It's been a while since I updated here, I have started writing a diary for my dog Sirius following the progress of his agility training, which I am determined to get to competition level this year. If you are interested in following his diary here is a link to it.

http://www.topdog.ie/content.php?292-The-Start-of-an-Era.

I will update here when I write a new entry too.

I will be having a stand at the market in Slane tomorrow.

The market is in the car park beside the petrol station on the Collon side of Slane. Starting at 10am and running until 3pm.

Please come along and say Hi if you are in the area.

I decided that today was wash day for the dogs. Not that they are exactly dirty and smelly, but since it's over a year since their last bath their coats had built up quite a layer of grease and while this is good for them it means that if you are petting them or hugging them for any period of time your hands end up very greasy. Since I started feeding them on Orijen they really have not needed washing due to smelliness.

Alas, after months of worry and consideration, I have had to make the sad decision to close my lovely little shop in Duleek, as of the end of last month. My apologies to those of my customers who so enjoyed dropping in for a bit of chat while they purchased the essentials for their pets.

Rover, an aptly named Labrador, was not happy when his owner, Emily Harrison, put an anti-rambling collar round his glossy neck. As is well known, these work by emitting a warning buzz when the dog approaches a buried perimeter wire; if the dog keeps going, the buzz gets louder, then becomes a slight electric shock. The smart animal soon learns to turn back as soon as it hears the buzz.

This looks like it will be a great event to help raise funds for Drogheda Animal Rescue. If you can get along I would highly recommend it!

As I mentioned yesterday there is a competition running on Topdog

It is a guess what this is competition. So a really close up picture of something is posted and you have to guess what that thing is. There will be 100 pictures posted in all, so while 30 are up now and 20 of those have been guessed there is still plenty of time to catch up. Each guess is worth 5 points unless a clue has been given and then the points reduce.

The prizes

1st prize

TopDog

One of my favorite dog related forums are running a competition sponsored by me, starting this evening, Monday 27th July at 8 o clock. It's in honour of their first birthday which is coming up very soon.

There will be prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places. So get over there and check it out. It will start at 8, but if you don't get there then do check it out anyway as it will probably take a couple of days to run and you may still have a chance.

This tale goes back to the May Bank Holiday weekend, I'm only telling it now cause I wanted to be sure it had a happy ending first.

Spay Week Ireland runs from the 25-31 May. Most recent fidures show that on average, 40 dogs are destroyed in Irish pounds every day. The situation is even worse for cats, but there are no figures available for how many cats are killed each year because of a lack of homes.

If you own a cat or dog please play your part in ending this situation by ensuring your pet is neutered or spayed.

For further information, contact your local vet or visit: www.spayweekireland.ie