Dr Verity Griffiths is the Senior Director at Southfield Vets in Dorchester, Dorset and looks after a number of our Dorwest Dogs! She also owns 3 Hungarian Vizslak and a Border Terrier as well. Verity both works and shows her dogs and most recently made Ruban up into a Show Champion in 2016.
Are you going to Crufts this year? If so, what do you most look forward to?
Yes I shall be there on Gundog Day with my veteran Hungarian Vizsla bitch, Ulurudawn Clipper. At nearly twelve years old this is most probably going to be her last Crufts. But, what I shall be most looking forward to is spending two nights in the Hilton with my old lady, just her and none of the other dogs. She loves the one to one attention and perhaps the odd special treat.
As for me I love catching up with friends and it has become quite a tradition to share a couple of bottles of fizz with friends from all over the country/world.
Tell us about your gang and what activities you like to do with them?
We have three Hungarian Vizlak and a Border Terrier, Sika. Living with the three gundogs, Sika actually thinks she is one and is very good at pointing along with the HPRs! We have a rescue from Hungary who came over through the charity Vizslamentes with whom I have done a bit of work for and support, Holle is quite ancient and we estimate her to be around 14 years old.
Ulurudawn Clipper (Ochre) will be at Crufts, she got us into showing as she was gunshy and as I work all mine, I proclaimed “what use is she?”! My partner said “she is rather beautiful, why not try showing her” and then it all began! Her son who is a fantastic working dog, Sh Ch Ulurudawn Cardinal Marker (Ruban) sadly can’t come to the party as he is “docked and denied”, having been docked after April 2007. He was made up last year and we hope to achieve a field trial award (to date we have only competed at working tests) so that he can become on of the few full champions in the breed.
As a vet, what are the most important things to keep your dog healthy, happy and content?
To provide a loving home environment with regular routine health care, which includes following a good ecto- and endoparasite control regime. To provide good, balanced nutritional support together with regular exercise to maintain a fit, healthy individual. Nowadays we see a very sad increase in obesity in our patients and this impacts on the health of the individual in so many ways, be it joint issues, diabetes and other medical conditions..
If there is one thing you could get dog owners do better or more regularly, what is it?
Weigh their animal in conjunction with measuring the animal’s body condition score. But, I would also like more dog owners cleaning their pets teeth and trimming their nails. If dogs are used to having these things done, together with having their ears cleaned, when something goes wrong, they are so much easier to examine as well as it having obvious health implications.
If you could recommend one Dorwest product what would it be and why?
Scullcap and Valerian Tablets, I’ve used it in my own dogs at times of stress and anxiety. But not only that we use the Valerian Compound our hospital kennels to chill out our inpatients and it is fantastic!
What is your favourite Crufts memory?
There are so many happy memories over the years but, I think my favourite memory was being watching our Border Terrier’s grandfather, Ch Rossula Magic Borderer Clipstone win BOB in 2009 . This was our first Crufts and we took our Border though she didn’t get placed!
Southfield Vets, Dorchester, Dorset http://www.southfieldvet.co.uk/
‘As offering first class care for all your pets is our aim, we adopt a holistic approach to Veterinary care. We provide many services which offer a comprehensive and complete approach to animal care. Led by our extremely experienced team of veterinary surgeons, we offer an exceptionally high level of consultations and an extensive range of treatments and services.
