While February can be a gloomy, bitter month, there are still things to look forward to. For starters, it marks the beginning of the end of winter, and this month you’ll start to notice the difference as late afternoons/evenings become that little bit lighter. For all dog owners, that’s certainly worth celebrating.

And, of course, February is the month when we have St Valentine’s Day that significant cultural, religious, and commercial celebration of romance and love, which is recognised in many regions of the world.

It’s a day for acknowledging all things dear to us — and that includes our dogs; a time to show our appreciation and love for these amazing animals that share our lives. So, fittingly, our feature on page 14 of this issue — ‘Love, life, and dogs…’ — advises on how to make the day extra-special for the four-legged love of your life.

It’s not just us who end up feeling a bit gloomy at this time of year. After a long, hard winter, and the year we’ve just had, it’s not surprising, but I’m sure our dogs feel it too — mine does certainly. So, I’m going to be paying extra attention to the advice in our lead feature this month ‘Fun and games’ — great ideas on how to work play and fun into our training and daily dog walks to boost motivation and the bonds we have with our dogs.

Finally, if you’re one of those owners who has a high-energy, excitable dog, then you could find the advice in trainer Carol Price’s feature ‘Restless minds’ (page 38) really helpful. It can be exhausting managing a dog who doesn’t have an off switch, but this article will give you plenty of encouragement as Carol explains how to lower the mental temperature.

Until next month…

Sarah Wright, Editor