Watchful eye

Well harry has really landed on his feet (Farlap Constant) and already has a new buddy "Boris" looking after him and seen here, keeping a watchful eye on him....or is he watching to make sure Harry doesnt run off with his toy?!

whispering sweet nothings

Curate whispering sweet nothings into Cinnamons ear.

sunshine

At last a little sunshine and the pups had a romp in the garden. As you can see from the photos....Tennant has a new partner in crime (Candle) who thinks he is a wonderful big brother and follows him everywhere, like an annoying little sister!!

left, right, left, right.......

Another departure today, dear Charity left for the far end of Scotland, where we hope she will be a secret weapon for Officer Bond (not James Bond!) and "Bambi" and of course the whole Bond family.....thats if they can wrestle her away from Adam!
Its been a busy weekend as we had Matthew Price and Brightons Ceremony arrive for a permit line, and he did a grand job hunting under adverse weather conditions.....I think hound and handler will be competing soon at trials and I lookforward to seeing this hound gain experience. The line was overseen by our MP visitors, who were fascinated with the difference in the hound hunting and their own GSD trail and track work......get fit boys.....ours run faster than yours!!!!
We had a great evening with all the pups taking over downstairs, and having visitors seemed to give them extra energy as they were up playing and wrestling, and deerhound-baiting, until gone midnight! Charity was obviously rather struck on her new owner and went off this morning, sat in the front seat, on Adams lap, without a backwards glance!! As you can see from the photo, no sooner had she arrived, she was making the furniture more to her liking in typical bloodhound style!! (thanks for the photo Richard)

harry and the general go forth!

Well today it was the turn of harry (farlap Constant) and "The general" (yes that really is his name!) (Farlap Chorister) to go to their new homes. I took Harry over in the morning to his new home and to meet his new Bloodhound companions.......one was enthralled and the other indifferent and just wondered how long this guest was staying. Oh Dear!
The Generals owners came in the afternoon for the journey back to Wales and their bassets. He was certainly the pup that kept us most amused over the last few weeks....either because he insisted on being completely hand reared, or because he was renamed "captain mainwaring" due to his rather bossy nature and short stature. we shall rallt miss these 2 boys, and now poor Curate is all on his own with only the girls to boss him about!!
Looking forward to getting pix of the boys soon.

bye bye

we said "bye bye" to Crofter today(AKA Bailey) as he went to his new home in Cambridgshire. He is the 1st of the litter to go, and within a few hours a lovely photo arrived by email, showing him sat in his new bed in his new home, with his new family and his new toys. He doesnt appear to be missing us atall!!! Thankyou Maxine for such a sweet photo.
Having had well-below zero temperatures we now have gales and lashing rain, and once again its thrown our internet into a panic, and we can only get connected for about 30 seconds at a time and then lose it again. The joys of rural life....last time this happened it was because some one at the farm had shot a pheasant through the telephone wires and chinked them with some lead shot! This time i think its just good old british weather,,,,,,neverthe less, if you need me urgently it might be best to send a text or ring me on my mobile......not that we can get a signal here but I take it up the field with me 3 times a day on our walks so should pick up any messages then!

sorry!

Sorry to everyone who has contacted me to see why the blog hasnt been updated but we have been trying to have an "internet free christmas" !!
i finally worked out how to get the video onto you tube so if you want to see what the little people looked like at 5 weeks, late one night, then take a look here OK its not MGM film studios but it was dark and in the middle of the night!! Now I know how to do it I will get something a little better and more up to date done this week. The little chaps had their 1st venture into the yard and garden today....its much later than planned but with temperatures here on the edge of the moor around 5 degrees and plumeting to minus 3 or 4 at night, then there havent really been any long spells of warm sunny weather for them to enjoy. Anyway on their first amble around the garden, Charity managed to fall in the stream, so she had to have the hair dryer on her to stop her getting chilled. Its typical of Charity as she is very outgoing and adventurous and always doing opposite of everyone else! Incidentally we are still trying to find the right home for her....she will make a great tracking hound I think! Meanwhile Ill leave you with a photo of Cinnamon taking it all in her stride.

wish bloodhounds could do this

I was sent this link by a friend....its so sweet....i wish bloodhounds could do this!!!
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=AUtPKbMwnRo

breed records

Well the BRS arrived today and makes for some VERY interesting reading!!! I certainly worry for the future of some of the hounds.
A conversation with a pet hound owner of many years standing today, revealed some interesting things....such as hearing about 2 hounds with epilepsy from a line i had always considered clear. It certainly means I will be reviewing what I had been planning for my next mating.
On a more positive note, the babies are thriving and eating us out of house and home.
They are starting to play with their toys and tomorrow we are building them a lovely run from our back door, so they can potter safely outside if they want to.
We still have a little girl available, and I cant believe some of the people who have enquired......a woman in a wheel chair living in the city???? A woman with a 9 month old baby????? The worst of it is that there are people out there who would sell them one, and probably will!!!

