Tail About Town: Disastrous doggy day’s out
Written by Emma Kemsley
That’s it, I’m done! I’m never taking Fletcher to a public event (without the supervision of my husband) ever again! Recently I reached my embarrassment level at DogFest at Knebworth House.
Full of dogs, activities and talks it sounded like a great day out, and if you have a well-behaved dog it would be a blast, if you have a naughty spaniel, perhaps not so much.
The first mistake I made was inviting his girlfriend Juno, yes, remember her from a few columns back? The huge and hyper staffy-cross. My friend and I arrived at the same time and managed to park next to one another – that’s about the most successful event of the day! Fletcher saw Juno through the window and the screams of excitement began. Unable to wait for me to put his lead on, he managed to free himself from his seatbelt and hurl himself into my friend’s car. Car commotion over and back on the lead, we headed for the show, only for Fletcher to stop in the middle of a crowd and poop. Unable to keep still with excitement, picking it up was a challenge, and as you can imagine the worst happened – yep, my hand went straight in – argh!
Next stop, the portable loos for me to wash my hands and a toilet break. I went in one portable with Fletcher, my friend and Juno in the other. Have you ever been in a small portable toilet with a hyper dog, no of course not, no one is that stupid! It wasn’t the best experience but I’m just thankful the whole row didn’t go tumbling over like dominos – although it was close!
We headed straight for the dog diving activity where we queued for over an hour to purchase tickets. Half way through the queuing time I noticed other dog-owners had begun to keep their distance, and indeed there was a sparse circle around us. I presume it had something to do with our delightful dogs rolling around and jumping to see the water (we really did try to keep them calm, I promise, it was just impossible).
After a long wait it was finally our turn. Fletcher refused to jump for a ball and instead demanded a stick-shaped toy, then as I expected he was in without a second thought. Juno on the other hand…errr, well, despite her excitement it turns out she can’t actually swim and instead had to be carried around the pool – time and money well spent! Trying to get Fletcher out was obviously a huge problem and I had to literally chase the scuba spaniel around in circles, only for him to soak everyone on exit with a big shake.
The show had a great selection of stalls, both dogs had a free vet check, and we listened to Supervet Noel Fitzpatrick – if only he had been around to help us with Fletcher and Juno who were pulling us around at lighting speed – my arm actually ached the next day from holding the lead so tight.
After Fletcher jumped in a water bowl, and Juno had been fussed by the nurses at her vet, there was just enough time for Fletcher to have a long wee up a charity box before we left – it’s now safe to say I will be signing up to the charity and giving a monthly donation.
Read more Tails About Town here
