Veterinary associations have hailed the introduction of compulsory microchipping for all dogs in England as a giant leap forward for pets and their owners.

Defra has announced that from 6 April 2016 all dogs will be required to have a microchip, giving owners over three years to comply with new legislation that will be drafted by Defra.

The British Veterinary Association and British Small Animal Association have long campaigned for microchipping to be compulsory for all dogs and both associations are members of the Microchipping Alliance, which has brought many organisations together to lobby for new legislation.
 
Microchipping is a safe and effective way to permanently identify a dog and, through registration on a database, the dog can be linked to its owner and quickly reunited if it goes missing.
 
Compulsory microchipping will significantly reduce the number of lost and stray animals being kept by local authorities and charities at enormous cost.

“The introduction of compulsory microchipping is a giant leap for dogs and their owners and is something that vets have long campaigned for," said BVA President Peter Jones. "It is a safe and effective way to link dogs to their owners and is an essential part of responsible ownership.
 
“Microchipping is a small cost in terms of dog ownership with veterinary practices offering microchipping for around £15-£20 or for free as part of a practice promotion.

"Dogs Trust and other rehoming charities are also offering free microchipping at their centres and through local authorities.”
 
Meanwhile, Mark Johnston, BSAVA President, said: “The ability to reunite stray dogs with their grateful owners is a great thrill in veterinary practice, and so we warmly welcome today’s announcement.
 
“But microchips are only as useful as the information on the database and so it is essential that owners realise that they must keep their details up to date.”
 
The Government also announced plans to extend the scope of the Dangerous Dogs Act to private places and to allow police to decide if dogs seized under the Act can stay with their owners until the outcome of the court case, removing the need for these dogs to be kennelled.

Both of these measures were supported by BVA and BSAVA in joint responses to the Defra consultation.
 
Peter Jones added: “The Dangerous Dogs Act is woefully inadequate and needs a complete overhaul. However, in the absence of new legislation we do welcome these changes to extend the law to private property and to allow some dogs to stay with their owners during court proceedings.
 
“Extending the law to cover private places sends a strong message that dogs much be kept under control at all times and reinforces the message of responsible ownership.
 
“We hope that allowing dogs to stay with their owners during court proceedings will significantly reduce the number of innocent dogs unnecessarily kennelled by the police simply because of the way they look.”  

The Kennel Club has today pledged to gift microchip scanners to every local authority in England and Wales in support of the government’s decision to introduce compulsory microchipping for all dogs.

The Kennel Club manages Petlog, the UK’s largest lost and found database for microchipped pets, which was established to help reunite lost dogs with their owners.

As such it is delighted that microchipping will soon be mandatory for all dogs, helping to promote animal welfare and responsible dog ownership and bring dogs and owners back together more quickly and effectively.

In its commitment to support the successful implementation of compulsory microchipping in England and Wales, the Kennel Club and Petlog will be donating microchip scanners to each local authority over the next two years in time for enactment of the legislation, in order to help identify keepers of dogs and reduce costs in kennelling stray dogs until an owner can be found.

This comes as the Microchipping Alliance, of which the Kennel Club is a member, estimated that annual cost savings to local authorities relating to dog welfare alone could be between £20.8 million and £23.2 million from the first year of introducing legislation.

The Kennel Club has campaigned as part of the Microchipping Alliance to make permanent identification compulsory for all dogs since 2009. The Microchipping Alliance comprises a number of animal welfare charities, assistance dog charities, veterinary organisations, dog membership organisations, and other organisations affected by dog issues, and it today welcomed the Government’s long-awaited announcement.

Caroline Kisko, Kennel Club Secretary said: “The Kennel Club has always been dedicated to reuniting dog and owner through Petlog, and holds National Microchipping Month each June to educate those involved with dogs on the benefits of microchipping. This June we will be celebrating our 10th year of this campaign.

“After speaking with dog owners around the country we are confident compulsory microchipping will be well received. A recent Kennel Club survey highlighted public support for compulsory microchipping, with almost 90% of people strongly in favour.

