TOOK DIFFERENT ROUTE TODAY

And won't be doing it again!
Decided that the only way I'm going to conquer my reluctance to walk the pups on my own - is to actually get to grips with it AND DO IT!
So, after a bit of a struggle getting them into their coats, we set off. All was okay at the start, until I decided to go a different way today, without realising that the route I had chosen took us past many ferocious and very big dogs that have obviously been left in their gardens while their owners are at work and are just waiting for a distraction so that they can growl and snarl and jump up and bark to their hearts' content.
It would appear that there is barely a house that DOESN'T have a manic dog living in it and we certainly encountered them all today. Obviously my two were unsettled by all this verbal abuse and didn't really settle into their walk at all as they were on edge all the time.
Still, at least we've learned NOT to go towards Harecross Farm again and to stick to either Villa Lane or to go fro a tour of the village green.
We do have a designated dog walking area in the village. It's little more than a field, and I think most owners use it as a space to let their dogs off the lead so they can have a good runaround, but we haven't quite got to that stage yet. Charles seems to think that the pups will come back when they are called, but I know that once they are distracted by something they will not come back without an awful lot of persuasion and I am not prepared to let them loose until they can come, regardless of what is going on around them.
Right, the pups are settling down and I'm, hopefully, going to watch the next installment of 'It's Me or the Dog'.
(One other thing about today's walk: I HAVE DISCOVERED THAT I AM NOT THE ONLY OWNER WHO HAS NOISY, BARKY DOGS! FEEL GOOD ABOUT THAT!!)