How can I stop my dog chasing joggers?
Our vet works his magic on your furry friends
QMy 10-month-old male German shepherd has a bad habit of trying to chase after cyclists and joggers. Scolding him makes no difference and seems to make it worse. I dread seeing cyclists and runners when we are out. A
Young dogs like yours enjoy chasing, which is probably a throwback to hunting behaviour in the wild. Much of chasing about, with other dogs, for example, is harmless play, but lunging at or chasing moving objects such as bikes and joggers is a potentially serious problem.
To a dog the behaviour is fun and telling him off adds to the excitement without helping, as you have found.
Because you are potentially liable for any injury caused by your dog I recommend a training programme devised by a behavioural specialist as a long-term solution.
Suitably qualified persons are normally members of groups such as the Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors (apbc.org.uk).
In the meantime I can make a few suggestions. For the time being, always keep the dog on a short lead, not a flexi one, and with a halti collar. These collars, available online or from pet shops, enable you to prevent pulling by closing the halti and gently turning the head to the side. You can begin by training your dog to sit on command, with the use of the halti.
Good behaviour is quickly learned if always rewarded with a treat. The next step is sitting on command whenever cyclists are near, with help of the programme by the behaviourist.
QOur 10-year-old male neutered cat has developed a lump between his shoulder blades. The vet took some samples and has diagnosed a “soft tissue sarcoma”, referring us to a specialist surgeon, as these tumours can be difficult to remove.
A
Sarcomas can be quite troublesome because they need very wide margins at the time of surgery to minimise the possibility of recurrence.
Although they can spread, recurrence is overwhelmingly the problem. Veterinary specialists in this type of surgery often say that the first surgery is the best chance of cure.
Recurrence makes things much more difficult. A particularly aggressive form of this tumour was reported for the first time in 1991. It was thought to be associated with some vaccines and was initially called vaccine-associated sarcoma. Then it was established that many different injections could potentially be a cause and it has been renamed injection-site sarcoma.
As lots of cats are injected between the shoulder blades it is not surprising that lumps in this site might occur. Not all soft-tissue sarcomas are caused by injections, however, as some occur in sites where injections are never given.
Specialist surgeons will have more experience with injection-site sarcomas and when possible, my own preference was to refer these cases.
Before operating the surgeon will want to do a CT scan to see how extensive it is and whether there is any spread. This enables surgical planning to ensure that no cancer cells are left behind, hopefully resulting in a cure in many cases.
● David Grant MBE was a vet at the RSPCA Harmsworth Animal Hospital. Email questions to him at pamperedpets@people.co.uk
MARO ITOJE has been given the green light to keep on pushing the boundaries – despite the blitz of penalties which cost England dear against Wales last weekend.
Itoje can count himself fortunate to have escaped a yellow card for persistent offending after he coughed up FIVE penalties against the Welsh, to take his total for the Six Nations to 10 – four more than any other individual.
But his Saracens and England team-mate Jamie George has warned that taking away Itoje’s ‘edge’ will make him half the performer
he is.
Edge
George said: “Maro is one of the most confrontational players I have ever played with – that’s his game, and it makes him one of the best players in the world.
“In the game against Wales, on a different day, the borderline penalties might not have been given and Maro might have got man of the match – we’d be singing his praises. So it’s a very fine line.
“My message to Maro – not that he needs it – is that he should obviously learn his lessons, but it can’t take away from the intensity and the way he plays.”
As they prepare to face France at Twickenham on Saturday, England top the Six Nations penalty count along with Italy.
The sweet spot between sluggish and over-hyped has proved elusive for Eddie Jones’s indisciplined side.
“It’s not that people are going out there out of control – well maybe it is,” said George.
“I almost think it is like an air of desperation.
“Sometimes you’re not able to put your footprint personally on to a game so you go chasing it in other ways.
“That’s my thought process anyway.
“I can’t really describe it other than just a general sense of confusion, in that I thought we actually played some brilliant rugby in parts against Wales.
“But once again that word discipline is going to pop up.
“We weren’t good enough in that area.
“You’re always going to get penalties against you – we want to be a confrontational team and with that comes penalties – but there were probably avoidable ones in there that definitely cost us.
“It’s a big thing that we need to look at going into the France game.”
The French are unbeaten, and took England to extra time in the autumn, effectively with a third XV, but their Six Nations has been disrupted by a Covid outbreak, which caused the game against Scotland last week to be postponed.
George added: “The build up for France won’t need very much extra emotional energy – the guys will come in frothing at the mouth.
“One of our goals was to put smiles on people’s faces. We haven’t done that. So we’re desperate to beat France and then beat Ireland.”
LYING on the pitch in the mud, his face stinging from a wayward elbow – Dara O’shea had been given a brutal wake-up call.
The Republic of Ireland international was still a fledgling professional at West Brom when he agreed to a loan move to non-league Hereford – a city that’s also home to the SAS – to find out what life was really like at the sharp end.
And after a couple of weeks, it soon became clear that the relative sanctuary of academy football was a stroll in the park compared to life in the Southern League Premier Division.
O’shea, who turned 22 this week, is in his breakthrough season at The Hawthorns.
