The World According to Ci

My Christmas wish came true!!

2011-12-15T01:54:00.000-08:00

I eez a very lucky little dog. Just a few days ago, I was telling my friends how more needs to be done to heducate the public about not buying puppies from pet shops because 95% of them are bred on puppy farms which are very VERY bad places.

And because it is so close to your human bean Christmas, pet shops are full of puppies which the public are happily buying, without knowing the horror that lies behind these poor puppies.

Then today on Twitter I saw this wonderful video youtu.be/InmKjGZGx98 which has been made to show people what puppy farms are really like.

Please, PLEASE, all my lovely human bean friends, can you send this video link to everybody you know to try to let more and more people understand that puppy farms are not nice places. In fact if you read my last blog post, you will see that I think they should really be called something else, like puppy mills or puppy factories, because that is much more what they are like.

But someone has now made this wonderful information video and that gives me hope that one day soon, perhaps in my lifetime, everyone will know the true story behind puppy farming and will ban this terrible trade forever.

Thank you, mes amis and please don't even think about buying a puppy from a pet shop.

What's in a name?

2011-12-10T01:17:00.000-08:00

I've been having such fun opening the doors of the advent calendar on the Intellidogs site http://advent.intellidogs.com/ Ma maitresse has been helping me enter some of the competitions. She wants me to wear a silly hat for one of them but I'm not sure.

It's full of very interesting articles about dogs. But also some stories that make me a little bit sad. Take poor Lillie on Day 10, who so desperately needs a nice home for Christmas. Her story is particularly sad because although she is a beautiful lady, she is 12 years old and it is always so hard to find homes for older dogs.

That's because you human beans much prefer to buy puppies. And according to a programme I saw recently on your heenglish television, some of you even like to buy tiny little ones which you call teacup puppies which even I can tell are very poorly little puppies who, if they live at all, are going to cost you thousands of your heenglish pounds in special care to keep them alive.

And, those of you who read my humble little blog, will know what's coming next - that brings me onto the subject of puppy farming. There was a very interesting debate on http://advent.intellidogs.com/ about how to educate you human beans to the reality of puppy farming.

Now I'm only a leetle dog, and a French one, too, whose heenglish is not very good. But I really think you heenglish are using the wrong name for these dreadful places. Ma maitresse wrote this for me on that site: "Strange that this should pop up today as I was just going to help him (Ci) with his latest blog about the phrase 'puppy farming'. Because he has a theory that the very name is part of the problem.

Because the public know animals are born and raised on farms. They probably retain a nostalgic image of a jolly farmer’s wife in her gingham apron with a crowd of scampering puppies around her feet as she feeds the free-range chickens – in the sunshine, of course.

So to the average member of the public, the term puppy farm probably suggests an idyllic upbringing for a puppy and indeed, the very place from which one should buy a puppy.

Our American cousins are probably nearer the mark with puppy mills. After all, the phrase “dark Satanic mills” is graphically engraved into many people’s minds and probably conjures up an image which is far nearer to the truth."

That's what I believe. I don't think all the human beans who buy farmed puppies are bad people and I really believe some think they are doing the right thing in buying from a "farm".

So I think they need to be shown what puppy farms are really like. It would cost a lot of money to have adverts on your heenglish television, but that would be a quick and effective way to let people know.

Me and ma maitresse have just been back to the dog's home where I came from and brought home a little fi-fille dog called Fleur. I was a bit jealous to begin with but she is very pretty and very well behaved, only 18 months old, clean in the house and so grateful to have a new forever home.

I do hope everyone who reads my little blog will find room in their heart and their home this Christmas for a wonderful older lady like Lillie or for any one of the thousands of dogs in overcrowded refuges, just waiting for your visit.

Merci, mes amis and 'appy Christmas to you all.

Have you been sold a pup?

2011-01-01T05:18:00.000-08:00

You human beans have some very strange expressions, especially in your heenglish language. I heard recently that you use the phrase "to be sold a pup" to mean buying something that's not worth what you thought it was, to be swindled. It seems it comes from an old trick of selling someone a sack supposedly containing a piglet when in fact it contained a puppy.

