This story recounts a happening this week while I was out walking dogs. As my first blog entry it introduces a lot of characters and locations to you the reader and I wonder if its is over long and confusing because of this. Please bear with me because these folk and places our regulars in my life so will no doubt appear in future missals.
Setting the scene; My most regular walk with the dogs is to a large municipal park called Sefton Park and is only 10 minutes walk from my house. Bit of PR on the Park; built in the nineteenth century the park designers had use of a royal dear paek. They incorporated two watercourses through the land to create a number of interesting water features, a large lake, numerous streams and a number of small waterfalls. Land wise there are a number of large meadows, tree lined avenues and more undulating natural areas. It an extremely well used park; whether for the locals with kids, or citywide attractions such as music festivals and firework displays. Its ability to suit this variety of activities is a testament to those Victorian city fathers and there will no doubt be loads of stuff on the Internet pertaining to it. I’m lucky to live nearby.
In the last year I have made friends with a group of people who walk their dogs there during the week between ten and twelve o’clock. Some days our numbers swell to thirty! This is a mix of dog walkers, dog owners and dogs of assorted sizes and breeds. On the day in question we had our latest group members, two seven week old pups, a brother and sister who had been adopted from the local animal rescue and taken on by two of our group regulars. They were being carried round in sacks so they can be part of the group pre, inoculations. This was no mean feat, for as Labrador/Doberman cross puppies they are already quite a weight.
I was introducing to the group my latest charge, a two-year-old border terrier called Percy. He had just that morning met Ziggy who is my day-care dog of three weeks, a seven-month-old Whippet/Collie male. With my terrier Betty, and myself we numbered four. I had looked after Percy previously but when he was much younger so there was still a degree of uncertainty about his behaviour that I was monitoring. As the morning progressed the group had grown to twenty plus and I was beginning to feel Percy was happy with the pack dynamic and was keeping within view. This assumption of mine was not however to prove accurate.
Percy was becoming very animated within the “Conservation Area” bit of the park, and began haring around this overgrown scrubland. He was showing very little interest in me, and the enticements of my treats container. Before I had fully realised the implications of this I had dropped back from the group to seek him out with Betty and Ziggy in close attendance. Over the next fifteen minutes I had one sighting of him yet when in pursuit was hopelessly out-run. I positioned myself on slightly higher ground to get a better panoramic view of the area. The view of the road in the distance and the flashes of metallic from the cars through the trees were the beginnings of my anxieties rising. With crossed fingers I got out my mobile phone and call Jeff. Jeff is a fellow dog-walker, a lovely man and over the last year we have swapped tips on all manner of things. Fortunately he answered my call for help. Yes he was still in the park-phew it was good to hear is calming clear heading suggestions. I told him where I was, when I had last seen Percy, who was around- no-one. He was on his way. Already I began to feel a weight lifting. The next people I saw were a man and woman who were feeding the birds. When quizzed they said had seen a dog answering to Percy’s description within the last few minutes. I then saw was Francine with her dog, Starr, she had received a call from Jeff about the pickle I was in. Her dog, Starr was an escape artist extraordinaire and I had many a time accompanied her round the park looking out fro this miscreant. Starr had a characterful demenour, heightened by an eight inch scar across her face, a record of a meeting with a car travelling at speed some years ago following one of her A.W.O.L. adventures. Familiar with this search party methodology Francine spotted in a distant field some similarly coloured dogs to Percy and agreed to check them out while I stayed still and waited for further reinforcements.
I was soon to catch sight of Percy, a flash of brown fuzz scooting into some shrubbery and disappearing as quick as he arrived. His appearance coincided with Jeff’s and it found me excitedly waving my arm and pointing in the direction of this sighting. Cracking a pace and heading towards me along a path, with his pack of 4 Chihuahuas he had the look of someone leading a miniature US cavalry regiment. With Dean(Human) and Bruce and Buddy(Dogs) alongside he had also come with some heavy artillery. We all paused to briefly discuss the next stage of the campaign. Jeff told me he had also enlisted help from Jilly and Brenda, that they too were on the way. Within a minute I had received a phone call from Jilly- they had some-one matching Percy’s description, under guard. Sure enough another minute had passed and I had hold of him and was attaching his lead, which is how it remained till I was safely back home.
