Five men aged between 19 and 58 have been arrested following the discovery of £3,000 of stolen dog food during a raid on a house in Surrey.

Police raided the property in Rushett Common, Bramley on Tuesday and found 110 bags of dog food, a selection of horse tack and £1,000 in cash.

Other items seized included vehicle number plates and an angle grinder.

The men, all from Bramley, who were arrested on suspicion of theft have been bailed pending further inquiries.

Just three genes account for the different coats of domestic dogs

Wiry, smooth, curly or straight – the genetic reason for the the array of coats of different dog breeds is surprisingly simple, say scientists.

Just three genes account for the coat types that make canine pets so diverse. A team of researchers reports in the journal Science that different combinations of these genes account for all of the various textures.

The research could aid the study of the causes of genetic diseases that affect both dogs and humans.

The team was led by Elaine Ostrander from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) in Bethesda, US.

She and her colleagues took DNA samples from 1,000 dogs of more than 80 different breeds as well as from a number of wild dogs, including wolves.

These samples gave the scientists access to each dog’s genome, which they were able to analyse. They looked for “signposts” of DNA variation, called single nucleotide polymorphisms.

By mixing and matching… these three different genes, we could account for most of the variation that we see in coats in domestic dogs Elaine Ostrander, NHGRI

These signal a mutation or change in the DNA code that could account for a particular characteristic.

Edouard Cadieu, a member of Dr Ostrander’s research team decided to use this genetic data to study the dogs’ coats.

“There are lots of obvious differences between dog breeds,” said Dr Ostrander, “but the coats are just remarkable.

“It seems that every breed has a different coat. Some are long, some are short, some are curly, some are bristly, some are smooth, and there is every possible mixture therein.”

Dr Cadieu searched for patterns that might reveal the genetic cause of this variety.

Dr Ostrander explained: “For example, for long hair he looked for a commonality in long-haired breeds that’s distinct from what we see in short-haired breeds.

“Edouard started out looking at texture – or wiry hair – and quickly found that there was a single gene primarily responsible for that, as well as (for) the moustache and eyebrow pattern that you see in dogs like the schnauzer.”

He then moved on to length, and then to curliness. And for each characteristic he identified a single gene that was primarily responsible.

Wild genes

In each case there was an ancestral or “wild-type” form of the gene that dogs inherited from wolves.

There was also a variant or “domesticated form” that had been selected by breeders looking for particular traits like longer hair.

Breeds with more wolf-like coats – such as those with short, straight hair like a beagle – displayed the wild-type version of the gene.

Dogs with short, straight hair have a “wild-type” form of the gene

“Just by mixing and matching… these three different genes, we could account for most of the variation that we see in coats in domestic dogs,” said Dr Ostrander.

The researchers say that the lessons learned from this study could help in the study of diseases that affect both humans and dogs.

Cathryn Mellersh, a geneticist from the Animal Health Trust in Suffolk, UK said: “This study is important because it proves a principle.

“You can use the dog genome as a model to investigate complex conditions and boil them down to a surprisingly small number of genes.”

Dr Ostander concluded: “From a medical point of view, this simplicity is great news.”

It means, she said, that the problems of diseases with a genetic basis are “much more solvable”.

Dr Ostander also expressed her thanks to all of the dog-owners who donated DNA samples from their pets.

“They’ve turned out to be extremely helpful, and this data set is just going to keep giving and giving.”

Wurzel had to be put down after the incident

A man accused of killing a woman’s dog following a series of disputes threatened to become the “neighbour from hell”, a court heard.

Tricia Wales, 60, is bringing a private prosecution against Neville Hill, 48, alleging criminal damage after he hit her border terrier with a garden hoe.

Chichester magistrates were told the blow fractured the dog’s skull and it had to be put down.

Mr Hill admits hitting the dog with a garden hoe but denies criminal damage.

Mr Hill, now of Copse Lane, Walberton, said he struck Miss Wales’ dog, Wurzel, after it trespassed on his property on 21 September 2008 but did not mean to kill it.

I knew immediately what had happened. I knew the threat had been carried out Tricia Wales

Richard Orridge, solicitor for the prosecution, said relations between the neighbours in Yapton, near Arundel, deteriorated after Mr Hill complained her dogs, Wurzel, Kylie and Charlie, got into his garden and left faeces on his grass.

Mr Orridge said Miss Wales did her best to secure the hedge between the gardens and supervise her dogs but a week before Wurzel’s death Mr Hill threatened to kill them after Charlie got into his garden and grabbed one of his chickens.

Miss Wales alleges that during a disagreement over a right of way through his garden, Mr Hill said: “I hate you, I want to get rid of you. I want to get away from you as quickly as I can, you and your rats.”

Miss Wales told the court when she threatened to take him to court, he told her: “You’re going to regret this. I’m going to be the neighbour from hell. I’m going to make your life a misery.”

