A Magical Hike in Coniston

If you have ever been to the Lake District, you know that you can never rely on the weather – it can be very different at the bottom of the fell to the top!

I recently stayed in Coniston with my good friends Rachel & Patch (Rachel helps pet businesses get their own PR so if you are a pet brand, check her out!! Patch is chief supervising officer). We hiked up Holmes Fell on a unseasonably warm day – the chance of rain being small (which means it’ll likely still happen at some point!). Holmes Fell is a lovely but steep little hike, and not as touristy as some of the other fells so we didn’t see very many people at all!

Magic in Nature

Now I’m not afraid to admit, I still have a childlike curiosity about nature, from mushroom spotting to insect hunting – so when we were greeted by the most incredible rainbow display, I was beside myself! They were closer than I had ever seen them, and we saw the full arc, although because I had lugged my camera with my 70-200 lens on, I couldn’t get the full arc in most of the shots, but my Samsung phone picked up some great ones.

The Love of Nature

I know the science behind how rainbows happen, to me, that doesn’t make it any less magical – seeing this amazing display of colours in the sky, especially with the backdrop of the fells, was a pretty special moment.

I think that’s why I’m drawn to nature when I come to photographing dogs. Both of them are a constant surprise and bring me so much joy!

The only real purpose of this blog post was to showcase this magical moment, so I hope you have enjoyed it!! I have a feeling that a lot of you feel the same about being outdoors that I do. 

And if you ever fancy a hiking photoshoot with your dogs in the Lake District, you know where I am.

Kerry x

Taken on a Samsung phone

Lake District & Cumbria Dog Photographer

Yesterday we went on our first beach walk since lockdown, and on the way out of the car park, on the road leading out of the beach, I noticed a little dog close to the edge of the pavement coming out of a side road – it took a few seconds to see the owner as he was several meters behind and the dog was on a retractable lead.

Why I don’t think you should own a retractable lead.

I have pretty strong feelings about retractable leads – I don’t think any dog owner should have one, and here’s why:

When we first adopted Boo, her recall was non existent so I thought a retractable lead would be a good idea so she could roam around a little. I was on a walk with a friend when Boo took off and because she was able to build up speed because of the length of the lead, the handle snapped out of my hand and went with her. Thankfully, a few seconds later she was stopped by the fact that the handle got caught round a fallen tree branch. What terrifies me though is if that would have happened further out into the woods where I wouldn’t have been able to see her – she would have been stuck and unable to get back to me.

Dented pride.

Did I learn my lesson? Oh no! When Shadow had an small injury and needed to be walked on lead, I decided to dig out the retractable lead again. The same thing happened as I bent down to pick up poop, Shadow spotted a dog he wanted to say hello to and because my attention was on cleaning up after him, he got to the end of the lead before I knew it, and because he built up speed, pulled me right off my feet, knocking the wind out of me and denting my knees and my pride.

Suffice to say, we now have long bungy leads (by Ruffwear) if one of the dogs ever needs to be on lead as it gives a little spring rather than a hard stop, and when we were training Boo, we used a long training line instead.

As well as my personal experience – I have had to swerve from dogs running into the middle of the road when the owners couldn’t stop the lead quick enough, seen people get tangled off and pulled over and a multitude of other accidents. I’ve also heard horrific things about burns on hands when the ‘brake’ fails on the handle, not to mention that if the dog is on a collar rather than a harness and they are able to build up speed only to be stopped suddenly as it reaches the end of the line. 

What do you think?

What are your thoughts on this? Have you only had positive experiences with retractable leads? Or have you had a similar experience to me? Do you have other options you are think are better?

Kerry x

Professional dog photographer covering Surrey, Sussex & Hampshire.
kerry@furandfables.com

For a couple of years I have been desperate to do a solo trip to the Lake District where there are wide expanses of fells and mountains, and just walk, take photographs for myself, spend some quality time with one or two of the dogs, and generally get some headspace. Then last year for my 40th birthday, a group of close friends pitched in to basically buy me the trip that I so wanted.

And so, in mid January, I set off with two of my most reliable hounds, Scout & Bertie, and we made the five hour trip to our remote cottage near Matterdale End in Ullswater. We were about 15 minutes from Pooley Bridge and Keswick, the location was perfect!

I chose to visit in January for the simple fact that I usually get bookings from February to December and with hindsight I honestly couldn’t think of a more perfect time to go. Yes there were the occasional downpours, but on those crisp clear days, we walked for miles without getting too hot or dehydrated and we often had fells and mountains to ourselves for the entire walk.

Dog Friendly Lake District

I was overawed with how dog friendly everywhere was, from cafe’s to restaurants, even a grocery store!

Here are a few dog friendly places I visited:

Granny Dowbekins Cafe in Pooley Bridge

Lovely homemade food (I had a fab quiche) and they do doggy bags with leftover sausages and other tasty titbits! | www.grannydowbekins.co.uk

Chestnut House Store in Pooley Bridge

I went in for a pint of milk and came out with lots of gin! They have a dizzying array of gins, and have the knowledge to help you find your perfect one. The owners also have pointy nosed hounds so it must be a good place right? | www.chestnuthouseonline.co.uk

Lingholm Kitchen

If you visit Catbells Mountain, going here is a must, it’s less than 5 minutes away! Lovely cafe and gift shop, great food and super dog friendly. | www.thelingholmestate.co.uk

Podgy Paws in Keswick

Brilliant pet shop where I was able to stock up on raw food, and a huge selection of natural dog treats and chews, some I hadn’t seen before! | www.podgypaws.co.uk

Where we walked

I’m a keen walker, and living in the South Downs means that I’m no stranger to hilly walks, obviously the Lake walks a tad more than hills though!

