School Trip to (not quite) Bibury...

June 4, 2019 Alice Pyper

Thor, Fergus, Ted and Alice all packed their bags and travelled to the charming village of Bibury in the heart of the Cotswolds. Arriving in the car Alice soon realised that it was a hub for tourists! After getting the dogs out of the car and being swarmed by people wanting to either take photos or pet the dogs she decided to swiftly move on. Luckily due to the vast amount of land around Bibury there was a lovely public footpath among the fields. The surrounding area was beautiful with rolling hills where they could properly explore and run free. Fergus and Ted galloped in the long grass whilst Thor who is a little smaller jumped like a baby gazelle!

It was a very hot day, so we were all grateful to find a shady spot in the woodland to rest and munch on some grass (not Alice). On the way back Ted found a water trough which he was very proud of and it was a classic school photo with Thor insisting on not sitting still long enough! We already can’t wait for the next excursion!

Cheese Wharf Revisited: March School Trip

March 25, 2019 Alice Pyper

For our March excursion we returned to one of our favourite places, Cheese Wharf near Lechlade! Last time we went it was super sunny and hot, and the fields were filled with buttercups. This time the skies were grey, but our spirits were bright anyway! Chester, Fergus, Nelly and Thor joined us for the afternoon, and we made sure to visit the magical footbridge which all the dogs love to run up and down.

They were all very excited to follow the river which meanders through the fields. Chester dipped in and out of the river at every opportunity, while Thor followed closely behind him but stayed well out of the water! Nelly rolled in about 6 different fox poops and seemed very pleased about it. Fergus bounded around happily playing with everyone! Nelly, Chester and Fergus had a little tiff about who would get a particularly nice stick.

We had a few attempts to get a group photo at the wharf, as Thor was very wriggly and wanted to play rather than sit and pose for a picture! We did however get a nice shot of all their behinds as they all investigated a stretch of river bank!

Happy Christmas Common (School Trip #10)

December 20, 2018 Alice Pyper

A merry time was had by all at Christmas Common this week on the December school trip! Barley, Fergus, Bob, Jambo, Jack, and Thor had great fun exploring a wooded hillside, searching for elves and festive treats. Starting from the Watlington Hill National Trust Car Park, we followed the well marked paths through ash and beech trees and found some beautiful open grassland and views of the Oxfordshire Plain.

The origin of the Chiltern Hamlet’s name is a little uncertain, it might be linked to a Christmas Day truce during the English Civil War, local holly tree coppices or the local Christmas family. No time for the dogs to ponder this though, there were too many rabbit holes to sniff and trees to run around.

Bob and Jambo are serial rabbit hole divers, so were kept on the lead with Thor staying keeping them company, watching Barley and Fergus chasing each other up and down the slopes. We had a very lovely walk, but also the least successful group photo to date… Convincing six dogs to sit still with so many exciting things to smell and wee on is very tricky!!

Aston Rowant (School Trip #6)

August 25, 2018 Alice Pyper

For August's afternoon outing we made our way to Aston Rowant Nature Reserve with the same crew as last month (Ted Gus and Thor), plus Lola! The reserve is located just on the edge of the Chilterns, and has really beautiful grasslands and views, despite it's proximity to the M40. We had fun spotting all the red kites, along with chalk hill blue butterflies and green woodpeckers, as well as walking the sculpture trail which had some hilariously bizarre wind-up listening posts.

Obviously the dogs didn't care about the views, wildlife or M40, they were simply happy to run around a new place! They had lots of fun together, Ted and Lola bounding around like little lions and Gus and Thor playing nicely. There was also a tremendous number of blackberries of which Lola, being no stranger to wild foraging, snaffled an impressive number!

Puppy Therapy with St. Peter's College

June 3, 2018 Alice Pyper

As part of our quest to share the goodness of dogs, last week we took four of our pack to visit some of the undergraduate students at St Peter's College for some puppy therapy, with the welfare team and Alice's sister Sarah, who works at the college. A shocking 78% of students report suffering from poor mental health during their studies. Universities are not all fun and drinking: they are environments in which mental illness often goes undetected.

In our opinion, cuddling lots of cute dogs is just what is needed during the stressful exam periods! We chose some of our most adorable and people loving dogs, Fergus, Fudge, Jax, Wilbur and Thor, who all seemed overjoyed to explore the inside of the college and to be petted so much! Jax and Thor sat on everyone's laps, Wilbur bounded around happily, and Fergus' hair was the envy of everyone. Fudge excelled herself, winning over all the students and taking them for walks around the quad in search of food.

It's well known that stroking an animal helps reduce anxiety, but simply getting the students outside and focusing on something different for a couple of hours seemed to do a lot to improve their moods! Many of them also said it helped to remind them of home and their very much missed family dogs. More Woof + Whistle outreach coming soon!

Cheese Wharf

May 24, 2018 Alice Pyper

What a wonderfully fantastic day we had this week at Cheese Wharf! The sun was shining, the flowers were in bloom and Fergus, Jax, Thor and Wilbur were absolutely raring to go. We found the location for this month's excursion on a wild swim website and it looked like the perfect place for our doggies to have a play in the river. Located in Lechlade, in the nineteenth century it was a bustling wharf where cheeses were loaded onto barges and taken down the Thames to London. Today there is a tiny spot for human swimmers, and the other side of the bank is nice walk along the meandering river, past the old concrete wharf and to another river lock. Alice enjoyed frolicking in the buttercup filled meadow with her friends, and the dogs had an inordinate amount of fun running up and down a small bridge.

