Eco Friendly House And Garden

Is there really an eco difference between a Bulldog and a Beagle?

When you are thinking of buying a puppy and are considering breeds that are easy to train, good with children or don't shed hair – shouldn't you be considering the eco side effects of these breeds too?

All dog breeds and cross breeds (dogs that have obvious traits of one or 2 breeds but are not pure) have a certain amount of 'known' traits that can end up taking up time and money – and maybe affecting their health – and your families enjoyment of having a dog in the first place.

General Health:

Firstly – there are breeds of dog which are known to have certain health issues within the breed circle – for example you might hear the following phrases: all Westies have bad skin; German Shepherds often get bad hips and Yorkies have bad teeth.  Of course not every single German Shepherd on the planet will have hip problems and other breeds of dog can also get bad hips – but there are trends that are common in certain breeds.

So, should you not buy one of theses in the first place – incase it ends up needing ongoing treatment, pain-killers and possibly surgery? 

Of course there are breeders who have made sure that the unhealthy breed traits are not found in their offspring – but should we even consider the risk?

The last thing I would want as a dog owner is a sad sick dog who always has to take certain tablets, can't walk very far, is always in pain or is at the vets every other month.

And all those car journeys, treatments, tablets, operations and specialist diets aren't much good for the environment either!

The Type of Dog:

Not only are there known health issues with certain breeds – there are also certain breeds themselves that can generate problems without really trying.

photo credit: bomb_tea

For example; dogs with very short faces will virtually always get out of breath with exercise, and make terrible breathing noises in hot weather.  Dogs that have heavy flaps of skin will no doubt suffer from some types of skin problems, including ulcers, eczema as well as harbouring fungal infections and ticks.  Dogs with long bodies can find themselves with skeletal and muscular problems if overweight, with too much exercise or just as they age.

Why would you buy a dog with the potential for these health issues before you even take it home?

And You?

Well, nothing genetic that a dog has wrong with it can be 'caught' by humans – but surely you got a dog as you enjoy the outdoors and think that they will be great company in the home – so what if it can't fit that bill?

A dog with itchy skin problems, sore joints, digestive upsets and breathing problems isn't really going to suit your needs.

How can you go out all day with the kids if the dog can only walk for an hour at most before collapsing in a heap?  You won't want to take it to the local park if it has loose stools or patches of fur missing, and you can't ask a friend to watch it every time you go out can you? Or make it wear a giant headcollar so it can't chew itself!

And you won't get a moments peace indoors with a scratchy dog following you around, or a stiff old thing that keeps slipping over as it wanders between rooms, or a dog that has to have a tablet every 4 hours through the night!

So, when you are considering a new dog, don't just think about whether they are easy to train or if they are the same colour as your sofa – think about the environmental effects of owning them too.

Final Note:

Of course, any dog can get ill and as a result suffer from any of these complaints, but there is a difference between 'knowing' that these complaints exist in the dog when you first buy it and having them happen by accident.

I mean your car might break down at any time – and mine have done just that – but would you buy a car that was known to break down every year?  Would you regularly eat spicy foods that make you ill - or do you avoid them completely because of that?

However dogs aren't disposible items – once you buy one, you will have it for around 10-20 years – so think that far ahead!

If you lost your beloved family Pet – how could you get it back fast!

There is nothing worse for a pet owner to find your pet isn't where it should be at dinner time – or to have your dog run away while out on a walk after being spooked!

You just feel terrible and can't stop looking until you find them.

But what if there was a way to find out if anyone has found them before you.  What if you were wandering around the streets calling for them, yet unbeknown to you – your lost dog was being pampered and looked after by a local veterinary surgery.

However, the vets don't know who this cute pet is!  They have no idea how to find you (unless your pet is micro-chipped of course) and even if your home number is on their collar – you aren't at home to answer it.

Join A Network.
Instead of feeling alone in finding your pet, why not find a way to send your pets details out in one go to all the relevant people.

Rather than searching through phone books looking for local pet stores, kennels, catteries, rescue centres, vets and all sorts of other possible 'pet finding places' and then having to call them all and rattle off all your details time after time – just tell 1 person.

There are many organisations set up for finding lost pets, but some of the best ones are those that send out a mailshot (including texts and faxes) to a whole network of possible 'finders' all instantly. 

