After Aiden

The rain stopped, the wind dropped a little and we went out.

Look how much the weather changed.

Sitting Out

 You wouldn't believe it would you, but yes I sat out with Archie for 20 - 30 mins. It was warm enough to give him just a little time to explore. 

Fun After The Rain

 I didn't take the camera, lots of photos but no Zoom - shame really

Jezi and Nico

Messing About

Bloody hell one is enough!

Ziva, Asha, Sammi

Happy Girls

Ross, Loki, Orin, Kaiah

Loki didn't want to get his willy wet! LOL

Kaiah and Orin

It's Raining

And the poor neglected puppy is left out in the rain!

Errr no, the pigin idiot won't come in!

I guess it's never too wet to sit on your table. 

That Tail

My darling Blade had such a poor quality tail, it had hardly any feathering but my god he was proud of it. Not that he raised it over his back, but it was always marginally too high in the ring. 

So how should the tail be? "Bushy-haired, reaches at least to hock – ideal length reaching to middle of metatarsus. At rest tail hangs in slight sabre-like curve; when moving raised and curve increased, ideally never above level of back. Short, rolled, curled, generally carried badly or stumpy from birth, undesirable"  So maybe Blade could get away with it then! I'm aware that Sammi has a slight curve in her tail, it's so slight that only one judge has ever noticed it, and truth be known I hadn't noticed it till she put in a critique. Actually it was the same judge at the same show that commented that Loki's ears were small for his head, I hadn't noticed that either, but they are. 

Now Orin is equally proud of his huge bushy tail. He has inherited his mums slight curve and on a walk he really rises it, to be honest from a show exhibitor's eye it look bloody awful. Does it matter? Well hell no, not as long as he doesn't raise it in the show ring. Of course, I don't know if he will or he won't, but he doesn't raise it at ring craft, does he? Doubting myself I went looking for photos and came across this video from a month ago. I hadn't originally published it as in the first few seconds he's pulling back to me, but now it shows me all I need to see. He is a little cracker isn't he! 

A Cat Post

You know I love these guys, I really do and I suppose I should be glad of their vermin patrols, but 4 dead rats in 3 days is really too much. Two in the house and two on the doorstep. Thank god little Archie sleeps in the kitchen as they are bigger than him. 

Edited to add - No 5 is now dead and caught in the clutches of Perry.

One Nil To Asha

 I'm so amused by this photo, Ziva and Sammi still scenting looking for their toy. Maybe if they looked up they'd realise Asha had it and see that she was standing there probably laughing at them? One of my favourite photos of the day, strangely no one else seemed to get it! 

They finally figured it out, but still have enough respect for Asha not to try and snatch it back.

Good girls.

Individual Photos?

Jezi

Nico

Asha

Sammi and Ziva 

I'd thought of getting individual photos of everyone for a change, as you can see from now on it doesn't always work. The top photo should have been Ziva's photo, but her daughter is never far away. 

Loki with Orin coming in shot

Kaiah with Loki getting in shot

Ross - Oh and Loki again!

Orin with back up from his big sister

Glad We Waited

Ok we only went in the fields, but they had a great time, and look at Asha go!

Archie 14 Weeks (Ish)

Orin Today

Baby O is bored today. I've been to Tesco first thing and I'm waiting patiently for the wind and rain to at least easy, he's waiting not so patiently! If it doesn't improve then we'll just go into the fields later, hopefully that'll keep them happy. I'm pig sick that we are missing all the shows, I know that when you look at the big picture it's really unimportant but I can still feel deflated about it  can't I? Orin is looking quite nice, but I'd love to see what he looks like against other males of the same age, how he compares in size and shape. He has coat and glamour, but he is rather too proud of his hug hairy tail for my liking. Saying that I've not seen him raise it at ring craft, so I hope he'll leave it down if he ever does get into the show ring.  

I measured Orin yesterday, just curious after seeing him standing a fair bit taller than Asha. I made him 63cms. Just behind Ross was at the same age, but I do hope he doesn't end up as tall as an adult. I can't see it somehow though. His face continues to improve daily, there is now no noticeable swelling, he just needs some hair! 

Blanik German Shepherds

 The Blanik Website is now offline - 

Sad, but I didn't use it, the money is best spent elsewhere. 

Oldies

 A conversation with a friend about old dogs got me thinking as I walked today. I have four old dogs, well three and a very old dog. Lots of show people don't have old dogs, they just have the show team and the show team live in kennels. When the dogs are too old for showing or not winning they rehome them. In principle that sounds dreadful, but really I get it. They retire from the showing world and a kennel to a sofa and a woodland walk, so it is in the interest of the dog. Personally I couldn't do it, these are family, it's different for us our dogs are pets who go to shows! Of course never say never, in the interest of the dogs I have rehomed and I would again if someone else could give them more than we could. 

Sometimes maybe less is more, if there were less of them the walks would be longer maybe? But what else would be different? Really I'm not sure. I'm happy with the food I use. They all spend time in the living room, they all go on "Special" walks, they all get to go to shows, well apart from Ziva because she hated it. I can't think really that much would be currently different.

Yesterday's memory photo was of Asha 10 years ago. Honestly I scrawled past it without recognising her, I then scrawled back and got so emotional. I don't remember her looking like that, honestly I don't. She was so beautiful, Oh hell still is, distinguished and beautiful. I was asked recently if she was the oldest I'd had? Well no, I was blessed to have her mother Tali till after her 13th and Kiri was a few months short of 14 and Simba 2 months short of 13. Most of the bitch line have lived long health lives with only darling Krizzie leaving us far far too young. 

