Hound Hospitality was published in Dogs Monthly magazine in August 2007.
Keep dogs on a lead at all times. Do not let your dog foul the pavement. No dogs are allowed on beaches between 1st May and 30th September. Don’t shut dogs up in hot cars. It doesn’t matter where we go these days, dog owners are always being told what we cannot do. And whilst it isn’t intended as an anti-dog message, sometimes it can feel that way.
I shall never forget a holiday down in the south west when the family and our dog arrived at a well-known seaside resort. It wasn’t until we were parked and out of the car that all the signs hit us. There was one on practically every lamppost. Don’t do this. Don’t do that. Keep them here. Don’t take them there. Suffice to say that we didn’t stay long – and we haven’t been back since!
Yet it’s not just the signs and bylaws that can spoil a day out with your dog. As Jeanette McCarthy from Leicestershire says “I have a long running problem with local fishermen. Anytime my Border Collies go anywhere near them they wave their poles and swear at them. I can’t understand it as all we’re doing is walking past them. I have also experienced people in my local park ‘freezing’ when they see y dogs running free. Again, the dogs are usually nowhere near them, and not interested in them at all, but they stand and stare at them as if they are the hounds of the Baskerville!”
Two years ago, my village in Shropshire won the accolade of ‘Most dog-friendly town in Britain’ as voted for by consumers of Burns Pet Nutrition. My local BBC Radio Station rang me and said they were going to run the story the following day and wanted to chat to me as a village resident and author of dog books. So I popped down into village centre, had a look around, and soon realised how different it was to that south west coast resort I’d visited years ago.
There are very few signs clamped to lampposts barking orders at dog owners. If you walk into many of the shops with your dog, you won’t be turned away. In fact, only the food retailers limit access to guide dogs only. Pop into the Stationers and chances are you’ll have to step over a sleeping Golden Retriever just to get to use the photocopier! Yet, most of these shops don’t have ‘dogs welcome’ signs in them, which made me wonder whether the only way to judge whether a place is dog-friendly, is by how few ‘anti-dog’ signs there are about the place.
Things are becoming much easier now and with a little careful planning, it’s now possible to get more out of the summer holidays with your dog. Ann Croft and Jenny Roberts established the website www.dogfriendlybritain.co.uk, which lists suppliers of dog friendly services, whether it be pubs, holiday accommodation, popular tourist attractions such as Westonbirt Arboretum in Gloucestershire and Chatsworth House in Derbyshire. As dog owners themselves, Ann and Jenny were often faced with similar dilemmas about where they could and couldn’t go with their dogs.
“Jenny and I love walking in the Yorkshire Dales and we were, yet again, sitting outside a café eating a slightly soggy sandwich on a cold January day,” says Ann. “We remarked how good it would be to know exactly where we could take our dogs inside a café or pub on a day such as this. A second Miniature Schnauzer had also recently joined the family and it seemed that finding accommodation that would accept two dogs was also going to be a little bit more difficult. These two things really set me thinking!”
The website was launched in January 2006, and is clearly a hit with dog owners, because twelve months later, the site recorded 1 million hits in a month! With sections of the website dedicated to areas of interest such as ‘dog-friendly beaches’, ‘Castles and Abbeys’ and ‘Cafes and Restaurants’, there’s certainly several days out here to keep any dog and its owners entertained. A quick search revealed that town in the south west that I took a disliking to, isn’t listed!
“This is very much a community site and we’re pleased to be able to say, that this is how it seems to most site users. There are already many people who use the site on a daily basis, and many have contacted us to recommend their favourite dog friendly places,” Ann confirms.
This is why the website and the internet is becoming popular. Walk around any town, village, beach or community facility and there will be signs telling owners what their dogs cannot do. Yet people rarely put signs up telling owners what their dogs CAN do. Walk around my home village and you won’t see many signs in shop windows saying ‘Dogs Welcome Here’. Yet if you were to pop in and ask if it was all right to bring your dog in, most retailers would welcome you.
