New Group on Facebook

For all the walkers at Castle Walk, there is a new Facebook page opened for the group... https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/CastlewalkDogs

Revisited

What a difference 8 months makes! July 2011 was the last time I took Steve to Castle Walk as he was suffering from intermittant lameness and was put on restricted exercise - this turned out to be OCD in both shoulders and he had a double operation carried out at Liverpool Small Animal Teaching Hospital in September, which has been a resounding success. He has had his 'bits' removed, also his ugly rear dew claws removed, he is now fighting fit and raring to go.

As the nights are getting lighter, I took him to Castle Walk late afternoon today and he met an old friend in Bear. Also a newcomer called George, a gorgeous rough coated little 6 month old terrier, owned by Lisa and Mark.

I found it hard to believe just how much Steve had improved and grown up in 8 months, his recall was really good and I didn't have to go chasing after him like last year when he'd follow other dogs/people home. He played and chased for ages with George and Bear later joined in. Could really have done with Anth and his camera there.... I must remember mine next time.

I hope this blog continues and the regular meet-ups occur through the summer months so all the dogs can socialise and have fun.

Lynne (Kira and Steve)

Problems at Haughmond

Hi everyone

It's been a while since I blogged but Polly and I have been lured away to the delights of Haughmond!! However I just wanted to give you a warning, and ask for help. There is a man who is there about 8am-9am every morning, he has two big ridgeback dogs, and they have been attacking dogs. They have had a go at Polly, who is in no way aggressive herself, and I had to grab one of the dogs as the owner didn't seem to feel inclined to do it himself.

The police have been told a number of times by a large number of people, and have done nothing other than 'talk' to him, he still keeps coming. He has said he know's no one can stop him, he has threatened one person with them. I know a number of people have changed the time of their walk.

Although Haughmond is a lovely place to go, and nothing will stop me walking there I tend to time my walks so as to miss him. Does anyone know what can be done to stop this owner for allowing his dogs to attack other's. I have no problem with him taking his dog's there if he keeps them under control, as I am sure others don't.

Pastures new...

It's been a while since we've seen a lot of you (assuming anyone is still out there in blogland...) and even longer since we posted here. This is just a short note to say more of an "au revoir" than a "goodbye". I'd also like to thank you for your company and conversation during what has been a very happy period in our lives. We'll pop back to the field every now and again, and maybe set some meetings up via the blog, if it keeps going. We'll continue to post details of our new adventures and new destinations and hope to keep up to speed with life on Castle Walk. We had our first evening stroll last night and a couple of shots I took are below - hope you like them. It was a glorious evening, and Archie was far more interested in the swallows than any of the FOUR hares we saw. Blog soon, take it easy and thanks again. A&L&A

Is it just Labradors?

Is it just Leroy or are all Labradors always hungry?

I spent the morning in contented domestic bliss making the bread for the week ahead before Andy, Molly, Leroy and I went to the Long Mynd to have a picnic in the sunshine and watched the gliders riding the thermals.

When we got home, the bread which was now lovely and plump and risen to perfection ready for the oven (such a satisfying moment and much improved thanks to Brompton Cookery School Lessons). The loaves were placed in the oven and baked to their golden loveliness and when the it was done the bread was left on the kitchen side to cool.

The house smelt of delicious fresh bread and unfortuntely, the temptation proved too great for Leroy who sneaked out of the lounge and took one of the 1kg loaves from the kitchen side and devoured the lot!

Now I don't know about you, but it's hard not to get angry with a dog who has just eaten the bread that you have lovingly spend 2-hours of your weekend making, however; the poor little man. His initial lip smacking satisfaction quickly turned to discomfort as his belly began to take on the might of 1kg of granary bread and drinking water just made the situation worse. Do you take your dog to the vet for eating too much bread?....

Google is such a great tool when you're not too sure if a loaf can kill! When typing in 'dog ate loaf of bread' into the search engine, it is quite unbelievable how incredibly common this occurance seems to be. Advice differed massively from 'take your dog immediately to the vet' to 'don't feed him anything for 24 hrs' (not that he could physically fit any more food in). On advice from vets24 (or something of that ilk) we went with the majority opinion posted by vets to let him ride it out... not pleasant.

I must say that you would thing that Leroy would have learnt his lesson after his stomach was stretched to capacity, but alas no! Today he had managed to open and devour an entire 24 hour ration pack; 7000+ calories in one sitting - this dog can sniff out any morsel of food at 1000 yds!

The moral of this story is simple - Labradors are ALWAYS hungry, so lock up your lunch!

Greyhound Rescue Shropshire and Borders

Great British Greyhound Walk

Great British Greyhound Walk at The Quarry in Shrewsbury. 11am-1:30pm. Refreshments will be provided after the walk for a small donation. The idea is that on 26 June 2011 we have as many greyhounds and lurchers walking together all over the country, bringing owners together regardless of where their hound has been homed from, to celebrate greyhounds, to raise awareness of greyhounds and to promote greyhounds as pets in a BIG way. All sighthound breeds are welcome.
Link to the website http://www.greatbritishgreyhoundwalk.btck.co.uk/

UFO sighting over Castle Walk!!!

Turns out it was just our 'Eye in the Sky' Anth, and Graham taking a spin in a
plane over 'The Walk' on Sunday night, whatever next.
If you look very closely you can just make out Anths huge grey lens hanging out of the window!

A Different Angle...

Graham (Polo's owner) very generously took me flying today in an attempt to get a different angle on our little dog walking heaven. Thankfully, we got up there between the showers and were rewarded with some stunning views and lots of really interesting shots. I thought I'd post this one as a little taster as I tried to get as many of our streets in as possible. I'll edit a few more and hope to share them in the next few days. Hope everyone's well and thanks again to all concerned with Steve's birthday do yesterday. It's been a great weekend. Cheers Graham!

Fun in (and with!) Dandelions...

Two new pics for you today; Jack and Archie thoroughly enjoyed each other's company over the weekend, and all of the dandelions in full bloom certainly added a lovely splash of colour to the field. Not content with that, Archie took it upon himself yesterday to take his desire to organise EVERYTHING in his world one step further, by attempting to catch every single seed on the wind... I love my dog, but he's an odd one!

Refreshing Spaniel shower...

Ollie got his own back on Lily last night for all her recent Spaniel baiting, with a good old shake down, straight in her face! It's fantastic to see all the dogs getting wet and loving the cracking weather we've been enjoying, long may it continue. Happy Easter to one and all.