The Boys

Junior, Choo, Jamie

Archie, Perry, Luther 

Feed Me

Too Late - I'll help myself to the dog food then!

Of course what's really amusing is that Luther refused the whiskas cat food as it was in gravy, and he only likes it in jelly! 

Orin In Training -Again

Love this photo of him. Much more shapely than when I was standing him the other night. But of course that means that he can be stood to suite judges.

What Did He See?

Sammi's Kids

Blanik Jeevana 

Videx Merlot x Blanik Ivana

Blanik Kyriacos 

Fransisco Di Casa Gregori x Blanik Ivana 

*****

There is no doubt that mating Nico to my bitch line has given me the depth of quality and type of dog that pleases me. In Sammi, Blanik took a huge step forward towards my ideal dog, but what she then produced has taken me even closer to my picture perfect. The top photo of Kaiah was taken today. What would I change about her? What could make her better? Hell I don't know, to me she is a very correct type of bitch. She's feminine yet strong, unexaggerated in stance and has super free movement. She has excellent hips and elbows, lovely coat and colour and a very strong character. Ok no dog is perfect, maybe she could have slightly stronger bone, and I would prefer a slightly closer ear set, but really I'm nit-picking. 

Now we have Sammi's son Orin waiting in the wings to make his mark on the show ring. It would probably be wrong of me to compare a young male with a mature bitch, but currently Kaiah is still the best at Blanik. (I am only talking about conformation - the show dog)  Of course with maturity that could change, he certainly has the potential to be the best male at Blanik but it remains to be seen if he can equal his semi sister! lol  We all know what I would change about him, for me he has a very distracting feature that will not change, much anyway ... but the rest of him will change as he matures, he really is about where he should be for his age. 

Sammi's kids - Miss Belle did well! 

Left At Home

He's not amused!

I think I've been forgiven, but I’m not sure I will be if I do it again tomorrow!

Someone Is Missing

What's a party without its clown? God we missed you Ross!

Orin, Kaiah and Ovulation

I photoshopped both these photos out of a group photos. A little bit of a cock-up in the slate mound behind Orin's ears but I guess only noticeable because I know. 

A conversation with a friend and some interesting information from a lady involved with ovulation swab testing in bitches really has had me thinking. Apparently some bitchs have a very small window of opportunity for a successful mating, much smaller than I ever realised. According to these tests some bitches are only fertile for as little as 8 hours ... WOW. That kind of makes life difficult, actually impossible for travelling distances for matings. Sammi is obviously not one of those bitches as without doubt she was mated 48 hrs too late in 2016 and still managed to have 3 puppies. Obviously mated at the right time she would have had a larger litter as she did in March. To be honest with my health at the time I think three was ideal, and if I'd had 10 bitches I doubt I'd have had better than Kaiah. Kaiah window of opportunity is obviously much smaller than Sammi's and all we can do now is cross everything for success with Kaiah 

Look At The Clouds

The walk had to be cut short as Ross' pad started bleeding again. As regards to walking him I feel like I'm damned if do and I'm damned if I don't!

Escape From Home

At the weekend I said to Steve that I had decided to leave the utility room window open for a few hours so Archie could start going in and out. I considered my options and thought this was safer. If I pinned open the cat flap then he would realise it was there and that he could go in and out that way. Best use the window then I could just shut it when I want him in! How naive was I! Of course he had already been watching the other guys going in and out, of course he was going to suss it out sooner or later ... I just wish it hadn't been so soon. Yesterday morning he just bobbed in an out continually, once I was over the shock I felt OK about it. After all I will still lock him in the kitchen at night, and unlike Perry he's realised it's a two-way door straight away.

Last night at about 9.30pm I realised he had gone AWOL, I went looking, sure as damn it he was playing in the garden. I called him in for biscuits, shut the door and blocked the cat flap with a washing basket till bedtime. Sorry mate you are still a titch, there are still rules to follow! 

The Group Photos

Asha, Nico and Ross

Asha enjoyed her walk as she always does. Bless her, she's painfully thin now, but there's nothing I can do really other than plod on. I must admit she's that boney that it goes through me to cuddle her, but of course I always will. Her appetite is as ever excellent, but I think she probably doesn't get the nourishment she needs from of the food. I'm giving her 3 meals a day but without doubt for some reason her digestive system just isn't working as it should be. Still she's a happy Asha and every day is precious. 

Poor Ross is in the wars again. He's caught and ripped his stop pad on something. (I think it's correctly known as the carpal pad?)Again there was no  yelp or cry on the walk, and we only discovered it when we got home. There was quite a lot of blood but we washed it and put wound powder on it. Years ago Louis had a similar experience but his stop pad was hanging off and had to be stapled back. This doesn't look anything like that but we will need to keep an eye on it. 

I think Nico has some stiffness in his hind left leg, which makes sense from what I was seeing last week. He has excellent hips but something is not right. Of course he could have just done something but because of his increasing years I think we'll get something like yumove to help him now. 

