Buttermere

Me and Stu took the boys for a walk today.  We were thinking about going to an orienteering event but after a bit of a slow start to the day we decided that a lap of Buttermere would probably be the best option.  Just under 4 miles and essentially flat it wasn’t taxing.  But it was very, very pleasant.  Plus my foot where Poppy the horse stood on it yesterday has bruised and swollen and was hurting where my shoes bent at the toe so I didn’t really want to push it.

We didn’t even get rained on, although there has clearly been a lot of rain down, the gills were full and the lake was high.

The boys had a lovely time racing round off-lead along the far side of the lake and were really well-behaved, not getting too far ahead and returning promptly when called, sitting and waiting nicely by the side of the path for a runner to go past and greeting nicely (Hugo) or just ignoring (Oscar) a rather nervous Pointer girl and a very serious older Labrador with a big stick.  Walks like this are nice because you see nearly 2 and a half years of patient and consistent training starting to pay off.

Having said that our big bug bear with both of them, mostly Oscar, is walking on a lead.  It is entirely our fault but we always prioritised getting as many places as possible over getting places without pulling... I’d make the same “mistake” again given how un-flappable and used to everything they both are but it does mean having to play catch up with the lead walking now they are well socialised.  And that is an ongoing and, at times, deeply frustrating task.  It is something I desperately want more under-control by the time Trailtrekker rolls around though,  having dogs that will walk nicely without pulling even when they think they should be off-lead and running around will make taking them out on the course with us a whole lot easier.  Plus I’ll feel better about leaving them with our support crew if I know some more robust lead manners are in place!

So far I have got them walking ok through the village at home without constant input from me and/or treats under their nose.   And they are both hit and miss in the local towns... going from hit to miss quite rapidly if I haven’t been very conscientious with training it for a bit.  And totally useless out on walks where they think they should be off or are going to be off soon.  But I have been working hard at it....

And today there was a glimmer, well a big glimmer – like a great big shiny light at the end of the tunnel glimmer – of the work paying off and that we might actually have a hope of having it nailed in six months time.  They had to go on and off the lead a couple of times around the top of the lake on a permissive path and through a field on the near side with some sheeps in.  I think they got a bit more settled into the idea that the lead happens.  We decided to try and see if they would respond to us stopping still when they pulled and work out that they needed to move back towards us and create a loose lead before we moved forwards again.  Something which works in the village but I wasn’t expecting it to work out on a “proper” walk.

 But miracles do happen!  Now Hugo was a bit all over the place (boomerang dog!) but Oscar astounded us, after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing  he just settled and started walking as if he never ever even dreamed about pulling on the lead!  It was such a revelation.

Will it ever happen again?  Hopefully!  I was so pleased with him though.

Buttermere is lovely; we are planning on doing quite a bit of training over that way.