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Pets
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Winter Weather Tips for Dogs
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Despite the dangers winter can sometimes present, winter walks with your dog can be safe and enjoyable providing you take the necessary precautions. Take a look at our nine top tips to keep both you and your dog safe while walking during the winter months.
Consider a coat for dog
During the winter months, it’s important to keep your dog warm. Let your dog’s coat grow and for short-haired breeds, senior dogs and puppies, it may be worth investing in a winter dog coat.
Winter walks
Walking your dog during the cold, dark mornings and nights can present its challenges; poor visibility being one of them. If you’re walking when it’s dark, it’s a good idea to make sure your dog is visible either with a flashing collar light or a highvis jacket. It’s important you’re also dressed for winter. Think about your own footwear when you’re venturing out with your dog and make sure you’re just as visible as your dog.
Beware of deep snow
The British weather is often unpredictable. Keep your dog on a lead if it’s snowing. There could be some deep pockets of snow or snow which maybe covering up some unsafe areas.
ID tag and microchipped
It’s important to ensure that your dog is wearing a collar, ID tag and is microchipped. It’s also vital to ensure your microchipping database is up to date with your address and contact details.
Returning from a walk
When you and your dog return from a winter walk, remember to wipe your dogs’ legs, feet and stomach. The grit from roads and dampness from rain or snow can irritate their skin.
Don’t leave your dog in a car
Leaving dogs in cars is dangerous all year round, even in winter. You should never leave your dog unattended in a car.
Frozen ponds
Don’t let your dog walk across frozen ponds. The ice may not be thick enough to take the weight of your dog.
Anti-freeze is poisonous
Even the smallest amounts of anti-freeze can have a very harmful and it can often have a fatal effect on your pet. Keep anti-freeze well out of pets’ reach and clean up any spillages right away.
Check leads, collars and harnesses
It’s a good idea to check items such as leads, collars and harnesses are all in working order. They can often get damaged by the winter weather e.g. wet weather may make metal clips rust.
If you’re having difficulty choosing the correct sized harness or coat for your dog, please visit our pet care retrial store at Pride Veterinary Centre where our friendly retail team will be able to provide advice.
Nursery rhymes…nonsense for kids, or coded messages containing dark undertones? Read on to see why the latter may be closer to the truth than we would maybe like to think!
“Nursery rhymes”, with their distinctive sing-song rhythms and melodies; date back centuries, as far back as the 14th Century in fact. Modern childhood psychologists believe they can help a child’s mental development and spatial reasoning, but it is doubtful our antecedents were thinking in those terms when the majority of the ditties were composed. Let’s have a quick look at a few of the best known rhymes:
Baa Baa Black Sheep refers to the wool tax imposed by Edward I, when new rules said a third of the cost of a sack of wool went to him, another went to the church and the last to the farmer. In the original rhyme, the ‘little boy who lived down the lane’ ended up with nothing! The phrase ‘black sheep of the family’ stems from the fact that the wool from black sheep could not be successfully dyed and thus had less value.
Mary, Mary Quite Contrary is believed to be about Queen Mary (aka Bloody Mary) and concerns the torture and murder of Protestants, the garden being an allusion to graveyards full of Protestant martyrs, whilst “silver bells” were thumbscrews and “cockleshells” are thought to be instruments of torture which were attached to male genitals. Nice. Not!
Oranges and Lemons describes a condemned man’s journey towards his execution in London, passing various churches on his way.
Rock-a-bye Baby alludes to the rumour that the son of King James II was actually another man’s son, smuggled into the delivery room in order to ensure a Catholic would once more ascend to the throne of England. An early recorded version of the rhyme ends with the footnote “This may serve as a warning to the Proud and Ambitious, who climb so high that they generally fall at last.” Ring a Ring o Roses, we’re all familiar with the idea that this rhyme, and the associated little dance so beloved of kids, is connected with the Great Plague of 1665. The ‘rosie’ being the distinctive rash that developed on the skin of sufferers, and the ‘posies’ referring to the scented flowers required to camouflage the hideous stench of decaying flesh and rotting bodies.
Even the seemingly innocuous ditty Ladybird, Ladybird, fly away home, may refer to the persecution of Catholics in the 16th and 17th century, when Catholic priests were often burnt at the stake. Whilst Lucy Locket is actually connected to an argument between two prostitutes in the 18th century!
So much time has elapsed since these nursery rhymes were first written that modern day mothers singing them with their children can be forgiven for not realising the death, destruction, and darkness so many of them allude to. And anyway - who really cares these days, they’re fun, kids enjoy then and they’re part of our heritage and tradition.
These articles are researched and written by Laura Billingham, a local content writer and author. Laura moved to the Peak District several years ago to pursue her passion for writing.