We need to ask first it seems. As Jeanette McCarthy says, there are plenty of people out there who are dog friendly if we ask. “I once lost my dog Seth at Foremark reservoir in Derbyshire. He was only 6 months old, and he ran off down the hill into the woods and got completely lost. I panicked, as you do, and started asking everyone walking there if they had seen him. People could not have been kinder, and before long I had about twenty people, including two OAPs and group of four young boys on bikes, all searching for him. He eventually heard his name being called and I found him. I’ve never been so grateful.”
So when you plan a day out with the whole family during the summer, do some planning beforehand. Contact the local tourist board of where you want to travel and ask them about any beach bans, or dog friendly places. Check out websites such as www.dogfriendlybritain.co.uk and if you find a dog friendly place that isn’t listed, add it to the website so other dog owners can find out about it. Disappointing days out could soon be a thing of the past!
Ann Croft’s Top Tips For An Enjoyable Day Out With Your Dog
1) ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, PICK UP AFTER YOUR DOG! - and we really would encourage that this should be at all times because this is the one thing, above all others, that people use as the reason they do not allow dogs.
2) DO NOT LEAVE DOGS IN CARS - think of a car as being exactly the same as a greenhouse - temperatures inside both will increase enormously and in a very short space of time the temperature can double!
3) Ensure you always have access to fresh water for your dogs to drink, if necessary, carry some with you.
4) Rules & Regulations can, and do, change, so whenever possible, plan ahead and contact your chosen destination to check that your dog really is welcome.
5) Only let your dog off the lead when you are sure it's ok to do so. If there is livestock in the area make sure that your dog is under close control or put her/him back on the lead.
6) The summer weather of 2006 was exceptionally hot and global warming looks set to make sure this rise in temperature continues - you may like it but your dog will most probably not! Walk dogs in the early morning or evening when it is cooler, and not in the hot midday sun.
7) Ask if places accept dogs as we're amazed at the number of places that do accept dogs but don't tell people (and then tell us about them)
8) Be an Ambassador for Dogs and owners - be a responsible dog owner and help to encourage more places to become dog friendly.
Other websites listing dog friendly places:
Dog’s Trust : www.dogstrust.org.uk/information/dogfriendlyvenues/
Dog Friendly: www.dogfriendly.co.uk/dogfriendly/
I shall never forget a holiday down in the south west when the family and our dog arrived at a well-known seaside resort. It wasn’t until we were parked and out of the car that all the signs hit us. There was one on practically every lamppost. Don’t do this. Don’t do that. Keep them here. Don’t take them there. Suffice to say that we didn’t stay long – and we haven’t been back since!
Yet it’s not just the signs and bylaws that can spoil a day out with your dog. As Jeanette McCarthy from Leicestershire says “I have a long running problem with local fishermen. Anytime my Border Collies go anywhere near them they wave their poles and swear at them. I can’t understand it as all we’re doing is walking past them. I have also experienced people in my local park ‘freezing’ when they see y dogs running free. Again, the dogs are usually nowhere near them, and not interested in them at all, but they stand and stare at them as if they are the hounds of the Baskerville!”
Two years ago, my village in Shropshire won the accolade of ‘Most dog-friendly town in Britain’ as voted for by consumers of Burns Pet Nutrition. My local BBC Radio Station rang me and said they were going to run the story the following day and wanted to chat to me as a village resident and author of dog books. So I popped down into village centre, had a look around, and soon realised how different it was to that south west coast resort I’d visited years ago.
There are very few signs clamped to lampposts barking orders at dog owners. If you walk into many of the shops with your dog, you won’t be turned away. In fact, only the food retailers limit access to guide dogs only. Pop into the Stationers and chances are you’ll have to step over a sleeping Golden Retriever just to get to use the photocopier! Yet, most of these shops don’t have ‘dogs welcome’ signs in them, which made me wonder whether the only way to judge whether a place is dog-friendly, is by how few ‘anti-dog’ signs there are about the place.
