The last supper!

Oh no, its our last evening all together. Where has the time gone.

Tomorrow lunchtime Dot will be leaving on her great adventure. She'll be having a very busy day. First she'll be driven to Penzance, then onto the helicopter which will whisk her away to the Isles of Scilly. Then a short drive to her new home on St Mary's.

She is a very lucky puppy, all those beaches to walk on and boat trips to take. I'm sure she'll keep her new family entertained!

Good luck Dottie, we'll all miss you.

Pup with no name!

We are really struggling to find a name for this little chap. Everything we like seems to clash with the other dogs names. He is a sweet little man!

Any ideas?

First adventure

I spent most of the morning puppy proofing the patio outside of the conservatory. The garden is a bit of a minefield what with plants and the pond so I decided it would be better to keep them off the grass.

Murray was the first out closely followed by Tip. The girls weren't so brave but did manage to muster the courage eventually.

It wasn't long before they were all tearing around.

Kill the bottle!

They are all fast asleep now, lets hope it lasts!!

Pups at 6 weeks

Well nearly six weeks, its Sunday and they will be six weeks on Tuesday but if today is anything to go by I won't have time to post pictures on a week night!

I took these pictures before I wormed them. I don't think they are speaking to me know!

Al

Ches

Dot
Murray

Ruby
Tia
Tip

Pups at 5 weeks

Here are some pictures of the pups at 5 weeks.

Al

Ches

Dot

Murray

Ruby

Tia

Tip

At last

We have broadband!! I can't believe that I waited so long to get it, dial up just became so hard I couldn't bear it any longer.

We now I have no excuse not to get some video uo this weekend!!

Watch this space!!

The great escape!

I had a bit of a shock when I came home at lunchtime today. I couldn't believe my eyes and I know Nige wouldn't have believed me so I made sure I had photographic evidence!!

I had an escapee!

RUBY!! Fast asleep

As snug as a bug in a rug!

I'm still not sure how she managed it, this is what she had scaled!

The gate is well and truely shut from now on, I'm sure mum will enjoy the peace and quiet!

Where did Easter go?

I had so much planned for the Easter weekend, but it went without me getting anything done. I had forgotten what time wasters puppies are.

Nige went of to the Cornish K9 Agility show and I followed him up for the mornings on Friday and Saturday. I managed to get to see a couple of Fens runs, my that dog is flying. He came home with 4 trophies over the weekend (one with me in the pairs!!) He is so happy its a joy to watch. Todd and I got E'd in all of our 3 classes, he was on a mission and I don't think I was on his radar!! But he had a great time.

The pups had lots of visitors, most couldn't believe how much they had grown.

On Monday we moved Kes and the pups into the kitchen. They have all settled in very well and Kes is very good with the Heelers watching on!

This is Tip settling in to the vast puppy pen, I'm sure it won't look so big in a week or two. He is so stunning, I love him to bits, such a character!

Here they all are at 3 weeks

Al

Ches
Dot

Murray

Ruby

Tia

And Tip

Is Murray smiling

I can't believe I caught this, it looks like he is grinning, bless him, eyes are nearly open.

First pup videos

Well I had me ear bent the other night by the lovely Roy Napper for only having stills on the site. So here you go.

Mums just left!! Lets have a wobble party!

10 Days old

Its been a really busy week. The pups are all growing really well. I weighed them on Sunday and most had doubled their birth weight.

Last night I spent a couple of hours cutting toe nails, all 126 of them! The pups are really active and when you touch them they start to move around looking for mum or sucking your fingers, so cutting tiny toe nails was a bit scary! They all survived and no one complained.

I've taken these pics tonight, I found them all in a row so couldn't resist getting my camera out.

AL

CHES

DOT

MURRAY

RUBY

TIA

TIP

Pups first check up

We have just got back from the vets, everyone is doing very well and is the picture of health. I didn't get much out of the vet, she was too busy giggling at them!! She did say how strong they were for just 3 days old.

Dot performed the best, she had a little kick and scream, as did Tip. Dear little Tia just fell asleep in her hands.

All safely tucked up with mum now so I'm off to work. Oh just took this picture, I think you can see how much they have grown already.

Well here they all are!

Kes started to nest when we got home from work on Monday night. She was digging up the beds and getting restless so around 8pm I took her up stairs to the spare bedroom where I had prepared her whelping room.

I have an airbed against the wall, then the whelping box, then a table with all the necessary bits on it, including the TV! Well not a lot happened before 11pm. She was getting rather uncomfortable as the pups started to move back towards the exit! I stayed with her all night. We did try to curled up and get some sleep but it wouldn’t be long before she would start to lean on me and press hard against me when ever the contractions came. I eventually got her to stay in her whelping box and I think I managed an hour’s sleep between 4 and 5 am.


I awoke to her digging her box like a crazy thing. I had bought a whelping mat with this whelping box, its vetbed with a waterproof backing and a stiff plastic sheet in the centre. It isn’t supposed to move and it did its job brilliantly, she gave it quite a beating.

