Same Dogs - Different Locations

Kaiah and Ross walking from Penmorfa where my grandparents lived when I was a child to Mum and Dad's house and my childhood home in Tremadog.  I spent so much of my childhood between the neighbouring villages but I've not been on this walk sine sometime in the 90ies. It has changed in places but it's still lovely. I will be going back in the near future.

Nico and Jezi walking back from Talysarn to Penygroes, walking on part of the track that we walked last week. Again a pleasant change!

Not For The Squeamish

I've cut more hair from around Asha's burst cyst, and yes I do think it's a burst cyst. There's no doubt she's had a go at it since but the hole is clear to be seen and these sebaceous cysts do have a habit of bursting. There's still a bit of pus coming out of it so we are washing it twice a day and then using the antiseptic powder on it to try and help it heal. I can't think it's bothering Asha too much, she only occasionally has a little nibble!

Llyn Cop

Sunny but bloody cold down there today. Colder tomorrow I gather, my god thermal knickers again then! Mind you we've had snow here at the beginning of May before so it's nothing new for it to  be this cold in late Spring. 

Critiques For The Boys - WPBW

ND 1 Stanley & Bibby's Silkenwood Poldark Of Blanik. Very good type of coat. Head of correct balance with correctly shaped eye. Settling into movement.

 LD 1 Stanley's Lokean Of Blanik ShCM. This lad was so very sound on the move. Coming from correctly constructed front and rear. Very good body with correct deep chest and short loin. Well balanced head with very well shaped eye.

He hasn't said a lot about any of the dogs ..I think Loki's critique must be one of his better more detailed once. Ah well, at least he's done them!

Loki And Asha

Boys On The Rock Together 

My disappointment in Loki's behaviour has increased tenfold today. He's bitten Ross .. again. This time little Ross has a puncture wound by his eye and a tear in his cheek.
The dogs where all full of energy and playing between the yard and the house. Loki was full of fun and chasing Ross who was running around with a toy. I had no reason to take any notice of the situation until I heard Loki growl aggressively and Ross screaming with fear or/and pain. I can't be a hundred percent sure of what went on but I can only surmise that it played out as it did last time. They boys playing and Loki suddenly decides it's the end of the game and gives no notices just bites. Ross is now obviously afraid of Loki again .. and following the incident Loki is scared of me!
As I was walking this morning I was trying to figure it out. Loki wasn't bought up that way, Mikey did not treat him like this, Mikey was a fare and honest adult male. So why does Loki react this way with Ross? Ross isn't doing anything wrong, he's submissive to Loki as he should be! Also why does he feel the need to lung out aggressively at some dogs at shows? And why does he do it when other people have him on the lead? A confident adult male dog would simply not react that way. Kai being the perfect example of that, he filled the room with his presence .. others respected him but he never showed aggression unless it was to defend himself.

I can only come up with one conclusion, Loki is not as confident in his own skin as he should be. Maybe that nervous puppy is still in there somewhere teetering behind the surface. What other explanation can there be? He surely wasn't ready to be the adult male in the pack when Mikey died. He did struggle then, but there was nothing anyone could do and Asha made sure he was promoted, possibly beyond his means at the time.
So what do I do now? Well I can't separate the boys, we don't have the facilities or means for another pack and I don't want either stuck in the kennels. Separating them now would also mean I would not be able to get them back together again in future and that's not what I want. I will certainly stop them from playing with each other now as Loki doesn't seem able to stop the game without resorting to aggression. Of course they can play with the girls, but not each other!
As regards to Loki lunging out at other dogs, well unless he does it with me on the end of the lead then I have to rely on other people to react instinctively at the time and show him it's really unacceptable behaviour. Allowing him to get away with it reinforces the behaviour and the last thing I need is for Loki to think it's acceptable and for him to get a reputation as an aggressive dog .. he may have some issues to work through but he's not an aggressive dog!

