Lost and Found

Green and black lead, let me know if it's yours. I'll bring it down with me until its claimed!
Andrea & Jack

Copthorne vets dog show

Well here I am attempting my first ever post which may well go horribly wrong but here goes.
Thanks to everyone that came along to Copthorne's charity dog show on the 19th with a special mention to Jack obviously as star Castlewalk canine ! The show has now raised over £800 to be split between Lingen Davies and Shropshire Greyhound rescue , so we've beaten last years total despite the not great weather , which we're all chuffed about . Hope you all enjoyed the day I was very proud of all our beautiful and well behaved ( Bolt excepted ! ) Castlewalk crew . At the cost of several computer illiterate hours , I've put lots of photo's on the Copthorne vets website www.shrewsburyvets.com so please have a look . They're obviously not quite to Anths standard but if anyone would like any copies please let me know.

Hello Fans! It's Jack the Superstar here ..... what do you mean big headed?! I've had a fantastic summer down the 'Blog Field', thanks to all of you. My pet Andrea hasn't had too bad a time either! How dull doggy walk days would be without all my friends. It's just not the same if we go out the two of us, not saying that she's dull but ... !

What a long winter ahead - it's going to be sad not seeing everyone every day. I'll miss Lloyd, Polly, Archie, Lilly, Cobey and Elsa - to name a few. And I just don't know how I'll get by without my daily fix of Lydia baiting!!! My pet said that we can come down on Thursday, Fridays and at the weekends - so keep your eyes peeled, there's a chance you won't recognise me in my new coat! Lots of Love Jack x x

Catch Up!

Well hello my Furry Friends(and owners!),
It's been a while since i've posted ,been alittle hectic on the home front! But i've sat mom down and told her to get typing as i woof!!!!!
So we've had a wedding( Stuart & Sarah) and now the girls have moved over the river so all change next door,i keep forgetting they've gone & keep looking for them then mom takes pity and i get extra cuddles so i'll play this abit longer !!
The kitchen has some fab smells coming out of it as mom 's busy making chutneys and jams and conserves,then it'll be xmas cakes and she won't let me taste test as it's for pressies and to sell,yea right let me at them especially the cakes !!!!!
We went along to the Dog Show on Sunday with Lynn x 2 & saw a few furry friends there ,as you now know we were entered (some reluctantly) into a few things ! well i did not like the look of the judge and made my feelings known by turning my bottom to her!! she was not going to feel my bits etc! I was missing my dog naps!!! Lloyd and Jack did well and it made a change to see what other furry 4 legs are out there BUT i do like the Castlewalk Furry Friends best of all,mom loves them all but she's a soft touch , oh teas up followed by my nap!
Take care buddies ( and owners) woof,woof, slurps Sophie !

Hello all from Jess & Coda!

We are new to the blog but not to the park.

Coda has made a few friends over the summer, and he gets on especially well with Lloyd...although he is now at least twice the size of Coda! Hard to imagine that only a few months ago Coda was the larger of the two!

Coda usually gets home too late to make it to the park when most other people go, but we look forward to seeing you all when we do make it!

Hello

Paddy and I would like to say Hello and Thank you for making us welcome on Saturday morning. Paddy really enjoyed meeting all the characters from Castle Walk in particular Joe and cannot wait for the next visit for see him again!. I must admit that Lydia was my favourite on Saturday, her curly coat is gorgeous.....


Paddy and I walked up the Wrekin this morning we managed to walk up and down in 1 hour !! Here is a picture of Paddy on his first trip to the top of the Wrekin when he was about 4 months old!

Also just wanted to say Thank You to Anth for taking the beautiful photograph of Paddy (see Flickr link).


See you all again soon.

Celebration part 2.

