Just to let you know that the spaces I had for dogs to stay with us over Easter have now been filled.

Apologies if you were hoping to bring your dog here, but we do have vacancies after Easter if you need them!

Due to a couple of cancellations, we’ve now got vacancies at Easter if you need to get away.  Give me a call or drop me an email and we’ll see what we can do!

Well, we’re now into our fourth year of The Country Dog Retreat and it’s looking like a busy one.  This time of year has been fairly quiet before, but this year, we’re already booked up completely until the end of March!    Plus Easter is booked up too.

But it’s lovely to have had such lovely dogs staying with us – some faithful regulars and some gorgeous new ones.  You’ve all been a pleasure to look after….. you know who you are!

Isn’t it amazing how much dogs know?  They know when things are as they should be – they’re relaxed, happy, enjoying life as only a dog can.

But then things change, not because we want change but because change suddenly becomes a part of life.   I’m not talking about drastic change.  They still get their walks when they expect them, get fed at the same time, get the same amount of attention, but you can tell that for them things just aren’t right.  I had to go into hospital earlier this week – just overnight – but as far as they are concerned things haven’t been quite right since.   Hubby’s doing the dog walking at the moment, they love him to bits, there’s no problem there, but they still seem a bit, well….. deflated.

Dogs really are such sensitive souls – sometimes you have to stand back for a moment to appreciate how we’re so very lucky to share our lives with such wonderful animals.

We’re managing fine with the bookings we have at the moment – thanks to my lovely husband, Arthur, who’s been doing a great job – I don’t know how I’d deal with all this without you!! – and also big, big thanks to my friend Carole for stepping in after my frantic phone call on Thursday – thank you so, so much!!!

But I still don’t know how things are going to go, as obviously this is a really big thing for Mum to cope with at her age (coming up 80!)  so if you’re thinking of booking your dog in for boarding in the next few weeks, please if you could call Carole who runs Happy Dog Homestay in Street it would make things much easier for us here until I know a bit more about what’s happening.

But don’t worry Conker, Breeze, Ruby and Lottie – we’re all set up to look after you!!

Having fun in the field

Well, the season is getting underway now and I’m getting asked quite a lot about vacancies.    I thought it might be easier to let you know on here.

I’m booked up now for all weekends up to the 7th May (that one is still free at the moment).  I do have  vacancies for odd days in between, so if you don’t need weekend boarding, I may still be able to help you.  Best to ask!!

Thanks to all my lovely customers and really looking forward to have your lovely dogs staying with us!

Who am I, mummy?

Just browsing the internet while the dogs were having a sleep yesterday I came across something I’d never heard of before.   I knew people could have DNA testing from the occasional glance at some of those crazy daytime TV shows, but  DNA testing for dogs?  And why?

Well it’s really quite interesting, particularly if you have a mixed breed dog.   They can actually tell you which breeds your dog is made up of.   Isn’t that amazing?   Seemingly these test can show up breeds even down to around 10% of the dog’s make-up.

Dog DNA tests are quite common in the pedigree dog world it seems,  as it’s possible to tell you if your dog is really totally pure-bred, or indeed, just as in the human scenario, can actually show proof of parentage.

Sometimes I think I must be quite behind the times!

I can see this could help dog behaviourists too, as different types of dogs – hounds, terriers, etc – have different traits it could be very helpful in knowing which way to approach the dog in dealing with sorting out behavioural problems.

And how do they do this test?  I had visions of people sticking needles into their dogs to get some blood to test, but it’s actually not like that at all.   You can get kits – they’re widely available and even sell them on Amazon – and it’s done with a swab taken from the inside of the cheek, so if you’re thinking of doing it, it’s not painful or upsetting for the dog.

I must admit, I don’t feel the need to be rushing off to do any DNA testing myself on my own dogs.   I’m happy with them being themselves and don’t really feel the need to delve too deep, but I can see that it could be quite interesting to know some more, particularly if you have a very mixed up dog  that you have no idea what could be in there!   Now that could be quite a revelation.