Things are becoming much easier now and with a little careful planning, it’s now possible to get more out of the summer holidays with your dog. Ann Croft and Jenny Roberts established the website www.dogfriendlybritain.co.uk, which lists suppliers of dog friendly services, whether it be pubs, holiday accommodation, popular tourist attractions such as Westonbirt Arboretum in Gloucestershire and Chatsworth House in Derbyshire. As dog owners themselves, Ann and Jenny were often faced with similar dilemmas about where they could and couldn’t go with their dogs.
“Jenny and I love walking in the Yorkshire Dales and we were, yet again, sitting outside a café eating a slightly soggy sandwich on a cold January day,” says Ann. “We remarked how good it would be to know exactly where we could take our dogs inside a café or pub on a day such as this. A second Miniature Schnauzer had also recently joined the family and it seemed that finding accommodation that would accept two dogs was also going to be a little bit more difficult. These two things really set me thinking!”
The website was launched in January 2006, and is clearly a hit with dog owners, because twelve months later, the site recorded 1 million hits in a month! With sections of the website dedicated to areas of interest such as ‘dog-friendly beaches’, ‘Castles and Abbeys’ and ‘Cafes and Restaurants’, there’s certainly several days out here to keep any dog and its owners entertained. A quick search revealed that town in the south west that I took a disliking to, isn’t listed!
“This is very much a community site and we’re pleased to be able to say, that this is how it seems to most site users. There are already many people who use the site on a daily basis, and many have contacted us to recommend their favourite dog friendly places,” Ann confirms.
This is why the website and the internet is becoming popular. Walk around any town, village, beach or community facility and there will be signs telling owners what their dogs cannot do. Yet people rarely put signs up telling owners what their dogs CAN do. Walk around my home village and you won’t see many signs in shop windows saying ‘Dogs Welcome Here’. Yet if you were to pop in and ask if it was all right to bring your dog in, most retailers would welcome you.
We need to ask first it seems. As Jeanette McCarthy says, there are plenty of people out there who are dog friendly if we ask. “I once lost my dog Seth at Foremark reservoir in Derbyshire. He was only 6 months old, and he ran off down the hill into the woods and got completely lost. I panicked, as you do, and started asking everyone walking there if they had seen him. People could not have been kinder, and before long I had about twenty people, including two OAPs and group of four young boys on bikes, all searching for him. He eventually heard his name being called and I found him. I’ve never been so grateful.”
So when you plan a day out with the whole family during the summer, do some planning beforehand. Contact the local tourist board of where you want to travel and ask them about any beach bans, or dog friendly places. Check out websites such as www.dogfriendlybritain.co.uk and if you find a dog friendly place that isn’t listed, add it to the website so other dog owners can find out about it. Disappointing days out could soon be a thing of the past!
Ann Croft’s Top Tips For An Enjoyable Day Out With Your Dog
1) ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, PICK UP AFTER YOUR DOG! - and we really would encourage that this should be at all times because this is the one thing, above all others, that people use as the reason they do not allow dogs.
2) DO NOT LEAVE DOGS IN CARS - think of a car as being exactly the same as a greenhouse - temperatures inside both will increase enormously and in a very short space of time the temperature can double!
3) Ensure you always have access to fresh water for your dogs to drink, if necessary, carry some with you.
4) Rules & Regulations can, and do, change, so whenever possible, plan ahead and contact your chosen destination to check that your dog really is welcome.
5) Only let your dog off the lead when you are sure it's ok to do so. If there is livestock in the area make sure that your dog is under close control or put her/him back on the lead.
6) The summer weather of 2006 was exceptionally hot and global warming looks set to make sure this rise in temperature continues - you may like it but your dog will most probably not! Walk dogs in the early morning or evening when it is cooler, and not in the hot midday sun.
7) Ask if places accept dogs as we're amazed at the number of places that do accept dogs but don't tell people (and then tell us about them)
8) Be an Ambassador for Dogs and owners - be a responsible dog owner and help to encourage more places to become dog friendly.
Other websites listing dog friendly places:
Dog’s Trust : www.dogstrust.org.uk/information/dogfriendlyvenues/
Dog Friendly: www.dogfriendly.co.uk/dogfriendly/
THE END