Here's a picture of Sunday's other prizewinner and his proud handler, Scarlet! They both did REALLY well and I don't think anyone could argue with the judge's decision. Even though Archie was in this particular class, I can honestly say that Lloyd really is one of the most handsome dogs I've seen in a long time! Congratulations again to all concerned and enjoy your success! Back on the field, it's been a great few days with loads of dogs and owners enjoying each other's company as the nights draw in. Last Saturday morning saw a special guest appearance from Paddy the Lab (who took quite a shine to Joe!) but who is yet another handsome boy to join our merry little gang. Hopefully we'll see a lot more of him in the future and maybe even hear from his owner Kelly on the blog! Kelly is one of a handful of new contributors who are keen to get involved so welcome one and all!

The boys done good.

CONGRATULATIONS JACK AND LLOYD! It was left to the boys to bring home the bacon (or ham, Andrea!) this afternoon as they did Castle Walk proud. Thanks to Emma and her team at Copthorne Vets for giving us a very pleasant Sunday afternoon at Longden Village Hall and although the competition was extremely fierce it's great that as a blog, we didn't come home empty-handed. Hopefully we'll hear from one or both of the very proud owners some time this week as they share their hopes for the future and wax lyrical about their lovely boys! Well done again everybody and maybe... just maybe... celebrity beckons!

Pet bowling

Hi all

I haven't been able to get to the field the last few days, and was wondering if I had missed anything. Has anybody got a pet strike? Jack (my hero) had a near miss the other day, and hurt himself doing it, unlucky, any other human would have been down, my pet would have been!

For anyone who doesn't know, we play pet bowl's, when the pets are chatting away to each other, we 'play' chase and crash into them, and try to floor them! Maximum points for flooring more than one, I don't know if anybody has done that yet but I feel it won't be long, I think our technique is getting better. Flooring one gets 5 points, 2 points for getting more than one pet to dodge, and 1 point for getting one to dodge. I'll start to keep a record, someone else will have to take scores if I'm not there.

Winter is coming, I am lying in front of a crackling fire, one of my favourite pass times. All is surprisingly quiet in the house, even though the puppies are in, I have a boy who bounces off the walls, makes lots of noise, and is big on hugs. I am told that when they get a bit older they start sleeping all the time, and communicating in grunts - proper dog behaviour, so what happens, why do they get all active again when they grow up?

Hope I can get my pet out soon

Come along to the Copthorne Veterinary Clinic Dog Show!

It's that time of year again, when the nights are drawing in and we all try to make the most of the last couple of hours of daylight down on the field. This leads to HUGE gatherings of dogs and it's great to see all of the different shapes, sizes and coat-lengths, all getting on so well (...most of the time Lottie and Polly!) Tonight was no exception and Bolt the JRT is getting more and more involved with both dogs and humans as he continues to recover from a nasty car accident and who knows what other misfortunes he has no doubt suffered in his short life. He's obviously extremely happy with Emma and Ralphie now, and the reason I mention him in particular is that he is a success story from Copthorne Veterinary Clinic and they are holding a dog show this Sunday 19th September at Longden Village Hall SY5 8EX. This is near Shrewsbury and entries for a range of classes including pedigree and novelty are welcome from 12pm and judging begins at 1pm. Entry fee is £1 per class, car parking costs £2 per car and all proceeds go to Lingen Davies Cancer Appeal and Shropshire Greyhound Rescue. Sounds like a lovely afternoon out to me with a BBQ, charity stalls, cakes etc. not to mention facepainting and other stuff for the kids. How about we try to get a whole load of rosettes back to Castle Walk?! I know I am more than a little biased but we have got some lovely looking dogs in our group so it's worth a few quid for some good causes to show them off, and enjoy each other's company in a different location for a change. Archie's up for it, although after what happened last time we showed him, I hope his self-esteem can take it! Hope to see you there. If you need more info contact the clinic on 01743 360614 or e-mail hello@shrewsburyvets.com .

Have Your Say!

It's been a great couple of days on the field for myself and Archie as there have been some good gatherings and yet more new faces. Plenty of mud flying between and Archie, Ollie, Rafa and special returning guest star Inca as they had a lot of fun down by the river yesterday morning! It's also great to see Jo / Polly adding a post to the blog and I hope this is the first of many.

