From the 1st of May until 31st July Richmond and Bushy Parks both become all dogs on leads. This is to protect the deer who are giving birth and the fawns. It’s also worth remembering the female deer are vert aggressive in their protections of fawns. They often leave their fawns safely hidden while they forage. It’s possible to be approaching a fawn, however inadvertently, while its mother is feeding elsewhere. I promise you won’t like her reaction. Each fawn is often looked after by three does, its mother and two ‘aunts’. The best thing you can do if approached or even stared down by a deer is to change direction and go back the way you came.

What does this mean if you train, or want to train with me?

The short, and not very helpful answer is it depends. If, for whatever reason, your dog stays on either a long or short lead then no change. We’ll still use the parks, avoiding areas fawns are likely to be hidden.

If your dog is off the lead then we’ll go to either Marble Hill House, Ham Lands or Crane Park depending on where you live and what the day looks like for me

Most importantly this means as far as training is concerned no real change