Wicked Wilson Writes ...

Tally, "Stop drawing attention to my plans for Castle Walk then World domination - you are the Pinky to my Brain!"

Just wanted to say a quick thank you to all the Castle Walk Dog Walkers who have made the three of us feel really welcome over the last month (especially considering Wilson's unique style of group integration!). It's a real shame that the Winter evenings have drawn in and will dwindle the gathering. Tor, Wilson and I will still be going down at half 5ish so will enjoy meeting with those of you not scared of the dark!

For the Border Collie owner who has everything.

For those of you with Christmas shopping on their minds, you may like to pay a visit to Charlies at Welshpool as we did today. We saw this fabulous matching set of Border Collie door stop and draft excluder, competitively priced at £13.99 each, now I wonder who's home these might look rather stylish in? Anthsers on a postcard please kids!

Winter starts here...

I suppose there's always tomorrow night, but for some reason Saturdays are never quite like weekdays! This means tonight could be the last time we all have the chance to get together for a while. I thought I'd post a little picture of one of Lynn's boys (I think it's Zak) in the fading evening light, as we all get ready for a long dark winter. I'd like to think there will continue to be good-sized gatherings on Saturday mornings, weekends and the odd Wednesday afternoon, but if we don't see some of you for a while, stay warm, and myself and Archie the sheriff will catch up with you sometime next year! Hopefully between us all, we can keep the blog ticking over and keep communicating virtually, throughout the Winter months. All the best everyone! (...and put off buying a 2011 calendar for as long as you can, because I might do something with some photos!)

Wilson

Who's going to vote for Wilson as Head Boy,I think its time we all realised that Wilson has it all sussed and will be taking over the planet dog next week. How long before he realises that he is small.LLyod is big and will get bigger, Lola will sit on him and Bolt will shout at him and Tally will bounce on him. Wilson needs to make friends with Archie as insurance.

just spent hours trying to get my technical head working after 2 weeks letting it rest on holiday in Turkey . Meet some very friendly and well looked after dogs in the hotel including one land shark puppy and I have the scars to prove it. Rushed home intime to pick tally up from her holiday at Moorlands. She was over over joyed to see us but let out this incredible howl as we drove home not sure if that was her saying good bye to her new friends or just not happy to be going home . Still we will never know. Been watching the blog and catching up. Will be adding some dog friendly pubs to the list later , but for now I thought I would remind everyone about the wonderful winter we had last year, (actually posted the wrong picture, but it looks good) Tally is looking forward to meeting you all again. We did a wonderful walk up at the hill today lots of buzzards and jays. But i feel abit like Bo peep at the moment as tally won't leave my side.
See you soon and thanks for the You Tube Extreme Sheep LED best laugh for ages

Just Beautiful Autumn Colours in our Park!!

Had I not had a dog I would not have witnessed such a striking site in our park just now, with the fantastic autumn colours of the leaves against a dark grey sky and Cadbury bouncing around like a hare, thank you Cadbury!!, made it back just in time as the heavens have now opened ooooh and I need to go on the school run..thought I would share that with you. Sarah x

Have you ever seen a greyhound puppy?

This morning, myself and Nick went to Moorlands to take some photographs of the many retired Greyhounds they have there, and it may sound odd, but I saw my first Greyhound puppy! I am not sure it is as impressive as Sarah's sighting of the black swan, but it was a lovely experience all the same! It was great to see the wonderful work the staff at this particular rescue home do and to enjoy the company of some beautiful dogs albeit for such a short time. We went to try to help out with their publicity and capture some of the characters they have living there at the moment, and I can honestly say, if anybody out there is looking for a second (or third, or fourth) dog, you could do a lot worse than give a home to one of these wonderful creatures. We have some fine examples of rescue greyhounds and lurchers in our ever-expanding Castle Walk group and I'm sure those who were lucky enough to witness it on the field tonight would agree, it's a great sight when they get together and just move through those gears! The picture above is just one of quite a few I took today, so follow the Flickr link if you want to see a few more. I've also managed to capture a few new faces over the past couple of days, so their portraits also feature. A big welcome to Wilson, Boston, Freddie (amongst others), and their owners, and we look forward to hearing from you on the blog soon!

Have you ever seen a Black Swan before?

Yesterday I had the pleasure of seeing for the first time a black swan, sat proudly on the river Severn by the Grey Friars Bridge, he appeared to be floating off down the river, so as soon as I got home I got Cadbury on the lead and we ran down through the park over the bridge and down to the river at Castle Walk in the hope he had made it to our little part of the river...but no as we made our way looking for him along the toe path, he was still sat at Grey Friars quite happy, I really wished I had Anths' phone number Im sure he could have captured him beautifully but hey!!. so for those who have never seen one, it takes you by surprise to see not only the black feathers but a bright red beak/bill...I have to say it made my day.

Hello Furry Friends ( & owners)
Well mom has filled me in on the Quiz last night! Firstly mom returned in a sober state(that was different but don,t tell her i said so! ) and The Quiz was much improved and competitor friendly and everyone appeared to enjoy themselves.
Afterwards home cooked fare was provided from Sheena(who works behind the bar & is Robbo's fair lady) and my mom,Indian ,chutneys and cakes,sounds lovely BUT no doggy bag i noticed hmmm! humans!!!
Mom said she hoped everyone would attend again next month and it takes place on the first weds of every month for anyone who is interested.
So i,ve had a dip in the river earlier today and i,ll catch that rat next time ,honestly i will ! hmm mom's just added not if she has anything to do with it,we'll see grrrrr! I also lost my new ball on a rope but i blame Pete the rough haired lurcher as i do like him lots and got distracted what can i woof!
A message to Jess & Coda you can dogs in the Dog & Pheasent but they have to be kept on a lead,water and biscuits provided.
We are off now for an early walk as mom's got a meeting to go to so she said she'll catch up with you all tomorrow and at the weekend, woof woof, slurps a plenty ! Sophie !

Pub quiz anyone?

Picking up on the pub theme from Jess and Coda's post, for those who don't already know, there's a quiz in the Dog and Pheasant this Wednesday the 6th. It would be great to get a team (or two!) together and enjoy a drink (or two!) together and have a bit of fun at the same time. As far as I know the quiz starts around nine and everyone's welcome. I'm sure that between us we've got a fantastic range of specialist subjects, but it's not the winning, it's the taking part (unless of course you're Jack and Andrea then it's just winning!)

Changing the subject a little, it's great to see so much activity on the blog. I'm adding photos all the time (follow the Flickr link) and really appreciate all the different contributions. Cheers everyone for staying involved and hope to see you on Wednesday if not before.

Dog Friendly Pubs?

Ok I admit it, I like beer! But I also do not like leaving Coda at home alone!

Can anyone suggest any pubs in and around (i.e. within walking distance of the park) Shrewsbury where I can enjoy beer AND spending time with Coda?

We were chatting about this at the park the other week while the dogs were bowling and some pubs were mentioned....The Boathouse, The Bricklayer, The Armoury, and another just across the bridge in Castlefields but I forget the name! Something about a Hen or Chicken maybe?

Doing a pub crawl on Saturday around town and bringing Coda along, so I’ll report back with any findings! But any suggestions before then would be helpful!

Jess & Coda

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