I thought I'd post tonight with more details of something some of us were chatting about earlier. At 4pm tomorrow at Castlewalk Park (I assume that means 'our' field) our local policing team is holding a PACT surgery which gives everyone a chance to let them know what we would like them to deal with. We had a flyer through the door but I don't think everyone else did. Unfortunately we probably won't be able to make it but I know that there are plenty amongst us who really care about what goes on over the field, so if you are able to get down around 4, this could be a good opportunity to have your say. For more information you can contact Column and Underdale Local Policing Team on 0300 3333000 ext:5790

Last thing from me tonight... if you haven't met her already she's another new face and another new pup. The list of breeds on the walk / blog just keeps on growing with Lola, our first Bulldog. What a beauty! This is her portrait but have a look at another shot I got of her tonight in my Flickr album (link above). I'm even more pleased with that one!

I have just noticed all these pictures of my mates who I meet when I take my pet for a walk. I am not sure that the one of me has my best side, but still not bad for a human - you should encourage that Archie, its good for them to have something to do. These human's just won't sit still, mine is always up down, wandering around - goodness knows what she would be like if I didn't take her for a walk. It's good to socialise them and she gets to meet other humans and I get stuck in with my friends. The humans like to through balls, so we chase after them, they love it, you should see there little faces, its almost as if there ears are pricked! I know some say its silly to dogise them, but sometimes its so difficult not to.

Now I am writing for a little bit of advice, I am having a problem with an infestation of birds - it doesn't matter how much I bark and chase after them they keep coming back, has any dog got any advice? Even worse while I was in the park the other day there was a shark flying around, I kept out of that, some of the others seemed to know what they were doing - in fact Jack managed to get it, but got tangled up in its tail - one to watch if you ever think of catching one yourself. Well done Jack, that took some courage, sharks can be very unpredictable around humans, thankfully they did not seem to understand the danger they were in, you don't want a pack of frightened humans on your hands, no matter how well trained they are.

Talking about getting some exercise, I better get this one out she is beginning to look ready, she's got her little singing box out, one of her favourite toys, she chatters away to it - Arr they are funny arn't they, I couldn't be without mine.

Polly

Early morning mist and new arrivals...

Forget everything I said yesterday about the challenges of lowlight photography. This morning's misty river provided the opportunity for some very atmospheric shots and we had a lovely walk along the towpath. I spent the whole day editing my holiday shots and these can now be seen via the link to my Flickr account (above right). Please feel free to have a look and comment (constructively!) as all feedback is welcome. Also above right is a slideshow with a few new additions, so look carefully and you should see several new photos of regular visitors to the field. It was great to see Lloyd today after quite some time and he really is growing into the most handsome dog! (There's a new one of him). As far as this afternoon was concerned it was a fine gathering, as it was yesterday, so let's keep making the most of the dwindling daylight before half past three becomes the new half five! Finally for this little post, I can't resist adding one more more photograph... Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, please welcome... Chanel!

Back to School...

Is it just me or has it gone very Autumnal all of a sudden? Weather has been a major talking point on the field over the last couple of days and the wind, rain and low light has made photographing our beloved animals all the more difficult lately, hence the lack of new images. That said, I have got a few to add to the slideshow, so keep your eyes peeled for new photos of old dogs plus the odd new arrival! It's been nice to catch up with people after a couple of weeks away and as the nights draw in it has struck me that this little blog could really come into its own during the dark Winter months. I know that myself and Archie will not be able to get down to the field as often as we would like but hopefully we'll still be able to stay in touch with what's going on via the odd post from those of you at the heart of the action. Come on! Don't be shy. Pop a little note on here every now and again. As you may have noticed the layout of the blog has changed slightly. All of the same content remains, plus a little more, so I hope you approve. If anyone has any suggestions or ideas just let us know. P.S. The menacing-looking individual on the right is definitely NOT a new face in the Castle Walk cast of characters, just in case you were worried. I just thought I'd share this as it was the closest thing to a dog I photographed while I was away...