We have a new friend called Millie, she is an 11 week old English Cocker Spaniel and lives near our mum’s office in North Cumbria.

Millie has a little bit of white on her front, otherwise she is completely black and very beautiful.

Because she is so small we have not met her yet, but Charlie certainly checks out all the sniffs on mummy when she comes home from work.  It makes his tail wagg, so Millie must smell nice.

Apparently Millie has quite a thing about Weetabix at the moment and just like Charlie, likes sitting on her mum’s knee and having her chin tickled.

You can find more pictures of Millie on her owners Facebook page.

It has been a while since I took a few minutes to look around the web and see what gadgets, gismos and websites I can find that interest me and in turn you may find interesting.

Charlie and his webwatch

If you would like to suggest any gadgets, websites or stories for my next WebWatch then get in touch via the Contact Us form at the top of this page.

A quick thought for Valentines Day…
According to a survey conducted by a pet food company, 26 percent of dog owners “say ‘I love you’ once a day to their dogs—the same percentage that says ‘I love you’ once a day to a spouse or significant other.”

Gadgets

Power generating dog lead - A bit of lateral thinking has gone in to this gadget that harnesses the energy stored in our leads to generate light.  As we pull the retractable lead in and out a generator makes electricity. This energy is stored in batteries and used to power a light to guide the way.  Still as a concept but a great idea, investors wanted.

PawTrax - After two years of research, investigation and testing a GPS tracker has been developed for us. It is called The PATmicro.

Air conditioned and heated dog house - Now we are talking sheer luxury here.

The innovative Cool Pet House has been designed to cater for Small Pets up to 12kg and is Air-conditioned & Heated using newly developed state of the art ‘thermo-electric’ technology with temperature ranges from a cool 17°C up to a balmy 30°C (thermostat controlled).

The Cool Pet House also features inbuilt humidifiers to ensure that the living and sleeping environment remains at a constant and very pleasant 50-60% humidity.

There is also an optional WI FI Web Cam and LED interior lighting at the touch of a remote control button.

Websites

Ohmidog.com –  is the web domain of John Woestendiek, a former newspaper reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner who, after blogging about dogs and animals for the Baltimore Sun, decided to unleash himself from the newspaper and go out on his own.

As a stray, he plans to continue blogging and working as a writer on other projects, including a dog-related book.

He is assisted in this endeavor by the ohmidog! staff (listed below) and his dog Ace, who, whether he’s dragging his owner to the dog park or curled up and snoring on the futon, provides constant inspiration.

The other end of the leash.com - This is one for the humans,  as it is an ongoing inquiry about the behavior of people and dogs.

To Quote from the website ” My hope is that it will become a place for an informed and thoughtful consideration of the amazing relationship between people and dogs—my two favorite species.”

The blog is written by Patricia McConnell, a certified applied animal behaviorist and dog trainer who is crazy in love with her dogs.

Oldies Club –  The Oldies Club is a dog rescue, run solely by volunteers, that specialises in rescuing and rehoming older dogs – aged 7 years plus.

Oldies Club

The Oldies Club rescue grew from an initial idea on an internet dog chat forum by a group of people who felt great empathy with the plight of elderly dogs that find themselves homeless.

You can help this club with collecting stamps from used envelopes. Please send them to Oldies Club Stamps, 35 Belle Vue Street, Healey, Batley, West Yorks, WF17 8DD. Please ensure Oldies Club is mentioned on the envelope, to ensure money raised is allocated correctly.

The Oldies club is also on the lookout for other items including mobile phones, printer cartridges. full details on their website.

Dog Art Today – Dog Art Today is devoted to daily dog art from around the world.

Features include contemporary dog art, the history of dogs in art, dog art auctions, books, posters, fashion and decor.

Launched in March 2007 this blog is run by Moira McLaughlin (MORE-a Mc-LOCK-lin) who is an artist and a dog lover. She has a Longhaired Dachshund muse called Darby.

