Jo Lloyd: Hello I’m Jo Lloyd and this is petplace, the podcast series by pet parents for pet parents. Today we are talking about socialising your dog, we’re coming out of a long period of lockdown and it’s time to help get your dog comfortable around other people and their pets.

I’m joined once again by our expert vet Sarah Holmes in Colwyn Bay and Laura Jones from petplace in Abergele. Welcome back ladies, it’s been a while so let’s start by getting reacquainted and learn a bit about you.

Laura Jones: Hello I’m Laura. I work at petplace in Abergele, I’ve been with the company for nearly six years.

Sarah Holmes: Hi I’m Sarah, I’ve been a vet for over seventeen years and I’m the proud owner of Mochdre Vets and rehabilitation. 

Jo Lloyd: Socialising your pets, we’ve so much to talk about with this because it’s not just about socialising with other dogs, it’s also the fact that we’ve been through a crazy isolated time with the pandemic.

Separation anxiety is going to be a thing for many dogs and some of them will never have known a life outside of social distancing. 

Sarah, going across to you first, it’s going to be a strange time for dogs and cats, isn’t it?

Sarah Holmes: I genuinely think this is quite a terrifying time coming up. I think a lot of people have got pets on a whim and have not actually planned for what’s going to happen when they go back to work.

Not realising that it is going to have potential, massive negative impact on their pets who have suddenly had them there twenty-four seven and then don’t understand what’s happened. I can’t overemphasise to people that now is the time to start preparing your pet. 

Your pet should be used to their own company, having time by themselves. If you are the opposite and you start to come out of lockdown, wanting to do more with your pets, you need to be preparing them. You might expect them to know what to do but it doesn’t mean they do know what to do. 

The people that perhaps haven’t had the opportunity before thought, oh we’ll get a pet in lockdown. What a puppy learns in its first few months of life is what status with it for the rest of its life, it moulds and shapes how it is going to be.

I’ve only ever had rescue dogs, so I’ve taken on dogs with problems, having a problem isn’t to say it will be a lifelong problem. People need to realise that a problem didn’t just happen overnight. It’s happened over many nights and they, therefore, need to invest that amount of time to correct the problems they see. A dog will behave the way it does unless it has guidance. People really do need to be responsible pet owners, look to what their dogs need and how they can help them to achieve it. 

Jo Lloyd: What are your thoughts about helping dogs interact with other dogs when they are out and about

Sarah Holmes: Not every dog wants to be friends with every other dog. Some dogs may not have come into contact with other dogs, if a dog is frightened and it’s approached by a bigger dog or something startles it then you run the risk of that dog running away and having long-term problems with socialisation because it’s been overwhelmed. Heavens forbid it gets into an altercation, these are things that can potentially mark a dog for the rest of their lives.

For an owner to see something where their pet is terrified, their natural reaction is going to be to panic and they can make a situation worse. By taking the time your pet needs to be happy in a situation, taking things either slowly or coming back to things and reintroducing them. The onus is on the owner to make sure that every interaction their pet has is a happy one. 

Laura Jones: Everything Sarah has said is exactly what I would say to my customers, especially if you have a pet or an older dog that hasn’t been socialised very well. Always make sure they are on a strong story lead, they have a well-fitted harness or well-fitted collar, however, it is that you are training your dog.

We do sell products to help soothe them, if you feel that your dog needs that little bit extra we’ve got plug-ins, sprays, and wipes. Whether it’s just travelling in the car, so many dogs are so anxious about being in the car because during lockdown we obviously weren’t allowed to travel, you were only allowed to walk. 

So many young dogs or dogs that haven’t been out for a while have gotten so anxious or travel sickness through going in the car now. We’ve got so many products available just to aid the dogs with that one and like Sarah said, the same with the owners. Your dog reflects your behaviour if you are feeling anxious or nervous then your dog is going to feel exactly the same. They are literally going to feel the tension down the other end of the lead.

We can’t stress enough that you need to put that behaviour in place, your dog will be a reflection of yourself. If you are feeling that way then your dog will most likely feel that way. Calm yourself and that will make the world of difference for your pet.

Sarah Holmes: It will take a dog three times as long to unlearn something as it does. For a dog, once it has done something three times that’s its routine. We’re expecting a dog to suddenly think how we’re thinking but for the past twelve months, it’s been doing something completely different. I do appreciate what a difficult time this has been, I’ve seen it through my clients, how anxious they are. They don’t realise how much of that feeds down through their pets, their pets don’t realise why and they’re suddenly feeling anxious and they know there are uncertain things.

Laura Jones: As Sarah said, just by taking your pup or dog out,  hoovering, or sitting out in your front garden and letting them listen to people and introduce the people walking past. Let them sniff other dogs through the fence. Little things like that make a difference to a dog.

If you’ve had your dog locked up in the house for twelve months and you put them out into the big open wide world it’s absolutely terrifying for them. It’s the same as yourself if you’ve been in your house and you’ve not left for weeks on end, you take a step outside and it’s so overwhelming. Preparing your dog in the best way you possibly can, will just make your day much more enjoyable.

You want to be able to walk your dog with ease and not be a chore. Usually, you want to be out, you want the dog to be excited to go out, you don’t want to be sat there dreading that you are going to have to take your dog out because you don’t know what might happen.

Sarah Holmes: Definitely, one of my clients took in a puppy during the lockdown and as part of her daily exercise she would sit at the bus stop with the puppy and let cars go past and get him used to the sounds and things like trucks. It was such a simple thing to do, then when people say she is poorly socialised because of lockdown, I think it’s just an excuse. 

I think people take on puppies thinking that they’ve got this ready-made package and they don’t assume the work that they have to put in. How your dog turns out is the owner’s responsibility and the efforts they put in are the rewards they reap. A well-mannered dog that is well socialised and performs well in distressing and difficult situations. 

Jo Lloyd: It changes your whole day doesn’t it? Your thinking, yes I’ve got to think about my dog, it’s not pandering it’s just preempting something isn’t it? It does build up in the stress of how you behaved, it’s little steps but they’ve got to be taken. We’re talking about hoovers, we’ll laugh about our dogs chasing a hoover but Basil has always hated the hoover and suddenly as he has gotten older, obviously I think he is losing his hearing. He just kind of looks at it now as if to say oh yeah that thing again and he’s not interested.

You look at a dog’s life span and you look at age, if I take Basil for example, as a young puppy he was so excited to see other dogs, and then we went through a stage where it was just him and I where he didn’t like to be away from me, the separation anxiety was quite bad.

When we were out walking once and he did get attacked by another dog who he thought was friendly, unfortunately, it wasn’t and that memory must have stayed with him because then it was as if he needed to protect me every time we went out for a walk. That went on for some time no matter whatever I did. All of a sudden, as he’s got older, he’s not bothered anymore, he’s just like oh hi. His socialisation has changed, do we see that a lot in older dogs?

Laura Jones: We do yeah, I think a lot of that is down to the owner. When you go out have you become a lot more relaxed? If you are constantly worried about what his reaction is going to be with another dog then that is going to reflect on him. 

Over the years because you have got to know him better, you know the signs, you know how he is going to react to certain people and environments. Maybe it’s because you have become more relaxed, he doesn’t feel the need to protect you because you are the big strong owner behind him. He’s relaxed, he’s enjoying life, and doesn’t feel like he needs to protect you. It could just be something as simple as that.

Jo Lloyd: He better behaved with other people more than he was with me. He’s got no problem socialising with other dogs it’s you, you’re at fault so I completely get that. I’m sure you’ve seen that a lot Sarah. 

Sarah Holmes: Yes, I have. 

Jo Lloyd: You can tell me off now if you like. 

Sarah Holmes: We did to with our own receptionist, she has a Jack Russell as well and she was so convinced that as soon as he saw another dog that he was going to kick off that she was automatically tightening the lead and then panicking. Rory was then doing it because he was thinking oh my god something bad is going to happen because my mum is terrified, not thinking oh that she is worried for me. The minute we went for a walk together, I asked her to drop the lead and she did it, he was like what now?  Then we walked past and he didn’t even bat an eyelid.

Unfortunately, dogs can have problems but it is mainly the owners that are the problem. 

Jo Lloyd: It’s the Jack Russell thing, little dog syndrome, I’m not having any of it. He’s been better with other people and he’s been better when he is not on his lead. As soon as he got to about ten, that small dog attitude just completely changed and maybe my attitude has changed because I know he’s not going to kick off because he’s older and you are right, it’s me, I need to go in and be retrained I think. 

Sarah Holmes: If you are feeding your anxiety down the lead, he doesn’t know what you are anxious about and he’s just picking up. Yes, it is tiny dog syndrome, he’s out in front of you on the walk and therefore feels he has to protect you. 

Jo Lloyd: Obviously lockdown is starting to change and as it’s lifted we’re all hopefully going to be welcoming people back into our homes and mingling more, I can’t wait for that you know I want people in the garden and to be able to come and have a nice meal. It’s going to be a bit of a shock to the system for pets, especially if they haven’t socialised with other people and it’s a kind of king of the castle sort of thing, isn’t it? All these new people coming into my home.

Sarah, what would you suggest for that?

Sarah Holmes: Even before lockdown, when there were occasions like New Year’s Eve and Bonfire Night, there are things you can do to plan ahead. Definitely having a safe space for your pet, a crate that’s covered, a private area behind the fridge, or a dark place under the table that’s just for them that they can go to and be away from everything really important. If you are planning on having people around, it might be that they’ve got babies or they’re just not used to all the people. Just being able to send them to a safe place that’s for them would really help. A lot of the products that Laura talked about, the wipes, sprays, and plug-ins, you can be using those now in preparation for these things happening and it is just a case of preparing as much as possible and making the situation easier for the animal. 

Again we’ve been predominantly talking about dogs but don’t necessarily like strangers, they want to have a safe space that they can run to or climb on. It’s just about being able to give them access and a plan so that if they are overwhelmed they have somewhere to go and if they want to hide you just leave them be. 

There are CDs and other items available where you can get pets more accustomed to the noise and stuff. You can just play them on a low volume and it will get them used to the noise and things happening rather than for example suddenly on a Saturday, everybody piles round and will want to pat the puppy. The puppy might be wondering what has just happened, feeling overwhelmed. 

Jo Lloyd: It’s like when you get into a lift and immediately the attention is on you. It’s that kind of an example, isn’t it?

