There is a version of the day that begins at the kitchen door, with a lead in one hand and the light just coming up over the fields. It is the best hour there is, and it belongs entirely to the dog.
The walk before breakfast is not about distance. It is about the way the air smells, the way the grass is heavy with dew, the way a dog reads a verge as though it were the morning paper. You are along for the ride, and you are better for it.
What to put by the door
- A lead you do not mind holding for an hour, in tweed, canvas or leather that is kind to the hand
- A coat that you do not mind getting wet
- Boots by the door, not three rooms away
- Treats in a pocket and a towel on a hook for the return
The walk itself
Go the same way as often as you like. A dog is never bored by a familiar path, and you begin to notice what changes: the first frost, the hawthorn berries, the day the swallows leave.
If you want a longer route, the Cotswold Way runs for more than a hundred miles along the escarpment, and you can walk any small piece of it. Check local access rules and keep dogs under control around livestock.
Browse Dogs and Country Walks.