The first puppy arrived at 8am, this was Tip, I was relieved to see a boy, I’ve been having nightmares that she would have all girls! We cleaned him up gave him a drink and put him in the ready box to await the next pup. Well Tip was having a right old chat with himself which poor Kes found quite distracting, but she eventually produced Ches at 8.55, she is a very pretty little girl and a good size. I think Kes had got the idea now and the rest came at 30-minute intervals, enough time to get them cleaned up and fed before the next arrived. Al was next, he is my favourite of the boys, then Dot, I’ve got a soft spot for her too, she is the smallest but very spirited. Then came Ruby and Murray.

We seemed to have a little break then, my Mum was on her way down and I was starting to think that she was going to miss all the action. But she arrived just in time to see Tia born, it was almost as if Kes was waiting for her to arrive, as soon as she had given mum a smile she had laid down and the pup popped straight out. The time was now 11.10am all over in 3 hours, poor Kes looked shattered but very happy with her brood.

I’ve also managed to put up a new page on the website with individual pictures on so you can get a better look. I’m off to bed now, I haven’t slept since Sunday night! zzzzzzzzzz

The before and after shot!

Well here is the evidence! At 8 weeks pregnant you can now see just how big she is.

The first picture was kindly taken by Eva from Dumf and Galwy Border Collies in Germany at Dartmoor show last November. I took the second one this afternoon. She has 4 or 5 days left now. I'm sure she will be glad to unload!

Smiley Kes

Kes has a very cute smile, she pulls her lips back on both side and reminds me of the Malteses “wide mouth frog” advert! Well I managed to get it on camera last weekend.
They aren't her full blown smiles but you can get the idea. She is such a sweet little girl, not that anyone watching her agility would notice though!

Kes's puppies

Well Kes is getting rather large, I'm sure she is bigger than Miya was at this stage but then she is a bigger bitch anyway so may be its just me.

She really slowed down on her walk last night, she seemed ok in herself but there was no squealing to get off the lead, no tearing after the others, just a sensible mum! Well I think I found out why the sudden change. I often sit on the floor with her stroking her upturned belly. Well last night I felt them wriggling around. They have developed bones this week and it must feel very strange for Kes. I sat for ages feeling the kicking under the skin, its so cute, Kes seems very proud.

2 weeks to go and we should find out what she has been hiding there!!

Lisa

Manchester 08 Judges Critique

This is Roy Baker's write up for Elwyn. I have to thank him for his kind words. It's lovely to read, I'm so proud of little El. The judge did also comment on the general lack of schooling that was evident on the day. As you can see he thought El was well practised, I wouldn't have the heart to tell him that El hasn't been to ringcraft training for over a year. I do a couple of stands outside the ring just to remind him but he's just a natural show off. It certainly make my job easy. Lets hope the next judge likes him just as much.

Kes's scan

Well yesterday turned out to be a really lovely day. The weather forecast had been terrible and we were expecting heavy snow. It was my mums 70th birthday the day before and she had agreed to come along with me.

Mum lives up on Bodmin moor which is very bleak at this time of the year, she had left home in a hail storm and on arriving at our house some 40 miles south was quite surprised that is was dry. After having a chat and a play with the dogs we set off for Perran Sand to give them a good run before heading off for the scan. We had a lovely walk, the sun was shining and the rain held off.

I had decided not to use my normal vet for this scan; a friend had recently recommended a vet in Penzance, which is about 35 miles south from here. My vet was charging £80, which I thought was a bit expensive, this new vet was charging £40. Well I hadn’t been there before so we went and found it but we were a couple of hours early so we set off to find a pub to treat mum to lunch. I thought that the coast road would be a good place to look. It wasn’t long before we ended up in Mousehole, a quaint little fishing village. We could see out over Mounts Bay, the sun was shining and the sea was so calm, it looked amazing with every shade of turquoise you could imagine.

Well there was one problem! Nige’s Trafic, the road seemed to be getting narrower and narrower, and then came the sign saying it narrowed to 6’ 6”, well I didn’t have a clue how wide it was so I headed up the hill through the village and we came out in a little hamlet called Paul with a very nice pub. We had lunch and then headed back to the vet.

When I had Miya scanned last year my normal vet had laid her on her side and rolled her on her back to scan her. I didn’t know any different and thought that this was how everyone did it. Well I was pleasantly surprised by this new vet. He stood Kes on the table, shaved her belly and started to scan. I was so relieved, I was dreading trying to upturn Kes, she isn’t very keen on being turned upside down. She did seem very relaxed and really happy with the whole thing, it’s so less stressful for the bitch this way.

Well nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to see. With Miya’s scan we found a pup and then went on the hunt for the next one. The first view that came up on the screen yesterday was 4 blobs, yes 4 all at once; I gasped OMG and the vet just laughed at me, poor mum didn’t have a clue what was going on. I still can’t believe we saw 4 all in one screen. The vet was not interested in searching for puppies, which I’m in total agreement with; we were just trying to confirm pregnancy. The general rule of thumb is to double what you see, this is only guess work and no one can tell you what you are going to get, but now you can see why I was so shocked! If I saw 4 that could mean 8 puppies! Here’s hoping that everyone was showing themselves and no one was hiding! I really don’t know where I’d put that many puppies!!

