We were lucky enough to look after little 8-month-old puppy spaniel Ebony and her big brother Finchley recently. This little puppy wriggles all the time, with excitement, exuberance and just the general love of life, and everyone in it and it is a joy to behold.

When out walking everyone stops to stroke little Ebony and then her bigger brother large labrador ever-patient Finchley gets a stoke too. Ebony does, however, try out his patience by stealing his treats, sticks, balls and his large and comfy big dog bed when she can! But Finchley ever the gentleman and a very gentle giant labrador too, rarely shows any displeasure what-so-ever.

We’ve taken them to the forests, fields, seaside and local towns of the New Forest and they’ve been very well behaved, always coming back when called with three blasts of the whistle, two short and one long. Of course, it helps to have a doggy treat to hand when they come back so quickly and willingly!!

In the evenings we’ve relaxed in the lounge and they are happy to sit near you for a tummy tickle and of course, a wriggle, wriggle, wriggle, for little Ebony.

More pictures of Finchley & Ebony

What’s in a bark? What does it mean? If only we knew, some barks humans know instinctively and naturally act on, I’m hungry, I want to play! If we did know all of the barks, we’d have known exactly what Ruby and Lola were trying to tell us during firework week in Lewes, although I think we had a pretty good idea none the less.

An unknown fact to us was that Lewes is the capital of fireworks in the UK, and this became very evident during the week that we looked after these two beautiful dogs. Fireworks would go off in the middle of the afternoon, at all times of night up to 2 am and then again at 6 am!! Who knew people would let fireworks off at these random times?

Both Ruby and Lola are petrified of fireworks which meant we had to sleep on the settee next to them all night to keep them calm. Petsafe says that a series of yelps says: “I’m hurting!” “I’m really scared”, this is in response to severe fear and pain and this was the response of Ruby the spaniel, and Lola the labrador to fireworks. So anyone that says dogs don’t mind fireworks is very very wrong!

But apart from this couple of noisy bang filled evenings, which was not the dogs’ fault, looking after these two wonderful dogs was a pleasure. We went on some lovely walks on the Sussex hills and we also took the dogs to see my elderly Dad which he and they thoroughly enjoyed.

These two dogs are great friends and play beautifully together most of the time, except where balls are involved, as spaniel Ruby thinks they all belong to her! We’d happily look after these two dogs again any time.

We recently had the joy of looking after two german miniature schnauzer terriers in the South of France. These two intelligent dogs are excellent guard dogs letting you know as soon as there is someone anywhere near the house! They like to sit and look out down the driveway to ensure that no one comes into the grounds at all. They don’t bark unless someone is there so that’s a great way of knowing if someone is in the grounds around the house.

Philippe is quite a strong-willed little dog and likes to let you know that he’d like his walk at exactly four-thirty, he will bark at this time to ensure you know it’s now walk time! And he then likes to have his supper directly after his walk followed by rough and tumble play with Gertie. Then time for a cuddle with the humans in front of the TV, and a scratch around the ears and under the chin off course.

Gentle little Gertie can be quite timid and one needs to ensure that she gets to eat her food and Philippe doesn’t steal it! Both dogs love their walks, so after discovering that their leads were nowhere to be found we made two walking ropes from our car tow ropes! The dogs didn’t seem to mind in the slightest and were tired out afterwards, probably due to the extra weight of the tow ropes and the lovely long walks through the beautiful vines and countryside surrounding the house. Although it’s a quiet area there are still cars around so we needed to walk them on leads or ropes in this case!

We thoroughly enjoyed looking after these two beautiful, gentle little dogs in their wonderful home near Draguignan in Provence for the long weekend, our only complaint is that it was too short! We would happily look after them again at any time.

Well, these two little whirlwind dogs keep you on your toes and fit and healthy too. Running up and down hills is their favourite past-time and the newer the place and steeper the hills the better it is! Undaunted by steep slopes, Bella at 10 years old is fit, healthy and stoic, nothing much bothers this little dog, she loves to smile when you tickle her tummy and is affectionate, companionable to other dogs as well as humans and is a fabulous all-round dog we have become very fond of. Daisy, Bella’s pup is a different nature, she is energetic and loves to run everywhere but always keeps her mum insight. She loves a good stroke when you’re watching the TV at night and will sit for hours without moving for this delight. She has eyes one could melt in the colour of dark and dreamy chocolate. With soft silky fur, she picks up burrs everywhere so a nightly de-burring is always in order! They both love dirty, smelly, green water! The dirtier and smellier the better! So a bath is often in order too. Both are fed on a raw meat diet and have around two hours walk a day which seems to keep them healthy, happy, energetic and a joy to behold.