Travelling with a reactive dog is enough to fill some with dread, but there are lots of ways you can make your staycation reactive dog friendly, and Nervy Mutt are on a mission to visit more of the UK with our nervous rescue dog.
In May we travelled to Dorset for a long weekend. We booked a dog-friendly accommodation through Airbnb, in a quaint little lodge called Little Nook in the Paddock, based just outside Wool.
It had an enclosed garden, with no view of other dogs, so it made the perfect atmosphere to relax.
Naturally we wanted to explore the local area, and the many heritage sites located along the Jurassic Coast.
Lulworth Cove
We started with Lulworth Cove, which made the perfect spot for a leg stretch after a long drive. We didn’t arrive until around 8PM, so it was blissfully quiet. We ambled down the hill, past the pubs and the terraced houses with curated gardens, until reaching the picturesque cove seen so many times on tourist guides. With only a handful of other people and no other dogs in sight, we played on the beach under the crisp spring sunset, before taking the path to the side of the café to head up to the viewpoint.
There’s a hilly green, with views over the street, the perfect place to do some recall training, while keeping an eye on any rogue or incoming "friendly" dogs. Newt, our reactive rescue dog had a whale of the time bounding up and down the hills, while Archie, our older Staffordshire Bull Terrier, was keen to get back to the lodge for dinner!
While we practiced some down stays at the viewpoint and looking out over the cove taking a moment of calm, we noticed an off-lead black lab. Fortunately, it was uninterested in us, but took a liking to the seagulls before darting under the post and rail fencing on the cliff edge. Thankfully, he recalled and was put on a lead. But we implore you to keep your dogs on a lead near cliffs to avoid any irreversible incidents.
We headed back down the hill, with suitably tired dogs, ready to settle in for our first night at Little Nook in the Paddock.
Admittedly, we didn’t sleep well on the first night, as it got pretty chilly. To be fair, we were warned! But being from Dartmoor and living in a house with only log burners, we were perhaps a little too optimistic.
The lodge however was well equipped with lots of extra blankets to keep us warm, and the dogs snuggled in which also helped to warm us up!
Studland Bay
We arose ready for another day's adventure, on a bright sunny morning. We packed up the car and set off for Studland Bay, rumoured to be the inspiration behind Toytown in Enid Blyton’s Noddy, for all you millennials. Managed by the National Trust, there is a large cash-only pay and display car park, however the shop on site also accepts payment by card. There’s also a café, and toilets. The main highlight for us as reactive and nervous dog owners, is that between May and September, the beach is for dogs on leads only!
Four miles of glorious white sand beaches where we could just play and explore without having to be on constant alert for rogue off-lead over friendly dogs wanting to solicit unwanted play (of course there was one, but they humiliated themselves in front of all the other responsible dog owners abiding by the rules when their dog failed to recall, and they had to chase it). Tucked away behind our newfound favourite beach, is so much more to explore. Bridlepaths weave among the heathlands, supposedly home to all six species of British reptiles.
Studland Bay is the highlight of our entire visit – we’ll definitely be returning and spreading the word to owners of nervous dogs!
Durdle Door
Later that evening, after a good nap for the dogs (and us!), we thought a visit to the infamous Durdle Door was due. We left it as late as we could so it wasn't as busy, and arrived at around 6pm. We got a little lost finding our way there, missing the turning, but we eventually found our way there and parked up on the grass. By the time we started walking down the hill it was about 6:30pm. Although nearing dusk, it was a lovely evening and remained very warm....which explained why there were still many, many people around.
It started off okay, the track is quite wide but rather uneven, and there is some heath on both sides. We noticed other people walking up with their dogs, so we hopped onto the heath bank to make space for our nervous dog and passed with minimal trouble. As we continued down the hill, we could see there was still quite a big crowd about 300 yards ahead. We ventured on down but it seemed to be getting hotter as the sun was setting, with little to no sea breeze around!
The track suddenly widened with a lovely large green area near the cliff edge, where you could see the sparkling waters rising onto a concave beach below. It was the perfect spot to make space and decompress a little from the rather bustling pathway to the main site-seeking spot of Durdle's Door.
We took this opportunity to re-hydrate the dogs (and us!), and did some settle work with Newt and Archie.
Then something we didn’t expect, given the environment and sheer un-fenced drop, an off-lead dog rushed us. TWICE. Newt did have a couple of outbursts at this interaction but we quickly overcame it and made space. Once we regained some engagement...(and the owner had finally leashed their dog), we used the situation to practice watching them walk off calmly.
However, during Newt's reaction, we overheard a young tourist boy say to his dad “That dog had a song...but I didn’t like his song” – which has since been what we have referred to Newt’s reactivity as, his song.
Although Newt recovered well, we decided it was far too hot to stay where we were and venturing further down into the busy sea of people and potentially more off-leash dogs was just not worth the stress on us or our dogs. Newts tolerance bucket was brimming, and near full at this point...it was time to quit while we were ahead. If this is what Durdle Dor is like off-peak, imagine how intense this environment would be for humans and dogs in the Summer months!
So for that reason, it's not a place we would recommend visiting with your reactive or nervous dog.