Sarah Holmes: If a puppy is hiding somewhere, the worst thing an owner can do is go down and either force them to be in a situation or actually go down to them. They think, oh yeah my owner is hiding as well, it must be terrifying.

If they are worried and they are scared, leave them be and give them the time. Once they feel confident and they come out it will be so much easier to deal with a situation because they are doing it on their own terms. If they are forced they can just quite easily shut down which could undo months of good training and positive reward. It’s a team effort with you and your pets, you need to make plans and do things that make it easier but equally you want your pet to do it on their terms.

Jo Lloyd: Can we talk about something that you may or may not agree with, crate training cages. What are our thoughts on that? I’m going to ask you first Sarah.

Sarah Holmes: In the right situation I love them. I think if you’re going to use it as a tool because you are going back to work and you’re worried that your pet is going to be destructive, I think that’s a whole different argument. As the crate is used as a positive thing and you reinforce it as a positive thing, putting bedding and food in there then I think they are great. 

If you are using them potentially as a long-term solution for avoiding other problems then I don’t think they are great. 

Laura Jones: I completely agree with Sarah on this one, the crate really should be used as the dog’s bedroom, as the dog’s den. If you’ve got people coming round, put some home comforts in there and a blanket over the top with the door open so the dog can come and go as they please. The same as a pup, if you do this as a pup, let them come and go, and if they are feeling overwhelmed they can go into their bedroom.

I would never advise using a crate as a form of punishment for example if your dog has had an accident, is a bit jumpy or loud and you go locking them in the crate, they will never ever feel that as their place of comfort. In that sense, you have reinforced it in the wrong way. 

If you’ve been using it as a punishment and you then lock your dog in when you have visitors to your home, they will think of this as a bad thing and will never relax in the situation they have been put in. It would be like locking a child up in their bedroom as a punishment, in their eyes, it’s a bad thing, they don’t want to be in there because they are being punished for being in there, it’s the exact same way. 

Jo Lloyd: They will see it as a prison rather than a place of safety.

Laura Jones: Exactly, it can cause a happy dog to be anxious to be stressed and it just makes that situation tens times worse. If you are trying to relax your dog but then you are locking it in somewhere that it’s not enjoying then you are completely undoing everything you’ve taught it in the last few months. 

From day one, if you have made the decision to crate train your puppy, leave the door open, let them come and go, reward them when they are in there and just leave the door open for them so they have the opportunity to come out and be part of the family if they want to be. 

Jo Lloyd: What would you suggest, both of you really. We’re talking about going away with our pets, maybe for the first time and they are used to their crate at home, would you take that with you because you are then introducing an unfamiliar surrounding? Would it affect their socialisation because we’re putting them in unusual surroundings? Textures of the floor, they might not be used to treading on wooden floors or tiled floors, and then all of a sudden you are in a farmhouse. 

Is sleeping arrangement very important?

Sarah Holmes: Definitely, sleep is the most relaxed state they are going to be in, hopefully after a day of enjoyment they are going to naturally be tired, having something like a crate is fine. 

Depending on how you travel, it could be easy to have your dog secured in a crate when you are in the car, even their bedding or a blanket that is familiar to them. If you use a command like  “bed” or something, they know they can go and relax. Having something like that makes it easier wherever you take them. 

In the past, I used to locum and I used to take my Labrador with me, as long as she had her bed she would be happy wherever I put her because it was hers and she knew that when she was on a bed she could relax, not having to worry. Having something that is familiar to them is like a child’s special toy when they go into hospital or doing something for them when they are on a journey so they have something for comfort. 

Jo Lloyd: What about you Laura? What are your thoughts on that?

Laura Jones: I think it depends on the individual. If you’ve got a dog at home that loves using the crate and you’ve got a means of taking that with you, I think that’s a great idea because if you are in a completely new environment with new smells and new furnishings, every little thing that you might not be aware of makes a world of a difference to a dog. 

To have their comfort placed with them, just for them to relax a little bit in the evening would make a world of difference. Like Sarah said if it was a bed, crate, blanket, toy, or whatever it is, something familiar to a dog will just help comfort them and relax them. 

I think the crate is a great idea if your dog enjoys being in the crate, it just helps relax and soothe them. Again with the travelling, not only is it a safe way to travel but if they enjoy and are relaxed in the crate it will just make the journey a lot easier for them.

Jo Lloyd: We’ll move on to talk about the pros and the cons of actually making that decision to spare your dog because you know people have bought a little puppy, a little girl, or a little boy and they are thinking at what point do we make this decision.

Sarah, what are your thoughts? Obviously, you must see this an awful lot?

Sarah Holmes: Yes, at our practice we actually offer free pre-neuter consultations so we can fully talk to people about the pros and cons because there are massive variations between when to do them, if they are a giant breed or a small breed, do they need their hormones and stuff. There isn’t a one size fits all.

Overall I do think neutering your pet is a good thing, if you have a male dog you have longer in their age to do it before you can still see the health benefits. For females, if you neuter them earlier on you can reduce the risk of mammary tumours, womb infections, and things like that. There are more health benefits to females from being done earlier than a male. Sadly we are seeing unwanted pets and problems, I think neutering is a great thing. On the opposite side with cats, we are actually very proactive, we will neuter cats from twelve weeks of age, we’re part of a scheme to try and reduce the number of unwanted kittens. It’s been proven in cats that it’s safer to do the younger they are, there are no side effects. I’m definitely pro neutering. 

Jo Lloyd: I was reading the other day that there is an estimated three million extra pet owners since the pandemic started in the UK. Those figures are crazy such a high demand for products I expect then Laura? 

Laura Jones: Absolutely, we have seen so, many new people come through our doors who we have never met before. It’s absolutely amazing to get to know new people but keeping up with product demand can be really difficult at the moment so that is one of the top priorities at the moment to keep up with new demands and new products. 

We are always looking forward, looking for new lines and new things to help aid new owners with their puppies. 

Jo Lloyd: Yeah, and not just a fashion trend, something that will actually help with training and such. Sarah, do you have a top tip for socialising, for example, if you’ve got a little nervous dog and it’s a little bit shy of socialising, have you got an easy top tip?

Sarah Holmes: Yes, definitely. If you see any dog wearing yellow, whether it’s a ribbon. a band or something on their harness then takes that as a warning, not that the dog is bad or is going to attack it just means that particular dog needs space for whatever reason, be mindful and respectful. If your dogs are off the lead, put your dog back on the lead and speak to the owners, find out why they’ve got a hello tag on and why their dog needs space.

Jo Lloyd: It’s such a simple thing to do isn’t it? A ribbon or bandanna.

Sarah Holmes: Yes, you can see it from a distance, it just prepares people for whatever reason your dog needs space.

Jo Lloyd: It’s a really good idea. Laura, can you tell me about Pet Park? What is Pet Park?

Laura Jones: Pet Park, so many of our customers think it’s the most amazing thing ever. We have met so many different people through Pet Park. It’s basically an enclosed, relaxed environment where you can bring any age or breed of dog. We do hourly sessions where we have puppy play where they can interact, learn how to socialise, and be a puppy with other puppies. We have a senior play which is more relaxed and quiet so even the older dog gets to have a bit of enjoyment even if it’s just for half an hour. We do large breeds, it just allows them to be their big bouncy selves. Again with small breeds, lots of little, sometimes yappy small dogs interacting and being themselves. 

It’s ideal if you have got dogs that haven’t got a good recall with it being fully enclosed. We’ve got an indoor and outdoor area along with interactive toys, exercise equipment just to help stimulate them. When they have had their play you can sit down and they can have a treat, we do dog deli treats. Whilst they are enjoying their treat the owner can also have tea and cake. So many people have met and made new relationships with each other while meeting through pet place, they now come on a regular basis, on a weekly basis to meet up. It’s new friends for the dogs and new friends for the owners as well. It’s a great way to socialise, to help people get out there.

Sarah Holmes: For anyone that doesn’t know petplace, they actively encourage you in the shop with your pets. There are lots you can do and lots of stuff that would help you, for example, meeting strangers. 

Jo Lloyd: I can completely understand that but tea and cake are always a winner for me. Thank you both for taking part, in a great episode about socialisation.

Don’t forget you can get more information from farmandpetplace.co.uk

That’s it for another episode, join us next time on the petplace podcast as we look at more ways to become better pet parents.

Jo Lloyd: Hello I’m Jo Lloyd and this is petplace, the podcast series by pet parents for pet parents. Today we are looking at the ways in which we should prepare our horses for the winter season. 

I’ve got three very special guests to help me out and to answer lots of questions. They are going to introduce themselves individually. We’ll say hello to Claire, Katie and Lauraine, we’ll start with you, Claire.

Claire Haywood: My name is Claire Haywood, I am the national sales manager here at Perry Equestrian. I’m from Stockport in Manchester and today I’m working out of our head office in the West Midlands.

Katie Grimwood: My name is Katie Grimwood, I’m a nutritionist at Baileys Horse Feed, we are based in Essex. 

Lauraine Smith: Hello I’m Lorraine Smith and I’m the category manager at petplace which is also known as farm and petplace based in north Wales. I’ve been working for the company for about ten years and I’ve been living in north Wales for most of my life.

Jo Lloyd: Fantastic part of the world. Lovely to have you all involved in today’s podcast, we’ve got lots of questions so let’s get started. Shall we start with stables? Claire, this is to you, how should we prepare our stables for winter?

Claire Haywood: People have various different opinions on what they do. In my experience, people tend to start thinking about winter during August. They will probably start to wash stables out, maybe do a bit of painting, make them more pretty. Probably look at flooring, rubber mating and what the condition is like, do they need replacing? Generally, look at the fixtures and fittings to see if they are in a suitable condition or do they need to buy new ones.

Jo Lloyd: I suppose things like pipes, making sure they are lagged properly. Those little cosy lagging foam things you can get that go around pipes. They’re really handy, aren’t they?

Claire Haywood: They keep everything intact I guess, although you wouldn’t always have those in a horse stable because if you get one that’s a bit naughty it is going to pull that off and probably eat it. 

Jo Lloyd: I bet they are. Talking about keeping your horse very happy when stabled, what ideas personally do you have?

Claire Haywood: I think when they’re in, some horses change their routine for the winter months. To me, the crucial thing that people bring horses in is that week when the clock changes. Usually, around Halloween to bonfire night, that week is when they all come off their summer routine and then go to a winter routine. If horses aren’t in by bonfire night then they are staying out all winter I would imagine. If they are coming in, they are obviously in for longer periods of time. Not everybody is fortunate to have grazing for them in the day resulting in them being kept in a lot longer. Hay nets when we are feeding them hay and haylage, probably go for small-hold nets to try and prolong the eating time so they have got something to do.

