WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING

COMPANION DOG SHOW 25TH APRIL 2010

Click here to see the results and to see some photographs 

It looks as if we will have raised approximately £370 for the Oldies and they also raised £93 from their stall.

CHARITY WALK 28th MARCH 2010

An excellent day was had by all and a report will be published soon but in the meantime click here for some photos of the day

The Kennel Club Good Citizen Awards details are on a new page.  Please click here to view the results

Cows & Dogs don't always mix

With thanks to walkingworld.com for this article

A couple of unfortunate incidents have brought the issue of livestock on public footpaths to public attention once again. Farmers have a perfect right to keep stock in fields with public footpaths running through them and indeed there is little danger from cows unless they have young with them and unless you have a dog. Cattle are, on the whole, quite docile animals, happy enough to be herded around by a farmer with a stick. Even herds of frisky bullocks, with their habit of charging over to you in an alarming way, can be moved on with a bit of theatrical shouting and arm-waving.

Introduce a dog, however, and things can be very different. Cows with calves may see your pet as a wolf-like predator, triggering a deeply ingrained protective instinct. The reaction can be surprisingly aggressive. Once when surrounded by panicky cows in the field right outside our house I made the mistake of putting our small dog over a fence. While I was doing so one of them head-butted me in the back. The force of the blow was incredible, throwing me hard against the barbed-wire fence. Luckily I got away with some rather heroic-looking lacerations and a badly torn T-shirt. And this was a cow that mooched around outside our front gate every day – I thought she was my friend. I don’t actually hold it against her – what she was doing was entirely natural. But I have learned my lesson and next t! ime I’ll simply let the dog go. He’ll be able to look after himself and I won’t be associated with him.

One of the problems may be that we have it constantly drummed into us that dogs should always be on a lead amongst livestock. We also need to overcome our own protective instincts for our pets and resist the urge to face up to a herd of angry cattle on their behalf. Finally we run the risk of assuming that ‘rights of way’ are absolute rights, regardless of what’s in the field or what animal we have with us. That can be a mistake; there are times when we should take stock of the situation and simply retreat or find another way round. More on crossing fields with dogs