All of our dogs are fully health tested before breeding, as a minimum requirement our dogs are hip & elbow scored, eyes are tested annually and Optigen tested for Prcd PRA. Health testing is expensive but very necessary, we are gradually increasing our testing programme to include Von Willebrand's Disease VWD, Canine Brucellosis etc and will continue to improve our testing programme as other conditions become relevent and testing available.

I do believe that it is important to look at the whole picture though, I strongly believe in rearing my puppies and dogs naturally they are fed a natural diet, exercised daily and I do not over vaccinate my dogs or pump them full of chemicals to prevent parasites.

Please visit my Diet Page to learn more about how we feed our dogs. At CreamofBritish we feed 'Proper Dog Food' 
 
 
 

    Catherine O' Driscoll Chris Day Richard Allport

Much research is now being done as to whether yearly boosters are actually necessary, myself and many friends have never given our dogs boosters we believe that they are totally unnecessary for our animals and are responsible for auto-immune disorders, transient infections, skin problems, behavioural problems, epilepsy, thyroid disease, allergies and possibly cancer.

Quite simply we give our children vaccines as babies but we do not continue to vaccinate them every year of their life, why not? because it is not necessary. So why do people do it to their pets? because the vet sends you a card every year "Don't forget Boris is due for his booster"
With the average cost of a booster being £35 and approximately 13m dogs and cats in the country it's an industry worth tens of millions of pounds.

Who am I to advise you, no-one special, just me but I don't want your £35, or collectively your millions, I just want dogs to live long healthy lives again but I am not alone, many people share my beliefs, vets are now warning the pharmaceutical industry and their own profession about the issue, listen to the experts above and read the Revised Vaccine Guidelines from the World Small Animal Veterinary Association. Some breeds are predisposed to vaccine reactions too and the Standard Poodle is one of them.

Many of you will of heard the name Catherine O'Driscoll, she has written several books about the issue of over vaccinating 'What Vets Don't Tell You About Vaccines' When the book was first published in 1997, vets around the world were advising pet owners to vaccinate their friends against disease every year. Now they are not so sure.
 
An excert from Catherines' book by my friend Jane Whiteley, Admirari :
 

It was my friend Jane who prompted me to feed natural after the death of my boy Flynt, I thank you Janey, Doodee xxxx

Canine Health Concern CHC was formed in 1994 by Catherine O'Driscoll, after two of her beautiful young Golden Retrievers - Oliver and Prudence - tragically died. She asked, 'why?', and the answers that came back were sufficiently disturbing to make her feel that independent research was necessary - free from commercial bias. Catherine was sent scientific papers which told her that commercial pet food was nutritionally inadequate, and that many deficiency diseases are the direct result of poor feeding. She also learnt that the annual boosters we give to our pets each year, in the belief that we are protecting them from disease, are actually the largest cause of ill health in our pets today.

CHC advocates real food for dogs. That is, food that Mother Nature has designed, over millions of years, and which has made the species thrive for millions of years. Members of CHC who have reverted to a CHC-recommended natural diet have seen illnesses disappear and vet bills plummet. Our diet survey showed an 85 per cent drop in the number of veterinary visits once dogs were changed to real food.
 
  Visit the website and find out more, In Search Of The Truth About Dogs.

One of the main reasons many people booster their dogs is for putting them into boarding kennels but there are other options available now, you could always have a Pet Sitter look after your dog in your own home. There are kennels who will accept dogs who are un-innoculated but they are boarded at the owners risk. My very dear friend Janet owns her own boarding kennels in Devon and my dogs regularly holiday there with me and we have never experienced a problem. All of Janets own dogs are homeopathically innoculated, this is what Janet has to say about vaccines....

I am now doing my own research and learning about Homeopathic remedies for dogs, on my path to educate myself I came across the most inspiring lady Juliette de Bairacli Levy, how I wish I could have had the pleasure to meet this wonderful lady, she certainly did leave a legacy and will continue to help animals live healthy lives long after her own death.

  Juliette de Bairacli Levy
  November 11th 1912 - May 28th, 2009
The late Juliette de Bairacli Levy is a world renowned herbalist, author, breeder of Afghan
hounds under the affix Turkuman all reared on a natural diet, friend of the Gypsies, traveller
in search of herbal wisdom, and the pioneer of holistic veterinary medicine. Juliette has a
long record of spectacular cures to her credit and the books she has written have been a vital
inspiration for the present day herbal renaissance.

  DVD of Juliette of the Herbs is available from Tish: tish@streeten.net

Sat watching her delightful dvd with my friend curled up on the sofa with our dogs, one of the
unforgettable things that she recalled was how the bee keepers not content with taking the
honey were now brushing the pollen from their legs, which was done with such little care that
they would brush away the bees legs along with the pollen. Whilst watching her nurture her
plants on the Greek island you hear gun shots as they kill the song birds.

In the words of Juliette "I would say to all dog owners whose prejudices are aroused by my
opinions and my ideas, or even my literary style, please ignore me, it is not what you think
that matters - it is your dog."