This is the first part of a 6 week review on the Beaphar calming collar for dogs. I have been wanting to try out some calming products for dogs for a while now as my dog Ella is an excessive barker and gets very stressed about any change in the house. As you can imagine our pet hotel has a lot of coming and going.
I decided to start with the calming collar for a few reasons:

1. It's a great price point - The collars recommended retail price is just £7.99, so it's not going to brake the bank even if you don't get the results your looking for.
2. It's a completely natural product - a natural product is generally more gentle
3. Long coverage - This collar is effective for up to 6 weeks, the active ingredients being released over 4-5 weeks.

Below is a video on starting with the collar but you can read the product information, so here it all is directly from the packet:
Beaphar calming collar for dogs effectively reduces problem behaviour arising from stressful situations in dogs of all breeds, sizes and ages.
Using safe and natural ingredients that are slowly realsed over a period of 4-5 weeks it leaves the dog feeling calm, settled and relaxed, reducing potentially destructive problem behaviour. When dogs are more secure in their environment they are more relaxed thus making them better house companions. keeping dogs stress free will help to prevent excessive barking, chewing, inappropriate urination and can be essential in dogs that suffer separation anxiety.
Contains Valerian and lavender which are often used in human healthcare to manage stress and anxiety and have been proven to help reduce excessive barking, chewing, scent marking and other undesirable behaviours. This collar is long acting so is perfect for reducing anxiety during the introduction of new additions to the household, frequent travel or the vet/kennel stays and for use during the party season when there may be fireworks or lots of guests in the home.Once fitted, Valerian will be realsed immediately and the dog will begin to relax within approximately one hour.

So I was looking for some where not too far away to take my nephew for his birthday. He is only just a year old and my first 2 choices of Bocketts farm and the sealife center were already picked by other family members. Having not had any little ones in family for a while I puzzled to find something that we might all enjoy for the day.
Drusillas park in East Sussex seemed to be a good choice and was only £35 for two adults when you booked online (children under 2 go for free).
Drusillas has several animal exhibits and walk through attractions as well as kids rides and play areas. I was also pleased to see open picnic areas with plenty of seating and lots of bins, including recycling bins!
I know that recycling bins might not seem important on a day out but anyone who has ever spoken to me will know that I do get my knickers in twist if I can put something in the correct bin and I have been know to carry empty packets and cans in bag until I get home.
There was plenty of parking and no que to get in but as soon as your through the gate your straight in the exhibit and as we went on a Saturday it was very busy with lots and lots of children and almost as many pushchairs. Now having just got through the gate we wanted to get our barrings and decide where to go but that wasn't really possible as everyone else seemed to think the same thing but no one was really going any where. I wasn't even able to look at any of the exhibits on the way in as I was busy trying to make sure I didn't run over the children who were standing in the way with the push chair.
It's important to remember that this is not a big park and it was easily manageable to get around, even if you have little legs. I do think it was good value for money and it was great to be able to buy online before hand, however there were some points I need to raise:

• Less is more? Due to the size of the park and how much was in it the day felt very cluttered and the space between the exhibits and rides didn't really allow for viewing if there was more than yourselves.
• Navigation Disorientation! The park was not easy to follow and we often found ourselves at the exit of exhibits without knowing how to get to the begining.
• Push Off Pushchairs- As I said there were lots of pushchairs which of course have occupants. However if you wanted to go through the walk through exhibits, such as the rainbow lorikeets or lemur land, you were not allowed to bring your push chair. Whilst an area to leave your pushchair was available the only way you could enjoy the walk through was carry your child through. This is a real shame as it limited the time we could spend before my nephew wanted to get down (he can't walk yet) and to be honest I struggled to hold him and stand there in the heat. Now maybe I'm just particularly weak but I didn't see any viable reason not to allow pushchairs.
• Teletubbie land?! Now we come to my single biggest disappointment of the day. Before we went, I had of course looked at the list of exhibits on the parks website so when we walked into a small open exhibit designed to mimic the teletubbies I was supprised to see 2 little rabbits sitting on one side and several guinea pigs all in together! this might not seem like a big deal, but rabbit and guinea pigs should not be housed together and the fact that an animal collection that has been around since the 1920's is displaying this was ridiculous. Further more the pen did not seem to provide enough areas for the animals to hide away from the people or take adequate shelter. This was all made worse by the fact that on a front the exhibit was a sign saying that new guinea pigs had been born that year. With so many rabbits and guinea pigs needing new homes why on earth is this park, which has won awards for being a great day out for the family displaying and breeding pets? This is a picture of the exhibit but you can not find it on their website, or any mention of them having rabbits and guinea pigs, why not? Perhaps people aren't interested in going to a zoo to see pets? Then why are they there?
  

I don't like to end on a negative so I would like to say that with the exception of the above the animal exhibits were not only interesting to look at but seemed to well thought out in terms of their residents welfare and behavioral needs as well as providing a good viewing experience. I would perhaps say that the park is better suited to children over 5 who can really enjoy all the play facilities and if you do visit and see the teletubbie land ask a member staff  "why?"