Meet the Testers
George Macklin
George is an Airedale Terrier who has just had his 4 th Birthday. He is quite a silly dog with a bubbly personality, and wants to be everyone's friend! He loves playing, either with his mates in the field, or at home with his toys. We have a toy box for him and he can often be found in the evening rooting around, working out what to play with.
He is a big dog and jumps around a fair bit, so anything we give him to play with has to be able to survive being thrown around a lot!
Recently tested is the Harness in Red with Reflective Strands . Although George is quite a well-behaved dog, Granny very kindly dog-sat for us while we were on holiday. She obviously spoilt him far too much, as we returned from holiday to find a dog who very much did what he wanted. I noticed this particularly when walking, and tried out the harness to see if it would help.
While it was a little challenging at first to put on, we soon got the hang of it. The padding means that even if your dog does start to put up a fight, the harness doesn't cut into him at all. George was initially shocked to find himself in it, it soon put a stop to the pulling. Once he realised it didn't impede him once he was off the lead, he soon stopped pulling faces as well!
One of the things we really have to work on is his meet and greet behaviour , as he does tend to be quite jumpy. With the harness however I feel that I could easily pull him back from another dog or another person if need be, which on a normal lead I would struggle with.
Although I didn't use the harness for its reflective strands, I have to say that walking out with George at dusk/night time the reflectiveness really stands out.
Trudy Macklin
Sherpa Macklin
Sherpa is our cat who is 3 and a half. He was orphaned at 4 weeks and Barney came home with him one day from work and he stayed! We called him Sherpa as all he wanted to do at first was climb – everything – namely the curtains and the sofa! George was only 6 months at the time Sherpa arrived, but we needn't have worried about the two getting on. Having a male cat in the household soon re- organised the “pack” with Sherpa installing himself firmly at the head of the household.
Sherpa will often come with us around the field and I am not sure what our neighbours think of us as we return home from our walks with our cat with us! We have also seen George and Sherpa the tag team as they defend the garden from foreign cats!
Sherpa has unfortunately already lost one of his 9 lives, as he was knocked down by a car on the main road. We have to say thank you to the two ladies returning from a game of netball, which if it wasn't for them we are not sure Sherpa would be here today. They took him straight to the vets and the result is somehow Sherpa came out very bashed and bruised, although now the only thing you can see is the fact that he has lost his two bottom front teeth!
Sherpa is quite a feisty cat, who loves the outdoors, his food and sleeping!
Being an active outdoor cat we were keen to try out reflective collars , which come in a variety of colours, including Purple and Bright Yellow. With the breakaway clasp, we know that should Sherpa get stuck in a bush, the collar will snap open with enough pressure. The “reflectivity” is amazing, no chance of anyone not seeing them!
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