Border Terrier Mini Tweet Up

There are not many things that 'Her Indoors' can trust about me, although I think that's partly down to her suspicious nature, but one thing we are both agreed on is that I am good with juniors.  After all, I was acquired as a family pet, and one of the key roles is to play with the youngsters.  Provided juniors have been taught how to behave around dogs, they are the best fun.  They like the kind of things that we like, they sneak you food and they teach you pointless tricks like 'high fives' which I learnt a lot quicker than that boring stuff:  'Sit', 'Stay' 'Lie-down' - what's that all about?  Anyway, 'Her Indoors' concluded that I was pretty 'bomb proof' as far as children are concerned, when she caught a visiting toddler trying to inset a piece of grass up my bottom!  I knew this wasn't quite regular so I trotted out of arms reach just a few steps ahead of the offending junior, with the child toddling after me at a surprising rate of knots until 'Her Indoors' rescued me.  This toddler also gave me one of my alternative names 'dog-dog'.  There's actually only one of me although I can understand why he thought otherwise.  Don't worry Adam, I won't tell them who you are!

Anyway, when I watched BBC Countryfile and heard they were advocating rambles in aid of Children in Need, I decided at first, to enter 'Her Indoors' as she can talk a lot.  But then I realised I'd got the wrong end of the stick, and decided instead to organise a mini BT Posse Tweet-Up.  The idea is pals, that you either get your peeps to make a donation, or you get sponsers and then come along on the day.  'Her Indoors' has set up a 'Just Giving' page (click on this word - LINK) to make things easy, so let's see what we can do.  If you can't come along or you haven't got a BT but enjoy reading my blog (I know you're out there, probably in therapy...) then please donate anyway.  My juniors are all grown up but I'd like to help others who are less fortunate, after all, I'm a generous kind of dog.

For those BT Posse pals who are planning to come, the details are as follows:

Date:  Sunday 18th October 2015
Location: Ashdown Forest, East Sussex.  Head to Wych Cross traffic lights and take the Coleman's Hatch Road past the Garden Centre and towards the Ashdown Park Hotel.
Time: 11.00 or 11.30am - see below

The Cunning Plan!
If you are a young thing with plenty of energy, then head for the Ashdown Forest Visitors Centre, just past the Ashdown Park Hotel and meet others, of a similar disposition, at 11.00am.  Set off along the main path with the Visitors Centre directly behind you, down the hill being sure to read the pee-mail, sniff the butts of any dogs you meet, and chew anything you find, edible or not.  There are two further car parks on your right hand side, one at the bottom of the hill (ignore this one!) and one just beyond the wooded area, the Townsends car park.  It'll take you roughly half an hour, depending on how quickly you move your paws, to reach this point, and here you can meet with the second contingent.

For seniors, including me, go past the Visitors Centre and the Lintons car park, arriving at the Townsends car park at 11.30am.  Bark loudly to attract the attention of the first wave, greet them enthusiastically in a freindly fashion, then get distracted by squirrels, horses and other assorted forest wildlife.  Join together in a combined BT squirrel hunt..!

We will amble along at a pace suitable for all, for about thirty minutes, to the Hatch Pub at Coleman's Hatch.  This is only a small pub, but they do allow dogs provided there's not too many of us and they've got room.  There are benches and a garden so we can sit outside if the weather is good.  We'll drink beer, eat tasty pub snacks, and allow our peeps to gossip about our little ways.  Then we'll do the whole thing in reverse with treats to keep our strength up, arriving back at our cars in the sure knowledge that we have been 'good dogs'. I'm not sure if we'll catch a sighting of the lesser spotted 'Him Indoors', but you never know..

Make sure your folk wear waterproof footwear as it can get a bit muddy.  If the weather is extremely poor, we'll still raise the money but we'll stay at home in our nice warm baskets and do the walk another time!  'Her Indoors' will co-ordinate operations with her mobile phone 07784538965, although I have to warn you, she never seems to notice it ringing...

'Her Indoors' has made me a Children in Need bandana, and as she had some left-over fabric, she made some extras.  If you want one, message me your address and I'll send you one in return for a donation to my Just Giving page.

It's going to be great Pals, so let's see how much money we can raise for a good cause.