What set me on my research of these funny expressions was something I read on Twitter, written by a very nice human bean called @hen4 who looks after animals and loves nature, so I like her. She'd seen two men in different cars, parked in a motorway service station, doing a deal over a very small puppy.

What's wrong with that, you may ask? Well let me tell you, mes amis, it is never, ever, a good idea to buy a puppy from someone who offers to meet you anywhere other than the place where the puppy was bred. Before you even think of buying a puppy, you need to visit it at the breeder's, see it with its mother, if possible see the father, and see the conditions in which it was born and raised.

See how it reacts with people, with its siblings, with strange sights and sounds. Find out how much socialisation it has received, whether it has had all the required vaccinations and health checks. See for yourself if the conditions in which it has been raised are clean, safe and suitable.

And if the seller does everything in their power to prevent you from visiting their premises, there is never, ever a good reason. They aren't being kind and considerate by saving you the journey. They're trying to stop you from visiting what is almost certainly a puppy farm. And if you don't know what a puppy farm is and why many human beans and dogs like me are trying to get them banned, then do some simple research and find out about them. There's plenty of information on the internet; here are a couple of sites to start you on your search. http://www.puppylovecampaigns.org/ and http://www.puppywatch.force9.co.uk/

Because if you don't care about animal welfare, and if you don't I shall come round and bite your legs, then consider the financial risks you will be taking. Because puppy farm pups are often not healthy at all. They often don't get vaccinated and may arrive at your home carrying terrible illnesses like parvo virus. And the resulting vets' bills can cost you hundreds and hundreds of pounds. And there's no guarantee your new puppy will survive. So does you car park purchased puppy still sound like a good buy or are you being sold a pup?

And when you've made the decision to get a dog, ask yourself if, rather than buying an expensive puppy, possibly bred on a puppy farm, you couldn't instead give a home to one of the thousands of dogs in shelters and rescue centres everywhere, many of whom are puppies and young dogs.

Thousands of perfectly healthy dogs are destroyed every year in Britain, simply because no homes can be found for them. Those of you familiar with my blog will know I'm a rescue dog, though not from a puppy farm. I'm a nervous dog, so tend to be very suspicious of people, except ma maitresse. But there are lots of dogs in homes who are absolutely 100% kind and gentle and would love a new forever home.

Couldn't your New Year's resolution be to give a good home to just one of them? Wouldn't that be better than being sold a pup?

Are you humans really top dog?

2010-06-27T11:03:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I put paw to keyboard. Even though I'm only a dog, sometimes when I hear the things you human beans do to us animals, I am lost for words. So many of you still have the old fashioned idea that all us dogs can't wait to be leader of the pack in your homes, and that's the reason for any and all of our behaviour that doesn't suit you.

I read this very interesting article about someone who had to put right the harm done by people who still believe this so-called dominance theory is correct. http://www.apbc.org.uk/Dog-Whispering-Can-Backfire This Mat Ward sounds like a very nice sensible human bean. I wish there were lots more like him.

Let me tell you a little bit about growling and why us dogs do it. Even though I've been with my human bean for 18 months now, having come from the rescue kennels, we are still learning things about each other, and learning to trust one another. So sometimes I growl at her. And yes, I admit, sometimes I even snap.

But that's not me saying I am top dog in this pack and don't you forget it. On the contrary, that's me saying something really scary is going on around me which I neither understand nor like, and you're pushing me a bit too hard, too fast, to accept it. I'd like you to deal with the scary thing, please, and let me just stay in my corner well away from it. And if you insist I come out and face my phobia, I'll just have to resort to biting you to try to explain how scared I am.

Now my human bean is trainable enough to understand this most of the time and she does her best. But there are still far too many out there who suggest dealing with us frightened dogs by “scruffing” or “pinning” us. Both of these methods seem to involve grabbing us by the neck in a way that hurts and throwing us to the floor. I can't think of anything that would terrify me more, nor make me more likely to bite in self-defence.

Today my human bean clearly had a touch of the sun. She bought a strange machine which made a noise and when she ran it over my coat all my lovely hair finished up on the floor. She said it was to make me feel cooler in the heat. She put my Baskerville muzzle on me, just in case, and explained carefully what she was doing and spoke quietly whenever I growled, so after a while, she got most of it done. If she'd grabbed me and shaken me, I'd have been doubly convinced the machine was dangerous and painful and wouldn't have let her try again. Ever.

