However, after a period away from our screens, sheepdog trials are due for a return to our screens, albeit with a few new twists.

The World Sheepdog Trials, due to air on More 4 this Thursday 15th September, will feature heartrate monitors attached to the sheep to indicate how nervous they are, and therefore how likely they will be to make a run for it, accelerometers on the dogs’ collars to record how fast they are running, super slow motion replays, landmines, GPS tracking and high definition cameras.

OK, maybe the landmines are just me getting carried away. Either way, Neil Duncanson, of TV production company North One Television, says that many of the cutting edge techniques used in more glamorous sports will be brought to bear to bring the excitement to living rooms across the UK. He should know – his company covered the high-adrenaline Formula 1 racing for over a decade for ITV.

Representing England will be Carol Mellin with Maisie who, at 9 years of age, is considered to be near the end of her sheep herding days. Carol commented:

“I just love it, it’s my passion.”

“We go to trials on a Sunday and Saturday – sometimes, if they’re close enough, you can do two or three in a day.”

Here’s hoping that the competition proves to be one last hurrah for Maisie, before she retires to her dog basket to watch it on TV like the rest of us.

In the advert that she posted onto the secondhand sales site Preloved she said:

‘Evil Bob would love to find the perfect home as I have put up with him for nearly ten years and can’t take much more.

‘He is probably the worst dog you will ever meet. He started life as a failed mountain rescue dog – probably peed on the climber and stole their Kendal mint cake.

‘He has caused nothing but trouble here as he doesn’t fit in well with a large group of dogs.

‘He looks older than his years, has wonky teeth, bad breath and a bad attitude. He is terrified of cats, snaps at horses’ heels and nips pigs. He should not be left unsupervised indoors as he steals food off the side, licks the cooker and pees at terrier height so as not to get the blame.’

Friends of Sosa’s tried to establish on the social networking site whether she was being genuine about the sale of the dog.

Rich Kemp wrote:

‘You don’t mean that! Bob’s your son! You’d be lost without him and his awful habits.’

However, it is not all bad as she later admitted that Bob does have some good qualities – he travels well in a car and lies down all day while she works.

However, Jon Sirard, who is a professor of kinesiology – or the science of human movement – at the University of West Virginia, which carried out the study, was keen not to read too much into the results. His cautious conclusion was that there seems to be a connection between teenage physical activity and owning a dog, but could not say exactly what it was.

The survey, which was about the ownership of exercise equipment in US households, concluded that man’s best friend could be considered as such a piece of equipment – in other words, a lovable, smelly, four-legged cross-trainer.

There have been lots of studies which point to dog ownership as being beneficial for health, whether it is the increased amount of physical exercise a dog owner gets when walking his pet, or the stress busting hormones released by the brain when stroking a dog. In this latest study, 618 sets of teenagers and parents wore a piece of apparatus to measure how active they were. Over the course of two years, it was found that the teens who belonged to dog-owning families participated in 32.1 minutes of activity per day, as opposed to the 29.5 minutes of dogless households.

Professor Sirard said of the results:

“Anything we can do to tip the balance in favour of more physical activity is going to be a good thing, even though it’s not the magic bullet.”

As encouraging as the figures are, American dog owners still have some work to do to reach the recommended one hour of daily physical activity with their pet, and a recent study of obesity in American cats and dogs has shown that more than half can be classed as obese.

We at Dream Dogs think that slipping a dog collar on your pet and handing the leash to the kids is an excellent way to get a moody teenager out from under your feet for an hour, or a few hours if it’s a border collie.

Emergency services were called to cliffs at Durdle Door, near Lulworth cove, after a walker found himself in trouble when he tried to rescue his dog which had fallen over the cliff edge.

The dog, a 14 year old collie called Jack, plunged 125 ft., prompting a rescue attempt by his owner, a 33 year old man from Devon who was visiting the attraction. However, he found himself unable to negotiate the cliff face, which towers above Man o’ War Bay, and was left clinging to it for dear life. Luckily, a call to the emergency services was made, resulting in coastguard and helicopter teams being scrambled to airlift him back to the cliff top, and attend to his pet.

The Portland Coastguard watch manager, Bruce Lack, said:

“[The owner] put his own life in danger in a misguided attempt to rescue his dog.”

“The dog was rushed off to a vet by the coastguard where he was checked over.”

“The dog is OK and both he and his owner should survive their ordeal.”

“We always advise owners to keep their dogs on leads when walking the cliff paths and never to put one’s own life in danger in an attempt to rescue a beloved family pet.”

There are a number of reported incidents of dogs falling over cliffs in the UK, so perhaps it’s a good idea to stay well clear of any cliff edges if you’re walking your dog.

The Friends of Southampton General Hospital are merely one of the voluntary organisations who have been favourably impressed by Cognac’s contribution to society. When someone is ill they can stop enjoying life, especially if they have few visitors. Research has shown that an optimistic mood can contribute towards a speedier recovery. The presence of a dog in a hospital can lift the spirits of many patients – Cognac has undoubtedly been doing a superb job and helping patients with their physical and mental conditions, but how many of us know about the innovative charity which has supported his invaluable work?

Cognac has been doing his duty under the governance of a charity which has been established for over twenty-five years. The amiable hound has been working diligently for Pets As Therapy (PAT.) Hopefully, he has been enjoying some of the attention he receives. PAT is a national charity, founded back in 1983 which like today, was a period of high unemployment and economic uncertainty.

In difficult times, people are particularly reliant on pets, and particularly dogs, for support.