“Compulsory microchipping will go a long way towards improving welfare by reuniting stray and lost dogs with their owners more quickly whilst also providing government with solutions to a number of issues relating to irresponsible dog ownership.

"It is also hoped that microchipping will help keep a record of where each dog has come from to improve traceability, and in turn assist with health and welfare issues such as puppy farming.”

Regarding the other measures announced in the government proposals, the Kennel Club supports the principle of making dog bites on private property an offence.

Greater responsibility would thereby be placed on owners to ensure that their dogs are not out of control, with the understanding that it is not acceptable for an owner to allow their dog to behave aggressively either in the home or out in a public place. Postal workers and health visitors for example, regularly visit private properties without necessarily being known to the dog or landowner, and should be able to do so safely.

Mrs Kisko added “The extension of existing law to cover private as well as public land would ensure greater responsibility is placed on owners to ensure that their dogs are not out of control in any place, which should be more effective in preventing bad behaviour escalating and incidents from occurring.

"We hear of many case of neighbours having reported incidents involving dogs on private property that went on to cause serious injury. However, we would stress that regardless of legislation, no dog should ever be left alone with a child, regardless of its breed or previous behaviour.”

For more information on the Kennel Club’s campaign work on dog law visit http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/kccampaigns

Dog Rocks has decided to cease supplying stock to Amazon Retail in a bid to protect the recommended retail price of its product that helps to prevent pet urine burn patches on lawns.

And the company has recruited a dedicated a resource to support online and independent retailers, protect the brand and provide support where necessary. 

In addition to ceasing supply to Amazon, Dog Rocks is also contacting all retailers on third-party websites to remind them of RRP and minimum advertised price.

Dog Rocks MD Carina Evans said: “By supplying direct to wholesalers, and no longer Amazon, we are able to better support online and bricks-and-mortar retailers who will in turn be better able to respect and uphold our RRP.

"We seem to have spent so many unfruitful hours tied up in admin correcting anomalies generated by Amazon in the cyber world that it is no longer feasible for us to support this third-party retail channel. 

"On top of this we aim to protect our brand, uphold the suggested RRP/MAP, and their proposed increased rebate was unworkable, potentially creating more of an uneven playing field with changing goal posts.
 
"Dog Rocks has bravely put its head above the parapet, showing empathy and affinity with its retailers.

“Loyalty and efficiency are key to our business and we owe it to our retailers to give them the best chance possible to gain from the great margins offered by Dog Rocks.”

A third of net profits from a new range of dog grooming products will go directly to the Dogs Trust.

The canine welfare charity cares for up to 16,000 abandoned dogs every year. Living by the value that no healthy dog is ever destroyed, its staff work tirelessly to nurture and re-home its thousands of animals.

Running re-homing centres, fundraising across the UK, paying adoption fees and other costs are just some of the things donations to Dogs Trust can make happen.

Money raised from the new products will also help the charity run subsidised neutering campaigns to help deal with stray dog problems and give classroom presentations to the next generation of animal lovers.

The Dogs Trust Product range of shampoos and sprays will be on show at PATS Sandown. The entire range is safe, pH balanced and works without parabens, sulphates and other harsh chemicals, replacing them with greener, healthier versions that do the trick. What’s more, all the ingredients used are cruelty free and eco-friendly.

The range caters for all conditions – sensitive skin, oily skin, dull coats and other special needs – and includes Dry Shampoo, Snout Balm, Paw Cream, Anti Odour Spray, detangling Conditioner, Anti Odour Shampoo and Puppy No Tears.

For more information go to www.dogstrustproducts.com

Pat Flynn, the publisher of Garden Trade News is to take on an additional role as trade association manager of PetQuip with The Federation of Garden & Leisure Manufacturers Ltd.

Pat will continue in her role at The Garden Communication & Media Company (TGCMC), owners of GTN, Garden Radio and The Greatest Awards.

Over the past 10 years Pat has developed commercial revenues and new business for TGCMC, and this new role with Petquip allows her to extend her talents into a different market, utilising her organisational skills and the experience she has gained as Chairman of the Commercial Horticultural Association.

