#dog walking

[octobersociety]

First snowfall of the season. We get very little snow where I am in England and it tends to disappear quick.

[reasonsforhope]

"Inspired by an innovative Chilean forest restoration effort, the English town of Lewes is enlisting the help of dog walkers to rewild a local nature reserve.

Heavily degraded by foot traffic, the project co-opts dogs’ tendency to run about in the woods to spread wildflower seed from saddlebags strapped to a harness around the dog’s abdomen.

The idea mimics the function that wolves once played in that part of England, roaming over vast distances getting grass and flower seeds stuck in their coat, only to fall off and germinate somewhere else.

This helter-skelter seed-spreading is actually how many plants evolved to reproduce, and it’s key to maintaining a biodiverse and native ecosystem.

“We’re really interested in rewilding processes, but they often involve reintroducing big herbivores like bison or wild horses,” said manager Dylan Walker from the Railway Land Wildlife Trust who organized the project back in 2019.

“In a smaller urban nature reserve it’s really hard to do those things. So, to replicate the effect that those animals have on the ecosystem we aimed to utilize the vast number of dog walkers that are visiting the nature reserve daily.”

The saddlebags are filled with a variety of perennial plant seeds mixed together with sand. This allows the seed to be spread for longer across larger distances, while also providing a helpful tracking sign to inform the Trust’s employees where dogs are walking.

THE REWILDING MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND…

Salmon Return to the Heart of UK for First Time in 100 Years After Dam Removal: ‘It’s very rewarding’

‘Give Nature Space and it Will Come Back’: Rewilding Returns Endangered Species to UK Coast

Farmer Combats Flooding by Returning Creeks to Nature: ‘Wildlife That Has Come is Phenomenal’

Finally Rid of Invasive Shrubs, Scientists Use Lichen to Regrow the Celtic Rainforest in Loch Lomond, Scotland

2 Beavers Named Hazel and Chompy Reintroduced to English County–the First Ones to Live Here in 400 Years

“I signed up because it sounded like such a good fit. I was asked to place a harness on my chocolate cocker spaniel called Bertie and he ran around spreading seeds like wolves used to do many years ago,” Cressida Murray, a dog walker who regularly uses the nature reserve, told The Guardian. 

Wolves were persecuted to extinction in England as early as the reign of Henry VII, who reigned during the latter third of the 15th century.

“A community-based project like this not only helps engage and teach people about the ecological impacts of wildlife but also allows us to make our wildlife and environments richer in the process,” said Walker."

-via Good News Network, July 30, 2024

[huariqueje]

Montrose Green - Hiroshi Ariyama , 2009.

Japanese , b. 1957 -

Screen print , 12 x 9 in.

[goddesslana888]

Walking a b*tch in South Beach. 🐕

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Walking the dog in a snowstorm in Washington Square Park, ca. 1950s.

Photo: TimeOut NY

[dk-thrive]

Morning Walk. 40° F. 6:30 am. November 9, 2024. Cove Island Park. Stamford, CT (@dkct25)

[ninjamonkeystudios]

Spoopy Figs

This has been my project for the last few weeks and I've been mum about it because I wanted to wait to post until they found their way to their forever home. These figures were created by request of a local business owner who announced on an artist group I follow that they were looking for Halloween decorations but wanted to support a local independent artist rather than purchasing from a corporation. I jumped on the chance because I've been wanting to do a project like this for a while but either didn't have the time or motivation. So, I submitted a few sketches to the client and they immediately greenlit the project. Every step of this was a delight! I'll post about it in my $3 tier on my KO-FI

Their names are Jack, Jill, Walker, and Bogey (the dog)

[littlechonker]

Bonzo deserves all the treats in the world 🥹🫶

[wanderingflier]

またいつか蜃気楼見にいこう

みなとオアシス魚津

April 2024

[lichtberg]

wanna go for a walk?

IG

[redcarpet-streetstyle]

[huariqueje]

Path of the Swallows - Emma Haworth , 2023.

British, b. 1970s

Oil on canvas , 130 x 120 cm.

