Tails and Trails

05/05/2026

We had a really busy weekend with old and new clients, walking, feeding and getting cuddles. I love that the feline Ms C always likes to accompany Ms S on the walks. Quite a few cat visits over the weekend, always a pleasure, even when Mr S was doing zoomies around my head.

29/04/2026

Trying to get Olli to enjoy the water - he's definitely getting better, with Diefer's help who absolutely loves swimming. We love the toys, great for retrieving in the water

19/03/2026

Last weekend we went to the final race weekend of the BSSF season at Kinnaird Castle, Brechin in Scotland. Interesting weather whilst driving there and back, but perfect for racing over the weekend. I decided not to race in DS2 as Tesha hates stoney ground of any kind and, whilst the BSSF committee worked very hard to groom the trails, there were still stoney patches. Diefer pulled me round safely both days on the scooter, winning both the weekend class and the National title. Olli and I raced in bikejore on the Saturday, the boy did really well, but unfortunately we had to scratch on Sunday and not give him the chance to get a medal. The good news is that he ate all weekend, so hopefully we can travel further afield from now on. As always, I'm so proud of all my dogs, those that raced and those that came along for a weekend of walks and cuddles.

21/02/2026

I had the pleasure of walking this gorgeous old lady this week, 14 and still bouncing around and loving life. I also fed her feathered friends, and the ladies rewarded me with lovely fresh eggs. Please note that I do not offer a bird sitting service, I am actually terrified of feathered things with their beaks and claws 🦖➡️🐓 but they were safely ensconced and I was never in any danger 🥷

16/02/2026

We don't always have the training session we want, but perhaps we get the training session we need. Diefer has had a rest recently due to an injury but ran him and Tesha tonight with the staggered line, it didn't go great. Then Olli on his own, who absolutely flew and then he went into the river for a drink when we finished. This is a HUGE deal, he usually won't go near water, he jumps puddles and almost drowned me at a race last year when he jumped over a stream I wanted him to cool down in, whilst attached to my walking belt! So we'll take this as a huge positive, as well as the pleasure of running my amazing dogs tonight as well.

14/02/2026

Another gorgeous still, dry evening yesterday so down to the beach we went. Olli (orange harness) is a purpose bred sleddog whilst Tesha (turquoise harness) is a failed foxhound - she ran away from the hunt. Tesha gets distracted easily in harness - that nose of hers and possibly tiny concentration span, so we tried something different, using a staggered line, where Olli ran in front and she 'chased' him. It took them a little while to get used to it as they usually run beside another dog, and we had a couple of tangles and they got confused as to who was meant to be where, but I think it has helped her to understand what I'd like her to do.

31/01/2026

31/01/2026

Never work with children or animals? Trying to get one good shot of Olli wearing his medal 🙄 I didn't even bother trying with Scully.

🐾

30/01/2026

On the 2nd day of racing, we had a short gap between DS2 and bikejore, so as we were competing for a podium place in bike, I dropped DS2 and let the dogs have a rest. Olli was fantastic, did everything I asked of him and more, there was a very strong headwind in places, including the long strait where the photographer was but he worked his big paws off and we took home the bronze. Scully had a great time, holding on to her first place 😉 and trying to steal the photographer's lunch!!!
Huge thanks to for a fantastic weekend, for his amazing as always photos, .cz for the dog's harnesses and my t-shirt, for the loan of the antenna, for the broth, goat's milk and other supplements. looked after us as always getting us out and back safely through their Club team. I was fuelled by and love my WSA socks Biggest thanks of all to for Olli.

27/01/2026

We made the long journey to Thetford forest in the East of England at the weekend to race with at their second race weekend of the season. The race was originally set for Pembrey Forest which would have been an hour from the ferry in Wales, but when the course was flooded their committee pulled all the stops out and found an alternative venue, albeit 5 hours from the ferry for me 😞 I absolutely love running the dogs in Thetford, really paw friendly trails, lots of space for camping and walking the dogs when not racing.
Tesha and Diefer ran first in DS2, people who know Tesha's history will appreciate how far she has come and how amazing she is. She ran really well for most of the race, although poor Diefer did have to encourage her along in parts.
Olli did bikejore and absolutely flew around, overtaking 2 other teams, leaving us in 3rd at the end of day 1. It's such fun running a big, strong dog, but I worked really hard to help him, when your dog is working that hard, the human has to do the same. Thanks to .fit for getting me to a level where I could push hard all the way round.
Last class out for us was Scully in DS1 who had a lovely time in the forest but unfortunately with a gap ahead of us and nobody behind us, she wasn't aware that it was a race and enjoyed her training run 😀
Huge thanks to for the amazing photos as always.

15/01/2026

Would any local to the Sligo area dog people be interested in a canine massage therapy workshop? Learning to do basic clinical massages on your own dogs to help with warm up, cool down, injury prevention etc? It would be with a respected clinical canine massage therapist from NI. A local dog professional friend is gauging interest at the moment to see if the numbers are there.