Growing And Healing.

A week on from the surgery, and Miss Meerah is doing just great. If everything is ok, I'll take the stitches out myself on Sunday. If I'm not happy with the scar, I'll pop to the vet with her on Monday. 

Zavi is looking great, a proper little lump, substantial with great colour and coat. There's so much of his father in him, just the head shape and eye colour are very different. He's generally very easy and very affectionate. I find life with a male puppy so much easier than with a female and Zavi is no exception. Generally in my experience, bitches really are harder work. 

Zavi is heading for that 5-month mark now, I was always told that by 4 months they are approximately half their ideal weight and that by 6 months males have approximely 5 cms to grow, but I found this recently, and to be honest, I think this for males and females is on the money!

Males (Typically 5 cm to 8 cm after 6 months): 

"At 6 months, a male GSD has usually reached roughly 85% to 90% of his adult shoulder height. While gaining another 5 cm is a common average, many males—especially those maturing later or carrying strong bone—will add anywhere between 5 cm and 8 cm in vertical height before their growth plates in the long bones close between 10 and 14 months. After height growth slows (around 9–10 months), they continue to "fill out," gaining depth of chest, spring of rib, and overall muscle mass until around 2 to 2.5 years old. 

Females (Typically 2.5 cm to 5 cm after 6 months): Females mature faster skeletally than males and often reach 90% to 95% of their adult height by 6 months. The 2.5 cm estimate is accurate for early-maturing bitches, though gaining closer to 3 cm to 5 cm is also very common before vertical growth halts entirely, usually around their first heat cycle or 8 to 10 months."

Is this Orin or Zavi? Currently the head gives the game away!

Walking In The Rain

Meerah and Ross

Beti and Zavi 

Beti and Zavi 

Lila And Ruby

Lila - Looking like a L/C does at this age, I'm looking forward to seeing her when that coat develops over the next couple of months. She does look very much like Zavi. 

Beti's sister Ruby- wow isn't she stunning!

Back Together

I decided to put Meerah back with her gang this morning. Beti went straight to sniff the scar, which initially caused a stiff, tense posture, but it soon passed. Now the difficulty is keeping Meerah from racing round, bless her she looks even taller without her skirt! I am hoping that she will eat a little better when her hormones settle; she really is the worst eater I've had in a long time. Though of course, keeping lean and fit will be paramount for Meerah's future mobility. 

Talking of lean and fit, someone hairy who shall remain nameless is a touch rotund ... he's not pleased with his smaller portions, but needs must! 

At the moment, I’m worming everyone with Panacur liquid. I prefer using the three-day course—it works out a bit more expensive, but I find it much more effective. With this method, you give half of a single dose each day. So while they end up receiving more overall over the three days, the smaller daily amount is far easier to disguise in their food! To make it extra tempting, I mixed half a tin of Butchers Tripe into each bowl. Everyone polished it off without needing any extra bribery—except for Meerah, of course! 

Whilst Steve was out this morning I took the opportunity to clean the bedroom. The assistants were really not helpful, but I salvaged Sammi's Xmas pudding toy and stopped the bed from being used as a trampolene. 

Martin came up and, of course he wanted to meet Zavi. I think that's the first time I've taken him on his own to meet someone in the living room. It couldn't have gone better. Well done Zavi!

A Bedroom Make-Over

I wanted to stay off Facebook today, I fear the memories popping up. Anyway, I spent the afternoon changing the dog's bedroom. I was worried about crate sizes now that Zavi needs a double bed, but it worked out better than I imagined. Ok, a bit of a squeeze, but it works. To be honest, he looks a little lost in his big man crate, but he's growing like a weed, so he'll soon fill it! 

A Lucky Escape

This morning started with a bit of a shock—we woke up to find we had no electricity. 

Steve called Scottish Power, and they sent a technician out to investigate. The main electricity line into the house was fine, but they discovered a fault inside our meter cupboard. Of course, trying to track down an electrician without Wi-Fi calling was an absolute nightmare, but eventually, we managed to get one out to us. 

When they opened up the cupboard, we realised how lucky we've been. Everything inside was completely melted or scorched. Looking at the damage, honestly were lucky we weren't cremated in our beds overnight! The entire setup had to be completely re-done, setting us back £660. But at the end of the day, all of us  are safe and sound—and that’s what really matters!

Reverse Of Yesterday's Walks

A short lead walk, but Meerah in charge of the baby! 

Orin and Siska on the mountain

Sammi and Zeus with Mynydd Mawr, Y Wyddfa and part of the Nantlle Ridge in the backdrop.

Ross and Beti by the river - of course they went in!

Walking Without Meerah

A change today, and we went down to the Penygroes/Llanllyfni tracks with Zavi and Beti. They had a lovely time, but it really wasn't enough for Beti.

Starting from the same place we walked Orin and Siska down to the river. Neither went in. Despite the history behind Orin's name, they really are not water babies!

Walk three and four were on the mountain. Sammi was full of energy and fun, I think she ran through every ditch and puddle. Zeus was such a good lad, to be fair these days he mostly is!

Beti get to go again with Ross, I've promised them they can go to the river tomorrow!

Meerah And Hips

Meerah is doing well, but my brain is in overdrive. I've been doing some research and find this quite interesting. 

"Rapid growth and large body size can negatively impact a dog's hip joint health and dysplasia scores, even if she comes from generations of low-scoring ancestors. While genetics establish the baseline blueprint for hip structure, environmental and growth factors heavily influence whether that genetic potential is realised. Rapid growth spurts can cause the soft tissues (ligaments, joint capsules, and cartilage) to lag behind the rapid lengthening and bulk of the bones. When muscles and ligaments don't tighten at the same rate the bones grow, joint laxity (looseness) increases. Laxity allows the femoral head to slide excessively within the acetabulum (hip socket), leading to unnatural wear, micro-trauma, and eventual abnormal joint remodelling or arthritis."

Sounds like Meerah doesn't it? I've no idea why she grew the way she did; I didn't do anything differently. I guess we have to accept that Mother Nature can be cruel, and genetics just sometimes likes to throw a curveball into the mix.

The future for Blanik now has two options, my preferred option being a female from Siska. Now I know she is Meerah's mother and she has therefore produced a bitch with H/D but she is not to blame, and neither is Lucca. We put the best ingredients that we could in the pot, but the cake didn't come out, so we'll have to try again, but with different ingredients. So, yes I will mate Siska again, but to very different lineage. 

"Heritability is not 100%: Canine hip dysplasia is a complex polygenic trait influenced by many genes plus environment. Heritability estimates for hip scores generally range from 20% to 40%. This means 60% to 80% of the variation in hip phenotype across a population is driven by non-genetic factors (environment, nutrition, exercise intensity, growth rate, and injury). Polygenic inheritance: Even with low-scoring parents and grandparents, a puppy can randomly inherit a specific combination of polygenes that express higher laxity or atypical joint morphology under environmental stress."

My second option is through Orin, maybe via Zavi or Kate ... or if a repeat mating is successful, then through a Mattie daughter. The only reason that it's the second option is simply Kaiah, losing Kaiah from this pedigree would be heartbreaking ... Kaiah is not in Orin's pedigree, but with only Siska as an option to keep Kaiah in the future lineage, well there is a possibility that I'll have to move ahead along a different pathway.  I'm taking this opportunity to share a photo of Kaiah (With Ross)  - just because I can! 

At Club And Weights

Beautiful Kate at club last night. She is a lovely young girl, lovely colour and coat. A little heavier than I would have her, but that's personal choice at this age, here's hoping for a great future in the ring for her. 

Zavi was over the moon to see Owen. He did a fab job of handling him and Kate. With luck and good fortune, Owen has the potential to be one of the breed's top handlers! 

Paranoid about the fact that Kate is still bigger than Zavi, I decided to weigh him at the vets today. Their scales are much more accurate than mine. He was 21.4kg - after coming home I checked Orin's weight at 5 months. (There was no mid-month measurement.) He was 56cms at the wither and weighed 24.2kg. Zavi is not 5 months till the 24th, by then I would imagine he'll be 23 - 24 kg, but I don't think he'll be quite that tall, he's about 52.5cms at the moment! So yeah, I'm happy with that! I do find that females slow down after 6 months; actually, it's said they grow roughly 2.5cms after 6 months, and males grow approx. 5 cm. (Though no one told Meerah!) 

I really don't mind if he ends up a smaller male than Orin. Actually, 63 - 64 cms would be ideal! 

This ear is still pissing about, I guess I'll have to wait now whilst he's teething!