Let's Go Outside .. In The Sunshine

All I did was sit on the step with Jamie and gradually out he came.

Again I take comfort from the fact that if anything spooked him he ran back in. 

 Thinking about it 

 Happy and confident 

Can I be in your gang? 

Kaiah's Season

Kaiah's season has been going on a little longer than her previous seasons, but nothing like her mother. It's day 19 since we first saw blood and the last couple of days there is change afoot. Loki is now kenneled and Nico is pacing and just a little unsettled. So I guess if I was mating her today would be the day, or maybe tomorrow? I must make a note of it for future reference. We have a show on Saturday and I'll still take her, bitch judging is in the afternoon, the male judging will have been in the morning and she can stay in the van until the boys have vacated the buildings.

Ross has been showing little interest in her throughout the season, preferring to play with Asha or flirt with Sammi. I had just mentioned this to Steve when Kaiah presented her rear end to Ross, tail flagging and Ross decided he would oblige. So now it'll be Kaiah in the kennel and the boys in together. Kaiah will not be amused. Maybe I'll see if I can get her a raw bone or something to entertain herself with. 

Everyone knows how critical I am of my dogs, but I do see the good as well as the bad, so I have to say this again. God this bitch is ridiculously pretty, she epitomises femininity and her cheeky expression, dark head and sparklingly mischievous dark eye do not belie her true personality. After generations of Blanik bitches this is the head I was looking for in a bitch .. only a slightly closer ear set would complete the already beautiful picture. I'm so so chuffed with her, even if she is too clever for her own good and she does constantly take the piss out of me. Never before have I owned a dog that I feel just laughs in my faces when I tell her off, and friends have seen her do it; unless I really loose it, which I rarely do, Kaiah just laughs and get on with life. 

Three Weeks

Little Perry is still doing well, though I'm still having issues with his name. I love the name, but I just can't get the other name off the tip of my tongue and I have to think before I call him. Oddly Periwinkle comes out easier than Perry .. Steve's been saying Periwinkle Minor .. one of the two varieties apparently, something only a gardener would know!
Yesterday whilst I had Perry in the living room I left the outside door open, but he was terrified, absolutely terrified and hid in the far side of the room until I closed the door then it was playtime as usual. So whilst he seems to currently hate the outdoors he loves to run, Steve says we should have called him Forest as he charges around like a mad man at times. I'm sure with time and confidence he'll love going out too, currently this house is his safety net, only three weeks ago he wouldn't come out of a crate, maybe in another three weeks he'll love the garden too.
Perry is still quite little and scrawny, I think Junior was too but he soon caught up. Maybe Perry will be a small cat like Billy was? One thing is for sure, I hadn't notice how beautifully marked he was really. I thought he was really cute, but hell now I think he'll be a handsome boy. I've no idea whether he'll keep the blue back and only have the tabby stripes on his legs and face or whether he'll become more tabby with his adult coat .. time will tell. 
The other boys are doing well with him, Choo likes to play with him and Jamie joins in in his usual lazy way. It would be nice if Perry and Choo did form a bond as Choo's a little on the outside of the tabby pack with Jamie and Junior being the best of friends. The girl cats of course .. HATE HIM, but they'll get over it, they always do!

Lovely Walks

Three years ago I was waking up in a hospital bed with a headache. Celebrating life today with all my lovely family, (human, canine and feline) and my wonderful friends who are always there for me. Special thoughts and love to Paula Allen and Suzanne and anyone else who wakes up in Dott ward or it's likes elsewhere. I guess we'll never forget being there together. Huge event in our lives. This week I'll remember the people, the faces the smells and noises .. the fear and relief. Part of me would like to completely forget, but then when someone or a team of people save your life I guess there is need to celebrate them ...

Men At Work

Really chuffed to find this on Facebook from yesterdays show. I was at the front with Sammi and these are the Young guns Kaiah with Mark and Ross with Ian. Love this photo but adore the headshot of Ross below.  

Though Kaiah's well in season I'm still able to walk her with Ross. Nico is still chilled and Loki still eating. I do hope she's not getting a long season like her mum, though she is bleeding normally so maybe not? 

My plan for a peaceful walk is still working well. Ross loves taking the kong out and I only give it to him on the walk. You can read the body signals here, ears back and tail raised, he is very aware that Kaiah is catching up with him.

No Limping

 Love this phone photo of Nico. After 2 days of just field exercise the main man is lame no more. 

