We all know that dogs need time off the lead to play and be dogs rather than pets. Playing off the lead is good for their health, and allows them to burn off plenty of energy. But when can you be confident that your new dog will stay where you are and not run off?

The way we decided to do this with Lula was to introduce her to other dogs who want to play, and let her off the lead gradually.  First we let her meet the other dogs on an extending lead, then we left a normal light lead attached so that we could catch the lead if she decided to run away! After a few more days, with our hearts in our mouths, we took the big step of leaving her to run free with the others.  She is such a playful dog, she initiates games of chase with any dogs who will join in, and she usually leads her pack.  This photo is not the best – it shows her challenging two Labradors to a game – she’s not actually sitting. Lula will play happily with dogs of all sizes and enoys the rough and tumble, barking loudly to keep the other dogs involved.

At this time I make sure to keep plenty of really tasty treats in my pocket and reward her every time she comes back to me.  Of course the other dogs worked out that luxury treats were on offer, and tried to raid my pocket for them – and they were much bigger than Lula.

We have just returned from a holiday in Turkey and although we had a great time, I was very sad to see a number of stray dogs in the streets and on the beach at our resort.  Some of these dogs looked very ill, with badly healed old fractures and no sign of any animal rescue service to help them. In fact, one of the dogs was walking around close to the only vet’s surgery in the area: the staff could see hime clearly from their office furniture.  Fortunately Turkish meals are very generous, as I fed most of my meat to the dogs in the evenings and early mornings.  It is a tough call when you witness a situation like this. I certainly don’t go with the idea of taking one of the dogs back to my home counrty with me – the cost of the journey would keep six dogs alive for years!

After I met new friends in the village of Babbacombe, we decided to find the beach. According to our map, the west beach at Babbacombe allows dogs. The village is on a cliff, and the beach is below but there is a road down to the doggie beach, the car park is very small though. We were lucky and we found a car park space. The beach is lovely red sand and we played there for about an hour, we also walked along the cliff to the section of the beach at the bottom of the Cliff Railway that is NOT dog friendly. When I got back to the doggie section I decided this was the nicest part of the beach anyway, and I rolled in the sand. You can see me in the picture, then I shook the sand all over Mum. She laughed, that shows she was in Holiday mood ….

When I arrived in Devon my first stop was a Cider Farm, where Mum and Dad wanted to try the English Wine and Cider. They were not very impressed with Jack Ratt Cider but they loved the Lyme Bay Ginger Wine, so Mum bought a bottle for my Nan. Then we continued to our first hotel, the very Dog Friendly Hillcroft Hotel in Torquay. The owners are called Stuart and Karen, and they are very kind to dogs who come to stay at the hotel. They found us a suite with polished wooden floors so there was no carpet to pick up annoying bits of dog hair. This is a picture of our living room, where I ate my meals. There was plenty of room for my dog bed in the main bedroom and – this is really cool – the big wooden bed was so high that I could run underneath instead of walking round the bed. This really confused Mum and Dad, it was the closest I get to playing. Stuart said he quite liked hearing me bark in the mornings when I was ready to go for a walk, and they told us about all the best dog beaches in the area too. There are also two good pubs for dogs in Torquay, and we visited both of course – they are the Hole in the Wall and the Devon Arms.

We spent a great time exploring South Devon. I had a really lovely time in Totnes. All the shops were dog friendly and lots of shops had dog bowls outside, so I drank my fill from all of them because it was a sunny day. Then we found Chudleigh Bangers in Totnes market, Mum and Dad tried the Dartmoor Jack cheese, as well as some curry sauces which they pronounced ‘excellent’ but I was more interested in the Chudleigh sausages, which tasted fab. How do I know? The nice lady gave Mum half a sausage for me that had ‘fallen on the floor’, but she still made me sit for it. Then Dad begged to taste the Chudleigh Bangers and he said they were ‘amazing’.

Today I went to visit my Nan and we went to Littlehampton Beach. There is a smart new trendy cafe that has opened on the East beach and everyone is takling about the design – see what you think. Mum and I had our photo taken outside the cafe, but when we wanted tea we actually went to the Putting Green Cafe – they welcome dogs inside and outside. We sat inside because the sun was quite strong, and Mum said how nice it is to relax inside a cafe with your dog. I was not the only dog – there was a grey Miniature Schnauzer having tea with his family as well. Top marks to this dog friendly cafe.