Home Dog Boarding in Brentwood

I have finally been told by Brentwood council that I am licensed for dog boarding! This is great news, as it means I am the only fully insured and licensed domestic dog boarder in the Brentwood borough (beware of illegal imitations)! I am still waiting for my nice, shiny laminated licence to come through the post, but I have been assured it is backdated to the day I applied so I am now open for bookings.

My (basic) charges are set at £25 per DAY (nights are free, half days £10). This should not be compared to the price of a kennel stay, because your dog will be in my home, mixing with my dogs (reminder – I have a terrier and a Greyhound who are very well socialised and used to sharing their home with many different foster dogs, as well as my extended family dogs), getting in the way of the telly as they probably do at home, snuggling up with me, and generally be getting all the love and attention I can give them. They won't be in a concrete, or 'luxury' tiled kennel surrounded by cages and other dogs and deprived of human company for most of their stay. I have a 60' secure garden (which I am not proud of, so no worries about the dogs enjoying themselves!), and three different parks/woodland areas within easy walking distance, plus my usual walking areas to enjoy. I have a soft spot for beaches too.

Obviously I am still dog walking, so this might not be suitable for every dog - as a popular dog walker I can be out for most of the day - I come home for lunch once (and usually twice) a day, so the dogs are not left alone for longer than four hours, and usually it's under three hours.

I can only take in one family's dogs at a time, and am limited to four small dogs, or two larger dogs, so if you are interested please get in touch sooner rather than later.

Confidence Booster - Beautiful Heelwork

One of my customers is a little Fox Terrier, around 6 months old. He's a terrible puller - oh so many interesting things just out of reach! So I take him out twice a week to teach him to walk nicely on a lead.

At this point my confidence takes a dive, as I worry that it's beyond me, I can't do it, how can I possibly be getting paid for this, I'm going to be shown up as a fraud, etc etc.

I don't train people, as I have no training for this, but over the last couple of years I've taught quite a few foster dogs the basics (and Fred, who was a terrible puller, now trots along with a loose lead quite happily) and passed the ideas that worked for that dog onto the new owner, plus this isn't the first puppy I've taught to walk without pulling, it's just the first time it's been the specific aim of my time. Even when I can see he is learning (offlead all round the garden, beautiful heelwork, pausing both sides of open doorways etc), I still worry that it's not working. I need some confidence!

Well, today I received a boost. I took the pup to a very quiet cul-de-sac, and practised. We do lots of turns at the moment, to keep him from knowing where he's going and so rushing ahead, and we're increasing the forward distance slowly. We got up to around 20 paces in a straight line successfully on-lead (around 12m) a few times, so I didn't push it any further. Then I dropped the lead, went back to lots of turns, and got 10 paces of wonderful heelwork a few times! Still didn't want to push it too far and go terribly wrong. As we were working, another dog owner came round the corner. I spotted it first, so was able to collect the lead and have a controlled greeting. I told the other dog owner we weren't ready to add in dogs as distractions yet, but he told me how impressive he thought Nelson was anyway!

I reported back to Mum and she said she and her husband had both noticed a difference, so I must learn to credit myself that this is something I can do! I can't wait for my John Rogerson course in August, which I hope will be another confidence booster for me, and I look forward to picking up some new techniques.

Introducing Inky!

Here's Inky, a rare moment captured when his nose was not snuffling through the undergrowth. It took me about 10 goes to get this picture, as I walk Inky at the end of the day (Mum is home but needs a hand to walk him for a while) and the light is going, so the camera takes so long to take the photo after I have clicked the button he's normally gone back to sniffing!

I've walked him with Fred and Beauty so far, as he likes the company. Walking two hounds at dusk might not sound a good idea, but the evenings are getting lighter, and Inky stays on the lead. Beauty I have let off, mainly because when I have a dog on a long line she often gets caught up and hurt, and the evenings are getting lighter all the time.

I've always liked Beagles - one of the best parts of my job is that I get to spend time with a lot of breeds I really like. The absolute best bit is each individual dog, and getting to know their character. And a side-benefit, there are lots of lovely men walking their dogs at that time of day (daytimes seem to be women/families/old men). An improvement to the view!