5th October 2012 - Digby Hall, Hound Street, Sherborne
The Gig With a BIG Crowd Who Sat Down Most of the Time

One of the biggest crowds we have played to - over 200 people came to the Digby Hall to support the Sherborne Voluntary Ambulance and raised approaching £1500. They were all sat in seried rows and seemingly a little bit wary of what was to come, and they all sat down very neatly for the first half, a little bit to our concern! But then they danced and did an amazing communal version of YMCA! And as for us, a meal with cutlery and a bottle of wine? Not very rock'n'roll but brilliant - thanks guys!

28th September 2012 - Hamworthy Sports & Social Club
The Gig With The Sound Meter

A great night at the Hamworthy Social Club. Over 150 turned up and raised over £800 for the Cornerstone building project. As good as that was that they were a fantastic audience who were dancing from the third song and had a ball. And even better was that we were givena box chocs each at the end ... how much better can rock and roll get!

14th September 2012 - West Lulworth
The Gig With Maureen

It was back to West Lulworth and their very nice village hall, where we made a new friend in Maureen. Maureen was in charge of the evening, and everyone, including us. Totally unphased by five Vicars giving her lip, Maureen looked after us and gave us a good evening - thanks Maureen!

25th August 2012 - Dogs Allowed on the Beach at Weymouth
The Gig Where EVERYTHING Happened

The best word for this gig was … interesting! Apart from absolutely throwing it down and the "crowd" sheltering form the monsoon in a tent, the sound crew being slightly more concerned about the other bands, us getting on very late and then only playing half a set, not being able to hear ourselves, and the explosion as as £10k worth of mixing desk blew up cos water had got into it ... it was fine. We loved the Dunkirk spirit of the audience (but why was there a bloke who had his fingers in his ears literally the whole time?) and the post-gig pub food was good …

20th July 2012 - Collingbourne Ducis Recreation Ground
The Gig With Lots of Grass to Look At

After weeks of rain, the sun started to shine and it was a cool but clear evening on the large and grassy rec, with a BBQ and gourmet burgers (and good local beer) for the occasion! Considering the local postie had apparently told people that the evening had been cancelled, a great number turned up and the dancing age was the lowest in Doggie years!

11th July 2012 - Bryanston School
The Gig When Dogs Played the Dome

DWB - (Dogs without Boland) did a short but sweet alternative gig at The Salisbury Diocesan Conference, offering slower or jazz-style versions of the songs you know and love (or did love). This was on the balcony in the entrance of Bryanston School, below the glass domed roof (not that Dome, sorry). Although the audience a) was invisible, being a floor below us b) was engaged in drinking tea, esting biscuits and discussing important things such as museums and c) was probably unaware that there was actually a band playing, there was applause (well someone clapped) after at least one song. Or maybe they were clapping for another reason ...

6th July 2012 - Halstock Village Hall
The Gig Where Betty and Barbara Thought They Were Coming To A Play

Betty and Barbara thought they were coming to a play because they were convinced they had once seen one called Dogs Without Collars. As a drama, the gig wasn'tup to much apart from the appalling rain and Tim breaking a string on the first song(some kind of record, even for him). But a as gig, it was great and the dancing was entusiastic - and they managed to be the rare audience that can actually sing a chorus of @Hi Ho Silver Lining@ without us!

29th June 2012 - Charmouth
The Gig Which Needed a Quid In The Meter

After Graham had stumped up a quid for the electricity meter, we had negotiated an accident and heavy traffic around Dorchester and Clive had got through a wedding rehearsal in record time, we all got to the delights of Charmouth and a rather good village hall. The stage was one of the narrowest we have ever played so instead of our 3-2 or 2-3 standard formation it as 5-0. A few rusty bits (we hadn't played for over two months) were fortunately missed by the relatively senior but enthusiastic Chamouthians present. Some of the endings were more by luck than planning ... but we had a great night (thanks for the ginger cake) and inched our way back through fog to play another day (next week, actually).

15th June 2012 - Hindon
The Gig where we failed to go back to fields of Hindon

After a glorious gig there in 2010, we were hoping to go back to Hindon ... but the summer of 2012 put paid to that with high winds and storms. Although the night itself was dry, any marquee would have doubled as a barrage balloon, so we had to stay at home and watch England beat Sweden 3-2. Some compensation, I suppose!

20th April 2012 - Puddletown Village Hall
The Gig Where Geoff Went Bolan

What an interesting night! Puddletown lived up to its name with a somewhat wet exterior but it was an evenign which was definitely not what we would have expected ... yours truly (Tim) was laid low with a sad case of man-flu and minimal singing capacity (no change there, then) and so the set list was radically changed with Geoff bravely taking on the vast majority of the lead vocals and Laurie manfully offering more backing vocals - leaving me to play and sweat in the corner. We even added a brand new song "I Love To Boogie", which we learnt and arranged an hour before the gig ... a campaign will start for Geoff to be wearing the make up in the future.

The organisers wrote .... "Very many thanks to you and all the members of the band. The sum raised was about £650 which will go towards the repair of the roof rafters in the Athelhampton chapel at St Mary's Church in Puddletown. Puddletown has been having withdrawal symptoms following the retirement of the Yetties, who had been entertaining us for many years. You have helped to fill the gap (this is a real compliment!)."

23rd March 2012 - Crown Hotel, Blandford Forum
The Gig That Started Again Just As It Finished

It all was gliding gently to a close - an evening of occasional bum notes and missed verses, raising a good amount of cash for Julia's House Hospice, and then a couple fo dozen teachers from Milldown School arrived, having waited 2 hours for their Indian Meal and wanting a bop ... so we did a precis of the set and Dave did them a disco. Who says we don't aim to please? A great night and an audience who were up and dancing in the first half (that's what we like to see!).

2nd March 2012 - The Ferry Bridge Inn in Wyke Regis
The Pub Gig for a Hero

The pub was the snug (ie small) Ferry Bridge Inn at Wyke Regis and the hero in question was James Wright, from Juliet Company of the Royal Marines who was killed in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, on Friday 5 August 2011. It was a real privilege for us to play a gig in his memory and to have his parents, David and Sallie, there - and to discover James was a keen musician and his dad's a bass player. The pub was full for an out of season gig and thanks to everyone who gave and bought raffle tickets. It was also great to see ex-6th Dog, Tony, back from Alaska (some people will go to great lengths to avoid us). Despite "Walk of Life" which was more like "Walk of Life in the Fast Lane" and the bizarre interruption by a drum machine, it was a great night!