Photos

I never regret the photos I take, it's the ones that I didn't take that I regret, the ones I really wish I had now. I wish there were more photos of the early Blanik years and litters, but I guess times have changed and smartphones have been a game changer. There are 685 photos of the M litter in their Facebook album, memories to treasure from the day they arrived till the day we said goodbye. (and there will be a new album) 

I know who I am, I'm no oil painting, hell there is a mirror in the bathroom and I see the face that looks back at me, but I regret the lack of photos of myself with previous generations, I don't want those regrets again. So here we go, me with a sleeping baby Meerah! 

Bye Bye Guys

 Thanks to everyone who have shown interest and commented on our lovely litter. Yes, there have been tears today. It's over to Sam and Mick to update us on Marley (Jet) and Jen on Seren (Opal) now.  Obviously Meerah will be flooding the blog with her photos. She is now asleep in the living room with Orin and Siska, but did spend a little bit of time with the older generation. I'll have to be very careful with Beti, not that she will mean any harm, but her exuberance could be an issue!  

Last Night

Some last words of wisdom from their mother last night. I wonder what was said? One thing's for sure she has done a fantastic job as they have great respect for her. 

From Tomorrow They Will Be ...

Meerah 

Seren and Marley

Us three 

 I'm sure I'll find it easier to cook tomorrow night. It will be nice to have my kitchen back in order, but my god I'll miss the little guys.

The Tax Man

I'd seen in the dog press that the HMRC were contacting breeders of dogs and cats. With so few litters, I didn't think it would apply to me, WRONG! So the standard letter arrived and left me going out of my head with worry for the day and gave me a sleepless night. 

After talking to Katrina and with my facts in order I decided to give them a ring in the morning, I got through to a very pleasant and helpful lady. I answered all her questions as truthfully as I could. She asked about the last three litters, so from the J litter in 2016 to our last litter, the L litter in 2021. (The M litter does not apply as it's in this financial year - because Siska missed to Vesco there are two studs/progesterone tests, health test, food and fuel, well I can't imagine a profit there either.) I guess three litters from 2016 and 2024 kind of did show that I'm not flooding the market. There is no doubt that I would have made a loss in 2016 and probably 2021, and with an emergency out of hours caesarian for the K litter, well funds were pretty damn low there too! Any profit made always goes back into the dogs, we never touch the money, it's their money.

I do understand that there are people who make a lot of money from breeding dogs, people who should pay tax on the profits they make. Like I say, mostly I doubt we break even, we do not breed for financial gain, we breed for the love of the breed. If I could put my order in for my own puppy, then I would. LOL

It must be easy to find who is breeding what, all the information is available online on the RKC website, but it has been suggested that the HMRC are getting their information from the insurance that reputable breeders put on the pups on the day of sale. Sadly, that will only stop some breeders insuring the pups! 

It does seem that the greeders who escalated their prices ridiculously during covid is what had bought breeder to the attention of the HMRC. She asked me what I charge for the pups during covid? I explained that people had been waiting for these pups, I had given them a price before covid struck, that price did not change. I really hope my honestly means that as far as I'm concerned that this matter is closed; but one thing is for sure I'll be filing ever receipt down to the weekly 8 tins of sardines, 1 bag of carrots and one bucket of yogurt from now on. We'll have to wait and see what happens next now! 

Living Room Fun

 before bed last night ...

Jamie's face says it all!!!

I've been putting the pups to bed about 11pm and getting them up just before 8am. Over the 7 week panacur nights the 2 girls screamed to be let out and Jet pooed in the pen. I have given them as much time as is possible, but I still never expected to get up to this everyday ...

The last litter was a small litter, as was the J litter, but they were never this clean. I've found it to be truly amazing. The pads are obviously wet as I can't imagine they could hold their wee for that long, but what clean, easy puppies they have been. Meerah will be sleeping in a crate next to her mum from Monday night, I will split it into two, bedding at the back and puppy pad at the front. Hopefully she'll get it and continue to be as clean as she has been. 

That Tree

It's starting to change colour now, soon all the leaves with be golden brown, but they won't drop until Spring. (I think it's a beech!) It's fantastic colour through Autumn and Winter until the new buds push through in Spring. 

News And Weather

I have recently realised that the blog looks pretty different on a mobile phone to how it's written and designed on a laptop. So if you want to see it as it should be, go to the bottom of the page/screen on your phone and chose "View web version."

I love black skies and sunshine, and it's even better with baby Beti in the pic. Today was an impossible day to read with the weather changing dramatically from hour to hour. The endless rain over this year has caused us some problems with standing water, We've never experienced standing water in the yard and fields like this before, and of course there is a danger to our dogs and cats from standing water. I'm convinced it was responsible for the giardia that I suspected the dogs had a few months ago. Giardia in the environment is killed by freezing temperatures and direct sunlight, and let's face it, sunlight has been a rare thing this year. Disinfectant and bleach kills it, but the area needs to be thoroughly dried after use, yeah, the ground is saturated, the water is coming up from beneath the paving slabs, where is the water supposed to go? Treatment in the dogs was reasonably easy, panacur over three days did the trick, but the problem with the standing water is still there. Now I wish I hadn't agreed to get the track done, I'm convinced the standing water problem has got worse since it was done, and let's be honest it was only done to please other people. 

It's really hard to think my little family will be leaving me soon, the weeks have passed so quickly. I just know I'm gonna cry, again! I must admit, I'm tired, if you're not tired after a litter, I suggest you are not doing it right. Ok with only the three there has been dramatically less work, but it's still time-consuming and mentally exhausting. Monday will be as much of a shock to Amber as it will be to her siblings, all of a sudden, it'll just be her, a new name and a very different life! Of course, I look forward to getting her out and about and hopefully she can have some meet-ups with her brother. At least when he leaves I'll know that I can see him again ... but it will probably be the last time I see Opal - yes, I'm crying at the thought of it. Hopefully, putting my all into Amber will help me through the impending heartache. 

