What do you do if you can't walk your dog?

I have a poorly child today and she's proper poorly- not well enough to drag out walking the dogs. She's also too big to go in the buggy so we are stuck indoors.

Meanwhile I have two canines gagging for a walk. I know some dogs seem to do without for a day but mine have to at least go around the block for 20 mins or they got mad, and end up causing havoc and mayhem.

Luckily I have a local dog walker that I have used regularly over the last few years of pregnancy and new babies, and she kindly fits me in when she can, if I'm stuck.

Its well worth looking into dog walkers who may be able to help you in an emergency, before you need them.

Ask other dog owners who they use but make sure who ever you use is insured in case something goes wrong.

The cobblers children go worst shod

This old saying can be very true for vets.

I admit I have been guilty of ignoring symptoms in my pets in the past- telling myself they were nothing serious. Once, as a newish grad, I kidded myself that my frequently vomiting dog had a simple gastroenteritis. In fact he had eaten part of a shopping trolley wheel, and ended up having to be opened up to have part of his intestine removed.

At this point I'd like to assure you that I am much more careful these days, especially for my clients animals.

Anyhow, the thing I've been dragging the chain about atm is insurance.

I advise all my clients to get their pets insured and make sure they know the difference between annual and lifetime policies, and how much they are likely to need. But I have had a complete mental block about sorting insurance out for the pup, and in the end just went with the same insurer I have the old dog & cats with. ( A large supermarket chain that will be hereby known as T****) They have a more expensive policy than they used to have, which increases the cover to £4K per condition, rather than the measly £2K they offer for my older pets. There is no time limit on the conditions though- which is an improvement on the annual policy I have for the others.

Hopefully I will never have to use it but I will sleep easier, knowing that it's now done.

A clean dog is a bored dog.

I got my two dogs out of the car today and a neighbour commented that they looked like they had had a good time. She wasn't wrong; they were both brown rather than their natural black and grey.

Even though we've not had any rain all week, our usual walks are still very muddy- I foolishly ventured out without wellies on today and am not sure how I'm going to get my trainers clean again.

But the dogs were easy enough to deal with; the big one went in the shower upstairs and the little one in the bath. Both of them seemed to tolerate rather than enjoy their ablutions. No doubt they have memories of a couple of weeks ago when they come home so plastered in mud, that I had no choice but to hose them down before I let them in the house. None of us enjoyed that experience.

On the work front, I've been mainly vaccinating regulars which is always nice. I had a phone call yesterday from a man with a sick bird who I suggested see a local vet with an avian interest. I must ring him and see if the client ever contacted him. I know a little about birds and am fine handling them, but this bird sounded really ill and probably required someone with more knowledge and resources than me. The trouble with birds is that they often don't look sick until they are very sick, so I always tend to take these sort of calls very seriously.