Blog

  • What I wish my agility teachers knew

    What I wish my agility teachers knew

    I wanted to write this because these thoughts have been circulating in my head for months – often haunting me on Thursday nights after practice – in the hope that it would make me feel better but now that I’ve laid out all the reasons why, I’m less certain why it’s a good idea to… Read more

  • DIY Rabbit Ball

    DIY Rabbit Ball

    I made a toy from a rabbit skin I bought at a dog show in Poland and a Kong squeaker ball and apparently it is The Best! The skin has received no love at all since we got home so I thought perhaps it needs to come alive a bit… Kong Squeaker ball found at… Read more

  • Some thoughts on joint health and dog development

    Some thoughts on joint health and dog development

    I had a conversation with someone* a few months ago about dog joints, structure, movement and breeding spaniels, and during the conversation we had a hypothesis about why there are more joint problems today. Hypothesis 1: In the past hunting spaniels like cockers and springers (in the UK) would have been removed from the gene… Read more

  • The blurry line in love of balls

    It feels like there are a lot of rules we’ve internalised as dog owners and sometimes it’s good to question them. For example, I have mixed feelings about Grace’s love of balls. On the one hand, I hear a voice in my head telling me I’m supposed to remove things that a dog feels strongly… Read more

  • Every little helps when it comes to self-control

    Every little helps when it comes to self-control

    I recently met a lot of dogs of the same breed as Grace, and many of them reminded me of a younger version of her – a much more impatient one! So I wrote something for our breed’s Facebook group and thought I’d share it here too in case it’s useful for someone. Learning that they… Read more

  • The existential worry of living with and loving dogs

    The existential worry of living with and loving dogs

    These are pictures taken of Nell a month before she first got sick – she looks like she is in great shape and health, or at least I had thought I had every reason to assume she was. The Saturday before her vet appointment on a Wednesday she’d done an energetic 2h walk including lots… Read more