Here Endeth The First Lesson

Loki found it impossible to get over the wall in the field yesterday, he slipped backwards onto his bottom. Because of that, I decided I should try teaching him with the ramp into the van now rather than find myself in difficulties later. Well, just one go on the floor and he'd got it! Well done Loki, and thank you Carrie for letting us borrow it. 

Granny's Girl?

As I mentioned, I've been seeing a lot of Blanik breeding in Beti - and recently I guess I see Sammi in her. I was chatting to Katrina about her today and saying how big she is, after saying that Polly is quite small she said "I think Beti looks a lot like Sammi!" She then sent me a photo of Sammi and "said she's so like her isn't she!" Well I'm glad it's not just me then, I'd already been thinking it and been looking at photos of Sammi at the same age, I told her, yeah I can sure see your granny in you. This is the photo that Katrina sent.

A baby Sammi 

Saturday Morning

Zeus 

Beti, Ross, Loki, Sammi

Beti's first group photo with no lead attached. Well done Beti

Siska and Orin

No, Orin hasn't shrunk, he's sat in a hole!

Bloody Weed

I took this photo last night and thought OMG look at the size of her 😮. I know the angle probably doesn't help but she is growing like a weed. I decided to measure her ... she was 41cms at 3 months on the 3rd of the month, 46cms? No, get your glasses Mrs S - OMG yes 46cms. Shit! How did that happen? I looked back, Siska was 39cms at 3 months and 46.5cms at 4 months.  So Siska grew 7.5cms in a month and this one has grown 5cms in 18 days. Wow slow down girl! At 4 months Sammi was 50cms and Kaiah was 49cms, I do hope she doesn't make Sammi size or the regionals will be out before we've considered them! There is not a hope in hell that I'm lifting her onto the scales, the weigh in can wait till she's 4 months and we'll make our way to the vets or to Pets At Home! 

(At 4 months Siska was the lightest at 15.8kg and Sammi the heaviest at 18.40kg)  

The Pinchmill Girls

Sister 3.5 months 

 Abbie, Beti 

 Polly, Ruby

Bloody Boys

Life has become more difficult. Orin and Ross have had words again, for the second time in the last 2 weeks they've made contact - Luckily we have both been in the room, it's not worth waiting for, or risking the third time. I have 4 males here, of course I am not willing to give any of them up, but we will now have separate them all and crate and rotate. Two large 40kg males in full fight are not easy to deal with, we have been there with Dexi and Simba and hope not to see it again. Dogs get hurt and people separating them get hurt!

The rotating will affect everyone, how do I let Zeus out if Ross or Orin are in the middle room? How do I let Ross or Orin into the garden if Zeus is in the kitchen? At the moment I'm really not sure how to work it out. We have two safe enclosed areas, the yard with a door into the living room and the garden with a door into the middle room. It is doable but will need thought. We will need a new sturdy crate, Zeus has Nico's old crate and I don't 100% trust it anymore, so with males moving about more then we need more security. We should also consider a crate in the far corner in the living room, but is there enough space for a crate for an adult male? I'm not sure! 

I've told Steve I want the old kennels changed into one big compound. It's currently a waste, space that we now need. We may need some bits and pieces, but I'm sure we can do most of it, though the floor needs thought as heavy rain runs off the field into it and stands there. I don't want to kennel my dogs, but again rotating Orin and Ross now looks a necessity!

At Home

 This morning the Blanik Bus had a flat tyre. I hadn't braved the wind to go out in it yesterday, but I'd been out in it Tuesday evening. Steve has inflated the tyre and it's down to the garage tomorrow. The cattle are everywhere and I'm not brave enough to venture through them - again I'm glad of the fields.

Food

I'm getting really low on the puppy food and reluctant to buy another one when Beti can start the Titanium at 4 months - that's two weeks away. What I've decided to do is mix both together and stretch it out further that way. I've just looked at the quantity of Titanium that she will need and it's a very flexible 380g - 720g for a 4 - 6 month old puppy who will weigh 20 - 45kg as an adult. I would expect her to be around 30kg, so we'll go in the middle and adjust it from there! Obviously she needs enough but she is easily overfaced so I need to be careful. 

Whilst looking at the guide I checked the adult food guide - so an adult of 25kg - 45 kg again has a wide margin - 370g - 680g. As this is a "Working dog" food, I guess dogs with a very active life need a higher quantity but for dogs like mine then obviously it would be too much. Coincidently, Ian and I discussed food quantities the other day and I know that Siska is on 250g a day, and I'm lucky if she finishes it! (she hasn't this morning) Orin was on 450g, but has now been reduced to 350g as he's overweight, so I would say the feeding guide is very generous! Of course these do get other things, one bonio, one fish treat and a carrot for supper. The odd shapes biscuit during the day, about half a tin of Butchers tripe (between them) or 2 tins of Sardines (between them) so I guess it does all add up! 

The older dogs and Zeus are all on Doctor John's Gold. Zeus eats much less than Orin as he is easily overfaced too - Ross and Loki get 400g of Gold and Sammi obviously a lot less. Sammi and Ross are neutered and both just a touch overweight, but nothing drastic and as they are not shown I'm less concerned than I am with Orin, his weight seems to have crept up on me and he needs it off for LKA! 

Sky

Sky now 7 weeks - not looking huge, but with 2 weeks to go there will obviously be some dramatic changes over the next two weeks. From this photo I'd agree with the vet that it's not a big litter, but let's hope for Sky's sake that it's a moderate litter.

3.5 Months - Huge Changes

Beti is changing practically in front of my eyes. Her coat and colour seems different almost daily. I really can't get over the rapid change in her, but do recall Orin did the same.

As you can see she is fast losing the black on her forehead, and her mask is getting lighter. I wonder how she will end up? Siska was still very black in the head at this age, though she does have a dark mask it's no longer completely black, changes vary from dog to dog, but generally black reduces. Maybe Beti will be more like Louis in head colour than Orin? Who knows eh? Does it matter? Hell no, I'm just curious

Orin and Louis

Beti in stance from 1/10/23 - 14/10/23

and there is coat growth again in the last 4 days. 

Headshots - also on the 1/10-23 and today