Your Dog's Health

Feeding your Dog

Over feeding is dangerous for pets; obesity is a serious problem and shortens the life of your pet tenfold. The harsh truth is that it is often the owner's fault for over-indulging their pet with snacks such as crisps, biscuits, sausage rolls etc. We think it’s the guilt thing - "Oh, I'm having this and he’d like some of it too" . Or it could be from scraping the leftovers of a meal into his dish. We can literally kill our pets with kindness in this way.

There is no disputing that vegetables are good for the dog, but not the pie or the chips or the treacle pudding and custard! If you do occasionally feed your dog some leftovers, give them in place of some of his food, not in addition to it.

Our dogs love raw vegetables, especially broccoli, cauliflower (the centre stem), cabbage, carrots, red peppers, and all sorts of fruit. These are all good for them.

This brings me to the thing that is most harmful to them: chocolate. Chocolate contains Theobromine, which is poisonous to dogs. For instance, a 100g bar contains 160mg of Theobromine, which is enough to kill a very small breed of dog (a Chihuahua, for example).

So, please do not over indulge your dog - what he’s never had he’ll never miss. He will not miss the Hob Nob biscuit or the Mars Bar or the sausage roll if he’s never had one.

Please do not exercise your dog straight after a feed, and never encourage your dog to bound around after eating, as this could cause Gastric Torsion (twisting of the gut). This condition leads to excruciating pain and can prove fatal.

Your Dog is not Indestructible!

The most important message that we want to get across is that dogs are not indestructible. This might seem a ridiculously obvious thing to say, but we've frequently been amazed by the things that some owners allow (or even expect) their dogs to do. Most people would appreciate that when dogs are young, they are vulnerable and easily injured, and their natural curiosity and lack of experience can lead them into dangerous territory.

However, many people fail to realise that seemingly harmless activities, like climbing up and down stairs, and jumping into and out of cars, can cause irreparable damage to a puppy's growing joints. Even fully-grown dogs can suffer permanent damage and pain as a result of repetitive strain or impact on their joints, particularly in the form of arthritis in their hips and shoulders. Please remember that a dog as loyal and eager-to-please as the Border Collie will always try to do what you ask of him, even if it is not in his own best interests.

There's no doubt that Border Collies are generally fit, healthy, and intelligent dogs, but they are not indestructible. It is heart-breaking to see such beautiful dogs suffering pain and disability as a result of being allowed to do things that are detrimental to their health, and equally heart-breaking seeing their owners distress when they realise that it was avoidable but is now too late.

Please forgive the slightly lecturing tone of this section, but there is a very serious message here, and it's an issue that we feel very strongly about!