Lovely Day For Walking

Orin In Training

It's hard to believe that its taken 8 Months for Orin to actually get into a hall. In normal circumstances I'd have been carting him round every Ring Craft and every show from about 8 weeks old. I've always believed the risk from disease to a puppy is minimal, but the risk from lack of socialisation is great.  Puppy should have immunity from the mothers till about 4 months, early socialisation before vaccinations kick in is paramount. Of course I'm sensible. I would carry pups into a training hall. I would

bring a vet bed and put it on the floor, I would carry them to friends houses and pubs and garden centres. For Orin, like his generation it has been different, we've done all we could but it was never going to be as good. So when the opportunity arose for us to have Ring Craft in the village hall I jumped at it. Following Covid regulations only 15 of us are allowed in the hall, but we have opted for 10 dogs maximum. Last night, our first night and we had 7 dogs, it was great to be back together, though apart ..lol

To the untrained eye Orin was excited from the word go, but reading him correctly you would realise that he was edgy and uncomfortable, He kept jumping up and grabbing my sleeves. He was desperate for reassurance and I felt the best thing I could do was remain totally calm, it was hard! Within no time at all he had settled, he also realised for himself that using his nails to grip the shiny floor just made things worse. I came home feeling immensely proud of him and how well he had coped in this totally alien environment, that pride only increased when I saw this photo.  

Poor Ross

Ross has been carrying his tail strangely on and off for a few days. When I lifted it to have a look he screamed. We checked his bottom and tail but found no marks or abnormalities, but I did have my suspicions from day one. 

Today the suspicion was confirmed, as Ross runs off at the beginning of the walk Orin grabs at the root of his tail, yes the root not the tip. No bloody wonder it hurt. I've seen Ross spit out the kong and tell him off a few times but naively I hadn't realised just why and thought Orin was just running behind him. All credit to Ross for not losing the plot with him. Now I need to figure out how to stop it. It's not going to be easy with them running in front is it, but it has to stop!

Orin I think is going through a bit of a teenage rebellion. He's started biting and grabbing at me again, not in a nasty way, he has no malice in him but again it needs to stop. (Says she who let Louis grab her for nine years!) He does it when he gets over excited or is being ignored ... Yes I am addressing it!

Ian's Photo

As I often moan sunny Sundays brings every man and his wife child and dog onto the mountain ... Oh I forget his bike, they bring those too. I never let the dogs go to anyone, I avoid everyone at all costs and if I can't, I put them on the lead. To be fair we do have plenty of space. But of course there are exceptions to every rule, here the Blaniks have seen Uncle Ian!

 Asha also discovered his van! 

I Don't Like Sunny Sundays

K Kids

Jazz and Isla

(Spice and Chilli) 

Ginger and  Fly (Beth)

Bruce and Loki  (Biscuit and Basil)

Merlin and Orin 

A Celtic Colourpoint

 Haha - well Niel and I have invented a cat breed. 

The stripes have faded a little on his middle piece. 

He's quite a little brat, but my god he's beautiful 

It's hard to see the blue eyes in the house lights, but they still reflect red. When you are not use to that it takes some getting use too. 

Around And About In The Wind And Rain

Can't Sleep

 

Another sleepless night, I'm sure most of you know why. As Ann is a private person it was decided to keep everything off Facebook, but being as it was in the Daily Post newspaper and online I see no reason not to write here. I've known Ann over 32 years, my eccentric, funny and special friend. A very very special person, she was the one who bought me home and slept on the sofa to look after me when I got so drunk I couldn't function. (Just the once - honest) She was the one who pushed me to buy Dexi back and leant me the money to do so, the tales of friendship and kindness are endless. I always call Ann my foster mother.

On Tuesday morning Ann was walking Robbie down the single track road to her home, in daylight hours, when a tractor hit them both. Apparently the driver just didn't see her! I just can't comprehend the situation. Ann is small and slight, yes, but Robbie is a big Golden Retriever ... how could he not have seen them? Ann was taken to the local hospital and then airlifted to the trauma unit in Stoke. Robbie had a similar journey from the local vets to a specialist clinic. News on both are sketch. Being 79 Ann is of a generation were her mobile phone was always in the drawer at home and sadly for us all now getting updates is difficult. I don't want to pester poor Tony, he will be in pieces, we'll just have to wait till some information filters through.

I tried to distract myself but my thoughts went to Kaiah, so that didn't help. That's it, nothing else for it, get up, tea, jaffa cakes and some time on Facebook it is then! 

Four Walks

In heavy rain I walked with the boys along the Allt Wen path from Penmorfa to Tremadog, and to somewhat shocked expressions I went to visit my parents. As I told them, never the wrong weather, just the wrong clothes. Under the oil skins I was dry, and we all thoroughly enjoyed the walk!  

By this afternoon it was dry so off I went again. Was Nico all right? Hmmm I'm not sure but I can't put my finger on it! 

The girls and Orin, when did my baby boy get so big?

The original line up of the Young Guns 

Look - Sunshine

Lovely walks, thank god for a bright sunny day. 

My main man didn't seem to have quite his usual spark today.

I'll keep an eye on him.