Hello

Hi. My name is Herbie and I’m an 11 year-old black and white Border Collie. I live in South Shropshire with Mike and Sue, two horses – Ted and George – three bossy cats – Beano, Scooter and Paddy and two hens.

My mum started the dog weekends in 2007 so that I would have lots of friends to play with and new activities to try. The best part, for me, is running off-lead with them and playing chase. I’ve become a little less friendly as I’ve got older but many of the dogs return a few times a year and it’s great meeting up with old friends.

I’ve got lots of hobbies; I love playing ball, swimming and going for walks but my hidden talent is my jumping ability. I won the dog jumping class at our local show and my mum says I jump better than Ted and I know I’ve won more rosettes than him.

We are lucky living in South Shropshire as there are lots of hills to climb and run along and amazing scenery. We also have the largest number of castle of any county in England, not that I’m very interested in architecture. I prefer to pee on car tyres given the chance.

If I won the lottery, I’d have my own flock of sheep to herd. I’m banned from chasing anything in the fields around us in case it gets me into any trouble. We’re already on the game keeper’s black list although that wasn’t my fault, it was my mum’s for straying away from the public footpath in order to avoid some cows that she knows scare me.

I hate gun shots and loud bangs of any kind. Unfortunately, the damn game keeper runs the shoot and when that starts I will hide away every shoot day behind the settee.

I love junk food and when I get the chance, which is not often these days. My dad and I sit on the settee sometimes and share some pork scratchings. Some evenings, my mum gives me doggy chocolate buttons in return for doing tricks like shaking a paw and rolling over. I can also lift a paw up to 10 to get 10 chocolate buttons.

I get to visit lots of dog-friendly hotels and guest houses as my mum has to assess these for Your Dog magazine. Last year, we visited Ox Pasture Hall Hotel where they serve a wonderful high tea and I got to eat some of the smoked salmon from the sandwiches. We also regularly visit Aberdovey and stay at a dog-friendly hotel there. I love the beach. We play ball on the beach and have some great walks. We even go putting as my dad is a ‘golfer’. My dad was winning so at the end my mum let me off the lead and I chased his ball, picked it up and carried it away so he couldn’t win. It was great fun!