Dog Walkers in Pamplona, Spain

Pamplona is a small city with an amount of green out of all proportion to its size, and a dog's life shows it quickly. The Arga river park wraps the urban core with more than ten kilometres of continuous, flat, crossing-free walking, linking Rochapea, Txantrea and San Juan along the bank. Add the Vuelta del Castillo, the enormous green esplanade around the Renaissance citadel, which works as the city's great open courtyard.

The climate is transitional between Atlantic and continental, which means cold, damp winters with frequent fog, rainy springs and short but pleasant summers whose highs rarely turn aggressive. It is a good place for a long-haired dog or the northern breeds, and rather more demanding for small short-coated animals in the cold months.

There is one week a year that rewrites the rules entirely. During Sanfermines the old town fills past the point of usability, with continuous noise, nightly fireworks and crowds at all hours. For a noise-sensitive dog that is a serious situation, and local sitters know it: in July routes reorganise towards the periphery and many boarding services fill up weeks in advance.

The rest of the year, the city's scale works in your favour. You can cross Pamplona on foot end to end in little more than half an hour, the street plan is kind to walkers of every age, and Mount Ezkaba to the north offers woodland, forest tracks and genuine gradient a short walk away for any owner wanting something more demanding than an urban park.