With only a small amount of coaxing (no treats needed!) we managed to arrange the dogs for the class photo, although Wilbur was chewing very intently on a bit of grass that he deemed more important than smiling for the camera. There were lots of spots along the river that Fergus and Wilbur went swimming in, although Thor and Jax weren't feeling it and just stopped for a drink. The whole walk was beautiful and we will definitely be going back to take a swim ourselves!

Birthday Pawty

May 21, 2018 Alice Pyper

We had an absolutely lovely Sunday afternoon celebrating Woof + Whistle's (and Fudge's) 2nd Birthday! We couldn't have asked for more gorgeous weather or more eager dog guests. After a stroll around the dandelion filled fields, and quick play in the river and only minimal chasing of deer, we all shared some dog-friendly and human-friendly cake.

A huge thank you to everyone, and everydog, who came along to pawty with us!

Windrushed in Swinbrook

April 22, 2018 Alice Pyper

For this month's dog adventure we travelled out to Swinbrook, a little village to the West of Oxford with some beautiful houses, a huge valley, and the river Windrush. This time we had Jax, Pepe, Ted and Wilbur along for the ride! Although this week we had been promised sunshine, we were blessed with wind and grey clouds! We both marvelled at how accurately the river was named, as the wind was rushing through the valley past us... However upon further investigation it’s actually because the river winds through rushes for most of its course.

After snooping around some of the gorgeous stone houses, complete with tennis courts, and swimming pools, we set off for our circular walk through the valley and along the river. As you can see, the pooches and Alice were all jumping to get going! The doggos really loved having such a big open space where they could run around in circles together, as well as the river to have a paddle in! We managed to get them to stop playing just long enough to pose for a photo in front of St Oswald's Church. Jax used the blustery weather to achieve the perfect windswept look for his close up.

Swinbrook was another great excursion with the Woof + Whistle pack! Keep an eye on your inbox for Tail Mail (our monthly newsletter), with details of May's adventure date and location, or to subscribe just enter your email at the bottom of the page.

Wags from Woof + Whistle!

Uffington Snow Covered Horse

March 21, 2018 Alice Pyper

Yesterday, very excitingly, we went on our first monthly dog adventure! For this excursion we drove to the White Horse at Uffington, a stylised prehistoric figure formed of trenches filled in with chalk. We were blessed with a beautifully sunny day and a car full of five lovely (and extremely keen) dogs. The countryside leading up to White Horse Hill was gorgeous, and as we drew closer we were sure the horse would be visible any moment, actually should be right here…? True to Woof + Whistle form we , and of course the patches of snow still dotted around were covering the ancient monument!

Obviously our band of blonde dogs did not care or notice the lack of a horse one bit, and were simply overjoyed to be running around exploring new turf. They also seemed very taken with something which Oxford lacks; the hills! As we trudged up and slid down the hill fort, the doggys ran literal rings around us, with Pepe on the lead sometimes helping to pull us up, but more often nearly pulling us over. Our reward upon reaching the top was to be immediately battered by the wind, as well as a gorgeous view across the countryside.

Most importantly, everyone clearly had a fun time, so we're calling the first Woof + Whistle dog excursion a total triumph! Keep an eye on your inbox for Tail Mail (our monthly newsletter), with details of April's adventure location, or enter your email below to subscribe.

Wags from Woof + Whistle!

Testing Tractive

March 9, 2018 Alice Pyper

In the wake of the Beast from the East, we have had the absolute pleasure of a few warmer spring days this week. Perfect for a test run of the new Tractive GPS tracker. We chose Chester as our test doggy this time, mainly because he does love to pose for a photograph.

The tracker itself is relatively small, only weighing 35 grams, and clips onto a collar (for speed we attached it to a second collar, then popped it onto Chester at the beginning of the walk). It survived the usual hurtling across fields and rolling on grass that our dogs enjoy, and emerged from a swift dip in stream completely unscathed. Chester seemed completely oblivious to it, which was a plus! He had a beautifully sunny (but windy) walk, with lots of bounding about and some rough and tumble with Bear, Monty, Poppy, and Paddy.

Probably the most testing part of the experience was us attempting to use the phone App. The live tracking actually worked remarkably well, it was quick to find itself and did appear to update every few seconds as claimed. We even managed to get a little pink squiggly line showing Chester running around in circles. The GPS seems to have good resolution, enough to track a detailed route even within a small area. However it didn’t keep drawing the route after about 10 mins of the walk, and only the live tracking (the blue paw-print marker) kept going for the hour. I think this was 100% down to user error though…

All of our dogs actually have really great recall and don’t tend go out of sight. However we can never be sure that one won’t get stuck somewhere, or run off chasing after a deer. The live location information will put our minds at ease, making us prepared should the unthinkable happen! Next time we will track the whole walk, so keep an eye on the blog for updates!

P.S Always remember to switch your tracking device off after a walk to avoid mapping yourself!!