The trials and tribulations of a life of leisure...

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Thursday, November 16, 2006

Jen and Poncho in Disgrace

The weather is generally becoming a lot wetter and colder, but it is the days when we have strong winds that are the real killers. It is very difficult to hear cars when the wind is gusting through the trees. Getting ready for walks is taking longer - hats, coats, scarves and gloves for us, and coats and muzzles for Jen and Poncho. Our schedule has now changed to 'long' walks in the morning and afternoon, but the extended walks are less frequent now as they are less enjoyable. It is also getting dark quite early now - on grey/rainy days it can be getting dark at around 4 p.m. - so the start time of the afternoon walk is gradually being pulled back.

We had started undoing the dog's leads as we came up the drive, and they would bound up to the front door and wait for us. However, on Tuesday they obviously saw or smelt something up the high bank. Poncho stopped and started sniffing, and then Jen just jumped up quickly followed by Poncho. They spent five minutes running up and down and along the back of Margaret's barn, showing none of the trepidation and care that I had when working up there. They obviously didn't give a damn about the plants...

I was worried that they would run around the side of the barn to Margaret's - having seen the nettles, brambles and hogweed there they could have done themselves a lot of damage, not to mention what would happen if they saw Margaret's cats.

As it was lunch time I went and got their bowls and clanged them. This did the trick - the promise of food got them down. They had obviously thoroughly enjoyed themselves, but a severe telling off did make them look slightly abashed.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why not secure 2 ground pegs about 100m apart in one of your fields, attach a nylon rope between both pegs a piece of light chain about 2m long one end to dogs collar the other via a carabineer to the rope. This will allow the dogs to run 100m and back at will without you getting involved after the initial attachment until you deem release time has arrived.Make sure that dogs are muzzled to prevent chewing of rope. Movement by 2-3m of one ground peg after a couple of weeks will secure a fresh run.

Hels said...

I assume this would stop them tangling themselves up but still let them run freely up and down.
Greyhounds are strange dogs - they rarely want to run just for the sake of it. Occasionally we have blocked off both ends of the garden or taken them into the back barn to run about. Most times they just stand there not knowing what to do. They want something to chase, preferably small and furry...
Also they can get up to full speed within a few bounds, so anything that would suddenly stop them attached to their collars could break their neck.
We are planning to redevelop the cowshed/barn next year, and part of that will be to include an enclosed back garden to allow Jen and Poncho greater freedom.

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