There are also quite a lot of things you can put in your stables, little boredom breaker treat balls that they can knock around, things that hang that they can have a bit of a play with. There are lots of different things you can occupy them with whilst they are inside. 

Jo Lloyd: Lorraine, I’m guessing you get really busy at petplace with all these amazing things that we’ve got to keep our horses occupied during those winter months. Have you seen a progressive amount of footfall over the years and in fact lately for all of these products?

Lauraine Smith: I think people are more switched on now to the nature of horses, they’re not like a bicycle that you just take out and ride. They have personalities and they have needs of their own. They are very much social creatures, herd creatures and when we take them out of that environment where they are able to move around and occupy themselves then it’s our responsibility to make sure that we are substituting that with ways to prevent them from being bored which can then lead to vices and stress levels. 

Even things, for example, putting up mirrors in stables so they can see a reflection of another horse, if they’re not stabled next to another horse it gives them the feeling that they are not alone. 

As Claire was saying, there are various toys such as treat balls which they can roll along the floor that dispenses treats or various types of lick-it holders. There is a lot available on the market, we’ve seen a huge increase in those types of bored and breaking toys.

Jo Lloyd: Claire, do you have any tips for yard preparation?

Claire Haywood: You touched on it earlier when you mentioned pipes and making sure that the automatic water and feeders are working so that everything is flowing properly. People need to get things ready for those awful times that you hate when you are a horse owner when everything has frozen up, it’s painful to try and fill buckets. 

Make sure that the flooring is alright, especially in the yard, is there anything that needs cementing up before they all come in?

They need to consider the bedding for the horses as well. ready for winter. They need to find a bit of space in the yard because quite often yards will have big pallet deliveries of bedding, possibly hay and haylage which takes up a lot of room in the winter compared to what it would in the summer months. 

Jo Lloyd: Lighting is really essential isn’t it? Especially when those dark mornings creep in.

Claire Haywood: Yeah and we all hibernate. 

Jo Lloyd: We’d love to hibernate. Let’s talk about something which is a huge subject, winter laminitis. How does this affect our horses and ponies and secondly how would we go about treating it?

Katie Grimwood: It’s a little bit of a technical one, basically the inflammation of the laminae which is in the hoof. The laminae are basically structures that hold the pedal bone which is the last bone in the horse’s leg which hold the pedal bone to the hoof wall and suspend it in the right place. When these structures start to break down it can cause the horse to be in a lot of pain, it can make them quite pottery on their feet, making them very reluctant to move forwards.

Horses with more severe laminitis can actually have a rotation of the pedal bone where the structure of the laminate breaks down quite severely. The pedal bone can become rotated within the hoof, it does make it very painful. It’s not a very nice condition at all

Jo Lloyd That sounds really nasty. Once you have identified it, how do you go about treating it?

Katie Grimwood: If you suspect that your horse has got laminitis then the first step is to call the vet, get the vet involved straight away. They can usually do some x-rays and find out if the pedal bone has rotated at all and give you a bit more of an indication as to how severe it is.

I would also suggest bringing them off the grass, it can be triggered by quite lush grass if there are quite high levels of sugar in the grass, not only in the spring and summer but also in the winter.

Bring them off the grass, put them on a nice soft bed in their stable just to help support the hoof and make them as comfortable as possible. The vet will usually prescribe some sort of pain medication.

Jo Lloyd: What about diet. Can it help, are there metabolic changes as we are going into winter that would affect this condition?

Katie Grimwood: Yeah, horses with metabolic issues such as equines metabolic syndrome, Cushing disease. They do tend to be more at risk of getting laminitis. I think one of the biggest problems in the winter months which perhaps a lot of people are not aware of is that if you,

I think one of the biggest problems in the winter months which perhaps a lot of people are not aware of, is when we have very cold very bright days, your levels of sugar in the grass do start to accumulate. If the grass is able to produce sugars but it’s not quite warm enough for it to grow the sugar levels can really start to build up. Although it looks very cold the horse still might be injecting a lot of sugar and be at risk of laminitis. 

From a dietary perspective looking at the bucket feed, the hay and the haylage, what I would normally say is to take the horse off any high starch, high sugar mixes or cubes or anything like that. That may potentially exacerbate the problem.

Going back to basics, getting the horse on some soaked hay just to take the sugar levels down. Using a feed balancer is quite a nice option so the horse can still get the vitamins, minerals and protein that they need but without the sugar levels that would be found in other feeds.

Jo Lloyd: Sticking with nutritional considerations, what do we need to be aware of when we are moving our horses from a summer to a winter routine, making that transition. 

Katie Grimwood: As Claire was saying earlier, there are a lot of things that will change in the horse’s routine, you’ve got shorter day lengths as well so potentially they will be stabled more.

They will potentially not have any grass turn out at all, some horses are often stabled all the time in the winter.

The main thing to do is to make the changes really nice and slowly, usually taking around two weeks if you can. To slowly reduce your horses’ turnout time, allow them to go from a predominantly grass diet to predominantly hay or haylage to reduce the risk of any upset this might cause. 

The horse’s digestive system is very sensitive to the type of feed that it’s getting. If we are changing it we do risk horses getting loose droppings and an upset tummy if we do change it too quickly. Making changes slowly is definitely the big one.

Jo Lloyd: That’s great. So the concentration feed does that need to be adjusted over the winter months or once you’ve made that transition are you fine for the winter months?

Katie Grimwood: It kind of depends on the individual horse, to be honest. A lot of people might be riding less over the winter if they haven’t got as long in the evening to ride after work. If your horse’s workload is being reduced then you might need to drop the feedback a bit or use a lower energy feed. Some houses are prone to losing quite a lot of weight over the winter when the grass isn’t available. For those types of horses, you might need to use a high-calorie deed over the winter.

Jo Lloyd: If your horse has not had much access to grass or to graze naturally over the winter months, when we talk about hay or haylage, how much do they need?

Katie Grimwood: Ideally you’d want to be feeding them ad-lib to appetite so they have always got some available. If we think about when they are out on the grass, they’ve always got that grass, we’re not restricting the amount that they have. Ideally, you want to be feeding them as much as they’ll eat. Horses have evolved to be trickle feeders, they have evolved to be eating pretty much constantly. We do want to make sure we are giving them plenty, the only exception would be if you’ve got your horses or ponies that have come into the winter a little bit on the heavy side, we can potentially look at reducing the quantity slightly but you want a minimum of no less than 1.5 – 1.7 kilos per hundred kilos of body weight.

Jo Lloyd: How does that work for you, Claire? Have you found that transition easy, obviously you’ve been looking after your horse for such a long time and you have been in this field for a long time so that transition for you, is it just something that you just take second nature?

Claire Haywood: Yes, I’ve had my horse for about twenty years and I’ve had her on various different types of feeds over the years and seen all different types of reactions and she’s been in different levels of work because I’ve had from one age of seven to twenty-seven, some really big changes going on during that time.

Katie mentioned a balancer and since I’ve been on a balancer with her for quite a few years now, I’ve seen some great results. At twenty-seven you would probably expect a horse to start dropping weight, be a bit dippy in the back and really change shape but touch wood, I’m actually really lucky and I think feed plays a massive part in that.

I feed her the same feed all year round, I feed a balancer and a little bit of chop. She is on two meals a day and I never change it, possibly in the summer months I reduce the chop a little bit but I stick to those two feeds all year round, every single day and that maintains her weight. Nice topline, she’s not chubby and she is doing alright. I wouldn’t change because I think feed is so important, I’m actually scared to change it because if I put something in there that doesn’t suit her she goes crazy and then I can’t ride her properly. I’m sticking with what I know works.

Jo Lloyd: Lauraine, to you now. I’m sure you have absolutely loads of owners coming in and looking for this advice, is this something you deal with on a daily basis? Do you have lots of people on hand to give this kind of advice?

Lauraine Smith: Absolutely, in north Wales, we have lots of different types of horses but there are an awful lot of native breeds which are notoriously prone to laminitis. We have a lot of people coming into the store with concerns regarding prevention as well as treatment of that condition. 

Our staff members in-store, we have specialists in the equine departments who have received training on the feed so they are available to give advice and if they don’t have the information if it’s a very specific problem they have always got the ability to get in contact with the nutritionist from the various feed suppliers that we have. There is a good support network available through petplace.

Jo Lloyd: Katie, what is the difference between hay and haylage and which one is better to use over winter? 

Katie Grimwood: From observing them, the main difference is that the haylage will be a lot wetter than hay and this is due to the method that’s been made. Hay will be left to dry after it’s been cut in the field before being baled whereas haylage is just left to wilt before it is baled and wrapped up in plastic wrapping. The haylage does tend to smell a lot sweeter, I think for that reason a lot of people believe that haylage is a much higher calorie, high sugar but actually when we look at the analysis of hay compared to haylage there isn’t a great deal of difference on average. 

You might get very high-calorie hay compared to a low calorie or low sugar haylage. There isn’t one rule that fits all.

I think when choosing between hay and haylage, the main thing you should be looking at is your horse’s individual requirements. For example, horses with respiratory issues might benefit from haylage because it’s slightly wetter and usually slightly less busy than hay. If you have a horse that is quite fussy, they might prefer haylage or if you have a horse that is a little overweight and you’d like to soak your hay then we recommend hay as haylage goes a bit smelly when it’s soaked. Hay is usually better for that purpose.

Jo Lloyd:  Now Lauraine, do you have any other advice for older horses that tend to lose a bit of weight over winter. 

Lauraine Smith: For older horses that find it difficult to eat there are all sorts of soak feeds as well. We’re trying to get fibre into our horses, there is Speedibeet, Fibre-Beet and a number of different brands out there. People think it is sugar beet, they are hearing about sugar and are getting worried about that but it actually isn’t, it’s high fibre and very low sugar. You can soak that and it makes a nice wet, moist feed that they can get to the backs of their mouths, very often they keep their back teeth and it’s easily digestible for them. Incorporating balances into there so that you know they are getting all of the vitamins, minerals and fibre that they need. 

Jo Lloyd: I think Lauraine has pretty well covered it.

