The dog walking strand. So far, bird spotting; Snacks and throwing balls; learning how to grass whistle; making up bird calls and walking a chihuahua.

B and I found Borrow my doggy and now walk a lovely large dog once a week. This is great for getting B outside and interacting with nature of the four legged woofy kind but surprisingly unhelpful for the challenge as it leaves very little attention to spare for anything else. Walking dogs is intense! So this strand is going to be for any other things we find to do at the same time, sometimes doggy related and sometimes not, with a special mention for the other dog in our lives, my cousin’s gorgeous 13 year old chihuahua, Evie, a very different walking experience.

287 – Bird spotting

Thursday 20 March.  Sunny. 17°C

Another dog walk and we’re looking for something new to ‘collect’ (see Nature play ideas: Things for kids to collect). B decides on birds so we decide to start a new ‘spotting things’ page instead. There are lots of jackdaws around at the moment. They’re hopping over the pavements and being noisy and funny.

First we decide on the rules. No flying birds! They have to be on the ground or in a tree or bush and they have to be near enough we can see them. B makes an exception that we can include flying birds if they’re holding things in their beaks…

We start off with the jackdaws and then get a larger crow, and seagulls. We head into the park and I can hear little birds everywhere around us. Trying to work out where they are becomes an obsession for me and B starts to get cross. She’s not interested in finding the noisy robins and blackbirds. I suspect it’s too hard. Back in the residential streets we both enjoy finding the large groups of sparrows (a ‘host’ or a ‘quarrel’ of sparrows apparently) that are lurking in the hedges. We can hear them but when we stick our noses up close to look inside they all go quiet. They’re the best players of hide and seek we’ve ever come across.

205 – Snacks and throwing balls

Tuesday 10 June. Cloudy. 17°C

We’re sitting, in a big grassy place, under a tree, wondering what our nature play challenge for the day is going to be. As we ponder, we throw balls for our lovely four legged friend who enthusiastically chases them and, occasionally, returns them. B is eating broad beans, a weird favourite snack. She peels them, and then peels them again, but doggy is stopping her focusing on them.

In the end we give up looking for something else to do…

156 – Learning how to grass whistle…

Tuesday 29 July. Mixed. 21°C

Grass whistling was a new thing to me. Never heard of it till we started this challenge, then saw someone doing it online and now I’m a bit obsessed. B likes whistling and is a bit interested – I’m working on her. We find this video on youtube and on our next dog walk have a go. We don’t get the knack. B whistles but I don’t think that’s right. I manage to get a squeaky sound once but then can’t again.

A few hours later we’re chatting to a family friend and I ask her if she can grass whistle. Her face lights up. “YES!” How lucky! She demonstrates, giggling, and B and I are in awe. We’re going to keep practising.

65 – Walking Evie, the lovely chihuahua

Monday 27 October. Cloudy. 10°C

We’re in York which means B has a whole new doggy experience to enjoy. My cousin’s chihuahua, Evie, is a fit and healthy 13 years old and very beautiful. The dog we walk at home is a rough, bouncy, big boy dog. This is something else. Her little legs don’t go quite as fast as ours so if the walk gets too long she has a carrier. B is allowed the lead and will now happily walk all day, anywhere.

Not being a dog owner, I’m not sure I’d really appreciated how different different dogs are. We walk more sedately with this little one. There’s no need for balls but a need to be aware of deep muddy puddles, which, despite being glamorous and elegant, she still likes to go through. She’s attached to her ‘mummy’ and won’t go too far from her but so long as she can see her she’ll trot along at a ridiculously high speed for her little legs.

38 – Making up bird calls

Monday 24 November. Mixed. 9°C

This ones been going on a while. B loves to whistle and, if she’s bored, suggesting coming up with a new bird call is generally always a winner. She tweets and whistles and makes an amazing array of sounds. Sometimes she’ll listen to actual birds to see how it’s done but mostly she just does her own thing.

I find it harder but always worth the effort. The dog doesn’t seem to mind but occasionally looks confused.

31 – Finding the deepest puddle

Monday 1 December. Wet. 12°C

This one actually works really well with dog walking. I challenge B to find the best, deepest puddle. We have our wellies on. She’s walking ahead and claims dibs on all the puddles. She doesn’t find any really spectacular ones at first. We do quite a bit of splashing. Dog seems confused but is happy to join in. Then it starts raining again and the options get much better.

There’s a really deep one at the corner of one of the lanes which we think will win. We pass a few blocked drain type puddles and then it rains so hard there are rivers running down the pavements. At this point we give up looking and just focus on getting dog and us home.

We settle on the lane corner puddle and put our 31 wooden block in it for a photo. B thinks it will sink (“it’s really big and heavy – of course it will”) and learns something about wood. Then we head home and dry ourselves out.