Pictures

Here are a few pictures we have taken over the past few weeks and have kept as sort of a blooper part to this post.

Buster sleeps on the stairs

A Sleepy Buster

Buster eventually finds somewhere to sleep.

Even if it is on the stairs with his head on some paperwork waiting to be filed….. sweet dreams

Amusing picture

And finally… Whilst we were out in the car the other day we spotted this image in the grounds of Lanercost Priory…. Bishop’s Move in a Priory…. Well we thought it was funny:-)

Bishops Move - at Lanercost Priory

Until next time

Charlie

Our adventures this week have taken us to a small village called Hesket Newmarket.

You may remember we visited a place called Caldbeck a few weeks ago well, Hesket Newmarket is about 1.5 miles beyond this, down a narrow ‘B’ road.

Carved head on display in a door entrance. Hesket Newmarket

The village is stretched along the main through road and has a Post Office, pub, church and has even been visited by a royalty.

It also has a strange custom of putting orange heads on display.

Possibly to scare away little boys, as we did not see any, or maybe it is a local custom only known to those who live nearby.

Brewery

Our journey today took us out of the city past our frequent walking place of Dalston, past Rose Castle, the home of the Bishops of Carlisle and high onto the Caldbeck fells.

This is sheep country and many of the woolly beasties were to be spotted grazing on the fells.

Bonfire ready for 5th November

After parking the car, in one of the eight or so car parking spaces, we got the whiff of something a bit odd, a bit strong and actually quite sharp.

Hardly noticing the big collection of wooden sticks and debris ready for bonfire night in a week or so we sought out the source of the smell.

Charlie is best at seeking out smells, being a cocker spaniel, so he set to work and came upon a man moving big plastic drums around to and from a van.

Hesket Newmarket Brewery van showing some of the beers produced

It turns out that not only does the village have a pub, The Old Crown, but also has it’s own brewery.

Funnily enough called the Hesket Newmarket Brewery.

All now became clear as mum discovered that the smell was coming from the brewery so was a mixture of hops, yeast and something she called beer.

Co-op

Now that the source of the smell had been resolved dad took our leads and we went for a sniff around the grass and further investigation of the bonfire preparations.  Mum meanwhile visited the brewery information area for further research….. Good job she only likes wine and whiskey.

After a few minutes mum returned and recounted that the pub was the first co-operative pub in the country and is owned by over 100 people.  The brewery is also a co-operative started by around 60 people after fearing the micro-brewery would close in 1999.

Hesket Newmarket main street

Since this time the brewery has grown and now produces over 50 barrels a week of which some is bottled and sold in many specialist stores in the area.

Prince Charles visited the pub and brewery in 2004 where he opened a new temperature controlled storage facility.

Twelve roads or paths

The Old Crown Pub, Hesket Newmarket

Our expedition finally moved to the main high street and the pavement in front of the Old Crown Pub.

Opposite the pub and across the road is a strip of green grass with a number of ‘Do not park notices’ pushed in to it.

The pavement led, slightly uphill, towards a low canopied structure and the shop.

Hesket Newmarket is very old and is the meeting point of some twelve roads, bridle-tracks and footpaths.

Market Cross

Many of the buildings date from the late 17th to early 18th Century.

Hesket, as it is referred to occasionally, was granted it’s market charter in the early 18th Century.  However, the only evidence of this past is the Market Cross and the annual agricultural show held in September.

Unusual

Alongside the Market cross is a building known as the coach house. It is currently for sale with an asking price of around £210k

Finger Post Sign

It is an unusual building and was used to house a carriage on the ground floor  with sleeping accommodation above for the groom.

Opposite the Post Office is a fine example of a finger post road sign which looks as if it has been recently refurbished.

Post Office and Shop. Hesket Newmarket

We wondered if the company in Lanercost, Signpost restoration Ltd, had done the work on this black and white icon of our transport past.

Apart from the pub a community must have a good shop for all of life’s essentials.