These Lost Dog Finder companies have found all the relevant contact numbers and have spoken to all the organisations in advance to make sure that when their information is sent through – it is treated as urgent – not as junk mail.

Save All Those Resources:
As you can imagine, the time involved in calling them all yourself and your phone bills, mailers or travel expenses going to and fro can be huge – especially if you added up all the people who have ever lost a pet in your area, your county or the country doing the same!

And it isn't just your resources either!  I volunteer at an animal rescue centre and we get several calls virtually every day for lost pets.  Not only can the conversation take up at least 15 minutes of (volunteered) time – we also have to take all the relevant details onto a paper spreadsheet, housed in a folder on the side.

Needless to say, you would call at least 10 such charities or vets in the search – who all have to take down the same details on their spreadsheet in their folder on their shelf.  And they might also get several calls everyday.

Now of course, we all want you to find your pet safe and well – and we won't stop offering this Pet Finder service – but if you multiply that up to around 250 such calls a week, that's over a 1000 such calls a month.

With a texting/faxing alert system, that could be reduced to 1 single call from you (the pet owner) and that same information gets sent out to everyone that same day.

But My Pet Won't Get Lost:
If I have a penny for every time someone says to me 'this is the first time Fluffy has run off' I would be so rich!

If everyone thought ahead and accepted that there is a possibility for things to go 'wrong' then there would be far less faffing around when things did actually go wrong – and as a result, things could happen quicker.

If everyone had a plan in place for when or 'if' their pet was to go missing – then they would be more likely to get it back within the day – or even within a few hours!

Planning ahead was never easier or more eco friendly!

Using aprons and covers for furniture isn't just something nans and great aunties do – it's eco thinking!

We all know that the key to eco friendly living is making good things last longer – rather than throwing away cheap items and buying new ones instead.

And what better way to protect something valuable or just something that you don't want to have to replace that often, than using a protective cover when necessary.

I don't mean covering your carpet in plastic sheeting all year and not letting anyone sit on your furniture – I am just thinking of the simple ways to make your household items last that little bit longer - by reducing waste, and saving you some money in the long run too.

Protect Your Belongings.

Needless to say that when you go out in the mud and rain – you don't put on your Sunday best!  When painting your home I'm sure there won't be a silk blouse or sparkly evening dress anywhere in sight.

It's because you don't want to ruin something unnecessarily when you could have worn something less valuable – or something already dirty instead.  

So why, when you cook your favourite Mexican or Italian dish, don't you protect your everyday clothes?  No doubt you are entertaining friends or have just got in from work – so why aren't your 'nice' clothes worth protecting to?

photo credit: Leszek.Leszczynski

A simple apron – whether practical or indeed comical – could stop fat, dressings and sauces splashing onto your everyday clothes.  You might even make it into 'your thing' – like 'Sarah always has some comedy apron on' – no doubt leading up to whole host of crazy birthday presents from your friends and guests! 

You might be thinking – "but I can just wash the food off" and you are completely right – but at what cost?

Wash, Scrub & Tumble:

Most outer clothes can be washed less frequently than other garments – for example how many times do your socks get washed in relation to your overcoat?

But washing comes at an environmental cost, as do the washing chemicals for heavy staining, the hot water and the subsequent spinning and drying.  So why would you want to create more work for your household appliances and add to your growing budget?

An apron can be used day after day without excessive washing – basically you expect to have a dirty apron – that's what they are for!

And you clothes stay cleaner for longer, can be worn more than just the once in most instances and you will use less energy and resources per cooking experience.

And it's not just aprons that protect your clothes of course; so raincoats, Wellington boots, coveralls, and well worn clothing that you kept hold of over the years can all be used when things are going to get dirty fast!

Protect Your Home:

And it's not just your clothes that need protecting – your furniture and fittings could do with a little help too.

Rather than replace the whole entrance carpet due to the patch of muddy wetness near the door – why not buy a nice rug that covers that area and create a shoe storage area that will keep the mess contained.  That way you only need clean, wash or replace that rug instead of the whole downstairs!

Similarly, make a cover for the footstool that can be cleaned seperately, use a table cloth, tea and plate coasters as well as investing in a pair of slippers or house shoes for everyone to keep the whole place in perfect condition.