There are a lot of “experts” out there who claim to be Dog Whisperers or Dog Listeners. They all seem to share a belief in dominance being at the root of everything dogs do. That means they haven't the slightest working knowledge of the language Canis, which is very complicated. “Grrr” has as many different meanings to dogs as “snow” has to Eskimos. It can mean “I'm going to bite you” or it can mean “I don't want to have to bite you but you're putting me in a situation where I see that as my only option”. Anyone who can't tell the difference is putting themselves and their dog in danger.

Human beans are supposed to be the most intelligent species, yet you persist in wasting time trying to get us to learn your strange language, without taking the trouble to learn even the basics of ours. No wonder dogs have so many problems in your company.

I believe you human beans have to take a theory and a practical test before you're allowed to drive one of your motor cars. What a pity you don't have to do the same before you can have a dog.

If you don't speak Canis, there's no shame in admitting it and getting help from a proper interpreter who does. You only have to look at the APBC website to find one near to you. http://www.apbc.org.uk/ Their people are fluent in Canis, and Equus and Felis, and lots of other animal languages too.

Have you ever had problems in a foreign country when something goes wrong and people are crowded round you all shouting at once in a language you don't understand? Imagine how you would feel if, when you were trying to tell them you simply didn't understand, they suddenly resorted to violence, shaking you by the neck, throwing you to the ground and pinning you there. Then imagine the relief if someone came along who spoke both languages and could explain everything clearly to you and the others.

Sound familiar? Which do you think your dog would prefer?

The rules on capital punishment

2010-04-10T11:28:00.000-07:00

At last, I've managed to get my paws on the computer to write my next blog. I'd first like to thank all my human bean friends for your kind comments on my last piece. Your words of wisdom are so helpful to a little toutou trying to understand the ways of humans.

One thing occurred to me from your comments, not only here on my blog but in places like Twitter, too. I've been told that the dog in that Cesar Millan video who appeared to be learning not to attack cats by wearing a shock collar and getting zapped every time it went near the cat would otherwise be put to sleep as a cat killer and my question is simply - why?

Why do human beans have the death penalty for dogs who follow what is after all a pretty basic instinct to chase and eat cats?

Ma maitresse has a cat, a very precious Siamesey type thing that thinks it's royalty and well above mere dogs like me. I don't understand about cats. I'd love to eat it. But ma maitresse says, until we get used to one another, we'll just have to live in different parts of the house. Now perhaps the dog owner in the video didn't have enough room to keep her cat and dog separate. In which case I wonder why she was trying to keep such a big and lively dog at all?

It can't be said that she was afraid her dog would kill other people's cats. She obviously doesn't have the dog under control, if she can't stop it attacking her own cat, so she shouldn't be letting the dog off the lead anywhere it could get at other people's cats - should she? That seems to be the law in most countries I've heard of.

I know I'm lucky because there's plenty of room here for both me and the cat. But if there wasn't and we really couldn't get along, I'd like to think ma maitresse would find a new home for one or other of us (and I hope it would be the cat!) rather than having me killed.

Ma maitresse certainly doesn't give me electric shocks or try to strangle me with a choke chain for going for the cat. She understands it's just that I don't know any better - yet. But I am getting better. I can look at the cat through the glass door and sometimes I can even do it without barking at her now.

Ma maitresse once went to see a man called Roger Mugford, about another dog, not me, and one of his people showed her a clever trick. In fact, it's so clever I didn't realise it was her doing a trick until she explained it to me, for this blog. I'd discovered that if I lunged at the door to try and get the cat, a nasty noise happened which I didn't like so I'd jump back nearer to ma maitresse who then made a big fuss of me and gave me a treat. So I learned the polite way to greet the cat was to go quietly up to the door and wag my tail. I thought the scary noise was coming from the cat if I wasn't polite enough - respect! Turns out all along that ma maitresse has an old Cola can full of pebbles and she shakes it to make the noise. And I never even realised. It's much less harmful to me than the shock collar would be, but it has made me understand the polite way to approach a cat.