Catbells: one of the smaller mountains in the Lake District – there are some fairly steep sections and also a bit scrambling over boulders to be done. Scout was confident with all of this, Bertie however, not so much! He managed some of the climbing with treat bribes, I wish I had put them in their ruffwear six point harnesses though as the handle would have made it much easier to help him along. It’s well worth the try, the scenery is incredible once you get up there.

Pooley Bridge: One of the days we walked round a section of the lake at Pooley Bridge, a nice flat walk with stunning views of the surrounding mountains. After that we drove in the direction of Howtown down a narrow winding road and parked in one of the many lay-bys and just chose a route!

Kirkstone Pass: Stunning long winding road on the way to Windermere – encountered a few sheep here.

Seatoller to Dale Head

There’s a car park at Seatoller and you can either take the footpath or the small winding road up to Dale Head (or park closer – there are a lot of layby’s in the Lakes. This route took me about 3 and a half hours.

Things to take:

• A USB rechargable head torch – much better than having to worry about batteries running out.
• View Ranger app for directions. I’m not great at reading maps, this app still tracked my progress even when I had no phone signal so I was able to figure out if I was going in the right direction.

• Harnesses with handles to get the dogs over styles and boulders, I swear by Ruffwear
• Good walking boots – my Berghaus were great for fell walking, I could have probably done with something with a bit more grip for some of the more vertical climbs.

• A dog travel bed – I took my PAW dogs travel bed which doubles up as a bag, I kept it in the car, great for going from walks to cafes.

Interactive toys for the hounds – The K9 connectables were brilliant for settling the dogs in a cafe and as an actual toy to play with.

• A bobble hat! Seriously, it’s like a uniform in the Lakes! I got a gorgeous one from Herdy in Keswick (a Lake District brand).

• A packable, waterproof raincoat, the weather can close in very quickly! Don’t skimp on this one, showerproof coats just wont cut it.
• Lots of layers for the dogs, not only is it cold, there can be a very brisk wind. I took Redhound fleeces and quilted & wax jackets which also kept them dry as well as a Hurtta onesie (from Devil Dood Designs) for Bertie as he seems to get filthy even when Scout stays immaculately clean!

Where I stayed

Swallowdale cottage in Dockray. A converted barn with everything you could possibly need. The best thing is, you literally go out of the door and onto beautiful walking routes; I was able to walk to Aira Force waterfall in under an hour. Oh, and there’s a great pub half a mile away at the bottom of the village. Below is the view from the bedroom window.

Swallowdale Cottage via Sykes Cottages

The best harness fit for Whippets

Updated January 2025

As a commercial pet photographer, I have photographed 100s of dogs, I get asked quite a lot about these harnesses so I thought it may be useful for anyone who was thinking about one for their hounds, my experience is with Whippets but you can take a lot away from this article for most dogs.

Why I choose Ruffwear

There were two reasons I was looking at harnesses; my old boy Jasper was quite sensitive around his head when he had his inner ear removed, I felt a harness would be much gentler for him, and then there was Shadow.

When I first adopted Shadow, I realised that we would need a harness for some of our walks, basically wherever there was going to be any excitement, if he saw anything even remotely fun then he would leap four foot in the air and dance around like a maniac. Not great when the only thing he is tethered to is a collar round his neck.

It’s notoriously difficult find harnesses for sighthounds, most fits seem to be too loose because of their deep but skinny chests. I was pleasantly surprised by the RuffWear Front Range Harness, because of the amount of adjusting we could do at several points, it fitted perfectly. I also loved the fact that rather than being strips of thinner material like a lot of harnesses, this has wider, more padded sections and the front almost feels like a chest piece.

The front range harnesses are great for general walking, however Shadow learned how to back out of it. So I checked out the six point Webmaster – problem solved! Again this is super adjustable, it fits him really well and with the added benefit of the harness coming further towards where the waist tucks in, it’s Shadow proof. I went for the addition of the stomach protector as he had previously had trouble with an awful rash after going through long grass. Hey presto, I have the perfect harness!

I used the front range harnesses for all the other hounds with great success. I had the small size for all five hounds, that shows how adjustable they are as they are very different in height & weight! I can also pop them over  Redhound for Dogs fleeces, although they now have lots of great whippet coats and jumpers with harness holes.

I got asked quite a lot of questions about the fit, so I have popped a little video up here: Ruffwear Harness Fit

When do I use them?

We use them quite a lot, like if we are going somewhere super busy like DogFest or now I live in the Lake District, I really need that useful handle to help my dogs over stiles and do a bit of scrambling. Anywhere there is too much going on for us to be trying to direct the hounds from collars, somewhere like a dog event isn’t easy on their necks as they are constantly trying to hoover up dropped food or follow exciting smells.

Update January 2025:

This blog was initially written in 2017. I am still using Ruffwear and now I have moved to the Lake District, they are much more frequently used, alongside the Roamer Bungee lead they are indispensable! I’ve changed Bertie over to the Flagline Dog Harness with Handle as for some reason he didn’t like wearing the Webmaster, not an issue I have had with the other dogs, but he’s very happy with the Flagline!

If you have any questions about my experience with these harnesses, please don’t hesitate to ask, and I’d love to hear if you have them for your hounds too!

With thanks to additional models Buzz, Ozzy & Ollie who are also RuffWear wearers 🙂

Kerry x