Paul O'Grady: For The Love Of Dogs

Finally a reason to look forward to Mondays!

I was blown away by the first episode of Paul O’Grady: For the Love of Dogs shown last night at 8pm on ITV 1.  Much loved comedian, television presenter, actor, writer, radio DJ and passionate dog lover Paul was absolutely fantastic as he investigated just what it takes to look after the thousands of dogs travelling through Battersea Dogs and Cats Home every year.

ITV are finally showing a responsible prime time animal programme in this seven part series showing Paul O’Grady getting to know both the dogs and the staff at Battersea.  Each episode is 30 minutes long and the series promises to be humorous, emotional and inspiring as Paul gets involved with everything from cleaning kennels to rehoming dogs.  Last night’s episode hilariously saw him grilling Radio DJ Neil Fox who wanted to adopt a puppy even going so far as to ask him if there was any chance the family could be expecting a baby!

Heartbreaking scenes in last nights episode featured a young Staffordshire Bull Terrier, christened “Sparkles” by staff, who was thankfully rescued after being deliberately starved and abandoned in a London park.  Paul quite rightly exclaimed “And they call us a nation of animal lovers!”  After miraculously surviving her first night at Battersea and being fed little and often, Sparkles was on the road to recovery.  I am sure that the little beauty won many hearts last night, her beautiful eyes glistened with love, trust and hope despite the horrific treatment she had received.  Her tail didn’t stop wagging and she soon transformed from an emasculated downtrodden pup to a happy, healthy and boisterous Staffie who was swiftly rehomed as soon as she was given a clean bill of health.

Paul spent just over two months at our London centre and got to know everyone here at Battersea. He says: “This has been one of the nicest jobs I've ever had. Everybody knows Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, it’s one of the jewels in London’s crown and it’s a joy to be there; I feel so at home. I’m hoping that people will watch this programme and see what a happy, professional environment it is. There is humour, sadness, pathos, genuine concern – it’s going to be different to everything else that’s on the telly.”

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Catch up with this weeks show on ITV Player and catch all subsequent episodes each Monday at 8pm on ITV 1.

Follow Battersea Dogs and Cats Home on Twitter @BDCH and become a fan on Facebook.

What did you think of the show?

ITV = Irresponsible TV

A scene from the show, image from ITV

On Saturday night, ITV aired a show called Keith Lemon's Lemonaid hosted by popular TV presenter and comic Keith Lemon.  One thing I certainly did not expect to hear about this show was a young child being given a Pug puppy as a prize after joining fellow contestants in completing an agility course alongside their parents whilst dressed up as dogs, holding bones in their mouths.  The pair with the most bones won the puppy, presented by pop star and reality TV show star Peter Andre dressed as a large bone... Yes, it does sound somewhat like a nightmare but unfortunately it really did happen.

The child was literally handed the pedigree puppy and there was no mention of the costs, care or commitment involved in caring for a real life puppy.  Under normal circumstances the participants of the competition would not be able to afford to buy a pedigree puppy and many concerned animal welfare campaigners feel that ITV are setting a bad example, causing animals to look like disposable commodities and making a mockery of campaigns designed to prevent people buying dogs on impulse or as gifts.  One such campaign is the "Where's Mum" campaign launched on Mother's Day which will run throughout the summer, endorsed by celebrities, their Mum's and their dogs which will continue to raise awareness until Pup Aid on September 8th.

Surprisingly it is not illegal in England or Wales to give a live pet away, it is only illegal to give a pet away to a child under 16 without their parent's consent.  However, it is illegal in Scotland, where the show was also shown, which means that ITV displayed a prime time entertainment show depicting an illegal act.  

It shouldn't surprise you that it was ITV who irresponsibly decided to air their Super Tiny Animals show in the run up to Christmas fuelling the lust for miniature pets just as children were compiling their Christmas lists.  They still haven't responded to the numerous complaints condemning them for this behaviour and have simply ignored many concerned viewers and animal organisations.

