Farewell

What a sad day for the breed, with the loss of Jean. I well remember her arrivingat a trials in Dorset, to watch her 1st trials, with Flora a mere 5 month old baby, and from that one day, she achieved so much with her hounds. All our thoughts are with Duncan.

Another fun weekend

Another fun weekend with the hounds..........saturday was up to the hound show where some of the judging was interesting. It was Farlap Blissfuls first show with Lynda, who, despite having been to several shows herself when she was the "Brighton Bloodhounds" kennelmaid, this was her first excursion with her very own bloodhound. She handled Bliss really well, and Bliss was calm and collected all the way. Their 2nd in puppy bitch has qualified them for Crufts 2012. Well done girls!!
Baffle was also a good boy in the ring andI couldnt have asked any more of him. Gerty was her usual awkward stubborn self! Sunday saw us at the SW Lurcher championships, but as we were the only "bull bred" there, Im guessing everyone else knew that this wasnt her type of hound LOL. Nevermind it was a fun day out, and we took Gyp on his first official "day out" as well.


Shame to see people using their (perceived) positions of authority to their own ends and to air their personnal grieviences instead of to the benefit of the breeds we love. Looks like more pills needed!!!!
Thanks to KITTY once again for some great photos xxx

Thanks Kitty!

.......for taking this photo of Baffle, its his first "show photo". I hope he can remember how to stand at Hound Association, as he seems to have forgotten hes a bloodhound this week, and is acting more like a pirhana!
Discovered today that the most unlikely of people read my blog!!!!

Our Quarter Century

Leeds Championship Show 2011 saw Candle winning her 3rd CC, making it the 25th CC for Farlap (excluding all the overseas ones). It was also Baffles first show, and he was 3rd in his class which I was also very pleased with, as it was a very noisy and scary show for a 1st time baby. Despite 13 hours of driving and an unpleasant verbal attack in the ring from another (presumably jealous?) competetor,.......I should add that they were NOT even in the same class as me....... we had a fantastic day in Leeds!

24 hours in Paris

Our short sojourn to Paris was interesting. Some of the judging was quite unusual (and thats being polite!) and I certainly have never seen a judge using a microchip scanner to ascertain the origin of a dog, to aid their decision before!! We were pleased that Logic won her "Champion bitch" class and so the weekend wasnt completely wasted. However the best part of the weekend was seeing our dear dear friends Pavel and lenka, catching up with Maria and Farlap Guesswork (who had spent 4 days on the coach from moscow to get there!) and enjoying a couple of lovely days in the French Countryside, sampling local fare. Congratulations to Farlap Guesswork (George) for becoming a World Junior Winner.
All 3 of our girls were graded excellent, which should be very pleasing but considering one of someone elses hounds went around the ring hobbling lame, and that also was graded "excellent" then I dont think I can really take this judges opinions too seriously!!
It was great to have Dr Jim Edwards (USA) support ringside, and his comments to us afterwards were much appreciated.

photos show Maria and George, Lenka who kindly handled Isabelle to 1st place for me, and Logic winning her class. photos courtesy of Linda Vander Sichel.

Sweet Dreams..........

Weve just had this lovely photo of Bran in germany with his new BSD police -dog puppy friend "Hades". Its the sweetest photo!

Graduation day

Look at proud mummy Jo, with her graduating "Eden" (Farlap Bargain). Now they have to start the next training course which Im sure will be quite a challenge. As you can see, she also loves to pose with Daddy!
Wehad a visit from Monty and his owners last week, and Baffle really loved having his brother to play with for the day. Logic was also pleased to see her son, and the three of them had a great run in the field together. (I was a very bad Mummy and forgot to take any pictures while he was here- sorry!)
On a completely different note......why are some people so unable to do anything without trying to cause unpleasantness?. Whilst its easy enough to take legal redress (and those wheels have been set in motion!), I still dont get what these people feel they have to achieve by their comments and behaviour. Maybe they are jealous? There again maybe they can't help it and they have some mental health issues going on that they are not in control of? Who knows!

The Graduate!

Congratuations to Farlap Bargain.....aka "Eden" who lives in Cumbria. She has just completed her 6 week puppy course and graduates this week! What a proud Granny I am!

Clearly all that effort is hard work for a girl as you can see from this photo of her relaxing at home afterwards.
Living in such a stunning area means we get to see lovely pix of her on the beach and mountains......heres my favourites from this week, enjoying herself at the beach.

Day Tripper

Weve had 2 lovely "day trips" this week with some of the hounds. Todays was to visit two of our puppies who live in East Devon, Farlap Constant and Farlap Bartholomew, and I took Baffle, Issy and Gert along to have a romp with their half brothers/cousins. (photos top to bottom- Isabelle Guerin Roborovski- Farlap Constant-Farlap Constant-Farlap Constant)

Ten and a half and going strong!

A few people have asked how "Fergus" is recently so just to prove theres life in the old chap at ten and a half, here he is on our field walk earlier this week. Still a puppy at heart, and still more than capable of flattening his mum with the video camera!
Our "scouting" software that we use on the www.farlap-photography.com site also runs on the bloodhound site, and image theft, by downloading, saving , copying etc is taken very seriously and there will be invoices going out this week to the recent download thieves. You ARE tracable and the first invoice this month will be sent to the RVC (IP address) that recently downloaded two puppy images from the blog. Remember that all images on this site are protected by copyright, and any form of downloading, reproduction or transmitting is illegal.

