Cath and Paul visit us at Grindley Brook

Our good friends Cath and Paul had arranged to come and see us and luckily they were keen to help us down the Grindley Brook flight of locks. Cath and Paul had visited us when we were travelling on the continent and we'd holidayed with them in Spain, but this would be the first time they'd see Rainboat.

Their impending arrival was great motivation for a deep clean so attempts were made to scrub away all the winter mud traipsed in by 2 sets of boots and 12 little paws.

Grindley Brook doesn't have public parking close by, but we intended to return to the Horse and Jockey for lunch, so the pub were happy for them to leave their car there. After a little tour (there's only so much to see in a space 57 x 6.5ft) we headed off to fill our tummies. We were again impressed with the food and service; the person greeting us even remembered Vicky needed the vegan menu! It's been over a year since we last saw Cath and Paul but we quickly relaxed into each other's company and caught up on the goings-on.

Rainboat was facing away from the locks so we took a jolly to Whitchurch to turn. Paul and Cath each had a go at the tiller and even if the sun didn't shine, the rain held back and it wasn't too windy.

Paul used to volunteer for the CRT near their Wollaston home and got back into the swing of things, cranking open the lift bridge at the Whitchurch Arm junction.

Having extra hands at the staircase of three locks was a real help and hopefully our visitors enjoyed getting stuck in and experiencing our way of travelling. They worked us through a further lock before we moored up and had a well deserved cuppa and a bit of Will's homemade chocolate cake for Cath. Their departure was made easier by arranging to meet up again when we travel down the Shropshire Union, close to Stourbridge, later this year. We were left with a sense of contented happiness after what had been a fun and relaxing day with good friends. Thank you Cath and Paul!

Over the next few days we took Leo and Tiger to the Lockside Cafe for an afternoon cuppa, cake and fish skin (we'll leave you to work out who had what). It was a sweet little place and Leo revelled in the attention of customers and servers alike.

On Friday Leo had a very special visitor just for him. We've had him 19 months now and have been working hard on his fearful reactivity. It's clear he's a very troubled little dog and despite time, love, research, positive training and a whole load of management strategies, he's still highly anxious a lot of the time and his fear frequently triggers aggression. We've been bitten countless times and decided we needed some expert advice.

Caroline of Help at Hand is a behaviourist who specialises in rescue dogs with severe difficulties. She works long term with several foster dogs from the organisation that rehomed Leo; Boycie's Bridge rescue and she helped Will's son and daughter in law with their dog Jake.

Leo loved her straight away and was overjoyed when she allowed him to lick her face. She spent two hours with us and really seemed to 'get' Leo. His fight or flight automatic nervous system has been engaged so many times in his troubled past. It has kept him alive and despite the threat no longer being there, the trauma and his response is. He isn't thinking when he's reacting, just as you don't think when you jump at a startling noise. We were relieved when she said we'd got further along the road to helping him recover than a great many of her clients and that there was always a way forward. She left us with a few new management strategies to try and a mix of plant extracts in a spray (selected by Leo) that has a visible calming effect on him. We'll continue to liaise online and she may come for future visits. We'll keep you updated.Læs mere