Pat will divide her time between her work at TGCMC on GTN, Garden Radio and The Greatest Awards and her new responsibilities for the development of PetQuip, the trade association for pet product manufacturers and exporters.

The Federation’s director general, Amanda Sizer Barrett MBE, said: “Pat’s industry background, her commercial acumen and her network of contacts will be a valuable asset for PetQuip.

"We are very much looking forward to working with her and she is looking forward to opening up valuable new business opportunities for PetQuip's member companies."

OATA’s seven YouTube videos designed to give helpful advice to aspiring fishkeepers have now been viewed more than 600,000 times.

The most popular video – with more than half a million views – is the Setting up a Goldfish Aquarium while the second most popular is Keeping Goldfish Successfully, with nearly 31,000 views.

To help spread the word OATA has now added all seven videos to its Facebook page to help retailers and hobbyists find them easily.

“We wanted to help our members to promote the hobby of fishkeeping so we produced these seven videos two years ago to give advice on how to keep fish successfully and set up aquaria,” explained OATA Chief Executive Keith Davenport.

“It’s very pleasing that between them the videos are getting about 1,000 hits a day which I think goes to show how popular fishkeeping is as a hobby, particularly it would seem keeping goldfish. Hosting them on our YouTube channel means people can search and find them and it also means our members can use them on their own websites as a useful resource for their customers.

“But to help keep spreading the word to new people who might not know they exist we’ve now also added the videos to the OATA Facebook page as another way to reach people.”

The seven videos are:

• Learning how to keep pet fish
• Keeping tropical freshwater fish successfully
• Setting up a tropical freshwater aquarium
• Keeping marine fish successfully
• Setting up a marine fish aquarium
• Keeping goldfish successfully
• Setting up a goldfish aquarium

The videos can be viewed on YouTube at www.youtube.com/user/OrnamentalFish or on OATA’s Facebook page www.facebook.com/oataltd

For a limited time only Beaphar is providing retailers with the chance to order a Beaphar Lactol Mixed Box. The idea of the offer is to give pet owners choice and variety while the pet shop doesn't have to order excess stock.

Each Lactol Mixed Box includes:

• 3 Kitty Milk
• 6 Feeding Sets
• 2 Feeding Syringes
• 2 Spare Teats
• 1 x 1kg Lactol
• 1 x 1.5kg Lactol
• 3 x 250g Lactol
• 3 x 500g Lactol
• 3 x Puppy Training Pads (x7)
• 30 Consumer Leaflets: A guide to hand rearing

Beaphar marketing manager Amy Hepworth said: "Beaphar Lactol has been produced for over 100 years – it was originally known under the Sherley’s brand – and has saved the lives of countless young animals.

"Lactol stands out from the crowd for a number of reasons. It is made from whey powder, rather than skimmed milk powder, therefore containing less lactose, and less likely to cause diarrhoea.

"It undergoes an ultra filtration process, concentrating the proteins and further reducing the lactose levels. Produced using a slow drying process, fragile protein structures are preserved, allowing more protein to be utilised by growing animals.

"All of these factors, coupled with Lactol’s superior amino acid content, make it a cut above the rest. With added vitamins and minerals, Lactol provides a complete milk replacement feed. Beaphar Lactol is available in 250g, 500g, 1kg and 1.5kg pots.

"Kittens, however, have slightly different needs. Enter Beaphar Kitty Milk: the perfectly tailored replacement milk feed for kittens. Formulated in line with the most recent scientific advances in feline nutrition, this highly palatable feed provides kittens with all the necessary vitamins, minerals, proteins and oils that they need for the very best possible start in life.

"Kitty Milk contains a higher protein level, and much higher levels of vitamin A. It also contains higher levels of Vitamin C, which is an antioxidant, and makes cats and kittens less likely to suffer from cystitis and bladder stones. Choline is added, which is essential for growth and development at cellular level. Kitty Milk also contains Taurine, to help maintain a healthy heart and good vision."

A range of feeding accessories is also available, including feeding syringes, a feeding set (bottle, teats and cleaning brush), and replacement teats.

