Tuesday 5 November 2013

Pack Walk, Apples and Walking in the Dark!


Group Photo
On Sunday morning Hugo obviously knew that something was going to happen because he was up and raring to go at quarter to six in the morning and wanted everyone to know he was ready for whatever it was. It was the day of the Akita Rescue Welfare pack walk in Stoke on Trent and I was going to take Hugo and Pip on my own to join in. After a quick walk on the common so that we were all comfortable for the two hour journey we set off. Hugo and Pip were mostly very well behaved in the car and lay down when I shouted at them - Hugo is a nightmare for standing crossways on and blocking the view out the rear window just as you are at a vital spot on the motorway like getting on the M6!

Unfortunately, just as we reached Westport Lake, our destination, it started to throw it down with rain so we met our fellow walkers in a huddle at the back of a building. It didn't last long though and we set off around the lakes, 15 Akitas in total. All were beautifully behaved and Hugo and Pip thoroughly enjoyed themselves by paddling in the water whenever they could. Needless to say, they were exhausted after an hour and a half of all this excitement and they slept all the way back in the car. Thanks to Robbie Hadfield for the pictures here which are some of my favourites of the day.


When I last saw my parents my Dad gave me a bag of Egremont Russet apples which are one of my favourite varieties. Hugo and Pip have never shown any interest in apples before but as soon as I began munching on one Hugo got very excited so I started biting bits off for him to eat - of course, Miss Pip had to have some as well but she was only really taking them because she didn't want Hugo to have them. Hugo is very keen as soon as he sees one of these apples appear and if you dare to throw the core in the bin he rummages in there to get it out and eats it, pips and all! Funnily enough
though, when I was peeling some windfalls of another variety and making them in to apple sauce to freeze, Hugo took one piece and spat it out so think he has very selective taste buds.


The nights are getting dark much earlier now the clocks have changed so I am taking Hugo and Pip on a walk as soon as I get home from work. It is getting very gloomy by the time we get back to the car and Pip isn't too keen on the dark so we might have to stick to the streets and park where it is lit for a while. Tonight we were a bit later going out and Toby wanted to pop in to town so he dropped us off on Rodborough Common and we set off down a rough track as it gradually got darker and darker. There were a couple of other people still on the Common but it was very hard to see and after half an hour or so we turned back. Pip was getting more skitish and nervous by the minute and she nearly jumped out of her skin when a runner appeared alongside us, wearing a head torch. We got back to the car park and had to wait a few minutes before Toby picked us up so Hugo amused himself by climbing up a bank so he had a good view of the road. As soon as Toby pulled in Miss Pip rushed over to the car, jumping up at the boot as if to say 'let me in, let me in!" Needless to say the minute the boot was open she leapt in and she then put her head over my shoulder for the first mile or so of the journey home.