The vagaries and challenges of a dog walker can be trying, this day being a case in point. What did I learn? Well yes, Percy or any dog newly acquired need a really close eye on. But more significantly is the generosity that those dog-walking friends proffered at a trying time for myself. And what about the sheer efficiency in which this dog-loving team responded to the emergency! Respect guys J
Setting the scene; My most regular walk with the dogs is to a large municipal park called Sefton Park and is only 10 minutes walk from my house. Bit of PR on the Park; built in the nineteenth century the park designers had use of a royal dear paek. They incorporated two watercourses through the land to create a number of interesting water features, a large lake, numerous streams and a number of small waterfalls. Land wise there are a number of large meadows, tree lined avenues and more undulating natural areas. It an extremely well used park; whether for the locals with kids, or citywide attractions such as music festivals and firework displays. Its ability to suit this variety of activities is a testament to those Victorian city fathers and there will no doubt be loads of stuff on the Internet pertaining to it. I’m lucky to live nearby.
In the last year I have made friends with a group of people who walk their dogs there during the week between ten and twelve o’clock. Some days our numbers swell to thirty! This is a mix of dog walkers, dog owners and dogs of assorted sizes and breeds. On the day in question we had our latest group members, two seven week old pups, a brother and sister who had been adopted from the local animal rescue and taken on by two of our group regulars. They were being carried round in sacks so they can be part of the group pre, inoculations. This was no mean feat, for as Labrador/Doberman cross puppies they are already quite a weight.
I was introducing to the group my latest charge, a two-year-old border terrier called Percy. He had just that morning met Ziggy who is my day-care dog of three weeks, a seven-month-old Whippet/Collie male. With my terrier Betty, and myself we numbered four. I had looked after Percy previously but when he was much younger so there was still a degree of uncertainty about his behaviour that I was monitoring. As the morning progressed the group had grown to twenty plus and I was beginning to feel Percy was happy with the pack dynamic and was keeping within view. This assumption of mine was not however to prove accurate.
Percy was becoming very animated within the “Conservation Area” bit of the park, and began haring around this overgrown scrubland. He was showing very little interest in me, and the enticements of my treats container. Before I had fully realised the implications of this I had dropped back from the group to seek him out with Betty and Ziggy in close attendance. Over the next fifteen minutes I had one sighting of him yet when in pursuit was hopelessly out-run. I positioned myself on slightly higher ground to get a better panoramic view of the area. The view of the road in the distance and the flashes of metallic from the cars through the trees were the beginnings of my anxieties rising. With crossed fingers I got out my mobile phone and call Jeff. Jeff is a fellow dog-walker, a lovely man and over the last year we have swapped tips on all manner of things. Fortunately he answered my call for help. Yes he was still in the park-phew it was good to hear is calming clear heading suggestions. I told him where I was, when I had last seen Percy, who was around- no-one. He was on his way. Already I began to feel a weight lifting. The next people I saw were a man and woman who were feeding the birds. When quizzed they said had seen a dog answering to Percy’s description within the last few minutes. I then saw was Francine with her dog, Starr, she had received a call from Jeff about the pickle I was in. Her dog, Starr was an escape artist extraordinaire and I had many a time accompanied her round the park looking out fro this miscreant. Starr had a characterful demenour, heightened by an eight inch scar across her face, a record of a meeting with a car travelling at speed some years ago following one of her A.W.O.L. adventures. Familiar with this search party methodology Francine spotted in a distant field some similarly coloured dogs to Percy and agreed to check them out while I stayed still and waited for further reinforcements.
I was soon to catch sight of Percy, a flash of brown fuzz scooting into some shrubbery and disappearing as quick as he arrived. His appearance coincided with Jeff’s and it found me excitedly waving my arm and pointing in the direction of this sighting. Cracking a pace and heading towards me along a path, with his pack of 4 Chihuahuas he had the look of someone leading a miniature US cavalry regiment. With Dean(Human) and Bruce and Buddy(Dogs) alongside he had also come with some heavy artillery. We all paused to briefly discuss the next stage of the campaign. Jeff told me he had also enlisted help from Jilly and Brenda, that they too were on the way. Within a minute I had received a phone call from Jilly- they had some-one matching Percy’s description, under guard. Sure enough another minute had passed and I had hold of him and was attaching his lead, which is how it remained till I was safely back home.
The vagaries and challenges of a dog walker can be trying, this day being a case in point. What did I learn? Well yes, Percy or any dog newly acquired need a really close eye on. But more significantly is the generosity that those dog-walking friends proffered at a trying time for myself. And what about the sheer efficiency in which this dog-loving team responded to the emergency! Respect guys J