Freedom weekend! 🐾❤️

Today we decided to Hire a secure field so that Amos and Toby could have some freedom.

More so for Amos as he is always on lead unless in our garden. As he is a foster dog he is not allowed off lead as that is a term of the foster agreement, also for Amos going off lead would be even more scary as he is still very nervous of new noises and situations.

This was Amos’ first real experience being off lead as if we go somewhere that isn’t busy etc. He does get more freedom but is on his training line so still can’t properly mooch or play as much as he may like to.

We booked a field at Fido’s Fields and were fairly impressed – it was £6 per hour for the field (we had two slots booked) and it was plenty big enough for the boys to have a good old run around!

The track to get to the fields is rather bumpy – I wouldn’t recommend driving down the track if you need a wee 🙈

We will definitely be taking the boys back soon for another session!!

Amos loved the freedom he mooched around had a good old sniff played with Toby, posed for photos and we practised some training.

He also found some bird (a big bird!!) poop and decided to roll around in that for a while …. but it was his first off lead experience and what does a bit of poop matter between friends? 😂

It was really nice for Toby too – as most walks at the moment (unless it’s a Toby time walk just me and him) he isn’t getting to go off lead as much, as we are focussing on Amos’ training and making sure he’s well managed (reducing the amount of woofing at people and noises) which make it harder to have eyes on Toby, he does of course still get his off lead time but isn’t as relaxing as it was pre Amos!

Hiring the field meant there would be no people or dogs to have to worry about so they both had compete free reign to do as they pleased!

Amos joined in on Toby’s game of frisbee as best he could and had a whale of a time chasing Toby and trying to convince Toby to play with him!

We did a little bit of training practice whilst we were there – but I mostly just wanted the boys to mooch and play and have some freedom so nothing too taxing for them!

They are both completely zonked now – the wrestling and chasing and sniffing must all have been too much for them, I’ve never had such a peaceful afternoon!

I don’t feel like I’ve walked much today – but it makes a nice change from last weeks mammoth walk!

Normal service will resume next weekend and Toby and I will no doubt be out for a larger adventure followed by a mini adventure with Amos!

We hope you’ve had a good Saturday!! ❤️

#10mountains10months Part Five 🏕⛰

This weekend we were half way through our 2018 challenge!

This weekend’s walk also fell in line with Mental Health Awareness Week – which gave up an extra conversation starter whilst we were out and about!

For Part five we walked Crinkle Crag in the Lake District.

We had decided a few weeks ago that we would camp the night before the walk this time, it was Toby’s first camping trip which I was very excited about – and as he is such an prepared adventure pup we made sure he had all the right camping gear, including his own sleeping bag 😍

We camped at Great Langdale Campsite – which is a National Trust Campsite and was reasonably priced and really really beautiful.

The drive to the Lake District on Friday night wasn’t the best as the traffic on the Motorway was horrendous – it should have taken us 2 hours to get there are it took us over 3, Toby travels really well in the car so it wasn’t too much of a problem for him – just very very boring!

Toby took to camping life quickly and loved lazing around in his sleeping bag on the picnic blanket whilst us walkers had some food to fuel us for the tough walk ahead!

Sleeping in the tent was a smidge confusing for Toby I think – he was very confused about being inside but outside – as soon as he saw his sleeping bad on the Air Bed however he was a happy bunny and snuggled down for the (surprisingly chilly) night.

The following morning in true camping style Toby and I were woken at 5:20am by daylight and a bird making weird noises. It was really chilly still so we stayed snuggled up in our sleeping bags for a while before deciding to get up and get ready for the day ahead!

This walk we also had some other people join us – some of Sophie’s friends came along to camp and walk – and be our tour guide for our walk in the Lakes!

The walk itself was beautiful but so tough! There were lots of loose rocks to negotiate and difficult sections of path to navigate.

It was also boiling hot – there was no breeze for quite a while and I was concerned about Toby getting too warm – I took his backpack off for some of the climb to try and make sure he wasn’t too hot.

As I have mentioned in Part 4 – it is getting warmer and the walks are getting more tough for Toby – he is still managing them perfectly well and his health and well-being is top priority so we make sure that we have regular stops so he can get a drink, he has his cooling mat for when we stop for lunch or snacks.

We make sure we find him areas of water to have a paddle in along the route. I also make sure on warmer walks to take some puppy milk to encourage him to re-hydrate himself and drink more along the route.

There were a few sections on Crinkle Crag that Toby couldn’t manage as the rocks were loose, pointy and spaced far apart and his little legs just couldn’t make the jumps so he got lifted up a few sections and also lifted down a few steep sections on the descent.

The walk was just shy of 14 miles in total and was completely stunning but tough to do – especially in the heat, thankfully the higher up we got there was more of a breeze!

There was one section that was a sheer rock face pretty much – thankfully as there was so many of us we were able to climb down and then pass Toby (Thank goodness his back pack has a handle) from one person to another and down to another before I then climbed down – I was the last one to go down so had plenty of people to help guide my feet to make sure I didn’t fall!

We were out for about 6 and a half hours in total – obviously that incorporated lots of water stops for us and for Toby and plenty of opportunity to paddle and dunk his feet in the tarns along the way.

We managed to talk to few people along the route about what we were doing and why we were doing it – which is our main goal for this challenge, to raise as much awareness as we can for PAPYRUS and CALM.