Katie Grimwood: Absolutely using the soaked feeds. We’re basically looking if the horse is unable to eat the hay, haylage or grass anymore. We’re ultimately looking to replace that fibre that they would have been having. As we said earlier the horse has evolved to have that amount of fibre. When we are using our forage replacement feeds, we need to find something that we can feed plenty of or use a  combination of different products in order to meet your horse’s fibre requirements. Split it between the day as well, as little and often as you can to mimic their natural eating pattern.

Jo Lloyd: Claire, you mentioned before about distractions keeping the horse entertained, being stabled for longer over the winter months. If the horse is naturally a more excitable horse, a more active horse, have you any top tips at all. 

Claire Haywood:  During winter people try to ride a little bit more if they can and if they have the facilities, it depends where you keep your horse. We face a lot of weather challenges along the way as well. Some people are fortunate enough to keep their horses in livery yards and have indoor arenas which are very privileged but some people don’t have those facilities, some don’t even have a manège to school in. We try to keep them a little more active, try to get them out of the stable a little bit more to reduce the boredom. Increase grooming so you can give them something to think about, something to do. 

You probably see them a bit more often during the winter months, depending on what your routine is. During the summer some people will turn them out at night so they are out for longer periods of time and in during the day whereas the whole winter routine will change. There are lots of different boredom breakers you can use both in and out of the stable.

Try your best to keep them amused despite the fact that you don’t like going out in bad weather.

Lauraine Smith: I think there is a lot we can do ourselves as well through the winter, we obviously talk about what we need to do for the stable, it’s also planning ahead for ourselves and making sure that we’ve got the right footwear to keep our feet nice and warm, our hands nice and warm. Many of us are mucking out during the dark at night, we spoke about lighting and head torches are a great example. Most of us after mucking out in the morning have to go to work, keeping ourselves clean is important and not smelling so our work colleagues appreciate us when we arrive at work. 

Thinking ahead and trying to make life as easy as possible. Looking after our backs is another important point, the right piece of equipment for the right job as it puts a lot of pressure on your back during the winter.

Jo Lloyd: As we’ve just touched on it there, your own safety. Safety is a huge thing, in-store at petplace you can give loads of advice on what you should be wearing as a rider to keep yourself safe, especially as you are mucking out at ridiculous dark hours of the morning and the night and for your horse as well. 

Lauraine Smith: Reflective wear, people are bringing their horses down dark lanes at night so it is making sure you’ve got your reflective lead ropes, head collars, there are all sorts of things. Lots of rugs have reflective strips built-in and our own clothing, whether it’s a gilet that you put over the top, flashing lights or armbands as there are all sorts of accessories to keep ourselves visible and safe. 

Jo Lloyd: Let me just touchback on weight for our horses. Katie, how can horse owners identify if their horses are overweight or underweight? 

Katie Grimwood: There are a couple of different methods you can use for this, over the winter in particular when a lot of horses will have their rugs on because they are perhaps not able to be ridden as much. Make sure you are taking your horse’s rug off regularly, I know it seems really obvious but sometimes it’s easier said than done. Sometimes you can go a few days without riding or a few weeks and the rug stays on. 

Make sure you are taking your horse rug off regularly, taking a step back and actually looking at them to see if they have lost weight. Taking photos regularly as well can be really helpful when you are seeing them every day as you don’t necessarily notice those small changes.

One method that we do really recommend that people try is something called body condition scoring, this is where you can slightly more objectively assess your horse’s condition. We’ve got a whole page and lots of information on this on our Baileys website. We would give the horse a score between one and nine,  nine would be an extremely overweight horse and one would be an emaciated horse. We are aiming for a score of five in the middle and looking at the key areas where they might lose or gain weight. Over the ribs, for example, we want to make sure we can feel the ribs with a gentle touch but not see them too obviously.

There are lots of different areas that we can evaluate and give the horse an overall score and by recording these scores we can more objectively assess whether our horse is overweight or underweight, if they’re losing or gaining. 

Jo Lloyd: Lauraine, in-store your equine specialists really help how we can promote winter weight loss for our horses that maybe have put a little bit on over winter, over the summer months may be a bit of lockdown lard going on there. 

Lauraine Smith:  A lot of it is reassurance, having someone to talk to about it, someone to sound ideas off really helps. There are things like weigh tapes which you can use, the body conditioning scoring is the main one to go for.

Horses are like people, they can put weight on in different places, you can end up with horses that have fat pads on necks but you can still see their ribs a bit. People find that confusing sometimes. It’s an education process, having the opportunity to talk through with another experienced member of staff about their horse and the condition. Getting them to think about the shape over the rump of the horse, is the spine dipping, are there little fat pads over the rump. Maybe they are dipping at the withers because they’re older? It’s very individual. It’s having the opportunity to have another point of view and to get some guidance on feeds to consider. 

Claire Haywood: At the moment it’s a really hot topic, I keep my horse in a livery yard and quite often from a feeding point of view with hay and haylage you are governed by what the actual livery yard buys in. You don’t actually always have the option to get your own forage, you can get your own feed but the hay and the haylage are quite often bought in bulk on mass and everybody has the same. 

Suddenly, because there have been quite a lot of laminitis outbreaks this year, everybody’s feeding requirements changed so the whole yard has to change. We usually feed haylage but with all the laminitis around, we’ve gone onto hay now. Sometimes that can present different things, for example, my horse suffers from dust allergies so haylage is fine, she keeps her weight fine and I keep an eye on it. Going onto hay she can get a little itchy because the hay has got a higher dust content in it, you might have to start soaking. 

A little impact that happens with somebody else’s horse in a yard can then suddenly impact everybody else in totally different ways. At the minute in my yard, we are all watching weight because of the laminitis situation, we watch it anyway but I would say we are all a lot keener at the moment. There is a lot of weighing going on and keeping a check on things that are generally happening. Making some significant changes for some people that they have never had to make before. 

Jo Lloyd: Where can horse owners get more information or find out which feeds might best suit their horse? Lauraine, I know you have probably got an answer for this one?

Lauraine Smith: There are a number of different websites, all the feed suppliers, there is information on those websites. Stores like ourselves at petplace, we’ve got knowledgeable equine staff who are also able to guide you through the feed range that we have in-store. If you come in with a particular concern, problem or just want some general advice they will be able to advise you on the feeds we have there. 

Jo Lloyd: If you are in a moment of crisis, is there anything you can do to bring yourself back and regain that sense of calm?

Claire Haywood: I think just to support what Lauraine said if people go into a mass panic about what to feed the horses, what’s the best thing to do if they are changing the work of the horse etc and they need to change nutrition and they really don’t know I would ultimately say that the nutrition and helplines that all the feed companies offer are a great support and help. I think quite a few of the suppliers offer yard visits. At my yard, we have had the weighbridge out there where all the horses were weighed. Everybody gets the advice and is told what to feed in line with the work that they do. I think that’s a really good way to go if you are concerned. 

Lauraine Smith: I think that Claire has got it covered, our in-store staff are able to put you in the direction if anybody needs contacts if they want to speak directly with the feed companies and speak to their nutritional experts.

Katie Grimwood:  Claire and Lauraine have pretty well covered it. At Baileys and all the other big food companies, we do offer the service of going out to yards and doing yard visits with the weighbridge. 

We also have a contact form on our website that people can fill in all the information about their horse and they will get a detailed feeding plan that’s sent to them that is individual and specific for their horse and it’s totally free of charge.

Even if you’ve got a question that you might think is silly, it’s probably not, you can call and ask us anything you want or pop us an email. Not just Bailey’s but all the other companies will do that as well.

Jo Lloyd: Thank you so much, Katie, Claire and Lauraine, it’s been a pleasure to chat with you on this podcast and here is to a happy horse for the winter season.

Don’t forget you can get more information and advice from the official website farmandpetplace.co.uk.

That’s it for another episode, see you next time when we will be looking at how to manage pet anxiety and how to keep our pets calm.

Jo Lloyd: Today we are talking about pet anxiety. I’ll be asking a panel of experts for advice on how to spot the signs and how to deal with them. We’re going to learn tips and tools to keep our pets calm. 

I’m joined by three guests on today’s episode, welcome ladies. Let’s start by learning a bit about each of you. Let’s start with you, Anneka.

Anneka Burek: Hello, my name is Anneka and I work in the PetPlace Mold store. I’ve always had a massive interest in dogs, I did a degree in dog trying and behaviour, my background is all about animal management. I have two dogs myself, my life just revolves around dogs, I just obsess over them.

Charlotte Carr: I’m Charlotte or Charlie Carr and I’m a clinical animal behaviourist, I did a masters in clinical animal behaviour. Since then I have worked with behaviour products such as Feliway, Adaptil and being behavioural support for those.

Sarah Holmes: Hiya, I’m a vet and an owner of Mochdre vets in Mochdre. It’s a veterinary practice and rehabilitation centre.

Jo Lloyd: Thank you and it’s great to have you all joining in on this podcast today. Sarah, you’ve been a hit with us before, it’s great to chat with you again. 

Today we are going to talk about pet anxiety and how to keep our pets calm. It’s a big question as we are now approaching coming out of the summer into the autumn and winter months. My first question is to you all really but we shall start with you Anneka. What are the main symptoms of pet anxiety, what can we see for the first sort of symptoms that appear?

Anneka Burek: A lot will depend on the animal, for example for dogs if you are seeing your dog drooling and it’s not a Mastiffs, Mastiffs and Saint Bernards tend to drool just in general but if you’ve got a Border Collie that’s drooling that’s probably not normal for that dog. 

Things like shaking, if you are in the car and the dog is shaking, if it’s not normal for your dog to behave like this then this is something to be looking out for. 

Panting, you can get a few different types of panting. 

If you have got a dog that is doing what is known as a spoon pant, which is basically a flat wide pant, this is a sign of stress. Obviously, if it is a hot day this needs to be taken into consideration. 

There is also something known as a whale eye, this is where the dog is giving you the side-eye. You will see the whites of the eyes, it’s very subtle and many people will not notice it. If you do see your dog doing this in a certain situation and he doesn’t usually then it could be a sign of anxiety. 

Another one is hiding, if he is hiding under the bed and you’ve said shall we go for a walk, that would raise a few questions. Pacing and whining, are symptoms of anxiety.

For cats; tail flicking, hiding again is quite common for cats, crouching, raising their hair, the hackles and excessive grooming. If cats are losing hair this is out down to anxiety. 

