Kittens on the way

 After an awful lot of thought I am going to be taking a break from breeding Devons, I love my cats and have always enjoyed the kittens tremendously but the reality is that they are a huge tie and when we have kittens due it effectively means we can't do anything else for about 4 months (and if we have more than 1 girl kittening that period increases). All my girls apart from Kenji have now been spayed. Kenji is currently 3 weeks pregnant and once she has finished rearing these babies both she and Fawlty will have an implant to stop any breeding activity for about 9 months, at that point I will have the option to get them neutered or perhaps consider another litter in the future. 

The dogs are living their best lives at the moment, lots of long walks and plenty of swimming opportunities, though it has to be said that most just cheer the swimmers on from the sidelines. Bizarrely after 4 years of being a cheerleader Florin has discovered that swimming is great fun and in the space of just a week or so she has gone from a couple of tentative strokes in the water to a strong and confident swimmer who happily goes out to fetch a stick. Voodooo has yet to actually swim but she is almost there, I think by the end of summer she'll be a true water dog :) 

We had one last beach trip before the seasonal restrictions came in, hopefully we'll get to a dog friendly beach (further away) during the summer but currently I am having vehicle issues so having to stay very local. 

 

All the gang at the beach again

Following several months of house arrest then a gentle reintroduction to walks Tiffany is now completely sound, and apart from ball games, is back to completely normal walks and associated activities. That said, the walk was not without problems, over the last week or so every single vehicle I have access too has been out of action so this beach trip was reliant on a friend giving us a lift, but it appears that I managed to jinx her car too as we broke down as we arrived at the beach!! It could have been worse, we could have been stranded on one of the approaching lanes and had to do the 5 1/2 hr wait for recovery in a car full of dogs that were excited for their trip out and would need to pee! Anyway, all the dogs had a blast and we all slept very well that night :) 

After 4 years of doing nothing more than getting her feet wet, in the last couple of weeks Florin has realised that poodles are actually a water dog and has started to swim, I wish I had videoed the first couple of attempts as she tentatively edged forward with her front legs leaving the floor and then letting her back legs float out, froggy style behind her, just sort of hanging there, but here she is a few swims in. 

Kenji is currently out with Fawlty, so hopefully we will have some positive news re kittens very soon :)