Messing About on the River

Well yet another adventure for Tess. We went to visit friends in Marlow and spent the day on the River Thames. We’ve done this before, but this is the first time we tried it with Tess. Thankfully the sun was shining and as usual she was very excited. Most of the dogs we saw sat patiently on their owners’ boats enjoying the scenery and smells, but not our little Welsh Springer Spaniel! She wanted to be in there so, of course, I had to hang on to her harness for most of the trip. She did eventually settle down but the combination of water, ducks and swans was just too much for her so a firm hand was needed. Navigating locks was interesting too! And there are quite a few on the Thames! We had a lovely champagne picnic on the riverbank, then headed home for an evening BBQ. As usual happy and exhausted!!

This weekend Tess’s brother Wilby (plus owners!) came to visit. We thought it would be fun to visit the local country fair on Sunday, but Tess really isn’t a conventional Welsh Springer Spaniel - she hates gun shot and crowds so not the most sensible place to take her for a day out! Still she settled down when we headed home for a leisurely lunch and a few treats to take her mind off the ordeal.

Summer Fun

What a busy summer we’re having and how fast is it racing by?

It all started in June when we had our annual visit to Blakeney on the North Norfolk coast. We had the best time and picked probably the best week of the year weather wise, so spent the whole time in the sun. We visited all our usual haunts – Sherringham Park for a woodland walk, making sure to catch Tess before she did her favourite Welsh Springer Spaniel trick – finding the only muddy puddle for miles around! Meeting up with her brother Wilby for a day at Holkham Hall, first with a walk around the beautiful lake and then, after some refreshment for the adults, a play on the famous sands. A swim in the sea at Salthouse, avoiding all the fishermen, and watching a breeding pair of avocets with their chicks. And of course lots of walks out on the quay and marshes. For the first time we trusted her to go off lead to play in the water to cool off which she loved, but did make the mistake of letting her off on our walk to Cley, only to loose her momentarily as she waded into dark black muddy marsh and came out looking like she had four wellie boots on!! We also walked from Blakeney to Morston then onto Stiffkey, well almost, but it was so hot we turned round and headed for the pub once Tess had played in the creek – doggy heaven!!!

Once home we went to friends for Sunday lunch and they kindly allowed us to take Tess, mainly because their daughter adores dogs and had met her before. It was again a lovely sunny day and we were able to sit in the garden where they had thoughtfully covered up the fish pond. Of course Welsh Springer Spaniels are very resourceful and Tess didn’t realise if she stood on the cover it would collapse and she would be joining the fish!

Another weekend another trip and this time to Sherwood Forest to visit friends who run the scout centre. What a beautiful spot with long walks in Rufford Park and Clumber Park, both highly recommended. As usual Tess gave us a scare when she went chasing rabbits and lost herself in the woods. I don’t know who was more frightened but alls well that ends well and she came back very sheepishly!

She then went to stay with her chum Nesta while we attended a super 50th birthday party in Cambridge, starting with a punt on the Cam with champagne, an Italian meal and lots of drinking in the sun. The following week we had friends to afternoon tea with their 3 year old twins – one not too sure about dogs and one absolutely loving Tess, keeping them both our of mischief all afternoon. Well almost! Never put a child on a picnic rug with iced buns and a very naughty little springer – down went the bun, cake, icing, smarties and paper case all in one go, not to mention the mini sausages!!!!!!

Finally the grown ups got to go on a human only trip. Last week we headed up to Edinburgh to visit the Tattoo, stay in a nice hotel and do things other than dog walk!!!! A super fews days was had by all, including Tess who went to stay with her other best friend Maddie, the English Springer Spaniel, and her very kind owner Sue.

They sound like they all had a ball though I’m not convinced Sue had any sleep at all, especially as she’s just taken delivery of two very cute and very naughty kittens!!! Chaos I suspect! And Tess came home in a sulk. Now was that to let us know we shouldn’t leave her or that she was having such a great time we shouldn’t have dragged her away!!!!
Who know what goes on in a Welsh Springer Spaniels head………………

This coming weekend we’re off on another adventure but that’s another story so you’ll have to log on again to find out what happened next………………

WELSH SPRINGER SPANIEL DAY OUT

We have just joined the South East Welsh Springer Spaniel Club and enjoyed our first event at the weekend. Leaving home at the crack of dawn in torrential rain we arrived in sunny Sussex to a ‘’Pick and Mix’’ Day, spent in beautiful blue skys and sunshine. The day consisted of obedience sessions, gun dog training, ringcraft and, if you wished, you could enter to your pet in the Good Citizens Award. It was wall to wall Welsh Springer Spaniels – what a magnificent sight. Each one looked different but all were perfect specimens – well to their owners anyway!!!!!!

Tess finds crowds a little intimidating and as she can’t bear being parted from either of us, made a huge fuss if one of us was out of sight – rather difficult when you are trying to impress with your skills as a dog handler! But she did manage her sits and stays which we were pleased with, and had an introduction into what is expected in the field for a real gun dog!!! It was great swapping stories with other owners and getting advice from experienced breeders and lunch wasn’t bad either!!!!!

If you would like to hear more about the SEWSS Club log onto www.SEWSSC.org.uk and see pictures of our day and many other events.
Can you spot little Tess in amongst all those other Welshies????????