For horses, if they are pacing up and down a field, maybe their friends are gone and they are feeling a bit stressed about it or if their ears are back this usually means they are unsure about you. Tail swishing and any sort of retreating from you. Things like crib-biting which is where the house is chewing on a fence or a stable door or weaving which is when they are moving their heads in a stressful manner. Any of these things I would be thinking to be concerned about the animal and want to know why is doing it and what I can do to help it. 

Sarah Holmes: I think Anika has given a good comprehensive list, even within the list she has given there are still more little things that you might see and the biggest thing I hope that people take from this podcast today is to try and understand what your pet does normally and notice when there are any little side changes, things that are different. Any behaviours that are being repeated. 

The big thing that we see that people always assume is normal is a dog yawning and they think he might be tired or bored but he is not, it could be that he is stressed, the biggest thing that will motivate a dog in our surgery to make it think stressful is actually the owner. As well as looking at the subtle cues that they are getting from their animals, they should be looking at their own behaviour and how they can make their time with us a bit more positive. 

We actively encourage people to come and do social visits, we’ve got big open rooms where we encourage the dogs to go off the lead and smell around so they can get used to it. 

Knowing what your dog does normally and then looking for exaggerated actions could be a clue that there is anxiety, if you are going into a consultant room and you are anxious I can bet a million pounds your dog will be anxious too. 

Jo Lloyd: Of course now we’re approaching a time where there are probably lots of new pet owners. Lockdown pets, lockdown puppies, dogs and cats etc that have been bought. This is a new experience completely, we are about to go into Autumn and with the changes that come with being in the UK in the Autumn and people going back to work, stress and anxiety come in. 

You’ll have a lot of owners coming to you not recognising these signs because the pet is new to them.

Sarah Holmes: There are videos and guides on why people can look and see what’s signs would show anxiety. If people are in a situation and it’s new to them and it’s not just with lockdown but with any situation, the key is preparation and practice. If you think something is going to be stressful for your animal, break it up into baby steps. Attempt each baby step until they are happy with it and work on it. 

Prior to covid, we used to make recommendations from September for people with fireworks. We’d show how planning and preparation would enable them to cope better than the people that would turn up on the fifth of November and be shocked that their animals were stressed by the fireworks. 

As hard as it is to say, a lot of anxiety problems come down to the owner. The owner has all the time to prepare and get an animal used to a situation. When it’s rushed and not planned you end up with problems.

People do need to research, why is your animal doing X, Y and Z? How can you make it better? Are they anxious, are they bored or frustrated? Are they doing these actions to get a reward from you? How the animal will respond does to a point be guided by the owner, it is unfortunate that part of being an owner you have to invest the time training and making these situations better.

Charlotte Carr: With many of the different situations, especially if it does start from stress and fear, then you are trying to help them, not just with training but within their environment and product. 

You can get pheromone-based products. For cats and dogs, you can get pheromone spray that you can plugin which will then help create that calming environment, enabling the dog or the cat to feel a bit more reassured and a bit more comfortable. 

With the different scenarios, it’s also best to see what happens before, what happens after, what might be that trigger or the stimuli. Whatever it is that’s causing that stress, try to again start with the training for that. 

Break it down like Sarah said, if they are brand new puppies or kittens then try to show them the things that are potentially scary in a positive way. Having these products around creates a positive environment and then you are able to train with treats, toys, praise, something fun, anything that the dog or cat will enjoy. Just create such positive bonds which not only help the owner animal bond but also the associations with anything that might be potentially scary.

Jo Lloyd: My dog is fourteen and a half years old, he is a Jack Russell terrier. I would always describe him as an emotional stressy dog. I’m taking ownership of this, it has just been me and him so I think that’s a lot to do with me and the fact that It’s just me and him. If I go out he is thinking, oh when is she going to be back? Even at fourteen and a half he really does suffer from stress. Fireworks aside because things have changed over the years, his hearing isn’t great, the fireworks don’t bother him as much as they did when he was a young adult dog. I’ve gone down the route of those products but just anxiety in general, he does get really stressed and now with his hearing gone I’m faced with something new. He can’t hear me if I’m upstairs so he then thinks I’ve gone out again and left him. What’s the best thing for me to do with him?

Charlotte Carr: That’s a great age, you’ve probably had quite a long time together so I would use that bond, use that as a positive association but also give really strong cues that he will know about. If you will be one minute then put your finger up for one, I’ll be one minute. Dogs use visual keys so much so that will be really important for them. If you are going to be a bit longer, try and do a wave or five minutes just so he will know that you will be back soon. 

I’ll relax or lay down and I’ll be able to know that you are coming back a bit later. Try and train that settle so whether you are there or not being able to lay down and actually relax by themselves is something that you should try and promote, if he does choose to do that then reward it and try and see it reoccurring more. 

Sarah Holmes:  Even at fifteen you should still have games, older dogs thrive on mental stimulation. If you are going out he could still have snuffle mats, we recommend them to arthritic dogs and older dogs. Making him play and do stuff with his brain when you go out is a good distraction and age shouldn’t be a barrier to that. The older they are the more you can play brain games with them. It shouldn’t be that now he is old you have stopped.

Jo Lloyd: Right okay, so Anika tell me about snuffle mats then, please?

Anneka Burek: Snuffle mats are rubber mats with fleece that you entwine, there are probably other types available but this is what I know. The idea is that you put food, dry food is probably easier. You put it into the folds of the fleece and then the dog has to search for the food. It’s a foraging exercise that works really well for anxiety because it gives the dog focus, it gives them something to do and hopefully tries to get them to either forget about or not be as bothered by what’s going on and what it is that’s bothering them. It’s definitely worth a try if you have an anxious pet. You can use it for any animal, not just dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, anything because they will all thrive from it. 

Jo Lloyd: What other product would you recommend for pet anxiety?

Anneka Burek: Like Sarah was saying, a lot of the puzzle feeders are good. You can get things like slow feeders which are like a bowl or something that has raised bumps in it, it’s just about the dog finding the food. Things like Kongs so you can fill them with food, pop them in the freezer they will last longer. Fill them with paste or cheese, Kong does a paste that you can use, Arden grange do a paste you can use. All these things you can use or any wet dog food is another option.

Brain games, you can get wooden or plastic games, we do sell a few in-store. It’s just about the dog moving bricks or sliding things around with their nose. There are a lot of things you can buy. You can try them and see if it helps, even if it doesn’t help out with the anxiety the dog will probably enjoy it regardless. 

Charlotte Carr:  With exactly what you said, with the Kongs or anything that is frozen or a paste the actual licking is self-soothing for a dog. It will naturally reduce their anxieties. If they are worried when you are not there, leaving them a Kong full of frozen chicken stock or something that they could lick like yoghurt on a licking mat is naturally self-soothing as well as chewing so anything that’s chewable and that there allowed can also help.

Jo Lloyd: I might try all these tips when I’m in the house. When I’m often upstairs or when I’m working where I’m not in the same room as him, he also gets stressed. I’m going to start introducing those while I’m in the house, is that a good idea? Have I got to do this when I’m not here completely?

Anneka Burek: I think you’ve got a risk, sometimes if you do it when you are only gone the dog starts to think, hold on a second you’ve got the Kong out this means you’re leaving. It’s about how you do it. If you do it when you are there, you might be sitting on the sofa and you let the dog just have the Kong just because and then sometimes you’re not there and it’s still the same. The dog doesn’t know, he can’t tell because of the Kong. That’s probably a better way of doing it I would imagine. 

Sarah Holmes: We’ve got quite a lot of owners that film their pets to see what their behaviours are like. Even if you are upstairs, having a nanny cam, you can see what he does when you aren’t there. It’s quite a good thing to get a camera so it actually knows what they are doing.

Jo Lloyd: I’ve seen those little pet cams and they aren’t very expensive are they? You hook them up onto an app on your smartphone and you can just keep an eye on them. I try to limit the length of time that I’m out anyway.

Let’s talk about other pet anxieties, for instance, my producer moved house recently and his gorgeous cat started having a few little accidents at the front door. How should we tackle these clear signs of anxiety, Sarah I’m going to come to you on that one.

Sarah Holmes: I’m sure Charlie will be able to go through things in more detail, the medical reason why cats and dogs start urinating inappropriately is stress which is one of the main causes. 

When you are moving home you can start the process before you move. We use a product called Pet Remedy, they have wipes, plugins and sprays. If you spray onto the pet’s bed this will help them get used to the smell. The idea of this is that if you move them into one room so it’s not overwhelming that they’re suddenly in a new house. If you put all the product in to make it better for them and then bit by bit you introduce them to the house. They know where their litter trays are, try and keep the tray you had before consistent and the products you use in it.

Cats, especially when they are rubbing their cheeks, are scent marking and leaving a trail, the idea is bit by bit let them do that from their room to their little tray. As horrible as it is, if a cat urinates in the house, you shouldn’t reprimand them, they’re doing it because they are stressed. 

Cats are inherently clean and they’re not doing it to spite you or be naughty, they are doing it because they are anxious and they don’t know where to go. Sometimes stress can cause cystitis, they are actually urinating more than normal, it could be that they are not able to get to the tray. Unfortunately, the naughty producer should have taken steps before he moved house. 

Charlotte Carr: As Sarah said cats can face rub and leave face deposits, you might have seen it before with a cat rubbing on you, fabric, furniture or doors. It’s actually a really good sign, it means they are comfortable and happy. They go back and they smell that scent that they have deposited which is pheromones and that will then make them happy again which will make them want to do it more and more, it’s a lovely circle for them. When they are not happy they stop doing it, then they don’t have those natural pheromones around which then doesn’t make them so happy. It’s a difficult situation when that happens, nothing can really be done and that is why the products are so good for cats because it then starts that circle again. 

Feliway has that exact pheromone deposit copy in the product. It’s scientifically proven to calm or comfort cats just as it would if it was their natural actual pheromone that they have. There is also a brand new version which is optimum, this is even better at calming and better help for them to feel that reassurance again. Especially things that are stressful like moving house, that’s the feeling that would break that lovely circle of feeling comfortable because they would get a bit worried. Their control has gone, their schedule has gone and the reassurance of their environment. Their territory has changed. 

