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🌿🐾 The Calm Before The Storm 🌿🐾
A lovely calm morning, as always with these guys! Then an emergency meant we had to cancel this afternoons walks with very little notice - thank you so much to my clients for being understanding and an even bigger thank you to Jaydee at @outnabout_dogwalking for taking care of Watson & Purdey for us.
For reasons like this it is important to have connections with a back up walker in case your regular dog walker can’t make it!
Thank you everybody - services as normal tomorrow 🐾
#dogwalker #dogs
🌿🐾 Update! 🌿🐾
🌿🐾 UPDATE 🌿🐾
The car made it!! We are going to France 😍😍
So many of you have been messaging me over the weekend about the car and I honestly can’t thank you enough for your kind words, offers of borrowing vehicles, camping equipment or alternative holidays.
The mechanics have been working on our car all weekend until the early hours of each morning, it was a huge job and we got the car back late this afternoon 😫😫 they eased our stress and can you believe they even took for car for a wash for us ❤️ Absolutely worth their weight in gold.
Wish us Bon Voyage! 🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷
(This also means I am now officially out of office until Tuesday 16th July - see you all then! 🐾🐾🐾)
#dogwalker #carproblems #bonvoyage
Old dog, new tricks? Nahhhhh not for Betsy boo boo 🤣🐾🥰
🌿🐾 Pawlympics 🌿🐾
The Olympics are back this year and many CC crew members have already started getting their practice in.
Today Moose showed us his entry for the “Wild Water Diving”. It’s a TEN from us Moose!
(If you have sensitive ears please turn off volume 🤣🤣🤣🤣)
#olympics #pawlympics #dogs #dogsofinstagram
🌿🐾 Lead Use 🌿🐾
We believe that having dogs off lead is a privilege (for the dogs!). It’s a privilege they earn once they have shown they can be trusted off their lead in different environments.
The majority of our group members have the privilege of running around off lead because they have shown me they can be trusted. That doesn’t mean it’s a given that they are off lead all of the time, I check in with the gang on each and every walk to check recall and engagement.
Some people view lead walking as “not a proper walk” “not burnt as much energy” etc… but look here, Maple lost her privilege of being off lead for a short while today as she picked up a super scent (of lord knows what!). Had I kept her off her lead, it could have quickly escalated into Maple being too far away for me to control her in a public space (which is a legal requirement ✅).
So for safety I popped her lead on for a while, and once she forgot about the scent and we had moved further away, I checked engagement over and over and she was back to usual obedient Maple. Look at her walk though, not boring, not under-stimulating - instead it’s quite the opposite.
Leads are one of the most useful tools we could possibly use, it’s the difference between a walk being safe or a walk being unsafe. The difference between keeping your dog safe or not keeping them safe.
I am always grateful to my clients for trusting my judgement on walks and always understanding why a particular dog might be on a lead on pictures and videos 🌿🐾
🌿🐾 And Have You Ever Been To Yorkshire? 🌿🐾 Good old Yorkshire weather gracing us with its presence yet again ☔️☔️☔️☔️Otis, Clover, Digley, Bear, Reggie, Dolly, Maple, Pablo, Watson and Purdey didn’t seem to mind! #yorkshire #dogwalker
3 little piggies and the big bad wolf!! Meg, Pablo and Maple enjoying hunting for treats whereas Boden just keeps himself busy 🤣🤣🐾🐾
Another one for your viewing pleasure!
The wind sent Betsy into wild zoomies - too good not to video, I absolutely LOVE watching Betsy living her best life. She’s reliving her youth.
Featuring me, slipping in the mud 🤣🙈
YOU’VE BEEN FRAMED 🤣🤣🤣
Here, have a giggle at my expense on this cold Monday evening.
This was no fault of Digley, just a slippy patch underfoot 🙈❄️⛸️
🌿🐾 PLAY DAY 🌿🐾
Sometimes, when the mood takes us, we like to randomly treat our Countryside Canine crew to a private hire. We’ve tried lots of outdoor spaces but we couldn’t wait to test our the new indoor play centre at @dragonfly.dog
It was so lovely to see the dogs being out their more playful side.
Just look at their smiles. I REPEAT, JUST LOOK AT THEIR SMILES 🤩🤩🤩🤩 I could have watched them all day long.
We can’t wait to go back! 1 minute of pure pleasure featuring Betsy, Pablo, Bodhi, Meg & Otis 🐾
#dogs #dogwalker #doggyplay #playtime #dogsofinstagram
KIRKLEES COUNCIL NO LONGER FIT FOR PURPOSE.
Our own government sees it.
Not to mention businesses like mine will cease to offer home boarding for dogs due to the increased price in license fees which we simply can’t afford.