I pray for a Kaiah daughter and that will bring us up to 10 - just one behind the most we've ever had and to be honest 2 over the maximum I like to have. I know I have a lot of heartache to come in the not so distant future, life is for living for the today, so I'll enjoy my oldies and look forward to trying to get a Kaiah daughter. 

Orin's Face

Today's beak is looking better. There is still a tiny scab and I took this photo just after smothering it in coconut oil. Coconut Oil is supposed to encourage hair growth ... here's hoping it come back black not white. Kiri had a white patch on her face following an injury, oh no lying, following one of her many fights! 

Though he did it a fortnight ago this photo was taken 10 days ago, when really it looked at it's worst. So much swelling, a nasty tear to his little face and all that pus. It must have hurt him so much when it happened ... but he never told us at the time. 

After The Clocks Went Back

I stood looking at the amazing view, Jezi went up on the rock and I thought yeah that'll be great for a photo. I called Nico pointing to the rock, he came racing over, jumped up and knocked her off ... as only he would. Talk of a bull in a china shop! What a dog. Anyway I convinced Jezi to jump back on and as you can see Nico's tail is still wagging after he realised he'd entertained me so much. 

I thought I may try Loki with the girls. I thought it would be fun. Wrong, very wrong. 

Though he had his own toy he kept grabbing theirs and so Ziva and Sammi just kept spatting. To be honest they got on my bloody nerves and I swore not to do it again, but with Kaiah's season I may well have too!

No Orin hasn't grown overnight, I think he picked the highest bit to stand on. I was looking forward to this walk but Orin and I had words as we set off. I thought it best to take him into my office and discuss the situation with him before we went through the gate. LOL My point is simple, STOP BITING ROSS! Now Ross is a lovely boy and proving to have the patience of a saint, but he'll only take so much and having Orin constantly hanging off him simply isn't fair. Anyway Orin disagreed and I had to hand him the yellow card, he continued to protest and the red card came out,  I put him on the lead. He then threw a huge tantrum and threw himself on the floor objecting to the lead. Tough shit mate I've dealt with bigger and badder than you. (He's quite a softie really) With the tantrum over I let him off the lead and a simple but harsh sounding  "Ahh" was enough to keep his shiny new teeth off my Ross. 

Further on the walk he did forget the meaning of  "Orin Come." I decided to be patient, but he was obviously being awkward and toddled off further in the opposite direction. As he was facing the other way quietly I whispered to the other two, come on lets go and we ran off in the other direction, he soon came! Recall reminders seem currently necessary! 

The sky and clouds were beyond fascinating today, beautiful beautiful day.

Emotions

 It has been an emotional few days really, celebrating the good news with Paul that his cancer has not returned and then finding out that Debra died on Wednesday. We've worked together for maybe 6 - 8 years, happy times at a work place like I thought I'd never find again, but I did at Bwtri. Debra's determination got her to her daughters wedding on the previous Saturday - a special moment for all. 

Throughout this pandemic our Ring Craft get-togethers in an open field have been a life line for us and our young dogs. We are all too old to go hugging and kissing behind the bike sheds and care has been top of our agenda. In Wales during this time up to 30 people could meet in an outside space, there was never really more than 10 of us. We took photos and shared memories .. but of course it only takes one to piss on the parade and some bitchiness and nastiness has been aimed at the owner of the field for allowing us to use it. We/She were not doing anything wrong, and of course we will now stay away until we are given further guidelines, but at the time we were not breaking any Covid rules. What upset me more is that the person in question is on my friends list, that is how they've seen the photos and figured out where we were. So a friend of mine, who exhibits dogs in North Wales really has stuck the knife in. I'm assured it's not the GSD person I thought it could have been ... but just to piss her off here's some more dog photos!

A Nico Daughter

 The bitch at the far side is a Nico x Kia daughter from their second litter. Her registered name is "KENTIXEN RAPUNZEL" I must admit I was not given her pet name, but as she was the last to go at the time I called her homeless Hannah which her breeder found amusing! 

This photo was taken when she came to visit with the breeder - not too bad eh! 

I love seeing pictures of his progeny, all his daughters do have a similar look about them don't they. Pretty girls with dark masks! 

Aber Llyn Cam

Not far from the empty lake, in the next valley there is also this very boggy area. You may remember I had been told it was called Cwm Llaid, (Bog/ mud Valley) well it seems that is wrong, it's called "Aber Llyn Cam." The best translation I can come up with is Crooked Lake Estuary. Funny yeah, but you can see why! 

On the Facebook page the old timers are talking about people they remember in and around the village. As a nation the Welsh tend to give people nicknames that tend to stay with them for life. Steve may have left Liverpool since he was 17 but here he will always be Steve Scouse, Pat Rottie showed Rottweilers, Phil Post was a post man in his younger days ... quite easy to follow really,but I was tickled pink to read about Will dwr cachu who use to work in the water plant .. I'll translate, Will Shit Water ...(or maybe Shit Water Will)  imagine going through life being called that, and now in his grave it's how he's remembered ... Well I'm amused anyway. 

Here We Are

The dogs standing at the near side - the empty lake behind them 

On the same day in Nov 2019, the far side trees are the ones that you can see behind the hole in the previous post.