When we look after guest’s dogs at Archavon we make sure they get plenty of exercise, unless the dog’s human tells us that their beast is past the long walks and is happy on its rug these days.
When Louis bounded into our lives we knew that he’d be a customer for the longest walks we could manage, and still have plenty of strength left over.
The Airedale / German Shepherd cross is just 18 months old and so full of energy that our Polly was a touch wary of him at first. She’s a feisty one though and soon decided that the only position to be in was one of control.
Louis’s first walk was one of our St Just favourites, through town and up onto Carn Bosavern from where the views are often stunning and encompass 360 degrees for miles. After sun downer dreams it was down off the Carn and into the hamlet of Bosavern then across to the Tom Thumb rock for some ball throwing in the fields. It’s a good circuit that then takes you up Carallack Lane and back into town, with many opportunities to extend the walk as the will takes you.
Obedient – when the ball is in play.
The young dog’s speed and range is massive, almost frightening, and as he’s not used to livestock we kept him on the lead on Saturday evening after his owner had left us.
On Sunday though we knew where we could let him off and we drove the dogs down to Pendeen Watch and walked down to Boat Cove, then clambered across the rocks to Portheras.
Louis on Portheras.
Louis didn’t tire of leaping into the sea to chase his ball, although the diminutive Polly would beat him on agility and often snatch the ball on land.
The joy of sand!
In the afternoon he had his second beach experience at Porth Nanven, at the end of Cot Valley, and his determined pulling was quite an advantage to me coming back up the hill.
A rest on the way up through Cot Valley.
Who knows how many miles Louis covered in his 24 hours at Archavon, it was certainly a considerable distance. Thankfully he kept his exuberance in check in the house and was happy to lie at our feet most of the time.
