Happy Christmas

 I know that many of us are not going to have the Christmas we had hoped for, but I hope that everyone manages to find something good in the festive period.

Yesterday we had a beach walk, the dogs always make the most of these walks so even though the weather wasn't great it was a lovely few hours and great to blow the cobwebs out. Not many pictures as the damp weather meant the lens kept misting up, but hopefully they give a taste of our walk. 

We are still waiting on Florin with regard to her season, hopefully I will have something more positive to write in the new year!

Polly

 After much soul searching I have made the decision to find Polly a new home. Polly was born here and for 2 years she was very happy, slotting nicely into life here with my 4 other girls, but over the last year she has become increasingly antisocial towards the other cats, to the point where she will now run across the room to launch an attack on them, even if they are sleeping. I thought it may have been a hormonal issue, so despite her being a fabulous breeding queen I took the decision to have her spayed in the hope it would settle her down, but 2 months on we are not seeing any improvement. 

Polly is 3 1/2 years old, so has most of her life ahead of her, it is not right to keep her here where she is living on her nerves and making the other cats jittery. She is a very affectionate cat, but is currently quite flighty and will disappear if we have visitors or something spooks her, again, this is a behaviour that has developed over the last year so my hope is that in the right home she will relax again. 

Ideally she would go to a quiet home with no young children, she is used to dogs but doesn't particularly like them. She has always been an indoor cat but I think she would enjoy a home where she could have access to a garden. There will be a modest rehoming fee. Please contact me if you feel you could offer Polly the right sort of home. 

In other news, there is still no news on Florin coming into season!! At least it means I won't have to worry about travelling to the stud on Christmas day, lol. It is nearly 8 months from her last season, so it really can't be too much longer to wait ( I hope). In the meantime, here she is with her octopus :) 

Puppy update

 Along with many other breeders, I have been inundated with puppy enquiries over the last few months. Whilst I do my best to respond to enquiries within 48hrs I do still have to look after all my pets, maintain contact with those that have had puppies or kittens from me, oh and try and spend some time with my family, so I can only apologise if I have failed to respond to some enquiries. To this end I have to advise that I will not be taking any more puppy enquiries for the foreseeable future. All the breeders that I would normally recommend are in the same situation and I don't know of any retired dogs in need of a home.  For those looking for a puppy I would advise patience, a pandemic is no reason to pay through the nose for a puppy, or to excuse a poorly bred puppy. Now more than ever please make sure you thoroughly research your breeder before you make any commitment, there are still some very ethical breeders out there but you may have to be prepared to wait if you want a pup from them. 

For those who have already contacted me about a puppy, I am still waiting for Florin to come into season and will update as soon as I have news. Those that are still hanging on in there are advised to contact me again once her pregnancy is confirmed.

Audrey

 Today my world is duller as the light of my life, Audrey, has left it. Audrey was born here and was reserved to go to a show home at a few weeks old. As the time for her to leave drew nearer I had more and more regrets about letting her go, she had something about her that I still can't put my finger on. Fate then played her hand and the buyer let me down, I was so pleased and reregistered her with the Kennel Club as Itzapromise Meant to Be, and she really was. This is her with her mum, Rhonda. 

Audrey was one of the soundest poodles I have ever had the pleasure of knowing, nothing phased her and she completely debunked the thinking of apricots/reds being harder to live with. She was just a joy to live with, you could take her anywhere and know that she would fit right in.  We enjoyed doing basic obedience together and also dabbled in the sport of agility. Everything she did she did with joie de vivre, in fact in almost every photo I have of her you can see her smiling. 

Audrey was also a great mum, she had 4 litters in her lifetime and has made many people very happy. Unfortunately neither of the pups I kept, Eliza and Tiffany, proved suitable for breeding so my apricot line has finished, but both are great dogs to live with and have inherited their mums joyful spirit. Here she is with some of her own pups and some of Dollars

This may lead you to think she was perfect in every way, this was not the case, over the years Audrey became infamous for her deer hunting expeditions!! She was like a ninja, one minute she was there, the next she was gone. She didn't need to see them, she would scent them out and then track them, and once she was gone she really was gone, her average jaunts would last 2-3hrs but her record was 10hrs (when she came home with well over 1000 newly hatched ticks on her). I'm afraid to say I know she is responsible for bringing down at least 3 good sized deer, not something you would ever suspect her of to look at her. She is single handedly responsible for every grey hair on my head. Many people said she should never be allowed off the lead, if I were to do this I may as well have euthanised her straight away as she lived for her walks, and if we could avoid deer tracks, or I caught her disappearing, she had a recall 2nd to none. Many walks became no go areas for Audrey, but we worked round it and found locations that were almost deer free where she could run free without putting my stress levels through the roof. Fortunately, unlike Dime, her hunting was limited to deer, sheep held no interest to her and small furries were not worth her time, she was a specialist :) This was typical of Audrey 'walking with us' always kept her eye on me but always from a distance (though always came if called)

Over the last few months Audrey developed a respiratory problem, despite much veterinary investigation and treatment we were unable to stop its relentless progress and today I made the decision to let my soul mate go before she started to really suffer. I feel like my heart has been ripped in two, I know you're not meant to have favourites, but I did and she was mine. She was always my girl and I don't know how I am going to get through the next few weeks. RIP special girl, there will never be another quite like you xx

It's been a while

 Yesterday we hit the beach for the first time in ages, the weather was fabulous and we had a wonderful few hours with a friend and her 4 poodles. 

We are still waiting for Florin to come into season.

End of an era

 Today marks the end of an era as we said goodbye to my last toy poodle, Alfie. I know a lot of people will only have known him as a pretty bedraggled little man, but prior to the cushings disease (which he had for many years ) he was a stunning boy. One of the soundest and most cheerful toy poodles you could wish to meet, bold as brass and absolutely bursting with character which is how he remained his whole life. He was git to to the big dogs but was never slow to cuddle up to them when he felt a bit chilly, if there is an afterlife he will no doubt be off to find his best buddy, Purdie, now (he always had an eye for a good looking girl  ) Going to be very strange here without him. RIP Alfie x