Whilst I was at the show yesterday Steve rang to tell me about Asha. She's had a lump on the top of her thigh for years. It's loose and soft and was considered to be nothing more than a sebaceous cyst, but yesterday Steve thought Asha had decided to bite it off. Well either that or more likely it's burst and she's then had a damn good go at it. It does look a mess today and we've cleaned it and used wound spray and powder on it to try and dry it out, but of course Asha keeps picking at it which won't help the situation. I'll just keep it clean and try to get it dried out, but I know getting them cleared can take a long time, for some reason as soon as they close they have another nibble at them. Hopefully no vet required but we will monitor the situation.

Kaiah At WELKS

Two lovely photos of Kaiah yesterday, very heavily edited as they were so dark. 

But too nice not to try and save them. 

WELKS

What a day. A 4.15am alarm call had us on the road before 5am. It was damp and drizzle as we traveled down through Wales but the journey was going so well, until we hit the "Road Closed" sign. There had been no warning and no diversion signs. We read the sign quickly and concluded the road was closed from 7am. Other traffic were going through and as it was before 6.50am we decided to follow. Wrong decision! I think the traffic were probably men going to work on the "site" but god knows where that huge Laura Ashley wagon went! A man on a JCB stopped us and I opened my window for advice to be greeted with "Can't you fucking read?" I told him it says closed from 7am .. in his dulcet mid Wales tone he answered "No,it's closed all the fucking time!" I apologised and said we had obviously misread the sign and asked where do we go then? He said "Follow the diversion signs!" But we hadn't seen any diversion signs, we hand't seen any notice of road closure either! Anyway we turned round and headed back to Newtown .. Oh a Diversion sign .. but what the hell use was it there when we should never have been there in the first place? Why was there no diversion sign before we went up the bloody hill!

Our detour cost us about 15 mins in time, but we where still at the venue by 8.45am. Plenty of time with judging at 9.30am. The car park was a water and mud bath and there was no choice but to park in it and take the dogs through it. But the first port of call was the toilets .. they were closed due to a burst pipe .. sod it, I, like many others used the men! We then made our way back to the van to get the dogs and bags out. As we made our way through the mud my phone rang, it was Sarah checking to see if we had arrived safely. I said yes and we were unloading. She said it's OK anyway, judging has been put back to 9.30am .. ehh?? Judging was at 9.30am wasn't it? Wrong again .. judging should have been at 9am .. what else was I going to get wrong then?
My experience of this judge and his judging is very mixed. He loved Jay and later Asha and Mikey. Commenting at the time that that he respected judges who admired the better constructed bitch (Asha) over her more glamours brother(Mikey). He placed both very well at 2 years old but when I took both under him a couple of years later he totally contradicted himself, didn't place Mikey and commented that Asha colour was poor. He was also the first judge to not place a young Nico first .. but I guess that was bound to happen! I said at the time I doubt I would show under him again, but with a different team I decided to give him a go!
Ross announced his arrival in the ring .. as he does. Though he was a little bit of a handful for Sarah he did do quite well and she always gets the best out of them. He was second out of 3 puppy dogs and just for a minute there I kind of thought it was going to be his day. Never mind, maybe one day ...
As we stood and watch Post Graduate Dog the judge seem to loose the plot. He had about 9 nice dogs in the ring but decided to only place 3. Why? What the hell was going on? There where nice dogs in there who were more than worth of 4th and 5th. Loki was in the next class and I started to think, if he does that to Loki then that'll be it for me with this man. Luckily it didn't come to that and Loki gave a predictably great performance to be 4th out of 9. Though Loki was great in the ring it seems we again have some issues to address with him. Yesterday he lunged out quite aggressively at 2 dogs, a Bulldog and a Smooth Collie. Unfortunately he wasn't with me on either occasion, but it's a matter I need to address as I will not allow him start  behaving in such a manner!
After the males had finished we went to get the girls from the van. I was horrified to find Kaiah was soaked, her bedding so wet that water poured out of it. I know the van leaks but with it parked on a slight slope the pouring rain had all run in and on top of Kaiah. Thankfully I had 2 towels and a friend kindly lent me a third and I always carry spared bedding .. just incase!!!
Kaiah was my star of the day, her behaviour and performance were faultless. She looked the best she's ever looked in the ring and put so much effort into her gaiting that I got quite emotional as I watched her power around the ring. She looked amazing and I honestly stood there thinking that's my girl, I bred her ..I was so so proud of her. Kaiah was second in a class of lovely bitches, had she not been placed I still would have been there thinking how wonderful she looked and how fantastically she went round that ring on the day! After the class I was showered with congratulations and praise for her which was just a fantastic feeling.
Following on from winning PGB in Builth last week Bella, Loki's sister also came home with a card. Bella was placed 5th in her class so we were all happy to come home with a card.
Sadly due to the lights in the marquee and the set up of the ring the photos are really not great, but at least I have some to add to my diary of memories ...
Concerned about getting things wrong on the route home we decided to come home alone the A49 then onto the A5 and over the Llanberis pass. Again we seem to getit wrong as the A5 was a nightmare and give or take a 20 min stop for chips in Llangollen it took us 5 hours to get home .. We live and learn!