This was also Toby’s first challenge with his new custom made labels “PREVENTION PAWTROL” which are also a great conversation starter with other walkers!

He has a few others also which he will be wearing throughout the next challenges. So keep your eyes peeled for photos of those too!

We are amazed at how quick the last five months and the first half of #10mountains10months has gone and are looking forward to completing the second half of the challenge!

Thank you to everyone for all of the support and positive comments about our challenge to raise awareness for these two amazing charities.

Thanks for reading and we hope you had an amazing weekend!

Starting the weekend on a high! 🏆

This weekend we are celebrating the triumph of the week!

(The weekend hiccups don’t change that!!)

After eight weeks of puppy training on Thursday evening Amos graduated puppy class!

He has been amazing throughout the training and has completely blown through any concerns I had completing training courses with a blind dog!

Certain elements of the training we had to amend slightly to suit him but he just got on with it!

It’s been a massive joint effort – Billy and I, and even Toby have worked our socks off – and so it will continue!

He’s got a couple of weeks off now before he starts on his Bronze Kennel club training!

This morning I decided to take them both to Moel Famau for a little jaunt – boy was that a mistake!

I left early thinking it wouldn’t be too busy but it was 😫

I took the less well trodden path (thankfully I had never been aiming to get to the top today – as I don’t want to push Amos to walk too far too fast) and joined the main path for a short stretch.

It was heaving – which means Amos gets very (very) vocal – he doesn’t really understand the footsteps and the voices he can hear.

This is usually the case until he has been somewhere a few times as once he is familiar with a place he is less likely to be confused by the noises.

Where we walk him locally he can easily be distracted so he doesn’t react to noises etc. And he is more inclined to focus on us instead of the distractions. It is more difficult in new places, but we want him to experience as much as possible and although loud he is manageable (just about – for a weakling like me)

We still managed to have a fairly nice walk – I have one arm longer than the other now, I’m pretty certain a staffy head shaped bruise on my leg and extremely muddy pants but what can you do?! 😂

We stopped off at Ginger and Browns on the way home to stock up on goodies for the boys – this week we gave the camel hide a miss (it STINKS!) and went for beef hearts and a few other bits instead!

I’ve spent the afternoon listening to the boys eat some of their weird chews whilst I did a spot of DIY 🙈

I’m very impressed with what I made! It’s meant as a children’s storage space but I thought it’d be perfect for the boys!

After some synchronised chewing – Amos stole Toby’s bed and proceeded to fall out of it – it’s a small bed on a small raised bed – he was half on and half off 🙈😂

Toby (wisely might I add) chose the comfort of chewing on the sofa 😂

Amos spent most of the afternoon/evening napping so me and Toby snuck out for solo walk!

We went to Anderton for a little potter around and to let Toby have some off lead time as he didn’t get any this morning (sheep and so I could keep an eye on him as well as Amos)

He had a whale of a time as always when he gets to have a sniff party and amble around at whatever pace suits him!

We hope you’ve all had a good Saturday!

🐾

Bank Holiday Adventure 🐾

We decided to get up and out early this morning as we had read the weather was supposed to be really good so wanted to make sure the boys had been for a decent walk before the heat of the day and also to avoid people as they are still quite stressful / distracting for Amos when he is out and about.

Today was Amos’ first official climb – we took him to the roaches to see how he managed with the terrain and climbing and clambering over rocks etc.

With a little help from Toby, he was incredible! He has always body bumped

Toby to work out where he is so today Toby had to make sure he stayed on the right side to keep Amos following on the path!

Amos took it all in his stride slowed down so he could fathom what was in front of him and went with it! Nibbled Toby as usual and played the “I want to follow you to nibble your tail” game which Toby tolerates admirably (usually because he knows he can’t reach him in time)

One of the reasons we fostered Amos was because I wanted him to have a chance to have adventure! I feel like a lot of people would let the fact he’s blind stop him from being an adventure pup – but I can honestly say he loves it and he adapts so well and deserves the chance to explore and experience new things!

Toby wasn’t as thrilled to have the big goofball join us on this mornings adventure – especially as Amos likes to nibble his face when they walk (extra points if you notice the photos where Amos has been “grooming” Toby prior to the photo!) however Toby is super tolerant of him and really makes me proud at how he looks out for him 😍

We had decided we would try to make it to Docksey Pool today depending on how Amos managed the terrain.

I didn’t want to try and get to the trig point with him as he is still growing and I don’t want him to over do it especially as this was a new place for him with lots of new smells and new obstacles to deal with.

As Amos did so well with the new terrain we managed to get to Docksey Pool so the boys got to have a little paddle and play in the water before we turned back to rejoin the other path to the car.

That was where it got tricky – Amos is very confident on the up and the climb, he’s not as confident with the coming down aspect of exploring.

I let him take his time and coaxed him, Toby would trundle ahead and then double back to Amos to try and guide him down. There was one section I had to carry him down a few steps which now he’s such a beast was hard going! But we didn’t tumble into a ravine so that’s always a bonus! 😂

The two boys have spent the rest of the day napping whilst I have been doing odd jobs, I’m doing some baking this evening (human) so no doubt I will have an avid audience for that.

We’ll head to the park much later when it’s cooled down for another little explore!

P.S we hope you all made the most of Star Wars Day Yesterday 🤓