A London Dog ( a special blog for DogVacay)

Someone in America asked me about living in London and what I like most about it. Where do I begin about this very big city?

Well, first of all, being a lively and highly opinionated pooch, it’s a little confining to live in a flat in a big city. But the city is big and Mummy and I were determined to conquer all the different aspects of it. And because Mummy has “separation anxieties”, I benefit greatly! And so my adventures began.

Walking along busy streets in London, amongst hurried feet, strollers, scooters and loud noises (sirens, road works, cars and loud motorbikes) there are also lots of interesting and distracting smells. When I was a puppy every piece of moving object was of interest and it was difficult to focus on just walking. Over time, I became oblivious to the loud noises and accept them as part of my city. And now that I am older, I am less distracted and sometimes on the quieter streets, I even go for walks off the lead.

Then there’s p-mail. Every morning, afternoon or evening, I read my p-mail -nothing like keeping up with news from the neighbourhood.

To get around the city, whenever we can, we take public transportation – the bus, the tube, taxis.

London taxis are great – I usually sit on Mummy’s lap to look outside and on hot days, we open the window and I love the wind in my face the streamlined look!

London buses are usually crowded so I always sit on Mummy’s lap as well and look at the people getting on and off the bus. Mummy can even use an app like Moovit to check when our bus will arrive! Inadvertently, someone always tells me how good I am for sitting so still! We usually strike up a conversation with someone and we make people smile.

I am also an expert manouvering the underground tunnels for the tube. I am adept on the stairs and can do escalators though I do not like them. I can see them a mile away and would stop dead in my track. So I end up being carried – not so bad! Or sometimes when I have to, I jump on and get on with it.

We like taking trains – it’s fun! We have taken many trains on British Rail – dogs are allowed on for free! We have waited patiently at train stations and made our way through crowds.

Sometimes when the trains are not so busy, I get my own seat.

But I can sit for hours on the floor under Mummy’s seat or when I get bored, I ask to sit on her lap and we look out of the window together.

The best thing about living in London are all the parks we can go to – Hyde Park is the one we go to most of the time. Sometimes we go to Battersea Park.

And at other times, some friends take me to Hampstead Heath. We’ve also been to Holland Park and Primrose Hill. There’s also a special place called the Brompton Cemetery which is very atmospheric to walk through.

At the park, my most favourite thing to do is to go squirrelling.

When at Hyde Park, I get to meet a lot of other cockapoo friends and every three weeks, Mummy and I organise a cockapoo meet at Kensington Palace Gardens! The last time we had over 30 cockapoos altogether!!! It was so much fun just running, chasing and tumbling around on the green grass.

Mummy loves taking me to restaurants – so she has researched all the ones near where we live. It’s usually fun because it means I always get tid-bits handed down to me from the table! At these restaurants they are so considerate and would bring me a bowl of water. Sometimes I even get asked if I wanted the water on the table of the floor!!!

And sometimes Mummy takes me to the gelateria and I get to have my own cup of crema!

At other times we are not allowed into places and I get to sit by the door and wait for Mummy.

The streets of London are interesting. We see lots of different things everyday.

Interesting people!

At the Apple Store

There’s even a memorial for animals.

Being in London also means getting involved with many events. We went to the river to look at the boats for the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations. And we watched the planes fly past.

We were on the streets cheering our British cyclists during the Olympics 2012.

We went to Buckingham Palace to look at the announcement of Prince George earlier this year.

I hope this gives you an idea of what it’s like to be a dog in London. I think it’s a great city for us pooches. We have parks where we can run off lead, we have public transportation that allows us to get around, and enough restaurants and pubs that allow us to enjoy eating out with Mummy and there’s always something happening in this great big city.

May’s comment: DogVacay www.DogVacay.com a dog boarding website in the U.S. asked us to write a blog about how Miss Darcy represents the city in which she lives. It was a good way to write about what we like best about being a dog in London – and there are so many good things about it, especially after having travelled to other countries near and far – we are so happy to be home. Yes there are restrictions always but overall, it’s good to be a dog in London.

www.DogVacay.com