Yesterday I was invited for a walk with my neighbour's Steve, Jayne and their two larger than life Labradors Bentley (The Governor) and Royce, The morning started off misty and generally uninspiring, and not really good light for action photography. We are still missing Eddie our miniature schnauzer, and it seemed strange for Laura and myself to be going for a 'dog-less' dog walk. We drove to a location called Butt's Brow high up on the South Downs near Polegate, in East Sussex. The usually amazing views from the top were obscured by the mist and fine rain, but at least it was a lot cooler for the dogs after days of a heatwave.

We set off on the walk and the dogs started to get stuck in to each other, play fighting and generally doing crazy stuff that dogs do. We came across a stagnant pool of green water, in a dipped circle of concrete (which may at one point have been used as a water supply for livestock). Ruby (a six month old Labrador puppy), dived into the middle of the green slimey stagnant water, and managed to fish out an old beer bottle. She was very proud of her find, and ran around with the foul smelling water pouring out of the bottle... We eventually managed to retrieve the empty bottle and disposed of it safely.

The boys also managed to get wet and have a drink from the water, which would almost certainly make any human being very ill. I'm always amazed by what dogs will attempt to eat and drink! 

It's a shame that we did not get to see the views of Eastbourne, far away Hastings, and Brighton's off shore wind farm, but that will have to wait for another visit. Like all good things, time flies when you're having fun, and soon the walk was heading back towards the car.

The boys and Ruby all had a lot of fun and so had we. I still miss not having my little side-kick Eddie around as it's hard being a dog photographer, without a dog... I'm sure that we will eventually make room for a new dog in our lives and our hearts, but for now I have to get my doggy fix from our friends and neighbours....

Bentley and Royce (below) are a lot of fun to spend time with.

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Ruby managed to find an old beer bottle at the bottom of a stagnant pool of water:

Ruby finding that bottle...z

She made sure she emptied every last drop of the green foul smelling liquid before we safely disposed of the bottle...

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We met some other great dogs on the walk including Derrick the Beagle, who enjoyed running around with Ruby...

Derick and Ruby

Ruby chasing after an un-named dog who just appeared from nowhere....

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Ruby and the boys managed to find time to snaffle some ripe blackberries for a quick snack...

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Ruby making the most of the walk, looking around for her next playmate...

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Heading back to the car after a fun walk on the beautiful South Downs..

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