based, which I would gladly use in my own hair (and if I'm ever stuck, I just might....!). I rubbed it in just like I would in my own hair and rinsed thoroughly. I spent a little extra time rinsing the conditioner as his hair was just so soft, I wasn't sure if all the product was out - guess that was a good thing though!

So my baby was nice and clean now, I towel dried the excess water from his coat and let him have a shake - I'm sure he enjoyed getting his revenge by soaking me too! We went downstairs and got the drier out - I can't just let him dry naturally as he would get all knotty. I use a selection of brushes on Bailey's coat and whilst brushing and drying, his hair did smell really clean, with a really sweet scent. His hair also was easier to comb which made drying time a lot quicker! Yay :)

What do you think he is thinking?!

When he was all dry, I trimmed his nails (don't do this if you're not super confident as it's really easy to cut them too short, which will make them bleed - your vet or local groomer can do this for you!) and applied the paw protection cream. Bailey gets two walks a day, usually in one of our local parks so he wouldn't be on rough terrain a whole lot. Still I thought I may as well complete his pampering with it!

I imagine this product would be great for dogs who are out and about a whole lot more. In saying that, it really is very moisturising. CONFESSION: I've been using it as a hand cream the past couple of days as it's been on my desk. With ingredients like sweet almond and wheatgerm oil, it's a product I think might even benefit on people with really dry skin. If anyone tries this, let me know what you think! 

The whole "pampering" experience was finished off with a few spritzes of the No Tears Spritz - there's a couple of different scents available I think. We used Aloe and Papaya which was really nice. Bailey had just been washed so smelled pretty good anyway so I imagine this product would benefit more between washes, just to keep your dogs smelling nice!

I think the best thing about the product range as a whole is that none of the products contain sulphates or parabens which a lot of products do, which any sciencey people will know are not good for human skin, never mind doggy skin! Products with these ingredients can cause irritations to dogs (and humans) with sensitive skin so make sure to take care when purchasing beauty products for yourselves and your doggies!

Bailey and I took part in a photo shoot a few days later to launch the products!

The products are actually really good value too, ranging from €6.99 - €7.99. The whole range can be bought at Maxi Zoo stores nationwide - check on their website here for your nearest store http://www.maxizoo.ie/stores.html

33% of all profits go to Dogs Trust :)

The whole range of products are now available in Maxi Zoo stores nationwide.

If you make a purchase, do let us know what you think!

A Tour of Dogs Trust Dublin's Rehoming Centre

Have you ever wanted to come and have a nosey of our fabulous rehoming centre, but just haven’t gotten around to it? Or perhaps it’s a bit too far?

Well we’ve taken some pictures for you so you can have a virtual tour and see some of the behind the scenes action in Dogs Trust.

Just a little background info before we get going. Our centre has been in Ireland since November 2009 and we have so far rehomed 1,949 dogs (as of today, 8th February 2012). Our main objective is to rescue as many dogs as we possibly can from the pound system and to rehome them to the best possible home we can find.

This can often be a lengthy process for some of our residents, as they may not have gotten the love and attention they deserved in their previous homes. No matter how long it takes though, we will keep each dog here until we can find him or her a loving home. After all, our motto is that we NEVER destroy a healthy dog.

So let's go!



Reception!



First port of call is our reception area! When you first come into the centre, you will be greeted by a member of staff and asked to fill out a homefinding questionnaire. These questionnaires help us to assess your lifestyle and help find you the dog to match. After filling out your questionnaire, you can have a wander down our rehoming corridor and see if anyone catches your eye. If we think we have the perfect dog for you in one of our other blocks, we will bring you down to meet them. When you have picked a dog, you can come back to reception to discuss this with one of our staff and you can put a hold on your new dog.

Rehoming Corridor

Our Rehoming Corridor is where all our assessed dogs reside. We have 3 different blocks here at Dogs Trust - our Rehoming Block, our New Arrivals block for when new doggies come in and our Booked block for when doggies get booked to go home. Some of our dogs who are a bit anxious living in kennels will reside in Booked block as the Rehoming Corridor is just a bit too much for them.

Each of our glass fronted kennels has sound proof tiles, underfloor heating, sniff holes for the doggie to suss you out and an outdoor area for chilling out. Each dog has it's own bedding, which is donated to us by our supporters. We are always looking for things which can be used as bedding; such as duvets, sheets, blankets, towels. If you are doing a Spring Clean, please keep us in mind!

Saying that, we next move on to our Laundry Room!

Laundry Room

This does exactly as it says on the tin :) All the dog's bedding is washed daily to keep everything fresh and clean for them.

Chow time!

For the dogs, this is the most important part of the day!

Vet Suite

Next up on the tour is.... our state of the art vet suite! This is very important for all our residents. When they first arrive at the centre, they receive an intake exam, which basically assesses their current state of health. They are fitted with DAP collars, which release a smell which relaxes the dog (after all, it has probably been a very scary time for the dog, coming from the pound). Any health requirements they have will be met here by our wonderful vet team. All our doggie are neutered, microchipped and vaccinated before leaving the centre and that all takes place here.

Renesmee - 3 month old German Shepherd cross (female)

Here's a pic of Renesmee. We just saw her chilling out whilst taking the pics for this feature. She's a gorgeous wee thing looking for a home - just thought we'd share! ;)

Real Life Room

Most of the dogs we have in our centre have come to us from the pound system, so we don't often know their background, or what things they like or don't like. To help us get to know them, our Training and Behaviour advisors carry out a thorough assessment in our real life room. This room has a double sided mirror (very CSI!) where a member of staff can document the dog's reaction to different stimuli. These assessments help us to create a profile for the dog, which in turn helps us match them to the perfect new home.

