Managed to train your dog to stay still for more than five minutes? Think he/she could captivate a crowd of opera buffs?

Edinburgh Playhouse is looking for a canine thespian to tread the boards in a production of La BohÚme, later this month. Taking the part of the lead character’s dog, the starry-eyed hound is required for four nights from March 21st. They’re not looking for any breed or size in particular, but it’s safe to say a calm dog would be preferable.

Send a photo, along with the breed, height, weight, age and name of your dog, plus your own contact number and address, to:

Liz White
Ellen Kent and Opera International
The Historic Dockyard
Chatham
Kent.
ME4 4TZ

Get your details to Liz by March 14 and your mutt could be famous!

Rupert, a nine month old Cocker Spaniel, has had a surprising effect on a Bradford recruitment company’s office.

Introduced to the office Steven Street, Managing Director of Relay Recruitment, Rupert has helped the company’s smokers kick their habit.

David Gatehouse, also of Relay Recruitment, explained to the BBC:

“We thought we’d bring in a dog so people could make a fuss over him and it would lift morale, especially during the depressing days after Christmas and New Year.

“Then somebody suggested instead of having a fag break they’d take him for a 10-minute walk round the block.

“The idea caught on and now four or five people have given up smoking altogether and others are cutting down.

“They’re also losing weight because of all the exercise they’re getting.”

Rupert has been so popular that the company plans to introduce dogs to its other offices.

The Lake District National Park Authority is warning that dogs off leads will be shot if they worry livestock.

Peter Thompson, an Ambleside farmer, told BBC News:

“About 70% of people act responsibly and have control over their pets, for which we are very grateful, but the other 30 per cent are behaving ever more irresponsibly.

“There have already been a number of serious sheep worrying cases this year, resulting in dogs being shot.”

Between 1 March and 31 July all dogs must be kept on a two meter lead when near livestock and on private land accessed through rambling rights.

If the last British dog film you saw was Digby the Biggest Dog in the World it’s about time you saw another.

Gone to the Dogs stars veteran British actors Tony Booth and Dora Bryan as a couple who retire to one of England’s fading south coast resorts. Endless days of promenade walks and lunches in run-down cafés lie ahead; the ideal retirement for Rose (Bryan) but a living hell for eternal rogue Jack (Booth).

While trying to prove - mainly to himself - that he’s still as virile as the young men who loiter at the sea-front fair grounds, Jack’s heart gives out. One of the films best realised scenes follows: Rose pours Jack’s ashes into the sea and as they plunge below the surface, an underwater camera sees them take Jack’s form and then turn into a dog.

Finding himself reincarnated as a scruffy mutt is, understandably, something of a shock to Jack. He quickly makes his way back to the bungalow where, as a human, he had planned to spend his retirement years with Rose.

What follows is a fun run around town, with Jack befriending the local dog gang and realising one or two things that he should have as a human.

Tony Booth makes a fantastic rascal, both in human form and as the voice of Jack. Dora Bryan is equally well suited to her role of an older woman making the best of the life she has. Their understated performances make real the initial tension between their differing ideas of the perfect retirement, developing into the warmth that comes from decades of affection and love, with the minor prod of one of them becoming a dog.

Needless to say, the dogs are real stars of the film. While the voiced thoughts of Jack’s dog friends reveal little depth, the direction and training show enormous dedication and very talented hounds. A short documentary reveals some of the work behind the canine performances.
Ultimately, Gone to the Dogs is the sort of love story we don’t often see in film or on television, being neither rose-tinted nor bleak. At around £8.55 (although you’ll have to pay in US dollars), it seems a touch pricey for a 20 minute film. However, it’s worth it if you enjoy seeing excellent dog performances and want to support the kind of British film-making that rarely, if ever, makes it to our cinemas.

Buy the Gone to the Dogs DVD.

As one of America’s greener cities, San Francisco recycles around 60% of its waste.

However, recycling the city’s 6,500 tonnes of animal excrement each year has proven somewhat difficult, until now. Rubbish company, Norcal Waste, has opened a new facility that will turn dog poo into natural gas.

Norcal plans to feed its $1 million methane digster with waste from one of San Francisco’s dog parks. Over a period of weeks, the feces will be broken down by bacteria, resulting in methane gas. The gas can then be used for heating, electricity generation and, perhaps less acceptably, cooking.

With underground gas reserves quickly running out, it’s about time all animal waste was turned into useful energy.

More in the Mercury News.

A clinic for overweight pets has opened at Liverpool University.