After getting over the shock and sending everyone and anyone a text message mum and I set off again. The sun was still shining so we stopped off by Saint Michael’s Mount and had a lovely walk along the beach. The dogs had a fantastic time, I don’t know what it is about the beach but they were all wild despite their earlier walk.

We went home via Truro where we managed to do a little shopping and then it was off home to open mum’s birthday presents and to a lovely meal that Nige had made for us.

Sharing this day with mum’s 70th celebrations had been a real treat for us both, needless to say the dogs had had a brilliant day, they do love their Granma!

Is Kes pregnant??

Kes was mated at the beginning of January and is booked in for a scan on Friday 1st February.

Last week she suddenly started to pick at her food, especially in the morning. Well she is still at it so I think she may have a touch of morning sickness. Bless her, she is fine in herself and is still running around like a complete loon.

I daren't get my hopes up too much, can't wait for the scan on Friday.

Manchester Champ show January 2008

Well here he is, proudly presenting his CC and Best of Breed certificates. I'm so proud of him, I just can't find the words to express just how much!

I haven't had much time to show him since Crufts 07, I only managed to get to the Welsh KC and to be honest I was really disappointed with coming 2nd. I wouldn't have minded had I thought that the winner was better than El but it didn't want to be in the ring, it's tail was down and it didn't move very well. Where as El had shown his socks off as he always does. Anyway it had left me thinking that I might be wasting my time and I had gone to Manchester thinking that I might give up showing him altogether.

Well what a day. We had got stuck in traffic at the M5/M6 interchange. I was starting to think that my passengers Tina and Linx might miss their class. I'd commented that I didn't mind missing mine as I was probably wasting my time!! Blimey was I wrong.

Well we got to the show and the previous breed in our ring were on Limit Bitch so El & I helped Tina & Linx to get to their bench. We had a little walk outside then I took El back to the van to chill out. I don't take him into the hall until its nearly time to go into the ring, I find he is really on his toes that way.

I went and got changed into some smart clothes and had a chat to some of the Heeler people. It was lovely to see Maggy & Mike Jones, Mike always makes me laugh and brings me down to earth!!

So in the ring we went. I made sure I was first in as I had a feeling that El was going to move well and there's nothing worse than being held up by someone moving slowly. The judge had a quick look and asked us to do two laps of the ring. OMG was El on a mission, by the end of the first lap we had caught up with the last dog. I could hardly keep up with him, he was looking dead straight with a quick glance at any girlies as he went past, he is such a showman. I had a quick look around the ring and after a good performance on the table and some nice comments from the judge I was starting to feel confident. If El hadn't won this class I would have been really disappointed. But I wasn't and he was quickly pulled out in first place.

Now to the challenge. El's no stranger to this, we have been in many and at Crufts 2007 we were pulled out for the reserve CC. But we've been overlooked ever since. I'd started to think that we'd never get pulled out again. Anyway we went in and I made sure I got the very best out of him, which was difficult as the lady behind was using a squeaky toy to get her dogs attention, well she had mine as well! I worked hard and managed to keep El's attention on me and to my astonishment we were pulled out for the CC. I was so proud of him.

Now we had to sit and wait for the bitches to finish, what a wait, lots of things going through my head. Lots of lovely people coming over and congratulating us. Friends rallying around, as excited as I was. I don't think it had sunk in at this stage, I was sort of in limbo, not really knowing what to expect, after all we would normally be on our way home by know!

I tried to get El to have a chill on his bench, we sat and had a cuddle. I told him that we had to give it our best in memory of Norman (Toddie's breeder, who had sadly left us late last year).

Well in we went and he was still flying around the ring, I think he was showing off to the best bitch behind him! The judge had a good look at them both and then stood back. I just kept talking to El, trying to keep him alert, I looked up at the judge and OMG he was coming towards us holding out his hand! We'd done it, we'd won BOB. I think I kissed the judge, well he was a very nice man!! With very good taste!!

Now on to the group judging. This is where all the best of breeds for each group go in under a new judge and the winner goes through to best in show on the last day of the event. There was no pressure on us here. Lancashire Heelers are not normally picked out so I could just enjoy the experience.

El stood on the table really well, probably the best he has ever done. I could see him looking around taking in all the people looking at him. I put him on the floor and prepared to move off. I looked up to pick my route and then looked back down at him. That image will stay in my head for a long time!! We were on a blue carpet with a little white picket fence all around it and flower displays in the corners. And if that wasn't enough there was a spotlight on little Elwyn - a very special moment, blimey I'm welling up just writing this!

Well that was our day at Manchester 2008, I won't bore you with the 5 hours drive home!! Well worth it though. I'll definitely be showing him again in the Spring so watch this space.

Welcome to our blog

I thought it was time that I got with it and got around to adding a blog to our site. Not sure how often it’ll get updated but hopefully I’ll find the time.

If Kes is in whelp this will be a great way to keep everyone posted on her progress.

Well I must get on and update the main site or no one will ever see this.