Jen and Poncho - Nightmare Day

Yesterday was a nightmare with Jen and Poncho. It all started uneventfully enough with the first walk of the day.

Come 10 a.m. and off we set over the bridge and on towards the Preston/Chirnside road. We saw a rabbit on the road. I had just calmed them down when I saw David with Florence emerging from his drive. Luckily the dogs didn't, as they were straining at the leads to get to where the rabbit had been. When we got there there was much feverish sniffing from the pair of them and when Poncho cocked his leg I was too slow to pull Jen out of the way - all over her head and neck...

We continued on around the corner towards Chirnside. There had been some sort of accident a while back on that corner, obviously involving something transporting potatoes. I was very surprised to see that they had now all been bagged up, and the bags just left inside the hedge. We went as far as what we call the turning circle - this is a short track through the woods to a field where last summer you could see where tractors obviously turned from the flattened undergrowth - before heading back for home.

There was no sign of David and Florence so all was well, until we crossed the bridge and turned the corner. There they were just in front of us. Lots of barking, jumping and twirling as I dragged them back towards the bridge. David headed back the other way while I tried to get the dogs under control. He probably wondered why I was so long, but one of the poo bags had split in all the commotion and I was trying to re-bag it. Eventually I emerged with both dogs held by the collar - not particularly pleasant given Poncho's earlier party trick. We could still see David about half way along our bank, but I managed to frog-march the dogs up our drive and home.

Lunch time. We set off down our drive and towards Margaret's. A female pheasant emerged from the long bank followed by about five chicks, and they all crossed the road and disappeared into the undergrowth on the other side about ten yards in front of us. The dogs had actually behaved very well at this, and were just standing watching with interest. Suddenly the pheasant came flapping and squawking out of the undergrowth, flying straight at the dogs. She obviously thought they were a threat to her chicks. I managed to pull them backwards. She came at them again. I was dragging them back towards the drive - they did not have their muzzles on and although the pheasant was brave she was also very stupid. Luckily I managed to get them far enough away and turn them around to walk the other way.

For the evening walk we went towards Craigswalls. They had behaved themselves, and as we headed back approaching the brow of a hill I spotted Karen heading towards us with her dog Ben. I was lucky that they were not visible from Jen and Poncho's viewpoint, and turned around and headed back the other way. I guessed that she would be going into Margaret's field and when I judged it would be safe turned back for home again. I was right. However, the dogs had guessed something was up and Poncho started jumping as we approached the field. He spotted Ben and he walked/jumped all the way back to the gate to the field. By this time Ben was no longer visible and we got home with no further incidents.

This morning I awoke to Christmas. The stuffing from the cushion was again over the lounge floor like snow. Poncho had found the musical snowman I had put in Paul's stocking, and was running around with it in his mouth to the sound of Jingle Bells.

On this mornings walk, however, they were both perfect angels...