Fantastic – it’s Spring which means the bluebells are doing their glorious thing. Our woods in Stanmer Park, Brighton, are full of them and everywhere is transformed. Here are some pictures from yesterday’s dog walk with Georgie and Jessie.
Jennie, when are you coming over? 
Posted in bluebells, Brighton, dog walking, dog walks, dogs, England, english woods, golden retriever, Stanmer Woods, Sussex, woodland
Tagged bluebells, dogs, english woodland, spring, Stanmer Woods
Georgie and Jessie enjoying the cool of the woods
Bluebells coming through
Sunlight through the leaves
Looking up to the beautiful blue sky
These photos were taken this morning on our dog walk in Stanmer Woods. The bluebells are peeping through now and it was really beautiful there.
Posted in Brighton, dog walking, dog walks, dogs, England, english woods, golden retriever, spring, Stanmer Woods, Sussex, woodland, Wordless Wednesday
Tagged blue bells, blue skies, bluebells, english woodland, leaves, spring, Stanmer Woods, trees
Yarra learning to switch on the light
After walking my own dogs and leaving them relaxed and snoozing on the sofa, I drove to the Canine Partners Centre in Midhurst, West Sussex.
It was a beautiful Spring day and my drive took me through stunning Sussex countryside. I then got lost in a local village and was 20 minutes late – oh well, you can’t have everything!
Canine Partners trains and matches assistance dogs with people with disabilities, thus helping them enjoy a greater independence and quality of life. Having a Canine Partner raises the person’s self-esteem as well as often leading into education and employment.
Since my last visit, a residential unit has been built enabling partners to live in a real-life situation for a week, receiving hands-on support while they learn to work together and develop a very special bond.
Jane Bryant, Community Fundraiser, showed me around. We saw happy dogs, tails wagging, playing the game of touching the lift button with their noses and taking items out of a washing machine. Other tasks a trained Canine Partner can do include:
Zeus, emptying the washing machine
Anyone with a disability can apply for a Canine Partner. People affected with conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis, Cerebral Palsy and Muscular Dystrophy as well as those with spinal injuries or amputees will benefit from a Canine Partner.
For further information on their wonderful work, go to the Canine Partners website at: Canine Partners.co.uk
This is my own fund-raising page if you feel you are able to help: Just Giving website
Let me finish with a photo of Dessie, a retired Canine Partner, now owned by a member of the team and enjoying a leisurely life in the office.
Posted in assistance dogs, Canine Partners, dog training, dogs, Midhurst, Sussex, West Sussex
Tagged assistance dogs, Canine Partners, charity, disability, dogs, working dogs
It’s rather unnerving arriving at your destination only to find thick fog ahead. This was the scene this morning.
Before I knew this walk well, and whenever the fog descended, I used to keep to a very flat circular area in front of the carpark. I’d gather pieces of chalk and make a kind of arrow pointing up towards the carpark in case I got completely lost.
Now I know my way round really well and I’m not afraid of stretching further afield when the weather’s bad. Even so, it’s still a little scary seeing figures in the distance. Georgie barked at these people, which she never normally does, as if to say, ‘Friend or foe?’ Look carefully at the photo and you can just make the three figures out.
As we carried on with the walk, the fog lifted a little at least in the immediate area we were walking. I took this of Jessie because I noticed the wild bunch of daffodils just sitting on ther own.
By the time we got back to the car, my gloves and hat were off, jacket unzipped and the sun was out. It was as though the fog had never been there. We went from winter back to spring within an hour and a half. The joys of English weather!
Posted in dog walking, dog walks, dogs, English weather, golden retriever, mist, spring, Sussex
Tagged dog walk, dog walks, dogs, England, fog, golden retriever, Sussex, walking your dog
Today’s dog walk was in Stanmer Woods, an area to the north-east of Brighton, East Sussex.
It’s a favourite haunt of dog walkers for several reasons:
- no livestock if you keep to the inner woods
- no danger from cars/roads
- sheltered in bad weather due to all the trees
- it’s beautiful!
The photos were taken this morning and show my dogs as well as those of 3 friends (one is a professional dog walker). We take it slowly so that the dogs can chase, dig, roll in the leaves, drink from the roots of trees, stick noses down holes, snuffle, and generally have a good time 
Soon the woods will be full of bluebells and when they are, you’ll see them here first!
Georgie doing her own thing as usual!
Bailey, Boxer-Mastiff cross, with her stick
Posted in Brighton, dog walking, dog walks, doggy pals, dogs, dogs playing, english woods, Stanmer Woods, Sussex, woodland
Tagged boxer-mastiff cross, Brighton, dog walk, dogs, dogs playing, friendship with dog owners, Stanmer Woods, Sussex
The blue skies and warm weather of the last fortnight seem to be over for the time being. Back to furry ski gloves, fleecy hat and waterproofs.