Other kitchen tips might include things to reduce the amount of cleaning you need to do and so reduce the chemicals needed.  For example invest in proper microwave containers to prevent explosive splashes up the interior and buy smaller oven trays as and when so that you don't have to clean a whole tray to cook 3 sausages or a few leeks!

And when you choose replacement fittings, appliances and paints, etc – look for the one you like that might last a bit longer depending on your families needs.  For example, darker wall colors in homes where hallways are narrow, so that things that bang against the walls don't leave obvious marks, and coarser darker carpets and rugs in home with back gardens that lead straight indoors – especially where dogs and cats are involved, as I know they don't wipe their feet!

Even internal doorways can become worn down through repeated use, so maybe consider rugs there too, and moving the furniture around always keeps the carpets fresh in a room where a 'pathway' seems to form – like around your bed or along the hallway between dining room and kitchen or wherever.

By protecting the small part of the whole item that will bear the brunt of your actions – you can make the whole item last longer, and you will soon see the eco (and financial) gains from your actions.

A Real Guide To Sustainable Living – they say, and they mean business. 

This isn’t a book that you can take lightly – it is full of maths and equations to justify their suggestions; and some things really need explaining as they turn common eco conceptions on their head!

Basically this book explains how we should be approaching our lives if we truly want to live an eco friendly lifestyle – or to live ecologically within our ‘allotted’ means.  By ‘allotted’ they mean if we are only to use our fair share of worldly resources rather than just putting a green angle onto everything we do.

And to prove it, they open up with a look at the widely held beliefs of the world without even considering the eco consequences to see what we are expecting the Earth to do for us as we are today.  From there, they try to whittle us down to what the Earth can actually do for us.

The Book Itself:
The book is something you need to read with a notepad and calculator on one side and some strong coffee on the other!

I have a basic grasp of ‘footprints’, ‘embodied energy’ and the worlds finite resources – but the maths part was a bit too much to keep on top of piled thick, as it was, in the body of the text.

They did have a huge number of very easy to understand charts and tables of everything they were talking about (which helped make up for skipping all the equations) and I didn’t loose the thread of their arguments by not reading all the numbers and MJ’s etc.

The Authors help to explain why some of the things that we assume would be eco friendly turn out not to be based on a bigger picture – for example walking isn’t that ecologically sensible if you are getting all your energy (ie eating) processed cheeseburgers from a store.  Basically, the energy chain of land use, transport, chemicals, packaging, heating, storing and selling the burgers in the first place is so huge that the ‘eco’ effort of walking fuelled by burgers wasn’t really ‘saving the planet’.

photo credit: Bob B. Brown

Similarly a 20 minute shower in an eco friendly low-water shower still uses nearly twice the amount of water than a 5 minute shower in an old-style water-intensive shower.  Further more, sharing a bath between 2 people uses around the same water per person as that same eco-friendly – but long – shower.

They use compelling reasoning to hold this all together as well as extensive research data from around the globe.  And even though a lot of their arguments offer very simple solutions to the World’s ecological problems – much is still recommending a somewhat ‘alternative’ lifestyle, where you use hemp for clothes, buy less things, stay ‘behind the times’, somewhat, live in smaller houses with the lights off and share things with other people rather than buying your own.

Now I know that this will all reduce our eco footprints and keep our emissions down and the world turning – but these aren’t the eco friendly living tips that people want to hear.  The people that do want to hear this are probably already aware of most of their discussions already.

I totally agree that our actions are sometimes more important that the eco technology that is on offer (like flushing the toilet less times will save more water than flushing more times with a low-flush mechanism, and choosing a small basic home will be better in terms of resources than living in an enormous eco friendly house) but I think that it is preaching to the converted.

Result: 3/5:
Even if my not-so-eco-friendly friends could have forced themselves to have read this entire book in the first place, I don’t think they would be heeding much of it’s advice.

I think it is a great text-book style book and can really help to compare ecological differences between common activities and products, but I don’t think it will change peoples attitudes in the style in which it is written. 

Although I really enjoyed several section of this book, I noticed a flaw.  They spend so long working out the embodied energy (EE) of a product (or the products and activities that went into making the parts for that oringinal product) that they sometimes considered slightly different things as important in each case.

For example, in the only section of the book that I had a really good knowledge of (pets) they managed to completely write off the transport angle for the tinned food in their comparison of dog and cat food (even though they went into shoe leather replacement in the walking vrs driving section).  They say that the eco effect of tinned packaging was negligible because we are encourage to recycle tins!  Well, how on earth do they intend to get these tins to those 76.5 million hungry cats worldwide without making an ecological impact?