happy 5 weeks birthday

The babies are 5 weeks old today....I cant believe they are that old already. Mind you I think that sleeping on a camp bed for 5 weeks has aged me 5 years!!!
They are really heavy pups, I have never had such fatties.....in fact too heavy for my scales now!
The warm porridge is now going into their tummies rather than up their noses and in their ears, and mum is finally beginning to get a bit of rest from their constant food demands. In fact last night she was snoring on the sofa for several hours and was non to pleased to be woken up and told to go back into her babies!

4 weeks old

The babies are now 4 weeks...eating proper food and starting to interact with each other and me....mainly by sinking their needle sharp baby teeth into my fingers!

sunny days

After weeks of rain its been nice to have a couple of sunny days. Poor Tennants training has gone a bit awry over the last few weeks as pups have taken precedence. However Andrew volunteered to puppy sit today whilst I went out into our back field and did a bit of training this lovely sunny afternoon. Here he is with his 1st woodcock....you cant imagine what a proud mummy I was!!!

busy days

Well these are really busy days at the moment with people coming to visit their puppies....we have been so lucky to have some really lovely families visit.
Thanks to the folk who emailed/rang yesterday and today to ask why I wasnt at LKA show this week....its just that I feel so strongly that my place is at home looking after a litter and not at a show....to be honest I feel it would be an act of immense selfishness to consider trapsing off to a show, just for the sake of chasing some prize, and risking bringing an infection back to the puppies, who are so vulnerable at this stage. I care about the welfare and health of my puppies too much to do that.

Dinner time!

The babies had their very first meal today......it was a wonderful warm porridge of Royal Canin Baby Dog, Royal Canin milk.....and a spoonful of green tripe for added aroma! They were all very good and resisted wading into it for the 1st 5 minutes......here they are enjoying it!

Back on line

well FINALLY we are back on the internet and no longer am I having to stand halfway up the field trying to get a signal on my mobile phone to send emails!!! I will now try to catch up with everyones picture requests and updating the websites.
The babies are lovel and really growing. Today they had their very first solid food meal...well not really solid, more like a porridge...but they loved it and dived in and managed to get it all over themselves. Logic was delighted and spent hours licking it off them! Heres Candle and Cinnamon photographed at 2 and a half weeks old...and as usual they are asleep!!!

eat-sleep-eat-sleep-eat........grow a bit more....eat...

Well as you can see.....one week- old bloodhounds dont do too much at this stage. Logics getting a bit bored with all the sitting around and like me, she cant wait for their eyes to open and for them to start being a bit more active.

Official Complaint

An official complaint has been lodged by Tennant, because in stead of being mums number one baby...hes now relgated to 9th in line......so wise boy that he is, he worked out that mum shares her time between sitting in with the puppies or watching them on the cctv from another room, so hes decided to sit infront of the screen with a toy in his mouth until he gets some attention!!

Growing

Bloodhound puppies grow at an alarming rate and these guys are no exception.
Theres one boy who is a bit smaller and his thuggish sisters are always pushing him off the milk supply so I decided to top him up a little with Royal Canin puppy milk. He loves it and its really made a difference to his daily weight gain. However when some friends came over yesterday and saw I was busy "messing" with puppies they offered to make us all a coffee.......I thought it tasted a bit odd but said nothing. After they left I realised they had used the jug of RC puppy milk !!!
Its fantastic not to have to work/pick up a camera for a few weeks but I have had so many emails wanting to see pix of the little guys that I had to take a few last night...heres my favourites! As you can see, Logic is taking to motherhood with her usual calm attitude and snored her way through most of the photo shoot!

five days

well they are now 5 days old and growing! Amazingly they all have different personalities and even at this tender age their characters are showing through.....typically the two liver girls are complete gannets and growing twice as fast as the rest......Big bertha one of the B&T girls is a complete thug, and litte "Curate" is spending as much time as he can, crawling up my trouser leg and snoozing there!!
For some reason logic decides at 4am EVERY morning, that she wants to climb onto my camp bed and escape her babies.....so I havent had too much sleep yet, as you will gather should you phone me this week!!
photos to come tomorrow if all goes to plan.

eight

Well Logic had 8 babies in all. Final headcount is 4 boys and 4 girls. Logic is the perfect mother and is feeding them well.
My camp bed next to the whelping box is relativley comfy, and I will be staying there for a few weeks yet.
I will try to get some nice pix of the babies in the week, but for the moment these quick snaps will have to do!