Frank’s Freedom Field

20/11/2024

I just wanted to share some beautiful photos sent to me this morning of the field at sunrise today 🥰

Share your photos of your dogs enjoying their snowy winter walks!

We only half hour available tomorrow and then fully booked until Monday 25th! With the shortened opening hours in the winter months you really have to book early if you want to secure your slot 🐾🐾

13/11/2024

For those that use secure dog fields often you will know that one of the downsides to having a space for dogs use is the inevitable stray poos 💩

At Frank’s we consider ourselves very blessed as our customers are amazing at picking up all that they find and this means that the field is usually very clean most of the time, but there will always be a few strays that get missed.

As a bit of fun and as a way of rewarding you all for being so diligent and picking up what you find we are launching a Points For Poo scheme 😊

The picture explains how it works, but feel free to contact me if you have any immediate questions!

So eyes down and get snapping before bagging your poo!! 💩📸🐾

03/11/2024

I love the colours of the trees in autumn 🥰

Now that the nights are drawing in our opening hours are reduced as we only open during daylight. This means that slots are taken very quickly, so please consider booking as far in advance as you can or you may miss out!

For more info on the field including the link to the booking calendar visit out website:

https://frankfreedomfield.com

26/10/2024

It won’t come as a surprise for most of you that know me that I love sled dogs 😊 I have just seen a post from a small business in wales that run various sled dog experiences, the business desperately needs some support. Being a very small business as well I know only too well the difficulties of trying to stay afloat in these challenging economic times, it’s almost impossible to charge the amount you need to as most people have less and less disposable income.

The one thing we can all do to help businesses like this is share their social media posts, it costs nothing but could mean just one person seeing the post and booking which could make the difference between being profitable that month or not for the business. Simply liking their page helps as well, as facebook shares posts of pages that have more likes so a simple follow or like of their page will give them more exposure and more exposure means potentially more bookings!

So check out the site and consider

26/10/2024

11/10/2024

Let’s talk about floods!
Most of our followers and customers will know that we were forced to close the field for over 8 months from late October last year to June due to flooding.
I have had a few people contact me to check that the recent heavy rainfall hasn’t affected the field. It sounds weird but our field actually handles heavy rain really well, having sandy soil means it is rare for the field to get muddy or water logged from heavy rain. The flooding we experienced last year/early this year was out of the ordinary and not caused by heavy rainfall on the field.

I will try to summarise the reasons the field flooded so badly last year. There is a large d**e that runs alongside our field that takes water from local fields, the d**e then empties into the river fleet to the north of the village, the fleet then empties into the Trent. When the Trent water levels get to a certain height sluice gates, that are located at the point where the fleet empties into the Trent, close and the water backs up along the d**e. There are a number of fields in the village that then flood as the water has nowhere else to go. Normally that means our field will get flooded. There is a culvert on the other side of our field which takes the flood water away from the village, under Trent lane and out to the fishing lakes so under normal circumstances the field will flood and stay under water for a few days to a week but as soon as the Trent levels have dropped enough and the sluice gate reopens the field drains.

Last year there was a blockage of some sort in the d**e somewhere between Scarle and our field. After the heavy rain of storm Babet in October the d**e filled up and the water pressure eventually broke through the blockage causing a large amount of water to flow down the d**e and empty into our field. The biggest issue was the water contained a lot of thick sludgy mud / rotten vegetation which formed almost a seal over the ground so the water couldn’t drain away. We then had lots of storms causing the Trent to rise to record levels (eventually breaking its banks) and subsequently the sluice gates were closed for much longer than normal so water simply couldn’t get out of our field.

It was definitely not a normal flooding event and not something we expect to see a repeat of. Typically we would expect a few days, maybe even a couple of weeks in the wetter weather when we will need to close due to flooding but not for a sustained period of several months. If there is standing water in the field we will remain open, but give customers the opportunity to cancel if their dogs don’t like water as long as the water levels are not dangerous and we are confident that the water is not contaminated in any way.

So to summarise, our field is currently dry and mud free and we hope to remain open throughout this winter but we can’t guarantee anything so please take that into account when making bookings over the autumn and winter months. Keep everything crossed for a dry winter! ☀️🐾🐾

14/09/2024

I don't often do business recommendations on here but I just wanted to do a big shout out to TFM Country Store - Whisby for giving us some amazing support and advice today.