In my complaint to OFCOM I told them that I didn't think a competition prize of a live animal was acceptable and not comparable to giving away a flat screen TV or games console.  I also asked ITV to make clear where they got the pug puppy from (how can we be sure they didn't purchase it from a puppy farm?)


What do other animal welfare campaigners think?

The Dogs Trust have released the following statement 

"Dogs Trust was shocked and disappointed to see a puppy being given as a prize on Keith Lemon's show, Lemonaid. It is highly inappropriate to promote the frivolous gifting of dogs in this fashion and we are concerned that viewers may follow suit without giving any thought to the life-long commitment that dogs command. It was irresponsible to allow such a flippant competition to air on a prime time entertainment television slot. Sadly, animal welfare charities like Dogs Trust often deal with the fallout when dogs are bought on a whim and discarded when the novelty wears off. This poor attempt at entertainment was ill-judged and we urge ITV to issue a full and considered response on this matter.

For more information and advice about rehoming a dog please go to www.dogstrust.org.uk"

Debbie Connolly Animal Behaviouralist at Safe Pets UK blog post.


More statements including The Kennel Club and RSPCA.

Check out Beverley Cuddy's coldwetnose blog for a description of the show and further information.  It will also be possible to watch the show on ITV Player for a limited amount of time.

Please join the Facebook campaign Keith Lemon's Puppy Prize Protest and invite your friends too.

Please complain directly to ITV at by e-mailing viewerservices@itv.com or the producer susan.wilks@talkbackthames.tv, alternatively you can write to them at Viewer Services ITV Plc, Gas Street, Birmingham B1 2JT.  Feel free to copy and paste this blog post into the message, although stating your opinion in your own words would make more of an impact.

Please complain to OFCOM about this utterly irresponsible TV show by clicking here.  The show was called Keith Lemon's LemonAid and was on ITV at 18.15 on Saturday 28th April.

Please sign this petition calling for The Animal Welfare Act to be amended making it an offence to give away an animal as a prize.

Nothing Super about ITVs Tiny Animal show

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I am glad that I stopped by the coldwetnose blog to see this post about an ITV show entitled Super Tiny Animals.  

Super Tiny Animals was billed as being about the trend for micro pets throughout the UK and US in recent years.  The time ITV chose to air the show (Wednesday, 30th November from 7.30pm - 8.30pm) was a cause for concern due to its close proximity to Christmas and early broadcast time meaning children would more than likely watch the show.  The concern was mainly that the show would glorify "handbag dogs" and had the potential to encourage viewers into want to buy a "handbag dog" or perhaps a micro pig for Christmas, without considering the responsibility and commitment of pet ownership.  This could lead to the animal ending up in a rescue centre in the New Year.  

The Blue Cross said in a statement that they had seen the number of so-called "handbag dogs" coming into the charity TRIPLE in the past five years.

Despite the concerned e-mails from organisations such as the Kennel Club, the Blue Cross, the Dogs Trust and the BVA sent to ITV they chosen not to respond and to air the show regardless.  In addition, ITV also chose to edit out TV vet Marc Abraham's segment on puppy farming which would have provided some much needed balance to the show.

As shown here on coldwetnose ITV did respond to one complaint from a concerned dog lover, with a vague message not really addressing the questions asked.  


Back in October there was an interesting article on "handbag dogs" in the Telegraph newspaper which you may want to check out.

In order for ITV to take our concerns seriously more of us need to make complaints.  If you want to watch Super Tiny Animals before sending a complaint you can do so for a short amount of time here at ITV Player.

Please direct your complaint to viewerservices@itv.com and make a complaint on the Ofcom website too.  Please remember to be polite and to the point and please let myself or the coldwetnose blog know if you receive a response!  (I will add the wording of my e-mail here at some point should you wish to refer to it as a guide).


Don't forget to tell your friends, the more the merrier!