Terrorising Friends

                       

A lovely afternoon for a very nutty Beti at Carrie's house. Friends, cake, tea, a coal fire and a nutty puppy, not a lot better! 

Another First

First time on the mountain for Beti with this group. Of course I was nervous with Ross, so I gave him 5 mins to get rid of some of his exuberance first. Twenty minutes is enough for Loki and ideal for Beti - so yeah it was a success. 

Sky And Pups

Welcome five dogs and three bitches, always sad for the little one who didn't make it.

Great job Sky. 

Lovely Morning

I was expecting rain when I got up this morning, but we were blessed with more sunshine for the morning. I got the dogs out and then Steve and I carried on with our pen building. It's drizzling now so we've all come in. Beti isn't eating this morning, I hate it when puppies mess with their food, and she was doing so well!

Sky And Orin Babies

So the vet said 3, but it's quite obvious you are carrying more; so they wait till you've had 6 then take you out for a wee, clean your bed and then no 7 arrives!

A little girl late for the party, but she seems Ok. 4 dogs and 3 bitches, and you never really know it's over till it's over - do you!

Seriously, I wouldn't go to a vet for a pregnancy scan. No disrespect, but there are people trained to do a better job, a specialist in the field can give you a far better idea what to expect.

Beti's Adventure

Looking down from the bridge into the river

                                

There was no chance of me letting her off the lead, she would have been down that bank and in and with the current that strong she wouldn't stand a chance. 

Isn't she beautiful, one for the calendar I think!

Back on the bridge, another lovely photo.

So Many Dogs!

Zeus

At the end of Zeus's walk I saw people coming and going from the holiday cottage, I grabbed my keys and went off up hill. With so many walks to do I couldn't go far, as I got back to the van Loki tried to jump before I got the ramp out and fell backwards, I may have stopped him falling too hard, but I didn't help myself in doing so! I put Ross and Sammi in and went to find my keys. OMG, my keys, where were they? Please not today, I checked and re-checked the bag and my pockets, even opening my coat to check my hoodie, nothing. Well I must have lost them on route, with Sammi and Ross in tow I re traced my steps. As I was setting off I saw Mandy coming my way, I phoned her and she started looking, she saw Barry and he started looking! I went back to the van thinking they may have fallen as Loki slipped back, nope. I put Ross and Sammi back in the van and went to retrace my steps a second time. Barry and Mandy walked with me, I was near in tears, looking on the floor and constantly checking the bag and my pockets. I rang Steve and then tipped everything out of the bag onto the floor .. no keys, but as I started to put everything back I felt a lump in the bag. The bloody keys, the lining in the bag had ripped and they'd gone behind it, OMG I felt such a numpty!

Siska and Orin

Just a short walk for Beti with her handsome father, as there were plans afoot for this afternoon.

Ania and Lucca. With Mark having had a heart by pass and in Liverpool hospital I was babysitting so Sharon could go and get him today. I had them for about 4 hours, they were so good!

Sky

Sky is due any day now. From this photo taken Wednesday evening, I think the vet may have been pessimistic when he said 3 pups - I think I'd double that eh! 

Good luck young lady!

Beti And Her Sisters

Recent photos of Ruby, Polly. Beti and Abbie 

From the photos Abbie seems to be the largest, but Beti seems to have more coat than Abbie and Polly. Of course we can't compare with Ruby as she will look very different. The three sisters have darker heads than Beti, it will be interesting to see how they turn out. 

Just a reminder, this is Zoe - their beautiful mother and of course daddy O in the bottom photo.

Beti's Colour

No doubt you've seen the unedited photo on Facebook, well excuse the soggy face but have a look at the black receding on her forehead. I've not seen that here much really, but it did make me think of Orin's sister Jazz. Like Beti, Jazz had a completely dark mask and forehead as a pup, but now she looks like this. Jazz has kept her mask, but completely lost the black on her forehead. I wonder if it comes from the Fransisco line? 

Of course Beti may lose more of her mask and end up more like Louis. Does it matter? Does it hell, I'm just curious and interested!

Any excuse to post another photo of Louis eh! 

We Stayed Dry

Lovely walks with everyone. Two identical walks then Orin and Siska got to go further, before taking the van to a different parking place for a father and daughter walk. Loki was happy plodding along with his toy, but he was slow. Beti is getting really good at waiting to have her photo taken ... I'm now thinking about taking her out with the older dogs, at almost 4 months she can do 20 mins - and Loki can't do much more!

It's In The Genes!

When potential owners come to me for a puppy, one of the main requests is they want to guarantee they get a healthy dog. Unfortunately no breeder, reputable or not, can guarantee this, due to the mode of inheritance. All we can do is our best and breed from healthy dogs. Having a healthy dog is also very much about how they are raised and cared for once they leave alongside genetics and bad luck. What is hidden in their genes, is another matter. 

