Cinamons day out

Yesterday was a day of two halves. The first tinged with a little sadness as we waved Winnie (Farlap Faithful) off to her new home in Scotland, with her lovely new family. The second half of the day was a little better, as we went off to WELKS championship show, where Cinnamon won Open Bitch and the bitch CC. This was her first big championship show, and there was lots for her to take in and she dealt with it extremely well, so I was immensley proud of her. At this same show, both the Basset and the Bulldog CC winners, decided they would not challenge for BOB, as a stand of solidarity against the KC's discriminatory new regulations, an action I wholeheartedly agree with, as do almost every other person Ive spoken to about it. Therefore I did not wish to challenge for BOB. However, sadly the dog CC winner was not prepared to show unison on the matter and wanted to challenge, and as there was not time to find out the exact rules, and whether a BOB could still be awarded if only one winner was present, I felt that I had to compete, VERY reluctantly. To say I was disapointed at this lack of unison in the breed, over something as trivial as a BOB, is an understatement, and Id like to thank the many people who have since been in touch to say they felt the same. Extra congratulations to the Basset CC winner who is also a bloodhound exhibitor......Im glad there is another bloodhound person with backbone.

I couldnt get a photo yesterday, so heres Cinnamon pictured in February. photo courtesy of and copyright of Ev Burnside.

Here, there, and everywhere

Well its been a very action packed week. Tuesday saw us packing the campervan up, and heading off to Europe, via Hertfordshire, where our first port of call was to Elsenham, to deliver young Fender (now known as Moses!) to a very delighted Christine. He tucked into his dinner on arrival, greeted his two Uncles Joshua and Silas (litter brothers to Basnicky) and settled down to sleep without a murmur.

We crossed on the Eurotunnel and drove to our favourite Belgian woods where we have camped oh so many times, and the next day we drove on to Guidos in Germany. Claudia and a contingency from "Swiss Missing" arrived in the morning and Freddy met his future work mates, Basco and Meyer who had also come along for the ride. Farlap Bran (known to many as "Brian"!) and his owners Robert and Christine also arrived, and we did a couple of lines in the roads and fields and forest around the farm, before we had to say a sad farewell to Frederik, as he drove off to start his exciting new life in Switzerland. It was great to see Bran looking so good, and working so well, and we look forward to catching up with them all a bit later in the year. Photos show Frederik enjoying his road trip, Frederik and Claudia having a cuddle in our camper, and Bran keeping watch from the back of his truck.

Time to reflect

 Helping with the gardening

 Do I look cute?

I used to be able to get through this gap!

The devil puppy.

                                                            Spot of gardening

 Always useful if you can gather firewood for the winter

                                           



                                             Catch me if you can!


AS you can see from the 7 week photos, the puppies are growing in size and getting more and more agile. They bring nothing but laughter to our home on a daily basis, but we know that all too soon they will start to leave us, starting with Fender and Frederik next week. Sad times ahead, but we know they are going to great homes and we will have lots of contact with them and their new families. On an even sadder note this week has seen two losses in the bloodhound world. Firstly Sally Denton who used to own "Robinswood" bloodhounds, and from whom my first bloodhound Robinswood Undercover came from, and secondly yesterday the devastating loss of my dear friend Helen Powell, who lived just a few miles away and who leaves her husband Dave and beautiful Trailfinder hounds behind. What a loss for us all.