One of the greatest joys we have is watching our dog do what dogs do – use their nose to find out who and what have been in the area, track down a particular scent or find something hidden. We share two of our favourite walks at Corrog Wood and Nugent’s Wood on the Ards Peninsula
Improvements at our local dog walking spot
Recently I went down towards Portaferry and stopped off in Corrog Wood for a short walk. I hadn’t been for a while, because the paths used to be quite muddy and got slippery after rain, but I thought it would be fine after it being so dry recently.
To my surprise I found there was a lot of work going on. The paths had been widened and covered in stone and two new paths had been put in to provide short circuits around bits of the wood you couldn’t really access before. It used to take only about 10 minutes to walk round – we usually did both directions mixed with a lot of scent/search work to make it a good walk. But with the new paths it took nearly double that time. There is still work going on, but it was very quiet and Gus and I had the place to ourselves.
I enjoy woodland walks. There aren’t that many woods around – did you know Ireland has fewest trees of any country in Europe? So, I try to make use of the few we’ve got locally, especially while we aren’t really allowed to go further afield. The longer walk through Nugent’s Wood in Portaferry is lovely as well – and the paths there have been ungraded recently, too.
Going for a walk with your dog is one of the great joys in life, though I admit it’s not quite so nice when it’s cold and raining.
Enjoy watching your dog using their nose
One of the greatest joys I have is watching Gus do what dogs do – use his nose to find out who and what have been in the area, track down a particular scent or find something I’ve hidden for him to find.
Our Nose Nerds programme has proven to be very popular. You can find out all about it here where there are some free sample games you can try. But Nose Nerds isn’t just about games you can play with your dogs. It’s for humans sleuths too.
Become a Nose Nerd doggy sleuth
Each week there is a new game and a new set of clues to help you solve the mysteries we present, then each month we have a live chat about all things doggy to do with scent and try to work out what the clues all mean. You’d be welcome to join in – and your dog will thank you.
Keep training and stay safe,
Carol
PS I’d love to put together a series of blogs about great local dog walks, so if you’ve got any favourite walks in the Ards and North Down area, please get in touch!