Question: What do I do when my dog has skin problems? Answer: To soothe skin allergies in dogs, take some tea tree oil (about a tablespoon), add it to one bucket of warm water and bath the dog with the oil and warm water. Repeat in a week and the results are outstanding. Emily Hobden

Question: I am confused about what’s best to feed my miniature poodle. Which is best: raw meat with vegetables or cooked meat with vegetables? Marinette Schemali Answer: Making a homemade diet for pets isn’t as simple as it sounds. You need to be sure they are getting all the vitamins and minerals and enough protein […]

Frost-free climates Plants for beauty: alyssum, Californian poppy, calendula, cleome, coleus, gerbera, helichrysum, honesty, marigold, pansy, petunias, phlox, salvia, sunflower, sweet peas, torenia, zinnia. Temperate Plants for beauty: seeds of alyssum, calendula, English daisy (pictured), heartsease, lunaria; seedlings of evening primrose, gazanias, Iceland poppy, love-lies-bleeding, pansies, polyanthus, primulas, sweet peas, viola. Cold Plants for beauty: […]

Question Which part of the lemon grass do you use or do you use all of it? Answer A tall, clumping, sharp-edged aromatic tropical grass that both smells and tastes of lemon, lemon grass comes by its English name naturally. It arrived in our kitchens by way of Southeast Asia, where it is an essential […]

Question: My puppy likes to suck my thumb, sometimes up to six times a day. Is this normal? She seems to get great satisfaction from it. Should I stop her from doing this? I should tell you I’ve had her since she was a day old. Pauline Foster Answer: It sounds like your little puppy […]

Question An english recipe I have calls for crème fraîche, I do not know what this is and where do I buy it? Answer Crème fraîche, a French variation of sour cream, is a mildly acidic, high fat, slightly nutty tasting thick cream. Before dairy products were first pasteurised, crème fraîche developed naturally when the […]

Question: My dog (my first) turns three soon. What’s the difference between dog and human years? Carolyn Answer: The old saying is that there are about seven dog years to one human year – which means she’d be celebrating her 21st! This is simplistic, but is roughly correct. Dogs grow and change more rapidly than […]

Question: My dog Ted will not go into his kennel. I have bought a wooden one and a plastic one and he doesn’t like either. He has his special pillow/blanket in both, but this doesn’t help as he keeps pulling them out. He has no shelter outside except for these kennels, so when it rains […]

Question: After training dogs and horses for 25 years, it seems to me the most common complaint is dogs pulling against the lead. If you don’t want your dog to pull, then don’t you pull! It’s as easy as that. A dog cannot pull against resistance that isn’t there! Short, firm tugs are a far […]

Question: I have a ten-year-old Maltese terrier. He is constantly licking things. He licks carpet, cement, clothes, blankets — everything. If he sits down next to me he will just start licking my clothes. Why does he do this? Rebecca Muir Answer: There could be a few possible causes for this behaviour so it’s probably […]