Pets As Therapy has always been about the delivery of therapeutic pet visits to hospitals, hospices and nursing homes. The charity does not utilise professionals for visits; it always uses volunteers with their own well loved animals.

The four-and-a-half year old Border Collie is the best qualified search and rescue dog we have in Britain, being the only dog we have that has passed the International Rescue Dog Organisation’s readiness for mission test.  Darcy is trained to rescue victims of both natural disasters and terrorist attacks by finding them in even the greatest amount of rubble.

However, today she is not on duty but is stuck in a kennel on a six-month quarantine term where experts fear she may even lose her sharpened skills.  This is her reward for having joined other rescue dogs in Indonesia to rescue the victims of an earthquake that killed hundreds of people.

The other dogs on that same mission are now back in their homeland serving their people, but not our Darcy.  The strict quarantine terms of returning to Britain mean this rescue dog was placed in a kennel in Colchester on the 8th October and is set to stay there for six months.  This is despite her rabies booster vaccination given just two weeks before she left for her mission.

The quarantine term applies to Indonesia because it is not part of the list of approved countries in the official Pet Travel Scheme.

It is not just the general public demanding her release but also MPs, and the Essex Fire Service that spent thousands of pounds of their budget on training Darcy is running a Free Darcy campaign.

John Ball is the dog handler for Darcy and said:

“These rules are outdated and go against what current science tells us.  No dog that has been vaccinated has caught rabies, and the incubation period can be up to two years anyway so the six months quarantine is an arbitrary figure.  I can only hope the Government will listen to reason and change the law.”

A spokesperson for Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) commented:

“This long-standing rule is in place to protect the UK from the incursion of serious diseases such as rabies, which has been reported recently in Indonesia.”

This pair of dogs was featured in the Telegraph on Friday, describing how Bonnie stays only inches from Clyde and guides him to food, water and even on walks.  She even allows him to rest his head on her legs when he gets a little disorientated.

Reportedly, Clyde seems as capable as any sighted dog when he’s with two year old Bonnie but otherwise, he refuses to move.

The two dogs were rescued stray dogs only 3 weeks ago when they were abandoned in a storm.  A passer by found them and when she opened her car door, both dogs jumped in.  Bonnie and Clyde have yet to find a new home.  They are currently at the Meadow Green Dog Rescue centre in Norfolk but the two have to be re-home together.

Cherie Cootes, from the dog centre, commented:

“If Clyde’s unsure where he is he will suddenly go behind her and put his face on her back so she can guide him where he is going.  He totally relies on her the whole time. When she walks she tends to stop and make sure he’s there – she does look out for him.  When Bonnie’s about you wouldn’t necessarily notice Clyde is blind, but when she’s not about he refuses to move without her.

“There’s absolutely no option of homing them separately – they have to go as a pair.  She’s just so good with him. They really are the most lovely pair of dogs. We’ve got to find them a home.”

Neither dog has a collar or a microchip and nobody has claimed them.  The dog centre has said they would be ideal as pets for anyone with a large, secure garden, safe from busy roads.

Cherie said: “They’ve got very nice manners and they walk well on the lead. They really are a very sweet pair of dogs.  Clyde’s going to have to have a more rural type of home purely because of traffic. It would be fantastic if someone had a large garden so he can have his exercise.”

The centre looks after 45 rescued dogs at the moment.

Aa spokeswoman for Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, said this was the first time she had ever heard of one dog voluntarily guiding another like this.

She added: “This is a very unusual case – it’s such a lovely story.  Some dogs take to guiding better than others because they naturally have the right temperament.  It very much depends on the individual dog.”

Seven year old Scrooble completed his cancer treatment in 2007 and just six months later was competing in the 2008 Flyball agility competition at Crufts.

This week, he was given a VIP tour of the £3 million cancer centre at Edinburgh’s Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, which is the first centre of this sort to open in Scotland.  The centre offers the latest treatment for animals and is expected to give n insight into cancer treatment for humans too.

Scrooble had eight months of chemotherapy treatment for lymphoma at the Easter Bush Edinburgh University’s Hospital for Small Animals.  His owner, 42 year old Sara Hawkswell from Armdale in West Lothian commented:

“Scrooble was so used to coming in for treatment that he would look out for anyone he knew walking past in the waiting room and then, when it was time for his treatment, he would jump right up on to the table.  When Scrooble was undergoing treatment, the staff were incredibly friendly and helpful.  Scrooble is now full of energy, competing in agility at shows most weekends, and since his recovery has gone up two agility grades.”

The Veterinary Cancer Care Centre should be able to treat around 20 animal care cases each week and has the latest equipment including a CT scanner capable of taking scans of horses and a linear accelerator for radiotherapy treatment.

The cancer centre is part of a £100 million development at the site and includes both a teaching building and a research building.  It is hoped that the centre will be able to conduct research to identify genes that cause cancer, analyse the part stem cells play in cancers and understand tumour progression.  Already the scientists at the centre have identified a cancer stem cell in dogs that may be able to help with treatments for bone cancer in children and teenagers.

Centre director Professor David Argyle said: “The centre will have the most sophisticated diagnostic procedures, followed by comprehensive cancer therapies for pets, including a linear accelerator to provide radiotherapy.  Our understanding in treating cats and dogs and how cancer takes hold will also pave the way for comparative research, relating what we know about the disease in animals to humans to improve treatments for all.”

Nowadays, pets do live longer thanks to new treatments and cancer is the main cause of death for household pets.  Around one in five cats and one in three dogs will develop cancer in their lifetime.