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The word Corgi comes from Welsh meaning dwarf dog. The breed originated in Wales as a herding dog. There is a folk legend that says Corgis were a gift from woodland fairies and the breed’s markings were left on it’s coat by fairy harnesses and saddles. Welsh Corgis...

As a beginner you want to choose the type of tropical fish that give you the best chance of success in your aquarium. So, picking fish that are fun and easy to care for is important. Neon Tetras Neons are the most popular freshwater tropical fish due to their size...

Nana, the round-the-clock babysitter, from the Peter Pan film is a close characterisation of this breed of dog. This protective dog really loves children and is gentle and friendly. In the early 1880’s explorers and fishermen from Ireland and England described two...

The earliest written records of the St Bernard breed are from the monks at the Alpine hospice of Great St Bernard in 1707. These were working dogs and were smaller than today’s St Bernard show dogs, they were about the size of a German Shepherd Dog. The ancestors...

Husky is a general name given for a sledge-type dog used in northern regions. The word husky originated from the word referring to the Artic people, Inuit (Eskimos). English sailors pronounced it ‘Huskimos’. Later in 1852, husky was referring to the dogs kept by...

Erinaceus europaeus, the west European hedgehog is one of seventeen hedgehog species and is Britain’s only spiny mammal. It’s a distant relative to the shrew, and it has changed little in the last 15 million years. They are born in litters ranging from one to...

The first recordings of goldfish were during the Jin dynasty (265-420). The fish were collected from the orange or yellow mutations of various species of Asian Carp which had been reared for food fish for thousands of years. It was during the Ming dynasty...

In the 1800’s the most common European dog used for protection and herding was the Continental Shepherd Dog. Although these dogs looked similar, in the 1890’s, three separate breeds emerged, they were, the Belgian Shepherd, the Dutch Shepherd and the German...

Ranked in the top 10 most popular breeds in UK over the last 5 years. Bull baiting was outlawed in England in 1835, so some ‘unemployed’ Bulldogs were bred with Terriers and Pugs to make them smaller so they would be more suitable as a companion breed rather than...

This type of hound is bred for strong hunting instincts, great energy and like all scent hounds , for a very keen sense of smell. There are different breeds of foxhound, each simply called Foxhound in their native countries. For many Centuries English hunters...

Fleas can pull 160,000 times their own weight, which is the same as you pulling 2679 double-deckers. Fleas can jump 30,000 times without stopping and can reverse direction with every jump. Fleas jump 150 times their own size, which in human terms is the same as...

We all know that puppies chew, exploring the world with their mouths and soothing the pains of teething. Adult dogs chew for various reasons, they could be bored, anxious, have separation anxiety and sometimes they chew because they think it’s fun. Here are a few...

Dobermanns were first bred in the town of Apolda, Germany, by Karl Friedrich Louis Dobermann. Herr Dobermann was a tax collector, a night watchman and a dog catcher. The latter occupation put him in the perfect position to help him select the ideal dog to create a...

Dachshund- pronounced DAKS-HUND, not Dash-hound, and it come in three varieties, smooth haired, wirehaired and long haired. They are classified as miniatures if they weigh under 11 pounds, standards if they are over 16 pounds and between 11 and 16 pounds they are...

It is thought that the word ‘collie’ comes from the old Celtic word for ‘useful’. The Collie’s ancestors have been around since humans began using dogs to help guard and herd sheep. In the border country between Scotland and England these herding dogs became one of...

Ticks are not insects, they are classified as arachnids, related to spiders, scorpions and mites. They have four pairs of legs and no antennae. Ticks don’t smell blood, they detect carbon dioxide. They don’t jump up onto their hosts, they climb up brush or grass...

The Chihuahua is the smallest breed of dog in the world, with it named after the state of ‘Chihuahua’ in North Mexico. You may ask, where is the connection? Well, there are two key theories regarding the origin of the Chihuahua. The first theory discusses that the...