According to Dr Alex German, who runs the Royal Canin Weight Management Clinic at the university’s Small Animal Hospital, increasingly widespread pet obesity is largely down to over-feeding:

“Pets might be having the little bit off the end of the dinner plate and owners are also feeding them too much pet food. Measuring cups can hold huge amounts if you cram down the food,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

While human medics use the Body Mass Index in their diagnosis of obesity, no equivalent exists for animals. The primary aim of the clinic is to develop an objective means of determining if a pet is obese.

Through all-body scans, using a Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) scanner donated by Royal Canin foods, the clinic hopes to build a database of pet sizes and fat distribution, enabling them to create something similar to the Body Mass Index. They’re starting from scratch by questioning what constitutes animal height.
In 1993, another dog food manufacturer, Hill’s, launched the Hill’s Pet Slimmer of the Year competition. Recognising the problem of overweight pets, the competition is run in conjunction with local vets across Europe. Research to support the competition has produced some interesting information:

• 76% of pet owners believe their pets’ weight to be ‘just right’, but actually, up to 50% of cats and dogs are overweight.
• 60% of European pet owners do not take their pets to the vet to be weighed.
• Pet owners in the UK and Germany are particularly unaware of pet obesity but French and Italian owners are more critical of their pet’s weight.
• Only 15% of owners of obese pets purchase calorie controlled food.
• 40% of pet owners feed snacks to their pets more than once a day, single female dog owners are the main culprits!
• One in four dog owners do not exercise themselves or their dogs.
• Only 30% exercise their dogs enough to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Burns Pet Nutrition also has information on how their range of natural complete foods can help overweight dogs to slim.

It’s been a couple of weeks since we had a link round-up!

Puppy Mover Monorail - Man builds monorail for puppies in his back garden - via You Are a Dog.

Run a dog grooming spa on your GameBoy - Following the success of Nintendogs, a new game turns the player into a dog groomer - via DoggieNews.

Blue, the deaf collie, gets a home - RSPCA’s Little Valley Animal Shelter in Exeter has found a home for Blue, one of the deaf Collies we reported on recently - via BBC News.

Alsatian saved from cesspit -? Dillon, a ten year old Alsation from Dorset, has been saved after falling through a cesspit’s inspection hatch - via BBC News.

Cunard, the famous trans-Atlantic shipping line, is about to apply its world-renowned expertise in luxury travel, to pets.

Dogs travelling on Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 will now enjoy the “Pets on Decks” service. Cared for by a full-time Kennel Master, the salty sea-dogs will enjoy a gift pack featuring:

• QM2-logoed coat
• Frisbee
• name tag
• food dish and scoop
• complimentary portrait with pet owners
• crossing certificate
• personalized cruise card.

During the voyage itself, the Kennel Master will ensure each hound gets the very best care:

• extra comfortable pet beds in two sizes
• healthy gourmet cookies baked fresh daily and offered at bedtime
• fleece blankets
• assortment of toys
• selection of premium pet foods from top brands.

It costs between $300 and $500 for the trip and reservations can be made at the time of booking.

Channel 4 is starting a nationwide search for the UK’s most talented amateur dog.

Britain’s Top Dog will use four regional auditions to find the most promising dogs and owners. The lucky group will then undergo six weeks of training, including intensive one-to-one sessions with experts in:

• agility
• scent-work
• heel-work to music (also called doggy dancing).

The winning dog will be crowned Britain’s Top Dog!

If you want the chance to show off with your dog, and have fun learning some new tricks, call Leila Warren at RDF Media on 020 7 013 4289.

Winter is a hard time for Moscow’s dogs.

With temperatures plummeting to below minus 15 degrees centigrade, the Moscow Times reports that the daily dog walk can be a dangerous experience. While in the UK we melt road and pavement ice with salt, Moscow’s streets are awash with toxic anti-freeze chemicals.

Despite a partial ban, old stocks of anti-freeze still cause suffering to the city’s dog population.

“Three years ago, we had many emergency calls about dogs having been poisoned. The chemicals hurt dogs’ paws, and the animals may start licking them and end up ingesting the toxins,” local vet Valeria Shishmaryov told the newspaper.

Many of Moscow’s dog owners choose shoes and coats to combat the anti-freeze and the cold. With a mix of designer boutiques and more affordable pet shops, it seems that Moscow’s dogs are well served. While an ordinary pet shop sells dog overalls for $17, Kira Kedrova’s Klyaska - a fashion-led pet boutique - has dog jumpers for $155.

“If a dog owner can buy himself a sweater for $600, he can certainly afford an expensive wardrobe for his pet,” Kedrova told the Moscow Times.

In the city with the highest concentration of billionaires in the world, she’s almost certainly correct.