And secondly their argument included showing that a cat food with less meat content made less of an impact (obvious when you consider the land used for beef and the land used to grow the winter food for beef as well) – however, cats that are fed on low amounts of meat will be more likely to become ill, get dry skin, loose hair, get gum disease etc (as not enough meat or too much vegetable matter isn’t good for a cat).  As a result – you will be using your vet more often or maybe adding shampoos and supplements to your cat to ‘cover up’ all these new problems.

Now I’m sure that these cosmetics and medicines (and trips to the vets) have just as much of an impact as adding the few extra percents of meat in their food in the first place.  High quality dried pet food are fed in smaller quantities as other foods, and are known to reduce these health (and aesthetic) problems – as well as coming in bulk paper packaging instead of heavy, bulky tins filled with 80% water!

They also said that a well handled hamster will be happy to live on it’s own – where infact the most common type of hamster (the Syrian hamster) will ONLY ever live on it’s own.  If you put 2 in the same cage, they will no doubt fight to the death within just a few days!

So now, can I really believe all the other comparisons they made in areas that I know little about?

ISBN: 978-0-500-28790-3

They are fast becoming the western worlds favourite pet – but are they eco friendly?

I’m afraid the simple answer is ‘No’.  Due to the biological make-up, behavioural patterns and dietary needs – they are nothing but a drain on the environment in the large numbers we see them in today!

There are however things that a cat owner can do to lessen the effects of a feline family and it is easy to make more ethical and more eco-friendly choices if you already have one. 

The most obvious one is getting your cat neutered as soon as physically possible and never buying a kitten from anywhere – always ‘rescue’ your kitten or cat from a rescue centre.  ‘Rescuing’ a kitten off a neighbour who has let their cat get pregnant is not technically rescuing – it is just offering an outlet to an irresponsible pet owner!

So, once you have your cat or kitten – lets find out what makes then tick!

Feeding:
Cats are carnivores by nature not by choice.  Due to the lack of some essential amino acids in the feline biology – they cannot survive without high levels of meat in their diet – unless you have endless amounts of time and energy – and money, to spend on your cats ‘vegetarian food’ (which is a bit like asking a sheep not to eat grass) and not at all eco friendly!

Due to this carnivorous diet – their faecal waste cannot be composted – unlike bunnies and horses.  Therefore it needs to be sent to landfill as noone has yet invented a biofuel out of cat droppings!  And as we all know cats will go to toilet just about anywhere – and several times a day.

Toilet Habits:
We all need to go to the toilet – but the cat has it’s own little set of options – totally chosen by you the owner.

Option 1:They poop outside where they want and annoy all your neighbours – as well as potentially passing on parasites to neighbours pets and sometimes even the neighbours themselves.  To kill these parasites needs regular use of insecticides – although you can find some milder ‘natural’ remedies that only work well if the levels of parasites are low.

Option 2: They poop indoors and you spend a vast amount of money each month on cat litter, litter trays, litter tray liners, cat litter air fresheners, carbon filters, pet-safe disinfectant and hoovering up the bits that stick to the cats feet which they walk all over your home! 

Now there are wood-based or recycled paper cat litters that will do the job just fine - and you could always just use a simple tray.  You would need to put it far enough away from you that you can’t smell it (or clean it out several times a day) rather than buying the whole confined and perfumed set-up – however, if your living space is tight you may have no choice in the matter!

Hunting:
It has been well publicized that cats are possibly responsible for huge decreases in the population of garden birds due to the habit of catching them in the garden and by raiding nests in bushes.  You can try a bell or discs on the collar or some sonic device to prevent this – but 2 of the following 3 things will happen:

1) The cat will pull off the collar and this will add to the other 1000 collars that are found in gardens and streets every month in the city (cat-related litter to add to the thousands of unwanted kitty poo’s).  Obviously this will also mean that around 1000 people a month will go out and have to buy another collar and bell from the store.

2) The cat will still be able to stalk and catch birds with the collar on anyway as they are genetically designed to be stealthy and so can overcome a badly made cheap bell without too much trouble – and baby birds in the nest can’t really go anywhere – even if they hear Big Ben!

