As always, I looked for dog-related things, as well as dogs. Unfortunately, I never saw an Irish Wolfhound, an Irish Terrier or a Kerry Blue Terrier while in Ireland. The only dog I saw was a lurcher at one of our stops during a daylong bus tour. I thought the dog was a Greyhound at first, but when I got closer I saw that he had wiry fur, like a terrier’s. Lurchers are Greyhounds crossed with some other breed, usually either a terrier or one of the herding breeds. Based on the fur, I would guess the one I saw was crossed with a terrier.

I did see a nice watering station outside a restaurant. The sign read, “Pooch Park, park your dogs here.” There were two chains bolted into the wall ready to snap onto a collar, a shorter bar with snaps for smaller dogs and two bowls for water.

Once we got into Wales, things improved. We took a ferry from Dublin to Holyhead, Wales, in the north, and before we drove to our rental cottage in the south, we made a detour to a sheepdog trial. It was overcast and cold, but it was still fun to watch the dogs work. It was also fun to notice how alert and attentive some of the dogs were, even when they weren’t competing.

The object of a trial is for the dog to fetch the sheep, herd them through a couple of gates, around the handler, and then into a pen, all in about 15 minutes. The sheep weren’t used to being worked by dogs, and many of the dogs were young, so we watched for two and a half hours before any sheep got penned within the time limit. One of the handlers told me that many shepherds are now using four-wheeled all-terrain-vehicles instead of dogs. ATVs don’t need to be trained, and don’t need much care, but that seems like a real loss to me.

A dog and handler watch the action at a herding trial.

Towards the end of our stay, we used our car’s GPS system to visit Kinloch Sheepdogs. Angie Driscoll is a transplanted New Zealander, by way of Canada, England and Scotland. She has a flock of 300 sheep and trains sheepdogs, as well as competing in trials. Angie doesn’t start training until the dogs are 10 to 11 months old because herding is physically demanding, and she doesn’t want the dogs to get hurt. The only things she teaches them before that age is to absolutely come when called, and to go into their own kennel when she tells them to.

We watched as she worked three different dogs. One young dog had a habit of dropping into a down when given the “stand” command, so Angie was working on getting him to stay on all fours. He did a nice job of penning the eight sheep, but instead of standing and presenting an imposing barrier, he lay down. Angie patiently lifted him to his feet, stroking his side and encouraging him to face the sheep. Patience and tenacity seemed to be her preferred training technique as the dog fell back into a down, and she lifted him back into a stand at least four times before finally releasing both dog and sheep.

It wouldn’t be a trip to Wales for us without a visit to the village of St. Dogmaels. It’s the first place we ever stayed in Wales over 15 years ago, and it’s where our friend, Eveline, lives. The village has a farmers’ market and one of the vendors sells homemade dog treats. The name of the business is St. Dog Meals.

Many people had their dogs with them at the market, so I was a couple of Greyhounds, some Shih Tzus, a spaniel, and two or three medium-sized shaggy dogs of indeterminate parentage. The woman at the St. Dog Meals booth told me that there was one Pembroke Welsh Corgi in the village, and that the owner generally came to the market with him, but we left before he made an appearance.

Wandering through the town of Fishguard, we saw four German Shepherd Dogs, three pointers and several spaniels, but during our entire visit, I only saw one Corgi, and we were passing in our car, so I didn’t get to pet it.

I like traveling, but I absolutely loved seeing my own two dogs the day we returned.