Other people have also said that two trainers had tried and failed with that cat-killing dog before Mr Millan came along, so he was its last chance. I'd like to know who those trainers were and what their methods were that weren't successful. Because, as you human beans like to say, there's more than one way to skin a cat. And more than one way to train a dog not to.

The way ma maitresse is using is succeeding with me, but slowly, and it takes a lot of time and patience. So perhaps it wouldn't make very good television.

A shocking way to train a dog

2010-03-02T03:44:00.000-08:00

I'm so pleased to see that Wales is to be the first part of the UK to ban the use of electric shock collars for “training” dogs. http://ow.ly/1bmSn Wales hasn't always had a very good track record for canine welfare, since it houses more puppy farms than anywhere else in the UK.

This has happened because a lot of animal welfare groups have been working with the Welsh Assembly to ban what the RSPCA calls “a cruel, outdated and unsuitable method of training dogs.” They say “electric shock collars train dogs through pain and through fear”. Just ask any dog that's ever been subjected to them.

So that makes me wonder, again, about Monsieur César Millan and his methods. I have never seen one of his programmes, but I have seen parts of them on YouTube. In one, he seems to be using a shock collar on a dog which does not like cats, although he doesn't say he's using one.

I was puzzled about that, so I asked Monsieur Millan a question about it, a month ago, via Twitter.

@cesarmillan Did you really use an electric shock collar on this dog monsieur? http://ow.ly/ZNi6 If so can you explain why, s'il vous plait?

I didn't get a reply. I know he's very busy and I'm only a little dog, but I would still like to know the answer to my question. I'm pleased to see that if you put “Cesar Millan electric shock collar” into Google, my question comes up on page one, so it's there for all to see.

And I'd like to ask again. If Wales thinks these shock collars are so bad they have to be completely banned, why does Mr Millan think they are a good thing to use? If he uses them, why doesn't he say so, at the time he's using them. And why doesn't he warn people that their use will shortly be against the law in one part of the UK.

Most importantly, why doesn't he tell people that while it might, just might, be ok for very experienced dog handlers and trainers to use them in exceptional circumstances, with great care, they should definitely not be used by inexperienced dog owners unsupervised at home.

For those of you new to my blog, ma maitresse rescued me from a rehoming centre where I was very frightened, so now I can get a bit aggressive if I feel threatened or I don't understand something. I'm gradually training ma maitresse in the best way to explain things to me, so mostly we get along fine and I now have her trained to give me treats when I do the right thing.

Luckily, she's not keen on Mr Millan and his methods. She doesn't believe in his dominance theories. Nor do I. If ma maitresse wants to be pack leader, that's fine by me. I'm only a little toutou, and a scared one at that. I don't want to be top dog. If I growl a bit sometimes it's because I get worried when I don't understand things. Luckily, she usually gets down to my level and explains things a bit more clearly and gently. If she grabbed me by the throat and threw me onto my back – I think M. Millan calls it an alpha roll – I would be so frightened I would definitely bite her.

I try to read everything I can about new ideas to help us dogs train our human beans, and I read this very interesting article on M. Millan and the principle of parsi...parsley .. keeping it simple. http://networkedblogs.com/Crlt (Please excuse me, my heenglish is not very good). I like this article, it makes a lot of sense to me.

When I growl, I'm trying to tell you something, usually that I'm afraid because I don't understand what you just asked me to do. Because even though human beans are supposed to be intelligent, they sometimes don't realise we simply don't speak heenglish, or French, or any other human language. We speak dog, and body language. Very well. Much better than they do. So sometimes when they bend over trying to be friendly, they're really saying something scary and threatening in dog body language.

Most of us dogs know when we're onto a good thing. We don't want to become “pack leaders” in the human bean world. All that stress- who needs it? Going to work, paying bills, doing the shopping. Merci, mais non.

We're perfectly happy to be your faithful companions, ready with a lick and a wag to cheer you up when you need it, desperately keen to get the rules right in your complicated society. Sometimes we get them wrong. When we do, please just ask yourselves – could I have explained that a little better, and give us a second chance.

Please don't ever, ever, subject us to electric shocks, prong collars and choke chains, because they are never the answer.

Condemned to life?

