Appleby College

We have a lovely, and apparently quite expensive, private school (Appleby College) relatively close to our home. We can walk there in less than 30 minutes and, due to it having trails which go through “natural” areas as well as down to the lake, and being available to the public, we often take Ray there. He has always liked trail walks and just loves going to the lake.

As our temperatures have dropped a little, and as we are getting more cloud cover than of late, it was a perfect time to take Ray on an extended walk so off we went to Appleby College. The trails are made up of wood chips and therefore very soft to walk on, but I am not sure whether Ray noticed as there were clearly many “nose driven” distractions.

The trails that go through “natural” areas are invariably lined with those plants that have round burrs, on the end of the stems, just waiting to attach themselves to a large passing dog! We have had a few occasions where he has needed de-burring but, he didn’t seem to mind the fur pulling!

We followed the trail, down to the lake, which took us past a place where we saw a Cormorant standing on a large rock in the lake but near to the shore. Sharing the rock with it were a number of ducks. It was a delightful scene which was totally missed by Ray as he followed the trail with his nose almost on the ground!

A few minutes late we were at the lake edge and while Cormorant and friends stayed on their rock, Ray just ran into the lake and started biting any waves that approached him. There were lots and they kept coming! He probably had around 5 minutes of wave biting before he wanted to move on, so on to another trail we went and took advantage of the moment to take this pic.

2015 09 24 4CR2He has always been excited about wooded trails and as we have quite few within easy reach, he really does get spoiled! We slowly made our way back home after spending a couple of wonderful hours just letting him follow his instincts while we watched, and enjoyed doing so!

I have seen so many dogs who are clearly inconveniencing their owners by needing regular walks. The owner is probably walking while staring at a cell phone, and the poor dog is behind them frantically trying to stop and pee! There are also many dogs who want to checkout some interesting scents but the owner is presumably under some kind of time restraints because the dog is dragged passed the lamp posts; the fire hydrants and the hedgerows.

We get so much pleasure out of just watching Ray (which is always an education!), that I cannot understand those who decided they wanted a dog, but then show no interest in it. They really are missing out on so much!

21 thoughts on “Appleby College”

  1. There’s a man who lives nearby to us who has knotted three long ropes together as a lead for his Labrador so he doesn’t have to stop for it. Somewhat dangerous, I feel! Whatever happened to it being a joy to be out with your dog?

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  3. Maggie can be a pain with her insistent sniffing on our walks, but we just have to let her do her thing as nine times out of ten she is searching out THE SPOT to go. I’ve seen dogs leaving a trail of ‘business’ as they are being dragged by their owners who have no patience or even awareness sometimes. We didn’t get a dog to leave her by herself, or shut in car. She’s part of our family unit, though perhaps we have gone too far the other way. For all the rewards and pleasure she gives us, she’s worth it.
    Smashing picture of Ray. I can imagine him biting the water. My GSD saw her reflection and bent down to sniff it, completely submerging her face. Now that was funny!

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  4. You are so right. It bothers me when people adopt pets only to leave them alone most of the time. My cats don’t do walks but we spend a lot of quality time stalking the elusive rubber band or feather on a stick. All of them get combed and that is really our quality time. It’s totally one on one and I don’t know who purrs louder — them or me. You are both lucky. It was a match made in heaven.

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  5. I can really relate to your blog today. I use to think that I had to take my dog our for an hour exercise or so. Walk fast and get that mile plus in. A trainer told me it is not about how far you take him, but his experience. Just let him sniff the ground as he walks even if you only go a few feet. this has been a whole different mindset for me. Well, got to get out of my pjs and out for the walk (sniffing) excursion.

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    • Spot on Erika! I have noted that to a number of people that it is the dog’s walk. i.e. We are joining him on his walk, and not dragging him along on our walk. For many people, they would not walk if it were not for their dog so they should really appreciate the opportunity. The time they spend accompanying their dog on a walk is beneficial from both a bonding and from a mutual understanding perspective, but only if the time is used with that in mind.

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  8. Farley gets burrs too. Sometimes I have to cut them out with scissors so I don’t hurt him. And on the thought of dog walking, it’s one of my daily highlights. I used to walk my neighbours German Shepherd when my neighbour got to old to go every day. She was one of the smartest dogs I’ve spend time with. Yay Ray.

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    • I agree. It should be a highlight! Valuable time to spend with a “best buddy”; time to be outside; time for some degree of exercise; time to just self indulge a little. Walking a dog has so much going for it! As for smarts? One can only imagine what is going on between those ears! Sometimes I question whether anything is going on but, at other times, clearly a lot is happening in there!

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