Newbie with a dog...

HI All, My first post in this forum - hope it's in the right place? I'm no stranger to the area, and I've covered a lot of it over the years by mountain bike. This visit we'll be walking. We will be a family of 4 (kids aged 10 & 15) staying near Keswick near Easter, and we've a dog with us. He's well behaved and controlled, but he's a cocker spaniel, and is much happier off lead. We are hoping to get in a couple of nice walks, with a starting point of not too far from Keswick, where there will hopefully be areas we might be able to safely take him off lead. I'm concerned about the time of year (lambing) with the dog. He'd never chase or attack one, he ignores almost all other animals (horses, birds, cattle) but I'd rather not freak out a field of sheep...No scrambling ideally, perhaps a few hours or so would be fine so not too worried about distance. I'd really appreciate any tips/pointers & thoughts. Cheers. Jim.

By beth on 12/03/19 at 1:28pm

My rule of thumb is through a field you put the dog on a lead and keep them close, not let them lunge at sheep. A field with cattle is a little different. On lead and close, but in the event of trouble it's better to release the dog and for the humans to head for the nearest exit. The cattle are after the dog.

Out on the fells generally I like to see dogs off lead but controlled. If you are unsure keep them on a longer retractable lead so you can enforce control if need be.

We have many walks near Keswick: https://www.walklakes.co.uk/walks_keswick.html

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By jimcallaghan on 20/03/19 at 8:08am

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Much appreciated.

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