Starting with Feliway you can either have the plugin in the room the cat spends the most time in or the spray, maybe on the bedding, towels, whether they’re being transported or a room they are staying in. Just trying to create that comfortable environment again. The diffusers normally last about thirty days, it’s best to plug in twenty fours hours before you want them to work perfectly. If you are moving into a new house, maybe ask to go a week before the cat moves in and set up a room for them. Plugin the diffuser, even a week before they get there so you know that the whole room is full of lovely pheromones. We don’t know they’re there, we can’t smell them, we can’t perceive them but cats can.

Jo Lloyd: I’ve used the dog version, it’s really good. Anneka, do you sell all those products then?

Anneka Burek: We sell Feliway and  Pet Remedy, I think that’s all the diffusers we sell. 

Jo Lloyd:  Very popular?

Anneka Burek: We sell a lot, especially around bonfire night and the big events like New Year. It is a case of trying to prepare beforehand, sometimes owners do get caught out in an emergency. We usually have them in stock.

Jo Lloyd: Coming onto bonfire night, I’m sure you will all agree that there is no such thing as one night anymore. It’s not even a week, it’s more like a whole season, isn’t it? It’s a stressful time.

What advice could you give for nervous dogs? I’m going to start with you Charlie because I know we’ve just talked about that product. It must become extremely popular.

Charlotte Carr: Definitely, especially for dogs we find that Adaptil in particular works during firework season is a saviour. I find especially for me personally with my dog who is a rescue dog and slightly nervous anyway. We can’t explain these big bangs that just come out of nowhere to them or the sound, the light, anything that might be triggering. It’s quite hard to explain to them that this isn’t scary, they’re going to be naturally scared of it. 

Having some preparations in place can really help, dogs might find a safe area, a den or anywhere that they like to sleep or hide. A crate for example that is hidden with a blanket that’s open.  They can go there and they can feel reassured themselves in that den area. 

Closing curtains, blinds and making sure all doors are shut. Turing the tv or radio on quiet. Just trying to muffle out as much sound as possible and just trying if you have a puppy to associate those sounds early on with something positive, starting very quiet and building it up louder and louder. 

Jo Lloyd: Like noise conditioning from an early age is it? Sarah, would you have any top tips? I’m sure you have so many questions from new owners about the firework season, the noises and the stresses?

Sarah Holmes: Following on from what Charlie said, there are actually CDs and other items available called Sound Scary. You can start them on a low volume and get your animals used to loud bangs. It’s not just fireworks, there is thunder and lightning, cars backfiring. Gradually over a period of time, you get used to them. 

The biggest tip we have for fireworks and anxiety, in general, is that all pets should have somewhere that is their space that they can retreat to. When they are in their space, if a firework goes off then the owner needs to leave them quietly in that den area. Going down and hiding with them, they perceive that as the owner is scared and not that the owner is checking upon them.

It is a case of giving them a safe space, preparing them. If they are a little bit worried and they come to you, you give them gentle reassurance. You don’t make a big thing of them.

Sadly fireworks are not just one night it’s many nights. People ask us about sedating their dogs, we only recommend it in very few circumstances. There’s better preparation to do, planning as early as possible and getting your pet used to the situation. 

Charlotte Carr: I definitely agree with what Sarah is saying. That accidentally we can reward them for that response, that stress response and then you might accidentally be encouraging it to happen more and more. If they are stressed from the fireworks, you might be rewarding it and saying you should be stressed about the fireworks when obviously we want the opposite, we want more calm and comforting behaviours. Trying to get them to feel that this is okay, you’ll be okay through this. 

Anneka Burek: One thing that I do with my dog, I get filled hooves and I put them in the freezer either already filled or I fill them with wet dog food or something else that I can use. I save these for bonfire night or when I can sense that there are going to be fireworks because one of my dogs doesn’t like fireworks so I just know that if I give him something to eat, he is very food motivated so he will just be quiet then. 

The other thing I do with them when a firework goes off, I throw them a piece of kibble so then it’s fireworks and food. It’s not necessarily preparation but we are stuck at this moment, there are fireworks going off and I didn’t think there were going to be any, seeing as though there are I know my dogs will eat food anyway so I just give them food. Basically, get them to associate the fireworks with the food. If you have a dog like that it can work out really well, a dog that is a little bit stressed but not overly to the point where you need to add medication. I find that really helps with my dogs.

Jo Lloyd: I’m loving all these top tips. For me, Basil was always really stressed about bonfire night to the point where it would really upset me to see how stressed he was. I tried everything. Now he is at the stage where he has lost his hearing. He’s not bothered by them but I’m not taking any chances, I still close the shutters, put the music and tv on loud to have all of those distractions. Make the den, just in case. 

Am I still doing the right thing? 

Charlotte Carr: Yes, definitely. 

Sarah Holmes: They have shown that dogs respond quite well to classical music. If you are putting music, try and pick something like that. There are websites that do classical music on a loop. It has been shown, not just with fireworks but anything anxious. More than anything I do think having a den and closing the curtains we assume they associate it with the noise but it could be that they see a flash and that they know something terrible is going to happen. As with many of the stimulations, you can help your pet avoid them better.

Anneka Burek: As dogs age, they are used to their routines and you saying you’re continuing what you are doing is probably quite reassuring for him. If he could hear the fireworks, maybe he might hear the odd one and the routine has changed as well which could be more upsetting. I think carrying on with what you are doing because he might be picking up on your body language, it’s worthwhile with continuing what you are doing. Just keep it all the same for him, try and keep him calm. 

Charlotte Carr: They can feel vibrations too. I would definitely continue and just add in an adaptable plugin because it can help all dogs no matter what their age. 

Jo Lloyd: I do stock up at that time because going into winter as well. Is there such a thing as a seasonal disorder for dogs that humans get? As the nights draw in, is this something That affects our pets for instance?

Sarah Holmes: Indirectly yes, anything similar to what has been said already that changes their routine is going to affect them. When there are shorter days and darker nights they are not getting the exercise and stimulation that they want. Naturally, if an owner is a bit down that it is dark or it’s wet then they are going to pick up on the stress and anxiety of an owner. 

In general, they don’t have the symptoms and signs that we do of sadly being depressed. Anything that will change their routine, I believe that the highlight of their day should be going for a walk and most dogs don’t care whether it’s in the dark or windy, you just take precautions where you walk them. Make sure that they still get the chance to be out, smell and do stuff. That’s more important to them than anything. 

If an owner says he is acting differently, it is more than likely that the owner is acting differently and they are picking up on it. 

Jo Lloyd: Anneka, do you have anything to add to that?

Anneka Burek: As you said about walks that might change because you might want to get home earlier or because it’s getting dark, a dog could possibly pick up on something like that. Obviously, if it is dark then you might have a dog reacting differently to other dogs and there is a black dog for example then they might respond to that because they may not be able to see that dog as well. 

If you have a dog that’s becoming blind, getting older then they might be reacting to things in the dark. Iy’s little things that you wouldn’t necessarily think of but it might explain why a dog is reacting in a certain way just because of the season. 

Jo Lloyd: With seasonal changes and winter on the way, what do we need to be aware of on the anxiety stress level?

Sarah Holmes: In general with winter comes colder and damper conditions, not necessary anxiety. We do think the same for humans that things like arthritis are worse during this time. Your pet may be showing unusual behaviours, it’s worth figuring out if it is pain-related or is it anxiety-related and treating them accordingly. 

Come winter, dogs that go swimming can still go swimming but you just need to dry them properly. The biggest anxiety that you are going to see in the coming months is for puppies that have been poorly socialised that don’t know what an umbrella is, don’t know what someone in a heavy coat or a hat is. Trying to prepare and get used to things that they may not have encountered before and having a plan in your mind of how they are going to face it and how you are going to act. Trying to reward positively so that any new situations arise that they can cope with. 

Jo Lloyd: Fabulous. Charlie, as the nights draw in are dogs warrier in the dark and in particular for instance Anneka I know you touched on the fact that if the dog is struggling with his eyesight, obviously dark nights don’t help. In particular with my dog, his hearing is not there, last winter he was fine so this winter it is going to be very different. Charlie, with that in mind, do you have any more top tips?

Charlotte Carr: If you are worried I would try and keep them on a lead, keep them close and look ahead to see what is coming up. Should I stay to the side and avoid it just to be safe or am I able to tackle this with a few treats and create a positive association? 

Depending on each of the different scenarios that would be worrying or challenging then try and break them down and see what is the best for me and my pet. How can we get through it in a positive way for them but also for me? Try and just relax a bit because dogs will be able to perceive what you are feeling and feel that too. 

I would go out with my dog at night and now it is getting a bit darker, I thought he didn’t like the dark but it’s me. I want to get home as quickly as possible, as soon as it starts to get dark and he has picked up on it. It’s also important for us to try and relax as well. It is a lovely time for them, let them smell and take that time. Just be aware of the safety aspects such as keeping them on a lead, making sure their chip is up to date, leaving them in the garden more than you usually would because there is that shorter period of going on walks as you might not be able to do the times you normally do. 

Make sure your garden is secure. Try to keep it similar to the other seasons, try to keep it as normal as you can. Structure and routine are important as well.

Jo Lloyd: Anneka, I’m guessing that petplace have so much advice and so many products to help us as we head into winter. To still be able to socialise our pets and relieve that stress for them. It is interesting that all of these tips point to the fact that as owners it’s such a responsibility. That anxiety, these little things that all add up to so much and going forward making sure that they are still socialised. They don’t care about the weather, it’s us that cares about the weather. 

I’m sure that you are filled with amazing products to help us still socialise our pets in the winter?

Anneka Burek: We’ve got loads of products that can help. I think what is important to say is that we are open from nine am until six pm, apart from on a Sunday. You can bring your dog into a store or any animal that’s appropriate. You can bring your puppy in, your adult dog or your older dog. We can fit coats, harnesses.

All these things are not just about getting the product for your dog, they are about exposing your dog to situations and getting them used to people, seeing other dogs. It’s not just about coming and buying stuff from us, it is also about the experience of your pet whilst they are here. You will see other dogs, people and there will be plenty of smells and things in-store. 

If it is dark outside and you don’t want to walk in the dark you can come round the store. Abergele has got the dog park, when that is open again people can take their dogs in and socialise them that way assuming it is appropriate for that dog. There are plenty of options out there in our stores, we do encourage people to bring their dogs in, bring the puppies in and get them used to all sorts of situations. Trollies and things like that, all the things you wouldn’t necessarily think of. Loud noises, we have cages going in and out every day and these are all things that dogs need to be ok with. 