Holiday rental

The village shop and tea room, with it’s old post box on the wall outside, stood behind us. A wooden bench was a tempting place to stop for a moment for something sticky and a warm cup of hot chocolate but it was a bit too cold and we were not allowed inside.

Temperence Hall. Hesket Newmarket

Maybe we can return in the summer.

As we continued up the hill dad spotted a large wooden sign which read ‘The Temperance  Hall‘ .

Research upon our return indicates that this property, like many others in the village, has become a holiday rental often owned by people from outside of the area.

Free Church. Hesket Newmarket

Now at the edge of the village we turned around and returned, this time using the opposite side of the main street, towards the car.

With pink railings, guttering and downspouts the Free Church in Hesket Newmarket would seem a little bit of a rebel, decoration wise that is.

Dr Altham. Hesket Newmarket

Carved into the stonework next to the main door is an unusual inscription for a church which reads, we think,  ’Dr Altham’.

We have no idea who Dr Altham is, or his connection to this building, maybe you know?

Crossing Point

Our walk took just about 40 minutes taking time to sniff and investigate so it is not somewhere we would come every week. However, it does make for a Sunday stroll or maybe a transit point on the Reivers Bike Trail to stop off and gather your thoughts over a pint of real ale and a pie from the village shop whilst sitting on the village green.

Further information

Appraisal of Hesket Newmarket Conservation Area -LDNPA

At last we are having some warmer weather and we can get some serious warmth in to our bones.   I don’t know about you but the last few months without the sun just makes me sluggish and aching to the bones.

A sneaky lick

But the sun is here and the spirits are lifted, and Buster can top up his suntan.

One thing I have noticed when it gets warmer is that mum and dad start to have their meals outdoors.  This brings me on to the photograph and the sneaky lick i got of the muffin.  

It is well documented that we love food and whilst my dad was waiting for his tea to cool, he was taking some photographs for Oldvarieties and he left out his cake.

Now not one to miss a chance of cake, and chocolate cake at that, I waited until he was well involved with setting up the photograph and I pounced.

Up on to the chair and paws onto the table…. Dad swung around and click… photo taken, plan foiled… drat.  What a chance missed.

BBQ

With the sunshine also comes the smell of sausages and the tradition of cooking outdoors.  My mum can’t see the point in setting fire to some charcoal in a bucket and burning a couple of ‘snag’s on the barby‘ . But as the smell drifts across the calm night air, from neighbouring gardens,  we lift our noses to the heavens and sniff. The whiff of sausage, bacon, chops and other munchables is just heaven.

A fellow blogger…

As you know I love to surf the net and find stories from around the globe featuring colleagues.  Given all the searching, you would have thought I would easily have come across a fellow Cocker Spaniel also publishing a blog.  Well the search is over as I have found a blog written by Rags.  He seems to be a bit of a nutter like me and loves to have his picture taken.  A kindred spirit with his own fan club no less.  I think I need a word with mum to see if I can have one.

Looking through his blog it looks like he stayed near here during his holidays so maybe our paths might cross on a walk someday.  Keep in touch and hope the toothbrushing goes ok...

Update.

A couple of postings ago I mentioned about a few services for helping to reunite lost colleagues with their humans.  

Following on from this and after a little bit more webwork we have found another site called PawTrax.  They list lost and found pets but also are soon to offer a GPS tracker system incase we wander off.  Not sure how it will work but we would love to review one when they become available.

They also have a big contacts list for dogwarden services throughout the UK.  If you know of a similar list for your area then let us know and we can link to it.

I have asked my dad to add the RSS feed of the lost and found pets to the bottom of this post.

Well that is all for now, Mum has just shouted tea -time 

So until next time

 

Charlie and Buster

Here is the list of lost or found pets as listed on PawTrax

New PawTrax 2 GPS Pet Tracker - Fri, 27 Jan 2012
Our new dog and cat tracker, The PawTrax 2, will be available mid February 2012. Much slimmer than our previous version and waterpoof to IP67 without an additional case. Also at a breakthrough price of just £125 – no subscription option available. Also has the facility to track ‘Live’ any number of pets from you [...]