3) The cat will annoy you and all your neighbours by jangling about all over the place with a bell on it’s collar!  It will jingle it’s way around your house all day and through the night, and it will even annoy itself after a while – I mean imagine having a giant set of keys hanging off your neck all day every day!

Accidents:
Cats are generally put outside overnight to ‘take care of themselves’ – but this is the most likely time that they will cause a traffic accident or get themselves run over.

Obviously if they cause an accident, this is not only bad pet care and not exactly socially responsible – but it could cause unnecessary damage and injury to both the car and local houses as well as your neighbours and your cat respectively.

Now, at the moment an accident caused by a cat doesn’t legally put any fault on the cat’s owner – although the results are still the same.  And a car accident caused by a cat is almost totally avoidable if people kept the cats indoors at night.

Conclusion:
In summary then – a quite brutally - for a truly eco friendly cat – you would keep it indoors all the time, feed it complete dry food and use recycled paper cat litter and use herbal flea and worm remedies.

Or opt for a rabbit instead!

Having a small indoor pet can really help you to save on waste and improve your recycling!

The statistics just in on the amount of food families waste is unbelievable and what with throwing away all those cardboard boxes and toilet rolls!

So why not get your very own micro-processing unit for these such things?  And have some great fun along the way…..

Rodents:
Getting yourself a little furry friend from a rescue centre could be one of the cutest things you acquire this year!  Maybe it’s a furry hamster, a cuddly guinea pig or a tiny mouse – whatever tickles your fancy could be worth its weight in gold in terms of that badly bruised apple or those wilting vegetables!

Whether it’s a tiny thing in a cage indoors, or a larger pet outside in a hutch – it can help you to break down your waste into more useful ingredients!

Those cardboard tubes can be chewed up by your gerbils making them easier to compost – or those veg could be converted into concentrated compost by a bunny rather than rotting in the air and attracting flies!

Any pet which has gnawing teeth and eats fruit and veg is a winner!

What’s Best For What?
Well, needless to say, they all have their specialities in the biodegrading world – and size is a factor too.

Guinea Pigs and rabbits are the best for munching large amounts of food waste – such as left-over allotment materials that aren’t great for the family – including stalks and stems of most plants. 

And not only does their used bedding go great in your compost heap – but they can be harnesses in the garden as lawn mowers as well!  Get the right shaped run and you can move it regularly around the lawn to keep it nice and trim!

Communal living smaller animals can be just as useful – for example 3 gerbils.  They love to chew anything and try all sorts of fruit and veg.  Perfect for shredding up those cereal boxes into easy-to-compost pieces – and creating a nice used bedding material or cardboard, vegetable waste and sawdust!

What’s Not So Good:
Syrian hamsters are probably the least useful – but still cute!  They only live alone and aren’t too big – so there is only so much waste they can eat for you!  They also don’t chew up cardboard as much as gerbils – but can be easier to handle for the younger kids!

Rats generally eat meat in their food so aren’t too good at creating compostable waste – however a couple of rats can certainly get through your leftovers if you give them a chance!

Degus and chinchillas are specialist eaters – so can’t be given fruit or too much variety in their diets – hence not many foods and treats available for them in the pet stores!  It makes them very ill – so not too good for an eco friendly pet!

However – whatever small pet you choose to help your out with your composting and waste food control – make sure you consider a rescue animal first.  There are hamsters, gerbils and rabbits waiting patiently in rescue centres all over the country for a good home.

Could you be one of them?

There are still more tips coming to me for your horse, pony or stable yard!

It is so easy to see a new top tip when you walk through the yard – either by doing something yourself or seeing someone else doing it.  Sometimes, your friends might be doing something that saves then time or money or just because it’s easier – but it could be a great eco friendly tip!

1) Learn to sew!  Putting patches on elbows, new hems on your rugs and darning your woolly socks together can all make your existing clothes last longer!  You don’t need to look perfect at the yard – especially if it’s cold or raining!  Making your clothes last longer means you get to spend your money on more exciting things! 

2) Go solar-powered for those little things like the stable radio – or you can get wind-up versions too.  Maybe buy a solar powered ‘travel charger’, so while you are mucking out – your mobile phone could be charging itself up naturally!  And make sure your lighting is powered by a green energy supplier!

