Okay, not to do with Raw Food Diets but might be of interest. Earlier in the winter when it snowed we had a wonderful walk down to the beach. It was very strange seeing our beach covered in snow. Gemma had to have her coat on which she is never very impressed with although I think she quite enjoys being warm and snug in it. Last winter she went to go for a paddle in her favourite pond at Hengistbury Head but it had iced over so she had to learn to ice skate very quickly. She almost made it to the other side before the ice cracked and she had a wee dip. She loved it all and is so confident now it is great to see.
Wow - a snowy beach!! I never thought such a thing could exist!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your last comment - I wanted to tell you that I think you'll find NZ very similar to UK (it is more similar to UK in general than Oz, which is much more Americanised). Don't know where you will be settling but we lived in Auckland and it was a dog's paradise. There were so many dog-friendly beaches and beautiful, huge parks & reserves where dogs could run free. We find Australia now very UN-dog-friendly compared to NZ. And I think Auckland had the strictest dog laws, so if you're settling anywhere else in the country, you may find it even more relaxed. Certainly out in the countryside!
The attitudes can be a bit anti-dog because there have been several horrific dog attacks in NZ in recent years, many of them involving children being mauled horribly and the media really had a field day...so there is a general wariness & negativity towards dogs from people, which is a shame (and mostly the media's fault, I feel, as well as the handful of irresponsible owners who don't train & control their dogs and so give dogs a bad reputation). So I find that in NZ, the "hardware" is brilliant (ie. the parks, beaches, etc) just the "software" can be a bit frustrating (people's attitudes, especially in my case towards big dogs - you probably won't have such a problem with Gemma).
Anyway, if you are settling in Auckland and are interested in some of the dog parks there, look in my sidebar under "topics" and you will find a label "Dog-friendly places" - if you click on that and look through all my posts under that label, most of which were from NZ, you will see some of the places we used to take Honey and how fabulous they were, especially the beaches. We really miss them here in Brisbane and also miss the wide, open WHOLE parks. Here, it is much more like America where dogs are expected to only be exercised in fenced pens (UGH!) which I hate whereas in NZ, it is probably more like the UK where entire parks or commons or reserves, etc, will be set aside as dog off-leash areas, to be shared with human joggers, cyclists, etc. There are of course also some non dog-off-leash parks - where you have to keep your dog on-leash, for anybody who really hates or is scared of dogs - then they can exercise/play there...
Sadly, NZ is not as dog-friendly as Europe where you can take your dog into shops & restaurants although certain small shops in suburban "villages" do sometimes make exceptions and most cafes will be happy for you to have your dog sitting with you at an ouside table - and there are LOTS of outdoor cafes and the weather is generally good for sitting out, as long as you don't mind havign to wrap up in winter. Certainly alot more sunshine than the UK! But sadly no dogs on public transport. I have taken Honey into my local bank and post-office, though, and they were all very friendly and welcoming! They thought it was hilarious when she could just look over the counter at them, eye to eye! :-)
Anyway, am sure you will enjoy NZ with Gemma - it's a gorgeous country with lovely people - we really miss it.
Hsin-Yi
ps. I meant to say - you don't have to have the blog just about Gemma's diet, you know - I'm sure people would love to know about any interesting/fun things in her life or where you live - it might seem ordinary to you but coudl be very "exotic" for some people - and also could be very helpful for someone moving to the UK with their dog - I always think of my blog that way, as providing info to help other dog owners and so giving as much contact info, maps, links, etc,. as possible.
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