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Training your dog: The Kennel Club Good Citizen Dog Scheme
Changes to the Pet Travel Scheme
Have you changed your contact or household details?
Prize winners!
Training your dog: The Kennel Club Good Citizen Dog Scheme
The Kennel Club Good Citizen Dog Scheme (GCDS) is the largest dog training scheme in the UK. There are currently over 2,000 dog training clubs all over the country that incorporate the scheme into their training programme.
Training your dog is an important part of being a responsible dog owner; a well behaved and obedient dog inside and out with the home, makes for a happy and safe relationship with your dog, other people and other dogs. The GCDS aims to help dogs and their owners to learn essential every day skills. Taking part in training classes also provides owners with an opportunity to share experiences and for dogs to socialise.
Dogs of all ages and varying levels can take part in the GCDS. The scheme has four awards: Puppy Foundation, Bronze, Silver and Gold. Each stage is assessed and a certificate and rosette is awarded on completion. The assessments take place at training clubs or dog shows around the country.
The Puppy Foundation stage requires dogs to be over 8 weeks of age and the assessment must be completed before the puppy turns 1 year of age. There is no minimum standard (dogs of any ability can take part) but the focus is on training owners on the responsibilities involved in dog ownership, and how to train their puppy correctly.
The Bronze stage asks for a basic standard of training to be met by dog and owner. The dog must be under control and behaving appropriately for the award to be granted. Owners must show responsibility for their dog by way of making sure their dog is identified with a collar and tag, and pick up after their dog.
The Silver award is a step up from Bronze (the Bronze award must be achieved before training begins for Silver). Owners and dogs are aimed at improving on the skills they have learned in the Bronze stage with other situations added into training (e.g. car travel, behaviour in public places and with unknown dogs and people) in which the dog must show good socialisation and obedience.
The Gold stage is the top award in the scheme. Dogs must show a high level of training and respond to commands in varied and difficult situations for example, off the lead and with distractions.
The following table (by kind permission of the Kennel Club) shows the requirements of dog and owner at each level:
To find a GCDS club in your area, please visit http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/item/2543. By going to visit local training clubs, you will be able to find one that suits you and your dog where you will both enjoy the training environment.
For more information on the Good Citizen Dog Scheme, please visit: http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/dogtraining
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Changes to the Pet Travel Scheme
Those who wish to travel abroad with their dog may be interested in changes to the Pet Travel Scheme (PETS) announced this summer.
As of 1st January 2012, pets that have been vaccinated against rabies will not require a blood test before travelling from European Union Member States and certain other ‘listed’ countries (e.g. Australia, USA). They will also be able to travel to the UK 21 days after receiving the vaccine, rather than waiting the current period of 6 months before being able to enter the UK.
Under the changes, pets travelling from countries that do not have ‘listed’ status, will be able to enter the UK if they are microchipped, vaccinated against rabies a minimum of 4 months previously, and pass a blood test to check the vaccine has worked (at the moment, pets are required to be in quarantine for 6 months).
The treatment for ticks before entering the UK will be waived under the new rules and the treatment of tapeworm is being reviewed. A checklist of requirements for those wishing to travel with their pets under the new changes can be found at http://www.defra.gov.uk/publications/files/pb13582-bringing-pets-to-uk110706.pdf
Approximately 100,000 owners travel from the UK with their pets each year. The revised Pet Travel Scheme rules will make travel cheaper and easier for pet owners, giving the same terms of pet movement granted to other EU citizens.
From 1st January 2012, all pets arriving in the UK will still be closely monitored and checked to make sure all the specifications are met. Any pets that fall short of the Pet Travel Scheme entry requirements will remain in quarantine.
For more information, please visit http://animalhealth.defra.gov.uk/news/110630-Changes-to-Pet-Travel-Scheme-announced.htm
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Have you changed your contact or household details?
Since registering your Labrador with Dogslife, have you changed any of your contact details (e.g. phone number, email address), or has your household changed (e.g. another family member or pet now lives with you)? If any of these details have changed, we would be very grateful if you could update them through your dog’s profile page so that we have the correct information for you. Don’t worry all of your personal details are safe; no-one else can see them and we will never forward them on to another party.
To update any changes, you can:
- Login to your profile at www.dogslife.ac.uk
- Click on the ‘Edit’ or ‘edit your profile’ links on your dog’s profile page (circled in red in the example to the right)
- After clicking one of the links, you will be able to see all the contact and household information we have saved for you, and make any changes (if everything on the page stays the same just click ‘Save & Continue’ to go to the next screen).
If you have moved abroad with your dog since you registered with Dogslife, you can continue to take part in the study but we would be grateful if you could inform us by email at info@dogslife.ac.uk.
Thank you for keeping your information up to date. If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@dogslife.ac.uk.
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Prize winners!
Congratulations to the latest winners of our prize draw!
Mr S from Northumberland has won £50 of Pets at Home vouchers, and Ms B from Cambridgeshire and Mrs H from Berkshire have both won £25 of Pets at Home vouchers. The following 10 members have each won £10 of Pets at Home vouchers: Mr J from Hampshire, Mrs S from Hertfordshire, Ms D from West Lothian, Mr G from County Londonderry, Mrs A from Cambridgeshire, Mrs B from Ross-Shire, Miss S from Cleveland, Miss M from Ross-Shire, Mrs R from Derbyshire, and Mrs H from Devon. We hope you enjoy spending the vouchers on your pet!
Thank you to everyone who continues to support the project; all the information gathered is invaluable to our research. Dogslife is by far the biggest ever study of dog health and we hope that our members enjoy taking part and continue to contribute so that we can find out what keeps dogs healthy!
To be in with the best chance of winning next time, be sure to keep your dog’s record up to date. The next prize draw will take place in December.
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Don't forget to come back to Dogslife to update your dog's record www.dogslife.ac.uk
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