Wittenham Clumps, Oxford

Wow that was easy – for the first time I tried uploading photos on here direct from flickr – it worked first time!

Well you can see what we spent yesterday afternoon doing. We walked with schnauzers, our favourite, favourite way to spend a Sunday afternoon – and it didn’t rain.

We went up to the beautiful Oxfordshire countryside to a place amusingly called Wittenham Clumps, not sure why that makes me smile but it does.

We met up with some schnauzer friends and met some new ones too. There were a few baby schnauzers, from the delightful Lola and Frodo, both only around 16 or so weeks old, Rodders, almost a year old who we love to bits, he’s been coming on as many of these meets as possible since he was only 4 months old and we had the gorgeous gentle giant Maddie, so lovely always to have giants on these walks.

And then there were my favourites, the ex-foster babies from puppy farms that Susie-Belle’s foster mum Janet has cared for, loved and then let go to their new homes. They are all such sweet hearts and very special schnauzers. It’s heart warming to say the least seeing how these group walks allow these dogs to really grow in confidence every time we do them. Janet brought her current baby girl, the delicate and scared Tica who she’s had with her since February. It is only in the last few weeks that Janet has been able to touch Tica, she was so terrified when she arrived with Janet that she would rear up in fright whenever Janet came close, or cower in the corner of her crate. It’s so, so sad to ponder on the traumas these poor babies experience in those puppy farm hell-holes.

But, yesterday was Tica’s first great day out with new people and new dogs and she was brilliant. She has a long way to go to be able to enjoy life, but she’ll get there. She’s in the best hands right now.

There will be a few more excellent photos later from a brilliant photographer who came along too, including a delightful one of my happy Susie-Belle.