Dog and Bone Club

25/03/2025

I’m really sorry to say that the past couple of weeks has been absolutely terrible for Whippet loss. Fly high Mai, Bert and Monty, it seems like you all have insisted on having some zoomie friends for those new great big fields you’ll be tearing through.
We all absolutely loved you all, you’ve brought us great joy and we’re glad we got to share our time with you all.
I’m sure there will be plenty of pockets full of snacks for those narrow faces fit perfectly in, some butts and faces to nip, a tonne of hares and rabbits to bother and 12,000 sofas to choose to sprawl out on.

You’ve all been absolute superstars, cheeky, goofy, clumsy and hilarious. We will miss you forever. 🌈💚✨

23/03/2025

17/03/2025

Did you know we host socials at Moss Valley Tails - secure arena hire and other dog services 🤗

16/03/2025

I’m not sure if people are aware of this but I’m ultra fussy about taking puppies on. I take them very seriously and my intention with the is to give them the right foundations with me so they’re set up for success in the future.
I was super ready to say no to any puppies this year but there popped up Ronja, a little lurcher that looks like a hybrid of my two eldest boys 😍😍😍
So this week she met a few of my best egg nanny sighthounds, they’re great with their boundaries, they’re sweet dogs and they’re not that ‘fun’, well done Pippa and Steve for being great dogs (and George + Bob), we went to observe the horses and we went to Green Vets to have a nice experience there. A lovely person in the waiting room let us watch her cat in a calm manner. Thanks to the team for being so accommodating. 💚 💚

18/02/2025

While I was doom scrolling last night, ironically while I should have been writing an essay on genetics, I came across the Tarsus çatalburun or Turkish Pointer breed of dog. Quite a nice break from POV you’re living in plague Britain, Americans arguing about beans on toast or if Malta’s Eurovision entry can be aired on the BBC this year.

Now, I’m not a person that’s really into researching dog breeds that are outside of Sighthounds, I’d be terrible in a pub quiz team. I know my special interests and it’s not with rare breeds 😁
This one briefly peaked my interest because of the aesthetic. A forked nose!
There is of course a darker side of how it got its split nose, lots of years of inbreeding. Apparently it was bred into the line because they believed it aided their sense of smell but actually has no benefit to the dog at all.
Isn’t it strange what we value in dogs. In working Whippets you can go back along their family tree and find Sooty Sam featured several times in the 90’s. 140 known pups registered! Goodness knows how many more in reality.
He features 3 times on George’s family tree 😟
Whippets are popular now but when I first got George I only knew a few pure Whippets, most favoured Lurchers as they’re sturdier so I hate to think what’s happened to the gene pool since the recent boom.
Anyway, I don’t have a point to this conversation. It’s a marvel that a Pekingese and a Greyhound are genetically similar, we’re a strange type of mammal aren’t we? One great big genetic experiment. 🧪 🧬 🐕

14/02/2025

Well done to our lovely Scentwork group!

We finished our last session with a murder mystery - Murder at Foxglove Farm! Where our clever group of canine detectives sniffed out the clues to solve the case 🐶🕵️‍♀️🕵️‍♂️🕵️🐶

We will be back in April with another set of fun nose based games. Those that are returning, get practicing your basics 😁 we’re looking forward to meeting the newbies. We do have demand for another intake so we are currently arranging our diaries to fit that in 🙂🐶❤️

Happy Friday everyone!

11/02/2025

**First set of dates now full, please let us know if you’d like us to set another day**

👃🐕‍🦺🥳SCENT WORK CLASS🥳👃🐶

Our next 5 week class dates are:

❤️Thursday evenings 715pm❤️
🐾3rd April
🐾10th April
🐾17th April
🐾24th April
🐾1st May
📍
🙂This is priced at £75 for 5 weeks and you can either pay in one advanced lump sum or in three instalments. Please message us to book in.
🙂We can make adjustments so reactive or anxious dogs can be involved. All dogs will be on lead.
🙂This is a fun game based non-serious scentwork class. If you are hoping to do serious levels, competitions or IGP this is not the class for you.
🙂Your dog can be any age or breed to take part.

📞 We will add another set of dates if we end up with over the amount of numbers for a class

🐕‍🦺For those on low income or those that can’t commit to 5 weeks - we will release a singular ‘get started’ class and we will announce ad hoc ‘game’ dates that you can dip in and out of. Those who have done our classes or already have a basic skill set may join these.

🙌Games may include!
🚢Snuffleships!
🧐Murder at Foxglove Farm
📟Sniffagrams
🛸K9 Cyber Sleuths
🎞️Blockbuster Sniffers
🕵️‍♂️Sherlock Holmes - The Case Of The Missing Emerald

And many more! Run don’t walk to our inbox!

10/02/2025

Please keep Lottie and her family in your thoughts. She sadly passed over the rainbow bridge last week at the grand age of 14.5 🧡

Lottie was a truly AWESOME dog.
She was a stupendous nanny dog, I’ve lost count of how many dogs learnt from her. Really, if you’ve been with the club for a while your dog will have learnt from Lottie. She was our go to ‘adult dog with great manners’.