Soggy Happy Puppies

Sunshine And Showers

The Joker And The Queen

Nothing worse than a kong thief!!!

Loki, Sammi, Beti and Ross

Accurate weather forecast from Fron today. Raining to the left, sunny to the right, watch out Derrick I'm after your job!!!! (Zeus was out there somewhere)

More Photos

                                  

Amber and Opal 

Amber swears she has nothing in her mouth, and Opal doesn't see the problem.

Jet considering his options

This Afternoon

                                        

  Having fun in Linda's caravan 

Woohoo Poo

No one celebrates solid poo like a dog owner, and I doubt no one else discusses it over breakfast either! Before taking them out to the garden, one of us goes on cat poo patrol .. as you do! 

More photos later! 

Visiting Day

 

The bellies are not right, but so much better. Though they get 4 meals of rice or sweet potato with chicken, egg or fish a day, the poor buggers are hungry. Opal got me up again last night, if she needs a poo the whole world hears about it. It is fabulous really that both girl will scream to go out, though there is something to be said about a boy who's happy to poo on a puppy pad in the middle of the night!!!

Today we went to visit Sharon, she had put her dogs in the van and used Safe4 throughout the house. After the initial shock/horror the pups had a great time running alone the path down the side of the house and in the kitchen. They were not allowed in the garden, though Sharon thought they'd be Ok, I wasn't happy though as the girls get through every gap. They also go in opposite directions so watching them all is impossible.

More Poo!

Sadly we are back to square on with the diarrhoea, now they all have it. They were almost right, maybe I should have left the panacur and extra day? I felt like I was damned if I did, damned I didn't, but I did. No one is ill, but they are back on fish and rice with pro-kolin and bio pot yogurt. I think we are more upset about it then they are, Steve is already suggesting they stay another week to get their bellies sorted. I'm really hoping they will be OK by the weekend, and then they can leave on Monday as planned, to be honest they are mentally already ready to go. What benefit is there for them to be here now? As I've said before, they will only learn to fight harder and eat poo/rubbish, lol. Honestly they are really ready to go their separate ways and start bonding with their families. Of course from a selfish point of view I'm glad I have them here for a while longer.  They have been an easy, adorable litter, a pleasure and a privilege. 

You Cow!

Bloody things, I'm not opening the gate for anyone till they've gone. Cow shit everywhere outside the top gate now. The law on free roaming cattle really needs an update. 

7 Weeks

To keep me on my toes the photos have gone on in the wrong order 

Ah well!!!

Opal - 4.25kg

Amber - 4.9kg

Jet 5.25 kg

Vet Day

Well the kids are 7 weeks today and it was vet day for the pups. They all did very well and had a clean bill of health. Jet's family came to give him support, and we were all pleased to hear he had both his boy bits and pieces as and where they should be! As required by law, the microchips have been done, but no vaccinations for a few weeks. I firmly believe that early vaccinations can have a derogatory effect on the puppies' immunity. An 8-week-old puppy should be well covered, they should have high immunity from their mother's milk. Vaccinating before 10 weeks is simply pointless. When referring to early vaccination, it clearly states on the leaflet given with the vaccination to vets "maternally derived passive antibodies interfere with the response to vaccination and a later vaccine should be given at 10 weeks or older, one vaccine give at 10+ weeks is sufficient to cover." 

So no rush to vaccinate here, but careful socialising will of course continue for the family on their last week together, and then in their new homes.  Sensible socialising without flooding them over those early weeks is paramount, the socialising period may well be over by12 weeks, but it's all a balance and there are plenty of things we can do to give them the best future.

Hips

 Interesting post from Louis Donald on his breed page on Facebook. 

"Why is hip dysplasia virtually unheard of in Greyhounds? All puppies are born with perfect hips, yet some breeds are prone to HD and others are not. Is it associated with the skeletal form and musculature of the hindquarters, and within that parameter, is there a susceptibility of some breeds to slipping on the floor while weaning, impacting their still developing hip joints."

There are no doubts in GSD's H/D is a mix of both genetics and environment. Hips are normal in baby puppies, but if the ligaments, tendons or muscles are not sufficiently well-developed, the joint becomes unstable as the pup grows and the hip adapts to compensate. If the parents have good hip scores, they must have inherited sufficiently strong soft tissue to keep the hips in place and hopefully that will pass on, even if you do get throwbacks occasionally. 

"Puppies raised on slippery surfaces or with access to stairs when they are less than 3 months old have a higher risk of hip dysplasia, while those who are allowed off-lead exercise on soft, uneven ground (such as in a park) have a lower risk" (Krontveit et al 2012) 

When I first started breeding (1995/6) I was told to never give puppies bedding as there was such a high risk of suffocation. Puppies were raised on newspaper under a heat lamp. Now I look back at that with horror. Puppies scrabbling to get about and their back legs slipping and sliding when feeding. (And they always slept in a pile meaning they were cold.) Despite advice, I soon realised this was wrong and vet beds were a game changer. Warm, content puppies who get about that box fantastically. I have to say, that if I didn't sleep with the litter then just maybe I would have lost a puppy in the K litter of 2020, he had got under the bedding and mum and 8 other pups were settling down to feed on top of him. Thankfully I was there, as I feel is my duty!

We do everything we can to produce healthy puppies, generations of low scoring ancestors, but in nature there are no guarantees. H/D is about 40% genetic, the rest is environmental and of course the occasional bad luck of the general make of the individual dog. 

Pic of the Xray of Orin's hips - as close as it gets to perfect with a score os 2/2.

Before The Rain