Hiking is one of Jonathan and I’s favorite things to do
together and lately we have been hiking fools. We especially love when we get
to take the pups along and my Mom clued me in to a Forest Walk which might be
ideal for letting Bailey run off leash. So on Saturday we loaded the dogs into
the car and made our way over to Countesswells Woods.
The forest has several
different walking trails ranging from 2 mile to 5 mile loops. We chose one of
the longer circuits and enjoyed breathtaking scenery of forests, countryside,
and mountains as we made our way around.
The next day we joined some friends of
ours and their 10 month old Chocolate Lab puppy for a look around the Loch of
Skene.
Bailey and Angus hit it off right away and have been mutually wearing
each other out. We thought it would be a good idea to get them together for the
Jubilee holiday so we headed to Glen Tanar for a gorgeous 6 mile hike.
Unfortunately,
the dogs had to be kept on a lead for most of the hike since its Grouse
nesting season and Scotland understandably doesn’t want bird dogs such as mine
disturbing the birds’ reproductive cycle.
This meant that Bailey drug me most
of the way until Jonathan accidentally discovered that putting the leash under
her front leg causes her to stop pulling. It was a miracle. We’ve had this baby
girl for 6 years and have tried everything to discourage her from pulling on a
lead, and all along the secret was so simple.
The trick worked on Angus as well
so I think Jon’s going to patent this million dollar idea and we can just
retire and go hiking everyday with our non-leash-pulling dogs.
Bailey and Angus
did get to spend some off-leash time in the river and Bailey even almost fetched a stick. Being friends
with a Lab might be a good influence on her retrieving skills. First we’ll
teach her to get sticks and then it’s only a matter of time before she will
learn to fetch my slippers.
The highlight of the Glen Tanar trip for me was
doing a photo-shoot with a field of sheep.
Since I’m still new in Scotland, I want to stop and take pictures of every sheep and cow that I see and our new friends were kind enough to oblige me.And now, I’ll be kind enough to share the pictures of these cutie patooties
with you.
You’re welcome.
We've had so much fun with you guys and the pups! Looking forward to exploring lots of Scotland with the Perrys!
ReplyDeleteThe feeling is mutual! We've had such a great time exploring with you guys:)
DeleteAww, those sheep are SO cute! I like how in America the sign would say "keep your dog under control" but in the UK it's "keep your dog under proper control" :)
ReplyDeleteYes, the dogs here are expected to be controlled and polite. It's all very sophisticated. I wish you and Kyros were here. He would LOVE it!
DeleteLove it! Everytime I try to take a pic of a sheep they all turn away and walk the other direction! I love your blog. My fiancé and I just moved to Aberdeen from Alaska too! I got here this week, fiancé has been here a couple months. This is my first expat assignment. He was actually raised in Glasgow, so no big change for him...but for me? HUGE! Anyways...it's fun to watch you get acclimated. Still not brave enough to try driving yet! Hopefully Saturday when we go to check out the farmers market in Inverurie!
ReplyDeleteWelcome to Aberdeen! You'll get the hang of driving though it feels very uncomortable for the first few weeks. I'm not sure where you are in Aberdeen, but a good practice route is driving to Costco/Tesco because the roads are wider and there isn't as much traffic, but still a few roundabouts to practice on. If you need anything at all or have any questions, you can email me at theaberdeenwife at gmail dot com and I'd be happy to help in any way that I can. Good luck with the transition!
Delete