One of our dogs is very unwell at the moment, she has been diagnosed with kidney failure and therefore needs to be moved on to a low phosphorus diet. We do not want to feed her the tinned prescription foods for many reasons and researching the best foods for kidney failure on the internet has been confusing with lots of contradictory information. I knew that TFM have trained canine nutritionists working for them so we went to see them today for advice.

Heidi and Georgia spent ages with us helping us understand the best foods for our girl, and more importantly what foods to avoid. There was zero pressure to buy anything from them, they just gave us their unbiased educated opinion.

It is worth a trip to TFM to see the very wide range of items they sell plus so much more! The best part is they are an independent family owned shop (not many of those left and they need our support!) so you get truly independent advice and the prices are great!

So huge thanks to Georgia and Heidi for taking the time to help us.

30/08/2024

We know when it comes to secure fields in the area you have a choice and we thank all of our customers old and new for choosing Frank's.

A quick reminder what makes Frank's so special:

✅ Secure:6' fencing with narrow gaps, suitable for the smallest dogs to the biggest.
✅ Large play area:
Lots of room to run and play - the site is approx 3 acres
✅ Exclusive use hire:
All bookings are for your exclusive use - you will not be sharing the field with any other dogs (unless you invite a friend!)
✅ No other dog fields on site - you will not be sharing a fence line with others, the whole site is yours
✅ In field parking:
Drive in, close and chain the main gate and you are in a secured area and can let your dogs out without having to walk on lead to the field.
✅ Easy keypad entry lock. No fiddly padlocks to deal with.
✅ Poo bags and bins for dog waste. No need to take your dog waste home with you, and lots of bags around the field in case you need some. Poo bins are emptied daily.
✅ Water for your dogs.
✅ Value for money:
The price you see is for you and your dogs whether you have one or 10. You can even bring a friend and their dogs (two cars maximum)
✅ Enrichment:
The field has a mixture of cut grass and large wilder areas, this gives your dog a lot of extra enrichment and provides lots of sniffing and exploring opportunities. We have large logs for climbing over and through plus trees for shade and a tall flood bank for running up and down.
✅ Comfort:
There are some chairs both solid garden ones as well as folding camping ones for you to use if wanted.

We now have over 80 5 star reviews on google, so clearly we are getting it right! If you don't believe us maybe it's time you tried it for yourself 😊

Availability this weekend (31st Aug/1st sept)
Saturday 31st - 1pm - 3pm
Sunday - fully booked

For more info and to book or check our live availability visit our website https://frankfreedomfield.com

29/08/2024

Does anyone recognise the dog below? Please share and help get it reunited 😊

Do you recognise this dog? Found today in the Girton area.

If you have any information which could help us find the owner of this lost dog, please contact us on 01636 650000.

23/08/2024

The field has had a trim and is looking beautiful 😊 We have very limited availability over the bank holiday weekend:
Saturday 24th: 1pm - 2pm
Sunday 25th: FULLY BOOKED
Monday 26th: 3pm - 4pm

If you want to nab one of the hours left head to our live booking site 👇

https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=22278779

18/08/2024

Some Sunday - just for fun!!

Show me you have dogs - without showing me your dogs 😃

I'll go first (some are probably more sled dog related!)

Over to you..

15/08/2024

I know I said there wouldn't be a Meet the pack part 11.. but I thought it wouldn't be right for me not to talk about the many many dogs that have passed through our home as fosters. I won't go into the details of all of them because there have been way too many to mention. By reading my meet the pack posts you would be forgiven for thinking we kept every dog that we fostered.. however we did manage to hand many over to their forever homes.

Fostering is not easy but can be so rewarding and I salute all of you out there who do it. We have had to give up fostering for now because life is just too busy and we don't have the time (or space!) to commit to it fully. We have learned so much from our years of fostering, not just learned about dogs and dog behaviour but also alot about ourselves and human nature. I have seen the worst in humans but also the best and have cried tears of frustration and anger hearing some of the experiences some dogs have endured as well as tears of joy when a dog we have come to love has found the perfect forever home.

Some notable fosters we have had are:

Phoenix, who was locked in a conservatory for many years because the owner had a baby and didn't want the mess from a dog. His claws had got so long they curled under his paws and made walking difficult and he had rubbed the hair off his nose from stress. Despite being treated like that he still loved humans and went on to be an amazing pet for his new family. Sadly he has now passed over rainbow bridge but his last few years on earth were very good ones with a loving family and a great life.

