Guest Blog – Lola’s First Mini-Break

Finding the right place to look after your dog while you’re away can be tricky. You may get lucky and find a home from home setting. You may have family who will care for your dog pretty much as you would. On the other hand, you may have to settle for an environment that is less than ideal. You might have friends who are initially keen to help but maybe lack the same enthusiasm when the reality hits on day three.

One solution is to take your dog with you. This is increasingly possible – many places are dog friendly and for a small extra charge, will happily allow you to bring your dog. Often you will see the phrase, well behaved dogs welcome. I have also seen the phrase, two small dogs welcome. I took my English Pointer anyway, on the grounds that she is about the size of two small dogs put together.

The thread running through these is that while they are dog friendly, they do not want your dog running wild, sitting on the sofa, weeing in the corner or chewing the rug. It was a great feeling to be able to take my 15 week old puppy away, confident that she is well behaved and under control.

We stayed at the gorgeous Hill Top Farm Cottage in Malham. Leigh and Neil are excellent hosts. This is a working farm and they ask that dogs be on leads at all times; there was an incident with a guest’s Labrador and the chickens in the past. Lola is still on the lead pretty much all the time anyway so that was no problem. I took her crate, she settled down by the fire and enjoyed a fabulous first mini-break.

It helps that Malham is incredibly dog-centric; the Lister Arms takes dog friendly to a whole new level, providing dog beds and homemade treats. It was a good opportunity for Lola to learn to settle next to me in a busy environment with lots of distractions. The dogs came everywhere with us, except for one long walk that Lola snoozed through in her crate. The confidence of being able to leave her, knowing that she won’t whine or become anxious, is great. This is completely down to following Damian’s training methods. Lola has a clear routine so she knows what’s expected of her and what she can expect of me. Her life should revolve around mine, not the other way around. Then we can both enjoy a trip for G&T with no stress involved.

Posted: November 6, 2018