[o2studies]

༻`` 🦎 Friday — 2 Aug 24

_, Academic Weapon Challenge Day 1 ˎˊ-

|| Sleep: Had my alarm set for 8, woke up just before that (somehow) but I had a nightmare and awoke somewhat stressed because of it so I let myself sleep in. I should have done it though without extending my alarm every 20 or so minutes until 1 ½ hrs passed..

|| Routine: Nothing yet, I'll plan this out better tomorrow but I'm thinking of having something for the morning like:

don't move alarm — get up immediately

do an exercise

drink a glass of water

read for a bit

|| Deep focus: (I need to do a lot better on this one..) I studied Russian for about 16 mins today (colours)

|| Body: I walked my dog for about 15 mins I belive it was? I need to find a good path to walk or even an area to run around with my dogs on but I've just been so anxious of getting out of the house since moving, nevermind the fact that the path I'm probably gonna find will take me past a few neighbourhoods (there's just something about walking closely past houses, especially ones not in my neighbourhood, that gives me so much anxiety). I also hope I'll be able to go back to doing pushups soon, I haven't been able to for a while because my wrist has been hurting so much..

|| Mind: I read a bit of The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein. I've gotta finish it soon as well as Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn as I've been reading them since the start of July and barely read half of each.

(I'm late, I know, forgive me, goodnight!) // 🍊

Note: I'm really excited for this challenge! I think it'll be great for me and I'm hoping it will get me out of this depressive slump quickly! Also, for my 'mind' section, I'll note down any books I read (fiction, non-fiction or academic) as well as any mind exercises I do, such as sudoku puzzles, word games etc.

[charmingbassets]

When my babies were three weeks old they grow so fast you won't believe how they look currently 😍

[weaselle]

Dog Walking Post 1 of 3

my wonderful mutual @hatchan asked me a question, and agreed that i could answer it publicly, since talking shop about dogs is a big part of my blog vibe

SO the question is, what qualities and skills make the perfect dog walker.

This is a question near and dear to my heart. Let me start by explaining where i am professionally. No, is too much, let me sum up.

For the last 3.5 years i've been working as a dog walker for my boss, for the express purpose of going into business for myself. I started off as her only employee, and helped her grow her business enough to hire two other people. My last day with her is in 6 weeks, at which point i'll be starting my own dog walking business.

The two people we have working for us now were not our first employees. I'll tell you a story about one of our early hires, lets call him Jim.

When we walk we wear a camel bag to water the dogs, and we have a large belay clip (also known as a carabiner) that we use to hook all the leashes to the backpack so our hands are free. Along with a work phone, those are the three pieces of gear issued to our new hires, and Jim routinely showed up missing at least one of these items. On this particular day he showed up without his carabiner.

So we're walking and Jim has 8 dogs on leashes, which he is just, holding. In his hand. But he must not have been holding them very well, because i look down and one of his dogs is wandering around dragging her loose leash behind her on the ground.

We are, at this point in our route, at the corner of a busy intersection (most of the walk was split between a pedestrian/bike path and a quiet neighborhood with wide streets and almost no cars, but we had to cross this intersection to get from one of these areas to the other).

I calmly tell Jim "hey man, you've got a loose dog" he goes "oh" and just... looks at the loose dog. On the sidewalk at a busy intersection. I have to tell him two more times that he really really needs to get that dog, because he's just standing there doing nothing about this dangerous situation, and the loose dog is on the other side of him where i can't get to her. The third time i tell him, i'm trying to impart some urgency to him without getting any of our 16 dogs hyped up and i tell him "right now Jim, you have to get a hold of that dog Right Now."

So Jim goes to collect the loose dog's leash by dropping the leashes to all seven other dogs he was holding.

Now there's 8 loose dogs at a busy intersection. Nightmare. Say i manage to get a hold of two and Jim manages to get a hold of two, and the remaining dogs set off in four different directions, with heavy traffic all around us. Wtf are we gonna do!?

Jim never even tried calling the first dog's name. He just stared dumbly, and then released all his dogs to go after the one leash.

One thing you really need in a dog walker is someone who can think quickly and calmly in a distressing situation, and make good decisions. Not to brag too much, but someone like me.

In this situation, Jim is probably going to get a hold of the one dog he's after, but all 7 of his other dogs are now loose on the sidewalk at this busy intersection ten feet away from me, and i'm tied to 8 large dogs. What would you do?

What i did was immediately walk my pack of dogs into the middle of his pack of dogs, knowing that my pack would occupy their entire attention and keep them grouped around my dogs long enough for me to get their leashes in my hand.

So it all turned out fine, but damn, just drop the leashes to seven dogs right next to 2 busy streets? Who does that?!

Jim was a pleasant guy with good energy, he loved dogs and was good at making friends with them ... but none of that made him a good dog walker.

to be continued in another post