Don't You Think I'm Looking Older?

Old age is starting to catch up with our little Billy Bob. After being the same strange little man all his life there are some recent changes in his health and behaviour.
Billy came to live with us as a tiny kitten in 2002. Steve found him abandoned by the feral colony where he was living in Glynllifon. He was starving and dying. Steve only had tea and digestive biscuits with him and gave him a few bits which he ate and drank, probably the moment his life was saved eh! I came home from work to find a feral Billy spitting and hissing in the empty rabbit hutch in the garden .. the rabbit was indoors when I was at work. I laughed as this tiny little kitten lunged at me with claws and teeth, I picked him up and bought him into the house and I gave him a small meal of cat food and a drink of water.
The vet thought he was about 7 weeks old but tiny due to probable inbreeding and lack of sufficient nutrition, but he ate well and was soon pretty settled in our busy household. I had no intention of keeping Billy and rang both the RSPCA and CPL to try and get him homed. But of course though they put him on their books we heard nothing further. Working at Freshfields showed me just how many kittens need rehoming in a season and a plain B+W feral boy would never have stood a chance among the Jamie's, Junior's and Isla's of this world!
So Billy must now be 16, not a huge age for a cat but still an elderly cat. The cataract is now far more dense than it was a couple of months ago and I doubt he has any vision in that eye now. But Billy still goes out and about a little and does his own thing in his own time. Yesterday he was walking on top of the kennels so he has adjusted to jumping and balancing quite well.
Billy is now looking quite thin and scraggly, he's not eating as he was and is drinking more than average .. but not excessive. (Possibly his kidneys are slightly affected - it's common in old cats) He's always loved tea, but now he's quite obsessed with getting a cuppa. He's become quite clingy and a little demanding. Sometimes he shouts and shouts and shouts until he gets attention .. just a cuddle and he's happy. As I said he does go out but he does now tend to be indoors more, where ever we are he is! I know he won't be here long but I want to try and make his quality of life the best I can so today I'll be adding some special treats to the shopping trolley .. maybe some Sheba or some pouches of food!
It's ironic really, but I guess the abandoned starving kitten who was left to die has probably out lived his feral siblings .. I can't imagine any of them have made it to 16 and it's not over yet for our very odd individual little man.

Exploring With The Girls

 Back on the other side of the valley but walking towards Nantlle not Llanllyfni

Yes I can see home!

 Sammi, Asha and Ziva loving a new place 

 Posing for me - Talysarn behind them

We had a cracking time and as usual they were so good

We found a derelict house hidden in the trees - Ziva went to look

Camera on full zoom and mapping the route from home

Walk One And Two

 Ross, Loki and Kaiah

Jezi and Nico 

Love this one 

Walking Before A Vet Check

Note to self .. don't walk the dogs and go directly to the vets. #sorryforsoggyblaniksatvets. Loki had his personal problem checked .. all sorted so he's a happy chappy. The lump on Kaiah's leg is full of a bloody fluid so as suspected she's had a knock or possibly "someone" who constantly grabs her by the hocks has hurt her. Logically it was obviously something and nothing but having lost Mikey 4 months after finding a lump fear takes over from logic and for peace of mind I had to have it checked! Got the three weighed as we were there. Loki - 40.7kg, Ross 36.4kg. Kaiah 28.6kg. Happy with that.