3) Make sure you always muck out your horsebox or pony trailer as soon as you arrive at your destination to prevent the damp bedding soaking into the wooden floorboards.  Obviously, the longer you let the moisture soak in, the more damage it can do – and the shorter the lifespan of your trailer!

4) Learn to make your own equipment if possible, like feeding a piece of reused foam through the headband of a head collar to act as a poll guard.  This way you get to use all your old bits and bobs from around the house – and the stores don’t need to keep making more of everything!

5) If your horse eats it’s fresh bedding (or you want to make your bedding last longer) - you should mix in some of the old bedding when mucking out.  Not only will this mean that you need less bedding each time – but your horse should stop eating the wrong materials – and prevent wasted vets fees and your time!

6) Also to save vets visits, wasted treatments and last minute panics – keep a record of your horses medical information.  For example knowing the temperature of your horse before and after exercise, in summer or in winter can mean that you know for definite when there is something wrong.  Saying that your pony is ‘really hot’ isn’t the best way of judging for treatments and medication!  So if you have a definite record beforehand – you will be sure when something is wrong or when something is just the ‘top end of normal’.

7) And again – store your feed and medicines in metal dustbins or other suitably waterproof and pest-resistant containers.  That way you will keep things vermin-free as well as avoiding leaks and breakages.  This all adds up to less wasted products, no contaminated feeds and no poorly ponies - there really is no need to waste time, energy or money ever again!

8.) Use a left-over piece of plastic drainpipe to put over the top of a stable door to prevent your horse crib-biting.  By cutting it into 2 pieces, you could rest it over the top of the door to stop it being destroyed!  Not only will this stop you having to repair or buy a new door eventually – but can’t hurt the horse either!

9) Depending on the size of your own land – why not fence off a small area and grow your own hay.  Either feed as hay or make it into haylage instead.

10) Or why not go organic – and grow your own horse veg!  A few lines of carrots, some turnips, garlic and even an apple tree don’t need a lot of room – and could mean fresh organic and local veg for your pony (and you!).

Well, what do you think of those then?  Any help to you – I hope so.

Female Dogs are still being forced to have litter, after litter, after litter, after litter, after litter……..

The only way they can get to stop this repeated assault and to be freed from their small and very dirty cage or crate is to die – then they get thrown outside into a bin or hole in the ground!

And this is no lie or just some horror story made up by rescue centres – type in ‘puppy farm’ or ‘puppy mill’ in an ‘images’ Internet search – and you will see the evidence!

Basically puppy farms only exist because people are STILL buying the puppies – even after years and years of advertising and petitioning by rescue centres and animal welfare bodies!  People just can’t see sense.

So, what can you do to stop this trade in endless puppy farming without spending an extra penny?  Well if you want to buy a puppy - read through the advice below:

1) Check Out A Rescue Centre:
There are always pedigree and first cross puppies filling up rescue centres all the time.  Only this week there are 18 puppies at a local RSPCA centre; 8 mastiff cross, 6 lurchers and 4 spaniels – all cute and all looking for homes!  And there are hundreds more waiting in other centres too!

These are usually unwanted litters – basically the owner did not neuter their female dog and a free-roaming neighbouring male dog got to her when she was in season.  Hey presto – a litter of first cross puppies are born! 

By getting your puppy from a centre like this is a great way to stop puppy farm breeders – as the less puppies they sell, the less likely they are to breed more.   

2) Being Really Picky With Your Breeder:
Well the first thing you can do is not ever buy a puppy from a breeder advertising in a local newspaper in the first place.  Yes, there are some genuine breeders out there who want to sell their puppies – but it is often not easy to spot them in local publications amongst the ‘money-makers’.

You need to look out for a couple of things before calling anyone, as there are many clear signs that can tell you that these people don’t actually really ‘love’ their dogs – and are therefore probably just after the money.  Than if you do call – check out a few further details…..

Advertising More Than 1 Pedigree Breed For Sale:  
What type of irresponsible pet carer allows 2,3 or even 7 of her female pets to become pregnant at the same time?  If they are ‘pedigree’ dogs – then the owner has actually paid and arranged for the many seperate male dogs to come and do the stud work!  And what sort of ‘loving’ pet owner can keep up to 7 female dogs as pets in the same home?  No-one – so all these bitches are outside in kennels.

Giving Only A Mobile Number:
Are they saying that they are more likely to be away from home than looking after the puppies?

