PDTE Newsletter July 2020

house... They didn’t expect too much trouble in the near future,
when both the woman and her husband had to go back to
work and the kids back to school. By that time the dog should
be used to staying home alone...
All we can do is continue the work we all do in creating a world
for dogs in which we treat them for who they are: sentient individuals,
who need love and understanding and support in our
busy human world. And educate the public about the natural
behavior of dogs.
In August we will gather at Hundeland and hold a small PDTE
meeting for us Norwegian members since there was nothing in
Bergen this year. Then we can at the same time experience and
hear a bit of Turid’s way through life with dogs.
Alja Willenpart
Slovenia
Turid Dyvesveen Sunde
Norway
As with everyone else, working with dogs has been a little quiet
for some time, but things start to happen as the country opens
up for some activities.
Anne Lill started her Dogtrainer School ‘Nosework’ in May. It
is an exciting education that I am fortunate to attend together
with others who love to work with the dogs’ senses.
We are pleased and proud that one of the PDTE Members,
Beate Bjørnhom, is now Norway’s first graduate at Galen Myotherapy.
Other members of PDTE Norway are doing the same
education and we really appreciate that.
We also have Linn Hauge who has done a great job during the
years by learning a lot about nutrition for dogs. Among many
other things in this field Linn has done, are Pet Food Nutrition
Specialist and Raw Dog Food Nutrition Specialist from DNM
university. Lectures by Jean Dodds and Dr. Conor Brady, Dogs
First, Ireland: What do dogs eat?
Everyone has probably discovered that Turid Rugaas has
opened her Hundeland, and that she has started her studies
and also set up an exhibition at Hundeland in connection with
her celebrating 50 years as dog trainer this year. Here she has
put up pictures that tell the story, exhibition of books that have
been written - magazines published and much more.
The COVID-19 pandemic had the country on lockdown since
mid-march. A side effect of this has been the increase in the
number of people looking to adopt dogs especially in local shelters.
There seem to be two reasons for this. The first is people
suddenly have too much time on their hands, and the second
reason is that due to borders being closed, there are far fewer
(illegally imported) dogs from abroad being adopted at this
time. Many of the people wishing to suddenly adopt dogs are
far from appropriate dog owners, so some shelters decided not
to give dogs up for adoption during this time, to prevent them
going to inappropriate homes. So these shelters remain as full
as ever while others are suddenly almost empty.
Some of our members have used this time to share dog-friendly
ideas for walks and enrichment as well as educate the public
on how all the changes brought about by the pandemic affect
the dogs we share our lives with.
Reidun Johansen
Sweden
Sweden is a country with few PDTE members and we are
spread out from the South of the country where we now have
full Spring to the North where they still have snow on the
ground. What we all have in common is that we are affected
by Corona, but maybe not to the same degree as many other
countries in the world. In Sweden we do not have a “lock
down”, and the restrictions in movement are different. I e
gatherings with over 50 people are not permitted, but primary
schools are still open, as well restaurants and bars, providing
they can avoid crowding customers and only table service is allowed.
Nevertheless, in spite of being permitted to go out there
are not a lot of people in the streets.
In the world of dogs, the Swedish Kennel Club has cancelled
all activities with more than 10 people gathering, and advice
against all travels outside your own neighborhood area. So a
lot of things have changed.
But the weather is lovely so we can take our dogs for long,
sunny walks, and just enjoy the company of our dogs. Some
nose work games, and just sniffing out all the smells of spring.
We have time for more quality time together.
From Sweden we wish all PDTE members a lovely summer,
hoping that things slowly will get back to normal again before
too long.
July 2020
PDTE Newsletter
31