2010-01-25T09:16:00.001-08:00

I know lots of you will have been moved by the tale of my canine cousin Keanu who has spent six long years in a Dogs Trust home, waiting for a new owner. I mentioned him in my last blog http://bit.ly/78W5xh and lots of people posted on Twitter about him. I wish I could give you good news but so far, Dogs' Trust report “Nothing at present, I'm afraid - I nudge the centre on a regular basis for more, though... (re: Keanu progress!)” Which presumably means he's still there.

Dogs Trust have a policy where they never destroy a healthy dog. They say Keanu is very happy in kennels and gets on well with his trainer. I'm sure it's as good a home as can be. Some boarding kennels are very nice. But be honest, would you want your dog to spend six years in one? And since Keanu is a healthy dog, that means he could, conceivably, be there until he dies. Is that right?

Then there's a little dog called Freedom, who has been in his rehoming centre for six and a half years. Apparently no-one wants him because he is very nervous and appears aggressive. I understand that so well – I was that dog, when I was in kennels. Ma maitresse had already seen my profile on the internet and passed over it, and walked past the kennel where I was barking and snarling in sheer terror when anyone came near me. Thank goodness the lady in charge persuaded her to take me out of the kennel to see what I was really like. And I turned on all my considerable Gallic charm to make sure she didn't leave without me.

But I understand Freedom's fear. I was petrified, most of the time I was there. There were lots of big dogs all around me, barking all the time, and I'm scared of noise. I had to share the kennel with another dog and although he was little, smaller even than me, and quite kind, I was still scared.

Do you know what it's like to be really afraid? So afraid you become aggressive? I do, and it's not a nice feeling. Imagine feeling like that every waking minute, and having far more waking minutes than you should because you're so afraid of every small noise you can't sleep. Then consider what it might be like to feel like that for extended periods of time. Then consider if keeping an animal like that is really the best and kindest option.

Ma maitresse says that in the 1970s when ponies were so cheap you could buy one for £5 from sales in Wales and the New Forest, a leading vet wrote a very controversial article saying the only way horse welfare would improve was if a virus wiped out 80% of the pony population. That's because, with ponies then costing about a fifth of the cost of a vet callout, people were not greatly motivated to spend good money on them. An extreme view?

Rescue kennels all over were reporting being full to capacity and beyond after Christmas. So what happens to all the dogs which could possible be rehomed that can't get into a rehoming centre because poor dogs like Freedom are taking up places?

Am I, as a dog, really saying dog charities should be putting more dogs to sleep? Wouldn't that be terrible? But ask me, honestly, if I would have been prepared to go on at that same level of terror for years and years and I'll tell you honestly. No. I would rather have had a quick and mercifully end . To a dog like me, to be given up for adoption was bad enough (if you read my first blog, you'll understand a bit more about my circumstances). But just to think about spending any longer in kennels than I did is terrible, and my heart goes out to all those poor dogs who spend years and years behind bars.

It was Christmas Day in the kennels ...

2009-12-19T05:49:00.000-08:00

It's nearly that time of year you human beans call Christmas. Those of you with children, hands up how many have asked for a puppy? And hands up how many of you are going to get them one?

Before you do, there are some facts you need to be aware of. Perhaps you've seen those nice clean, fluffy bundles of fun on nice clean wood shavings or paper in big, brightly lit pet shops. What can possibly be wrong with buying one of those?

But can you honestly say you know where those puppies started out their lives? Honestly? This is a brilliant film made by caring human beans in America, all about puppy mills, or puppy farms as they're called in the UK. http://bit.ly/6l9qTM

And in case you think this is something that only happens in America, watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlJ5kYIl82Q and be prepared to weep. If you want to spend your money supporting this type of industry, then feel free to buy that pet shop puppy.

But instead, why not spare a thought for all my canine cousins who are behind bars in rescue centres everywhere. Take poor lovely Keanu http://bit.ly/78W5xh. He's been with the Dogs Trust for SIX YEARS. Now I'm a rescue dog, as those of you who've read my blog before will know. I spent less than 6 weeks in kennels and it was the worst time of my life. It totally shattered my faith in human beans, until ma maitresse came along and I persuaded her to adopt me. It's the reason I'm still very suspicious of strangers, even aggressive to them if I feel threatened.

