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Rescue centre ‘sorts’ dogs into Hogwarts houses
Each dog gets a banner and scarf in his kennel to display his ‘Pawgwarts’ house.

Adopters encouraged to consider personality over breed 

A rescue centre in Florida has taken inspiration from the Harry Potter series and is now ‘sorting’ its dogs into Hogwarts houses. The initiative aims to help adopters choose a pet based on personality traits, not looks or breed.

Just like in JK Rowling’s school for witches and wizards, dogs at the Pet Alliance shelter are sorted into Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin, depending on their personality traits.

Dogs who are quick to figure out a puzzle are placed into Ravenclaw, recognising their knowledge; whilst cheerful, affectionate canines are sorted into Hufflepuff. Meanwhile, those who embrace new things with courage are Gryffindors, and those with the ambition to climb the agility A-frame are placed in Slytherin.

Each dog gets a banner and scarf in his kennel to display his ‘Pawgwarts’ house.

“We want to start a national conversation about dog personality rather than dog breed,” Stephen Bardy, Pet Alliance’s executive director told The Dodo. “That is our ultimate goal and we think this is a fun and universal way for people to start talking. “

As the Sorting Hat can only be found within the walls of Hogwarts, Pet Alliance had to improvise with a team of wizards and a few muggles, who created a series of activities to sort dogs into their houses. The shelter has even put together a quiz so that all dog owners can find out which house their dog belongs in.

Pet Alliance says it has joined many progressive shelters in removing breed labels. The shelter says it has seen an increase in adoptions since introducing the ‘Pawgwarts’ scheme.

Image © Pet Aliiance/Facebook

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RCVS Knowledge appoints Veterinary Evidence editor-in-chief

News Story 1
 RCVS Knowledge has welcomed Professor Peter Cockcroft as editor-in-chief for Veterinary Evidence.

A world-renowned expert in evidence-based veterinary medicine, Prof Cockcroft will lead the strategic development and editorial quality of the open-access journal. He was previously in the role from 2017-2020.

Katie Mantell, CEO of RCVS Knowledge, said: "We are excited about the extensive knowledge of evidence-based veterinary medicine and clinical veterinary research that Peter brings, and we look forward to working with him over this next phase of the journal's development." 

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News Shorts
CVS Group hit by cyber attack

CVS Group, which owns more than 450 veterinary practices in the UK, has been hit by a cyber attack.

In a statement, the group said the incident involved unauthorised external access to a limited number of its IT systems. As soon as the attack was discovered, the group took its IT systems temporarily offline, causing 'considerable operational disruption'.

It has warned that the security steps taken and ongoing plans to move its operational systems and IT infrastructure to the Cloud are likely to have an ongoing impact over a number of weeks.

Due to the risk that personal information was accessed, CVS has informed the Information Commissioner's Office. The company is working with third party consultants to investigate the incident.