Saying That You Might Not Be Able To See The Mother:
By the time you can collect the puppies the female could be pregnant again – or skeletal!  If she hasn’t had the correct nutrition through the latter stages of the pregnancy (or her whole life) then she will look totally bony and exhausted by the time the pups are ready for rehoming.  No wonder they won’t let you see her!

However, you should be suspicious if you do see the mother and she hasn’t got very swollen and dangly nipples – it means that the puppy isn’t hers even if she is sniffing it or the puppy is trying to suckle.  Whelping females (females that have just given birth) have unmistakably dangly boobies!

The Puppies Are Less Than 8 Weeks Old:
In an ideal world for the puppy – it should stay with it’s siblings and in the company of it’s mother up to between 8 and 12 weeks.  Puppies younger than this are really a little too young to be rehomed – no matter how cute they look – so the secret is to not look at them in the first place!

All puppies are cute – otherwise we wouldn’t want to get one in the first place.  And if you are looking for a particular pedigree breed – then they will look virtually identical anyway as that is the idea behind being a pedigree in the first place!

Offering To Meet You ’Halfway’ Or To ‘Drop It Off At Your House’:
This plays on the ‘falling in love with the cute puppy’ syndrome.  Breeders want to be seen as kind and friendly by saving you the trip to meet them - but in fact they are just making sure you don’t see the state of their kennels and the poor suffering bitches in their puppy farm!

If you want a cute chocolate Labrador puppy and have your money in hand – and the breeders turn up with a very cute chocolate Labrador in their hands – you will take it from them.  Even if it is too young, a ‘bit poorly’ has an ‘upset tummy’ or even a sore foot or cut on it’s face!

Basically – you will be so ‘in love’ with it that you will still pay full price for a ‘sick’ puppy – it even adds to the appeal - I mean how could you turn it away?  

That’s their plan – and you fell for it!  Just like the thousands of people before you that they have been supplying with puppy farmed pets!

So What Can You Do?
You need to be tough – but the only way to stop this is to make sure that you don’t ‘feel sorry’ for a puppy, and don’t buy any that fit the above ‘dodgy’ criteria.

Every puppy farmed puppy you do buy just gives the breeders good reason to go and breed a whole new litter.  If you could make around £4000 for a litter of cocker spaniels – imagine how much you could make if you had 10 bitches breeding 2 or 3 times a year?

But, if you made nothing at all from the first litter – but had spent £1000′s of your own money feeding these 10 bitches and their 80 puppies and didn’t sell any – would you do it again?

Make sure you plan your puppy purchase so that you are not cornered by these people or fall in love with a sick or badly bred puppy!  There are plenty of healthy loved puppies out there to choose from!

If you have a cat, dog, ferret, rabbit, horse, tortoise or other large pets – you should get it a microchip!

It is National Microchipping Month in the UK, but wherever you live – it is still a great eco friendly thing you can do to make your life easier and that of local vets and animal rescue charities a lot easier – leaving their time free to do more vital procedures in their practices.

I know the connection is not that obvious – but remember that time is money, so if time has to be wasted by several people trying to catch, report, transport, check over, kennel and then search for and confirm the pets owners – this is wasted money, time and energy that could have virtually all been avoided if your pet had a microchip!

How Does It All Add Up?
Well, the first thing to do to make your pet ownership more eco friendly is to not lose you pet in the first place by making sure your garden is secure and that you do not leave children in charge of any animal unsupervised outside of your home.

However, once ‘lost’ it starts to create a problem – firstly for the considerate person who bothers to catch it and keep it safe.  Working at a rescue centre I often get calls from poor people finding a lost pet on their way to work and then having to sort things out before getting into trouble at work for being late!

And there is that first phone call.  They may call a local vet first or a rescue centre – either way there has to be staff on the other end of the phone to answer that call.  Then comes the detail reporting: 1) firstly we need to check our paperwork to see if anyone has reported that pet missing, 2) if not, then we have to complete a form of our own to say that someone has found a particular pet, then 3) we need to give the finder advice about other locations to try and call for help, or even send around a volunteer to collect it so the finder can get to work!

All of this costs money – and uses up valuable charity time and the paper and ink for all the forms that need to be printed out.

