Neal

I'm always amazed at how other people just don't seem to notice deer. There are numerous occasions when I've watched people walking along a country lane within yards of a roe and they've not seen it. There are two blokes who regularly take their remote control cars to the centre of my local wood and I've seen the deer walking behind them on the other side of the stream and these two blokes had no idea they were there. I suppose having a dog that says "there's a deer over there" helps.

I live in an area of East Hampshire called The Forest Of Bere, sandwiched between Portsmouth and the South Downs. We have a thriving population of roe (you'd have to walk around with your eyes closed not to see them almost daily) and I've also seen a couple of muntjac during my local walks in the last couple of years. The only time I ever see fallow is when I walk farther east (to the east of Rowland's Castle) apart from a single buck I saw this year a little to the west of that. While walking my kelpie this morning, I noticed him pause, look over to his left, then back at me. Sure enough

One of my previous dogs earned the nickname Dickhead. When my young daughter overheard me calling him this she asked what dick meant. To this day I'm proud of how quickly I responded by telling her that, as he was a sheepdog, and sheep are counted differently (yan, tan, tethera etc) and he was my tenth dog...hence dick!

A racing whippet breeder from the Midlands who I bought a collie x whippet from told me that, of all her whippets, the only ones with poor feet were the ones with racing greyhound blood.

One way I've found of building confidence is to simply walk a dog in woodland with lots of intersecting paths. Rather than directing which route you'll take, let the dog decide. I know it sounds daft but I've used that method to instil confidence into several more sensitive or submissive dogs. I once had a collie x whippet I did this with. She was so stuck to me like glue that, although she was the most obedient dog I've ever had, it took ages to teach her a recall as she never left my side. I had to get somebody to take her off on a lead and let her off so she'd run back to me and becom

Yep He was very friendly and outgoing, but calm and polite (never jumped up, even as a pup). He'd walk up to people and/or dogs, but unfortunately not all dog owners believe in the benefits of socialising dogs.

We've tried that, but didn't make any difference. The only things we've found that works 100% is if she travels in the front (wider field of view and all that jazz) and has her music on. Fine for me apart from I'm not looking forward to travelling from one end of the country with Taylor Swift all the way.

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately, it's impossible to go the day before as we're staying in a rented cottage and we can't leave early (our usual tactic) as my mother in law has Alzheimer's so my wife has to do one last shopping trip and visit on the morning we leave before the carers take over for the week.

My male was attacked several times as a pup (due to idiots assuming he was either an Alsation, Rottweiler or Doberman cross and immediately putting their dogs on leads to "protect" themselves). After one attack he ran off and was hit by a car. Before this he'd been extremely easy going and relaxed (his nickname is Bob because he was like Bob Marley) but after the accident he became aggressive, initially only towards large dark coloured dogs (as these had previously been the main culprits) but eventually towards anythings with testicles that got too close. Fine with bitches and castrated males

Quick question: we're travelling up from South Hampshire to Appleby to visit my wife's family at the beginning of the school summer holiday. We've always previously gone via Oxford, A42, M6 etc but it's almost always static around Stoke-On-Trent. When I checked the route on aa route planner it also came up with an alternative route via the A3, M25, M1, A1(M) until Richmond and then head west. Anybody know which of these two routes is most likely to be unblocked (or the least congested) on the average Friday? We need to stick to as many non-winding roads as possible as my daughter is a puk

Feature on my local news a short while ago about fibreglass being found in shellfish in Chichester harbour. The reason given was because boats are now rarely built from wood.

Not a pure whippet, but the only whippet lurcher I've ever had (collie x whippet) would come in season pretty regularly every four months. What with that and her dreadful feet and I remember one year when she spent more time on the lead than free.

I love the one of the heron.

I have to say, I was dubious at first and I was trying to talk her into chickens instead but they're her pride and joy. I'm surprised but I'm definitely coming round to them. Less smelly than I'd expected and hilarious to watch and they are, basically, just pets (but with egg benefits). She's doing all the opening up and putting to bed at night and she gave them a good clean out today (in her dedicated "duck clothes"). I'm afraid that, unless we're outside with them, free-ranging is not an option as we have the occasional visit from Mr Tod...though the dogs are enjoying chasing him o

I've got on so well with the vivobarefoot boots during the last year that I've decided to get some of their trainer type things for the rest of the year. They're expensive but well made and last longer than previous trail running footwear I've had. They have a section on their website called revivo which are basically second hand revamped ones. I bought two from there. Still expensive but much cheaper than usual and look like brand new to me. I go one firm ground pair and one soft ground.