REACTIVE DOG OWNERS BE AWARE
Whilst the actual plot of land is wonderful, with a sniffy path, a woodland area and a grass field unfortunately my dog left stressed out of his mind.
As a reactive dog owner the whole purpose of booking an enclosed field, as advertised 'free from distractions' is the dream and there are not a lot based in London, so was super excited to bring my dog here for the first time.
We arrived at the field car park which has a small house on site, which appeared empty. We arrived 10 minutes before our time and the previous people that had booked were leaving, we stayed in the car and waved to them good bye.
My dog was super excited, car rides are stressful for him so we got out and entered the field earlier than our allocated time, obviously making sure the previous people had left.
Within 15 minutes of being on site, a car pulled up in the car park. The car park is totally visable, with an open fence. A lady got out, stopped and looked and went into the house.
My dog is reactive to humans, dogs, everything that moves. This was obviously a huge trigger and he ran at the fence barking at her. Stress point number one.
Within half an hour of being in the field, there then appeared to be some movement behind some of the fencing. My dog went nuts, running at the fencing and barking loads, totally aroused and stressed. There were 3 - 4 horses in the field literally next to the field we were in, standing by the fencing. Stress point number two.
My dog could not then relax at all and I had to put him back on a lead.
This totally negated the whole purpose of being there, he was on high alert for the duration and on a lead as he kept running at the fence where the horses were.
As we were leaving a dog then was barking from inside the house and had jumped up at the window and was peering out, clearly the owners dog. Stress point number three.
A total waste of time, effort, money and my dog left totally stressed.
I'm so disappointed and as any reactive dog owner understands the work you then have to do to get your dog back to baseline is huge!
What makes it even more disappointing and upsetting and is that when contacting Humphreys Happy Hounds, they did not apologise for any of the 'distractions' (I'm quoting this word as this is what they say on their website, 'free from distractions').
They said that the lady going into the house was the owner of the field, no apology.
In terms of the horses, no response and advised that they do not advertise the field as secluded but as enclosed.
Refused a refund and argued that because we had entered the site 10 minutes early our booking should have been cancelled and that we had stayed later than our booking. Which is untrue we left 15 - 20 minutes before out slot at 3pm at finished and met the next people that had booked at the end of the driveway.
If your dog is reactive to people, animals and everything that moves this is NOT the field or environment for you.
There was also a lot of dog poo in the woodland area.
As you can see by the response below, still no answer in regards to the most important points that the field had huge triggers for any reactive dogs. We did not leave at 2.56, just again very...
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