Poor Keanu is wonderfully looked after by the nice people at Dogs Trust. But it's not home. We dogs love to have our own place, our own family, our own toys, a garden to play in. Now Keanu wouldn't be at all suitable for a home with children, he's much too nervous. But there are lots of dogs out there who would.

There are plenty of rescue places overflowing with dogs dying to be part of a loving family. If you have a particular breed in mind, you can even find a rescue society for that breed who can help you find one that's perfect for you. And don't forget older dogs – they make wonderful, loving companions and are a lot less trouble than a boisterous puppy.

If your children are old enough to ask for and take on the responsibility of dog ownership, they are old enough to watch the videos I've given you links to. Please show them to them. And then ask if they still want that puppy from a pet shop.

Training or torture?

2009-11-18T10:15:00.000-08:00

It seems the Heenglish are getting very worried because a man from America is going to visit their country to tell them about how to train us dogs.

As always, I like to find out all the information before I speak on my blog. Which is why I don't write very often. So I looked on le Google for some information on this man. He is called César Millan, and calls himself the Dog Whisperer.

I'm a dog, so I watched it from a dog's point of view. I saw dogs being dragged along by chains round their necks. I saw dogs running together in a big group, starting to fight, fighting until they were bleeding, then having to be pulled apart. I saw many things I did not like.

Before I came to live with ma maitresse, I was put into kennels of l'Association Protectrice des Animaux because my old owners said I was too lively. I'm a bordaire collee - we are lively dogs. But I try to learn and to be a good dog because I love my new home and I want to stay here. So I try to follow the rules.

Ma maitresse tries hard, too. She first took me to the local French dog training club and we tried that for a few weeks. Almost all the dogs there, even very young ones, wore chain collars, some with spikes in, but ma maitresse has bought me a special harness, called a Halti harness. It doesn't choke me at all, but it holds me firmly and that makes me feel safer.

Since I was in the rescue kennels, I am very afraid of other dogs, especially big ones, and of people I don't know, especially men. And when I'm afraid I bark and growl and try to look very fierce so they won't come near me. The trainers at the club all used to shout at me when I did that and that made me more afraid and much worse, so ma maitresse said we wouldn't go any more.

Now she tries to show me the right way to do things by something that's called positive reinforcement. I like that. When I get something right, she gives me a piece of sausage or cheese. And when I don't get it right, I don't get the treat. So I spend most of my time trying to get it right. It's taking a long time, but we both feel we are making progress. I feel happier, I'm starting to understand what I'm meant to do and not meant to do.

Ma maitresse talks to people on Twitter, like the nice lady @WildPaw, who gives help and advice, and she took me to see a very nice French man, who helped us both a lot and never shouted or used a chain or anything like that.

So I would like to say to all you people out there who think this M. Millan is such a good person. Which would you prefer? Someone who explained things carefully to you and gave you a reward when you got it right? Or someone who put a chain round your neck to slowly choke you when you got it wrong?

I'm only a dog - but I know which one I prefer.

Please, humans, put your house in order

2009-08-12T12:40:00.000-07:00

I've now had chance to read the response of Carmarthenshire County Council after the Channel 5 programme about puppy farms. If you didn't see the programme, watch it here: http://bit.ly/4qhW4p

You can read the full response here http://tinyurl.comlcmzd7

I've read it, and now I'm very confused. It says: "Local authorities cannot revoke licences." They can give them out in the first place, but if things are not right, it seems they have to wait for action to be taken in the magistrates' court and then, possibly, the licence can be revoked.

That's not right. What happens to those poor dogs and puppies while this is taking place?

It says: "There were no major issues that required immediate intervention or enforcement action and the complaints about poor lighting, lack of exercise, stimulation and social contact were not substantiated or supported by the veterinary surgeon."

I watched that film and it looked pretty bad to me. I saw dogs circling obsessively, dog beds chewed up because there was nothing else in the run for the dogs to chew on or play with. I get taken for four walks a day, lots of playtime with my ball, and I have loads of activity toys for when my person is working. And that's only just enough for a lively dog like me.

How can a vet say that living in isolation in what look like old pig pens is satisfactory for a dog?

If the conditions that we all saw in that film conform to the regulations, then those regulations must surely be changed.