And of course the owner who has lost their pet could be calling all sorts of other places reporting their pet missing as well – calling local vets, pet shops and rescue centres to see if anyone has reported the animal as ‘found’ – wasting even more time for all these different locations and their staff, completing endless forms full of contact information!

As you can imagine a lost dog could have created at least 6-10 phone calls (half from their owner and half from the ‘finder’) all around 5 minutes each (that’s up to 50 minutes) and completed around 3-6 ‘Lost & Found’ forms.  What a waste of time!

And this is all assuming that the owner is found within an hour or 2.  If not, then a rescue centre or vet might have to take in the animal over a period of a few days – using food and space that should be available to sick or injured animals. 

If the rescue centre only has 10 kennels in the first place and 1 has got a ‘lost’ dog in it for a week and there is a ‘lost’ cat in another: it could have to turn away other abandoned animals due to lack of space.

All because the animal wasn’t clearly identified.

So Why The MicroChip?
Well, every veterinary surgery and rescue centre will have a handheld scanning machine that can pick up the code from an implanted microchip in your pet.

So if you find a ‘lost’ animal, like a dog or cat, you could just take it into a local vets and get it scanned in about 1 minute.  And then you can virtually get the owner on the phone and the pet wil be home in no time at all!  None of these round-the-houses phone calls – and no forms to fill out!

The number of each microchip is unique and can be used to pull up a record of the pet and all the owner contact details (if the owner has kept it up to date of course!).

Therefore if everyone had their pets chipped and everyone who ever finds a lost or injured animal takes it straight to any vet; this whole Lost & Found scenario – that takes place everyday across the country – will end!

Finder Then: Find lost cat, find a phone, call rescue centre and give details, phone local vet and leave details, phone another vet and leave details, phone local pet store and leave details, ask a few people in the area if they recognise cat, then make arrangements to keep pet secure and feed and water it until the owner is found, then wait by the phone all day until they call and finally make arrangements for owner to collect their cat.

Finder Now: Find a lost cat – take it to a vet - go home.

The Eco Friendly Result:
So now that every pet can be reunited with it’s owner without calling about 6 different people – the rescue centres and vets can use their staff to do more important things like treating sick and injured animals and finding homes for those that have been abandoned without having to worry about answering the phone all the time!

And we all know that making better use of your time and resources is the more eco friendly option – so by microchipping your pet, you could be plugging that little gap in the pet world and saving energy and time to boot!

Not to mention getting that lost pet back to it’s owner the fastest and safest way!

Well, there are never just a few ways to be eco friendly around the yard – there is always something else!

So, to help you get even greener in the stable –  I have put together another 10 top tips for you and your horse or pony to help save resources and making things last longer!

1) By picking out your horses feet while still in the stable means that the bedding stays where it is needed – rather than being swept away when you clean the yard!

2)Always keep a list of all your eco suppliers to hand – not only for yourself, but also to recommend to others if they need something specific.  That way, you won’t have to resort to the easiest suppliers when you are in need!

3) Always wear an old baggy t-shirt over your jumpers when grooming or doing ‘hay’ related jobs as they won’t stick to it – whereas your jumper will just get covered in hay or hair – and need washing more often! 

4) Grow your own organic veg for your horse or pony as well.  Make sure you grow your own selection of horse-friendly veg as well as all the things you need; so turnips and carrots should be on the list!

5) When feeding hay to your horses in the field – make sure you select the least windy area to do so – otherwise you will be wasting hay as it blows across your field rather than getting eaten! 

6) Same goes for other feeds – you need to make sure that your horse is getting everything he needs and none is wasted.  So weigh out feeds and hay if necessary, as well as not over-feeding or allowing your horse to kick over the food bowl or tread on the hay.

7) And use bags or sacks when transporting hay and straw across the yard so it doesn’t all blow away for the same reason.  And noone wants to sweep the yard more than they have to!

8.) Get your horse to wear a summer sheet underneath their winter rugs, as they are much easier to wash – so making your winter rugs last longer and keep your horse warmer!

9) And for you – if your long boots have split up the leg – then cut them off at the ankle and use them as a spare pair of short boots for odd jobs around the yard!

10) And finally: If you manage to puncture your plastic boots in the yard – fix them yourself with a bicycle repair kit – making them waterproof again. That way you won’t need to splash out on a new pair! Boots can live forever – or as long as you want them to!

Yippee – that should save you some money – and save the environment from more wasted resources!

Good job!