For more information call the UK Customer Care Team on 01440 715700 or visit www.beaphar.co.uk

The latest 'home-staging' trend from the US suggests that pets could be the key to selling a home.

There was a time when the smell of newly baked bread or freshly brewed coffee was enough to pique a potential home buyer’s interest.

But as the property market braces itself for another challenging year, sellers have enlisted a new secret weapon – their pets.

This latest addition in home-staging – the art of preparing your home for sale – is called pet placement.

“It wasn’t a conscious decision to include our black labrador in our brochure,” says Antonia Rowe, whose five-bedroom Georgian home near Truro, Cornwall, is on the market for £925,000.

“But Lottie is such a big part of our lives that we didn’t want to move her when the photographs were taken.

“I think she helps buyers to imagine what it is like living in the house.”

Local estate agent Jonathan Cunliffe, who is selling the house, agrees. “A pet can bring life to a property, and help to establish the feel of a home. It can also appeal to the lifestyle ideals of the likely buyer,” he says.

A pet shop in the North-East is trading once again, eight months after a devastating blaze killed dozens of its animals.

Birds, rabbits, guinea pigs, snakes, lizards and spiders – as well as about 1,000 fish – were among the creatures that perished when the fire destroyed the Animal Tracks unit in Cramlington, Northumberland last summer.

Owners and partners, Helen Edwards and Jason Seymour, described the blaze as “our worst nightmare”, and had to shut the pet shop and aquatic centre just a year after opening it.

The fire broke out in the Animal Tracks unit at Cramlington’s Azure garden centre in the early hours of a Sunday morning in June.

Now it is open again and serving customers after being refurbished and modernised.

Helen, Jason and their staff were able to save some of the animals following the blaze, which killed or injured many others and melted cages and tanks.

It was a devastating blow for the couple who had been delighted with the success of the franchise, after adding it to their main pet store in Ashington.

Now the refurbished unit is back in business, four months after Helen and Jason opened a third Animal Tracks shop in Chillingham Road, Heaton.

“We re-opened the Cramlington store on Saturday and had a fantastic weekend," said Helen. "We had lots of people in, customers old and new, and some who had been waiting for us to re-open.

“The Azure garden centre has been refurbished and our new unit is definitely more upmarket, and the aquarium system is more modern. The building itself is warmer and we are finishing things off this week by building an aviary and small animals run.

“It has been a long road back but the garden centre has been a massive help to us. If it was not for them we probably wouldn’t have been able to open again.”

The Azure garden centre, which was previously known as the Shaw garden centre, is a charity which provides supported employment and training for people with disabilities. It is one of the main businesses which form part of Azure Charitable Enterprises.

Picture caption: Jason Seymour is happy to see his Animal Tracks pet shop re-open. Picture courtesy Newcastle Journal.

Pet insurance premiums are set to increase over the next year by up to 12%, leaving many owners concerned about finding the best options for their animals.

Many insurers believe the increase in premiums is due to a rise in veterinary fees, with recent statistics stating that a large proportion of increased costs were results of advances in veterinary technology.

In fact, worrying figures from the Association of British Insurers revealed that the cost of pet insurance claims has risen from £302 million in 2007 to a hefty £436 million in 2011. This reflects a significant increase of 44%.

A pedigree puppy stolen during a late night smash-and-grab raid on a Kent pet shop three weeks ago has been found safe and well.

The Shih Tzu was among four puppies – valued at a total of £2,000 – snatched from Belvedere Pets and Flowers on the evening of January 15.

The puppy was returned to the pet shop after Bexley police arrested a man in connection with his disappearance last week.

And just two days later the puppy was bought and given a new home.

Delighted shop owner Sheri Poole said: “I’m very pleased, I didn’t really expect to get any of them back. He’s gone to a nice little family with two young daughters.”

Mrs Poole, who picked up the pup from the police station, added: “To have all four back would be lovely.

“Don’t get me wrong I’m really pleased but there are still three missing and still don’t know where they’ve ended up.”

A Bexley police spokesman said: "Police have arrested a male in relation to the burglary and recovered what is believed to be one of the stolen puppies. At this stage further enquires are ongoing."