Jessie: She is our Milly's pup. She was the reason we first met Milly as her owner was giving two of her pups to the rescue and Phil transported them to their foster homes. Jessie was a literal ball of energy! She was on the go 24/7 and everything was done at 100mph 🤣 She adored water - I am sure she was part fish!! She would regularly empty the dog water bowl and lie in the puddle. We took her to a river for a paddle and she was like a kid in a candy shop, she would have happily have stayed there all day.

Ringo: I still find it hard to talk about Ringo, he was probably the saddest case we dealt with. He had been kept outside in kennels for most of his life because the owner had got a parrot.. keeping huskies / dogs in kennels isn't usually a bad thing, but they need a lot of human interaction to break up their kennel time. Just leaving them there and taking them out for an hours walk a day is not the way to do it. Anyway when we got him he was mentally shut down. He clearly learned to deal with life by retreating into himself. We really struggled to get him to relax and trust, and sadly we didn't make too much progress with him. Finding him a new home was a challenge while he remained in that mental state and with our large pack we just couldn't get him to a place where he could interact with the world. Another foster took him and he really improved in a quieter home. Eventually a new forever home where he was the only dog was found for him. I cried buckets of happy tears when I was sent a video of him playing fetch in the garden of his new home - he was a new dog! Suddenly alive and living his best life.

Lucky: she arrived with us with trichiasis (eyelashes growing inwards) in both of her eyes, she was virtually blind as a result and in a lot of discomfort. Our vet operated on her within a few days and a few weeks later after she healed we saw the pure beauty she was! Finally she could be the dog she was born to be.

So my final meet the pack update is a video montage of some of the amazing dogs that have passed through our home over the years, they each took a piece of my heart and made me a better human in one way or the other 😍

14/08/2024

Meet the pack Part 10

For those that have kept up.. we are finally at the end 😊

Name: Tally
Age: 8
Breed: Malamute cross (don't know what with)
Nickname: Tally Bo, tatty tally

Having 9 dogs, running a few small businesses and both of us working full time, the opportunity for holidays are few and far between. However, the stars aligned and a small window of opportunity opened for us last November and we managed to book a much longed for week away to Italy. Unfortunately the stars then jumbled themselves up and our plans had to change at the last minute. We decided to keep our booking with the kennels and just enjoy a dog free week and go for days out instead of going abroad, something we hadn't been able to do for quite some years!

On our first dog free day we were in a pub having a nice lunch when I saw a post from a rescue pleading for help for a malamute who was at risk of being put to sleep through no fault of her own. I showed Phil and within 15 minutes we had made plans to head up to York to collect her. We were both committed to getting her safe and then finding her a new home..

Her name was very similar to Akana so we thought we should give her a new one so it wouldn't cause any confusion while she was with us. As we were meant to be in Italy we decided on Tally as her new name.

The dogs were in kennels on their holiday for a week so Tally had the house to herself and as we were both off work she had our undivided attention. She must have thought all her Christmases had come at once, especially as she loves playing in water and at the time our field was flooded so she had a mini lake to play in every day!

She settled in so well with us, she was really well behaved and became my shadow. She loved sucking on a blanket and dozing off on the settee next to me. She had been living with other dogs so we didn't anticipate any issues with her meeting our pack, so when it came time to bring them home we made a classic rookie error. I went to collect our pack while Phil stayed home with Tally. I got back and just let ours out into the courtyard, they of course were hyped up because they had been away and were excited to be home and to see Phil, poor Tally had spent a week as an only dog bonding with Phil and I and suddenly there were 9 dogs jumping around in "her" territory. She reacted in a very negative aggressive way - which is totally understandable in the circumstances! I was so upset with myself but was now in a situation where she couldn't be in the house with the others, as she was clearly over the edge in terms of being triggered.

I was lucky as a friend of mine has a small kennel block at her home and she was able to take Tally for an emergency stay for a few days. This at least gave us some time to calm down and come up with a plan to reintroduce her to the pack but this time in a controlled and sensible way! We did slow introductions to Frank at the kennels over a few days, with both Tally and Frank muzzled, once I was confident that they were ok together she met all of the pack down at the field, again we used muzzles to start with just to be sure that any fights that started wouldn't end in bloodshed!

It took a few weeks of managing the pack, and having separation and muzzles when needed, but we finally got to the point that they were all perfectly fine together. Of course by this point I realised I really couldn't let her go, she had been through so much and moving her on again would just be another human passing her on, and I couldn't be that person, plus I did always think I preferred even numbers - so our pack of 9 officially became 10.

