Sheep And Puppy Pens

The bloody sheep are haunting us again. After Linda and I thought we'd sorted out the top field, the bastards and their friends were back in this week. They had completely demolished the fencing we'd put up in the old gateway. Today Steve and I tried to redo it; we'll see. The twat sheep and her very agile lamb seem impossible to keep out, but when they bring their friends in, well, that's taking the piss. With the old van still here and needing a run, I took it up the mountain to collect some discarded panels to try and further secure the section. If money were no object, I'd keep this van too ... just because!

Anyway, back to sheep, as much as I complain about "her" and her lamb, I really don't wish them harm. I just don't want them in our fields. I've cleaned buckets of shit up twice this week and thrown it all over the wall into the farmers' fields. A couple of weeks ago I decided to report the neglect of the sheep up here (Not twat sheep and her lamb, they look fab on our grass!) Some of these sheep haven't been sheared in years; imagine looking like that in that heat, and then the weight of it in the heavy rain. RSPCA said nothing to do with us; contact APHA. They said nothing to do with us as they are on common land, contact Trading Standards! Well they came out and saw them saying they were in good condition; they just need shearing, but as they have no ID, they can't contact an owner to deal with them. They said they would contact the Common Land Grazing Society, but that is the last I've heard of it! Whilst corresponding with trading standards about the sheep, I mentioned our problems with the sheep coming into our fields, but of course I knew the answers...

The "Customary Duty to Fence": Because your property is on or near Common Land in Y Fron, the legal precedent (Egerton v Harding) states that the duty falls on you (the property owner) to maintain an adequate fence or wall to keep the livestock out—not on the farmer to keep them in.

The Limitation of the Animals Act 1971: While the Animals Act normally makes livestock owners "strictly liable" for damage caused by trespassing animals, the final paragraph explicitly warns that this law may not apply to you because of the customary common land duty. 

Zavi is still having a left ear malfunction. It's not quite got the strength to stay up for the whole day, it's quite funny really. I took it on myself to take the puppy pen down last week. With nothing but hospital/ Doctors' appointments this week – I realised today that I may have been a bit previous. Anyway, this morning whilst I took the second groups out walking I put Zavi and Meerah in the big pen .. I put them there again when we were fencing; it worked well. It makes me feel better, at least I know that when I'm at Llandudno Hospital on Wednesday, and I'm taking Mum to the pain clinic on Thursday, Steve can put 4 dogs in the pen and have 2 in the front garden and middle room and two in the living room and yard. Tomorrow Steve is seeing the audiologyist, and I'm staying home with the gang! 

Sunday On The Mountain

A happy first walk with Meerah and Zavi. Obviously we didn't go far, but I want to keep him walking with different dogs so today Meerah was in charge. 

Some great "Waits" from Zavi for photos.

Though Sammi is happy to walk with Zeus and happy to be with him in the garden and middle room, she really doesn't want to spend time alone in the bedroom with him. It's sad to see really, she'll turn tail and go off into the crate in the utility room rather than sit with him on the bed! I must admit I've seen what goes on, so I don't blame her!

There's always a walk that makes me stressed; it's not often Ross and Beti, but it was today! They nearly pulled me over and the number of times we all got tangled was just ridiculous. I guess neither are used to being on the lead on the mountain, but Sundays are no better on there. The traffic up to the shooting range was never-ending; the cows, with calves were up there as well as the usual sheep, and of course the Sunday walkers! Remind me next weekend why I don't walk on the mountain on a Sunday!

I got Orin and Siska out of the van just as two men wandered up towards us. I've no idea why but Orin kicked off. As Steve always tells me, you are a woman walking dogs in remote places; don't tell them off for barking if they are uncomfortable with someone. Even as they walked away, he continued to bark, really not like him. 

This photo made me giggle. The plan was that they would both go onto a different slate. Siska had another plan and I left her to it!

With every walk it got warmer; after yesterday, who would have believed I'd have been walking in a T.shirt today!

Who Let The Sun Out?

Colour Changes

Some very quick colour changes are going on here now, and a struggling left ear. 

If you compare with this photo taken on the 7th, you can see the tan spreading up his shoulder blade and that silver line coming through behind it. Fascinating, isn't it! If I remember I'll try and get another "side profile" pic next weekend. 

Mid- Month Weigh- In

Just out of curiosity I weighed Zavi today. He was 18.5 kg and around 50cms at the wither. So weight/height wise still ahead of Orin, who was 19.2 kg and 51 cms at 4 months. Zavi won't be 4 months till the 24th, it will be interesting to see then where he compares to Orin and the other Blanik boys over the years. (And Meerah! LOL)

The photo is another screenshot from the video we took yesterday. Whilst the other photo was my first pick, I keep coming back to look at this one too. Though the far side foreleg is too far back, I prefer the front assembly in this one. (head, neck, forelegs) I also love his unexaggerated hindquarters ... Yeah, another super photo. 

Nursery

With the rain hammering it down and wind whistling through the trees, the nursery in Tremadog was as beautiful as ever. It was another first for Zavi, and he loved it! 

I suppose most of the local dog walkers had the same idea, and it was quite busy in the woods. Zavi was a little "barky" with other dogs, so that's something I have to work on. I hope along with some basic training, that Beti's bombproof confidence will help him onto the right track. 

Heading back to the posh bus!

A Better Stance Photo

It's always better with someone else standing them - but of course Ian is a master at getting the best out of them. Baby Zavi looking fab here. Once that coat comes, he'll look fab. 

Memories

Lunch out with Steve to celebrate our 27 years of lovely and lunacy was lovely. We only went to Pant Du, but it was a nice change. Not the best photo, we look like we've had a bottle or two, but we only had lunch and a coke! 

It's rained all afternoon; not a word of complaint from me! After looking at houses for sale in the area, as I do, I got on with deleting the hundreds of crap in my Google Photos account. I started with November 2014 today. Why did I save so much shit? Duplicates of duplicates, blurred photos, and of course dozens of photos of other people's dogs from shows. Thankfully over the last few years I've been more careful, but this year when I realised Google Photos was not a bottomless pit, I started working through years of rubbish. 

Of course there is rubbish, but there are also wonderful memories that fill my heart with love ... this was a very young and very raw Mikey ... now what did Sharon Bowen say about a young Dexi? Pin head ... well my god here was another Pin head puppy that grew into a stunning adult! 

Zavi In Stance At Club

A screenshot from a video from training last night. It's not perfect, but I tried. He doesn't look too bad, does he! His head could have looked better if he was looking slightly up the hall, as it, we lose it a little. Anyway it gives me an idea of how he looks and it's great to look back and compare! 

Wednesday Walks