A lot of people blame themselves and think that they have caused a reactive dog, that they’ve caused their dog to be anxious. But sometimes it is genetics and a dog might be wired that way meaning there is only so much you can do. It is really important to do what you can, although your dog may be prone to being anxious there are things we can still do for example exposing them to things at a gradual level that they are okay with, without going overboard about it. I guess what I’m trying to say is the animal you’ve got, we can do what we can for them and we should obviously. I wouldn’t feel guilty that your animal is the way it is.

Sarah Holmes: If he is losing his hearing, the high pitch is the last thing to go, it would be worth investing in a referee’s whistle. He should still be able to hear that. If his eyesight is going as well, especially coming up to winter, then buy the reflective strips and tabards because they can still see reflections.

Jo Lloyd: Great! Thank you so much, that’s another thing on my shopping list. It’s going straight into my basket. Thanks so much, it’s been amazing to get your advice. Thank you for taking part in the petplace podcast.

Don’t forget you can get more information and advice from the official website farmandpetplace.co.uk

That’s it for another episode, see you next time on the petplace podcast when we will be looking at how to care for wildlife during the winter months.

Jo Lloyd: Hello I’m Jo Lloyd and this is Pet Place.  The podcast series for all animal lovers.

In the last episode we were in the stables and today we are all about the garden, and the great outdoors.

We are going to discuss something really lovely today, we’re looking at ways in which we can help wildlife during winter, so let’s start off by introducing my guests on today’s podcasts.  I’m going to start off with you Phil.

Phil Kent: My name is Phil and I work for CJ Wildlife, I love my wildlife in the gardens, I’m a big animal lover and in fact, I would probably be a farmer if I could.

Mark Hitman: I’m Matt Hitman, I work for Wildlife World. We are based in Tetbury in the Cotswolds and we make wildlife habitats.

Similar to Phil I’ve got animals at home, including sixty sheep that we have acquired over the years, so a bit of a smallholding going on. 

Karen Bates: I’m Karen, I manage the wild bird department at Pet Place and I have a keen interest in wild bird feeding. Part of my job that I love is that I get to try out all the different types of feeders and feed to see what works.

Jo Lloyd: I have so many questions for all of you today, it’s going to be a really interesting podcast. I think most of us during the lockdown, if we’ve been lucky to have some outside space have realised how important it is, not only for our own well being but for the well being of nature. I think a lot of people have embraced that and discovered how lovely it is to invite more nature into our gardens. 

Jo Lloyd: I have invested in a bird feeder and I think because I’m now embracing it so much and loving my outdoor space, I’ve become a bit of a twitcher and I love how I can feed these birds and see so many different varieties coming to the bird feeder. Should I continue to feed these birds during the winter? 

Phil Kent: Yes, absolutely you should keep feeding them over the winter, it’s a tough time of year, it can get cold, birds need that energy so it is really important to keep feeding and it’s really important to keep your bird feeders clean.  Good hygiene is essential throughout the winter months.

Jo Lloyd: So Phil, if for instance if you are just getting started on buying your first bird feeding station or a bird table, what is the best food to choose for birds?

Phil Kent: Okay, well, you want some high energy foods so peanut cakes, peanut butter for birds and fat balls, they’re all going to appeal to all garden birds and will help people attract lots of species onto your patch. Fats and proteins are probably the most important food for birds as they need the energy to thrive and they are also low cost, convenient and you don’t need a feeder for those types of things. Just to get you into it. 

Another thing is sunflower hearts, they are a great option because they are universal favourites with all the garden birds, they can be fed from a feeder.

Jo Lloyd: So you said about peanut butter for birds, do they go crazy over those?

Phil Kent: Yeah, that’s one that always gets a raised eyebrow as people started to realise that bread wasn’t the best option for your birds. They started to pop out jars of peanut butter instead, unfortunately, the jars that are made for humans have got a lot of salt in them. We made jars just for birds and the birds absolutely love it. We now make one in the UK specifically for birds using high-quality peanut flour and it’s not only safe but it’s really nutritious for the birds as well.

Jo Lloyd: Karen, do you have that kind of thing in-store at the moment?

Karen Bates: We do and I have to say it smells delicious, you can take the lid off and smell them, it is quite tempting to stick your finger in. I have them in my garden, you can put them out in several ways. We sell specific holders to put the jars inside, you can literally just place it on a tabletop and the birds will perch on the rim and have a nibble from inside and even better you can get them in loads of different flavours. There is standard original peanut butter but then you can also get ones with insects in, with mealworms so our garden birds are very lucky.

Jo Lloyd: That’s amazing, that’s definitely going on my shopping list. So Phil, when should we be feeding our garden birds, is there a time, do we replenish at night first thing in the morning, what month is better than any other month?

Phil Kent: You should be feeding birds all year round, so there is not a particular season where you should be feeding more, it’ll be all year round. The birds will dictate when you are going to put more food in, obviously. If it’s like me, I have about six feeders and they can be gone within a few days. I feed them when it is convenient for me when I’m finished work or whatever and that is normally fine. Birds need food first thing in the morning and last thing at night. All year round feeding. 

Every season is a challenge for garden birds and having them know where a constant supply of supplementary foods is, it’s a lifesaver for them. In the Spring and the Summer they need protein for laying eggs and their young, in the Winter your garden birds need to build up their fat reserves just to make sure they can get through the coldest of nights

Jo Lloyd:  Matt, do you think there are certain types of bird feed that attracts certain types of birds, maybe if you are looking to attract a different type of bird to your garden? Should we focus on a certain feed for instance?

Mark Hitman: Well, I think you’ll certainly get different types of birds on the feeders and it will depend on the style of feeders as to what will feed on it. I’ve got quite small feeders in my garden so we get a lot of smaller birds; blue tits, robins, the occasional nuthatch buzzing around and we get them here at the offices as well. Some of the larger birds can be a problem and can take food from the smaller birds so we tend to use the smaller feeders that the small vulnerable birds can get a lot of food and energy from. 

Jo Lloyd: Well that’s a good point actually. Karen, I’m sure there are lots of different types of feeders that you have in-store. I have the problem that I’m putting the fat balls out and they are going in an open tray basket, is that the wrong thing that they should be in?

Karen Bates: I wouldn’t say the wrong thing, it depends what you are up against in the garden. If you have squirrels, squirrels are a bit marmite-y really, some people love them and welcome them because they are part of all the different types of wildlife in the garden, others are less keen. 

We sell all different types of feeders, you can get some that have squirrel proof mesh around them. I wouldn’t say any type of feeder is wrong, it depends, it’s quite individual to the garden and what sort of pests you are up against really.

Jo Lloyd: Don’t you think it’s becoming quite a fashion thing as well, about a certain look of the bird feeder, oh that doesn’t go with my garden so I’ll just go with something else and actually it doesn’t actually suit your environment because like you say there’s a lot of squirrels. I’ve got a particular squirrel that has just in the last week decided to make my garden his home. I’ve also got Magpies, Magpies just seem to swoop in on the fat balls a lot and just steal them so the poor other smaller birds don’t get a look in. That’s why I’m thinking, is my design wrong?

Karen Bates: Well they have great big beaks so yeah, they take these huge big chunks out of your fat balls because I had the same problem with crows. I have to admit, all my feeders now are designed to deter those larger birds. Not because I don’t love them but I’m not rich and I can’t keep putting out all this food all of the time. It’s brilliant because there is so much choice nowadays in terms of feed and the different types of feeder.

Jo Lloyd: Phil, have you got anything to say on that? Are there any top tips you think could stop these larger birds? I do think the squirrel is being a bit cheeky, I think he is popping in and just stealing the fat balls. Have you come across that yourself? 

Phil Kent: Yeah, if you’ve got squirrel problems, it may be a problem to some people. If you’ve got squirrels you do need to have a guardian they call it. So you can have a guardian that’s a metal cage, you can put your fat balls inside there and that will stop, only small birds will be able to get through that. A top tip is to get yourself a guardian. 

Jo Lloyd: Okay I’m loving that, I’m writing all these top tips down. 

Now it seems to have been a bit quieter at my feeding station during September. Have they all gone on holiday or are they just fussy or in a better garden?

Phil Kent: No, no it’s actually quite usual for this time of the year. It actually used to be called the October gap but as the seasons have shifted it now does occur in September, around the harvest time.  Birds will probably always go for natural food before feeding, so for a few weeks every year, when the hedgerows are full of ripe berries and things like that. They will just disappear for a few weeks, they will vacate the fields but they will be back and that’s the most important thing. They will return at the busiest time of the year for the feeders so it’s really important to keep everything stocked up and ready for their return.

Jo Lloyd: Is there a special location that the feeder should be positioned that suits bird more? Is it nearer to a fence, a quieter corner, a leafy area maybe?  Phil, have you any top tips on that?

Phil Kent: Yeah, if you’ve got feeders close to your windows where you are, generally they will take a lot longer to go there. They want to be right out of the way in a corner somewhere, where there are bushes, some natural trees even better. In a quiet spot in the garden. 

Jo Lloyd: Karen, should I provide water as well as food?

Karen Bates: Absolutely, especially during winter because birds need to bathe and drink every day. In freezing weather, their normal water sources will freeze over, if you’ve got a birdbath or even an upturned bin lid if need be, fill with water and a good tip is to put something like a floating ball. I put a ping pong ball on so it just keeps the surface water moving with a bit of wind and it helps to stop it from freezing over so the birds can drink every day. 

Jo Lloyd: What about the water and shelter, is that something we need to consider as well Karen?

Karen Bates: Yeah. So shelter,  you can put up nest boxes, now is a good time to do it because nesting season is generally from March through to about August. Now would be a good time to clean out your old nest boxes because there will be old material in there, make sure they are hygienic and ready for spring or indeed put up new ones. Placement and type do depend really on the type of birds you want to attract, ideally, we generally advise North East facing so they are away from the prevailing wind, out of the direct sun, away from winter wet coming in and then it depends on the type of birds. 

Tit species will want a sort of smaller size entrance hole, whereas Robins tend to use more of an open face nest box. As well as using it for nesting it’s a great place for them to feel safe and to provide shelter over the winter.

Jo Lloyd: Moving away from just birds in our garden. Mark, what else are we likely to see in our gardens in terms of winter wildlife? 

Mark Hitman: Well if I think of just what I have seen in my own garden in the last few weeks. We had a bit of a lull through the Summer with hedgehogs and didn’t see the ones we had earlier on in the season. We’ve started seeing and hearing them again and they’re scuffling around looking for somewhere to hibernate over the Winter. 

