Crew training continues at a pace!

Brea the Munsterlander and Maggie the Border Terrorist

Yesterday was the first day that Brea was allowed out into the real world. All her jabs are done and she is now 13 weeks old so off we went for her first walk. Maggie as senior crew was leading the way.
Armed with a bag of nice training treats and my trusty whistle we were off! So this is how it works. I blow the whistle, you two come running back to me and then you get to eat nice bits of Hot Dog sausage. Alternatively, I blow the whistle, you two take no notice so I eat the Hot Dog sausage. No change there then! Maggie is the self appointed leader of the pack and is unsure about the whole bribery with treats thing.
As you can see from the photo Maggie does not run she flys a few inches above the ground. To the naked eye she appears to run but every photograph clearly shows her with no contact with the ground.

We now have a plan. We set off to Braunston on 18th May. This gives us some time to get the girls used to life on Tilly May and allows us a little more time to get her ready for her first cruise for 2 years. We are not sure how we will hold up stamina wise but we have plenty of time so we can build up the stamina as we go. The great thing about narrowboats is you can stop almost anywhere.

Maggie learning to fly at a very early age

With two new puppies on board I have been considering safety issues. To that end I have acquired some blue plastic safety fencing which is now cut down to fit around the back of the cruiser stern. This should stop the little darlings falling off the back straight into the prop, plus with a little extra fence we can enclose the stern to keep the crew on board when moored.

Maggie caught just after takeoff.