Police dogs die from heat stroke.

SGT Craven, from Egham, Surrey, was slated by many national newspapers at the start of the week after 2 police dogs were left un-attended in his car, Belgian Malinois bitch Chay and 4month old German Shepherd pup Tilly both died from heatstroke.

SGT Craven left both dogs in his private vehicle without ventilation or water parked at the Metropolitan Police training unit in Keston while he attended a meeting in Stratford East London on June 26th. It was there at 11am in 30'c heat officers were alerted to the car, and broke into the vehicle to try and rescue the dogs. Chay and Tilly were rushed to an emergency vet but both later died. SGT Carven went missing shortly after the incident on Sunday and was later admitted to hospital after throwing himself from a collogues car, he is apparently now a patient at the psychiatric unit.

In July 2004 a cocker spaniel at the training centre where Ian Craven was attending died from heatstroke but it is unconfirmed who the PC responsible was. He was later made a Sargent and then acting boss of the Metropolitan dog centre in Keston, Kent.

The recent deaths follow those of two German shepherd police dogs, who were left to die in a car in extreme heat outside Nottinghamshire police headquarters in July 2009. The dog handler responsible PC Mark Johnson was handed a six-month conditional discharge after he was found guilty of animal cruelty.

Working dogs often have to be contained in cars and vans in order to attend incidents and do their job but all police vehicles that transport animals are fitted with special features. There are ventilation systems & cooling packs for water bowls as standard and in many even air conditioning to keep the dogs safe and healthy in all weathers - even a heat wave. Private dog owners and private dog handlers (like myself) know that it is irresponsible to leave a dog in the car, particularly in hot weather.

Whilst out working my dog Monty is often travelling in the car but always safely, he has with ventilation, available water and we stop for regualr breaks. I would never do anything to put my faithful K9 partner in un-necessary danger. A spokesperson for The Dogs Trust said "It can take just 20 minutes for a dog to die and temperatures can reach over 40'C in some vehicles." with weather like this in baking sun and a British heat wave with temperatures from 28-31'C its easy to see how an unventilated car can heat up quickly. If you love your dog don't leave him to suffer in a locked car!

Grand day out

My husband David worked all over Easter and the numerous bank holidays over may day and the royal wedding, so he now has 10days leave to make up for it. This week we've been working at home, doing big spring chores and generally taking long lunches and walks with the dog.

We live in the beautiful countryside and since being married generally we eat al fresco in the garden or have a BBQ instead of my old favourite; the picnic, so as treat David planned one for us this Friday. We bought some treats and packed a lunch but Dave wouldn't let on where we were going so I didn't know what to wear - shorts for the beach or sturdy shoes for hiking? The only clue was we couldn't take the dog, even on the morning as we got ready to leave I still couldn't guess where we might go . . . . in till he said "I can't tell you cause you will get over excited" he was right and I knew at once we were going to the Zoo!

We spent all day walking around Colchester Zoo, we saw lions who were so much bigger than expected, tigers who were prowling much like our own panther Bagheera, and I got to fed my all time favourite: giraffes ^_^ We saw wild looking wolves (not unlike our GSD, one was wagging his tail hehe) big African elephants, endangered our Amur leopards, apes as big as orang-utans and monkeys as tiny as baby tamerins - I thought they were all great! By far the cutest were the red pandas, such sweet faces and their behaviour reminded of cats, I just wanted to cuddle them ^_^ It was a beautifully sunny, its been grey all week and will be raining this weekend and I caught the sun on my face.

By the end of the day I was pooped, my feet ached and fell asleep in the car on the way home. The brilliant day had a perfect ending, I had a bath while DH cooked dinner, watch a movie in my PJs and then an early night for me and bump. Hardly a rock star lifestyle but I wouldn't change it for the world :)

Garden space

I wish the bloody chooks wouldn't think the fence is a fun obstacle to jump over several times a day and keep them fit, they are digging up the lawn and making a mess. Monty the German Shepard just watches them like the killer guard dog he is, once they were even in his kennel and he just cocked his head at me as if to say "what do you want me to do about it?" I suppose I'm lucky he has learnt not to chase/eat/maul them I can hardly have it both ways eh?

With plans to set up an allotment on our camp this spring I'm hoping I can put flowers in my raised beds instead of boring veg. I love growing a kitchen garden but they don't look as nice and with all the roaming animals I need some floral perfume in the garden. Neither will be possible if the chickens insist on their great escape. The enclosure fence is only half an inch shorter than the perimeter and yet they never jump outside, It would be fiddly to raise the trellis and yet I dont think it would stop them.

Last year they seemed to know where their place was and kept to it, only jumping every so often, where as now they have spent all winter digging up grass and killing thier lawn they have decided to jump fence and try our grass too! I try to keep them interested with handfulls of seed, different items but with green house they are getting a little crowded in there. We have seeded the lawn but so far not much is happening, I'm hoping we can protect the new grass shoots long enough for them to take root and withstand the chickens appetites. I think there will be nothing for it other than the expense of some rolled turf *sigh*

Any other suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

Metal Chick

If Drowning Pool is looking for a singer, they don't have to look very far.

Lolita the parrot has many great videos on you tube of her singing and cracking jokes originally found at this link.