BRUCE the Terrier
So the inspiration for this site ?
Meet Bruce a seven year old shaggy snoring farting terrier of indeterminate parentage with the intelligence of a gnat ,a passion for peeing on every corner and the uncanny ability to commandeer any soft furnishings at will .
On a truly serious note Bruce has an important role in our lives as a part time companion to a family member coping with the condition of Alzheimer’s and to give him some faint praise its a role he’s actually pretty good at .
FAQ – Why on photos do we normally only see Bruces a***e ? – Lets face it Bruce is very much a ‘no publicity ‘ kind of mutt, why spend valuable time posing for photos when there are squirrels too pursue, lamposts to water and armchairs to snooze on ……
RACH and STUART
Owners of Bruce (NOT his ‘Mummy’ and ‘Daddy’ …seriously …?!!?)
Living in Yorkshire England and getting older ,grayer and grumpier.
Rach will happily accept a pint of IPA or Blonde Beer and Stuart Trad Cider if you’re buying .
That is all you need to know….
The GEEKY TECH STUFF
The 4PP site’s built and designed by Rach and is powered by WordPress using the basis of the Divi Theme Framework .
‘No professional web guru , just always had an interest in playing with anything ICT related and any skill’s (ish ) have been self taught through a mixture of reading computer tech books in the bath , the ubiquitous Mr Google and at times. just sheer bloody mindedness to crack every little issue that crops up and believe me there have been quite a few Feel free to tell me that my design skills are crap should you so wish but it’s my site and quite honestly I dont care .’
Photos are shot on a bog standard less than state of the art Sony Cyber Shot that cost about eighty quid about 8 years ago and occasionally chucked into Photoshop Elements or GIMP to be cropped and resized for web use , no major editing is done bar the removal of the odd lead or dozy half body that got in the shot ..
All photos are taken by ourselves and quite honestly if you feel the need to use them in your own projects , go for it ..(though if you do intend to morph our faces (or Bruces for that matter ) onto the body of a Russian Porn Star we would just like to know in advance ,ta muchly ! )
The BLOG
The lifestyle changes that having a pooch in your lives comes on you slowly and insidiously, alongside the immediate joys of dog hair invading every inch of the house , the delight of early morning wanderings and the knowledge that whatever time of the year you will be guaranteed the most effective live hot water bottle /electric blanket substitute that has an uncanny knack of taking over the entire bed, you also find your social life begins to change irrevocably to accommodate your new best friend .
For us, that meant weekends and holidays, once the territory of short breaks and poolside in foreign climates were transformed. Wardrobes began to dominated by copious amounts of polar fleece, thick socks, and sensible walking boots as days out and time away were all planned around the small fluffy one’s needs, specifically a bit of a walk, and quality(ish) time spent with his owners.
However Bruce was not to get it all his own way and we began to find that although we may have lost the long lazy pub afternoons with friends, a dog day was not necessarily a dry day and being a fan of ‘proper beers’ the opportunity to sample new hostileries and their wares were emerging …
Not having a dog in our lives for seven years till Bruce joined us a year ago we had not appreciated how the attitudes towards dogs in Pubs has changed for the better in the years we have been dogless. It also appeared that, against a backdrop of Pubco owned bar closures the small independent breweries and micropubs, were bucking the trend and beginning to thrive and prosper. These type of operators outlook was to go back to idea of the local as being primarily about the people and the beer – not themed pubs dominated by loud music or food driven , and with that we were noticing that a more positive relaxed welcome for canines in pubs was part of that sea change and one that we as dog owners heartily welcome.
Using the net to research ideas for ideas for days out to go with his Lordship however met very much with a blank , plenty of proper walking sites but little about actually catering for the mutt . Look up dog travel blogs and all that seem to be about were professional ‘influencers’ (as one who can rarely influence even my own canine I am truly screwed on this front ) with a professionally coiffured Instagrammable lap dog who were obviously writing trade pieces and in the main from the horrible faux ‘cute’ throwable up-able ‘doggy writing ‘ .perspective ….just noooo ! Specialist Dog Pubs site’s also failed to impress offering poor quality subscription based content or just being ridiculously out of date ….
The Idea for 4PP was born …
After several months mulling the idea over , actually getting my grand derriere into gear and producing something myself, it was a chance conversation (quelle suprise) in a pub in Huddersfield with renowned beer blogger Richard Coldwell who god love him , persuaded me to be brave go for it and put together our own site .Thanks Richard it’s all your fault !
Richard is heavily involved in CAMRA ( the Campaign for Real Ale ) and one web resource that we have found invaluable when planning is theirWHAT PUB site and app – its a cracking volunteer run directory CAMRA members providing field reports and is insanely accurate – opening times , distance to other pubs in the area , beer ranges and of course mutt friendly- ness ! Even better it’s FREE ! Show them some love – hell even join, it’s only a few quid a year with some money off beer tokens thrown in !
A year down the line I have realised that my posts were getting