Put to sleep

She found Wurzel lying unconscious on her doorstep when she returned from a shopping trip the following week.

“I knew immediately what had happened. I knew the threat had been carried out. Suddenly Hill came in [to her house] and said: ‘That’s what I do to rats when they come in my garden’.”

Miss Wales added: “I just said: ‘Get out, you’ve killed my dog’ and he pointed to Kylie and said: ‘You’re lucky I didn’t kill her too, I could have killed her, I had her by the neck’.”

The court was told the police were called after Miss Wales’ former partner attacked Mr Hill during a confrontation and advised her to take the animal to the vets.

The dog was put to sleep later that night and the matter was referred to the RSPCA but it did not prosecute Mr Hill because the dog did not suffer undue pain.

The trial continues.

We invest so much time in socialising our dogs to accept meeting and playing with humans as exiting pleasurable experience. As a consequence, our dogs can’t wait to greet us or our visitors when they arrive. When this excitement manifests itself in “jumping up”, it is sort of ironic that we then tell them off for being over exited to meet us.

Ideally, the answer is to set the ground rules from the very beginning – no jumping up, without exception. The best way to achieve this is to teach your dog that it will not receive any attention until it sits. The theory being that a dog cannot sit and jump up at the same time.

Whenever you arrive home, request your dog to sit. Completely ignore them until they do so. If they jump up, turn your back and ignore them. Don’t speak or give them any attention, just keep requesting your dog to sit. The minute they do sit, heap warm praise on them. If they start jumping up again, go back through the routine of ignoring them and requesting them to sit. Practice this with yourself and your family, ensuring everyone applies the exact same routine, with out exception. Your dog will quickly realise, it will only get attention when it sits.

When you get visitors, ask them to do the same and give them a treat that they can give your dog the second it sits. This will raise eyebrows from some visitors, but it is important that your dog has good greeting manners with all people, not just you and your family.

Bournville’s owners had to identify his body when recovered from a field

An inquiry has begun after the bodies of dogs which were meant to have been formally cremated were found dumped in a Derbyshire field.

Police confirmed the remains of four dogs were discovered in Lower Hartshay, near Ripley, on 18 August.

Two owners said their dogs had been sent by vets for cremation and one family was sent ashes.

Peak Pet Cremations, the firm to which vets sent the two dogs with confirmed identities, has not commented.

Linda Brown, from Hucknall in Nottingham, made the “heartbreaking” decision to have her brown border collie Bournville put down after he was diagnosed with cancer in early August.

“We requested and paid for a sole, rather than mass, cremation and said we wanted the ashes back. We got an urn with ashes a few days later.”

‘Hurt, shock and anger’

But shortly afterwards the RSPCA rang to say Bournville had been found in a field and had been traced through his microchip.

“We had to identify him, which was very distressing. He had been in a field for a good few days in the weather, so his fur was matted up and there were bits and pieces on him.

“It was disbelief at the beginning because we thought we had his ashes, and then that turned into hurt, shock and anger.”

Mrs Brown’s vets said they had terminated their contract with a company called Peak Pet Cremations, based in Heage.

The company has not commented to the BBC but told other media they were currently closed and had recently been burgled.

But Derbyshire Police said no burglaries at pet crematoria had been reported.

Officers said they were liaising with the RSPCA, Amber Valley Environmental Health and the Environment Agency during the investigation.

After the dog comes out of quarantine a new home will be sought for her

A film has been made about a boxer dog who was handed into a Somerset animal rescue centre with a microchip which lists her owner as living in Spain.

Angel was found in the car park of B&Q in Taunton and taken to the RSPCA’s West Hatch centre where details of the owner’s address in Malaga were found.

Inquiries there brought no response so the dog was assumed to be illegally in the UK and sent to quarantine.

The film, posted on YouTube, is aimed at reuniting Angel with her owner.

The two-minute film made by Somerset County Council’s animal welfare team shows an animal welfare inspector talking about how the dog came to be with the rescue centre and images of the dog.

Rabies laws

So far 213 people have viewed the film. Watch the film

Ivan Williams, animal welfare officer at Somerset County Council, said: “The microchip showed her address in Spain 10 years ago.

She is an absolutely super dog, she is so sweet Glenda Tibbots

“Because we couldn’t contact her registered owner and because of our rabies laws we had to send her to quarantine for six months which is very expensive.

“If the Boxer Club had not stepped in it’s likely that because of the costs involved, Angel would have been put down.”

Glenda Tibbots, secretary of the South Western Boxer Club, which has assumed responsibility for the dog, said: “When she came to us she was very thin and had black patches on her side with no hair there.

“She has had an operation to remove a big lump on her eye and is putting on weight.

“She is an absolutely super dog, she is so sweet and needs a one-to-one home so at the end of the six months we will try to find a new home for her.”