I've no idea what happened to him, but he is a little like a bull in a China shop so he probably bashed himself on something!

I trust this guy so much, it would never cross my mind to put him on a lead. I actually use him to move the sheep and clear the paths for the next walks. Amazing dog, if I had any talent in the field he could be a working shepherd, others of course go on the lead! 

Thoughts

As the GSD's where being judged yesterday there was blood curdling scream from another ring. Judging stopped in all rings as everyone was shocked to see a Great Dane holding another by the side of his head and his ear. The screaming chilled me to my bones and was truly a sound I will never forget. The owners emotional screams of "get it off him, get it off him" will haunt me too. I've no idea what happened, who started what, who was to blame and I'm not here to point the finger as at the end of the day dogs will be dogs and we are all entitled to have a bad day. 
Generally as show people we should all be proud, all our dogs behave amazingly. We ask so much of our show dogs and they are more than happy to oblige, but even the dogs are just not in the mood for it some days. You know we sit in crowded rooms with hundreds of dogs, rarely a cross word, well between the dogs anyway. We take them in a ring where a stranger pokes and prods and stick their fingers in their mouths, we move them in circles in groups and expect them to stand still for minutes at a time ... and my god they do it to please us, most of them with great enthusiasm. I have had dogs who hated it, Kiri to a point and of course Ziva. If they hate it they simply don't have to go!
Sometimes, just sometimes I wish owners where just a little more careful. Not everyone wants to be flattened by an over exuberant GSD, teaching Ross that not everyone and/or their dog wants to speak to him has been hard and I always tell anyone who speaks to him, Kaiah or Sammi that they may jump up .. and that Loki will ignore them ..lol Seriously though,  I believe it's bad manners to allow dogs to launch themselves at other people and their dogs, maybe the other dog is having a bad day! My dogs are noisy, exuberant and happy at shows but where other people and their dogs are concerned I do try and give them their space, all I can hope is that other people in my breed and other grant us the same courtesy ...

Now You Can See A Difference

12th of August 

27th of August 

Not a massive one but you can see Ross' coat is finally coming back

Today's Critiques

Wow .. Bloody Wow .. A judge who's on the ball and the power of social media. 

1st..Stanley & Bibby...Silkenwood Poldark of Blanik. 14 months. Sable. Top size, medium strength, A little out of coat today, Very good head, Dark eye. Very good Stop. Teeth correct, Good ear carriage.. Good length of neck, High wither, Slightly steep in upper arm. Clean over and underlines. Slightly short but well moulded croup. Good hind angulation. Sound both ways. Good side gait retaining his lines and wither on the move. Still very much a youngster who needs time to mature.

1st..Stanley..Blanik Jeevana..22 Months. B&T. Medium size and strength. Very feminine, Alert with a lovely expression. Dark eye, Very good Stop. Teeth correct. Lovely ear carriage. Good length of neck to a normal Wither which continues into a clean overline down to a correct angled and well moulded croup. Clean underline Which tucks up correctly. Very good front and rear angulation. Sound both ways. Stands correct. Well balanced on the move showing good coordination, reach and rear drive. I had no hesitation in awarding her BOB.

1st..Stanley..Blanik Ivana. 4.5yrs. B&T. Medium size and strength. Feminine, Very good head. Dark eye. Very Good Stop. Ear set slightly wide. Good length of neck. Normal wither. Clean overline. Well moulded croup. Very good front and rear angulation. Sound both ways. Very good side gait and deportment.

Flint And Deeside

Today was Kaiah's day .. I'm showing her sparingly at Open Shows now and generally keeping her back for Champ shows and breed shows. But with a breed specialist judging at Flint today I had to give it a go. The entry on paper was OK but sadly there was some absentees. Ah well in it to win it!  

 Mark brushed off the cobwebs and handled his first GSD in years taking Kaiah to BOB

 My clown stood alone in Junior, but went well and looked great

He just needs time 

Sammi B chucking her coat now. 