He might not have reached the Premier League at all had it not been for a couple of lessons handed down in the semi-professional game three years ago.
O’shea recalled: “It was an eye-opener. It was different – working with men – up against old, seasoned professionals in the later stages of their careers.
“It was only my second or third game and I remember the opposition manager, before kick-off, called his striker over, saying, ‘Look, he’s a young lad, get into him’.
Swift
“Five minutes later I was defending a wide free-kick and I was setting up the line and the next thing you know, I got a swift elbow to the face. I couldn’t believe it.
“One minute, I was standing up. The next, I was on the floor.
“I remember thinking to myself, ‘I’m in with the big boys now’ – and that was when I realised I had to toughen up, put my hard hat on and get stuck in, otherwise I’d be eaten alive.
“It became very apparent I was ‘in for it’. From then on I made it my mission to put in a tough tackle the first chance I got. I had to prove I wasn’t a pushover.”
Like many who have crossed the Irish Sea to try their luck in professional football, O’shea carries with him experience of the all-ireland sports.
He added: “I played hurling and Gaelic football – and the latter is more dangerous.
“In hurling, the closer you get to someone, the less likely you are to get hurt – as mad as that sounds. In Gaelic, there are a lot more bad injuries and bad tackles.
“Playing those two sports when I was younger brought me up in that environment of being tough. I was always one of the taller ones when I was younger. I was able to handle myself.
“In fact, I didn’t stop playing Gaelic until two weeks before I came here. My dad was more worried than me about it.”
Eventually, O’shea had to narrow down his athletic choices – and football won the day, taking up a scholarship at The
Hawthorns. He came from the club St Kevin’s – which has spawned other Irish internationals like Arsenal legend Liam Brady, Burnley’s Robbie Brady and Newcastle’s Jeff Hendrick, who he could face this afternoon.
O’shea added: “At the time, St Kevin’s were the best schoolboy team. It was almost a privilege just to get a trial.
“When I started playing Under-11s, it was massive for me. My dad was driving me almost an hour out of Dublin to play football.
“That was weird in Ireland at the time, especially when the other sports were so big back then.
But I progressed, and it opened my eyes as I started to get trials with clubs.
“I remember though, one day at St Kevin’s our manager used to manage Jeff Hendrick and he was at Derby. He came home for the summer and trained us one afternoon.
“Us young lads were in such awe of this professional footballer training us. I remember that session like it was yesterday, everyone thinking, ‘We’re playing with a professional’.
“It’s strange to think that we could be on the same pitch together again.
But that’s football.”
One minute I was standing up. The next I was on the floor. I thought, ‘I’m in with the big boys now’.
SERGIO REGUILON doesn’t miss a beat when asked if something special lies behind Tottenham’s recent defensive resurgence.
“Yes, I’m back,” quips the Spaniard, quick as a flash.
“I’m joking, I’m joking,” adds the fun-loving full-back.
“I don’t know, maybe there are moments in the season when it happens that we are tired, maybe the game is an unlucky one. It’s football, difficult to explain.
“But now we are in a good moment – and we have to build on it.”
That good moment has largely come about thanks to Spurs tightening up at the back.
In their last five games in the Premier League and Europa League, they have conceded just two goals – and successive victories over Burnley and Fulham, coupled with other results, have taken them back into top-four contention.
Reguilon, 24, added: “Now the feeling is we can arrive in the top four because we have a very good squad and try to win every match.
Fiery
“We want to go match to match, three points by three points, and by the end of the season we can be in the top four.
“We know it’s difficult but we have the players to get it.”
Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp shares that opinion.
Although, as his fiery debate with Roy Keane last week proved, not everyone agrees.
Keane dismissed Jose Mourinho’s side as ‘average’, much to Redknapp’s annoyance.
And as part of his argument, the ex-spurs midfielder claimed Reguilon is “as good a left-back as there is in the country”.
“That’s why Madrid let him go,” Keane responded sarcastically.
Reguilon said: “This is Roy Keane’s opinion, but we have a lot of top-class players who can play in every team.
“We have the best players but thank you, Jamie, for defending me. It was so funny – he was really angry. I watched that and smiled a lot, it was very nice.” Reguilon has endeared himself to Spurs’ supporters since joining from Real Madrid in September with Gareth Bale.
He added: “In Madrid I told him, ‘Gareth, maybe I go to Tottenham’.
Decision
“And he said, ‘Really? Me too! No way!’ In the end it was amazing.
“In the summer, I had a big decision and with all the clubs on the table, I chose Tottenham.
“Because of their proposal, the team, the league, the club, the city... there are so many factors that said ‘yes’.
“Because of Gareth also and the personnel at the club, with Daniel Levy and with Jose Mourinho and everything – it was very important.”
Mourinho was disappointed at Christmas when he broke lockdown rules at a get-together with Erik Lamela, Giovani Lo Celso and their families.
Not least because the manager had splashed out on a suckling pig for Reguilon – a very nice gesture in Spain and Portugal.
“I know Jose wants the best for me and I feel the same about him,” added Reguilon.
“It was a big bit of pork. I ate it all alone at home on December 25... I promise.”