Manchester Christmas Markets: A Dogs Day Out

It’s Chriiiiistmaaaaaas!!

And it wouldn’t be Christmas in the UK without a visit to a Christmas market. Hot dogs and mulled wine, buying Christmas gifts and taste testing all the food people have on offer. However this time the dogs came too!

Manchester Christmas market is spread over the city, with the only part dogs aren’t allowed in being Albert Square. For us this wasn’t a problem this part is rather crowded and narrow aisles, too stressful for puppies and dogs. We took it in turns to go in this bit and sample all the chocolate 😉

Click here to see the Christmas market trail throughout Manchester City Centre.

The award winning market offers international food, drink and amazingly hand crafted gifts to get everyone excited for this festive time of year. With more then 300 chalets spread across the centre the market is accessible to all. If you do plan on taking your dog, Albert Square dogs is off limits (excluding assistant dogs) as it can get very crowded.

So we packed the dogs in the car; and off we went. (Each dog has their own seat belt and does not sit on the seats to travel). We decided to park outside of Manchester and get the tram into the centre. Not only did this delight Wren but we were able to do new training with Raven; who has never been on a tram/train before. And to say this was her first time she handled it perfectly; no fear when the tram pulled up and getting on or off the tram was no issue at all. Wren a well seasoned traveller jumps in and settles down in her favourite position.

A quick pit stop for the humans to relieve themselves and we are off. They were so excited to visit a new place with lots of new smells and people to greet. Wren found a poor lady to master manipulate almost instantly, as she gave Wren a hug she stole some of her drink 😮 naughty Wren! She should have been paying more attention shouldn’t she 😉 When she finally realised she gave Wren a little more of what was in her cup and then drank some herself (this slightly unnerved me a little). Whatever was in that cup was obviously really tasty, Wren seemed to like it!

Getting plenty of attention..

The girls got plenty of attention, lots of hugs and even had their photos took by passers by. It’s great having dogs which are amazing advocates for their breeds, loving people and being so well behaved. Wren even spent the whole day out of her head collar and remained by my side all day, I am so proud of her. The head collar trains them not to pull, she has only been wearing this for 4 months so for it to work this quickly, is great. I thought in a new place she would be very excitable and be trying to pull me all over the place but not at all. She still has a long way to go and being only 10 months I’m not expecting miracles just yet, but to see her like this fills me with pride.

Raven should also be so proud of herself, 5 months old in an environment of great stress; she followed commands every single time. She did not jump on any strangers (something she struggles with as she loves people and just wants to say hello) and when she picked up some food off the floor she dropped it when asked to. Her training is going brilliantly!

I am so gutted I didn’t get any pictures of Wren greeting the stall holders. As she jumps up with her front paws on the table startling market traders as she goes, it must be her favourite past time. I think she’s worked out if she acts cute then people will feed her ? my only disappointment with the whole day was that there was not any doggy stalls. Dogs are a big part of our society and with the Dogs Trust recently estimating 8 million pet dogs in the UK, it would have been a welcome addition to the market.

Lunch time for the humans…

Bratwurst or currywurst hot dogs and a boozey hot chocolate nothing better on a cold day then something warm to take those chills away.

How could they not get any bratwurst, they asked so nicely. You can just see Raven ears in the picture above waiting nicely for her chunk of sausage.

After a long long day it was time to start the journey home, we were lucky as we just about got on the tram when a hail storm descended on us whilst in the safety of the tram. Not that the dogs would know, they very quickly got comfy and went to sleep. Yes Wren is using Raven as a pillow!! What else are little sisters for?

We must have worn them out as Wren couldn’t even lie down before she fell asleep and Raven well, that picture says it all, how in the world is she comfy? As they both drifted in and out of slumber we were able to reflect on our day, how much we enjoyed it and to plan our next adventure, so until next time…sleep sweet girls

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