Warm and Drying Dog Beds

Having worked my pointers for a number of days in August during the start of the grouse season, I got invited to stay in the oldest lodge in Scotland for a treat last week. The deer stalking has started and I was treated to that. By now, my dogs have worked around 18 days on grouse and the grouse season is basically finished. The dogs LOVE the hunting and will now reluctantly spend more time on their warm kennel dog beds. But they would rather be out working, getting tired and wet.

I know how tired dogs get. My pointers work all day at an incredible pace. This year the grouse has been scarce and the dogs work so much harder in those conditions because they hardly get a break. If there are more birds, the dogs find them more frequently and they get a rest after a shot and a retrieve because the guns admire the quarry and take time after a successful shot. With less game around, the dogs never stop, they keep on searching. When we finish a day on the hill, my dogs are exhausted and they are very happy to go in on their bespoke dog beds in the back of my vehicle, being rocked to sleep on the way home. The beds in the back of my 4×4 truck are of the waterproof dog bed kind with a soft, thick fleece cover over them. The attention to dogs’ welfare and the years of working dogs on the hill are hopefully good reasons why we make great dog beds that work properly.

My stalking day had a wonderful inter-species moment to it. We were four people, a ‘keeper and a pony-boy on the hill. When the first guy was going forward to find the beast with the ‘keeper, we all had to hold back and get a good chance to get a rest. We basically sat in a peat hag, freezing cold, waiting. The pony was just standing there, used to the wait, but it seemed interested in the dog. I took some lovely pictures that almost captures the funny moment as the pony nibbled the dog and the dog seeming quite content with the situation.

Pony and dog contact.

Pony and dog contact.

Pony and dog contact.

The dog didn’t get a chance to bury itself in to grass to make itself a dog bed, as you often see the dogs do. It was too busy talking to the pony and there was not much else but muddy peat anyway. Everything was a bit wet all day.

I gave the ‘keeper a dog bed, which he said the dog absolutely adored once it was back home in the kitchen.