Lost – Cat – AL10 - Mon, 23 Jan 2012
Julian left house on saturday 21/1/2012  and still hasnt come back, he goes around when it gets warmer but always come back to eat and sleep at home. contact PawTrax or owner Bookmark It Hide Sites

Lost – Chihuahua – CV35 - Sun, 08 Jan 2012
Tiny went missing from haywoods rowington warwickshire on sunday 8th january 2012. she is a lovely little back and white chihuahua, she just loves to be cuddled, but she will be  very nervous away from her family. £1000 reward – contact PawTrax or owners Bookmark It Hide Sites

Lost – King Charles Spaniel – OX44 - Fri, 09 Dec 2011
Ruby escaped from a garden in the Great Haseley (Oxfordshire) area on Tuesday 29th November 2011. She is very small, copper coloured, had been freshly clipped  hence no collar, but IS MICROCHIPPED. She is submissive and very sweet in nature. Contact PawTrax or owners Bookmark It Hide Sites

Lost – Rottweiller – SG2 - Tue, 15 Nov 2011
Baya has now been found Baya is 18 months old and went missing in the mist wearing collar and lead, chasing deer. Contact PawTrax or owners Bookmark It Hide Sites

Lost – Cat – LS4 - Sun, 13 Nov 2011
Hope is 1 year old and went missing around the Haddon Hall area of Burley. She is quite a petite cat mainly black with ginger. Her face is half ginger and half black. She is a very nervous cat and easily scared so we need to get her home ASAP. Contact PawTrax or owners Bookmark [...]

Lost – Cat – SO50 - Wed, 09 Nov 2011
Jethro is grey and white but marked like the felix cat. Contact PawTrax or owners Bookmark It Hide Sites

Lost – Cat – NE9 - Tue, 08 Nov 2011
Bobby is 2 years old, ginger with white bib and feet. he likes to get in cars. Contact PawTrax or owners   Bookmark It Hide Sites

Lost – Cat – TN10 - Tue, 01 Nov 2011
Percy the tabby went missing on Sunday 30th October 2011 from his garden at approx 8PM. Please contact owner or PawTrax Bookmark It Hide Sites

Lost – Chinese Crested – SA25 - Mon, 31 Oct 2011
Eva is a 2 year old hairless chinese crested. Lost in St Catherine’s Argyll. Very timid girl who will not approach strangers. Please contact owner or PawTrax Bookmark It Hide Sites

My mum says I’m special (has she only just worked that out)? Anyway, it would appear that a Cocker Spaniel has particular abilities.
We went along to see a friend of my mum’s, who knows all about the things that I like to be doing and a whole new world has opened up before me. I am now training to be a gundog.

 

Edward Martin is a specialist Spaniel trainer and he has made some excellent dvd’s.

It is important for me to learn to walk “to heel” with my mum, even without a lead and to sit down as soon as I am asked to.
Once I learned to do this, something very strange happened…I was asked to “sit and stay”, it felt very uncomfortable to see my mum walk even a few paces away, but she came back again and gave me a huge cuddle and told me I was a very good boy. We practised this for a while and now I can make her walk to the other end of the garden and wait for a count of twenty until she comes back for her cuddle.

My mum is being instructed to use a special whistle instead of the verbal commands. My hearing is tuned to hear much higher frequencies than humans so I can hear the whistle really well, even when I am far away and am getting used to the different signals.

The best part of the day is when I get to retrieve the dummy and take it to my mum. For some strange reason she seems very pleased when I pass it to her…simple things!!!

I have met lots of new friends who can do all of these things and my best friend, Drummer is just the best…he let me borrow his special lead and dummy until I got my own.

All of this training makes me very tired but they tell me I am only young and will get used to it in time, so time to go and get some more sleep.

No more boring walks on a lead for me!

 

Bye for now
Charlie