Double Trouble

As if one Welsh Springer Spaniel was enough of a handful, how about two!!!!!
Our good friend Laura has Tess to stay so often we were pleased to be able to return the favour and have Nesta to stay for a couple of weeks. Well, how hard could two of these adorable dogs be???!!!!!

We didn’t have a very auspicious start when our visitor managed to escape through a tiny hole in the fence (never underestimate a springer!), into the stream bordering our garden and into the neighbouring property, to hear a voice calling ‘’is this dog yours’’.

Apart from that Nesta was a very well trained house guest, so I can’t complain, but its just the logistics of handling two. Imagine two of them joined on a double lead – Nesta dutifully trotting beside me and Tess tearing off in the opposite direction! Or harnessing two into the back of a two door car. Or trying to get them to eat out of their own food bowls. Or each playing with their own toy. They behave just like children – I WANT THAT ONE!!!!!!!!!

But I did soon get the hang of it and had a relatively fun couple of weeks.

We especially enjoyed an eventful day out at Brandon Country Park on a sunny Sunday afternoon.
It’s a beautiful place to exercise dogs. Firstly you trek through woodland, then come across open scrubland, finishing around a picturesque lake full of reeds, iris and water lilies. Oh and ducks!!!!!!!!!!!!
They were the picture of good behaviour while we kept them on leads until out of earshot of the road, then they did what all self respecting spaniels do and frolicked in the woodland – Welshie heaven. Then off went Nesta, flushing out pheasants and something equally tasty!!! We must have looked a picture climbing over scrub and gorse bushes in hot pursuit of a happy dog while our own pet looked on in amazement!! Of course she came back safely and was duly put on a lead. Thank goodness, as our next encounter was with a pair of muntjac deer. Very tempting! Exhausted we had lunch sitting in the sun enjoying the lake, rounding up a super fun day.

I’m not sure whether I’ll be searching for a Welsh Springer Spaniel pup in the near future but I did miss Nesta when she finally went home. Our house was suddenly very quiet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Best Friends!

We’re having a new kitchen fitted so decided to send Tess to stay with Nesta for the week to keep her out of the way of all the chaos. She’s such a nosey little girl she’d drive the kitchen fitters mad! She’ll be back on Friday then Nesta is staying with us for a couple of days. I came across these wonderful photos of them together which proves they really are the best of friends and don’t mind sharing!

Just like so many other Welsh Springer Spaniels we know.

CAN I HAVE A HUG???

Tess recently had a visit to the vets and had to have blood taken. He took her into his surgery and emerged minutes later and said she was a very brave girl. She looked such a picture with a bandage wrapped round her leg but as you can see from this photo, did look like she needed a big hug!

What a brave little Welsh Springer Spaniel!!

Photo shoot

I like this photo of Tess as it shows the Welsh Springer colours and markings really well.

I like snow

"Its not cold!"

Well this is one Welsh Springer Spaniel who really enjoyed the recent snow falls. Any excuse to go out in the garden and run around or, as you can see, just sit down and rest in it.

There was one day where all the snow had stuck to her fur like snow balls and froze. Took ages to remove them all but Tess did try to help by eating them!

Christmas Time

"No more wine!"







Well that’s it over for another year, but what a wonderful Christmas Tess had.

It all started when Grandma No 1 gave her an advent calendar. Yes, that’s right, a doggy advent calendar, so every day Tess opened her window and retrieved a doggy choc. Yum. Such fun!

We’ve avoided putting up a full size tree since Tess arrived, but decided this year she was old enough to cope, so down from the loft came tree, tinsel, lights, baubles, the works. We fully expected there to be mayhem, but not a bit of it. Tess just looked at us in all our merriment as if to say ‘’why is there a tree in our living room’’ and ‘’why can’t I see out of the window properly’’!!!!!!! She really didn’t pay that much attention, although we didn’t risk putting presents under until Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Day she couldn’t wait to open her parcel and gave us lots of help opening our! Such fun to watch – just like having small children!! She was very pleased with her squeaky Rudolf, until Grandma No. 2 arrived with treats and an even squeakier ball. She was besotted, but it wasn’t the squeak that drove us mad, but the fact that she devised a great game of pushing it under furniture so we had to keep crawling round the floor to retrieve it. Try as we might to hide the thing she was completely enthralled and wouldn’t give it up. That is until the turkey arrived. The way to Tess’s heart is definitely via her tummy!!!!!!!

Although we had lovely walks all through the Christmas break we decided we’d take a trip to our favourite destination, North Norfolk, to blow away the cobwebs, so set off on a very cold Sunday morning. We headed straight for Blakeney and had a very blustery walk across the marshes, then headed to Morston for lunch at our favourite doggy friendly pub. We walked in and were greeted by the words ‘’that is a Welsh Springer Spaniel, isn’t it?’’ Another couple had the same idea as us and had an 11 year old Welshie sitting under the table! Now anyone who owns this breed knows that doesn’t happen very often!!!!!! Next we headed to Sherringham Park for yet another walk. Tess loves this place. You can let your dog off the lead in most areas if they are reasonably under control???? And it’s a perfect place for lively spaniels who love running through the woods and exploring. This time we met a couple with two lovely English Springers. They were very interested in Tess as they had hoped to own the Welsh version but couldn’t find an available litter so rescued another English. Welsh Springer Spaniels are very special and can be like gold dust!!!!!

Well that was about it but for 2008 but Tess would like to wish all Welsh Springer Spaniels and their owners A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR.