Beti And Ross In Tremadog

I apologise to anyone around Tremadog who was doing this walk after me this morning. Yes I did walk a bitch in full season along your footpaths, but they were mine before they were yours. 😏 In my defence, I will never leave Beti in full season at home with Steve again. It's a year since the accidental mating, and there will be no repeat performance! 

Ross was with me as her bodyguard; the only advantage of having him neutered, for the life of me, as hard as I look, I can't find any others. Since neutering Ross, his colour has faded, and his coat was better when he was entire. His character has regressed to a junior juvenile delinquent, but at least the pratty puppy didn't return! LOL. I would seriously have to think about neutering any male dog again, but like all the other females I've had neutered, thankfully Meerah hasn't had any negative changes. I wish I had the guts to spay Beti, but I don't! I feel so sorry for her; she's so frustrated, even spinning and grabbing her tail yesterday, I've never seen her do that before! I instantly stopped her so she grabbed Ross' kong and madly shook it and chomped on it ... does she want the bonk or the babies, or both? I don't know! 

My Critique For Zavi Today

A quick click of the camera and I got a semi-decent photo of Zavi today. Hopefully if Ian is free on Sunday, we'll get one in stance; he's always the best at standing them. I'm still very happy with how Zavi is looking. At 58 cms and 25 kg  he's still smaller than his male siblings, but honestly I'm happy with that. 

Ok so my critique for today. His mouth is correct, with nothing extra and nothing missing, though his bottom jaw still has some developing to do. His head is improving, and he has a lovely dark mask with dark eyes, his left ear is firming up now too. 

He has strong bones down through his forelegs, and for his age his pasterns are straight and strong, and those wonderful feet. Very clean, straight forelegs with good shoulder layback developing. His chest depth is dropping nicely toward the elbow line. 

His wither height has improved. His topline has a smooth unexaggerated slope flowing down from the high withers into a firm, strong back. His croup - length and angle look OK, but currently his tail set is a little high and his tail is very long. (Though he carries his tail low, unlike Orin, who's a tad too proud of his!) The coat over the croup is lying better than it was, and hopefully as his coat develops, the weight will straighten it further! His hindquarter angulation is pleasing to my eye with excellent turn of stifle and well-defined strong straight hocks. 

Zavi has great pigment and a super, thick, lush coat; his knickers are still developing, and hopefully they will help complete the picture. 

I have to admit in the photo he looks a little short-coupled, but I've not noticed that before, so maybe it's just the angle of the photo ... and I didn't get the chance to get a "take-two!" 

Zavi is now very father-typical, but of course Nicola may well see a lot of Mattie there. Katrina says he looks very much like a male version of a baby Beti ... we'll I'm happy with that. She too was dark and had plenty of coat at that age. I've no idea why she's not as well coated now with a couple of breed judges commenting that a little more coat would be prefered to complete the picture. To be honest I think she has enough ... unlike Meerah who really could do with more coat - let's see what happens with her now she's been spayed. 

Orin did have a stronger head at this age, I'm not criticising, just observing as dogs develop differently. Otherwise there's not a lot between them ... other than Zavi has better eye colour and better feet - but of course, Orin is perfect!

Top pic - Zavi Today

Centre pic - Beti at 5.5 months.

Bottom pic - Orin at 5.5 months.  

Which Mountains Do You See?

Mynydd (Mountain) Cilgwyn behind Zeus and Sammi. 

The Nantlle Ridge and Craig Cwm Silyn 

Beautiful Beti and Ross 

The beautiful Mynydd Mawr also known as Mynydd Grug (Heather Mountain) and Elephant Mountain. My lovelies Orin and Siska  

Meerah and Zavi in front of the Nantlle Ridge. 

More Colourful Walks

It's now bedlam here, thanks to Beti and her season. The boys are still eating, but the volume is increasing, and Orin's forgotten all about listening. Zavi seems to be doing very much the same as his dad, or he certainly was today!

With such a strong cold wind up here this morning, I took the first 4 down to Inigo Jones and joined the rest of the world walking on Lon Eifion! There was just a gentle but cold breeze down there, and I walked towards Groeslon. The little field is always empty, so we had time in there too. The colours there today were just amazing. 

I drove home to find the wind had completely dropped and the sun was warm, so the others had a lovely walk in Carmel. I don't think Zavi had been there before, but under the wing of the brown clown he had a lovely time. Sammi was mainly off the lead so that went down well too. 

I have to admit, I was knackered by the time I got back. Maybe I'll have to rethink and go back to doing two walks and two runs in the fields. Maybe! 

Lon Eifion And Carmel Walks

Happy Birthday Mr S.

After my walks Steve and I drove down to our favourite eating place in Bontnewydd for Steve's birthday lunch. We had a lovely lunch, as usual, and a long and very unexpected chat.

Mandy and Steve moved out of Plas Braich last week, and we expect our new neighbours this week. As yet there is no sign of anyone. Mandy has moved to the outskirts of Penygroes, not where I'd like to be! 

Over lunch Steve again bought up the subject of "I want you to move down the mountain when I peg it!" So I replied, "Well, would you not consider moving with me?" He said he didn't want the fuss of moving, but like me, he fears the force of the wind here, and of course he's also housebound in the snow and ice. Anyway, I pointed out it would be a lot more fuss for me on my own. The outcome was not to dismiss anything, just go with the flow and be open to the thought of moving in the future ... or not as the case may be. 

Moving would not be easy; we have a large family, and that is always a consideration for the future. We need space, and we don't need neighbours on our doorstep - something just like that house in Llandwrog!!!!

A lovely photo of Sammi today.

Mix And Match

Zeus and Sammi 

Sammi loves it up here; I guess it's all down to the fact that I didn't put her on the lead!

The two nut jobs - Beti and Ross.

So to confuse things, I decided to swap these over, so Orin and Meerah (look at the size of her 😵).No problem at all; to be honest, with Beti on his mind, he totally blanked Meerah for the entire walk! 

These two were more of a handful with Siska needing to explain a few things to Zavi before we set off! Well now he knows, and hopefully he'll always do as he's told in her company! LOL 

Kate Today

What a beautiful photo of our young lady. Thankfully she has far more coat than we anticipated she would have. I'm really looking forward to seeing these two hit the show ring. We shouldn't wish their puppyhood away, but I can't help but imagine and look forward to seeing what they will look like as adults.

Baby Kate

Day 13

In the Summer of 2003, when my Louis was about 5 months old, he pushed open the utility room window and joined his mother in the garden. His mother, Krizzie was in season, but I thought we were safe. Even though a young male German Shepherd typically starts producing viable sperm as puberty begins, so 6 - 9 months, risks are not worth taking at 5 + months old. No harm done then and we kept them apart for the rest of her season, but a lesson was learned back in the day!

Miss Beti is now on day 13 of her season; today she's trying to dig under the bedroom door to get to Zeus, she's sticking her back end in poor Ross' face, and in Orin's world I'm not the be-all and end-all. Zavi is heading for 5.5 months old, but I fear he has ideas above his station. He's been mounting her all week, but as she's now close to ovulation, then things will have to change. It's so hard to do the right thing; I don't want to tell him off. You never know he could be our future stud dog, but obviously I can't let him bonk his sister either ... Let's be thankful for good weather, crate; rotate and kennel it'll have to be then!

Weigh in And Lunch

Following our lovely, but cold walks, we drove to the vets to pay some of Meerah's bloody big bill! Whilst there I weighed her, she's 32.9kg. I think that is ideal weight for her. When her coat comes back she will hopefully look a lot better. 

I also weighed Zavi, he was 25.3kg. This will be a more accurate weigh-in than on my little pet scales. I'm happy with that. 

We walked back along the road, having said recently that Zavi was bombproof with traffic I found him uncomfortable with the huge waggons. What didn't help was the fire engine putting his sirens on just as it passed us. Anyway we'll just have to do it again then!

A lovely lunch in the garden centre next to the vets and back home into the sunshine.