Sunday Morning Walkies

During a rare quiet moment at the K9-Club we decided to plan the latest group walk for our customers and their owners. Its not as easy as it first sounds, where and when are the easy bits, follow this with will the owners want to let their dogs off the lead? Will there be sheep or cattle nearby? Will the group of dogs be as social as they are when at the K9-Club? The dogs can sometimes change in the presence of their owners. All this and more needs to be taken into consideration.

1000hrs on the 30th June, it was agreed the walk would be at Lower Roddlesworth Reservoir and this was communicated to our customers keen to attend.

On a very pleasant Sunday morning everyone that was attending arrived promptly and the walk commenced. Approaching the reservoir from the dog friendly Hare and Hounds pub at Abbey Village most dogs were already off lead having a wonderful time. All the owners were keen to enjoy the morning too. I had decided to do the shorter 3.5 mile walk as we did have a few older dogs (including my own) walking with us.

About a mile in we found our first inlet to the waters edge, it was almost like the dogs had found their beach in paradise as they were quickly in the water swimming or playing fetch. It was a fantastic site seeing all the dogs in close proximity playing together. After about 20 minutes we decided to continue with the walk although to be honest I think both the dogs and the owners would have been happy to stay there all day such was the enjoyment.

As we continued through the woods Charlie the Beagles owner was lulled into a false sense of security and felt comfortable enough to let Charlie off the lead, however Charlie decided he was going on his own walk, he quickly jumped over a stone wall and decided to play a game of chase me. It didn’t take too long to persuade him to re-join the pack and the walk continued.

For the next 20 minutes we walked through beautiful shaded woodland, perfect for dog walking. Approaching dog walkers must have wondered what was going on as around 18 dogs and 30 or so owners walked toward them, however with a nod and a smile they passed without incident.

Tucker the Hungarian Vizsla’s owner knew where the next inlet to the reservoir was and off we went. It’s a great spot as it’s a little off the beaten track and very quiet, not for long though as all the dogs were soon in the water again. As we had the beach to ourselves we spent a bit more time there. After around 20 minutes the dogs were looking a little on the mucky side and looked like they all needed a good bath and as time was quickly passing it was time to move on.

Another mile and a half of quiet woodland pathways brought us close to the end of our morning adventure around Roddlesworth. It was clear that everyone, including the owners had enjoyed the morning as everyone asked when we were planning to have the next walk.

We will certainly be doing at least one more walk this year after the summer holidays.

On a personal note as the owner of K9-Club it was fabulous to see how the dogs socialised in the presence of their owners, proving that bringing their dogs to doggy day care does work from a socialisation point of view. It was also great to spend time with the owners as we don’t get the chance to catch up much during the busy working week.

A big thank you to all those that made the effort to attend including the K9 Club team. See you all on the next walk!