Imposter

technically there really is a bloodhound in the photo, you just have to look a bit harder! Having just one surving pheasant chick, we felt a bit sorry for him/her, so decided to pop one of the puppies toys in and see what happened.....chick is now completely obsessd by it and thinks it is its mother!! I hope that he/she doesnt think the same about the real bloodhounds or there could be a disaster!
Its been an eventful couple of weeks since I last wrote the blog. Sadly we lost our Czech hound Cythar after a brave struggle on his part. His character really took over when he arrived in 2007 so hes greatly missed: although Bas has now appointed himself "King Pin" in his absence.
We went to the club Championship show at the weekend, and although not very successful in the ring (Gerty won her class, but Bas and Candle each came 3rd in theirs), it was great to meet up with "Miss Bliss" (farlap Blissful), whom we havent seen since she left us at 8 weeks old, and she had some fun with her brother Baffle. Also saw Gracey again, who improves each time we see her......rather like michaels handling :))

Pup-dates from theB litter

Weve had some great photos and emails from some of the "B" litter this weekend.
Monty (Farlap Bertok) in Somerset is clearly superior......every photo seems to involve him lording it on the sofa or overlooking his country estate! Miss Eden (Farlap Bargain) in Cumbria on the other hand seems to share her time between cuddles on the bed and the very serious job of tracking. Finally Bertie, who has completely taken over the sofa.

By George I think hes done it!

Well done to George (Farlap Guesswork) in Russia on becoming a full Russian Champion this week, and winning his group as well! We are so proud of you and your mummy Maria.

The Life of Brian!

Those who remember "Brian" who was the biggest character from the recent litter (and who went on to become "Farlap Bran") will be glad to hear hes having a really fun time in his new home.
His "mantrailing" tuition has now started, and with the help of another police handler, hes been doing quite difficult tracks (in terms of the conditions underfoot). Here he is at work, and also showing that even top Police dogs have to relax sometimes!!!

Early Starter

Had this great photo arrive of Farlap Bargain (aka "Eden") on her 1st tracking session at just 16 weeks old, and clearly taking to it very well!! Cant wait to follow her progress.
A lovley surprise arrived today in the form of this stunning photo taken by the talented Amelia Siddle, and showing Candle entering the group ring at WELKS. Lovely thanks Amelia.

Wedding? what wedding?

On bank holiday Friday I took Candle up to West of England Ladies Kennel Society (WELKS) and was thrilled to get the CC with her, and then also BOB under breed specialist Ken Miller.
After hanging about nearly 6 hours, and Candle getting very bored indeed, we finally went in for the group........and couldnt believe it when we were shortlisted into the final 6 and was nearly struck dumb when Zena Thorn Andrews pulled Candle out 2nd in the group. Someone said there was a big wedding on the same day but I was so wrapped up in my own "fairy tale" I never saw even a glimpse of it on the telly!!!
Photo courtesy Carol Ann Johnson. (Thankyou CA x)

We grow in our sleep!

Lots of lovely photos arriving from the puppies in their new homes, so here are a few to share.
Clearly Eden (Farlap Bargain) is taking the mantra of "growing in your sleep" to a whole new dimension as she appears to do a lot of sleeping.....when shes not out doing baby tracking lessons that is!!
Bran has had a few trips out with his police handler daddy and police dog "partner in crime" Akim....who looks at him as if he still cant believe he has to share the bed with such an unruly monster!
Baffle who of course stayed here with us, has had some fun trips out to local dog shows as a spectator where hes met all different breeds and their owners. Apart from some car sickness hes loving his day trips!
Heres Bargain asleep as usual and Bran with his "police partner"

Too hot to trot

The recent hot weather has made excercising the houndds a real chore as its too hot to do our usual perambulations of the fields and so all walks have been either early morning of evening time. Even Baffle has been feeling the heat and slowed down a bit....although not much!!
We heard this week that Bargain and Bran had both started their hunting training which is great news.....cant wait to seet he photos! We also heard the very very sad news that Bagr passed away.....for those who hve only recently joined the blog, Bagr was my favourite puppy from the BA litter 3 years ago, a lovely big red boy who completely took over the lives of his family. A few weeks before he passed away they brough home a new companion for him....Farlap Bertok, and I hope they find some comfort in watching Bertok grow up and getting into the same sort of mischief that dear Bagr did.

So grown up

Baffle is growing up so fast....this weekend has been "lead training" and hes taking to it quite well. However his sister "Biscuit" in Hungary is going one step further as she is off to her first show in a few weeks time.....in Italy!!! yes unbelievably they have "baby" classes there and so she is off to the Italian Bloodhound Show to strut her stuff. Here she is in a lovely photo, by up and coming photographer Kitty Kilian, having a ball with her Aussie friend.

Growing like weeds!!!

The puppies are growing at great speed.......one weighs in at 18 kg already!!!!
Weve been loving all the regular reports and photos from their new families, and look forward to lots more over the coming months and years........and are already planning a visit to Miss Biscuit, just to make sure she isnt being TOOOOO naughty!!
Heres Benedict with his half brother Harry (from Logics previous litter) and as you can see they are great companions already. Also Bran (Brian to his friends!) relaxing in the warm German sunshine and Bargain practising "clean boot hunting"