Anyone with information should call Bexley burglary and robbery squad on 020 8284 9248.

Spice Girls star Emma Bunton was said to be "devastated" after learning that her beloved pet labrador Phoebe had been found dead on railway tracks by a member of the public.

The dog was thought to have been killed in an accident on Monday shortly after it went missing.

Former police officer Tom Watkins, who was enlisted to help find the dog, said: ‘That is where she was found, lying between the tracks. It is very sad but at least now the family have closure. Network Rail was contacted and a worker went on to the track and retrieved the body.

‘She must have slipped under the fence and been hit by a train. I believe the accident happened on Monday, shortly after she went missing.’

The singer, currently working as a presenter on Heart Radio, had been campaigning on Twitter for fans to help the search, after the dog went missing on a daily walk on Sunday.

Emma wrote on Twitter on Wednesday: "To all the amazing people who supported us at this horrible time, our precious Phoebe has been found and its terrible news, we are devastated."

Fans have been flocking to her page to offering their sympathies.

Myleene Klass, Tulisa and Melanie C had helped to spread awareness and rally support in the hunt for Phoebe, with the story even making it across the pond to America.

Earlier in the week she had written on Twitter: "My gorgeous brown Labrador went missing on daily walk, she will be so scared please look out around East Barnet, Hadley Wood, Trent Park.

"Her name is Phoebe! She is so gentle, please look out for her... I'm in bits, thank you for all your reassuring messages! Please keep looking."

When Karen Saynor emailed her regular order for food to CSJ she also told them that her bitch Ekko was made up to Field Trial Champion.

This makes Ekko (FT Ch Tarkanya Spikeys Splendour) only the second ever FTCh in the breed in the UK.

She was the first Munsterlander to win an Open Field Trial since 1984 and Karen was naturally delighted when she won her second.

Karen says “Ekko is a wonderful working bitch with a lovely temperament and a very soft mouth.

At present she has numerous Working Test awards, several pointing test gradings and 18 Field Trial awards including Firsts in novice, All Aged and now two Firsts in Open.

She works as often as possible as a Hunt, Point and Retrieve dog and we also pick up on a few shoots.”

For more info visit www.lagopus.co.uk and www.csjk9.com

SAI Global is running a series of courses on reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates, including a 'Dangerous Animals Training Day'.

The courses are designed to deliver pet retailing staff with an in-depth array of knowledge, which will enable them to advise customers on correct set-ups and husbandry.

Pet retailers will also be advised on the best ways to explain to customers why such environments and husbandry are important to the health and welfare of the animals they are selling.

Lectures will be delivered by Mark Amey; zoologist, reptile specialist and retailer.

SAI Global provides organisations around the world with information services and solutions for managing risk, achieving compliance and driving business improvement.

For more information contact Rachel Woodwards on 01908 249934 or email rachel.woodwards@saiglobal.com

Shopfitting specialist Aquaja has made a new addition to its marketing team. Thomas Soplanit has joined as a graphic designer, responsible for the company's brand identity.

Thomas will also be responsible for the further development and integration of all online activities.

With this new addition Aquaja aims to consolidate and improve its market position as well as continuing the positive developments it made in 2012.

A pet shop owner in Tunbridge Wells has spoken of his relief after his animals were unharmed by a fire at his business.

Fire crews were called to Pets in Town, in Camden Road, after an electrical fire started in the basement. They used fans to keep the smoke contained in the basement to protect the animals on the upper floors.

Owner Steve Ball was thankful none of the animals was harmed. "I was at home having a cup of tea when I got a phone call from my colleague saying there was a fire in the shop," he said.

"I was dreading the worst and was thinking I would arrive and there would be flames coming out of the shop.

"Of course the most important thing I was most concerned about is that the livestock was ok." The only pet which was affected was Twinny the parrot, who spent the evening relaxing in one of the fire engines.

Mr Ball added: "It's amazing how news spread. I've had one customer say she heard the shop had been blown up and another said it had burnt to the ground.

"I can't possibly thank the fire crews enough. They were really thorough and were able to avoid a disaster. They kept me up-to-date all the time telling me what was going on."