Dollar

Scary evening last night, Dollar had her dinner at about 5pm tonight, within minutes she started shivering and her tummy started to swell, we were at the vets within 20 minutes where my fantastic vets and nurses spent the next 2 hours confirming that she had bloated and then relieving the bloat. Very fortunately her stomach hadn't twisted, she was a complete star and without sedation allowed the vets to pass a stomach tube to relieve the pressure. She is home now and a lot more comfortable than she was, though she is not yet completely out of the woods and is feeling very sorry for herself. I will be discussing gastro pexy (stapling the stomach to the wall of the abdomen) with my vets as once they have bloated they are predisposed to doing it again and although the stapling won't stop the bloating it will prevent the torsion (twisting of the stomach) which is the most dangerous part of bloat. This was Dollar on yesterdays walk, full of the joys - 

And this is her yesterday after our evening at the vets

Standard poodles are one of the breeds that are prone to bloat, please research this condition because if it strikes, sped is of the essence and untreated can be fatal, often within hours, you are far better having a wasted trip to the vets than a dead dog in the morning. This chart may be of use -

Spirit and Morse

Morse and Spirit had a date, so hopefully there will be the patter of tiny paws in about 9 weeks time. Should the mating have been successful we expect a litter containing blacks, apricot/creams and phantom puppies. Hopefully I will be able to confirm pregnancy in about 4 weeks time.

Shouldn't be long now

At long last we have a dog in season! Dime came in a couple of days ago (9 months after the last one!) so the other entire girls, including Spirit should follow in the next few days :)

The dogs are looking very shaggy at the moment because, after years of wanting one, we are finally waiting for my new purpose built dog bath to be delivered and rather than struggle upstairs with them to use our bath, which is what I have always done, I am going to wait until their own bath is plumbed in, especially as after being here 11 years we have at last had our hall, stairs and landing decorated and I do not want wet dogs shaking over the newly painted walls!