Sometimes humans leave things in the way of the dogs usual walking route. Yesterday evening Summer got in the way of their usual sniff highlights. The open space where they like to track hedgehogs and foxes has been taken over by a huge screen for people to watch Wimbledon.

The area near the tunnel had been taken over by live music which in turn had pushed the paddle boards onto the walls where the best doggy news can be sniffed.

We didn’t help matters by stopping to buy a Pimms and talking to people.

The whole walk had slipped from canine planning to doggy dystopia, nothing was quite as it should be.

Our dogs are very urban creatures they didn’t cope well with the 4 years of rural living. The wildness and whimsy of daily walks on a nature reserve never filled them with the joy we imagined it would. Sometimes we would drive the 6 miles to where we currently live to replicate their urban walks in London. Plenty of stone and concrete, parkland and mowed grass open spaces.

They are absolutely city dogs. They like repetition and familiarity. In London their three favourite walks still excite them even though we moved away permanently a couple of years ago. Hugo will always choose to do a poo right in front of Shakespeares Globe Theatre.

Lola however knows exactly where the juiciest squirrels live. The trees that border Dulwich College cricket pitches.

Their choice of favourite places for certain things has always puzzled us. Doing a poo in front of the Globe is quite a performative thing. The photo above was taken in the early morning before tourists were about but normally this area is throbbing with humans. But I know Hugo, if I were to walk past there with him right now. His nose would go in the air and soon enough his geolocating spin would start. Several tourist smartphones would be whipped out and a white dog defecating on Bankside would be a holiday highlight. Similarly Lola and the squirrel spot. If we were ever to lose her on Gallery Road in Dulwich, I would know exactly where to find her. The curious thing is that she might know where the juiciest squirrels live. She has no idea what to do with one. Worryingly she will single-mindedly track them and watch wistfully for twenty minutes as they escape up other trees but face to face with a squirrel she has no idea what to do. One day a squirrel fell from these Dulwich trees. It was as dead as a dead thing, little front paws still clutching at an invisible acorn. It landed at her feet. She gave it a cursory sniff and walked on.

I’m not too sure why I digressed quite so much but I suppose it was to show that our dogs are very much creatures of habit. They were really not impressed with a Summer evening of happy human activity messing with their plans.

Unknown to them it messed with our plans too. We should be somewhere else right now and soon we will be. But summer evenings with lovely stuff on an evening dog walk including Pimms, Tennis, Live music and snatched conversations. All in glorious sunshine is what we will remember when there is no one about and the rain is hitting us sideways on the exact same walk in November. The dogs however apart from being wet will love that things are back as they should be and they can do what they need to do where they plan to.