An interesting article below. Written by Dr Malcolm B Willis 

A little more on Polygenic traits: 

There are some simple inherited traits in dogs, e.g. coat colour, coat length, ear carriage, presence or absence of hind dew claws, eye colour, some diseases and the like. When dealing with simple traits then you can make reasonably accurate predictions as to what will happen when breeding. However, many of the most important traits are not inherited in this simple fashion. Traits like fertility, temperament, breed type, height, weight, shoulder angle and several defects and diseases are complex in their mode of inheritance and are frequently affected by the type of environment in which we rear the dog. If, for example an Irish Setter is genetically red, then he will be red in coat colour regardless how well or how badly we feed him. But the kind of temperament he inherits may be modified by the way we socialise and rear him - such that he could finally exhibit a character very different from that which might have been expected. The same is true of his height and weight, badly reared he could be so drastically altered in conformation as to appear quite different from what he was bred for. Such characters are know as "polygenic traits" They are essentially produced by a series of genes which individually have a very slight effect, but which together make for very large differences. Not all polygenic traits are equally controlled by genetics. Some are more a question of environment, others more a question of genes and others fall between the two. Reproductive traits like litter size are basically genetic, but have a very high environmental component such as the size and the age of the dam, the type of nutrition, the stage of mating and a host of other things will all influence the eventual litter size. The extent to which a character is under genetic control is called heritability. Unfortunately, very few canine traits have had their heritabilities assessed for them, therefore we must make some educated guesses for them based upon our knowledge from other species. Genetically traits litter size, puppy viability, for fertility itself are likely to be low in heritability - less than 25 % and probably more like 10%. Things like Hip Dysplasia are 25% - 40 % under genetic control. (Excerpt - written in 1977 by Dr M B Willis)

Not The Right Clothes!

Zeus - Look at those showers.

A dry walk - Sammi, Ross and Loki

A soaking for the three of us, I was wet to my knickers, so I guess the oil skins will now have to be on the ready! Orin and Siska

Beti out with Ian and Kiaan

Beautiful Out There .. Again

Sadly it was fields again today, the flat tyre which had been fixed was flat again and the work men were still on the track anyway. Still we had fun and stayed out most of the morning. Little Beti has spent a lot of the day in the small kennel, but it was just not safe to let her run riot with everything that was going on. We are off to dog club tonight so she'll have an evening out eh! 

Project Pen

The old kennels have been a wasted space for years, they have mainly been empty since we were both working, and Steve was more or less ordered by his Doctor to give up work in 2007. So in an hour on an hour off rota we have been clearing out the space today. With his health problems and disability, it will take time to get it fit for function again, but w'll get there. The mesh is rusty but it'll do. The floor is really the problem, The water runs off the mountain and stops there, it can stand inches deep and makes the pens impossible to use even after the rain has stopped. The second problem is the sun, by midday in the summer it's a sun trap. We've come up with an idea for the floor, but Steve is in charge of sorting out the sun! (The last roof blew away!) I googled "raised kennel flooring", but it was way out of our budget, but then I came across someone who had covered pallets as kennel flooring, well hell that could work. The area is 17 x 12 ft and for a small fee we've so far managed to get 12 pallets that will be delivered tomorrow. I've also ordered stable mats, that more expensive as we need 9, but there you go, there's money in the dogs money box and this is what it's there for! We are going to make two runs into one day pen and swap the dogs over during the day, the third pen is sadly just nor feasible. 

Loki

Loki has had a few down days over the last month or so, today was another. I can't pinpoint anything, but he's just not himself. His steroids are getting low, so instead of ordering more, I've booked him in to see a vet the end of next week. There's no rush, and I may as well take him when we need the pills. I have a few questions to ask ... and I want their opinion on his tail. If his tail is without feeling then it would be good to know as extra care may be needed. 

Weight?

 Katrina had weighed and measure Polly yesterday and asked what Beti was - OMG, I said I wasn't going to do this, but hell I lifted her onto those scales just one more time! Polly was 14.8kg and about 45cms - Beti was 16.3kg and about 46cms (Still thank god) Crossing everything that maybe she's slowing down now then eh, she'll be 4 months on the 3rd. 

Yesterday evening I got a message and photo from Emma, She said "Abbie is getting so big, I'm sure she'll be taller than Zoe", her mother. Oh bloody hell not just me then, but it won't matter with Abbie as she's a pet, but it does matter to a degree with Beti and Polly. Zoe is not a big bitch, maybe Siska's height, so hopefully it will balance out. Anyway if Beti does end up tall then w can still do K.C shows, it's only at the Regionals events that they measured. Hopefully she'll be smaller than Sammi was at 4 months, that will then give me an idea of where she will end up.

Beti really has bought happiness to the home - but of course I want the full picture, like the others, a pet who goes to shows! I wonder if she'll behave at a Travelodge!!! haha 

We Can't Get Out ..

.. But we got to play in the fields

Well it won't be the M1 but hopefully there will be less moaning from other people about the track - Me? Well I've never been that bothered. Moved here when it was a rough track so nothing has changed - other than our age! 

Pinchmill Adira Of Blanik

Little Miss B in training yesterday - looking good

Walking And Playing

An unexpectedly beautiful day, walks in the morning and training this afternoon.