She won our ‘best recall’ award every single year until she went deaf and at that point she took to simply ignoring me, instead enjoying her semi retirement zooming around the farmers fields sticking her tongue out at us 🤣.

Lottie would bark at you in disgust if you slowed to an unacceptable pace, thanks to her we would all benefit from the maximum amount of steps each walk.
She would break the light speed barrier getting from the van to her bed in order to get her tasty treat and I’m surprised she didn’t leave a Lottie shaped hole in the front door in the process.

Her favourite walk with us was the long way through Whirlow and her second favourite walk was up through the cricket fields. She would stop and listen to their noise and then plough through them all.

We will really miss Lottie, she was such a cool dog and will now be eating plenty of Gravy Bones and Dentastix up with her sky friends 🤍

04/02/2025

I met this real bake bean shaped Lurcher the other day, waisting chicken legs, curved spine, the lot. Absolutely gorgeous lovely dog, pretty freshly rescued, understandably stressed with all the changes.
When you get a stressed sighthound their ‘uncontrolled’ prey drive increases. It’s very basic how the arousal curve works.

Professional had told them that the dog was most definitely a ex-poachers dog and had completely scared the human. I don’t know if you know what ex poachers dogs look like, it’s certainly not like a baked bean.

So here’s the thing. If you’ve got a Lurcher/Longdog, go to someone that knows about Lurchers and Longdogs. They exist, there’s some awesome people I can recommend. I could see in 0.2 seconds that this dog was from a household that didn’t have time to meet the dog’s needs and probably hadn’t left the house for months. No wonder everything around the dog was like throwing us in the busiest part of Delhi and asking us to cross the road.

There is knowledge about Lurcher’s that is important for rescue families to understand that the average run of the mill professional won’t know. We know how good working households work and why they have to retire the dogs, we know how bad working households work, we know the difference between a poachers dog and a normal working dog. We know the difference between a dog who has free roamed on a camp and a pet dog who’s not had its needs met. Quite often we can see a dog that’s been in a sterile kennel vs a dog that’s been in a home. We also know what crosses of Lurcher are for what purposes. A huge amount of Lurcher’s end up in rescue because their pet home hasn’t realised they’re taking on a dog with more needs than a Greyhound.

Just do me a favour, if you’re needing specific help with a Lurcher, go to someone that knows Lurchers. Just the same way as that I’ve not got a clue about say, Boxer dogs, other people don’t have a clue about Lurchers and will give you misinformation. Lurcher’s are awesome dogs! They’re also a handful and I’m very sure Bob has given me most of my grey hairs throughout the years and I wouldn’t change it for the world. 😆🤣😆❤️🧡❤️

29/01/2025

🐶👋🐶👋Lots of new faces to welcome from January! Huge warm welcome to everyone! 👋 🐶👋🐶
Quick update on our availability:

🐶Dog sitting will return to dog walking clients only from the end of the tax year. Ann will supposedly taking her well earned retirement. I say supposedly as she has come back 3 times after announcing retirement 🤣 however we will not be taking on any new sitting clients. You MUST be a walking client to access our dog sitting service after April.🐶
🐶Linds and Zara - group walks S8 & S12 - must be completely flexible on days and times. Solos - waiting list only. 🐶
🐶Craig - group walks - S8, S7, S17 (parts) must be completely flexible on days and times. Solos - waiting list only. 🐶
🐶Rach - group walks - limited spaces for S12 and S20 - must have some flexibility - solos waiting list only🐶
🐶Eddie - Group walk - S2 and S8 spaces Monday and Tuesday only, smaller breeds preferred - Solos waiting list only 🐶
🐶Dawn - Dronfield & S8 - Waiting list only 🐶

Please note we are currently full for teenage medium to large dogs aka turd age (in the nicest possible way) - we can only have one in a group at a time. 🤗

Cheers! Deer

15/01/2025

I can safely say that last week was total chaos and I’m glad we are back to mud.
That being said, it does make for a lovely photo doesn’t it? We will all be back to resembling Tom Hanks 3 years into Cast Away by tomorrow.. well except the poodles with their lovely shaved feets. They always look lovely whatever the weather.

Going back to snow photos, look at Neil doing his most realistic cutlassfish impression in his lovely shiny coat, it’s a wonder we weren’t accosted by a Texan. I distinctly remember Pab’s having a gold coat and I’m now mildly confused where it is? He could have been his little goldfish pal.
Anyway, fish waffle over. Enjoy the mud this week.

