Morse and Boswell

Morse can be a great clumsy teenager, frequently ploughing into the other dogs when we are out on our walks, however, he is just so gentle when playing with Boswell, what a great uncle he makes

Babies again :-)

Well just as the pups have left for (apart from Boswell who is waiting for his family to return from their holiday in a couple of weeks) we have more babies, though this time they are only here as visitors whilst their owner recovers from surgery. Harley is a beautiful, affectionate torti girl who has been staying here for a few weeks since her romance with Manuel. Today she started quite a heavy bloody discharge, but showed no signs of labour. This meant a fairly urgent trip to the vets (not great when you're not meant to be driving after knee surgery!), the vets confirmed what I already thought, and Harley was admitted for an emergency caesarian.  Despite every effort from the vet nurses, one of the kittens failed to breathe, but we do have two beautiful male kittens and a very very proud mum.

 So far it sounds like all of Nina's pups have walked into their new homes and acted like they have always been there. Thank you to all of the new families who have let me know that all is ok, it really does mean so much to me, as do occasional updates as they grow up (photos are always a bonus!)

Boswell felt a little sad yesterday, unlike his siblings he didn't have a new home to explore and new family members to greet. Today he has been integrated into life with the big dogs and despite being told off by nearly all of them, he is loving the new company. We have started a little basic training today, starting with the sit command (he already has a great recall), he is bright as a button and back to his happy self now that he has new things/friends to think about.

Going to miss these babies

Well, I hadn't dare mention anything for fear of jinxing things, but this litter is the least vocal I have EVER had, they generally are put to bed between 11pm and midnight and we don't hear a peep out of them until we get up (and sometimes that's been as late as 8:45am!!!) They have been an absolute pleasure to rear, all are bold and full of fun, some more active than others, really hope Pearls new family are ready for this livewire, lol.

Nina left us on Monday to return to being the center of attention with her family, she coped so well, leaving a rural home and coming to join us in our madhouse and not only did she adapt very well, she proved to be a superb mum, though she followed in her mum and grandma's footsteps and decided that she 'didn't do puppies' once they got teeth :-)

The pups will stay with us for another week as although their mum is no longer here, they still learn many valuable lessons from their siblings at this stage and from all their grown up friends and relatives here.

I have taken another load of pics today, see link to flickr.com, but may not be able to take many next week as I will have had some minor surgery on my knee so it is likely that kneeling will be uncomfortable for a while.

The pups were all chipped today, poor Sasha (pink) and Robin (Penfold) got a rough deal as the chip gun wasn't working very well and it took 3 and 2 attempts respectively to get the chips in place :-( They did however all

travel very well, and all greeted the vet with very waggy tails.

Busy week

Firstly I would like to apologise to all those who wanted to watch the web cam last weekend, I had to go away for a few days (family stuff) which meant leaving Graham with everything to do. I didn't feel I could ask him to sort out the cam on top of looking after all the animals. It is back up and running now, though it will only be on in the evenings as the pups are now all over the place, and will be outdoors weather permitting.

All the kittens have left home now and we are not expecting any more at the moment. Having said that we are currently looking after a heavily pregnant Devon girl for a friend who is recovering from a spell in hospital, though she (and her kittens) will be going home as soon as her owner feels up to having them back.

I had hoped that Sybil was pregnant, but it looks like she is just fat!! Margo unfortunately did not take to the boy she visited in July :-(

I have just received a phone call from someone that had booked one of the male puppies to say that they are no longer in a position to take him on, so once again we have one little boy available, please give me a ring if you think you may be interested . We have had several families come to visit/pick their puppies, many of whom have traveled for several hours to get here, and we have more to come over the next few days.

The pups all had their faces clipped on Sunday, the boys were much easier than the girls, Pearl (purple collar) was a little wotsit!! They will all have the 'full works' before they leave for their new homes in 3 weeks time.

Penfold is still the smallest of the bunch, but he is a cracking little pup, fat, healthy, full of spirit and is a very nicely made pup. He will, no doubt, end up a similar size to his siblings, he is just behind orange collar in this pic.

They have also started to enjoy having a raw bone to suck/chew (which I find saves my feet from their teeth a bit, lol)

I am determined to get my adult dogs bathed and clipped over the next few days, Cash was done today, my goodness this dog has some hair!

You turn your back for 5 mins.....

I went away for a couple of days last weekend, leaving Graham in charge, couldn't believe the change in the pups on my return. Not only have they grown but they have turned into proper toddlers, wanting to be out and investigating everything and shouting about their discoveries. They have also started on solid food which means Nina no longer feels the need to clean up after them. Nina will be returning to her home in Wales just before the pups are ready to go to their new homes, her owners are missing her and I know they are very keen to gave her back with them. It will be very quiet by the end of Sept, with no pups or kittens, Nina will have gone home and of course we are still very much missing Rhonda and Betty, though it is probably a good thing that there will be less to do, as I have to have a bit of minor surgery on my knee at the beginning of Sept and will be unable to do as much as normal for a while.

All the pups bar 1 boy have now been reserved, so please give me a ring if you would like to find out more. I will be clipping the pups in about a week, so will have a much better idea of colour then, but I suspect that most will be blue rather than silver. For those unfamiliar with the colour, think about the British Blue cat (Sheba adverts), I think it is a beautiful colour, a couple of shades darker than silver but with more intensity to it.

The kittens are all still here, the 1st boy to go leaves tomorrow, his sister the following weekend and the last boy at the beginning of Sept.

The adult dogs are, I confess, in serious need of a bath and clip, most are looking decidedly scruffy, this is as a result of having kittens and puppies to bring on combined with school holidays! They are however still getting plenty of exercise and cuddles :-)

Puppy fun is not far off now!

I have owned std poodles since 1989 and bred my 1st litter in 1993, but still it never fails to amaze me at how quickly pups develop. Nina's pups are now 16 days old, they have their eyes open, they all get up and toddle around the whelping box and today I saw two of the pups engaging in play :-) They are also investigating the front of the box and I suspect that the great escape is not going to be too far off!

 I still have 2 little boys looking for a home and unexpectedly 1 of the girls has become available again as the lady who had booked her has decided that an older dog would better suit her lifestyle.

I am itching to see what colour the pups are, they all have varying degrees of white hair in-between their pads which often indicates that they will be silver, however, as yet, I can't see that they have any silver on their faces, so I will just have to be patient for another two weeks when I clip their faces and we can see if we have blues, silvers or a mixture of both.

Miss Tibb's Kittens are now all set for their new homes, they have had their 2nd vaccinations and had their microchips (brave babies). Unfortunately none of their new families are able to pick them up on time so my daughter is just going to have to endure another week or two of playing with them, poor girl :-)