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If your dog has had any illnesses or ailments, you can tell us about them at any time without having to complete the rest of the questionnaire. Simply login to your dog's profile by visiting www.dogslife.ac.uk and click on the link underneath your dog's graph.
World War One Dogs
Leaving dogs alone
The Canine Cough
Amendments to the Dogslife website
World War One Dogs
As 2014 marks the centenary of the start of World War One (WWI), it is perhaps worth remembering the various important roles that military dogs played during the war.
Messenger dogs provided a solution to the problems of communications in trench warfare. Dogs were faster runners than human messengers, and a less prominent target than a soldier or a vehicle. They could travel over difficult terrain to deliver messages where other forms of field communication systems failed.
Casualty dogs (sometimes referred to as ‘Mercy’ dogs) carried medical supplies and were trained to find casualties on the battlefields. When the dogs reached an injured soldier, the soldier could take the required medical supplies from the dog to treat themselves if they were able, whilst also receiving comfort from the dog in their time of need.
Scout dogs were trained to work with soldiers who were patrolling areas on foot. These dogs could pick up enemy scent from 1000 yards away and alert the soldiers quietly (by raising their hackles and pointing their tail) to prevent drawing attention to the squad’s position.
Sentry dogs worked with a particular guard and were trained to detect a suspicious or unknown presence whilst patrolling protected areas such as military bases. These dogs were kept on a lead and would give an alert such as a bark or growl when they sensed anything untoward.
Dogs also provided companionship and a psychological comfort to those suffering the horrors of war. These dogs are often termed Mascot dogs, but may also have had other roles such as a messenger dog or a dog trained to kill rats in the trenches.
Many different breeds of dogs were used in WWI, and would be assigned a role according to their size, strength, training, agility, nature, intelligence, and sometimes their colour (for example dogs with a dark coat could go unseen by the enemy).
Dogs provided critical services during the war and by 1918 Britain, France and Belgium had over 20,000 dogs, Italy had 3,000 dogs and Germany had in the region of 30,000 dogs in service.
To find out more about dogs in WWI, please click here.
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Leaving dogs alone
Many of us will be returning to work or studies after the summer holidays and our dogs may therefore have to be left alone for some of the time and adapt to a new routine.
To get your dog used to being on their own, it is often a good idea to leave them alone in a room in the house for a short time to begin with, whilst you are still in the house (and without making a fuss of them when leaving or returning to the room). Then gradually increase the length of time you leave them so that your dog gets used to being on their own for longer periods. By doing this, they are more likely to be content by themselves when you need to leave the house.
It is best to choose a room where there is nothing your dog can chew or swallow, and which secure so that they cannot escape. It is important to leave plenty of water for them, and provide a soft bed and their favourite toys for comfort.
Before leaving your dog alone, be sure to walk them in advance so that they have been exercised and have had the opportunity to go to the toilet. In taking them out before you go (and if possible playing games or teaching them tricks) they will also have had the opportunity to interact with you, and perhaps other dogs and owners, so will have had plenty of attention and mental stimulation before spending time alone. They are therefore less likely to be bored or disruptive when you go out.
To keep your dog busy while you are out of the house, you may wish to leave them toys with food inside, or hide treats to keep them occupied. Some dogs may prefer a room with a window to look out of, but this may not be good for dogs that have a tendency to bark at passers-by (or next door’s cat!) as the neighbours are unlikely to appreciate the noise of them barking. Leaving the radio or television on at a low volume whilst you are out provides some background noise which can be a comfort for them.
It is good to keep to a routine so that dogs feel secure and get to know what happens during the course of the day. If you have to be away from home for a while, rather than leave your dog alone for a long period of time, it is a good idea to ask any dog friendly friends or neighbours to pop in and let your dog out so that they can go to the toilet and also get some attention and playtime.
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The Canine Cough
Coughing is a normal reflex which the body uses to eliminate foreign material, irritants or secretions from the respiratory tract. It can also be invoked by anything which puts pressure on the respiratory tract from outside. The most common cause of coughs in dogs are respiratory infections, but other causes include inhaled irritants (such as grass seeds or fumes), tight collars, collapse of the trachea (upper airway), inflammation of the airway, heart failure or tumours of, or outside, the airway.
Coughs can differ in their nature, and the type of cough can suggest the underlying cause of the cough. For example, dry hacking coughs which worsen with activity may be characteristic of kennel cough. Bubbling (moist) coughs might be more suggestive of a respiratory tract infection or heart disease. And a “honking” cough might be more suggestive of collapse of the trachea (windpipe). However, these indications are not absolute, and the nature of the cough is not diagnostic in itself.
Coughs tend to warrant detailed investigation when they have been affecting the dog for a length of time, or if they are associated with difficulty in breathing, discharge from the eyes or nose, or if they are associated with the dog producing bloody sputum (mucus). Typically, this might involve taking an X-ray of the dog’s chest, looking down the airways with a small camera, and taking samples of the cells and fluid present in the lower airways. Evaluation of these fluids and the cells within them can pinpoint the cause of the cough. For example, the type of cells present will indicate if the cough is more likely to be caused by an infection or an allergy, and the type of bacteria cultured in the fluid removed from the lung may be pathogenic.
The exact treatment of your dog's cough really depends on the nature of the underlying problem. If there are inciting causes, such as smoke or dust, then they need to be avoided. Similarly, the only solution to a cough caused by a foreign body stuck in the respiratory tract is to remove it. It is worth remembering that the most common cause of coughs in dogs, just as with people, are respiratory tract infections, and more often than not they will pass quickly without requiring any intervention. If your dog has a cough and you are concerned then you should contact your vet for advice.
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Amendments to the Dogslife website
Dogslife members may have noticed that their dog’s height and weight graphs have been swapped around on their profile page (the weight graph now appears first, instead of the height graph). This has been changed to help solve a problem occasionally affecting some members, where they were being logged out of their profile page when trying to enter data. This was occurring because the details on the “height” graph were slow to appear (as we now have a lot of data, so it takes time for the website to plot comparative values of the rest of the cohort!). The weight graph takes much less time to appear, so in swapping the graphs around, logout issues should be alleviated. Please do not hesitate to contact us at info@dogslife.ac.uk if you experience any difficulties with the site.
If you have reported information about your dog’s litter to the website, you may be asked for the details again. Please accept our apologies for this, but the website requires slight modification to accurately record this information and we would be very grateful if you could confirm the information about your dog’s litter by entering it to the first page of the questionnaire (simply login at www.dogslife.ac.uk and click on ‘Enter your dog’s monthly results’), or emailing us the details (at info@dogslife.ac.uk) so that we can enter the data for you. Apologies again for any inconvenience; we look forward to hearing more about the next generation of Labrador Retrievers soon!
Thank you to all our members for their valuable feedback and continued support with the study.
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Is your dog special? Why not put them forward to become a Featured Dog? Lookout for the link next time you log in at www.dogslife.ac.uk!
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