From time to time you lot post your fantastic fundraising efforts for dog charities of all kinds on our forum... so I thought you might not mind my cheekily dropping in one too! Member 'dogfox' suggested I add this here so that it's seen more easily.

Jacqui, I and our new girl, Lo, are all taking part in Waggy Walks. We've roped our partners in (my husband is actually going for the full make up, tail, collar & lead!)... and we're all doing the six mile walk.

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DoggySnaps has always been about sharing photos of dogs and, with the new feature added in the second half of last year, video too. This wonderful world of breeds and crossbreeds, oldies and pups and all colours, shapes, sizes and abilities has always appealed to us as the setting for a little friendly competition... but we needed the site to grow before we could put that into practise.

Now that we have a wonderful 45,000+ members in our community, it was time to bring our long-cherished dream into reality. Now your dogs can take part in photo and video shows voted for by members and non-members alike with the chance to get a 1st, 2nd or 3rd place rosette or maybe Editor's Choice ribbon in your kennel for all to see and admire! (There might even be a less virtual prize now and again, too!).

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Dogs Trust has decided to withdraw from Kennel Club events, including Crufts and Discover Dogs. The press release below explains the charity's position:

Dogs Trust, the UK’s largest dog welfare charity has announced it will be withdrawing from Crufts and Discover Dogs. Dogs Trust will also not be involved in this year’s Westminster Dog of the Year Show. This follows consultation with the charity’s Trustees and requests from its supporters.

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The following is a statement from Clarissa Baldwin, Chief Executive of Dogs Trust:

It was horrifying to watch last night's Pedigree Dogs Exposed programme on BBC1. I am very aware that the Kennel Club has been making significant efforts in the recent past to persuade breed clubs that they need to make more effort to eradicate genetic disease and carefully control inbreeding. We hope this programme provides them with the impetus and muscle to accelerate their plans.

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I suspect that more often than not when we sign up to any site, we don't read the rules as thoroughly as we might. I know I've done it before, and then felt embarrassed when I've unintentionally fallen foul of them.

This is why I strongly recommend that everyone who joins DoggySnaps reads our rules. There aren't very many, and they're all there for good reasons.

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I've only been with Dogs Trust since April but in that time I've got to know an awful lot about DoggySnaps and the reasons it was set up. It also turns out there was a great evolution in the way the site developed.

These days it's a multi-functional social network with photo storage, comments, private and public messaging, status updates and a fully functional forum. And that's not going to be the end of it in any small way. With a limited budget, we do our best to give back to those who help make the site vibrant and fun by adding pictures of their dogs, exchanging advice or just posting a decent joke!

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I usually read Lola's eco-dog columns for the great eco-friendly dog owner tips you can find, but this week the subject was on lost dogs and that's something Dogs Trust definitely knows about. I thought some of the ideas were really good, especially as it can be hard to know what to do with yourself when your pet is missing and you're out of your mind with worry.

So I've collected together some of the idea's from Lola's blog (you'll have to click on the link above for the full list) and Dogs Trust's advice on what to do below. Remember that prevention is a very important aspect of this: proper ID tags and collars - required by UK law - are important but a microchip cannot get torn or taken off.

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The results are in from our Lets With Pets Survey, which many of you filled out and commented on. The report revealed that a whopping 75% - three quarters - of dogs are banned from private rental properties.

With the threat of recession forcing increasing numbers of Brits to downsize or rent property, and the credit crunch affecting pet owners, there is a very real risk that thousands of pets could be abandoned or handed over for rehoming to charities such as Dogs Trust.

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It's been an exciting week so far... and it's only Tuesday! Today we got a first look at some of the new updates that are going to take place on the main Dogs Trust website towards the end of the summer. The launch dates for these things always change, so I can't say exactly when, but it's going to look ridiculously good and hopefully make it easier than ever for people to find all the information they need, get updates on their sponsor dogs or make a donation.

DoggySnaps is due some TLC too, and it's getting quite a bit of care and attention these days. That sometimes means that the odd weird error happens but hopefully within the coming weeks and months all the reasons for these will be revealed. Personally I can't wait to see the changes take place as I really believe they are what DoggySnaps users have been waiting for.

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How would you like a cute little doggy slideshow to appear on your Facebook profile? Perhaps in a box on your MySpace page or on your LiveJournal, Blogger or Vox blogs?

Whatever kind of web presence you have, our new widget is for you. With a couple of clicks (sometimes just one!), you can drop the slideshow right onto your page or website. How?

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