Ah well we'll have to see what she's like for next week's ch.show

Ross, Nico, Kaiah and Perry

Young Ross was a little stiff last night. I can only think/hope that it is another bout of pano. It's  been weeks since the last time ...EOE week, or the week after, (checking dates as I type) 8/7/18 was the show date so his lameness was very apparent the following week. The walk yesterday to Llyn Cop is a very easy flat walk and though of course he had a swim it was probably only about a minute or two as we didn't stay at the lake for long. I'll keep an eye on him this week as I really don't want him to be obviously lame on the hard surface of COB next week.
Ross' coat has started to improve, at last. The colour now returning to the rich red that he was and the saddle, (is that what you call it on a sable?) is noticeably darker. I have no experience of sables but apparently they darken with each coat. Cross everything now that this new coat will be thicker than the last coat.
Talking of lame, Nico is badly lame on his front. He was fine on Friday when we set out on our walk but about half way through he got suddenly lame. It wasn't like Ross, is he or isn't he? Nico is lame! We'll see what a couple of days rest will bring and if he's no better then see a vet on Tuesday.
Kaiah is on about day 14 of her season, hopefully it'll all be over and done with so I can take her to the show on Saturday, but I expect a frantic week ahead. Maybe, just maybe I'll be thinking of mating her next time, or at least the time after that.

Yesterday afternoon in sunshine I took Perry out to the front garden, as I expected he was terrified and I had to hang on as best I could. I sat on the bench and Jamie joined us, which I think helped a little. I was only out a few minutes, damn shame I can't keep it up as the weather is too poor to take him out today. He's so happy and confident in the kitchen, but the world is so much bigger than a kitchen and he needs to gradually and safely get used to his surroundings. Talking of surroundings, we had to move the fridge freezer to get him out again last night. What goes down the back can't get back up. Steve had tried to block off the gap. but he'd pushed the board aside!
I watched Perry play last night, ever game is just preparation for the murdering that will surely follow. As we came home from the walks yesterday Linda and I stopped to watch Goldfinches and young Sparrows bathing in a puddle. I couldn't help but shout at them, please don't go near our house .. fly away, far away  .. Isla is out!

One For The ladies

Couldn't miss them out could we ... 

Llyn Cop Walks

My Headshots Critiques

Dexi and Blade

I'll go through them as I see them and remember them. Blade's muzzle was too long for his forehead giving him a more typical English GSD head and expression. Though at the time I thought he was perfect. I guess I noticed the difference in heads when Dexi was maturing, I can't think of anything that I would want differently about Dexi's head. He was truly stunning.
Jay has slightly small ears, though the ear set was spot on, he also had slightly light eyes but with his paler tan and less mask it was not noticeable.

Loki 

Louis, hmm, Mr perfect, Mr Amazing but no he wasn't, he had a fault that is not noticeable in a photos. Louis had slightly soft ears but always got away with it in the showring as he moved with his ears folded back, had he moved with them forward it may have been noticed.
Kai was maybe a little long is muzzle and could have benefited from slightly larger ears to compliment that huge head. His son Mikey had slightly wider set ears but of correct size. His head proportions where correct but maybe his eye colour on that black mask could have benefited from being just a tad darker. The same remarks can really apply to Nico, other than his muzzle is a tad longer than Mikey's was .. not overlong in my opinion though, and he has a melting kind expression which is sometimes lost in a dark head.

Ross

Loki can not hide his light eyes. Light eyes on a dark face are without doubt a distracting fault, it depends on the light of the day how distracting that can be.  As I've said before his ears are also a tad too small for his masculine head, larger ears would definitely complete the picture.
Ross still has to mature, but for his age I can't think of much that should be different. Correct size and set of ears, correct head proportions and a lovely dark eye .. though the shape of his eye is correct, they are a little small.
With all the facts my close to perfect head would be Dexi, with Ross potentially in second place and Louis in third place.  But of course we are merely making constructive criticisms on the show dogs ... as pets they are all just perfect.

Confusing myself

 Perry

I'm finding it hard to say "Perry" when on the tip on my tongue if "Riley." The kittens don't look anything alike but my memories of Riley recently came flooding back and now he's permanently in the back of my mind. The Facebook memories don't help with a photo or two of Riley popping up almost everyday right now. I'm trying not to share them as it will only add to my emotional state.

I don't think the names are anything alike, and I've always liked the name Perry, it takes me back to my childhood and a Blue Merle Rough Collie I knew, Di son. Some of you may remember me talk of Di as she was to come and live with me and Pepsi but sadly for me the flat fell through. 

Little Perry is still coming on,, slowly does it. He's now venturing onto the floor in the living room, but if he gets spooked he runs back to me on the sofa. I'm pleased to be his safety net, that will give me some comfort when I eventually take him outside. I fear we have a while to go till then. I treat the kittens very much as individuals and after 2 weeks of living here all the others have been getting supervised time out in the yard, Perry is nowhere near ready though I may try taking him into the garden in my arms one day soon. 

