The 26th of April, was a SPONSORED DOG WALK at Castle Semple, and as my human was occupied doing Face-painting [making children look like dogs?, I went along with one of the organisers to help check that the route was suitable for my four legged friends!
It had been a long day, as I had gone round the course twice myself [but with different people, and then John the Senior Ranger decided to take me along on a patrol by the river, where I had had a nice swim to cool off, however, I had lost my doggy bag holder top, so my human Elspeth, took me back along in the evening, after she finished the faces, and I had several more swims in the river - after picking up several bottles and drinks cans from the awkward places along the river bank. And we did manage to find my lost 'top' too - next to the bridge where I had gone in for a dip earlier in the day!!

Having a swim at the end of a long hard day is great fun for me- but my human said it made the car smell a bit on the journey home
- I suppose wet dog fur is an aquirred smell!!




The previous week I had been checking out all the new lambs on the way down the road from Muirshiel - They don't get nervous as long as I stay in the car and don't bark at them!!

Woof Woof - or 'Hello' in English

Hello, my name is Patch, and I am a Ranger Dog. That is I go along with my human to her work, as a Countryside Ranger, and I do some work with her. Most recently [2008] we have been based up in the hills above Lochwinnoch at a place called Muirshiel Country Park, however perhaps I should start at the beginning - like most good story-tellers.
I joined my present human in 2007, after my previous humans had 'fallen - out' and had both moved to places which did not let them keep dogs!! This was very distressing, as it meant that my sister and I were both taken to the Dog's Trust and left there, in the hope that we would find some new humans who could take us in. My sister got taken away almost immediately, and I was only just settling in there, getting used to sharing the kennel and the short exercise breaks when volunteers would take me a walk to the exercise field and play with me.
I had just returned from one of these walks when yet another new human scent approached me, and chucked me under the chin! She offered to take me for another short walk and we headed back around towards the exercise field - me pulling her along to show her the way, - I was only a 'teenager then being three and a half years old! Anyway, she was strong enough to keep me pulled back and didn't fall over or start running like some people used to, so I liked her.
She must have liked me too as she came back about a week later and took me out to her car for a nice trip. I didn't realise that she was taking me to her home at the time, and that she had asked to take me back to her home on the day she saw me! However the Dog's Trust insisted that they check that the home would be a good and safe home for me before they would let me go.
Turned out they thought it would be ideal when they heard that she was a Countryside Ranger AND she had an enclosed garden which was about a third of an acre in size - plenty big enough for me to run around and stretch my legs when I wanted!
This was back in March 2007 [human time] and I have been loving my life since then.