We seem to have had a, I wouldn’t say quite a plague of frogs in the garden, my new puppy has been finding all sorts of frogs and things hopping around so there’s all sorts of wildlife that’s scratching around looking for shelter or needing a bit of cover and a bit of help. Hedgehogs, I can’t stress enough that they are a species that are at risk. We can do an awful lot to help them in overwintering and getting ready for breeding next year

Jo Lloyd: So how can we attract hedgehogs into our gardens then?

Mark Hitman: They’re a species that will travel around so they won’t necessarily stay in your garden. You can do a lot of things to attract them. You can put a hedgehog house out now because they are going to start looking for somewhere to hibernate. We’ve actually got about three in our garden, we know that the hedgehogs move around between them through the season, leaving leaf piles and foliage in the garden. 

The advice I give very often to people: be a bit untidy in the garden, don’t cut back all the foliage and all the dried hibiscus plants, leave a bit of shelter for some of these creatures to hide in. As we have already said, put water out, it’s not just birds that need water, bees, insects, hedgehogs, they all need a water source over the winter. 

Keep putting feed out, hedgehogs will be active for around a month or so at the very least so keep putting food out.  You should sort of start to see them, they should sort of come to the garden and feed quite regularly. The ones we had certainly, you can kind of tell from the markings on them, they’re the same ones that come back every night and then they go off for a few days somewhere else and one of our neighbours feeds them and they come back.  They will be looking for somewhere to shelter. 

Jo Lloyd: I mean that’s fascinating, I suppose you can put little cameras outside, night cams and watch them move around. 

Mark Hitman: There are millions of cameras out there now that people use. Our social media feed is very active with people who love seeing what’s going on. They even give their hedgehogs names, it’s a fascinating thing to see and terrific when you see a hedgehog and then you see the babies coming. It’s just lovely. 

Jo Lloyd: That’s just too cute.

Karen Bates: You mentioned cameras. I put a camera out and it’s fascinating because at night the leftover feed from the feeders that’s on the floor, you get all the little field mice coming out, gobbling all that up, it is fascinating. 

Mark Hitman:  It’s not just the mice, as you said Karen, we had foxes clearing up the food for a few evenings and it’s just fascinating to watch them. 

Jo Lloyd: It’s amazing isn’t it, what goes on in our gardens at night. With the thoughts of hedgehogs, we’ve been talking all summer about bee houses, bee hotels, and bees and now we’re looking at hedgehog houses. I mean they’re fascinating, is that something you stock Karen? 

Karen Bates: Yes we do, we’ve got a good range. They come in all different types of shapes and sizes and materials and budgets so there is something for everybody. 

Jo Lloyd: Amazing, Phil have you indulged in a hedgehog house?

Phil Kent: I haven’t got a hedgehog house but I have got hedgehogs, I have feeders at the front and it’s onto a farmer’s field. They would come through at about half-past nine every other night, there was one hedgehog that would come to the bottom of the feeders and get any little tidbits, later on, there were two hedgehogs. We had them at the front of ours as well underneath the feeders.

Jo Lloyd: That’s amazing, that’s adorable. 

Jo Lloyd: Karen, so I’m wondering in, I want a hedgehog house. Where would you suggest the best place for me to place it in my garden, I know we have discussed feed already Mark, but Karen is there something you stock that we could just put in to get us started if we are completely new to this? 

Karen Bates: Yes we sell lots of different hedgehog food. It seems to be growing in popularity all the time which is fantastic. Regarding sightings at my house, I think as Mark said if you leave your garden a little bit untidy, perfect. They don’t need it to be clinical as nice as that can look. Somewhere where they can feel safe, perhaps more sheltered, out of the worst of the weather and preferably near a leaf pile so they’ve got a natural food source with worms and things as well.

Jo Lloyd: Will they sleep there for a long time, Mark? Are they creatures of habit? Will they come back to that area?

Mark Hitman: They certainly would. Obviously, they will hibernate over the winter, through the summer months they will move around the garden. They can travel up to two kilometres a night. 

They will travel around to different houses and they tend to spend two or three nights perhaps in one house and then they will move on. 

Once you’ve got them hibernating and staying over then there is no reason why they won’t come back every year.

Jo Lloyd: Do they have a nesting account of the season, where they would start to create their families and they would be in your garden doing that? Is there a season for them? 

Mark Hitman: So they will be looking to hibernate from about the end of October. Finding somewhere to stay and then you should see them emerge around March. Bonfire night in November, we’re always told to be really careful of the bonfires because you might disturb a hibernating hedgehog, that’s really critical. They will be settling up for the winter and that’s the last thing we want to do, is disturb or hurt them. Around March/ April you will see them come out and then the breeding season will start.

If you have ever heard hedgehogs mating in the garden it’s quite a sound to hear, quite entertaining the first time you hear it. They can be quite noisy, around April / May that will start. I haven’t seen the babies in two or three years, you might be lucky enough to see them around July time.

Jo Lloyd: That is just amazing. Are they very timid? You often see them get scared and curl up into a ball, are they timid to other creatures around for instance our domestic pets? Do our cats and dogs worry about them?

Mark Hitman: Well we’ve got a cat and three dogs and the cat doesn’t seem to worry about them at all, the puppies are quite inquisitive. We had an older dog a few years ago that did try and pick one up, it only did it once. As you say, they curl themselves into a ball, that’s their protection. I’ve been out quite a few evenings and seen them, they don’t seem to be too worried, particularly by us. They just curl up or run away.

Jo Lloyd: That’s just adorable isn’t it? If there was ever a need to get a camera. I think Winter and Autumn are incredible in our gardens, we just need to look for it and know how to care for all of this incredible wildlife that’s around us. I think that we’re all more aware now that we are using our gardens more. It used to be Spring / Summer when you are out potting your plants, having a barbecue and then in Winter you never go into your garden. Now there’s every excuse, every reason rather go out and just embrace our gardens isn’t there?

Karen Bates: Absolutely, I think what’s so exciting about it is that it’s almost unlimited, the visitors you can get. It might be wild birds, wildlife, hedgehogs, you don’t know what you might see. You might get something wonderful like a Woodpecker that you’ve never had before or a little Gold Crest. I got really excited about it having seen it in the hedge, I haven’t seen it since, just once. I think I might be Turning into a twitcher as well.

Jo Lloyd: I’m totally one, I’ve got a book and everything and a little pair of binoculars. That’s how obsessed I am, that’s Justin, my little garden. I’ve got a favourite Robin, obviously, it’s not the same Robin, it’s just Robins that come into the garden but I absolutely love it. If I saw a Woodpecker…wow, I don’t know what I would, honestly, I’d just lose it.

Phil, rare birds in your garden, have you seen anything?

Phil Kent: Rare birds? At the start of the season a Grey Spotted Woodpecker, we’ve seen Jays which aren’t so rare but you don’t get them a lot on the feeders and Finches. There are a lot of Finches where I am, we have Green Finches, tons of Gold Finches but my favourite if I can see it is a BullFinch which is a very rare Finch to see. They have a really bright red breast, so yes a Bull Finch. 

Jo Lloyd: What about you Mark?

Mark Hitman: I suppose it’s not exactly a bird we feed, I live on the edge of Salisbury Plain and we’ve got some Kites nesting fairly close to us and every so often they come over the garden and that’s just fascinating to see them swirling around in their thermals and flying quite low over the garden. That’s just beautiful. We’ve got a lot of buzzards as well but the kites are getting a little more prolific.

Jo Lloyd: That’s just beautiful, absolutely gorgeous. Karen, any other top tips as we are coming into the colder months? 

Anything else we are likely to see? If we are coming into the store for the first time you can give us loads of advice. If I’m a novice with my garden and I’m unsure what to start with, do I go for the hedgehog house? Do I just set up a feeding station? Start small or just go all in?

Karen Bates: Good question. There is such a variety of feeds and feeders. Even if you don’t have a garden, if you are in a flat and you have a window, we sell window feeders with little suction cups. You can put seeds and peanuts in, the birds do come. As Phil said earlier, if you are up close to the window it might be a bit frightening for them at first, if you are sat down inside and you haven’t moved for a while they will come right up to the window.

There is something for everybody. You mentioned in your garden a feeding station, that’s a great idea because it has got a number of different arms so you can hook on a seed feeder, a peanut feeder, you can feed suet and fat balls. There is a huge variety, as well as a water dish which many of them have. It’s an all in one banquet. 

Jo Lloyd: It’s like a running buffet in my garden. It really is, it has got everything there., except peanut butter. Phil, I’m on it.

Karen Bates: I think if I had to pick one feed for me personally, that all the birds seem to love at the minute, it would be sunflower hearts. A huge following, certainly in my garden. 

Jo Lloyd: It’s a trend. Any more advice from all of you? I’m going to start with you Mark, any last words of advice to embrace wildlife and care. To be a bit more knowledgeable and be aware, to not do the wrong thing I guess which I think a lot of us are frightened of, aren’t we?

Mark Hitman: We talked about feeding, we talked about putting outhouses and habitats. I think you can put plants out as well, it’s a great time of year to get to a garden centre and out some plants that will attract wildlife through the Winter and into Spring. You can plant a tree like a crab apple or a hawthorn that’s going to give you flowers and then berries and later in the season some hibiscus plants, a sedum, a rudbeckia, a enonymous. The wildlife will thank you for it, it provides that bit of protection for them throughout the winter. 

Phil Kent: The most important thing to consider should be quality. Try to buy the best that you can afford and look for value for money. Your seed eaters such as your Sparrows and your Finches love food that consists of sunflower hearts. Insect eaters like a Robin prefer mealworms, and the Tit family will eat both seeds and insects.

Pop up some feeders, they will also feed on a bird table and scatter some seeds on the ground and you’ll see your garden eatery fully booked up most days. 

Karen Bates: For winter wild bird feeding and wildlife, high energy foods are best. Things like sunflower hearts, good suet products for example suet cakes.

Jo Lloyd: And peanut butter, I’m onto it. I’m going to see what happens. Thank you all, this has been so amazing and really knowledgeable. If you are just starting off and you are a little bit concerned about going in the right direction there is nothing more lovely than seeing your garden full of wildlife. It’s just a small thing that we do and they remember, they know that your garden is going to have a supply of lovely tasty treats. The birds will combine time. 

Thank you very much, all of you, it has been absolutely wonderful.