One of the things all seasoned dog owners understand is that there’s much more to dog ownership than you ever imagined when you first decided to welcome a dog into your home.
That realisation was the driving force behind the launch of Your Dog Magazine over 20 years ago, and the strategy of offering practical advice, sharing different views and opinions, and exploring new theories and developments on all things dog, still stands very much today.

Well, this issue is no different. At the time of writing, we are all looking forward to our lives (and those of our dogs) opening up a little as pandemic restrictions are relaxed and we get the chance to get out and about more.

While many of us may feel a little apprehensive about facing the world again, bear in mind that the same may be true of our dogs; they, too, have just spent the last 13 months in a very different world. Carolyn Menteith’s article this issue (page 10) takes a closer look at how we can get set for summer and make it fun and safe for our dogs as well as ourselves, and examines the type of challenges our dogs might face following lockdown.

As a child I remember introducing my new rescue cat to our resident Staffordshire Bull Terrier — it was not a success! But, with careful handling, and by giving both dog and cat plenty of time to get used to each other, an extraordinary bond developed and they became devoted to each other for the rest of their lives. We’ve got advice on how cats and dogs can successfully cohabit, and how to go about introducing them, on page 14 of this issue.

And it doesn’t stop there — there are features on introducing dogs to children, coping with a dog on enforced crate rest, a fleas, ticks, and worms Q&A special, and advice about what to do if your dog has a habit of producing a pongy perfume whenever you share a date on the sofa — in other words flatulence!