Videos From Saturday

Little Ross placed 3rd out of 4 .. 

but nice to see he did nothing wrong and went well.

All the male class winners challenging for the CC in class order.

The Veteran, The Open Dog, The Limit Dog (Loki with Ann in green) down to the Minor puppy on the end. Thanks to everyone for their wonderful comments about him on the day .. I've never had so much praise for him. Thanks Ian for this video .. I got to see that as ever he stood full of attitude and confidence and moved fantastically well. I now understand why so many people thought it should have been his day! 

Proud of the boy 

Lumps And Bumps

The lump on Kaiah's hock is still there. It isn't any larger or smaller and still feels soft and fluidy (no such word?) She's bouncing around the place like an idiot and it's not restricting her at all. We've poked and prodded it and it's not painful at all. So what is it? Hopefully jumping about as she does she's probably just landed on it and knocked it and this has come up like a protective fluid cushion. From what I've read if this is the case it may never go away. I can cope with that, just as long as it's nothing more serious. Of course I worry, having lost Mikey within 4 months of his lump first appearing I can't help but worry, but being logical this has a very different texture/feel to it than Mikey's lump which was solid and attached to him. I won't post a picture of Mikey with his lump .. I try and remember him without it!
Krizzie also had a lump, it was half way down her rear pastern. It first appeared when she was about six months old and grew to the size of a golf ball. The vet refused to remove it, said it was cosmetic .. but it was pretty ugly really. A different vet removed it for me when she was spayed as an older bitch .. sadly she didn't live long after that. Krizzie was the 4th of our family to die in the devastating year of 2007, the year when our lives were completely ripped to apart.

More Photos Today

Lovely views and beautiful Blaniks

Ross and Kaiah got to the water in Cwm Dulyn before we did!

Ross and Kaiah messing about

Loki on his way back and the girls at the edge of the lake

Nico and Jezi on the bottom path to Llyn Cop

Lovely Walks

 The first 6 at Cwm Dulyn 

Jezi and Nico with the Nantlle lake behind them

Just The Boys At WPBW

 Lovely pics of my DIY time in the ring with Ross

I think he looks pretty OK - Pleased with those

Just the one photo of Loki

But still a fantastic memory to have.

I'm so pleased we took the photos of Kaiah outside now, at least there is a photo of everyone on the day. 

WPBW

Lovely Lovely run down to Builth for WPBW. It's a beautiful route anytime, but today was just perfect. Blue skies and stunning scenery. We saw Red Kites and bluebells .. I love bluebells. Great to catch up with everyone. Loki showed his sock off to win Limit, thank you so much to Ann who handled him. I just hope my handling didn't let the youngsters down but I really enjoyed a "DIY" day. Ross was third in Puppy Dog and Kaiah was 4th in SYB .. sadly due to her exuberance outside the ring I hadn't realised she had a swelling on her hock and sadly it showed in her movement today. Now I'll be worried sick about that! I really enjoyed taking Ian's Bella into her class, she went well for me and won PGB.
We have no photos at all from from the classes but I think someone who posts on Facebook was taking some .. Here's hoping he has some of my kids.

I had the opportunity to show Kaiah to someone who use to handle for me in days gone by. John handle Nikki and Dexi for me in the 90ies. I don't see him often now but as he's been involved with the breed for years I appreciated his opinion. He said he thought Kaiah was the best bitch I've ever had .. he said she's even better than Camri (Nikki) He went on to say "I'd buy that!" LOL I'm not selling, so he said "well keep it then!" lol 
I do agree with him and have said so many a time. She has the best conformation we've had here in a long time, super coat and colour and as her construction would suggest she has lovely movement. Onward and forward .. I hope!

Ross Getting Dirty And Cleaning Off

Finally Figured It Out!

From the walk I did on the other side  of the valley on Sunday I could see Fron clearly, so clear that on full zoom the camera could actually pick out the cottage. But from home I had no idea where I'd been. When I went back on Monday I tried to take photos of landmarks around me, but again at home with the binoculars and the camera I had no ideas. 

I was sure I would see these derelict buildings from home but failed miserably. 

On Wednesday I tried out another walk .. from there I could clearly see the walk I'd done on the previous days, walking past the derelict quarry building in the above photo. I thought when I got home that this would help me. Wrong!