There are a lot of good people who are trying to do just that. You can find out more here: http://tinyurl.com/l6oog2

But one of the things all you humans who read this can do is TELL people. Tell them never, ever to buy a puppy from a pet shop, and to spread the word to everyone they know not to do so. You may think you're "rescuing" a puppy but all you're doing is causing more to be bred in these terrible puppy farms.

This is another good post that will explain better than I, a mere dog, can do http://tinyurl.com/mo6nqo

Above all, please tell the children. They are where the hope lies for the future. If they knew, they would not let this terrible thing continue into future generations.

Please tell everyone you know it's time to BAN PUPPY FARMING.

What part of no don't you understand?

2009-08-05T03:15:00.000-07:00

I Watched the Channel 5 programme about puppy farms last night. If you missed it, you can see it here: http://bit.ly/4qhW4p or on the Channel 5 website. Part 2 is on tonight so I hope you will all make a huge effort to watch it.

The nice reporter who presented it has a blog. You can read that here: http://bit.ly/wFT6q

It was terrible, every bit as bad as I thought. Things are being done – you can read about one here: http://bit.ly/KVZ3v But it simply isn't enough. And I was even more horrified when someone sent me this link: http://tinyurl.com/lddlw9

I know, you've seen it all before, same pictures, same story, blah-de-blah. But please look at the dateline on that article. That's right, it's 1997. So just how long has this appalling state of affairs been going on, and precisely what are you human beans doing about it?

Bordaire collees are smart and can count. So I know that's at least 12 years. So that's two lifetimes for poor breeding bitches who are allowed to breed for 6 years. Imagine how many puppies that makes.

It seems that the puppy farms featured, who were all legal in that they held licenses, get to keep their licences: http://twitpic.com/cu1g3 Can that be right? And I've been told that councils: “not only license these breeders they defend them to the hilt by restricting RSPCA access.”

I'm still waiting to hear if that's true. I sent a Tweet to my friends at the RSPCA but haven't yet had their reply. I'll update you when I do. Because that's even more worrying.

I'm a dog, so I don't understand what happened to the word “no” among you humans. If councils really haven't got the resources to regulate these places properly, why do they licence them? Why don't the public get on their back legs and say no, enough is enough, this is not right. We don't want to be part of a society that does this to its animals.

Breeding a healthy, pedigree dog costs a lot of money. There are proper health checks to be made on both parents, and the puppies. There's registration, and vaccination and all the rest of it. So if you want to buy a puppy you can be sure will be healthy and safe to be amongst your children, it is going to cost you hundreds of pounds.

If it doesn't cost that much, you need to be asking yourself why. Then look at those pictures, and you'll have your answer.

You need to be contacting your MP and saying no, this is not right, it must stop. We all need to be educating children, because they are the hope of the future to say no, I don't want any part of this trade, I'd rather choose a dog from a dog's home than support puppy farming.

Because believe me, us dogs home dogs are so grateful to be given a new chance in life, we make the most wonderful, loyal companions.

Please, everybody, do something. Don't make me bite you.

Ci

And they call it puppy love?

2009-08-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

My new mistress loves me. She's bought me some smashing toys, and my very own DogBag tent. I've got a Babble Ball which talks to me in heenglish to help me learn it, a Jolly Ball, a Buster Cube and a squeaky purple dinosaur.

But she says she would never have picked me out of a litter of puppies. That's because I've got an undershot jaw which makes me look a bit goofy, my front legs aren't the straightest and she says I've got Hitler's medical condition, whatever that means, although that's now been fixed with an operation. So that set me wondering about how human beans should pick puppies, and where they should get them from.

I've been learning all about what they call puppy farms in the UK and puppy mills in America. I started off by watching this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlJ5kYIl82Q and I couldn't believe my eyes. Why would people do such things to dogs? Why would anyone want to buy a puppy if they knew it started its life like that? And it made me ask, is this legal?

I was quite glad never to have been to UK when I learned it is, in a way. As long as these puppy farms get a licence from their local authority, they are legal. They are supposed to be inspected to make sure they comply with welfare regulations. You can read about them here: http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/welfare/domestic/

And there are powers to check up on any places that don't have licences. You can read the law on this here: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1991/Ukpga_19910064_en_1.htm

There's also a thing called an Animal Welfare charter, which you can read about here: http://www.labouranimalwelfare.org/the-animals-charter/general-principles It sounds marvellous. Except when I looked up how many local authorities had signed up to it, I couldn't find any. The charter actually quotes Mr Gandhi, who must have been a very good human bean. He said:

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.

