An update from one of our lovely volunteer kennel walkers on Charlie …
“So today I decided to take Charlie out for the day, I got the halti on him with ease today, out into the car park and really confused him when I opened the tailgate of the car. He jumped up and had a good sniff around and then settled down for the drive.
As it was so hot I took him over to Shoreham, where I knew he could paddle in the river if he got too warm. What a wuss, I never thought Charlie would be scared of the water, he looked at the river with great suspicion, he did go down the edge several times and had a drink but just looked at me as if to say 'You've got no chance of getting me in there Mate'! So we walked along the riverbank in the shade, there were a lot of people around today, some families with dogs, Charlie wasn't fazed by anything. He sniffed around a few off lead dogs who came over to him and got a lovely fuss from two young children.
Some mad woman walked past with a poodle complaining about how a Staffie had pinned her dog down a few weeks ago, Charlie just sniffed her dog and ignored it, which I did point out to her, and she wandered off muttering to herself.
When we got out into the fields the heat became quite intense, Charlie started to roll about in the damp clover, I took this as a sign we shouldn't go on the longer route I'd planned, so we sat down and had a rest in the shade. We then retraced our route along the river, he had several more 'looks' at the water, and eventually braved the 'roaring torrent' right up to his knees! He seemed to get a bit more confident of the water and went in several times for a paddle.
Back at the kennels we had to wait for a little while as some of the dogs were being moved from the paddock back to kennels, so I sat in the boot of the car with the tailgate up and Charlie and I had big fuss and cuddle.
The excitable Charlie people see in the kennels is so far removed from the out-and-about Charlie, I just wish someone would come and see him for what he really is, a charming, affectionate and well behaved little chap”.