Today as I walked the dogs I looked down into the valley and realised I could see a housing estate called Bro Silyn. (Marked by the arrow) On the Monday I had driven past this estate and parked behind it before climbing up towards the quarry. So out came the camera again .. Bingo .. On full Zoom I got it!

The next photo is taken from the same spot in our bottom field as above but with the camera on full zoom. I've marked the walk with a narrow white line. The derelict buildings can be seen clearly, and the house I saw on the top of the brow is also just within shot at the top of the photo. I could have done a full circle but opted not to as it would have meant walking along Lon Ddwr (A single track road), I preferred to go back the same way and give the dogs their freedom.

I'm happy now 

If your interested click on the photos to enlarge 

The Stress Of It All

Haggis (yes Haggis) the Butt Terrier, Ross and a new Blanik team member
at club tonight! 

Last night I went to print my passes for WPBW. I have two accounts with them with two different usernames and passwords. One is in my name only and has all my home-bred "Blanik" GSD's registered on it. The other is with Co-Owner of Silkenwood Poldark of Blanik - Mrs H Bibby and he is the only one registered on that account. Anyway I downloaded my passes and saw that Blanik Jeevana and Lokean Of Blanik seem to be entered in both names, they shouldn't be and never have been! I've checked my dogs listed on the site and everything is correct but I take it now they will be incorrectly entered in the catalouge as well. I have checked WELKS and other shows entered, the dogs are correctly listed on those passes. This morning I contacted Fossdata and they said that this is how the dogs were entered online. But how is that possible with 2 different accounts, 2 different user names and 2 different passwords? I'm really confused and they can't explain it either. I always log out of one account and then log into the other to enter the dogs, the accounts are never open together. Fossdata don't know how it's could have happened and I now have to see the secretary first thing on Saturday morning.
I then decided to contact the show via their social media page, they answered within minutes and told me .. "As advised by fossdata come to see us at the secretary's office first thing so we can write the amendments and pass this to the ring steward and fossdata to correct. The details will also get passed to the kennel club who will make the discussions on any awards you may achieve. Hope this helps" Yes it did help, but the line " make the discussions on any awards you may achieve," worried me as I know the K.C disqualifies dogs who are incorrectly entered at shows. A friend then suggested I contact the K.C for advice, they again were helpful and told me to hang onto all correspondence and make screenshots of all the info online which I did.
My post on Facebook drew some attention with no one able to explain how it happened, after all two separate accounts, 2 user names and 2 passwords. It seemed impossible that the owners of one dog could be listed as the owners of dogs that were nothing to do with them. One person suggested that the website must have been still in the memory cache for the web address of one account when i logged into the other, the software fault, it must have transferred my "remembered" name from the previous entry. This would be possible if I entered Ross and then did the entry for the other dogs on my Blanik account. Reading this I decided to check the conformation e.mail to see who I'd entered first, Loki and Kaiah's entries went through 5 mins before Ross' entry, so again that was not the solution. But and it's a HUGE but I then read my conformation e.mail and saw that was correct, the dogs were in my name only. I was straight back in touch with Fossdata sending them a copy of the e.mail and this was the reply .. "Oh! I am just as baffled as you are on this one. I am sorry but I have no explanation for this one, very odd. If you just take this to the society on the day, they will make sure it is correct in the results for you. Once again, very sorry regarding this, it had not happened before." Thank god I never delete my e.mails I now have proof that I had entered the show correctly and that somehow their software/website had muddled things up.
I still need to report in early tomorrow but now I know that any wins we may achieve will be ours to keep .. bet you we get feck all now ..lol

Exploring Again

But a little disappointed as it was quite a short walk, there was an alternative path but through fields of sheep. Though Nico is bomb proof and I would have put Jezi on the lead I did feel it was better to keep out. Still curiosity will get the better of me and no doubt I'll go back one day ... 

Another day another bridge!

I can see exactly where I was Sunday and Monday - Can you see the derelict buildings? Icame to them from Llanllyfni side on Sunday and from Bro Silyn on Monday.

Now where can I go tomorrow?