New Forest – Near Ringwood
The following day we met with a friend and her two Dachshunds. Using the "All Trails" app, we found a lovely-looking trail that seemed to suit reactive and nervous dogs, Dur Hill Inclosure and Burbush Hill Circular. Our first top tip is to take wellies!!
It wasn’t too bad, but the initial path we took from the car park, was rather boggy in places and meant muddy shoes, but thankfully not wet feet. After the unnecessary but laughter-filled detour, we found the main a nice-even pat. The biggest inconvenience was the cyclists, many not warning you of their presence and whizzing past. There were a few dogs, some on lead and others off-lead, but none that were a cause for concern as the owners seemed to take note of our Nervy Mutt Give Us Space Hoody and recall their dogs or made extra space for us to pass by.
As we approached a crossroad, we took a left out onto the smaller, less busy tracks. Admittedly, we can’t give you any specific recommendations from here as we totally winged it and used GPS to get back to the car – but we had a lovely long walk and saw a small herd of New Forest ponies, that weren’t remotely bothered by our presence. Overall the walk was approximately 2.5 hours long, but you could adjust this to whatever suits you, simply by taking paths that loop back to the main track quicker.
Once back to the car and settled, it was time for lunch at a nearby dog-friendly pub, just a 2-minute drive away. After the walk the boys were tired, Newt is always more reactive when he’s over tired, so we decided to leave them in the car, with all the windows wide open, and we chose seats where we could see the boys in the car. Our friends brought their reactive dogs to the pub and we sat outside under the parasol (as it had just started drizzling).
After filling our tummies we got the boys out of the car for a quick leg stretch around the pub field and garden before bidding our friends farewell and hopping back in the car to head back to Little Nook.
Chesil beach
On the evening of the New Forest walk, the sun was shining blissfully. As we were so close to the coast, we wanted to find another local beach to explore. After some quick googling, we found Chesil beach, an 18-mile shingle barrier beach roughly a 30 minute drive away from where we were staying. We parked up at Chesil Car Park, situated next to the Dorset Wildlife Trust Wild Chesil Centre. There was ample pay and display parking, which accepted contactless payments. We popped our ticket on the dash and headed across the bridge to reach the long stretch of pebbled coastline – this was the most challenging. The bridge is only about 2ft wide, so we waited for it to be clear before taking the dogs across, but we can imagine this being a little more challenging during busier periods.
Although very pretty, the loose pebbles on the beach made for a very sweat-inducing climb up the hill. The view from the peak however, was quite spectacular, with the sound of the waves crashing against the stones. Quite a few people were fishing along the shorelines, so we took a stroll further down the beach and noticed the freshwater side was quieter. Visibility was good and Newt was adequately exercised that day, so we unleashed the mutts and practiced some off-leash recall, while cautious not to let them near any potential habitats.
Archie unfortunately plunged straight into the water, not realising the depth....so he sulk waded back to shore with a soaking wet doggy coat. Newt, absolutely shattered from the day's adventures, did some of the slowest recalls we've ever seen. This was a clear sign that it was time to call it a day and head back home for an early night.
Wool
Sadly, the time had come to check out and head home, but on such a beautiful morning with a 3-hour drive ahead of us, we had time to squeeze in one more walk.
We packed the car, slid into our Nervy Mutt Give Us Space T-Shirt and drove a few minutes down the road to Monterey Avenue. It’s nothing special, mostly a through road to an industrial estate and the police station, but it was nice and quiet with big grass banks, and we conveniently found a public footpath in an agricultural field. Living on the moors, the boys are pretty good with livestock, but never worth the risk so they remained on their long lines but enjoyed the many sniffs on the path.
The footpath doubled back onto Monterey Avenue, so we didn’t get too lost. We crossed the road where we came across a tree with a perfect V in the centre – always looking for natural ways to build confidence, we seized the opportunity to train Newt to jump through. It took a few attempts, but he achieved it! It also gave him both the mental and physical challenge he needed to sleep pretty much the whole way home, given that he’s usually most anxious in the car.
Our Nervy Mutt Rating
Overall, we’d give Wool in Dorset a 4/5 rating for being a nervous and reactive dog friendly holiday destination.
What we loved!!:
- Choice of affordable dog friendly accommodation on Airbnb. Little Nook had a lovely host who made sure we were looked after and was very accommodating with our reactive dog.
- Close to the beach, perfect for water dogs or dogs who love to dig!
- Leash rules on dog friendly beaches during the busier Summer months on Studland Bay
- The New Forest is less than 1 hour away if you wanted a quieter walk with bigger space
- Dog friendly pubs with large garden areas to practice some settle work
What we didn't like:
- Durdle door is a no go in our eyes for reactive or nervous dogs. Lots of friendly dogs enjoying their time but we would advise due to the sheer volume of people it attracts, to avoid.
- Although our accommodation was lovely, and the location was great in terms of being close to nearby beaches and walks, it was also right next to the train tracks. So this may not suite more noise sensitive nervous dogs.
- 13 minutes away is the closest big Supermarket, Sainsbury's, but it shuts at 8pm. So if you're looking for an emergency shop stop in the late evening, it's a slightly longer journey out to Tesco's about 25mins away.