Ireland is a dog’s best friend: Mabel the pug gets VIP treatment in the Dingle Peninsula
Ireland is a dog’s best friend: Mabel the pug gets VIP treatment in the craggy south-west
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For children and dogs, there is a magical haven on the craggy South-Western tip of Ireland.
It’s called Pax House, a B&B just a short walk from the pretty town of Dingle, where David Lean filmed Ryan’s Daughter with Robert Mitchum and Sarah Miles 44 years ago.
Our pug Mabel, on her first trip to Ireland, was treated like a VIP. She was even taken along with a group of children to inspect the chicken hutches before breakfast. Had the hens laid any eggs? Of course they had. And miraculously, the eggs bore the names of each of the children, too.
The Irish love children, however noisy, and dogs are also extremely popular. We opted to take Mabel to Co. Kerry via the Stena Europe ferry from Fishguard in Wales to Rosslare in Co. Wexford.
It’s a pug’s life: Travelmail’s writer John McEntee with his happy pug Mabel
On arrival at Rosslare, we checked into Danby Lodge Hotel, which welcomed pets to comfortable cabin-like rooms equipped with doggie treats.
After a walk on the nearby beach we had an early night in preparation for the long drive to Dingle. It took five hours to reach Pax House. We wanted to arrive well before it got dark so we could keep an eye out for the antics of Fungie the dolphin in the nearby bay.
He’s a local legend, a 30-year-old bottlenose who swoops and dives for the entertainment of tourists in the bay (so confident are the boat owners in the dolphin’s reliability that a no-show merits a full refund).
On our first evening, Mabel watched TV and slept in the room while we walked down the hill to Dingle to dine at Patricia Fenton’s excellent bistro.
Charming: Dingle in rural Ireland is found wanting for friendly pubs and live music venues
Next day - after Mabel was cooked a breakfast treat of diced sausage wrapped in an ornamental swan made from kitchen foil - we drove up and over the spectacular Conor Pass, which commands panoramic views of the Blasket Islands, the Ring of Kerry, Mt Brandon and the minuscule spread of Dingle in the valley below.
Dingle at night is unmissable. Most bars provide free sessions with musicians moving from pub to pub. Dogs are allowed in most, though O’Flaherty’s barman declined to give Mabel a drink of water and a farmer asked if she was any good at rounding up sheep. Imagine.
On the way back, we loitered in Killarney, where the now famous lakes were unknown until Queen Victoria arrived in the mid-19th century and insisted on a tour.
Mabel seemed to take a shine to Killarney. In fact, her mood throughout our trip was nothing short of joyful.