Whilst out and about in the Oxfordshire countryside, the Rambles team and I see all sorts of weird and wonderful goings-on, but what I witnessed on a dog walk last weekend truly flummoxed me.

Last Saturday, I was walking along a lovely part of the Ridgeway with one of my regular doggy clients. This particular pup is terrified of other dogs, a fear that stems back to a bad incident he had as a puppy while staying at a kennels.

When in proximity of another canine, he gets incredibly distressed and even hyperventilates.

This part of the Ridgeway is the perfect place to walk this particular dog: not only is it a fairly straight path, meaning we can see a long way ahead to spot any others coming towards us, but it’s also surrounded by fields we can step into to allow walkers and their dogs to pass us discreetly, avoiding any distress.

This weekend, however, that wasn’t possible. I spotted a car moving very slowly in the distance behind us. As the Ridgeway is an ‘access only’ road I wondered whether the driver was lost, but they were too far away to offer help. We carried on walking, when suddenly from nowhere my dog startled and went into full panic mode. I held on tight to his lead, trying to calm him, when I spotted something on the path right in front of us. Initially I thought it was a fox or some other small animal, but I quickly realised it was a Jack Russell. With no one in sight, I assumed the dog was lost and immediately worried about how I would get it away from mine.

The car in the distance, still 100ft away from us, spotted what was happening and the driver stepped out and shouted over to me apologising profusely, while calling the Jack Russell back to her. It then became clear that the lady was in fact ‘walking’ her dog along the Ridgeway, from the comfort of her own car!

I couldn’t believe my eyes. As responsible owners, it’s so important to ensure we have control over the dogs we’re walking, not only because of the unknown temperament of other dogs we come across, but also there are lots of heavy duty farming vehicles travelling along the road that he could have been hit by.

I would urge this particular dog owner to get outside and enjoy the fresh air and a countryside walk, I’m sure their dog would appreciate the company too!

Failing that, hire a dog walker.