@kirklees.council you are a disgrace.
(Please note this was sent to me by my dad - the heavy breathing is not me!) 🤣🙊🙈
🌿🐾 A Countryside Canines Love Story 🌿🐾
Douglas from the Perky Paws gang joined us today and he met our lovely Betsy. They fell in love, the rest is history, who knows when they shall meet again 💗💗💗
#lovestory #dogwalker #dogsofinstagram
OTIS HERE…
He would just like to inform you we have been without a phone all day due to severe screen damage (apparently water damage, that’ll teach us!)
So sorry if you’ve tried to contact us today, and to todays clients who we went silent on!
A small fortune later and we are back up and running, the front camera is also fixed but the rear camera is still having issues with condensation, though it does seem to be clearing.
We have learnt our lesson not to take photos in terrential rain 🫣🙈🐾
UPDATE.
So here is the BBC Look North News clip if you missed it! First of all I wish to thank the reporters who came into my home and listened to my instructions around Otis. They did everything I asked and that’s not always the case! And secondly, Otis did so bloody well. Two strange, tall men coming into the house with lots of equipment and he was happy as Larry. Did you also spot his paw on me throughout the chat 🥰
On the same day I also met with the environmental team who look after animal licensing at the council. I went in knowing that the increased fees wouldn’t be reconsidered but I wanted my thoughts to be listened to and some questions answered. Make of the following what you will:
🐾 They actually seemed shocked when I became upset at explaining the boarding side of my business will close. I went on to say at least 10 other businesses will not renew their license and I think they came to the realisation that we aren’t bluffing and this will lead to the closure of some home boarders.
🐾 As for the council subsidising 50% of the license cost (meaning the license should actually be just short of £4000 🤯🤯🤯) - they said they regretted using this wording in their email and they cannot invisage licence holders paying the full stated amount. I don’t even have the energy to go into where the cost of almost £4k comes from, I find what they said about this very contradicting.
🐾 They said the new cost makes them a “cost neutral” department, meaning they don’t make money and they don’t lose money. When I asked why other councils can offer a cheaper license, he said they must be losing money but making it up in other areas of the council. Whilst this makes a little sense, I’m not fully buying it.
🐾 A sliding scale model can’t be used as apparently the department costs of issuing a license is the same no matter how many dogs are on the license. I’m not buying that either as how can interim inspections possibly c
If you have a spare 10 minutes, please watch this video. Yesterday myself and two local home boarders went to the council to plea for them to reconsider the new proposed licensing fees. Hear what we have to say, and also the councils response.
Kirklees Council you should be ashamed of yourselves. You know this is going to kill small business owners who offer small scale home boarding. You have opted for greed, but ultimately you will be losing out on more money as many of us will not renew our licenses at nearly £2000 a time. Maybe it will only be when that time comes that you realise we aren’t joking. You could have still made some profit from us by having a reasonable fee, and we would have happily paid it, but your greed shines like a lighthouse and we aren’t falling for it (come on, we’ve all seen the news about the council facing bankruptcy).
Your response to us was weak and pathetic, and STILL… however many months down the line, you have still not answered many of my questions, and STILL you argue the price is reasonable and fair.
You break the pricing down to £12 a week - we do not operate every week of the year, plus by the time we have paid tax, insurance, vehicle costs, fuel and electricity bills - that would leave us with hardly any profit from home boarding, but it’s a 24/7 job.
Whilst I will be arranging a meeting with Cllr Ahmed to get answers to our questions - I give up this fight. The amount of stress this is causing myself and others - I give up. You will not receive a single penny from Countryside Canines, and sadly, this means our last boarding date will be 24th September 2024.
I feel sad, angry, frustrated and defeated. But, as one door closes another one must open - so something good must be waiting for me.
On the plus side - I am proud of myself for ripping up my speech and walking out as they continued to feed us nonsense. BBC News were waiting outside and are due to contact us shortly to cover the story. So get ready
These 3 have a lovely friendship going on! 💜💜💜 Otis, Duke and Pablo enjoying the moorland.
🌿🐾 BLISS 🌿🐾
I treated todays last group to a session at Marsden Mutts. A chance for them to have a mad run around off lead without the worry of strangers and other dogs at our special place at @marsdenmutts
I took 5 minutes to just sit on the hill and watch the dogs have fun and all do their own little thing. It’s moments like these that make me so grateful to be able to call this my job.
Thank you to my clients as always for trusting me with your dogs and enabling me to run my business - really, thank you 🙏🏻❤️
#dogwalker #dogwalkingbusiness #dogwalkershuddersfield #marsdenmutts