For the dogs it’s perfect weather of course – neither too hot nor too cold and a fresh blustery wind to ruffle the fur.
Here are a couple of pics from this morning. I found a nice sheltered spot and plonked myself down on the grass. As soon as I do that, Georgie, the Retriever, starts digging frantically a few cms from where I’m sitting. She seems to have a surge of energy whenever I stop on the walk and as you can see from the photo below, digging with her paws is mixed in with poking her nose and mouth in the earth! This photo isn’t cropped by the way. They both just like to get as close as possible and this is how it came out. I thought it was funny!
Posted in dog walking, dog walks, dogs, English weather, golden retriever, Sheepcote Valley, Sussex
Tagged dog walk, dogs, dogs digging, golden retriever, lab cross
Well today started off with – joy of joys – a puncture. So before we could visit the sheep at Sheepcote Valley, the tyre had to be changed by the very nice man at the AA. Thank you to the person who left a 3″ nail in the road that caused the problem.
Now Georgie and Jessie have met sheep before. We had a ‘dog-friendly’ holiday in Scotland – on a sheep farm. This was the one piece of information missing from the description and had we known, we wouldn’t have gone there.
On the first morning of our holiday, we’d let Georgie and Jessie into the front garden, which we assumed was safe and enclosed, only to find the whole area around the house surrounded by sheep. By that time it was too late, the two species had met and two dogs and two sheep ended up in the sea. Everyone survived but after that, the dogs had to be tied up on long leads whenever they went into the garden.
Here they are in the amazing ‘front garden’ of our holiday home safely tied to the picnic table.
So when I discovered that sheep were being brought in to graze our local patch I thought it was an opportunity to do the ‘sheep thing’ again.
It was a while before the dogs noticed them. But when they did, the same excited barking started and Georgie, especially, thought she had new friends to play with.
What I didn’t tell the dogs was that there was a low voltage electric fence surrounding the grazing area. Sure enough, both dogs got too close and both got zapped. And this was actually what I wanted. Not pleasant I know but certainly effective and I’m hoping they’ll now make the association between sheep and that nasty shock they got today.
I may go back tomorrow and see if they remember. Probably not an ideal way to cement a life long friendship, but one way of making my dogs just a little more respectful of sheep then they were.
Posted in dog walking, dog walks, dogs, England, golden retriever, sheep, Sheepcote Valley, Sussex
Tagged dog walk, dogs, England, sheep, sheep and dogs, Sheepcote Valley, Sussex
Today we hooked up with Ali and Nat and their lovely handsome Golden Retriever Monty (on the right).
Friston Forest is about 45 minutes drive from our house and we go there every couple of months – what a treat. It’s so beautiful there – long footpaths, no sheep, fantastic views over the East Sussex countryside and the dogs LOVE it!
These are some of the pics fom this morning’s walk.
Here’s the handsome Monty:
What a wonderful way to spend a morning
Posted in dog walking, dog walks, doggy pals, dogs, England, golden retriever, Sussex
Tagged dog walks, dogs, East Sussex, England, friendship with dog owners, Friston Forest, golden retriever, Sussex
As you may know from yesterday’s post, ‘snow stopped play’ which meant Georgie and Jessie had to do with a round the streets walk and no romping off the lead.
But by today the snow was melting, the roads had cleared and we were able to get to our favourite place.
Georgie was particularly ecstatic at the freedom again, and jumped and rolled and ran and stuffed her head in every bush as though she’d been in solitary confinement for a week.
While Jessie just wanted to play ball as usual
Posted in dog walks, dogs, dogs playing, England, English weather, golden retriever, snow, snow dogs, Sussex, winter weather
Tagged dogs, England, golden retriever, snow, winter
Well south-east England is almost at a stand still. Everyone knew the snow was coming but still no grit on our local roads, trains cancelled, general chaos.
So I bottled out of driving today or should I say sliding, and Georgie and Jessie had a local street walk instead of their normal off-lead extravaganza.
The day started off with a game of tug on our patio and then once we were all kitted out (Georgie with her Hawaiian bandana and Jessie with her saddle bags full of nothing in particular) we headed off.
Jessie has been terrible on the lead when she sees other dogs, so today we tried something new – a tube of cheese spread. Each time we saw a dog (we saw 4 this morning), I said ‘leave’ and rewarded her with a squirt! She loved it and almost forgot about the dogs – and we managed to get round with no barking. A miracle indeed!
Please - let me run around!
Posted in dog walking, dog walks, dogs, English weather, golden retriever, snow, snow dogs, Sussex, winter weather
Tagged cheese, dog backpack, England, snow, snow dogs, Sussex, winter weather
Out And About With Your Dog – what’s new on our website?
