Black and Tan Walking

A special mention really needs to be made to ‘Black and Tan Dog Walking’ and especially to Terry. On the Friday night, Tommy stayed with Terry and he made our night out in Brighton allot more alcoholic!

I contacted Terry a couple of weeks before, after find his site through this site. I emailed and told him of our plans, and if taking Tommy (collecting from the Hotel and dropping back the following day) was the kind of thing he does.

Terry would much prefer to meet the dogs before he takes them in but we had a chat on the phone regarding my assessment of Tommys’ temperament and then I gave him Emmas’ number who also chatted to him. Because of this second independent reference, Terry was allot happier about taking Tommy.

He met us at the hotel on the Friday, at the allotted time. He gave Tommy another name tag, some chicken and off they went. He texted us later in the evening to say Tommy had settled well.

The following morning, he texted again to say he was 5 minutes away and dropped Tommy back to the hotel right on schedule after his morning walk. Tommy was pleased to see us, but I can’t help thinking he had enjoyed Terrys’ company (and the company of the other dogs!) as well.

A few days later, I received an email from Terry with some photos of Tommys walk and overnight stay. I would recommend this first class service to anyone in the Brighton area that needs to have their dogs looked after.

South Downs Way

Is the first holiday that Tommy has come on with us – it’s also b/f and I first totally walking holiday. We headed out early Monday morning, driving first to Brighton to drop off one car and then onto Buriton, the start of our walk.

The idea was to walk from Buriton to Brighton, staying at B&Bs as we went. We hadn’t booked anywhere, we knew roughly how far to walk every day, there definitely wasn’t any agenda. The main thing was to keep it easy, and to not get lazy.

It was an excellent time. Tommy woke every morning stretching, play bowing and excited about the day’s walk. We managed to find accommodation every night bar one when we slept in our bivy bags under the stars (unfortunately, this was also the day that Tommy discovered that rolling in cow poo is the best thing ever, and he was sleeping in my sleeping bag!).

We saw deer, some lizards, even an adder which Tommy really wanted to follow but we managed to dissuade him. He was very excited at the cows and sheep (who were lambing!). By the end of the week, he knew that he wasn’t allowed to show too much interest and would walk in-between b/f and I.

When we got to Brighton, Tommy went to day-care and b/f and I went clubbing. It was a completely enjoyable and relaxing experience and I can’t wait to do it next year!