She is such a loving girl who just loves life! She was very overweight when we got her (almost 50kg at one point) but with lots of exercise and a good diet she had lost over 10kg and she can run and play so much easier.

She has bonded really strongly with me, and gets very frustrated if I sit down for a rest at the field because she won't go sniffing and exploring on her own, I have to be with her. We think she got told off when playing with dogs in the past because she joins in the play with her sisters but then stops to check with me whether she can keep playing.

Her nickname comes from the long hair around her eyes which looks like overgrown eyebrows and a really shaggy coat and reminds me of a well loved tatty teddy bear 🥰

So that's how we got to 10.. and NO there will not be a part 11 not now not ever! We are definitely full 🤣🤣

13/08/2024

Being owners of sled dogs, the recent hot weather has been difficult to say the least 😊 We beat the heat by keeping our house as cool as we can and just letting the pack do what they want during the hottest part of the day - this generally means they just sleep through the day. We then have a sniff adventure at the field as late as possible. We were down there after 8pm last night and it was still 25 degrees 🥵 so they just sniffed in the long grass for half an hour before laying down in the shade and that was all they needed

The huge benefit of course is I got to take some sunset pictures 😍 so it's not all bad!

11/08/2024

This is Yogi (pic 1) and Peggy (pic 2) they were rescued separately from different parts of the country and are now best of friends in our pack and play constantly together

11/08/2024

Looks like we are in for a very warm few days! Just a reminder that if anyone wants to reschedule their slot due to the heat you can do so up to 12 hours before by using the links in your confirmation email. You can also contact me via this page or WhatsApp / text on 07815 502201 and I will happily sort it.

If you do decide to use your booked time please don't over work your dogs, just let them have a sniff around in the long grass and make sure the water bowls are always full so they can get a drink when they need. Some dogs will chase a ball regardless of how they feel physically so please don't do any ball throwing or encourage chasing while the weather is hot.

Many people have breeds from warm countries and believe this makes their dogs able to exercise in the sun, well in warmer countries you will find that dogs will not go out during the hotter parts of the day, they will find a cool spot and sleep and only come out in the cooler earlier or later hours, no person or dog is immune to heat stroke!

10/08/2024

Meet the pack part 9

Name: Yogi
Breed: husky / German shepherd cross
Age: 4

Phil and I are on a number of husky specific Facebook groups, and we do get asked quite often if we can help with rehoming as we have got a lot of contacts in the rescue world. Phil was contacted by someone who was struggling to manage her young husky / gsd as she had a lot going on in her personal life and she just couldn't find the right life balance to meet his needs. We knew a young family with a husky that was looking for another one to join their pack so we said we would help.

Yogi arrived with us and was every bit the high energy crazy young husky you can imagine. Having had huskies and malamutes I had forgotten what it was like having a guarding dog. Yogi is definitely more gsd in temperament, and takes his guarding of things (people and toys) very seriously. He bonded very quickly with Peggy as she matched his energy and the pair of them would chase each other around the field playing tag biting each others tails 🤣

Unfortunately it emerged that Yogi had a couple of medical issues that would require ongoing treatment so he wasn't suitable for the family we had in mind. This left us with a dilemma, do we look for another home for him or go down the route we seem to have taken numerous times and just buy another dog bowl and collar and make a bit more room on the settee.. I guess you have worked out what our decision was!

He is such a beautiful boy, although his coat is always a challenge being long haired gsd and husky - worst of both worlds! We had a challenge with his toy and food guarding but have worked really hard with him and other than a very occasional slip he can be around toys again and he can have treats with the pack without a fight breaking out.

He and Peggy are still best friends and still chase each other around the field grabbing each others tail. Being a large male dog he did struggle to settle into his space in the pack, and has always had an uneasy relationship with Frank, if someone comes to the gate when we are at the field Yogi is very likely to start a fight with Frank, those high stress times sparks his urge to dominate and Frank won't back down. This is one of the key reasons we ask people to respect the space of customers who are in the field if you arrive early.

Luckily he is doing well medically and is a loving, loyal boy. Huskies generally only let you cuddle and stroke them when they want something, but Yogi will happily snuggle and cuddle whenever someone wants! He is also one of the best guard dogs ever, I'm sure the huskies would allow someone to empty the contents of our house in exchange for a sausage but Yogi would definitely fight to the end for us 😘

So there we have it.. our big boy Yogi - definitely smarter than the average bear!