I know the name and image of Riley will slip out of my mind again in time and I can say "Perry" without having to think about it. But I will always remember the beautiful Riley with love, sadness and great emotion. 

 Riley

Headshots - I've Done This Before

 ... but male heads have been the topic of conversation between a few of us recently. Remember the standard calls for a head that is obviously masculine, you should know straight away with a GSD whether it's a dog or a bitch. Saying that it should never be coarse or overdone, a GSD is not a "Head breed" and of course a fine head is also undesirable. Ideally the skull is approximately 50 per cent of overall length of head with the width of skull corresponding approximately to length, in males slightly greater, in females slightly less. Muzzle strong, lips firm, clean and closing tightly. Top of muzzle straight, almost parallel to forehead.
Eyes should be medium-sized, almond-shaped, never protruding. Dark brown preferred, but lighter shade permissible, provided expression good and general harmony of head not destroyed.  So an animal with a dark head would be penalised for light eyes, where as the same coloured eye on a dog with paler tan or less of a black muzzle would be acceptable. The expression lively, intelligent and self-assured.
The ears should be medium-sized, firm in texture, broad at base, set high, carried erect, almost parallel, never pulled inwards or tipped, tapering to a point, open at front. Never hanging. Folding back during movement permissible.
Now think of the males you know and considering these points who has the more correct heads?
Look at my boys, do you see them as I do, you may do, but maybe you don't. The written word is open to interpretation by individuals meaning that you're idea of correct may well be slightly different to mine, what you may find acceptable .. I may not!
When taking photos the lights affect the eye colour so some of these may not be quite a true representative of the dogs eye colour, that's why judging from a photo can be so misleading. But I know ... lol

Blade and Dexi

Jay

Louis and Kai

Mikey

Nico and Loki

Ross

Now please don't say .."But they are all beautiful" of course they are. Very different and very beautiful, I don't dispute, the question is who is more correct?  

Anglesey Critiques

Generally I'm happy with these critiques for the youngsters from Anglesey CS though you do wonder about the ability of a judge who can''t even get something as basic as the colour of the dog correct? I never realised I had 3 sables!!!
German Shepherd Dog – P (2,2) Two nice youngsters. 1st Stanley & Bibby’s Silkenwood Poldark of Blanik. 11month sable male. Just preferred his head proportions and expression plus front and rear. Good topline.
 PG (2,1) Stanley’s Blanik Jeevana. 19month sable bitch. Lovely feminine head, good front, moved well, nice topline, in hard condition. Another nice youngster!
 O (3,2) Stanley’s Lokean of Blanik ShCM. 3 ½ year old sable male. Lovely masculine head, good length of neck into well laid shoulders. Nice sloping topline and covered the ground well. BOB. .

I Think This May Work

The spates between Kaiah and Ross at the beginning and on the walks have intensified. It's hard to know what to do for the best. Whilst it's actually good that Ross sticks up for himself with her, no one else does, I don't want anyone hurt either. To be honest it's not much worse between them than it was between Loki and Sammi when they were adolescents, but then I was afraid Sammi would get hurt because of the size different. With Kaiah and Ross there is a size difference too but Kaiah is sharper and Ross more intense and refusing to back down. It's odd if Asha "tells him" he's very respectful, but Kaiah is his mate and they are close in age, I guess he considers it as even -Stevens.
Anyway I don't want to spoil the walk or the friendship so I opted to try Ross with a toy. As it happened the free classic Kong I got for complaining about the broken Kong balls.  I first did this with Nikki to stop her pulling Blade about by his neck on a walk and it worked. If today is anything to go by this will be successful with Ross and Kaiah too, and as Loki had no interest in the Kong and is happy with his gundog dummy I'm hoping it'll work all round. Watch this space ....

I'm Still Here

The laptop is hanging in there by a thread, all my photos are backed up on google photos and an external storage device, the laptop has been today to get the hard drive cloned .. just incase. 

Anyway some photos of Perry meeting the boys. His first trip to the living room was terrifying for him but last night went well. He's seen Loki who was made to stay in the doorway, but that was disastrous so extra time will be needed with the dogs .. 

 Choo being delightful 

Jamie tolerated him being there

Headshots Of The Boys

Taken yesterday at the show

Love Both

*****

I may disappear now for a few days 

 After 7 years of hard labour my Laptop is dying!