20/12/2024

🐶🐕🐶🐕Huge thank you from team Dog and Bone Club to all of our absolutely wonderful customers! You have made 2024 such a brilliant year for us all.🎄🎄🎄🎄 Also thank you for spoiling us rotten with our lovely gifts. 🎁

🎁🥳🎁We hope you have the most brilliant festive holiday and Santa brings all your dogs a special Christmas dinner 🍽️ 🎁🥳🎁

A personal note from Z&L, thank you also to our most wonderful team who are absolutely brilliant. We are so proud to be working along side such a wonderful group of amazing, intelligent and kind humans. That’s really from the bottom of our heart ♥️ 🧀

A final note, I am also thankful this year for clothing manufacturers that make genuinely waterproof clothing, long lines, orange bags, people that can use roundabouts correctly and those of you who always make it to the end of our posts ☺️❤️☺️ hehe! 😝 Happy holiday everyone! 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

12/12/2024

Last week I heard someone to refer to wellies as ‘puddle punchers’ and I was delighted and horrified at the same time.
The snow took the final onion layer from the floor and we are now walking on pure clay. No puddles to punch for us, just bogs of mud soup. There is one path which in true Sheffield style is almost vertical, combined with clay I really do embody a Tony Hawks character going down it which brings me great joy. I got down it sideways and all like I’m on a skateboard. The dogs however look at me in a judgemental way and remark that evolution wasn’t so helpful was it, 4 legs on the floor would be more than helpful here, but then would I need puddle punchers for my hands too?
Who was your Tony Hawks character btw? Mine was Bob Burnquist.

29/11/2024

**Sold out** please let us know if you’d like to be on the waiting list.

👋 👃 Rachel is trialling a new scent work class and is offering a very reduced price of £5 a class in exchange for feedback. 4 places available, Thursday evenings although she can be flexible if there’s a better day for the group ♥️

This is a fun easy breezy class designed for everyone. It’s not a competitive class because that’s not our vibe.
She’s made some really fun games for once you’ve learnt the basics and you can have a really good giggle while you play them.

Scentwork is a great activity for all dogs, young and old. It’s a perfect opportunity to give your dog an opportunity to exercise their brain and bond together. With the lead up to Christmas it’s the perfect opportunity to give your dog some time away from the chaos. I think I like the word opportunity today.

This is a class suitable for all dogs, however although the dogs aren’t interacting with each other they will need to be able to tolerate other dogs in the same space as themselves, be that a large space. There will be opportunities in the future for 1:1 classes.

If you’d like to try out drop me a direct message and Rachel will add you to her group chat to arrange classes 😄

25/11/2024

Ok, few pre snow snaps for your pleasure, apologies for the delay I’ve been arranging some fun classes for you all for next year!
I was thinking it’s about time I dedicated a post to the Hyacinth Bucket character that I met and subsequently bought a Laura Ashley rug from as she felt it didn’t match her spare bedroom set in the way she wanted. Although she doesn’t know it, that rug has been the fundamental underpinning foundation for boss level car comfort for the dogs. A lot of you know by now that I’m a little obsessed with car comfort, mainly because I love dogs to be happy but equally, it’s a two way street and I don’t want dogs barking and vomiting in the car. So this years focus since I moved out of L’s van is operation living room, because where is a dogs favourite place?
A big driver in this mission was to have agency of movement while still being in a legally safe space and to have a higher up spot for dogs that like to be elevated. We have ‘Space Mountain’ which is a digging spot with a mountain of blankets that can be balled up, an unnamed squishy space to recreate a sofa, a basket for the dogs that like to be in a smaller space and then I’ve got ‘Pab’s tropical corner’ which has a heater so those toy dogs can close their eyes and imagine they’re on a tropical beach somewhere (and then cry when they realise it’s not a real beach).
I think I’ve got one final change to make to round it off which I’ll do over the festive break and maybe that’s the point where I also need to add a few extra comfort pieces perhaps.. a rug on the wall maybe? What else? Net curtains? I’d like proper curtains but I’d never be able to reverse 🤪

24/10/2024

I normally post what the dogs are listening to in the car but I have unfortunately broken the Bluetooth attachment which was fantastic as it smelt like burning fish in the process, so we have been wading through Radio 4 for the past week and I can confirm that we are all knees deep into the Archers storyline even though we all absolutely hate it.

I was convinced that the car was haunted by the previous owner as it kept flicking to Link FM which seemingly is programmed into all 6 of the radio slots, but it turns out there are a whole host of buttons that I didn’t even know existed that I had accidentally been touching. The dogs seemingly like it, perhaps it’s because I can’t really sing along to it although I am most definitely trying and I am also 2 adverts away from driving us all to Lahore grill and renting us the family room out although I’ll probably need to disguise us all as cats.

07/10/2024

We have welcomed some lovely new faces over the past couple of weeks and we’re happy to say that they’re all settling in great so a big warm welcome to them all. 👋
Rachel has taken on Zoe’s round which means I’m pleased to say that we now cover all of S12 so exciting times there if you’re around that area and have been eyeing up our services.

I’m really sad that Zoe’s from Pingy Paws has hung up her walking boots as she was a really awesome dog walker but in good news, we’re going to be teaming up with her to host guest events and seminars 🙌🙌🙌

We’re looking at starting with a workshop on how to spot hidden pain in dogs for both professionals and pet parents. If there’s anything you’d really like to see let us know!

Rachel is also trialling her scentwork course this week and it will be available for bookings really soon! How cool is that!