So please can anyone tell me why you call Britain Great?

Why are councils allowing such things to happen? I'm a dog, I don't understand it. But people see poor little puppies in pet shops, feel sorry for them, buy them, so the shop orders more from the puppy farms and so it goes on.

It seems to me that two things need to happen as soon as possible:

People everywhere need to be educated about these terrible places so they only ever buy puppies from proper breeders. They should go to their homes and see the puppies with their mothers. They should never buy puppies in shops and never, ever buy them on the internet.
Councils should be made to enforce the regulations that exist. They should inspect places immediately there is a complaint or even the suspicion of one. And they should use their existing powers to close any places not following the rules. I wonder how many such places could be closed overnight if they did that?

There are a lot of very good human beans trying to do exactly that. If you look on Twitter at the trending topic banpuppyfarming you'll see all the excellent things that are already being done, like Puppy Farm Awareness Day 19th Sept 2009 in Brighton. You can find out about that here http://www.marcthevet.com/june-2009-round-up-join-me-for-the-fight-against-puppy-farming/

But it needs more and more people to know what is going on and join in the campaign to stop it.

I hope you will do that. Don't make me bite you.

A bit about me to start with

2009-08-02T08:38:00.000-07:00

I'm a French dog, a bordaire collee. I was born in the Cantal region of the Auvergne and for the first two years of my life, I had a very good home. I was well cared for, well trained, beautifully kept, with a clean, shiny coat and thought I had a pretty good life.

Then my owners had a baby. Suddenly everything changed. They said I was "trop vif" (too lively). And before I knew what was happening, I was sent off to the dog's home at a place called Gerzat. It was terrible. I'm only quite small for a bordaire collee and I was stuck in a cage with another dog, surrounded by yet more dogs who barked all the time and I was terrified.

People kept coming and staring at me through the bars and I was so frightened I barked and barked at them until they went away. And so I stayed in my cage for what seemed like forever and I thought my world had come to an end.

Then one day two ladies came walking past. One was speaking French with a strange accent. They looked at me but I barked and snarled as usual and they went on by. They went to talk to the lady in charge and after a while, she brought them across to see me. She told them I wasn't a bad dog, just a very frightened one who was terrified by being in the cage, and said if they took me out of the cage they would see for themselves what I was really like.

The one with the funny accent I found out afterwards she is Heenglish) got a lead and asked me if I wanted to go for a walk. Is the Pope a Catholic? Of course I did! Anything to get away from that place. So we went for a walk, and the funny accent person was saying she was very sad after her last dog died and wanted another one but didn't want another bordaire collee, and not a male, and not more than a year old, and not black and white.

So I had to turn on all my Gallic charm because I understood that she might just take me away from that terrible place and give me my own proper home again. And that's just what she did. And it's wonderful. I can't tell you how happy I am again.

But one day she was looking at a film on her computer and it was making her cry. It was this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlJ5kYIl82Q and it was about something called puppy farming. It was absolutely terrible and made me realise that although the dog's home was bad, it was nothing in comparison to what happens to these poor dogs.

So I thought that maybe if I wrote about it, more people would learn about it and might try to do something about it. How can humans hope ever to treat each other with compassion and respect if they can do something as awful as that to dogs? And what kind of a world is it to bring up children if people think that just because they want something, they have to right to have it with no thought about what happens to make it available to them.

I'm not just going to write about the terrible things in life, there are just too many of them. And my life now is very happy. I'll tell you all about my weekly camping trips, with my very own tent to match my mistress's. And all the good things I have now. But first I'd like to tell you all about the shameful thing that is puppy farming and I hope you'll all find out more about it and try to do something to stop it.

You'll find me on Twitter as @banpuppyfarming and you'll find out a lot more at #banpuppyfarming. It's terrible, the images are dreadful. But only if decent people like you watch them then demand that this awful trade is stopped can we all make the world a better place.

Ci