We hired Atlas from a local man and took him (Atlas, not his owner) up to North Devon. It was a real eye-opener, giving us a taste of what could be …It was fantastic, despite the weather being less than optimal, and I think straight away we knew we wanted to do this.

More than anything, we were able to start pinning down what we liked and what we didn’t, and it gave us the opportunity to try the dogs out in a van.