Congratulations
During lockdown Kim Browns French Bulldog  Cody who was four at the time, stepped down a rabbit hole and a disc in his back exploded and he lost the use of his back legs and after an op he was pain free and in wheels. Two years after his accident,  he went back to training and a couple of weeks ago passed his kennel club gold citizen award and made it into the Bognor Regis Observer

GOOD CITIZEN more details

Gold Good Citizens tests were held on Saturday 11^th June. We had five handlers and dogs taking part with four passes and one unfortunately not ready.  Congratulations to all  who took part and Wendy with Eric, Angela with Hettie, Kim with Cody and Lee with Blu for their passes also many thanks to Sue Jillett who very kindly gave up her afternoon to come and judge for us.

On the 31^st March we held a Bronze test with six taking part, we had one pass which was Melanie Buckwell with Buddy and five were not ready.

On the 2^nd April we held a Silver test with nine taking part, we had six passes which were Josie Beasley with Ruby, Peggy Partridge with Bilbo, Louise Cross with Tj, Veronica Kelly with Teddie, Angela Jones with Hettie and Ali Green with Audrey. We had three not ready.

I would like to congratulate everyone who took part and look forward to seeing you back at club after Easter.

Helen

NEW VET HOSPITAL IN CHICHESTER
With the appalling situation with the shortage of  good Vets in the area and the current need to travel to Portsmouth, Winchester or Storrington for out of hours and specialist treatment, it is welcome news that a new Animal Hospital run by independent Vets AVG has opened at Chichester. Further details click here:

WELCOME BACK
A new Vets called Huckleberries has opened at  the Vinnetrow Business Park, Chichester. Many people will welcome back Richard Edwards as a visiting Vet after knowing him from his 32 years at Alpha Pets.

Those with a keen eye may have noticed that the Clubs web site address is now preceded by an HTTPS and a padlock symbol this denotes that it is a secure site. This will provide security from Hackers and also provide security for visitors to the site.

Did You Know that Your Vet may be part of a large Corporate Group ?: 
It is not all that obvious,  but many small Vet practices have now sold out to a large corporate group, but  still retain their old name. Some long-standing clients may know that it was under new management, but to the newcomer, it is not always apparent.

The top 4 Corporate Veterinary Groups in order of the number of individual practices they own are as follows:

(1) The CVS Group, Currently the largest vet group

(2) Independent Vetcare

(3) Pets at Home

(4) Medivet

Though it is extremely difficult to get up to date figures as they appear hidden and guarded, it has been published in 2018 that the big 4 then owned over 30% of the total veterinary practices in the UK by now it will be even more.

In most of these Vets apart from a huge increase in Vet fees the biggest change is often the lack of Out of Hours service. In many practices this has been farmed out to a company called Vets Now and often means a long drive to their facilities, as they usually do not come to your normal Vets.

In 1999 something seismic happened to the Veterinarian Profession. Tony Blair in his infinite wisdom  changed the law to allow non-vets to own veterinary practices. It still requires a Vet to work in that practice but the driving force is often the owners and the returns they get from their practices.

This opened the door to venture capitalists and investors to buy into a tranche of little goldmines, and when that happens money and profit becomes the corporate aim.

full story at https://www.doglistener.co.uk/veterinary-profession-broken

Code of Conduct: The clubs  Code of Conduct which has been approved by the Kennel Club has been distributed to all members. If you have not seen it please click the link and please ensure that you read it