Outer view of kennels

This is a view of the outside area that each dog has access to. Sometimes they just need a breather from all the hustle and bustle of the centre!

Puppy Palace

Welcome to Puppy Palace! As you can see from this pic, cleanliness and hygiene is super important down in Puppy Palace. This is because some of the residents in here are only teeny tiny newborns, whose immune systems are not quite developed yet. Others are just waiting to have their vaccinations before they can take on the world. For this reason, Puppy Palace needs to remain completely sterile - staff working in here wear shoe covers and those bio-hazard suits you can see hanging up.

Puppy Chow Time!

Just another cute pic we caught on our tour of the centre! Tia and Tamara are little Collie cross pups, totally adorable. Seen here having their lunch!

Very Important

We caught this piece of info hanging up in Puppy Palace and would like to share it with you all. We see so many puppies being abandoned, if you are thinking of getting a dog - make sure to do your research first :) We actually have an app for those of you with iPhone/iPads and are looking for some tips for looking after your puppies, check it out here http://www.dogstrust.org.uk/az/a/apps/

Fields, fields, fields!

Fields! We have lots of land for our doggies to get their walks. We also have different compounds built, some with concrete, some with sand, where dogs can get a break from the fields and maybe go play a game of "Fetch!" with one of our volunteers.

Puppy playground

This is our little puppy playground and yes, they do use the slide! Bit of a gloomy day when this pic was taken, hence no puppies out playing. On warmer days, this place is a sea of bouncy balls and fluffy toys!

Training Barn

And finally, this is our training barn! Lots of different things take place in here - from our adoption talks for prospective new owners to staff and doggie training. Our training barn can also be hired out for Civil Wedding Ceremonies! We have surround sound, ample parking, catering kitchen and of course, you can bring you own doggies along to help you celebrate your big day. For more info on that, you can email marketing@dogstrust.ie.
So I think that concludes our tour of the centre! We welcome all our supporters to come visit the centre, we open every day from 12pm until 4pm, apart from Tuesdays when we do a big deep clean of the centre. We even open Bank Holidays! Make sure you tell your friends about us too - the more people that know about us, the more doggies we can rehome.

Thanks for reading! xx

Our First Blog - A Summary of January!

We are so excited to be starting our Dogs Trust blog this month! It's still a work in progress so bear with us! We hope that it will give us a medium to share more stories, pictures, videos and basically all things Dogs Trust and doggie-related with all our supporters.

So we thought we'd start with a little round up of January. It has been such a busy month for us, both with dogs coming in and dogs leaving us for their forever homes. We have rehomed a whopping 72 dogs so far this year, some of whom had been in the centre for quite a while. We are so happy to have them go off to their forever homes, and to get the love and attention they really deserve. (We do get a bit soppy seeing them go off, it's hard not to get attached sometimes!)

At the beginning of the month, we put an appeal on Facebook and Twitter for a home for a special young man named Carlow. Poor Carlow was found knocked down on the side of the road and was in need of medical attention. He had some quite big surgeries for a tiny pup, but he just proved how wonderful dogs are when faced with these trials, and was up and bouncing around in no time. We brought Carlow with us to our monthly slot on TV3's IrelandAM and following this, he was rehomed to a wonderful lady named Karen and her family.



Carlow, now called Marley, with his new Mammy!


As mentioned up above, we had our monthly slot of TV3's Ireland AM. We brought 4 dogs with us, 3 of the 4 have been rehomed, with the 4th due to go to her forever home this weekend. We are so grateful to IrelandAM for giving us this slot monthly, it really helps increase awareness of our centre and the numbers of dogs out there needing to be rehomed.

A story that you may be familiar with is the one of our little friend, Gump! We started this story on our Facebook page last Monday, with a picture of this puppy and his deformed leg. Our team of vets decided it would be better for Gump to have his little stump removed. As he was getting bigger, he was trying to use it for balance and just causing himself some sores and discomfort. The first picture on Facebook wished Gump good luck with his big surgery, and we followed up on his progress for the next few days. We had so many comments, wishing Gump well and we even had a lady stop one of our staff in traffic to ask how he was getting on. It was lovely to see so many of you moved by his story. He even received a little parcel in the post, containing a fabulous snuggle blanket from one of his fans! Check out our Facebook page for the "Gump Series"! http://www.facebook.com/dogstrustireland

Gump, a 3 month old German Shepherd cross who had his front leg amputated.

Gump is now ready for adoption, so if any of you were following his updates on Facebook and are genuinely interested, please pop into the centre for a chat with our rehoming team. He is such a little superstar, he'll make a fabulous addition to any family!

Which OF COURSE is the reason we are here in the first place, to rehome all of the wonderful dogs we have living here with us. If you are thinking of adding to your family, or know someone thinking of getting a new addition, please tell them to come and see us. We get new dogs into the centre regularly and we update our website's rehoming gallery twice weekly. We are located just off exit 5 of the M50 and we open every day from 12pm until 4pm apart from Tuesdays, when we do a big clean of the centre!

If you are not in a position to adopt and would like to get involved, you can always volunteer in the centre too. We are delighted with any time you can afford to give us, so if you are interested, download our volunteer form and pop it back in the post to us :)

That's all for now folks! Keep checking back for more news xxx